Star.
London, England, 1824-06-02 00:00:00

srghtest appekrance of disaffection. Grumbling had
certainly been previously heard; the slaves had been
agitated by various reports of theiremancipation. One
of these reports came to them from the servant of the
Governor ; another hearsay report to the same effect
came to them on the high authority of the kept woman
of one of the functionaries—( A laugh). To ascertain
the truth of these reports the Negroes came to Mr.
Smith ; but the moment he suspected their object to be
dange; ous, he disclosed those suspicions to the lawful
authorities. Vague suspicion might, no doubt, have
imbued his mind; but until something tangible appeared,
until he could say, here is a conspiracy about breaking
out, I will ask the House would he have been justified
in betraying and discovering his poor flock, and subject-
ing them to the penalties of the law ?—(Hear, hear).—
At six o'clock on the Monday, therefore, half an hour,
before the breaking out of the revolt, could Mr. Smith'
only have been guilty of knowledge of the conspiracy,
and of the intended explosion. 13ut, even if he had
known of the intent, even though he was aware of the
preparations for the revolt, a man is not to be hanged
for misprision. After being tried for a plot to take
away the life of the King, and to put down his two
Estates of Parliament, the utmost possible extent of
punishment to which that of the guilty man could reach,
even in the wildest dream of the highest prerogative
lawyer in the kingdom, did not amount to that of a
capital felony. Not so the Court-martial ; they pushed
their sentence on Mr. Smith to the utmost point. Why
did they stop there? Was it from a feeling of humanity?
No ; it was rather from an apprehension that they had
exceeded the bounds within which they ought to have
confined themselves. Perhaps they recollected the sen-
tence pronounced by the ltaotestErt,—., ‘Vhosoever
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed;"
and they shrunk at the idea of retribution—(Cheers).
For had they touched one hair of his head, had they
murdered him, they would themselves have had to die
the felon's death—(Cheers). Monstrous as were their
proceedings, unjust as was the conviction of the pri-
soner, and horrible as was the sentence pronounced
against him, they sunk into nothing when compared
with that most remarkable fact, the conviction that
they had acted wrong, proclaimed by themselves in
their commutation of the sentence—(Hear, hear, hear).
No doubt had the guilt been proved, how light in
comparison with that of Mr. Smith would have been the
guilt of those poor benighted Africans. Had all the
guilt, all the blood which had been shed, lain upon his
head, it WAS upon his head also tlrlt all the punishment
should have fallen, and yet he was the only individual im-
plicated and convicted who was recommended to mercy.
I have just said one word about the other persons who
had suffered. Judging from the proceedings of the Court-
martial by which Mr. Smith was tried, I would fain hope
that all those charged before it had met with a fair trial.
/ hope it was so, and that a greater portion of mercy and
justice had been dealt to them than to him ; but even
making all allowance for the necessity of making a
prompt and striking example in the eyes of those who
might be tempted to engage in similar attempts, it is
clear that no distinction ought to be drawn in the nature
of their respective punishments ; and that no more
examples ought to be made thin were absolutely neces-
sary for the occasion. But I think many of the unhappy
examples made upon this occasion might have been
spared. What was the extent of mischief done by the
rebels ? Three White men only had fallen-on the field,
on a scale of forty plantations, peopled by upwards of
13,000 slaves—all of whom were more or less concerned
in the rebellion. I do not speak of these casualties as
trifling, but I shall quote the words of Mr. Austin, to
shew that " nothing but the religious principles imbibed
by the Negroes, nothing but the doctrine which had
been inculcated by Mr. Smith, was capable of prevent-
ing the shedding of the blood of those who now sought
to shed his"—(Cheers). To one witness a Negro said,
We will take no lives—we will strike work—(for that
is the meaning of the words used by the Negroes) we will
make the managers go to town ; but we must take no life
—we cannot give life; and Mr. Smith tells us that we
must not take that which we cannot give"—(cheers).
—Thus in a moment of insurrection—a moment almost
of frenzy—when the blood was heated and the spirits
effervesced—such was the language spoken by those
poor people, and incontestibly proved to be the fruit of
*their instruction by Mr. Smith—(Hear, hear). A great
effusion of their blood, however, took place; upwards
of 200 fell in the field; mote than 20 of the prisoners
were drawn out and shot upon the spot to make a
striking example to the remainder ; and next came the
trials. The amount of those condemned had not been
particularly ascertained ; but one account which he had
seen, stated that 47 had already suffered.—(The Honour-
able and Learned Gentleman here read extracts from
the Newspapers, exhibiting the number and extent of
minor punishments that had been inflicted ; one of which
stated that the troops had been called out to witness the
punishment of three Negroes, one of whom had been
sentenced to receive 1000 lashes and to hard labour in
chains for life; another to 1000 lashes and ten years
labour in chains; and third to a punishment similar
to the first.)—The first man received his whole punish-
ment—one thousand lashes!—(Hear)—the second nine
hundred! and the third eight hundred lashes I —(Hear).
[The 11 onourable and Learned Member proceeded to
read further similar extracts].—l do not think I should
be discharging my duty if I did not say that a great deal
of this punishment was ill-judged, unnecessarys and un-
called for. In a moment of alarm, I should be much
more inclined to pardon an excess of punishment than
at a period when the apprehension had subsided, and
the mind had become cool. I shall only say that it was
unjustifiable, and tended not only to the disgrace of the
White name in the Colonies, but more especially to the
insecurity of the White inhabitants. But what was that
state of misery arising out of alarm compared with that
of the poor Negro, when we hear of the Governor of a
Colony threatening to transport from the Colony a Mis-
sionary, should he attempt to teach the Negro how to
read ; and I cannot help casting my eyes backward on
the authority which was in that act imitated. I find that
it was in a French Colony the order originated.—
EThe Honourable and Learned Gentleman here quoted
the order in question, by which the Jesuits *ere pro-
hibited from continuing to administer what they called
the Sacrament of Matrimony to the slaves, from teach-
ing them to pray, to chaunt psalms, or Catechism—but
Baptism was to be permitted to be administered twice
or thrice over 'if paid for.]—l suppose (continued
Mr. Brougham) that this last permission was given
on the principle of inoculation for the small-pox,
which people sometimes apply twice or thrice to
make assurance doubly sure"—(Hear; and a laugh).
In consequence of this Ordonnance there were no
more public prayers—no more marriages—no more
Psalms—no more Catechisms—and this was the system
copied and acted upon is one of our own colonies! To