The Sun.
London, England, 1824-06-12 00:00:00

rescinded in the first instance, his Hon. Friend would not have
brought the question before the House, but when it was only '
annulled conditionally—when, in truth, the sentence of
death, that he should be hanged by the neck, remained still
on record, it became Parliament to look to the case as
it existed, and give effect to the present Resolutions by
condemning the policy which had been pursued. It was a
s range argument of the Right Hon. Gentleman, that Mr. Smith
should have put on his spiritual armour, and attempted to pour
back the tide of blood by exposing his naked breast to the swords
of the insurrectionists; for could it be believed that lie would
have been allowed to have escaped, or that a soldier would have
let him peas safe from the field. He (Mr. D.) condemned
the whole of the proceedings from first to last—he con-
demned
the beginning, middle, and end.—(Hear, hear! )
e called on the House of Commons not to be afraid of recording
that opinion, 'and not to give Government the authority and
power which such a sentence would be sure to place in their
hands. He shrank from the application of-the term of murder.
but if the Court had no jurisdiction to try the individual—if
martial law was, as Lord Hale said, no law, but a suspension of
all legal power—if the tribunal acted without authority, sup-
posing the party had been put to death, was there any other
name that could possibly be assigned to their acts ? If on looking
at the great proceedings of this cause, we found these individuals
departing from the ordinary and natural course, and assuming
a jurisdiction they did not possess, that was the necessary con-
clusion to come to. The Court Martial was ono of the
greatest abuses of power recorded in the annals of mari-
kind. It had been admitted that martial law was not the course
that ought to have been taken—contrast it with what would
have been taken provided martial law had not been resorted
to. The President would have been surrounded by the in-
habitants of the Colony, who night be planters, but who would
be persons In the habit of exercising judicial power. The
advantage of a Court Martial to a military man was, that he
was tried by his Peers, but that advantage did not exist in
the case of an unfortunate destitute Clergyman, stigmatised
as the author of this revolt, which from first to last he be-
lieved in his conscience he had endeavoured to prevent.—
When he first saw the evidence, having conversed with no
man, being no fanatic, and unconnected with all those socie-
ties, he was struck with astonishment—he turned over every
page for proof against Smith, for not only was no case proved,
but the imputation on which alone he was brought before the
Court was positively disproved ; so that, if asked, upon the
whole, what was the impression of his mind, he could freely
answer, that this man was unjustly accused.—(Hear, hear!)—
The circumstance of keeping back part of the Journal was a
strong proof of the sort of charge a.gainstehim. There was no-
thing on the evidence but what chewed as anxious desire to
prevent this mischief, and he had too much confidence in the
belief be had succeeded. Mr. Smith did not keep back in-
formation ; be gave the alarm, and those who kept back,
the Resolutions of Parliament were the source of all the
mischief. It was too much to argue on the letter as con-
cealing the mischief, when it had actually taken place.—.
There never was a greater perversion of evidence. An hour's
examination would be a complete acquittal of Ma. Smith,
and no man who looked at it could put his hand on his heart
and say, Smith was a guilty man. Not one individual in the
moment of death, uttered a complaint against his having en-
couraged the rising. He did not recollect any instance of such
hard measure dealt out to the lowest felon, as against the me-
mory of Smith. Credit was given to him up to the point which
betrayed him into danger, and credit was refused hint in any
thing beyond that.—(Hear, hear !)—lf th.e House did not adopt
these Resolution, they were holding out a general proclama-
tion of impunity to all persons who committed abuses,
Sir J. YORKE said the Learned Doctor (Lushington) had
advised the Members of the House individually carefully to
read the evidence—he had so done, and he saw so reason what-
ever to believe Smith to be guilty of the charge. As a petit
juryman be should have acquitted him. It took a whole lunar
month to find him guilty. In the early part of the Revolu-
tionary
War with Yrance, Lord Eldon, then Attorney-Gene-
ral, occupied nine hours in a speech against Tooke, Hardy, and
others. A friend of his observed, if it had taken nine hours
for so sharp and shrewd a person to prove a charge of high
treason, depend upon it the prisoners will be acquitted. The
brilliant apology of the Minister of the Crown did not satisfy
his mind. He thought the bloody record—(Hear, hear, hear !)
—ought to be blotted out, and he should. vote for the motion of
the Hon. Member for Winchilsea.
