The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-06 00:00:00

THE WEST INDIA MAIL:

SOUTHAMPTON, FEB. s.—Tho royal mail steam-ship
Tay, Captain C. M. Chapman, arrived this day at twelve
o'clock, from the West Indies, with the usual mails, in
charge of Lieutenant Dennehy, Admiralty agent. On
her homeward voyage, the Tay experienced strong head
winds on leaving Si. Thomas, and afterwards S.W. winds
and fine weather, until making the land, when it be-
came very thick and hazy.
The latest dates brought by the Tay are :—Chagres,
Dec. 29 ; Carthagena, Jan. 1; Jamaica, Jan. 7; St. Jago
de Cuba, Jan. 8; Demerara, Jan. 4; Trinidad, Jan. 5 ;
Barbadoes, Jan. 11; Grenada, Jan. 7; St. Kitt's, Jan.l2;
Porto Rico, Jan. 12; St. Thomas, Jan. 15 ; Fayal.
Jan. 30; Tortola, Antigua, St. Vincent, St. Lucia,
Montserrat, Jan. 12 ; Santa Martha, Jan. 10; St. Juan
de Nicaragua, Jan. 26.
She brings 36 passengers. From the Pacific—Cap-
tain Peacock, Mr. Reeves (died at sea), Mr. Muller.
From Carthagena—Mr. Montagu and brother, Mr. S.
Maria, Mr. Sailers, Mr. Abell, jun., Mrs. de Lima and
family, Mr. Wiss, Mr. Sarabio. From Jamaica—Mr.
Shirley, Colonel Soulin, Mr. Matsoni, Dr. Crivelli, Mr.
Sotomayor and servant, Miss Macintyre. From Barba-
does—Captain Johnson, 66th Regiment, Mr. Smith, nine
invalids.

Freight-5 tierces coffee, 22 aerons indigo, 220 bales
sarsaparilla, 31 packages sundries. Gold and silver,
value 851,946 dolls.; gold weighing 1331b5. 6oz. 15cwts.,
silver ditto 1581bs. 4oz. ; guilders, 40 ; 5861. 10s. Bri-
tish coin; 1 box of pearls.
Some slight disturbances had taken place in New
Granada. Chagres will most likely now become a place
of some importance, as the quickest point of communi-
cation between America and California. Many vessels
la of passengers are expected to arrive shortly, a
steamer having brought 250, and a vessel called the John
Benson about fifty more ; the Governor, Judges, Cus •
tom• house officers, &c., have already crossed by this
route. Rain having fallen, the crops will most likely be
an average.
Stations of her Majesty's Ships—Bermuda at Nica-
ragua, Electra and Imaum at Jamaica, Helena at
Maracaibo, Trincomalee at Barbadoes, Alarm on coast
of Cuba.

Stations of the Company's Steam-ships—The Avon
at Demerara, Trent at Jamaica, Dee at New York,
Forth in the Gulf of Mexico, Clyde from St. Thomas
ior Jamaica, Conway at St. Thomas, Reindeer at Bar-
badoes.

The Jamaica papers contain little news of interest.
On the opening of the Legislative Assembly, after the
Christmas recess, the Governor pronounced the follow-
ing speech:—
" Gentlemen of the Council,
Mr. Sneaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly,
" Ido not think it could afford you any pleasure, nor
that it would answer any good purpose, to say more than
is absolutely necessary as to the occasion of our meeting
here to•day.
" Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly,
" Having learned that on Friday last you had ad-
journed to the 23d January, before any Bills had re-
ceived the Governor's assent, and knowing that some of
the colonial enactments on which the maintenance of
civil government and social order within this island
immediately depend would expire within ten days from
your adjournment, I have thought it my duty to invite
you, in the Queen's name, to resume the dispatch of
business, in order that you may avail yourselves of the
short interval which it still remains within your power
to make due provision for the preservation of the public
peace, and of your faith with the public creditor, and
For the support of your existing social institutions, in-
cluding those of the Established Church.
"For the sustenation of all these within this portion
of her Majesty's dominions a confidence and trust is re-
posed in you, and they are left primarily and locally de-
pendent on your loyal aid, and on your willing discharge
of an obvious duty.
"Gentlemen of the Council,
" Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly,
" Although the Colonial Legislature has been in Ses-
sion from the 3d of August to the 20th September, and
from the 26th October to the 22d December, not a single
enactment has yet been made in the course of this year;
and there are now scarcely five days remaining before
the end of it, for the renewal of what we called the
Annual Acts. I hope that from this brief and fleeting
period at least the general good of the island may
assume in the eyes of all its fit pre-eminence as the
paramount object, and may throw into shade the sym-
bols and the differences of party. Any impatience and
hurry in the transaction of the public business might
re produce mistakes which are much more easily made
than rectified, and a recollection that courtesy must be
reciprocal, and such a feeling of mutnal respect as may
incline each to put the most favourable construction
upon the acts of the other, will much conduce to that
ready co-operation between the two Chambers of the
Legislature which upon this occasion is more than ever
desirable."

