The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-03 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS,JuLr 2.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at the usual hour.
Mr. LOCKHART moved that the Report of the
Committee on the Newport Docks be recelVed.
On the motion of the same HON, MEMBER, the Lords'
amendments to the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Rail-
way were agreed to.

Mr. FINCH prennted a petition from Walsall in
favour of the Government plan of education.
Petitions were presented by Col. Gore Langton trom
places in Wilts and Somerset ; by Mr. Thornley, from
Wolverhampton ; and by Mr. Brotherton, from a place
in Cheshire, in favour of a uniform rate of penny postage.
Mr. G. PALAIER presented a petition from Hert-
ford, against the Government plan of education.
Mr. VILLIERS presented a petition from Stock-
port, praying for a reduction of the duty on foreign
timber.

On the motion of Lord S A NDO N, the Lords' amend.
ments to the Liverpool Churches Bill were agreed to.
Lord SANDON presented a petition from the
merchants in Liverpool trading with Brazil, praying for
an equalization of the duties on coffee and sugar ; also
one in favour of the Church Establishment in the Co-
lonies.

Mr. AGLIONBY brought up the Report of the
Committee on the Dublin and Drogheda Railway Bill,
the Report stated that the Standing Orders had not been
compled with.

Mr. M. PHILLIPS presented a petition from the
Chamber of Commerce of Manchester., praying for an
equalization of the duties on sugar end coffee, the pro-
duce of Brazil ; they stated tki, that country was our
best customer, and as the treaty would soon expire, it
was time for the Parliam
(n
so good a customer, it to take steps to secure
wt could only be done by lower-
ing the duty upor_
Captain Plaer only produce, sugar and coffee.
.L;CHELL presented a petition from the
fishern".",n and owners of fishing vessels of Torbay,
P:aying the House to grant the Commissioners of Tor-
bay Harbour such aid as would enable them to carry
on the work.

The SPEAKER intimated to the Gallant Captain
that as the petition prayed for money it could not be
received without the consent of the Crown.

Captain PEC HELL then withdrew the petition.
Mr. ESTCOURT presented a petition from Devizes
in favour of a penny postage.
Mr. O'CONNELL presented a petition from the
Chamber of Commerce, in Dublin, in favour of a penny
postage ; also a petition from Samuel Dixon, of Lime-
rick, on the subject of a loan advanced by the Govern-
ment when the cholera was raging in that city, which
was ordered to be printed.

The HON. and LEARNED MEMBER then gave notice
that, on going into Committee of Supply on Friday
next, he sould bring on the motion which was with-
drawn last Thursday, for a Committee to ascertain the
nearest communication between Dublin and London.

An HoN. MEMBER then moved that the House be
counted, and there being only thirty-eight Members
present, the House adjourned at a Quarter before Five.

HOUSE OF LORDS, JULY 2.

Several Bills were brought up from the Commons,
among which were the Birmingham and Manchester
Railway Extension Bill, by Mr. M. Phillips ; the
Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway Bill, by Mr.
Lockhart ; the Custody of Infants Bill, and the Bank-
rupt's (Ireland) Bill.
The latter Bill was read a first time.

The Earl of CAMPERDOWN presented petitions
from the counties of Somerset and Wilts, in favour of
a penny postage.

- - -
The Earl of YARBOROUGH presented a petition
from the Isle of Wight, in favour of a penny post.
The Marquis of BUTE presented a petition from
Dunfermline, in favour of Church extension in Scotland.
JAMAICA GOVERNMENT BILL.

The House then resolved itself into a Committee of
the whole House on this Bill, the Earl of Shaftesbury
in the Chair.

