The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-29 00:00:00

his sufferings, and of their desire and intention. should
it ever be in their power, to obtain for him redress.
That at length, in 1826, on the appointment of Mr.
Canning to be First Minister of the Crown, your re-
titioner, owing principally to the intercession in his
favour of Sir James Mackintosh, formerly his counsel,
received the promise of a consulship iii South America,
and was ordered to prepare for embarkation within s
month ; but scarcely was this promise given, when the
sovere indisposition and premature decease of Mr. Can-
ning frustrated again all his hopes.
That in 1830, Earl Grey being First Minister of the
Crown, your petitioner addressed his Lordship on the
subject of his claims, and received in return his Lord-
ship's personal assurance that the s arliest suitabl —ap-
pointment should be conferred upon him; and at length,
on the 3-Ist of August, 1832 (on the representatien of
Earl Grey, supported by the strong recommtndations of
the Lords Dacre and Holland), Lord Goderich. now
Earl Ripon, then Secretary ir the Colonies, app-i"'e'll
your petitioner Assist :nt Pr.itector of Slaves,' in De-
merara, at a salary of 800/. per annum.
That your p titioner has already solemnly averred his
innocence of any crime whereof he wa: ever suspected,
or wherewith he was ever charged ; but in case his own
asseveration en a matter regarding his own character
should appear of doubtful credit, he appeals, in proof of
his innocence, to the unquestionable fact hereinbefore
just stated, that he was appointed to the said office of
trcst under the Crown ; which was conferred upon hitn
by a minister high in station and character, responsible
for the fit choke of those he migl,t recommend for pubic
employment ; and (as your petitioner conceives and
submits to your I lonourable House) he never could have
been recommended, as he was, for that appointment, nag
appointed as he was to that office, unless after full in-
quiry it had clearly appeared that he was innocent of
the crimes imputed to him, and was a man whose cha-
racti r was without blemish.

That your petitioner, accompanied by his family, em-
barked, on the 16th of February, 1833, with all his pro-
perty, bo.ks, plate, furniture, &c., on board the ship
Isabella, for Demerara, that, on the 19th, the ship was
overtaken in the channel by the memorable gale of that
year, which drove it on the rocks under Beachy Head,
from whence it was floated by the tide, and finally
wrecked in Pevensey Bay; and after the sea had beat
over the wreck for many hours, your petitioner, with his
family, was rescued from destruction by the life boat, but
all his papers and property of every description were
lost; and owing to his long exposure to wet and cold,
and to contusions and other injuries incident to the
shipwreck, your petitioner was for some time deprived of
the use of his lower limbs, and afterwards suffered
severely from a disorder, to returns of which he is still
subject, though in a moderate degree.
That as soon as convalescent your petitioner reported
himself to the Colonial-office as ready to proceed to
Demerara; but by this time the question being agitated
in Parliament, whether slavery in the British West
Indies should not be totally abolished, your petitioner
was from time to time directed to hold himself in
readiness to proceed on duty, but tc delay actually
proceeding until he should receive further orders. At
length, the entire emancipation from slavery being re-
solved upon, your petitioner received notice, on the 2d
of July, 1834, that the office of protector of slaves, to
which he had been appointed, was abolished, and that
his commission and pay would cease from the Ist of
August, 1834, and that no provision had been made for
giving compensation to the protectors, who would lose
their offices; but your petitioner was assured that his
case, owing to the extraordinary calamity by which he
had been visited, would receive from his Majesty's
Government the earliest and most favourable con-
sideration.
That during this period your petitioner received on
account of half-pay 2321. 14s. 3d., and, on the abolition
of his office, a further sum of 246/. 7s. 1 od., closing, as
he was informed, the account of what was due to him in
respect of the said effiee.
That your petitioner frequently saw the Lord Hol-
land, and was also in almost constant attendance at
the Colonial-office, on the subject of new employ, which
was invariably promised to him. That your petitioner
having complained to Mr. Spring Rice, Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and to Mr. F. Baring, Secretary of the
Treasury, that he had been thrown back niloal on the
shore, in a state of utter destitution, and that his heavy
medical and other expenses had absorbed all the pay he
had received, and had left him in the greatest distress,
he was told that his case should immediately receive at-
tention ; and three days after Mr. Baring informed him
that, to meet his present exigencies, the charge for pas-
sage money and freight, amounting to 2201. 100 , would
be returned to him, and that some more permanent pro-
vision should be made for him without delay.
That, after considerable lapse of time, it being re-
presented by your petitioner to the Lord Holland, Mr.
Baring, and others, that the kind intentions of his po-
litical patrons, in appointing him to the office of" Pro-
tector of Slaves," so far from being of any pecuniary
benefit to him had proved his utter ruin, a further
sum of 300/. was, by direction of Lord Melbourne,
granted out of the Queen's Bounty to your petitioner, in
the name of his wife, to meet his immediate exi-
gencies ; and this grant was accompanied with a re-
aommendation, that permanent service should be sought
for him without delay.

