The Sun.
London, England, 1836-02-16 00:00:00

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Noble Lord would be attended with success. -He begged to
withdraw his motion.

Mr. ROBINSON made a few observations, which were
quite inaudible in the Gallery.

THE MAURITIUS.
forint-ar.rd RhOisEßraUotiConK
firmosea fcer.o•
mtnhleitteepurtpoosientr oifr.e.binritno hgitn_ge
.
admipistration of justice in the island of Mauritius.
involved charges against three successive Governors of thaft.
t
Colon) • and he trusted he should be able to show the a.
House facts which would justify him in demanding a Committee.
The island was finally ceded to this country in 1814, and
contained 50,000 slaves, from 30,00() to 40,000 free. co-
loured natives, and about 10,000 creoles and whites. He
appeared for the whole of that population, except a very
small section of the whites, who had usurped the whole of the
functions of the. Government, and had turned it to their own
advantage. At the time the island came into the posses-
sion of this country, the English people were very desirous
o7puttiog an end to the slave trade, and of ameliorating the con- .
d'toit of fle si.aves, and in consequence of the resolutions of that
House and the Lords, the King in Council issued regulations
which prohibited any governor of a colony, or other officer,
from holding, or in any way dealing with, slave property. He,
had to charge the whole body of the fundtionaries or
the Mauritius with being holders of slave property ;
he had to charge Sir C. Colville with trafficking and speculat- •
ing in slave prope:ty ; he had to charge Chief Justice Black.i,
bu-. ne with the same offence • he had to charge Mr. Dick;
he had to charge the Judges Of the Sepreme Court ; in fact he
had to charge the whole of the functionaries with a groas
of that Ordea in Council. They were every one guilty of
halding and clea.'ng in slave property. It was well hnown
to the Covernent that when that island was ceded to this
co: as y there was a body at once foamed hostile to the rui
of England, 'az:s.a.e.:lse she wanted to put an end to the
tIT de in Hear)—aad wished for amelioration i a
twheereconkdaiotiwonn of thei pfl.
eace,%3 As 7
asso ovneerys t'icm
Ordersuch
fact, he had no hesitstion chaag.ng them with having ,
iaciene
asCeodul l
committed acts almost of open rehe'''on. They were guilty
of treasonable conspiracies against the Government and the
rule of this country.—(Hear, sea-, hear.) He had ter charge
the whole of the fuactioaaa :es, civil and judicial; with It
gross violation of that which was law to theof.—(Hear:).
These were grave and seeoas chaagee, but he was ready to
paove them beibre a Committee of that House. He
charged these functions- ins wit': being,. cognisant of these
treasonable offences, and not repo:t:.n,g them to theGovoraMent.
But iaMig'ut be said how could he-prove the charge ?
much iiroof, if the House had much patience.—(fleao
It was tknown, or ought to be,' that by a dispatch from
the Secretary of Slate, a gave and solemn document, to which:`
was attached the name of Lord Goderich ; that chargea-was
I made in almost so many words, laid at the door of theso
•
fuoctionalies, There persons were at this time engaged In.
altering the Code of the country, a- ad in doing so they had,
• tered it in favour of those who were favourable to tine domi-
nion of England. They altered it in suck a way as
to excite the suspicion of the Secrete-7 of State.
who charaed them with it in a grave and solemn dispateh
which hadbeen circulated throughout the country. If tbi.
House world allow `i n. he wot-..d reed part of the dis-
• patch. The Hon. Meatber then read part of the dispatch.
Let them understand .he state of the colony rat the time of
this dispatch. There as an armed associ:iion for the pur-
pose of throwing off 'Cie English dominioaa. There was also
a Council or Committee, called the Colonial Committee, which
governed the Colony, and of their proceedings no statement was
made but in something like a-a indirect manner: - There wag
not the slightest chance of Juste to be obtained by any one Tr.,110
was not connected with this committee or this armed 'oodya
At this time also a registration of the slaves was or-
dered, and this had reference to an endeavour to
discover what- slaves had been imported legally, and what
illegally. It was stated that a large body of slaves had been
imported since the colony was ceded to 'England, and to pre-
vent such practices in future a registration was ordered.
