The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-26 00:00:00

JAMAICA.

In the sitting of the Jamaica Legislature of the 9th
ult., the address of the Assembly to the Governor of
Jamaica, in reply to his speech at the opening of the
session, was read. It is as follows :
" May it please your Excellency,—We, her Ma-
jesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Assembly of
Jamaica, thank your Excellency for your speech at
the opening of the session.
" Whilst we appreciate the motives which have in-
duced your Excellency to call us together at this
unusual period, we tregret the circumstance; because
we fear the opportunity so anxiously sought by the
inhabitants at their many public meetings, for devis-
ing measures to avert the abandonment of properties,
now too far gone for beneficial support, has passed by;
and because we cannot see the propriety of issuing Treasury certificates at present to meet the deficiency
in the ways and means of the year.
"It may not be wise legislation to vote a certain
amount of expenditure without the means of defray-
ing it; but relying on relief and assistance from the
Imperial Parliament—a reliance encouraged by your
Excellency's assurances contained in your opening
speech to us last session—we did not disturb the ex-
isting institutions of the country at that period,
though we then felt assured of the utter impossibility
of raising sufficient means to uphold the present out-
lay, unless the system of British legislation which
has brought frightful misery and desolation to the
door of every inhabitant of the colony, was materially
and beneficially altered.
" Seeing now no chance of the fulfilment of those
hopes on which we were induced to rely, we feel that
it were better to suffer the imputation of unwise than
oppressive legislation. With every desire, therefore,
to support institutions so necessary to our social exist-
ence, we deem it our bounden duty to abstain from
increasing taxation on a people no longer able to
endure it.

"We agree with your Excellency, that under
usual circumstances it would be a pity, having had
the trouble of assembling, to separate even by ad-
journment for any considerable period without doing
something for the general and permanent benefit of
the colony ; but, under existing circumstances, wholly
destitute as we are of the means, we feel our power-
less position and our utter inability to enter upon
improvement of any kind. It were needless, there-
fore, to dwell at any length on the various sugges-
tions which your Excellency has made to us, doubt-
less with a sincere desire for our ultimate advantage.
" Your Excellency has informed us that it is your
sincere conviction that the destinies of Jamaica, for
many years to come, may be said to be in our hands,
and that there is nothing likely to be done by the
mother country that need prevent us, with God's
blessing, and our united exertions, from making the
inhabitants of this island one of the happiest of the
communities of men, and an example to the western
world of all that is good in the various conditions of
human society. We should, indeed, be happy if we
could join your Excellency in this delightful antici-
pation ; but our present gloomy position presents far
different prospects, which are not brightened by the
assurance of your Excellency, that we are standing
in dangerous and critical circumstances, which, by wil-
ful and desperate courses, and the erroneous manage-
ment of public affairs, may lead to a great and signal
calamity.
" We feel bound to express how deeply we deplore
that your Excellency should have found it necessary;
in drawing our attention to these circumstances, and
the proximity of neighbouring countries, to infer that
there is one man in this island, or a British subject
any where, so insane, or so divested of just and moral
feeling, as to wish to retrace those steps which have
led to the banishment of slavery for ever from British
soil. We, one and all, repudiate even the thought ;
and, on behalf of our constituents, declare unequi-
vocally our belief that no such sentiment, even by
stealth, has penetrated the heart of any single inha-
bitant of Jamaica."
His Excellency replied as follows :
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly,—
I am happy in knowing that I have never given you
any assurances which I was not justified in giving,
have
been on which any reliance on your part would
been misplaced.
" I observe with great, if not with unqualified sa-
tisfaction, that you characterise the idea of any return
towards slavery by the names of immorality, injus•
tice, and insanity; and I hope that there is no indi-
vidual amongst you who will not himself carefully
abstain from any language which might create an
impression of his entertaining such ideas, and that
you will inculcate a like caution on those who may
be in your employment, or over whom you may have
any influence."

IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN WHEAT.—During this
week six vessels from Holland, laden with upwards [of
33,400 bushels of wheat, have arrived at this port. One
vessel has also arrived from Denmark, with 8,120 bushels
of barley.—Bristol Mirror.

