The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-04 00:00:00

mg entered into a contract, written or unwritten,
with any other person for any hied of service,
might, for not commencing his work. according to the
terms of the contract, or for absence during its conti-
nuance, or for neglecting to fulfil it, or for any other
misconduct or misdemeanour, be committed by any
Justice of the Peace of the parish to hard labour in the
House of Correction for a reasonable time, not exceed-
ing three months, and at the same time be deprived of
the wages that would have been due during such em-
ployment, or be deprived of the whole or any part of
his wages, or be discharged from his contract.
It was absolutely necessary that proper contract
laws should be passed, and that was a point on
which all parties were agreed. He was convinced they
could never, under a nominal state of freedom, be al-
lowed to perpetuate a system of slavery, because the
people had demanded that the negro should not only
nominally, but substantially be free.—(Hear, hear.)
There was another point to which he wished to refer,
and that was that the Governor had no power to prevent
the periodical muster of the militia, which might be,
called out at any moment without authority from the
Governor. That was a most dangerous power to leave
in the hands of any officer. The next subject to which
be would advert was that of vagrancy. A proper mea-
sure on that subject was as much required in that
country as in any other, but the present Bill
was so framed that it gave such arbitrary
power to magistrates that it could not be
regarded without great suspicion.—(Hear, hear, hear.)
Heavy penalties were enacted against persons who re-
fused to work for reasonable wages ; but who were to
be the judges of what were reasonable ways ?—(Hear,
hear.) These enactments were inconsistent with the
present condition of society, however congenial they
might have been under the old system. The next point
to which he alluded, was one of paramount importance,
he present condition of the Courts of Justice. The
Courts were so overburthened with business, in conse-
quence of 350.000 persons being brought within their
jurisdiction, that the Chief Justice declared it almost
amounted to a denial of justice.—(Hear, hear.) And
yet no means had been taken to remedy this evil. He
believed it was not expedient to grant the condition
which the House of Assembly had declared to be
the only one on which they would resume their legislative
functions. He thought it absolutely necessary that
Parliament should interfere, and was convinced that a
delay of legislation on this subject, would be productive
of the .most painful consequences. He agreed with the
Right Hon. Baronet, that the suspension of the Con-
stitution was of an arbitrary nature, but it was the
policy which had been pursued under similar circum-
stances in the Mauritius and Trinidad. The Right
Hon. Barronet had asked for what term of years it was
proposed to suspend the Constitution. That was a
matter which might he determined in Committee.—
(Hear.) But he had no hesitation in saying that he
should propose two years and a half. He believed the
measure now proposed would tend to benefit all classes,
and tend to carry out the great experiment which all parties
had so much at heart.

Mr. GODSON said the charter of Jamaica came not
from Parliament, but from the Crown. Under that charter
the people of that island had enjoyed their rights for 150
years; and they, therefore, addressed themselves not to
Parliament but to the Crown, when their rights were in-
terfered with. And he would defy any lawyer to point
out a single Bill which had been passed by Parliament,
containing a clause, that, the moment a proclamation was
posted on the doors of the House of Assembly, it should
become the law of the land. This was a protest of
that description, and unless the House of Assembly sent
to her Majesty, to inquire whether their charter was to
continue, there might be two sets of laws going on at the
same time ; and when they' suspended their functions, on
the condition that they were ready to pass all the Bills
that would affect the public benefit, they did that
which every one here would have done, had they be-
longed to the House of Assembly. ( Hear, hear.)
The House should know something of the situation of the
island of Jamaica. It was divided into twenty-one pa-
rishes, each parish sending two Members to the House of
Assembly. And this was worthy the attention of those
Hon. Members who were for the Ballot and Universal
Suffrage, that the qualification for the franchise in
Jamaica was as follows :-10/. a year freehold, a house,
garden, and one acre of land, equal to the forty-shilling
franchise in this country ; a 501. occupancy in towns ;
and lastly, the payment of taxes alone. Now the popu.
lation of the island was 40,000 whites (5,000 alone in
Kingston), 110,000 browns, and 312,000 negroes; and
within a year or so, the constituency of the island would
amount to 40,000. Was there any district in England in
which the constituency was proportionate ? It had been
said that there was a party in this country by whom it was
wished that the House of Assembly should be done away
with. Yes. But what was that party ? He did not, of
course, speak of Members of that House when he said that
this party was composed of persons who were desirous of
keeping up what was called the Colonial Bank, for
strangers had been allowed by Parliamentto set up bank-
ing in the island ; and when the Legislature of Jamaice
passed a measure for estabFshing a banking system in the
island, the Government at home refused its assent to it.—
( Hear, hear, hear.) Hoe could it be expected that the
Assembly would have confidence in the Government ?
As to the -disposition of the Assembly,—in 1837 Lord
Glenelg wrote to Sir Lionel Smith, expressing his Lord-
ships " satisfaction at receiving a report of the assistance
afforded by the Assembly for the diffusion of religious
instruction, without any -distinction in favour of any par-
ticular class." Yet it was now pretended that no confi-
dence could be placed in the Assembly. In 1836 Mr.
Sturge went out to Jamaica, and on his return stated a
number of things, which the Planters had no opportu-
nity of rebutting. Captain Pringle was thereupon sent
out, and reported that though he found many things
which he could not approve of, he saw nothing like
what had been described.—(Hear.) With regard to
prisons, which were not required in Jamaica before the
Emancipation Act, the Assembly bad made ample provi-
sion. As to the Vagrancy Laws, why no person could be
imprisoned for vagrancy in Jamaica till he had been offered
fair wages—very different from England. And then re-
Tecting the Militia, it should be known that the Governor
-was Captain- General of the Militia, and of course, no Cap-
tain or Lieutenant, could call out his corps without the
order of the chief officer. Now suppose this Act passed,
how could it be enforced? Could thin country, while
there was so much said about the insufficiency of its naval
establishment, and when we were compelled to sub-
mit to a ball levelled from a Royal ship of France at
one of our vessels, could we send a fleet to coerce