Ia 1832, when the colony was in a state of excitement, the
English Government thought proper to send out Mr. Jeremie,
and his evidence goes a great way to implicate persons hold-
ing oface there. His evidence was the more important,
because in proof of the high opinion entertained of. bie
character, ho had been raised from the office of Attorney..
General to that of puiane Judge at Ceylon. Mr. Jeremie
stated that his landing at the Mauritius was opposed by armed
persons, because it was supposed that he was the bearer of cer=
tain regulations, and he would do his duty with impartiality,:
Mr, Jeremie was refused to he sworn in ; the GoVernor
did not remonstrate ; and he had to return to England,
solely because he was disposed to remedy the abuses cow'
plained of. The Government, on his return, dismissed the
Governor from office, and he (Mr.• Vot.,,huck) thought that
fact was corroborative of his charges against him, and should
induce the House to grant the Committee for which be
asked, He now came to the part in which the conduct of the
Noble Lord (Stanley) was materially involved. The charge
of treason made 'by Lord Ripon, for it was nothing. less in
the despatch from which he had quoted, was not sent out out"
the Noble Lord held the seals of the Colonial Office; Tile
Noble Lord then allowed a whole year to elapse before it was
transmitted. There had not been a single despatch, aid:ollP
the Supreme Court was labouring wider a charge of treason.
The Judges who were charged with that treason were left te
administer justice, the fountain of which was poisoned. Not
content with this criminal negligence, the Noble Lord, after
the expiration of a rear, sends a despatch with. equally criminal
tiasto. • Without inquiry, without any publ!le investigation, be
nverebvyaitlhinegNtohbelree,Loarnr:A frwohnireihlishokislohlovulelddgoewno:
exculpates the previous authorities, and inculpates the present.,
ttnedFtrheins
oh wasi
advo,
pose the Noble Lord knew very little about. He.
aware that among was
sa
rtll.l-0-
the erudite and extensive studies 01
Noble Lord he could have included a study of the Talrencli rates
of the Mauritius, and he thought it showed a strange con
ficlence in his own interpretation that he should ground
ois
despatch upon what he could not be expected to under-
stand. By this one act he had committed all the faults a
statesman could commit. He saw in this a key to the conductof the Noble Lord in Ireland, America, Africa, and the lonian
Islands. He was ever the friend of despotism, the fomenter
of discord, and the supporter of bigotry.—( Hear, and laughter- 1)
He should like to learn how, in the language of the Noble
Lord, when speaking the other night, that twelve months °I
delay had been employed ?—was it in forging chains for the
people of Ireland after exciting theln to rebellion, and devising
penal laws for America ?—( Hear, and laughter.) The Noble
Lord laughs at the imputation; but he thought it no subject
for laughter.—(llenewed laughter.) The Hon. Meinberthell
proceeded to state that the despatch of the Nobla Lord arrived
in August, 1832, and to detail the subsequent proceedings
Mr. Jeremie, who discovered that a conspiracy existed fronl
one end of the island to the other, the shove proprietors weevil
arms to prevent any amelioration of the code, and the impartia
administration of justice being T;reventoi-by the authorities
legal and executive, themselves being slaveowners. Under
such circumstances Mr. Jeremie had arraigned the aatt°",--
rity of the Judges. Tire Chief Justice Sir Wilriaaaaoalool
Ala. Dick the Secretary, and four members tf-lbe Council,
I.lVere all slave proar;etoas. From a Chief Justice who bad
disobeyed the regulation of the Government—a regulation
that would have placed him beyond all suspicion, , and 111
violation of that regulation was in possession of slave
property, Mr. Jeremie thought there could be en.
chance for justice, and declined to allow his authoritY;
NI; hat did the Chief Justice do ? He shut tip his Court, and
Oita out the prosecutor, Mr. Jeremie. He only allowed 00,6 •.
witness to come in at a time, and after one another. Ha al'
lowed no cross-examination in public or in private—no OP'
fronting with the accused. He did not even allow the .Wit-
nesses to be seen by the prosecutor ; and yet he gave judgment'
end pronounced sentence in the case.—( Hear.) He (I**
Roebuck) did not charge him with negligence or with care;
lessness. No Ihe charged him with gross injustice.—( Hear.)
