The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-12 00:00:00

J AMAICA.

MEETING OF PLANTERS AND MERCHANTS.
A meeting of the planters, merchants, and others ice.
rested in the island of Jamaica, was held yesterday s,t
Willis's Rooms, to receive the Report of the Committee
appointed to inquire into the alterations made in the Bill
for the enactment of laws in Jamaica. The attendance
was very limited, there being only about .50 persons present.
The Earl of Harewood having been called upon to
preside,

Mr. BURGE addressed the meeting at some length, stating
that when he last had the honour of appeathig before them,
it was determined by an unanimous resolution to offer
every opposition to the Bill then before Parliament. He
now had it in his power to congratulate the meeting
as well as the island of Jamaica on that Bill
having received from the wisdom and justice ,
of Parliament that amendment whkli afforded
fair ground for hoping that it would lead to the reetunptibn
by the House of Assembly of Jamaica of their legislative
functions, and place that colony in the position id Phial
they all desired it should stand, namely to retain its esln-
stitution unimpaired. They were well aware that the firs t
clause of that Bill had been omitted—that clause which
would not only completely have violated the constitution of
Jamaica, but would have fastened on the colony laws which
might have been made by an authority to which the popu-
lar branch of the legislature was not a party. The amend-
ment of the Bill, therefore, by striking out this clause, was
a complete triumph over the design of the Government
to supersede the Constitution of Jamaica, because if that
Bill had passed, the Assembly of Jamaica never could,
never would, and never ought, to have re. umed
its functions. The passing of that Bill would have
been the passing of a Bill to supersede the As-
sembly. The second clause provided for the revies:l
of certain temporary Acts usually passed by the Assembly,
some of which they had expressed their readiness to pass;
and although he was strongly opposed to the clause, yet
when those who entertained a different opinion, and allowed
the second clause to remain, had manifested so strong a
desire to maintain the Constitution as to oppose the first
clause of the Bill, they might be sure that the course of
conduct pursued in retaining the second clause must have
been dictated by any thing but a desire to interfere with
the Constitution. The clause was altered in some re-
spect, but ii still remained. The Bii! now formed the law
of the country, but it would prove a perioct nullity if the
Assembly provided those temporary laws ts,hich it had
been accustomed to pass, and eight of which they had
agreed to peas, when Sir Lionel Smith dissolsssd the
Assembly. He therefore said the amended Bill w-as a
subject of congratulation to the island of Jamaica, because
their Constitution was still preserved. Throughout the
whole of these proceedings, it had been the singular hap-
piness of the great body of Jamaica proprietors in this
country that they had bad the continuous sanction and
support of the two Noble Lords who were now present
( Harewood and St. Vincent), And he should therefore
move a vote of thanks to them.--( Hear, hear.) The
next point to which he wished to call their attention, was
the opinion which should be expressed upp the result of
the proceedings which had taken place in eelation to the
Bill. After the Bill had passed the Committee, and the
Report had been agreed upon, and when the fate of the
Bill was certain, he (Mr. Burge) waited on Lord Mel-
bourn and the Marquis of Normanby, to put to them tilt,
proposition—That there was a noble opportunity afforded
them by the relinquishment of the Bill, to show that they
intended to act towards the Assembly of Jamaica in a
spirit of conciliation; but they had unfortunately not
agreed to do so, and he should move a resolution expres-
sive of regret on that point, because, if they had relin-
quished the Bill, it would have tended in allay the feelings
ofirritation and dissatisfaction occasioned by vi hat had passed
in Parliament. He would also move resolutions expres-
sive of the confidence of the meeting with the conduct of
the House of Assembly, which would operate as an en-
couragement to them in the course they would take in the
difficulties which surrounded them ; and a resolution to
the effect, that in order to insure the successful issue of
the measure it was essential that her Majesty's Ministers
should act towards the Assembly of Jamaica in a spirit of
conciliation. Unless the policy of the Government should
be altered, whatever might be the quaßcation of those
entrusted with the administration of affairs, it would be im-
possible to contemplate any other result than certain ruin
to the colony. He had the satisfaction of stating, that the
new Governor ( Sir C. Metcalf) had all those qualities,
which were likely to lay a strung hold on the affections of
the people of Jamaica. (Cheers.) He was spoken of as
a frank, ingenuous, honest purposed man, and that was
all the people of Jamaica required for the purpose of
having justice done to them, and promoting the successful
issue of the measure. The newGovornor would have the
satisfaction of knowing that the influence of his example
might operate on the government of other Colonies, and
that Great Britain might present an example, not only
of having effected the emancipation of her negro populas
tion, and brought them into the highest cisTieation and
happiness, but of having held out an example to other
States to follow not only her generosity and justice, but
also her wisdom and policy.—( Hear.) After these reso-
lutions, he should propose another on the subject of the
agriculture of the :colony. On the one hand, therS 7.116
a Governor representing as the causes of the present ca.'s'
tressed state of the colony circumstances which had not.
the slightest bearing in having produced that distress; and
on the other hand, they had testimony establishing the 7
fact that, from the want of discountenance and discourage.
ment on the part of the Goverment, of improper
interference with the labouring population, and with
those who were employed as Stipendiary Magistrates
they had got the colony reduced to the conditioa in which
not one-half the usual profit would be made this year. For
instance, in the St. Thomas's-in-the-East, between June,
and December, 1837, there were 908 acres of canes'
planted; whereas been June and December, 1838, only
158 acres were planted. The resolution on this subject
would state that the present deplorable condition of that
cultivation required the prompt and immediate attention of
the Government, and that a Committee be appointed to
confer with them on the subject ; and, that if no relief be r
obtained, petitions be presented to both Houses of Perlis- I
ment on the subject.

