The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-03 00:00:00

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CCOMMITTAL OF GOVERNOR EYRE.-
THE EYRE DEFENCE AND AID FUND.

PRESIDENT.

The Right Honourable the Earl of SHREWSBURY and
TALBOT.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
THOMAS CARLYLE, Esq.
Sir RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, Bart., K.C.8.,
F.R.S.

Mr. Eyre having been committed to take his trial, the
Committee of this Fund earnestly IN VITE SUBSCRIP-
TIONS to defray the great expenses to which ho will
thereby be subjected, and as a protest against the proceed-
ings of the so-called Jamaica Committee. Civil proceed-
ings are also pending in the Court of Queen's Bench, en-
tailing very heavy expenditure.
With reference to Mr. Charles Burton's letter to The
Times of the loth inst., stating that "it is notorious that
sums vastly beyond all possible costs are at his disposal,"
iu other words, that pecuniary assistance is not needed on
account of the vast sunis subscribed for the defence, the
Committee desire to state that there is not a shadow of
foundation for such an assertion. It is a well-known
matter of fact that it would have been absolutely impos-
sible for Mr. Eyre in any way to have met the expenses of
the civil and criminal prosecutions that have been carried
on so persist.ntly against him for the last two years but
for the generous aid of the public.
Subscriptions to be paid to the credit of " The Eyre De-
fence and Aid Fund," with the United Service Company
(Limited), Bankers, and Army and Navy Agents, 9, Water-
loo-place, Pall-mall, London ; or Messrs. Smith, Payne,
and Smith, 1, Lombard-street, E.C.
All communications to be addressed to the Honorary
Secretary, No. 9, Waterloo-place, Pall-mall.
HAMILTON HUME, lion. Secretary.

g= SUIT

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1868.

It is with feelings of unmixed satisfaction that
we regard the result of the trial of Mr. EYRE at the
Court of Queen's Bench, before Mr. Justice BLACK-
BURN and the grand jury of Westminster. The
charge delivered by Mr. Justice BLACKBURN occu-
pied two hours, and was most luminous and com-
plete. He directed the jury to inquire into the
case of Mr. EYRE, in order to determine if the
steps he took were legal and the breaking out of the
insurrection in Jamaica. It was not disputed that
he did proclaim " martial law" with the assent of
his Council, and that this was continued for the
period of thirty days. The question before the
court was, whether in so doing Mr. EYRE had
made himself criminally responsible. Mr. Justice
BLACKBURN stated the question resolved itself into
this—" What is the rule or test of the criminal re-
sponsibility which may be incurred by a Governer
when acting, as Mr. EYRE undoubtedly was, as
Governor, and for the purpose of putting an end to
an insurrection ?" This is certainly a question of
great importance to be decided, for it is necessary
that the Governors of colonies should rightly un-
derstand how far they are responsible in any act
of repression which they may deem it advisable to
adopt. Some thirty years ago the Mayor of Bris-
tol was prosecuted for not being sufficiently on
the alert when riots broke out in that city, which
case was the converse of Mr. EYRE'S. The task of
those in authority at such awkward times is of
course to steer clear between excess and failure of
duty. It was indeed, as the learned Justice ob-
served, hard to define the exact limits of the case,
but they must take all points into consideration,
and determine when and where there was a failure
of duty, and if so, if it was such as to be crimi-
nal. One part of this charge was particularly ex-
plicit, which was where the jury were told to put
themselves as much as possible in Mr. EYRE'S
place, and to look at the facts as they appeared
to him to be, and to take into account what he
heard and believed. This duty has been
entirely overlooked by those who have made
themselves very active in pre-judging this case,
and they have all along spoken, and written, and
jumped at conclusions, as if they, at a distance
from the scene of disturbances, and quite ignorant
of the condition of affairs at that juncture, were far
more competent to give an opinion than those iu
the very midst of the conspiracy, and who had the
whole of the transactions before them.
Mr. Justice BLACKBURN disposed of the point as
to whether the Colonial Legislature could alter the
laws at will, and make new laws to bind the colony.
It was so laid down by the Privy Council, when
there was an appeal from the island of Jamaica,
and he showed that it would be " perfectly mon-
strous to make a man responsible for obeying a
law which had been clearly defined, although it
might be open to doubting parties to protest against
it, and take the question to the House of Lords
to be decided. It is not justifiable to make
a Colonial Governor " criminally responsible" for
carrying out the law of the colony. if Mr. EYRE
were to be judged by the common law prerogative
of the Crown, a true bill would most probably have
been found agairst him ; but the law has been com-
pletely altered by the colonial statutes, which
" gave an immensely extended power to the Gover-
nor beyond what was possessed by the Crown, ex-
cept as in Ireland, by statute." The Jamaica colo-
nists were well aware that theirs was a colony liable
to insurrection, and they therefore passed these
stringent regulations. Two checks were put upon
the proclamation of martial law—first, that the
Council should assent ; and, secondly, that it
should not extend over a period of thirty days.
The state of the case was this: that if Mr. EYRE had
not employed the means that were in his power,
and disasters had ensued through his omission, he
would have been punishable for neglect of duty. For,
looking at the question as to whether martial law was
continued too long, Justice BLACKBURN said that
the terms of the Colonial Act permitted it to be
continued so long as any danger existed. lie had
considered the point carefully, as to whether it
was justifiable for persons to be seized out of the
district where martial law was not in force, and
carried into the district where it was enacted. " I
have considered that point carefully," said Mr.
Justice BLACKBURN, " and have come to the con-
clusion that, looking at what martial law was, it
might under proper circumstances be justified.'
Regarding GORDON, he considered him a "pestilent
firebrand, using the most violent language, which
probably conduced to cause the insurrection." Mr.
EYRE might have been mistaken in the matter, but
there was no ground for " charging him criminally,"
if they believed he honestly thought that GORDON
was at the head of the insurrection, and that it was
necessary that he should be tried summarily in
order to stop the spread of the disaffection.
Concluding this part of the charge, Justice BLACK-

BURN told the jury "that they must put themselves
as much as possible in the position of Mr. EYRE
himself at the time referred to, and make an
allowance for his responsibility
and position, not
like ourselves, sitting here calmly and quietly con-
sidering the matter after the lapse of two or three
years thousands of miles away from the scene, but
putting yourselves in his position, every one urging
him forward and no one holding him back, with the
general belief iu the colony which he shared, if you
come to the conclusion that under all these circum-
stances he acted ai a man of reasonable resAution
and firmness might have acted under such circum-
stances, then you ought not to present a criminal
charge against him." It is of interest to him
that this charge was approved of by the
Judi;es of the Court, and they all authorised
it. Referring to some of the charges, the learned