DUBLIN, SEPT. 25.—The Judges under the Specs3,l
Commission having finished all the preliminary mat—
ters of the trials at an early hour on Saturday, ad-
journed the Court to Thursday next, when the trials
of the prisoners will probably commence before a
petty jury,
The following are the details of Saturday's pro-
ceedings :
CLONMEL, SEPT. 23.—Shortly after eleven o'clock,
Mr. Justice Moore took his seat. Bills of indict-
ment for high treason against persons in a humble
rank of life were sent up to the grand jury. Their
names are Edmund Egan, John Cormac, David Cun-
ningham, Wm. Peart, Thos. }lnane, John J3rennass,
John Preston, and Thomas Stack. •
At half-past one o'clock the prisoners against whom
bills were found, being all those already named, ex-
cept Cunningham and Cormac, were arraigned. They
are wretched-looking men, poor peasants, and appa-
rently illiterate. To each a copy of the indictment
was given, and each was informed that he could then
nominate an attorney and two counsel, or girt the
names of those whom he desired to select to the
Clerks of the Crown any time between that day and
Thursday; they were also told that that they should
plead on Saturday,: the 30th instant.
The prisoner Egan said he had not made up his mind
as to whom he would nominate to act as his attorney.
The others nominated Mr. Verelane as their at-
torney, and have not yet given in the names of their
counsel. The prisoners were then re-escorted to
prison.
The CHIEF JUSTICE intimated to the grand „jury
than attendance would not be again required till
Thursday next, the 28th inst., upon which day the
Court would sit at ten o'clock. His Lordship asked
the Attorney-General if he had any more bills to
send• before the grand jury ?
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL replied in the negative,
but observed that probably on Thursday he would
have other bills, which he would send up to the grand
jury.
The CHIEF JUSTICE then adjourned the Court tilt
Thursday.
The Chief Justice and Chief Justice' Doherty will
remain at Knocklofty Castle, the seat of the Earl of
Donoughmore, till the re-opening of the Court.
Justice Moore will stop with his brother, Mr. Moore,
of Barna. _

With respect to the prisoner Egan, it may be
worth stating that he swore informations as a Crown
witness, but taking, or pretending to have taken,
fever, he declared that all he had sworn was the mere
ravings of fever, and that he knew nothing about the
transactions to which he deposed. The Crown were
resolved not to permit him to escape, and accordingly
included him with the others in the bill for high
treason.

Almost every relation of Mr. Smith O'Brien (says
a Limerick paper), including his venera)ple mother,
wife, mother-in-law, brother, cousins, and sisters, are
now at Clonmel, watching with anxious and painful
solicitude his trial. The Dowager Lady O'Brien
had a long interview with her son at Clonmel ou
Thursday last, the first for several weeks befog his
being made prisoner. Mrs. Smith O'Brien accom-
panied her to the prison. This aflecting scene took
place before Mr. Smith O'Brien was removed to the
Court-house on true bills being found. As Mrs. S.
O'Brien was proceeding towards the gaol in her car-
riage a large crowd of persons followed. The High
Sheriff told them that they should not annoy the
lady, who was in trouble, when one of the party
cried out, " She won't belong so, for we'll rescue her
husband, and I'll be one of the first to do so." The
Sheriff at once arrested the speaker, and handed him
over to two constables.

ARREST OF A BRITISH OFFICER AT KINGSTOWN,
AND SEIZURE OF ins ARMS.--On the arrival of her
Majesty's mail-steamer on Saturday at Kingstown,
about 12 o'clock, a gentleman, dressed in the clothes
of a civilian, or private individual, landed with others
on the pier. A policeman, not in uniform, was on the
pier at the time, and he observed amongst the gentle-
man's luggage what appeged to his sagacious zeal to
be a collection of pikes, besides two handsomely-
mounted dress. swords. The zealous official at once
pounced upon his arms, and arrested their owner,
who, notwithstanding the fatigue of his journey, had,
nolens volens, to accompany his captor to the office of
the Police Commissioners, at Dublin Castle, there to
give an account of himself, and doubtless to prove
that he was not a foreign emissary sent to Ireland
with full powers to treat with the generalissimo and
leaders of the " formidable army of Irish rebels
encamped on the Tipperary and Waterford moun-
tains." On the gentleman's arriving at the Castle-
yard he inquired for the commissioner (Colonel
Browne), but he was at the time absent. It then trans-
pired that the supposed foreign emissary was just no
more or no less than Doctor French, navy surgeon,
in the service of her British Majesty, an Irish gen-
tleman, the only things foreign about him being his
name (though that too is Irish), and his complexion,
which was in no small degree bronzed by the long
s'ljourn of the gallant and learned gentleman on
service in the East. He, it appeared, had brought
with him, as curiosities, one large and some smaller
spears, used by the Affghanistan troops, and these,
with his dress-swords, had, in the excited fancy of
the policeman, been set down as direct evidences of
an incendiary purpose. Doctor French, after having
waited a long time, in the hope of seeing Colonel
Browne, left his card (being of course liberated on
his identity being established), and stated that he
would call on Monday to claim his property.

LIBERATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS.
On Saturday, pursuant to the order, of the Privy
Council, made on the 18th instant, I\lr. Justice
Crampton attended in chamber for the purpose of
admitting to bail the parties mentioned in the order,
who have been confined under the Habeas Corpus
Suspension Act.

Mr. Baldwin, Q.C., and Mr. Perrin appeared for
the Crown ; Messrs. J. A. Curran, John E. O'Aloore,
James Burke, O'Driscoll, and Hickey, attended on
the part of several of the prisoners.
A difficulty arose with reference to the gentlemen
who are confined in country prisons, as the order
limited the power to take bail to Justices of the
Court of Queen's Bench, and as the presence of the
parties was necessary. Mr. Baldwin, however, on
the part of the Crown, stated that the persons con-
fined in the country prisons would be brought to
town, for the purpose of carrying out the order of
the Privy Council. The prisoners, with respect to
whom this course will have to be adopted, are Mr.
Thomas Bergin, Mr. Stewart Wright, and Thomas
I%l'Grade.

The other prisoners mentioned in the order who
were confined in Newgate and Kilmainham were
brought up in the custody of the governors of those
gaols, and having entered into their own recogni-
zances of 1001., and two sureties of 501. each, were
liberated. Their names are—Gabriel White, Mi-
chael Hanly, Patrick Mulhane, Edward Lambert,
Peter M‘lienzie, James M'Grath, Gunning Taafe,
James Edmond O'Donohoe, John Sheehan, Henry
Broxten, Andrew Behan, Edward Behan, and Richard
Johnstone. The condition of the recognizance was
that the party should appear at the next commission,
and then from time to time. A. few were admitted
to bail at a lower amount of recognizance than that
mentioned above.

THE GODLESS COLLEGES.—The Freeman's Journal
of this morning states, on the authority of a Roman
correspondent, that " in a few days more the infidel
colleges will stand condemned for ever, and that the
bribery scheme, as affecting the clergy, will also fail."
This intelligence confirms the statement published
some days since.
STOCK EXCHANGE,
Three per Cent. Consols, 8.5 t ; Dublin and Kings-
toys n Railway Debentures, four per cent., 91 ; Dun-
dalk and Enniskillen, li; Great Southern and Wes-
tern, 22i.

SHORT-TIME MovEMENT.—A meeting of the ope-
rative bakers of Woolwich and its vicinity was held on
Saturday evening at the Steam Packet Hotel, for the
purpose of aiding the movement in progress in the me-
tropolis for the abolition of night work, and the limita-
tion of the hours of labour, and to take such measures
as would most effectually promote the passing of the Bill
introduced in the last session of Parliament by Lord
Robert Grosvenor and Sir B. Ball. A deputation from
the central committee of London attended the meeting.
Resolutions were carried in support of the Bill, and for
the formation of a protection society similar to that re-
cently established in Greenwich, to prevent baking and
carrying out dinners on Sundays.—A similar meeting of
the journeymen bakers of the Paddington district to the
above movement was also held on the same evening at
the Weimer Castle, Stingo-lane, New road. Mr
in the chair. Resolutions deploringpresentGi Gibbs
in
their
graded position. asserting the necessity of legislative in-
terference, and expressive of confidence in the central
committee, were proposed and passed. The speakers
enumerated the hardships and inconveniences to which
the system of night-labour subjected them, and defined
the enactment which they sought for as a bill of health,
not a labour bill, One which would place the opetative
baker on a par with other tradesmen, and afford him an
opportunity of self-culture. They were sanguine of
having a measure in their favour passed next session, as
they had received from the Government a pledge of neu-
trality and a promise of active co-operation from men of
every political creed in the House of Commons, their
warmest advocates being Lord Robert Grosvenor, Sir
Benjamin Hall, and Lord Ashley.
CONSERVATIVE PARTY.—The sudden death of Lord
George Bentinck will probably lead to the re-union of
the Conservative party. We understand that on Wed-
nesday next a numerous and influential meeting of the
leading members of the Dissenting body will be held, to
consider the rumoured intention of the Russell Cabitet
to propose in some form the endowment of the Roman
Catholic clergy in Ireland. It will probably be then
determined whether it is expedient not to proceed at
present beyond a simple declaration of hostility to any
proposal of the kind, or at once to organise an oppo-
sition to a measure not yet before the public.—Patriot.

WEATHER.—Sus OFFICE, SEPTEMBER 26.
Tiii:nmumETEn, Lowest, 55; Highest, 63; Noon, 61.

BAROI4ETEA, 29.65.
WIND RW.E., much rain.