The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—In the latest news from Jamaica there
was but one item of importance—that the Govern..
ment had introduced a bill to repeal the Act just
passed for the amendment of the Constitution, and
to transfer the whole control of the island directly
to the Queen. This measure, which, extraordinary
as it is, seemed not unlikely to be accepted by the
Legislature, shows the pass to which an old and
once respectable community may be brought by the
reckless play of political passions. The outbreak at
Morant Bay seems to have brought to a crisis the
malady which so long afflicted the island. The
fury of the negro against the white, the fear by the
white of the rebellious negro, the fierce invectives
on the authorities by the Radical leaders and press,
and the hasty legislation by which the Executive has
in turn sought to restrain the turbulent politicians
of the island, show a state of society which in days
gone by might have been paralleled nearer home,
but which we should have hoped was not to be
found in any part of the British Empire. It comes
to this—that a Constitution which was in force
when the most important of our colonies were path-
less deserts, and when the nations of the Continent
had not yet conceived the idea of freedom, is to be
swept away completely, and replaced simply by such
forms of administration as may be directed by her
Majesty by Letters Patent or by an Order in Coun-
cil. The Sovereign of Great Britain is by this bill
intrusted with the utmost power that has ever been
claimed in what is called a " Crown colony." The
Queen may create and constitute, and from time to
time alter and amend, such forms of Legislature as
to her may seem meet and best; she may alter the
present administrative machinery of the Executive
Committee which has been established by statute,
and in lieu thereof create, and from time to time
vary, whatever administrative machinery to her
shall seem best, " and such Letters Patent and
each such Order in Council, or any instructions un-
der her Majesty's Royal signet and sign manual in
furtherance thereof, shall have the same force and
effect, and be as valid in law, as if the same had
been enacted by the Governor, Legislative Coun-
cil, and Assembly of Jamaica, or by the Parliament
of Great Britain and Ireland." This is the measure
the first reading of which was carried by a con-
siderable majority in the Assembly a month ago,
and which, if it meets the approval of the Home
Government, will probably pass into a law. It
seems, too, to be satisfactory both to the Govern-
ment and its opponents. The former propose it ;
the latter acquiesce on the ground that government
by the Colonial-office—that is, by the British
Cabinet, - responsible to the British Parliament—
must be better than the rule which has hitherto
prevailed in the island. After the shock which the
colony has received by the Morant Bay rising, and
the proof given by the late events that the animosi-
ties which have come into being of late years
threaten the very existence of society, all parties
seem to unite in the desire to get rid of a political
machinery which can no longer be worked without
difficulty and danger. Executive and people,
planter and negro, Churchman and Dissenter, the
few rich and the vast multitude of poor, would all
apparently be glad to substitute the paternal
despotism of the British Ministry for such liberty
as Jamaica has possessed in these days. It is the
old political story which has been so often told.
Free institutions have failed because they have not
been temperately worked, and the community de-
sires to take refuge under some power which will as-
sure its safety and quiet.We cannot see without regret
this retrogression in an old and still important British
dependency. There was a chance that in Jamaica
the coloured race would be fitted for the enjoyment
of civilisation and the exercise of political rights.
Brown men and black men made up the vast ma-
jority of the population; they had in every respect
equal rights with the whites, who were too few and
too weak to exercise any social oppression, and who,
if even they had been able to do so, were restrained
by the power of the British Crown. The negroes
could live easily in a country where the earth yields
its fruits so abundantly, where nature requires little
animal food, and where clothing is a matter of
decency or ornament, and not of protection. The
composition of the Legislature appears to an inquirer
at a distance to have been unobjectionable. The
Council was appointed by the Crown, and is acknow-
ledged to consist of the most able, temperate, and
trustworthy men to be found in the island. The
Home of Assembly has had discredit brought on it
by the election from time to time of improper per-
sons. But, whatever its faults, it certainly had not
that of being a house of planters. Out of 47 mem-
bers there are, or lately were, some eight or nine
coloured men and several Jewish merchants or
traders. Indeed, the planter element appears to have
been comparatively weak in the house, and to what-
ever cause this be owing, it disposes of the objection
that the island was governed by a dominant oligarchy.
