The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-15 00:00:00

T LIE SHIN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MA .Y 15, 1868.

RAIL 1 VAY 11V2'ELL1 GEN CE.

SO UTII-EASTERN.
A special general meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the.CityTerminus Hotel, Cannon-
street, to consider two bills now before Parliament

—Mr. E. W. Watkiu, M.P., in the chair.
Mr. CHUBB, the secretary, having read the notice
convening the meeting,
The CHAIRMAN said there were about 6,000 pro-
prietors in the company, and not more than 60 of
them were present in that large room, notwithstand-
ing that the secretary had sent a circular to
every one in the company. Th At was done with

the view of obtaining a large attendance of pro-
prietors. The business they had to transact was

so serious that he would reserve the statement

he intended to make for the adjourned meeting,
which he proposed should he held there on the

28th inst.

The absent shareholders would read an

account of the pro!eeliogi at this meeting, and he

hoped they would attend the meeting of proprietors

on the 28th inst. Ile trusted that the ra-)st jute-

THE PROSECUTION OF EX-GOVERNOR

EYRE.

BOW-STREET.-THIS DAY.

This morning Mr. Eyre appeared before Mr.
Vaughan to answer a summons which had been
taken out against him for issuing an illegal and
oppressive proclamation.
There was also a second summons charging him
with having nnlawfUlly caused the arrest, imprison-
ment, and flogging of divers persons who resided
within the island of Jamaica, under and by virtue
of a certain illegal proclamation of martial law
which had bean heretofore issued by him.

Sir J. Collier said he might rec al to the bench
the circumstances of the pr3s3nt case. Sir Thomas
Henry was, in the first iuitan33, aplie I to, but h
declined to grant a summons for the charge of
murder, being of opinion that h 3 ha I 11J jurisdic-
tion, but since that application had been
made to the Court of Q. peen's Bunch, and the
present proc3edings were the result. The
capital charge whiel, in the first instance, was
made against Mr. Eyre, it was not now proposed
to prat, although it was quite open to hlve pre-
f irrei the in.lictmant against the defend nit
another Court. The object of the pr,y,ecution now
was to prosecute Mr. Eyre for a mis lemeanour, and
that offence was committed, it was contended,
in the issuing of a certain proclamation,
placing the island under martial law, without
sufficient authority, which amounted, in fact, to a
declaration of war against the inhabitants of
Jamaica, both black:aud white, awl which was in

itself an indictable offence. No fact, therefore,
arose, and under such circumstances tha question
before the Court became one entirely of
law. Sir J. Collier proceeded to quote
certain Acts of Parliament to show the
power Colonial Governors possessed under
peculiar circumstances, and he then referred to the
proclamation Governor Eyre issued in the island of
Jamaica on the late outbreak, the action that was

taken after, and he said the great matter he had to
confine himself to was whether the issuing of such
a proclamation was at that time within the power of
Mr. Eyre. At the trial of Gen. Nelson and Lieut.
Brand at the Old Bailey the Lord Chief-Justice, in an
address to the jury, laid it clearly down that the
Crown could not delegate to a colonial governor
powers which it did not itself possess, aril if the au-
thorities he had quoted bore out that, the proceeiings
of Mr. Eyre were clearly illegal. But it became his
duty to show that if the power was not given under
the English law, was there any authority for him
to act as he had done under the colonial law ? The
Jamaica statutes, he contended, gave no power to

Lure

issue such a proclamation, and the next question
that presented itself was, did the Governor
issue such a proclamation corruptly, but he did not
consider it at all fair to impute such a motive.
He did not deny that the use of violence necessary
for the suppression of the outbreak was justified
without reference to law. A man whose life was
n danger tided, if in self-ch.:fence he
It would be ridiculous to
i killedhis
assailant. was
s
say that he ought to bring an action or pre-
fer a criminal charge, because h 3 might
not live to do so, but if he survived an I bound his
enemy he had no right to kill him, but he must
give him up to the oridinary tribunals. The learned
gentleman then proceeded to strengthen his case,
by citing a number of authorities, and referred
at some length to the late Jamaica prosecution.
Passing by that he next came to a
knowledge of the law, and it was held in
England that everybody was supposed to know the
law; therefore colonial governors were the last per-
sonsstahyat, because it would be
they
not did not, so he should
idle to say that the proclamation was
oughtupo tno
issued on imperfect knowledge. The pro clamation
VCd'whoell
declaring martial law remained in force thirty days,
and, without making Mr. Eyre criminally liable for
all the acts committed during that time, he
thought various other matters were concerned,
which clearly rendered Mr. Eyre liable. The
precise act which he charged against Mr.
Eyre was the arrest and imprisonment of Mr.
Sidney Ltvine, who, Mr. Eyre himself had state 1,
had never resided within the district subject
to martial law ; and Dr. Bruce was a.noth3r
person arrested, who, the late Governor
admitted, lived out of the district, aud
these two acts, he contended, were clearly illegal,
and rendered Mr. Eyre amenable to the law for doing
that which was clearly in direct opposition to it.
.Nlr. Phillips was another- person apprehended out-
side the jurisdiction of martial-law, and as
the two former gentlemen were not pre
sent, but the latter was, he should call
the attention of the bench to his case more par-
ticularly. Ile was suspected of being an associate
of J. W. Gordon, and accordingly captured, but
after he had been detained in custody for some
time he was taken to Morant Bay, flogged by a
marine, and then discharged without any charge
ever having been brought against him, There were
other persons arrested, but he did not propose to
go into the facts of the case, but ho should call Mr.
Phillips before the Bench, who would state, in pre-
cise terms, the indignities he had been compelled to
suffer. lie adopted the present course in order that
the depositions might be returned to the Court of
Queen's Bench, that the opinion of the Judges
might be taken on a matter which was of so muc h
importance to Mr. Eyre and the various other
persons.
Mr. Dunning, the short-hand writer, was then
called to prove his notes of evidence of Governor
Eyre taken before the Commission in 1865.
The evidence was then read at length from the
Blue-book.
Witnesses were called to prove certain volumes
to be the Acts of the Jamaica Legislature, the
issuing of the proclamation at Morant Bay
declaring martial law on the 13th of Octo-
ber, 1865, the establishing of courts mar-
tial, and
t-lo execution of a number of
the persons, one of whom it was stated was
hanged without trial by orders of the provost-mar-
shal. It was also proved that between the 13th
of October and the 2d of November, 1865, there was
no outbreak in the bay.
The further hearing of the case was then ad-
journed until Tuesday next.

GIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This Day

(BY TELI:GRAPII.)

GRAVESEND, Friday Nforning.
Arrived, May 14—Rinaldo, from Calcutta.
Arrived,
Algo Bay ;
Rdsult, from St. Kitt's; James R. Bay-
ley, from 31issolonglii.
Sallied, May 14.—Colon, steamer, for Vigo.
t may 15._Donga, from Manilla Sivory Wave,
from

. _
DEAL, Friday Morning.
fassed, May 14.—Azoff, brig, from Oporto for London.
Anchored, may 14.—Gmsoppo Antonio,
htt!k-, from t .o
north for the west.

Foreign Nail Packet List.
hiAiLs DUE.
amitralla end Nosy Uslliad, Mc southampton May 23.
Ditto, Ida Marseilles .....
-May 18

Ditto, via Panama
Lerenoll p ••
anitot......
... ..... • • ... ......J
uue 4
...,slay 2J
drazil, Buenos Ayres, and aL„ eoonte Vid
Ditto, by
M ty 2
Cape Verde. by Brazil Pacitet . „,„... Juue 4.
Cape of Good EruPo• Asoeuelon. and St. Reims • • ...Tule t 2.
uhina. k.„„g, and
,Singapore, VA Bouttiampton M iy 2:3
Ditto. via s:tarot:Alio ...... .
.....
Illy I t,
Faiklaud Wands ...... . ...........
utbraltar, via SoutliauaptOn .......... May hi.
iudia, via Soatnauipton ...... ........• ..... llay ?..0
Ditto, vis Marseil es
.
. •••• . . Nlay 2s
Malta, Kgypt, ,t). _ . • . . .......... ....Hay EL

Ditit;,3llrsatlles.• Slay
Itaurittuo, Cape 01 Grooi liVe, and l'htt tl, vii

Southampton ...............................
DM), Marsci.ies . nay 8
-ievrfoandla ........... May 2 )
Cortugal ..... • •' • ........... Jun. I.
Ditto, by privl )u ship to Oporto .
Ditto c AtO to Lisbon
United States, C anada, California, 40,, by British

packet ...............................
........May io
Ditto, by L tilled States packet
Ditto ditto 'New York)
Ditto ditto 'New York)

Ditto ditt( (Baltimore)
Ditto, by Canadian packet
West Coast of Africa, Madeira, and Tenerlffd
West Indies and Pa;itio (except Mexico and Baha-
mas) ...... . May 17
Cuba and Mexico Hay 2).

Bahamas, via New Y ratty 20.
Bernawls, yia Halifax, •• .. Juue 9.

A.,. w•

fri-EIRD EDITION,

SUN OFFICE, 7 o'CLc€K.

SPORTING INTEL GIGNOE—This Day .

DONCASTER RACES —This DAV.
(Br ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
CLUMBER STAKES.
The Clamber Stakes of 20 goys each, h ft, for two-yr-olds.
lbalf a mile.
Zuloika

BE [TING-ROOM STAKES.
The Butting-tthun Stakes of 3 soya each, with 50 added
fur two-yr-olds. 11,d. House in.

Clarion&tto ..

• Two ran.
JUVENILE STAKES.
The Juvenile Stal as of 5 sovs each, with 40 added, fur

two-yr-old colts. Half a mile.

Valentino
Hailstorm
Curiosity

SCURRY S FAKES.
The Scurry Stakes (handicap) of 3 sovs each, with 2h

added, for all ages.

Red House in.

Haymaker
Ulphus
Beauty

Seven ran.
CHESTERFIELD HANDICAP.
The Chesterfield Handicap of 100 soya, aided to a Sweep-
stakes of 5 sovs each. One mile

Vespasian • .
Evelina ,
Russian Bear

Three ran.
CORPORATION STAKES.
The Corporation Stakes of ssovs each, with 40 added•