On the first clause being proposed—
Lord LYNDHURST said it was his intention to
move that the first clause of the Bill be expunged. In
stating that to their Lordships, it was necessary that he
should state the grounds on which he proposed the
amendment ; and, although not at any great length, to
enter into a few of the details of that most important
subject. He thought it appeared from the Bill which was
brought into the other House of Parliament, and after-
wards abandoned—from the speech of the Noble Marquis
on the last evening—from the spirit and tenor of that
speech, and also from the speech of the Noble Viscount,
that there was a disposition on the part of her Majesty's
Government, if possible to abolish the Hod* of As-
sembly of Jamaica----to substitute a new form of go-
vernment for that which had existed for upwards of
two hundred years. A similar attempt was made in
the arbitrary reigns of Charles the Second, and was then
defeated. That attempt was new repeated by the
Liberal Government of the present day, It had up to
that time been defeated, and he could assure their Lord-
ships that if the Bill in its present form was adopted
by their Lordships, that object would be ac-
complished by a side wind which Ministers had not
been able to do by a direct atthelt upon the privileges of
the Assembly of Jalilniz.m. He did not for a moment
deny the power u;liich the Imperial Parliament possessed
of enacting
laws for the Government of the Island of
,amaica, He did not deny that they still had the right,
in .ass of emergency and extreme difficulty, to pass such
laws, but what he denied was, that they had any right
to pass laws for the internal regutAtion of that or any
other colony except in the cases he had mentioned—cases
of necessity or extreme emergency. That was the doc-
trine which had been held by all statesmen who had
given their opinions upon the subject, and for this rea-
son, that the colonies were not represented in the Im-
perial Parliament. They had therefore no right to pass
laws for the internal regulation of these colonies. The As-
sembly of Jamaica appeared to have been unjustly treated
in every part of the transaction. If they looked at the
preamble they would see the reasons stated why they
were called upon to enact the present measure. These
reasons were not correctly nor fairly stated.,---(Hear,
hear.) It was stated in the preamble that the House
of Assembly had refused to exercise its legislative func-
tions, except for the purpose of passing Bills of supply.
That was a proposition without qualification—unlimited
in point of time—it had no conditions. That was not
the effect of the resolution of the House of Assembly.
It was a resolution of a very different character. They
stated that they would not exorcise their legislative func-
tions, except for the purpose of supply, until they were
left to the free exercise of their rights as British subjects.
It was quite clear, therefore, that they had a subject of
complaint, and that they asked—they called for a redress
of them, and had that redress been given to them they
would have resumed their Legislative functions.—
(Hear, hear.) He did not stand there to justify the
resolutions of the House of Assembly—they were very
reprehensible, but it was to be borne in mind
that the same course had been taken by the prede-
cessors of the Assembly, and that it had been effectual
in procuring a redress of their grievances. He must
complain of the use which the Noble Marquis opposite
(Normanby) had made of the Resolutions. No person
condemned them more than he did ; no man was more
aware of the insulting language used in the document—
but it was not fair in the Noble Marquis to refer to
that document for the purpose of exciting their Lord-
ships' minds against the people of Jamaica. In the
first place he must be allowed to remind them that
the Resolutions were adopted at the close of the ses-
sion—at a time when nearly all the Members of the
Assembly had gone to their homes—at a time when
only 12 Members were in town, and as he was in-
formed they were disapproved of, and condemned by the
great majority of the House. That fact was made known at
the Colonial-office, and it was scarcely possible that it
could have escaped the knowledge ofthe Noble Marquis—
it was adopted long before the Prisons Bill was passed, and
therefore, long before it could be known in Jamaica
yet that was made the fbundation for the present Bill.
That Bill was made in some respect to depend upon
the abolition of slavery ; there was no connection be-
tween them at all ; it was merely intended to raise
an invidious prejudice against the people of Jamaica ;
it had no soneectiort at all With the Bill ; it was
a mere transcript of the Prisons Bill of this country.
Under the first provision of the Prison Bill, by which
the Governor in Council had power to adopt regula-
tions for the management of *oalli; it *ea temafkable that
the Peverner In doilticil had adopted precisely those rules
and regulations which formed part of the Colonial Bill of
1834. Again, with respect to the power of appointing
inspectors. The Cs'overitdr had the paCvef of dppointing
inspectors under the former Bill. If the Governor had
thought proper tO exercise that power, it was vested in
him by the Bill of 834-zstliathe distittedy asserted. Who
were the inspectors who had been appals ed 7 Thtivtere
the stipendiary magistrates. Those stipendiary magfas
trates were local magistrates, and therefore they came
distinctly within the
,proVisiens of the Bill of 1834.
Again, under the bill of 1834 the UoVerecr had the
same power that he had under the English Bill, to visit
the gaols, or to order any other person to do so when
he thought proper: All the powers given under the
English Bill were substantially In the possession of
the Governor In Council under the Bill of 1834
if the Governor thought proper to exercise them.
Then their Lordships were charged with having been
the actors in the passing of the Prisons Bill. He
(Lord Lyndhurst) admitted that charge to be well
founded. He Ivo* la the House when the Bill was in-
troduced, but took no part in the discussion, and
did not oppose it because he was not apprised
of the circumstances out of which it originated.
He was not then acquainted with the facts that
were now nu their Lordship's table—he was
then in possession of those facts that he had since de-
rived from other sources. Had he been acquainted
with them, he would have given that measure his warm,
zealous, and determined opposition. They were told
that there was an indisposition on the part of the
Assembly to legislate on the subject of prisons,
and the Nolo Marquis had expressed great astonish-
ment that the Learned Counsel who had been
heaid Et their Bar 'should have controverted that propo-