It was a farce, and a mockery of justice. As was to be et"
peeted, Mr. Jeremie was accused in turn ; and the accusation
followed immediately the judgment. The charge brought by
Mr. Jeremie was against Mr. Blachburne, the Chief Just
of the colony. It was made under the provisions of the Order
in Colwell of 1813, by which no person resident in tie colt)"
riles could bold the offices of Procureur-General, ..;udge, pro'
teeter of Slaves, Bishop, public teacher, and onrenr two other
offices in the service of the Government, who held slaves or
any .property cultivated by slave labour. The facts wer.c.
those oa-The Cl•icf Justice held slaveaaroperty ; but to avoid
tili.CL'der he disposed of them by notarial agreement to an
individual feta 6,000/., and took that individual's note of hand
for .411 iiAdeflu;to period, at 5 per cent., for the money, though
'it was well known that that individual was not worth fifteen
hundred pounds in the would.-_( Hear, hear.) On the
st-teogth of the transaction he signed the declaration, re-
gulled lwfore admission to office, that he was not- a, slave-
bolder, and put his hand to a document which statedathat the
money was paid rialenient—realernent meaning a bona fii'e par
meat of hard cash. It was a species of fraud practised by thc
Chief Justice—by a man who, as administering the laws o'e
the colony, should not only have been above all reproach, but
above all suspicion. But how came the fact to be found out?
In the ordinary course of business
.this precious document fell
into the hands of another Colonial Judge, Mr. Reddie, and es
soon as he discovered the Chief Justice to be a slaveholder
did as his duty imperatively directed him, informed the fa:4o'
vernor of the circumstance, and placed the evidence thais
tamed in his hands. The Governor asked him'for h!,5
on the case, and in accordance with the Goverraor's laques],
he gave it.--(The Hon. Member then read tlae opinion ,rel
the printed Report he held in his hand.
.It
that the Chief Justice on his own shot'Arg bad falsely fit,
scribed a public notarial instrument
vernmeot.for the puryose ofr
nefitting himself, retaining his q{ ice, was to the ell-
and deceivirg the ue:t
by giving a bona
~tde appearance to a trauclulei'e
trail:action ; that he bold property cultivated by 09i,
labour; and that he consequently came within the Prlie
sions of' the Order in Council of 1831, and the law of t
colooy founded upon it.)—What was the consequence of
aaaa opinion, delivered at the request of the Goveoa
to the Judge ? and what of the accusation to Mr. jer.:J.
mie? The Noble Lord then at the head of the Colons o
°Mee on receipt of the information despatched an order tcl,
Governor, directing him, if the charges made by those inell
duals were not substantiated, to suspend them of once fre
their offices, the one for bringing the charge, aao r
and the other id
offering an opinion on it. Tus the population of the isle of
slave, white, and coloured—were placed at the mereYo,
the Judge. But what happened subsequently ? In the L'as $
lonial Office eefetary sueeeeded Secretary like spectre; l'of
show, and therefore there was little opportunity for ill hi
. them to give ally subject deep consideration. But theytt
have acted with common decency for all that. The succes9of
of the Noble Lord not alone declared that the Judges aver
the highest character—though stained with that uncleared,
cusation-,boa actually re-installed M. D'Epinay, tbringl,„,
slavoholder, and having at present his claims before the Cur
missioners for compensation under the late, AV', ill hie offie