The Sun.
London, England, 1833-11-29 00:00:00

(I)RICE TD.)

WEST INDIES.

We received the Cornwall Chronicle, a paper
published at Montego Bay, Jamaica, of October
12, which contains the Speech of Lord Mulgrave
on the opening or the Legislative Assembly on the
Bth, with a brief abstract of the subsequent pro•
reeding% in the House of As•embly on that day.
it will be seen by the subsequent proceedings, that
the first steps were taken by motions to bring in
Bills to abolish slavery, and for the further toleration
of religious worship, to carry the Act of last ses-
s;on into effect. The following is Lord Mulgrave's

SpeeCh:;-
4, Gentlemen of the Council,
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly.
" That period is at length arrived, which I have
long anxiously expected, when I can meet you with
the certain prospect of being able to lay before you,
during the Session, every information from home,
connected with that most important change in the
state of society here, towards which the public at-
tention has now, for some time, been impatiently
directed. So desirous was 1 that the earliest oppor-
tunity should be given for you to exercise your dis-
cretion, in expressing your opinion upon this sub-
ject, that the moment I received decisive kteili.
gence as to the proposed measures of his Miqesty's
Government, I determined at once to convene the

Legislature. Delay, arising from causes over whicl,
there was no control, unexpectediy intervened, and
subsequent prorogations were the necessary conse-
quence. Knowing, however, that there is not only
an arrear of business from the last Session, but that
much new matter must be expected to come before
you, and that it is this year particularly desirable
that you should not be detained from your homes
till the very eve of the holiday, I have been most
unwilling again to postpone your meeting; and I
have called you together now in the confidence that,
in a very few days, I may be able to submit to you,
in the most official form, every communication from
the British Government on this one all-absorbing

question.
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly,
"It is impossible not to feel that this is a mo-
ment when it behoves you to exercise every prac-
ticable economy, consistent with the efficiency of
the public service, but as there is no branch of that
service more important at present than that which
secures the peace of the country, I have no doubt
that you will readily make provision for some items
connected with the maintenance of the garrison'
which were not included by his Majesty's Govern
ment in that general exemption from the charge fol
the subsistence of the troops, which I had last yea'
the satisfaction of announcing to the Legislature.
Upon these points I shall take the earliest oppor-
tuni,v of communicating to you the detail.
" -Gentlemen of the Council,
"Mr. Speaker, and Q ntlemen of the Assembly,
" The crisis at which we are at present assembled.
is not only of an importance unparalleled in the an-
nals of 'he colony, but the interests it involves ar.
of as vital and comprehensive a nature, in relatio,
to the community represented, as perhaps ever ar-
rested the attention of a legislative body. You•
task now commences; and I have no doubt that
postponing all minor considerations from a lease of
paramount importance of this great question, yot•
will enter upon it in a true spirit of conciliation, anti
with that thorough understanding of the actual
state of the case, which can alone lead to a sati.tac-

tory decision. My active duties, with relation
this subject, I consider cieval with the first publir
announcement of the intended plan of Governmen .
and my attention was at once directed to preserv.
the public peace, under the inevitable excitement
thus woduced. In furtherance of which object,
have availed myself of all the means at present placed
at my disposal, to increase the number of the garri-
son, and I have acted upon the authority which I
had in anticipation requested anti procured, to rendet
the services of the troops mope immedia•ely ava I.
able by the disposition of detachments in different
country posts. I have lately made a personal in-
spection of all the most populous dist, lets of the
island, and I am happy to assure you, that I have
nositteia,seen any reason to apprehend the slightest
disturbwige. I have uniformly taken pains myself
to explain to the negro population wherever I have
had an opportunity, that whatever good intentions
his Majesty might have in their behalf, it was by
their own good conduct alone that they could in-
sure its ultimate fulfilment. That, in the meantime,
nothing could interfere with their masters, still un-
doubted right to their services. That, even after
the projected change, they could expect legit pro-
tection only under a system of moderate work, and
that, whatever might be their country or t heir colour,
those who are born to labour must live by industry.
" To the general diffusion of such sentiments
amongst the negroes, as coming from the Execu-
tive, I am inclined to attach some importance, and,
at the same, in connexion with the great object of
preserving the peace of the country, in the anxious
interval which must elapse before any new system
can be matured, I do not doubt that you will feel as
strongly as I do that power, resting upon personal
authority, which is about to expire, had always
better be gradually and voluntarily abandoned, than
abruptly extinguished at the period fixed by a legis-
lative enactment. It was with this view, acid in
the full confidence that such would be your senti-
ments, that the date of the first change, as originally
proposed by the Government, was afterwards post-
poned. If, therefore, amongst the subordinate ma-
nagers of properties, there should, in some instances,
unfortunately appear a disposition to strain to the
utmost in its extreme severity, and to its latest
hour, that power of discretionary punishment which
is at pt esent in their hands, I feel assured that you
would consider such a course as dangerous, not only
to the actual tranquillity, but to the subsequent
orderly settlement of the community; and that, as
representing the general interests of the colony, and
the real owners of the slave, as you would, under
present circumstances, more than ever discourage
any capricious sir, tch of discipline, not necessary
to the enforcement of that legal portion of labour
which must be obtained.
" The question of the abolition of slavery is one,
the con-tent agitation of which is frequently al-
leged to have paralysed many of the resources of
this fertile colony. It has long been evident that
this state of things could but lead to one termina-
tion ; its ultimate settlement was, therefore, on all
accounts desirable. The unavoidable crisis has at
last been accelerated by the almost unanimous voice
tif your fellow-subjects in the Mother Country.
However praiseworthy the motives of their inter-
ference, you might have had just reason to com-
plain, had the attempt been made to redeem the
national character, and to vindicate the cause of
humanity at your exclusive expense; but the sym
pathy of the British people has not been of that
spurious, self-sparing nature; and the liberality of
the sacrifice, on their part, has beer► worthy of the
magnitude of the object they disinterestedly sough'
to obtain.. Long before this time, a grant of twenty
millions to the present owners of slaves will, as an
Act of Parliament, have received the Royal Assent.
It is but justice to you to state, that you have never
expressed any desire to perpetuate slavery, pro.
vided compensation could, as at present, be se.
cured. To the principle of the change I do not,
therefore, anticipate any objection. Upon its details
I shall most gladly avail myself of your judgment
and experience. I cordially invite the most unre-
served communications with myself upon whatever