The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-16 00:00:00

JAMAICA.

Mr. B. COCHRANE asked the Government whether
they intended to proceed with the Government of Jamaica
Bill the first time on Monday?
Mr. CARDWELL said he should not proceed with the
bill on Monday next, without be could so at an early hour

reference to the "general subject, but merely explain wha
are the contents of the bill. The bill will then be in the
hands of members, who will have an opportunity of consi-
dering it before the debate comes on. Now, sir, it will be
in the knowledge of all those who have looked into the
papers with reference to the late events in Jamaica that the
Jamaica Legislature in the first place passed an act for the
revision and reconstruction of their own Constitution ; but
upon receiving from me an intimation that I should be
ready to submit the question to the judgment of parlia-
ment—if it should seem desirable to Parliament that I
should do so—the Governor submitted that to the Jamaica
Legislature, and that assembly readily assented to the sub-
stance of a new form of Constitution being left entirely in
the hands of the Crown. And it is stated by the Governor,
in his despatch, that the understanding of the-Lq;islature
was that, if passed by the Crown, it should be carried out
in its full and plain meaning. Now, the course we took
then was this. It bring our opinion that it would not be

right to call upon Parliament, in the present state of its
knowledge respecting the colony of Jamaica, and while
the inquiry into recent events is yet pending, finally to
dettrinine what the ferns of government for the colony
shall be - (hear, hear)—we think that the wiser course
would simply 1)3 to ask the house to ratify the con-
clusion which the Legislature of Jamaica itself
has arrived at, and thus provide for the government of the
colony fora period. The intention is that Parliament should
agree, in the first instance, to substituting for the hitherto
government of the colony, a government similar to that
now in force in Trinidad. (Hear, hear.) And we propose
to do that, with the permission of the house, by an Order
in Council. We propose that the bill shall be in force for
a limited period, and that period shall be three years. That
will enable Parliament to judge, by the aid of the informa-
tion derived through the commission of inquiry, whether
the measures taken in pursuance of the Order in Council
are likely to be productive of benefit to the colony. And
then, when the experiment has been tried, Parliament will
be called upon either to supply some other mode of govern-
ing the colony or simply to ratify the system experimen-
tally adopted.

Mr. B. COCHRANE said the right hon. gentleman the
Colonial Secretary believed it was possible that the fate of
this bill might be influenced by the result of the inquiry at
present going on in Jamaica. That being so, he would sug-
gest whether it would not be hotter for him to wait for
information from that colony before introducing a bill
which was to change the whole constitution of the island.
Mr. WALPOLE thought it was quite clear that when
the Government of Jamaica had abdicated their functions
nothing was to be done but immediately to provide some
other machinery for the government of the island. He
would like, however, to know from the right hon. gentle-
man the Secretary for the Colonies whether he intended in
the bill itself to specify the kind of government which, by
Order in Council, was to be given to Jamaica?
•
Mr. CARDWELL—No.