The resolutions were then put seriatim, and carried
unanimously.
The Earl of I-lakeewooe, in returning thanks for the
complimentary vote passed in regard to his humble ser-
vices, and those of his Noble Friend (Earl St. Vincent),
observed that he was afraid their labours were by no means
at an end ; for, in the next Session of Parliament it would
be necessary to have a Committee appointed to inquire
into the agricultural state of Jamaica.--( Cries of " Hear.")
Another circumstance to be kept in mind was, that Parlia-
ment having interposed and taken up the measure of le-
gislation in Jamaica, it behoved Parliament to receive and
examine into the complaints that might come from.the
Assembly.—( Hear.)
Earl St. VINCENT also expressed his thanks. He
would be very ready to afford his humble assistance in any
way he could be of use to the island of Jamaica.
Sir A. GRANT observed that his Learned Friend (Mr.
Burge) had stated their object should be to enlighten
the Government, who were at present possessed of very
little information on the agricultural state of the country.
Now, the Government had been put into possession, from
time to time, of the most ample and unimpeachable infor-
mation. That information was not furnished then
by anonymous statements but by individuals of
character. The Government, however, chose to dig.
credit it, and.to receive no reports but those founded on far
inferior authority, being the collected evidence of the Go-
vernor, who had proved himself a partisan against the pro-
prietors, from persons notoriously partizans under him and
whose object and interest it was to misrepresent..—( Hear,
hear.) He did not anticipate much benefit from any inter-
view with the Colonial Office, for however civilly and po-
litely they might be received, he believed they would at last
have to call for a Parliamentary inquiry into the causes which
had led to a state of things so much to be deprecated, not
only by the proprietors but by the empire at large, whose
interests were so much involved in maintaining the valuable
island of Jamaica.—( Hear, hear, hear.) The Sugar Du-
ties' Bill, introduced by the present Liberal Government,
would render it impossible for proprietors to cultivate their
estates, and he could not understand why they were to be
deprived of that protection in the growth of their soils
which the growers of corn in England had extended to
them. If there was to be a system of free trade, it ought
to be universal, and not partial. —( Hear, hear. )
Mr. &act said his Hon. Friend had misunderstood him.
What he had said was, that the Government had chosen to
consider everything unimportant in the way of information
except that which they received from the Governor and
the Stipendiary Magistrates. The Government believed
everything against the proprietors, and nothing in their fa-
vour. His opinion was that every evil which existed in
Jamaica was attributable to the present Government—
( Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN wished that every person connected
with the West Indies would in their correspondence im.
press on their agents the necessity of abstaining from any
act that might in the remotest way be considered as op-
pressive, so as not to afford a handle to the enemy. He
knew it was impossible to divest mankind of a leaning to
that which they had always been accustomed to, and with-
out meaning to do. an unkind act, they might, unconsci-
ously, treat those whom they had been in the habit of con-
sidering as slaves different from the mode in which they
would treat the free population.
Mr. MORRICE said be had just arrived from Jamaica,
and was satisfied that that principle was generally acted on
already.—( Hear, hear.) No man with a black face ever
received a second angry word. He would recommend the
West India proprietors to instruct their attorneys to charge
an equality of rents. He had adopted that system and had
found it to work very well.
The meeting then separated.