The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-20 00:00:00

as -
n-Denbighshire Mr. Bagot has defeated- Mr. Bid-
-4610h, the late Radical Member, and that county has
now returned all Conservatives. Our factious con-
temporaries render the highest tribute to the talent, elo-
quence, and worth of Sir George Murray, when they
express their delight at the issue of the late contest in
Perthshire. We should indeed be guilty of the gross-
est affectation did we suppress our 'deep regret at the
choice of the electors of that county, who, influenced
by accusations triumphantly refuted, and charges pro-
tected from refutation by their vagueness, have elected
an unknown man (the son of a Nobleman, certainly
not distinguished by any of the attributes which
Ove importance and respectability to rank),
instead of one of the most eminent indivi-
duals in the living biography of Scotland. We
have no doubt this important victory will be the string
on which the Radical journals will harp for many
days to come. They very judiciously overlook Shrop-
shire, Leicestershire, and Essex, .where a Destructive
did not dare to show his face, and point to the in-
stance of Perthshire, where Radical gold and Radi-
cal bluster have gained a temporary success. Are our
contemporaries aware that the influence of the Whig
Marquis of Breadalbane is potential in the county of
Perth ? Are they cognizant of the fact that, emu-
lating the example of his Grace of Devonshire and his
Lordship of Durham, the consistent Peer.in question,
deprecating of course all undue influence, and ready
to disfranchise any town in which the little finger of
a Conservative Peer has been moved on behalf of
order and good Government, has thrown the entire
weight of his loirs into the Destructive scale ? Our
contemporaries must know all this, inasmuch as the
parasites and followers of the Noble Marquis do not
sound their trumpets very gentle upon the occasion in
honour of his Lordship as a liberal and high-spirited
friend of the people. As to the hope which our con-
temporaries seem to indulge, of keeping Sir George
Murray out of the House of Commons, we advise -
them not to lay that " flattering unction to their souls."
Vacancies in the reirasentation are sure to occur, and
we do not believe -there is another constituency in the
United Kingdom (save, of course, the metropolitan
districts, and the O'Connell boroughs in the sister
country) which wowed not gladly receive the Right
Honourable Gentleman, and entrust with confi-
dence their riohts and privileges to his care and
ability. Sir George Murray has done more for
the civil and religious liberties of the nation during.
his Parliamentary career than can reasonably be
expected from Mr. Fox Maple, should his years
extend to the period of the return of the Whigs to
power, a apace likely, we imagine, to afford him ample
opportunity for the requisition of experience. We are
inclined to attribute the result of the Perthshire elec-
tion chiefly to the confidence of the Conservatives,
who, knowing their .strength, did not anticipate an
opposition, while the Destructiaes were secretly and
stealthi.ly. at work. The failure in Perthshire will
indeed be productive of much good, should it rouse
the lovers:of their King and country to a due sense of
the necessity of union, activity, and energy, to coun-
teract the indefatigable and unceasing exertions of their
revoluti.onery opponents. We regret to find th,:. the
talents and acquirements of Mr. Escott are -faorat,, pre-
sent lost to the country in the Pr°Per. sphere for their
full development—the 'House of i2ommons. We can-
not understand what the %mere of the western division
of Somersetshire are about. While the yeomen of the
eastern portion of that county have vindicated their
independetoce and chosen as one of their Representa-
tives Me. Miles. a true friend of the agricultural cause,
dee electors of the western division have again intrusted
the care of their interests to Messrs. Tynte and Sand-
ford, the former of whom is only known as an invete-
rate Radical, the latter conspicuous from having
played fast and loose on every possible occasion. Per-
haps the electecs were enamoured of the consistency of
Sir Thomas Leihbridee, whose perpetual boxing of
the political compass has for the present terminated
in the recommendation of the aforesaid Gentlemen to-
the constituency of Scinersetshire. Had talent, prin-
ciple, andintegrity been duly. appreciated, Mr. Escott
would have been at the head of the poll.-21forn. Post.