On the whole, we are inclined to think that the
House of Assembly very fairly represented the
island. Though the constituent body was small—a
defect which seems to have arisen more from the
apathy of the voters than from the excess of the
qualification—yet it was open equally to men of
every class, creed, and colour, and we find that it
could elect an ultra-Radical in Gordon, and return a
house in which the Opposition was strongly repre-
sented. There is no conspicuous reason why such
a Constitution should fail, and yet it undoubt-
edly has failed. If we look into the matter a
little more closely, however, wo perceive that in
the society of the island there were no influences
strong enough to keep politicians within those
bounds of moderation and generosity without which
responsible Government can hardly be carried on.
Successive Governors, successive Executives, may
have had their faults, but there is reason to believe
that the political collapse of the island has heen
chiefly due to the reckless manner in which political
warfare has been carried on. The aboriginal Caribs
of the island could not have tomahawked or scalped
their enemies with greater ferocity than the Radicals
of the present day have vituperated their opponents.
Long before Mr. Eyre came to the island—which,
indeed, was only three years ago—the evil was at
its height ; but it is his misfortune to be in office
when it has produced the final catastrophe. Every
man who came forward in a public position in
Jamaica had to prepare for a flood of abuse and
misrepresentation, for taunts, for insinuations, for
gross personalities, not always confined to himself,
but sometimes extending to his family and household.
We have already seen how Governor Eyre was
charged by Gordon with defrauding the island out
of the price of a piano, and Baron von Ketelholdt
of appropriating to his own use a charitable fund ;
and numbers of similar accusations by the Radical
speakers will be forthcoming if any one chooses to
inquire for them. Yet we may hope that the Con-
stitution of the island will not be permanently abro-
gated, and that if the Home Government be intrusted
with the task of framing new institutions it will
bear in mind that the failure of the present Con-
stitution has been due to certain well-understood
causes, which may be removed by a short period of
firm rule, and not to any inherent impotsibility of
free government in a community of mixed race.
There is little news now to be expected till Sir
Henry Storks arrives. Mr. Cardwell's despatch
gave general satisfaction, though, of course, it was
only a formal official reply to that of the Governor.
The Jamaica people were, up to the last advices,
perfectly satisfied with their own conduct and that
of the authorities during the rebellion. The island
was quiet, and business fully restored. The first
part of the drama was over, the second had not yet
begun.

THE " ANGLO AMERICAN TIMES" ON AMERICAN
LIBERALITY TO ENGLAND.--In another portion of
this paper we insert the Report of the Trustees of
Mr. George Peabody's gift to the poor of London ;
and, without intending to comment on the report
further than to say that it is in the highest degree
satisfactory, we think it will not be out of place to
make some allusion to Mr. Peabody himself, and
to certain peculiarities of the American people,
of which he is so worthy and honored a representa-
tive. Mr. Peabody is no more and no less than a
private and unostentatious American gentleman.
There are few Americans who have the power to do
good on the magnificent scale which he has done,
but there is nothing whatever of merit in his charac-
ter which does not belong equally to "thousands and
thousands of his countrymen. His charity to the
city of London necessarily attracted wide attention,
but the gift Ras modestly made, and not with the
intention "to be seen of men." Those who know
anything of his career need not be told this ; for his
charities are so extensive, and at the same
time so judicious, that his name has become a
" household word" in millions of homes on both
sides of the Atlantic. Starthig in life with no more
than a very moderate competence, he has lived to
the ripe age of three-score-and-ten, and by a course
of strict business probity and honor, has realised
an enormous fortune. This fortune is to him, how-
ever, a means and not an end. He uses it to pro-
mote the happiness of his fellow-creatures. It is
now something like a third of a century since Mr.
PEABODY, then a young and ambitious man, went ,
out from his paternal home in Danvers, Massachu-
setts, to seek his fortune. Danvers is a remote and
an uninteresting place, but his heart has ever been
true to the spot where his early days were passed ;
and, after so many years, he turns back to his
native town and endows her with a gift, as a token
of his affection, which cannot be called " princely "
simply because no prince has ever shown such
splendid liberality. Mr. Peabody lived for a
few years in his early life in Baltimore,
and Alexandria, Virginia. He has not forgotten
those towns in the bestowal of his favors, in
each of which he has endowed institutions cal-
culated to promote the intellectual, moral, and