Star.
London, England, 1824-06-12 00:00:00

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their prejudices incerh I: I thought with my tio-
nous able Fiend (Mr. Wiiberforce): that by passing that
sentence, we should leave the Colonies to imagine toat
Government had given up the wish to afford leligions
instruction to the i•:egroes-----that they subscribed to the
monstrous doctrine of the Colony, which would shut
out the light of reason and revelation, I would rather
commit an act of injustice to the Court Martial
than Lazard the consequence, or incur the disgrace
of such AU interpretation—(Loud cries of Hear, hear).
But that is impossible—we know by the surest of all
tests, by the angry animadversions of the colonists on
the attempt to withdraw Mr. Smith [rem their jurisdic.
tion, and on the remission of his sentence we !Mow that
our refusal to degrade the Court-mai tial can never be
supposed by them as a proof that we recant our cols
Mons with respect to the treatment that ought to be ex-
tended to the slave population. My Honourable Friend
has aliuded to the destruction of a Chapel, and the ex-
. pulsion of the Missionary from Barbadoes, but he did 1!
not state the whole fact; he should added, that the same
Missionary who was expelled from Barbadocs, was're-
eeived and svefcomed at St.Vincenes—(llear,hear). My'
conviction is, that the notice which this case has at-
tracted, and the mode in which it has been treated by
the Ilou:e, will spew to the Colony of Demerara, that
whatever imprudence or guilt they may suppose an in-
dividual to have committed, a number of such vic-
tories as this must pta an end to all their attempts to.
shut out instruction from the slaves—(hear, hear).— I
I sha'l propose to the House to meet this Motion by
the previous questi'on, which will neither countenance
the colony in their views, nor make this House a party
to the censure of honourable men,who, in the discharge
of :hair duty, had rescued the prisoner from a tribunal,
where he must have been heard with prejudice and,
judged with severity, and from which it was desirable!
to save him. With the knowledge of the communica-
thin that was made to him on the 17th August, I cannot •
hold him guiltless of concealing the conspiracy. I feel!
as strongly as any man can du the impropriety of pro-
ducing his journal as evidence against him—(Hear,
hear)—and 1 will now no otherwise take it into account
than thus far, that I cannot put out of my mind what
I thus learn of the sentiments of Mr. Smith, while I
Inn now ti ying the conduct of his judges. It is clear,
that he did entertain some general annehensions of a
convulsion in the Colony; an apprehension, not definite,
I am ready to admit, as to the mode or the time. Why do
I state this? Why, that, on a mind so prepared, it ap-
pears most improbable that the information which was
conveyed to him, should have made, as he pretends, no
impression. If he had been previously in a state alto-
gether Unprepared for such information, it was very
possible that he might have rejected the intimation as
altogether insignificant; but where, from his own con-
fession, we know that he lived in habitual expectation
ef some such event, when he was in a frame of mind
in which 'trifles light as air' mast have seemed proofs
—when suspicions must have been awakened even
without cause, I cannot conscientiously believe that the
communication he received could have failed to make
an impression °a him. Ile tells us indeed that the next
day the information he had previously received came
to his mind. What did ht do with' the letter he re-
ceived? He tore it. This appeals to me, under the
circumstances, to be recf of a guilty knowledge. . I
know that strictly it is only on the facts subsequent to
the Proclamation o! artial Law that Mr. Smith must
be judged. But, 1 must :old, that in my own mind I
am convinced that the corpus &heti existed in Mr.
Smith, I will not condemn his Judges, because, with
substantial justice, though with defective proofs, they
passed sentence against him—(/pear, hear, hear). 1
take his own evidence as to the state of his own mind,
and I am convinced of the improbabiii:y of his alleged
apathy. It is said, I think, in a speed: of Mirabeau's,
OA' the Colonists of St. Domingo, They sleep on the
verge of a volcano, and yet the fi:•st sparks that burst
from it create in them no alarm.' S. with Mr. Smith,
according to his own defence. Ile was, according to
his own confession, on the re ge of a volcano, and yet it
aeas not till the explosion kid pas-e,l, that he felt the
first alarm—(clear.) Do 1, therelme, impute to him
the folly or the wickedness of participating; in the de-
sign of the Insurrection, or of founding hopes of personal
aggrandizement on the result? No, Sir; it was, I be-
lieve, that weakness to which men are lirb!e, and good
natures, perhaps, more than any others—the fear of be-
traying even the guilty, the hatred of the vet), name of
infornier(llear I) Bat, while I morally excuse, I
cannot legally absolve him ; nor can we, when we have
to administer law—when the safety of the Common-
wealth is at stake, allow ourselves to be twine away by
the consideration of those feelings, which may make
the hero, but whirl should also make bins content to be
sacrificed to the community he has injui ed—(Near,heur).
'Who is there, in reading one of the best tragedies in
the English language, and in contemplating the con-
duct of the celebrated Pierre and Affier, who does
not contemn the remorse of Apr, which saved Isis
country from ruin? who does not honour the obstinacy
of Pierre, which would have laid Venice in blood?!
But though this feeling be poetical, though it may be
geneious, it cannot be sanctioned by the practice Of
Law, it must nut be encouraged by the decisions of
a Senate—(Hear, hear).—We must not call misprision
delicacy,-and concealment an honourable confidence—.
(1-lear,hear)—we must teach the people their duties,
though they be harsh—we must say to them, " You
must betray your friends if it is necessary to save ybur
country, or if you save your friend at the expense of
your country, your country will demand your, life as
the pike of Ler peace, which you have sacrificed"—
( Hear, hcar).—l give full credit to Mr. Smith for his
motives—l give him credit, in the first place, for not
wishing to betray those who had hroken his bread, who
had crowded round his tabernacle—l give him credit
fur perhaps the less excusable desire to spare especially
the members ofhis own particular flock and confession— I
but cannot forget that Mr. Smith was the member of a
Sate to which he owed his allegiance, and that it was
his imperative duty to have given the ir.furniation he
withheld—(Hear, hear). Was it necessary too, I ask,
for him to have given information in a manner which
should draw down vengeance on his flock i• Could lie
not have entrusted the same confidence to the Autho.