The accounts front Jamaica continue to be of a
very unsatisfactory nature. In the Chronicle of
Thursday, we gave an account of some proceedings of
the Colonial Government, from which it appears that.
its different branches ;ire in a state of considerable dis-
ution. The report of the Committee of the House
(if Assembly, appointed to inquire into .the state of
the Colonv,gi gives a gloomy, and indeed alarming
view of the aspect of things. The general conclusion
at yahich the . Comnemittee arrive, is, •". that the fie:W`
system is. not succeeding." They say that the hours
of work fixed by the Abolition Act are inadequate to
enable the cultivation of the country to be continued
—.that the negroes are performing no fair pro-
portion of work during even these limited hours—
that idleness and contempt of authority are
clairy. becoming More apparCnt and alarming—and
that, the. crops are . in danger of being lost, to
a considerable extent, from the want of cultivation.
and care. For these evils, they propose several
remedies, the first and chief of which is the appoint-
ment " of a more numerous and competent Magis-
tracy, possessing local experience and knowledge, to I
preseree order, repiess crime, and enforce industry."
They further 'recommend amendments in the law, de-
fining more accurately the relative duties of master and
apprentice ; and regulations as to the time of labour,
so as to secure the safe gathering in of the great staple'
of the island, the sugar crop. This Committee,- in the
Course of their proceedinaa, examined a number of
'Missionaries and others, whom they summoned from
'different -parts of the island. These examinations,
it appears, were taken upon- oath ; a course of pro-
ceeding which, if not absolutely illegal, is, at all
events, quite unusual in the case of a mere inquiry
under the authority of a body exercising a legis:
lative, not a ;udicial, function. One of the Piaptist
.Missionary..; :as summoned, declined to submit to
• an examination upon oath, and • wate committed to
prison by the House of Assetra'aly for a breach of
privilege. A file of the Jar;saica Watchman which
we have just received, coP:ains the details of this affair,
which seen) to have created a great sensation in the
.island. It appear's from the statements in the above
paper, that Mr, Abbott, the missionary in question,
obeyed the :Ammons of the Committee to attend them
at SpauiF,ln Town, where they were sitting ; and, while
trziiting to be called before them, received information'
that the Chairman of the Committee had received an
affidavit containing matter of criminatory import against
re him. On being called before the Committee, and the
se" oath being tendered him, he refused to take it, accom-
4*-. ponying his refusal with the following reasons, in
%arising :—" First, I decline taking the oath, as I do
slot conceive the Committee to be a judicial authority ;
second, I conceive it to be. absurd and impious to take
an oath on a mere ;natter of opinion ; third, informa-
tion hes reached me that -charges have been preferred
against me be ;re this Committee. Ido not consider,
therefore, that -I am bound to answer any questions
upon oath that may have a tendency to criminate
Notwithstanding these reasons, the House
of Assembly (as we we have said) committed Mr.
Abbott:to prison for breach of privilege. He obtained
s. writ of Habeas Corpus, in virtue of which he was
brought before the' Chief Justice ; who, on hearing the
case, decided against him ; so that lie remained in pri-
son at the date of the last accounts. Mr. Abbott
seems to have had grounds for believing, that matter
extracted from his evidence might be- turned against
himself ; for it_stppears from the evidence that the con-
e _duct of the Missionaries was one of the subjects of
inquiry ; and the report of the Committee plainly I
-alludes to this evidence, when it speaks of " a secret
influence, not susceptible of legal proof, but closely at
work, to subvert the apprenticeship system by the sim-
ple but sure mode of exciting a combination among the
labourers." On the 26th November the House of
Assembly presented an address to the Marquis of
Sligo, requesting his Excellency to invest. with special
commissions such a number of the local magistrates
in each parish as might be sufficient to enforce
order and subordination. The Governor, in his
reply, declined acceding to this request, on the
ground that, th3ugh C!' number of special magistrates
originally sent from home was insufficient for the du-
ties they had to perform, yet the deficiency had been
partly supplied h': eppointments made by him of per-
' sons resident in the Island : and that the arrival of a