Mr. BROUGHAM rose to reply. He combatted the argu-
ments offered by the Attorney-General and Mr. Tindal, and con-
tended with considerable humour that they had not felt them-
selves quite secure on the ground which they had taken. The
laws of Holland, he said, did not countenance the proceeding by
Court Martial, neither did the English law adjudge a person to
death who was guilty of misprison of treason. the Attorney
Gen. had applied himself to patch up a hole in one part of his
Learned Friend (Mr. Tindal's) arguments, and endeavoured to
steer &middle course. The Dutch law, it seemed, gave capital
punishment for misprison of treason, and the English law gave
jurisdiction. By this mode of procedure the door was
let open for the Dutch Lady, with all her attendants, Van
Cooten, Binkershock, and others to enter ; but the English lady
with all her hand-maidens, was shut out.—(A laugh.)—Never
had there been shewn a contempt for evidence equal to that of
the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Canning) with the exception
of that of his Hon. and Learned Friend, the Member for Peter-
borough, in whom however there was naturally a bias from his
West Indian connections. Let them not talk to him of the
letter received from Jacky Reid—received by Mr. Smith at six
o'clock on the Monday evening at the earliest. If it had been
received on the evening before, and then torn up, instead of
being shewn to the constituted authorities—if it had been re-
ceived before the insurrection broke out, there might have been
something like that sort of guilty concealment which had been
called by a figure of speech, for it was nothing else, misprision
of treason. But it was received at half past six at the earliest,
while the insurrection had broken out at half past three.—
Quamina and Jack had been taken into custody, and rescued
again two or three hours before that letter reached the hands of
Mr. Smith. And why should he then tell them of what had
already happened—why should he tell them of the sun shining
at noon day—why should he tell them of what they already
knew—why should he tell them of what was self-evident ? What
sort of an answer would have been given to his communication ?
' He would have been told to keep quiet—not to meddle with
other people's business. He had already received such answers
' before ; and he (Mr. B.) was not the man to wonder that,
' having received them, he refrained from making any superfluous
communication of what was already sufficiently well known. He
had been told that he had been guilty of great injustice to the
Court Martial, to censure it so violently as he had done. His
motion itself, stripped of the matter that had been unfairly im-
ported into it, only stated, censure he would admit ; but, in his
humble opinion, mild and temperate censure. What was the
conduct of their ancestors on it ? When a case that was parallel
to this—the case of Sidney—came before Parliament —( Hear,
hear!)—did they shrink back from the plain expression of their
feelings ? Did they say " don't be violent, there's only a man
murdered ?"--(Hear !)--The language of his motion stated
merely that there had been a violation of the laws;, in that case
the word murder was used.—(Hear !)—The Hon. and Learned
Gent. then proceeded at some length to draw the parallel between
the case of Sidney and that of Mr. Smith. In the production, as
evidence of a private and unpublished manuscript—in the ab-
sence of legal evidence of their handwriting—in the admission
and 'rejection of hearsay evidence—in the wresting of the evi-
dence against 'the accused—in all these things the cases were
like each other, but the demeanor of the Judges completed the
resemblance. For it was stated in the former case, that " the
Lord Chief Justice in allowing an account of the proceed-
ings to be published, took care to make such alterations
and suppressions as might vindicate his own conduct in the
proceedings." By the steps which our ancestors adopted on
that occasion, the name of Jefferies had been placed at the
head of the list of sanguinary and iniquitous Judges; but
how far different would have been the character in which he
would have come down to us if our ancestors, instead of
speaking the truth, careless of whom it might strike, had
only studied, as they were desired to do in this case, how
to express themselves in the most courtly manner of censure.
Therefore it was that he could not agree to the previous ques-
tion, rather than be met with a direct negative; for by this
mode, instead of justice to either party, they ran serious
risk of doing injustice to both. The Hon. and Learned Gent.
said the violence of his language had been made a topic for ani-
madversion ; but he referred to a late resolution of the friends of
the Right Hon. Gent. in Demerara against Missions and Mis-
sionaries. The question in this case was not as it might be here,
where a matter of doubt might fairly arise'as to the expediency
of founding Missions or employing Missionaries; but it was
a question whether there should be any instructor at all—any
means of education for the Negroes, for not only the Mis-
sionaries themselves, but the very Church Establishment, ad-
mitted the necessity of attending to the education of those un-
happy people, and that there was no other means of doing it.
It was in vain for the House to say that it would leave the ques-
tion in the hands of Government ; it behoved it to take its own
course, and to pronounce upon the subject as the justice of the
case required. As to the late Mr. Smith, he deserved the name
of a martyr, for he had exhibited the courage and constancy of one;
and though he had not been honoured with the crown of martyr-
dom, he had shewn himself possessed of the patience and fortitude
to merit it. Whether right or wrong, in his views, he (Mr. B.)
cared not; he respected his name ; he revered his constancy; he
admired his firmness. He had died amidst oppression and con-
tumely ; his blood cried out from the ground, but not for ven-
geance
0;
nhe hisd died,
trac,yheresh, informed,batiltbpereanyingfor for
gi notveinnerspsr
teo catt
htsge vwehn
had brought him to his untimely end. The House was called upon
in tenderness to the white inhabitants of the West Indies them-
selves, in jestice to those colonies which had not mixedththeemm-
s selves up with the proceedings in Demerara, to hold out to