rides, that he had committed to his own Journal?
Could be nut have given a general intimation of what
was to happen ? Might he not have revealed under a
solemn promise of safety fur the individuals? Again,
when after the proclamation of Martial Law, when he
declined the military service, partly from a mistaken
view of the duties of his holy profession, and partly, I
Own. from the more legitimate excuse of his personal
iifuniities, might he rim have said," I cannot take up
With you the arm; of that link bet I have am" of a
brighter temper and keener force; rill go forth clad

*

•
in them, add be they who they may %TAO remain
bOlion, I will answer for the. Bethel congregation, that
they shall remain in their allegiance?"—(Bear.) Such
was not the conduct of Mr. Smith. He passed the Gover-
nor's house; going to town on the Monday ; he passed
it in returning. Was it not worth a moment's pause to
enter, to give some general warning. some intimation
of what lie confesses-he felt? He did' no such thing,
and I can not hold him guiltless. Sir, I will not enter
into the minutia of the evidence against Mr Smith: r
lament the mode of the trial; I deeply deplore his fate;
but, Sir, in these proceedings I see neither that which
should entitle the victim to the hmour of a martyr,
nor that mitts aniniits in his Judges which should call
down on them unqualified disapprobation ; and in pro-
, piing to the House to pass the previous question, I
think we shall not be liable to the imputation that we
are lukewarm in the cause of the improvement of our
fellow-creatures, or that we cease to regard religion as
the fittest instrument by. which that improvement can
be effected. _ _ . _ _

Mr. DENMAN rose ami•dst loud elks of it Ques-
tion!" which continued for a long time. The Honour-
able and Learned Member spoke in support of the mo- I
tion, contending that the House of Conithons of ;ht not
to hesitate in pronouncing what was admitted by all
the world; namely, that the trial was illegal. Not one
of the legal Gentlemen who had followed each other in
the discussion, bad ventured to assert that the Court
Martial was a legal tribunal for trying the case at the
period when they sat upon it. The Honotn.able and
Learned Gentleman then argued that Mr Smith would
have had a fairer trial before the civil tribunal than the
military one, after reading the evidence at a time when
the case was not expected to attract public disca,sion,
and he was then completely convinced of Mr. Smith's
innocence. Ile contended that Mr. Smith had com-
municated his fears as far as his knowledge went. There
could be no suspicion of treason, for no treason had
been committed. He entered into parts of the evidence
to thew that Mr. Smith had endeavoured to prevent the
revolt, and maintained that if the House refused to en-
tertain this. Motion, it would be hol'di'ng out an actual
inducement to the repetition' of such abuses in all our
foreign possessions.
Sir JOSEPH YORKE. was not so stupid as to detain
the House two minutes. As a petty Juryman he should
acquit Mr. Smith. In the case of Horne Tooke, the
present Lord Chancellor, when Attorney• General, oc-
cupied nine hours to attack them, and the witty obser-
vation of a bye-stander was, that they would therefore
be acquitted. He did not admit the brilliant apology of
the Foreign Secretary of State, and lie thought the
bloody record of Mr. Smith's conviction should be erased
from the records of any Court of honour or of justice--
(Laid cries of " Question.")
Mr. BROUGHAM replied at considerable length.
He insisted that nothing had been advanced to shake
the argoments with which he feebly endeavoured to
support the motion upon its introduction, and that the
case remained altogether untouched upon the met its.
An attempt had been made to unite the English and
Dutch law, for the purpose of supporting the legality of the trial.
But it must rest upon either one or the other, and let them choose
which they would, the other rose up against them. The Court-
martial was summoned upon the English law, but that did not
authorise the verdict ; and if they resorted to the Dutch law for the
purpose of making misprision a capital offence, that did not allow of
bringing him before a military tribunal. The Honourable and
Learned Gentleman then called upon the House to speak its feel-
ings upon the question, and alluded to the cases of Lord Russell and
Sydney to skew that Parliament had formerly been accustomed to
speak out in plain language upon such occasions. Upon reversing
the attainder and sentence, they declared the subjects of them to
have facto murdered. lie also alluded to some corresponding cir-
cumstances hi the cases of Sydney and Smith, relative to the use of
their private papers for the purpose of evidence. lle imploted the
House to strew these men at Demerara, that they should not do
what they lead threatened, namely, to prohibit Missions and Mission-
aries. The question was not whether education should be given to
the negroes by Missionaries, but whether they should be educated
at all? By their vote that night, he trusted the House would give
effect to the Resolutions of the last Session, by declaring that those
persons should be protected who undertook to instruct and enlighten
the minds of that unfortunate class of their fellow-subjects. The
Ilun. and Learned Gentleman concluded amidst loud cheering.
The House then divided—

For the motion . . . . . . 146
For the previous question . . . . 193
Majority against the motion . . . .
The other Orders Were disposed of, and the adjournment to this
day took place at Half-past Three o'Cksek.

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

SAtUkDAY, JUNE 12, 1824.
THE FUNDS

STOCK EXCHANGE, TWELVE O'CLOCK.

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