The Sun.
London, England, 1824-01-24 00:00:00

JAMAICA.

Jamaica Papers to the 23d of November have
arrived, but they contain little worth extracting. The following
is a copy of the circular of Lord Bathurst, which has been fre-
quently referred to in the Colonial papers, but has not before
been quoted entire :

t " Colonial-Office, Downing-street, May 24, 1823.
" I take the earliest opportunity of communicating to you
the resolutions which were unanimously agreed to by the House
of Commons on the 15th instant; and in order that you may
better understand, not only-the general impression. of the House
in coming • to these resolutions, but more particularly the. prin-
ciples which have guided his Majesty's Government in propos-
ing them, and which will continue •to guide them in the mea-
sures to be adopted for the furtherance of the important objects
to which they relate, I have enclosed the best report that I can
procure, although it may not be altogether a correct 'one, of the
speech of Mr. Secretary Canning.
" Ido not propose, in this dispatch, to call your 'immediate
attention to all the subjects to which that speech refers; but
to confine myself to one of-those points on which I have not
found that any-difference of opinion exists, and which, being
simple in its nature, may be at once adopted, viz.—An abso-
lute prohibition to inflict the punishment of flogging, under
any circumstances, upon female slaves: The system of nie.-
liorating the condition of slaves, to which his Majesty's Go-
vernment stand pledged by these resolutions, cannot better
commence than by the adoption of a principle which, in mak-
ing a distinction of treatment between male and female slaves,
cannot fail to raise this unfortunate class generally above their
present degraded level, and to restore to the female slaves that
sense of shame which is at once the ornament and protection of
their sex, and which their present mode .of punishment has
tended so unfortunately to weaken, if not to obliterate.
" I should therefore have communicated to you his Majesty's
commands, that the punishment of flogging should for the fu-
ture cease with respect to female slaves, had I not been desirous
that the prohibition should proceed from the Court of Policy,
as I am unwilling to deprive them of the satisfaction which I
• am sure they will feel in originating and supporting a measure
which has been approved of by all classes.
" With respect to the practice of driving the slaves to their
work by the sound of the whip, and to the arbitrary infliction of
it by the driver-as a stimulus to labour, lam equally disposed to
trust to the Court of Policy to originate measures for the cessation
of this practice, which I need not state must be repugnant
to the feeling.; of every individual in this country.
,I am aware
that a necessity may exist for retaining the punishment of flog-
ging with respect to males, though, at the same time, it Should
be subject to defined regulations and restrictions; but, as an
immediate measure,.l cannot too strongly recommend that the
whip should no longer be carried into the field, and there dis-
played by the driver as the emblem of his, authority,. or em-
ployed as the ready instrument of his displeasure. I have the
honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant;
(Signed) - " BATHURST." .