The Sun.
London, England, 1824-01-30 00:00:00

[MORNING CHRONICLE]

From the Jamaica Papers, to the 30th of
November; it appears that the Petition of the
People of Colour had been presented to the As-
sembly, and referred to a Committee of the
whole !-house, on the state.of. the Islands, when
this Petition, together with that of the people of
free condition, was read and discussed. During'
the debate, 'reference was made to the Petition i
of the sante parties, presented in 1813, claiming
to be admitted to all the privileges of white per-

sons, which was at the time rejected. The pre-
sent Petition was stated to be worded in a more
cautious and guarded manner, although its object
was virtually the same. Mr. Rennalls argued,
that to accede to the prayer of the Petition
would be subversive of the Constitution, and
prejudicial to the interests of the Colony.
—A series of resolutions was agreed to.—The
discussions in, the House, on alleged breach of
privilege, gave rise to a disclosure of a singular
kind. The Jamaica Journal having stated that
a Secret Committee had been formed to inquire
into some treasonable or seditious practices,
suspected to have taken place in Kingston, the
ramifications of which extended to other parts of
the island, which practices were attributable to
agents of President Boyer, the paragraph com-
plained of was read (vide our extracts), when it
was determined that Mr. Lunan, the publisher,
should be called to the Bar. On the following
day Mr. Barrett, the Member for Trelawney,
avowed himself to be the only responsible
Editor of the Journal complained of, when the
order for Mr. Lunan's attendance was discharged.
Several circumstances, however, which came out
in the course of this discussion, render it evident
that some inquiry had been instituted in the
House on the subject of certain intrigues on the
part of alleged agents of President Boyer, which
must be deemed a very delicate affair, as it in-
volves a charge against the Chief Magistrate of a
neighbouring and independent State, against
whom no complaint has hitherto existed. Per-
sons well acquainted with Jamaica deem this an
extremely precipitate and rash measure ; but
there seems to be a fatality at the present mo-
ment attending every thing connected with our
Colonies.

[THE TIMES.)

Liberty of persons, as well as of speech, in
Germany, has arrived at unexampled perfection.
A. M. Murhardt, suspected of having made public
some acts of the Diet—which of course were de-
signed to be of public operation—was ordered,
on the proposal of Austria, to quit his residence
at Frankfort. On the day prescribed to him,
this gentleman (a man of distinguished ta-
lent and character) took his departure from
the city : but at Hanau, he was arrested by
the Hessian Government, for his imprudence,
as it seems—and the imprudence, it must be
owned, was flagrant and unpardonable, for
M. Murhardt ought to have recollected that
he had been a partisan of the old Westphalian
Government, and that he had written on behalf
of the purchasers of Westphalian domains. He
was bound, moreover, to recollect, or, whether
informed of the fact or not, to know, that he was
suspected by the Hessian Court of an intimacy
with one M. Kelch, who also, it was his duty to
divine, was suspected by the Grand Duke and
his Ministers of not holding them in proper vene-
ration. Above all things, it Was a most disloyal
negligence in M. Murhardt to forget, that under
a legitimate Government it is lawful to punish
every man on suspicion.

[MORNING posT.]
The intelligence received from the Continent
assumes every day a more pacific character.
Spain, it is true, is still a prey to the excesses of
party, in consequence of the wretched policy and
want of faith of her Monarch ; but the idea of
goading her to make a dying effort against the
independence of her late Colonies seems to be
abandoned ; and the impossibility of her at-
, tempting it single-handed is universally acknow-
ledged. Even those French Papers which con-
tended most stoutly, some time since, not only!
that she had a right to reduce her transatlantic
" subjects" to obedience; but that she must be
armed by the European States with the neces-
sary power to use and to enforce that right, now
declare that such a course would be highly im-
politic, and that it is no longer in contemplation.
After having magnifi?d the preparations which
she was said to be making to send an expedition
to South America, they now assert that none
have been or could be made, that she only pos-
sesses one ship of war, which is old and scarcely
sea-worthy, and that it is proper to leave the
late Colonies to themselves, to see whether they
will not give their Governments such a form
as may remove the objections entertained
by the Holy Allies to their independence.--
Although it may be justly implied from this
intimation that intrigue is at work in the new
States of America to turn them into monarchies,
and perhaps even to place members of Conti-
nental Houses on their thrones, still it is a com-
plete abandonment of the principle that they
must remain the subjects of Spain. The conduct
of Ferdinand has indeed been such since his re-
storation to despotic authority, as to make the
Allies ashamed of the exertions made in his be-
half.—They. feel that the present misery of
Spain lies at their door, and hesitate ere they ex-
tend it to countries which are as yet free from
its influence. In one sense, therefore, it is for-
tunate that Ferdinand should have acted as he
has done, for it has led to the desertion of his
cause in this instance, and will, we trust,
prevent all future interference in his favour,
should excessive tyranny produce another revolu-
tion in the Peninsula. It must be owned, however,
that the sensibility of the Allied Powers to his
flagitious conduct and political enormities lay in
a very quiescent state, and that few but seemed
eager to aid his designs against his emancipated
Colonies, till the manly decision of England and
the corresponding declaration of the American
President on a sudden roused all the good prin-
ciples within them, and opened their eyes at once
to the disgrace and the danger of pursuing free-
dom beyond the Atlantic.

ir_ MORNING HERALD.]

The French Moniteur has announced a new
and somewhat suspicious zeal for the suppression
of the Slave Trade. A naval armament has been
fitted out at the port of Rochefort, in order to
cruise for this purpose off the coast of Africa.
The whole force is to consist of six armed vessels
of the smaller class, in addition to the French
vessels of war already on that station. It is not
easy to discover what motive can have thus sti-
mulated the humanity, or rather operated the

conversion of the French Government. It was
least of all to be hoped for from the party, and even
the individuals who compose the Administation.
The Ultra party, so called, is violently hostile
to the abolition of the Slave Trade, both in its
practical effects and its principles. It is regarded
by them as bearing a close affinity to Jacobinism.
The Prime Minister, too, passed, if we remember
right, some part of his earlier life in one of the
colonies of France, was a slave-owner there, and
possibly may be so at this moment. The object as-
signed for the expedition in the Moniteur only ren-
ders the matter more curious. It is intended by
it to refute some orators who doubted the zeal
and sincerity of the French Ministers in sup-
pressing the Slave Trade. This is rather a novel
and expensive mode of refutation, 'and those
who are said now to employ it have hitherto
confined their replies, on this and other grave
charges, to the mere expenditure of a few para-
graphs in the columns of the Ministerial Papers.
It will most likely, under all the circumstances,
be suspected that this squadron has some other
object or destination, which it may be found con-
venient to disguise. This is the second force
that has recently been stated in the French Pa-
pers to have sailed from France for the same
quarter—not exactly for the same purpose. The
first was a military force, destined, it was said, to
reinforce the garrisons of the French Colonies
in Africa. At all events there appears nothing
formidable in either, and whilst the French Ca-
binet makes no demonstrations on a larger scale,
their purposes or destinations need scarcely be
inquired into. It is rather remarkable that of late
the Paris Journals are quite dumb as faras the sub-
jugation of South America is concerned. An
interdict seen►s to have been issued on the sub-
ject.