(From the Jamaica Dispatch, January 8.)
It seems impossible but that West Indian affairs must
again largely occupy the attention of Parliament at its
approaching session. The Ministerial efforts of last year
have proved too abortive, and the crisis in colonial affairs
has become too urgent, to admit of the supposition that
Ministers will be permitted to rest upon the delusive
measures imposed upon the colonies during the last ses-
sion in the name and under the pretence of relief. The
thing is scarcely within the bounds of reason. Unless
the Ministers of the. Crown are prepared openly to sur-
render the Queen's possessions in the West Indies, and
the people of England are ready to sanction the aban-
donment, it is impossible that the present anomalous po-
sition of the British Antilles can fail to enter largely into
the political discussions of the day. In What form the
renewed Parliamentary contest may be provoked, or who
may be the champion prepared to throw down the
gauntlet in defence of colonial existence, now that the
hero of the last tournay is numbered amongst the dead,
we are not prepared to state. But there were heroes be-
fore Agamemnon, and, deeply as we deplore the loss of
the noble, the dauntless, the indefatigable spirit who
fought the battle of the colonies during the session of
1848, we hope and believe there are conscientious and
independent Members of Parliament, though Lord
George Bentinck be no more.
As regards the condition of Jamaica, it is, beyond
doubt, far worse than it was when Parliament was so-
licited to legislate for the relief of the colonies at the
commencement of the last year. The evils that were
then principally in anticipation have been since realised
with painful severity, and the public and private bank-
ruptcy of the colony has become an alarming fact.
Nothing could more clearly exhibit the truth of all that
was then advanced in favour of the colonies, or the
weakness and utter delusiveness of the measures intro-
duced and passed by the Government, under colour of
redress, than the present condition of this the most im-
portant colonial possession of Great Britain in these
seas. Not only have private interests been ruthlessly
sacrificed; not merely have private fortunes been scan-
dalously plundered; but public credit has been extin-
guished. It is now many months since the island trea-
surer formally announced by public advertisement the
insolvency of the Treasury, and although a momentary
expedient ha,s bben adopted, and some 50,000 L of ficti-
tious currency, irredeemable, and illegal in its use, has
been circulated to meet the crisis, still the publio Trea-
sury is empty, and the means of supporting the institu-
tions of the country are barely attainable.
And how, indeed, can it be otherwise, when every in-
terest in the island is paralysed? How can the revenue
flourish, when they by whose industry it exists are
plunged into the depths of poverty and ruin by the legis-
lation of the mother country? In the year 1826 the
report of the Receiver-General exhibited a sum of
165,7951. currency, being equal to 99,4771. sterling,
.fiea in
the public chest beyond the amount of public certificates
stated
the circulation. In the year 1846, a similar repoorool d
the amount at the credit of the Island to be 96 lant
November of 1848 the amount was nil.,
been
nnthough
brought to
paper d
least 30,0001. of impromptu
the aid of public necessities. In the had
year Jamaica
exported some 90,000 hhds. of sugar; in 1848 her exports
somewhat exceeded one-third of that amount.
In 1847 the actual revenue of the island was 233,4581., I
whilst its actual expenditure was 281,8641. ulB 48 the
revenue
lln the Ord was 192,038/., to meet an annual expenditure of
year there was an aseertaiued defi-