the people of Jamaica ? For forty years the Assembly
had maintained their privileges against Governments
and Governors, and always successfully, because always
in the right. How could they be subdued now ?
They might attemp to coerce them, but they could never
do it against the smallest nation that might attempt to
coerce them. They had no confidence in the present Go-
vernor. Sir Lionel Smith continually took part against
the planters. He had received but one address from the
inhabitants during the whole period of his Government,
except one which contained only 3,000 names, many of
which were forged ones. If such were their feelings to-
wards him now, how much stronger would they be when
their lives and properties were given into his hands ? For

it was a mere mockery to- talk of the Councillors
from this country.—( Hear, hear.) He would have
under him the Stipendiary I,,istrates, who invariably
took part against the master rand the Governor, who
invariably took the part of one side only, was to be put
over them, and might suspend the Habeas Corpus
Act, raise taxes, and be as complete a despot as ever lived.
This Bill was a Bill of pains and penalties, and its pream-
ble completely failed. Did they think that the black po-
pulation, the moment that they had acquired their freedom
would like to see the British House of Parliament suspend.
ing the Assembly, if it were only for two years and
a half ? He feared that some excuse w )uld be made
to extend that period, and that this would be made
a precedent to be followed in the other colo-
nies, and thus they would lose the good will
and the revenue of those Colonies, and it should not be
forgotten that Jamaica paid more Customs duty than any
other part of her Majesty's dominions. He would, there•
fore, implore the House to pause before they passed this
Bill.

Mr. EIVART would state his reasons for giving his
cordial support to this Bill. One reason might be found
in the extreme feebleness of the speech of the Right Hon.
Baronet opposite. Ile had often had occasion to liters to
his eloquence and admire bp arguments, but neither the
one nor the other came from him with his usual felicity
this evening, which he could only account for by attribut-
ing it to the feebleness of his case. He had heard
with surprise that Right Hon. Baronet, as well as the
Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down, talk of the suspen-
sion of the Constitution of Jamaica as the suspension of a
popular Government. If he were called upon to de-
fine a Government which, instead of being popular was
exactly the contrary, he should point to the Government
of Jamaica. References had been made to the preceding
interferences with the free Government of the United
States. There was no parallel between the cases, and
they might just as well institute a comparison between Mr.
Burge and George Washington. It was not on their
conduct regarding the Prison Bill alone that he
grounded his reasons for his vote. The Prisons Bill
was but an index to the many causes of disquietude
which existed between the planter and the slave, and
which called for the interposition of this House. The
island of Jamaica was in a dangerous state of transition.
On the one hand, there was the danger of anarchy from
below, and on the other the danger cf oppression hasten.
ing on that anarchy from above ; and he considered it to
be the wisest and the best course to transfer the Govern-
ment from both parties, and lodge it in the hands of a third
party, for the good of the whole. He would take the
power from the planters, because he abhorred all, exercise
of power under an ascendancy system, whether in Ire.
land or Jamaica.—( Hear, bear, and cheers.) He
knew well the feelings of those who had long possessed
ascendancy when others over whom they had predomina-
ted were raised to an equality with them, and he felt the
power could not be safely
acquiredfeljt
trusted
power
edintheirhahladndesu.t
gHreeabtee-r
be-
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qiet r
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it was clung
greater tenacity. In Jamaica this
ag waseont
so t
andan ascendancyfaetors,
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with
and so much the more dangerous,
because those who possessed itsis
voteduties in the orresponsibilities.
papers
which had been laid before that House, and
olifepofwouenrd
with
reasonnoneof
h for
which proved a systematic neglect of the
spirit
tts
asof
the
negro, who was looked upon in thesame
that
which, in this country, had taught others to do what they
masterliked
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not in an English,u
u
the dominant ascendancy, and since the slaves had become
free men, their task-masters were no longer fit to exerm
the contracts
ol
d principles be e
of