That your petitioner's petition and claims having been
again laid before Ministers, your petitioner, on the sug-
gestion of Lord Holland, cr. pared a memorial to her
Majesty, which the Marquis of Normanby undertook
to present, and after a lapse of time your
petitioner was sent for, and received the personal assur-
ance of the Noble Marquis, that he fully admitted the
force and justice of the claim, and would consult with
your petitioner's friends, the Lords Dacre and Holland,
and others, on the best and readiest means of serving
your petitioner; but not long afterwards the Whig Go-
vernment retired from power, and hope again fled.
That on the resumption of the Colonial Department
by Lord Stanley, your petitioner reminded his Lordship
of the disastrous shipwreck, loases, and long suffering of
your petitioner; but his Lordship did not hold out to
your petitioner any hope of employ. That your peti-
tioner then addressed Sir Robert Peel, the First Lord of
the Treasury, and receiving from him a similar answer,
your petitioner then forwarded to her Majesty a memo-
rial, giving a detail of the hardships and suffering he had
endured, and imploring relief from the destitution to
which his disasters, and the long series of subsequent
disappointments, had reduced him.
That her Majesty was graciously pleased to send to
your petitioner a gift from her private purse of 251., and
10 say that his memorial had been handed to the Minis-
ter, to whom your petitioner was referred. That your
petitioner then applied to Sir Robert Peel, and was re-
ferred by him to the Colonial Department ; whereupon
he wrote again, stating the circumstances of his case to
Lord Stanley, and was referred by Lord Stanley to his
Lordship's former answer.
That, but for the heavy expenses attending your peti-
tioner's defence at law, his long captivity, the consequent
loss of several years in the prime of his early manhood,
and the injury done to his prospects in life by the preju-
dices excited against him, your petitioner would, proba-
bly, have risen to affluence, and would not have been, as
he now is, at advanced age, poor and needy, and subject
in consequence to the most distressing privations.
That, important to ycur petitioner as has been his ap-
pointment to an office of trust under the Crown, in so
far as it has cleared his character from the imputations
falsely cast upon it, yet your petitioner submits that his
wrongs, so far as they admit of the ordinary mode of
estimation, remain to this day unredressed. By his ap-
pointment to office under the Crown, his innocence has
been proclaimed ; but as the office was abolished almost
as soon as conferred upon him, aisd was productive to
him of loss rather than gain, for the severe and unme-
rited punishment with which he was visited, he has re.,
eeived no retribution.
That your petitioner will not now moot the question,
whether, during the period from 1794 to 1802 the dan-
ger in which the country was then placed was so great
and imminent as to justify the Government in suspend-
ing the laws which are the safeguards of the personal
liberty of the subject ; but, conceding that point for the
sake of argument, it is on the following view of the case
that he builds his claim for redress.
That the only legitimate end for departing from the
sacred principles of criminal procedure, is to provide. for
the public security in times of great and. imminent
danger; that all such departures necessarily. involve the
risk of visiting with unmerited punishment some inno-
cent men; that the community, in the protection. it thus
receives from danger, profits by the risk. it incurs of in-
flicting wrong; and that justice and policy require that
whenever the innocence of a party unwarily so punished
by the State is rendered manifest, the State should
afford to the party injured full atonement and indem-
nification.
That when the Logislature, to ward off danger, has
armed the executive with extraordinary powers, it may
possibly be requisite that for acts done in pursuance of
such powers, but of unquestionable legality, the officers
of the Government should be protected, and that in suds
cases, perhaps indemnity bills may be required ; that
such measures, however, so far from absolving the State
from the duty of repairing the wrongs it has unwarily
done to innocence suspected of guilt, on the contrary,
imposes on it the sacred duty of proffering that redress
which it has prevented the injured from obtaining before
justice.
Your ordinary tribunals of
Your petitioner, therefore, prays that your Honourable
House will be pleased to take this petition into your
serious consideration, and afford to your petitioner such
redress as to your Honourable House may seem meet,
PAUL THOMAS LEMAITRE.
Hammersmith, Aug. 10,1846.
'n - -

THE MOORS.—Mr. Campbell, of Monzie, on the 21st
current, bagged on the hill of Monzie 191 brace of grouse,
one black cock, one snipe, one duck, one rabbit, and 24
hares ;in all, 410 head of game—a number:greatly exceed-
ing anything yet recorded, The birds are considerably
stronger than on the 12th, and, though very abundant, wore
extremely shy, from the recent wet weather.—Edinburgh
Witness.

A STRANGE MIS:MM.—A few days ago, while a
number of persons were engaged at harvest work in a field
near Belford, the steward put off his waistcoat to assist is
binding, and placed it on the top of some sheaves, following
the reapers down the field in the usual course of their work
till they were quite out of sight of the clothes. Two per-
sons, a mason and his wife, who were going to employment
on the railway, as they were travelling along the road ad-
joining to the field observed one of the " navvies" go over
the fence into the corn-field, strip off his own waistcoat,
put on the one lying on the sheaves, and instantly run off at
a quick pace. The two persons informed the reapers of
what had taken place, and on coining to the spot where the
waistcoat had been left, the steward found a ragged article
lying in its place, and, being afraid to touch it with his hands. ,
took it up on the point of a sickle, and was dangling tb.t
rags about to the amusement of his fellow-labourers, when.,
to his great surprise, three sovereigns fell out of one of the
pockets, and this of course reconciled him to what he at first
thought a worthless exchange, and checked the jeering and
sport of his companions. A short tinte-after the discovery of
the money, the poor" navvy" returned with a penitent look,
imploringly lamenting his " mistake ;" but he was told he
had the bargain of his own making, and he must now keep ,
what be had got,--Ncrecastk .4dt:eraser_