Star.
London, England, 1831-02-11 00:00:00

PRICE %

A very numerous
Black and Coloured
held, agreeably to
of November. Robert
the Chair.
The following resolutions were then read, and unanimously
adopted :
That the respect which the free coloured and black popu-
lation of this island have ever shown to the constituted ao..
thorities —their ready obedience to the laws, and their
promptitude in times of public danger and alarm—added to
the fact that all they, possess is invested in this their nitiva
country—that their hopes and interests are bounded by the
waves that encircle. its shores -rank them among its most
orderly,, loyal, sad zealous defenders ; while their nume:i-
cal strength, moral character, and general importance as a
people, entitle them to claims (sanctioned as that claim is
by the spirit of the British constitution) a full and fair par-
ticipation in the enacting and administering of the laws af-
fecting their properties, libarties, and lives.
That not only are we unj,istly and unconstitutionally de-
barred from the exercise of civil and political rights by tie,
monstrous anomaly of an oligarchy composed chiefly of fo-
reigners and adventurers, but the hardship of our condition
is aggravated by the glaring fact, that such of their enact-
ments as do not evince a total indifference to WIT interest.
and well-being are marked by a direct tendency to encroach
vet further on the circumscribed area of our moral and po-
liticel energies.
That while the black and coloured population are, to a man,
ready and willing to devote if necesiary, their properties ant
lives to the defence of the laws and institutions founded ou,
or emanating from, that-eieriests 4sostitutisia, which they
and all other Englishmen Intudly boast as Tiling peculiarly
their own, bey are so leas datettlitted to oppose any and
every attempt to violate its spirit, or to prostrate its principles
at the footstool of colonial prejudice and despotism.
That a gross and most unwarrantable attempt to violate
that spirit, and prostrate those principles to the base views of
an illiberal faction, was tualleon the 17th day of this Inv-
sent month of November, in the introduction, into the
House of Assembly of this island, of a bill calculated (or
sad*.) to abridge the liberty of the press, and thereby sup-
press the expression of the public opinion and public feeling
'relative to public measures, and the conduct of public men.
That the grand and fundamental principle of British juris-
ranee, recognises " the people" as " the only true and
[legitimate source of power," and the public functionaries as
ohs servants to whom the people delegate the power of con-
*mew public affairs, and administering public justice • and
en dellostas act only by the authority and for the benefit of
this. by whom they are delegated, so the Assembly of this
bind act only by the authority of the whites, by whom they
are elected, and by whom atone their acts are sanctioned.
Jut the free black and coloured population, though compo-
sing a very large majority of the free inhabitants being un-
repeamsted in that Assembly, do not consider themselves
inipliestod in, or identified with its acts ; and therefore feel
'des perfectly at liberty to oppose and protest against
such ef those acts as militate against their interests, or are
injurious to their feelings.
That " there is no law in England defining with precision
what is libel;" a fact that proves how inimical to British
feeling is every restriction on the freedom of discussion and
liberty of the press, which is justly deemed the guardian ge-
lling of the principle regulating the connexion between the
prier of the 'governing and liberty of the governed. Re-
Altiiitsing these sentiments in their fullest extent, this meet-
ing views, with equal regret and dissatisfaction, the intro-
duction and reception ringlet they-armlet help terming the
gagging hill, intioducedby Jarvis Harker, Esq that which,
'if passed, will effectually destroy such freedom of discussion,
.and_the liberty of the colonial press.
That according to the true spirit of the British constitution,
B is undeniable that taxation and representation are insepo-
' i
fable ; and the exaction of the former, without admissability
to the latter, is unconstitutkmal and oppressive.
That " it is one of the fundamental maxims of the English
constitution that every one has the right of being tried by
his equals —a right which we see daily violated in the courts
of this island. The claim of the coloured man, to be tried
by his peers, being disregarded or denied. That in conse-
quence of such perversion of British taw, the free coloured
clams are frequent sufferers by decisiOns which they con-
ceive to be influenced by prejudice, or "esprit de corps,"
rather than the evidence adduced.
That the frequent occurrence of such instances calls
loudly for the application of a remedy, which remedy can
only be famished by the admission of every educated and
respectable free subject to the right of sitting as juror.
That actuated by the feelings and sentiments conveyed in
the foregoiag 'resolutions, this Meeting deem it advisable to
appoint a Committee, whom they empower-to use all consti-
tutional means to prevent, by petition or otherwise, the pass-
ing of the " bill to remedy the inconvenience which arises
'to the administration of public justice from the difficulty of
identifying proprietors and editors of periodical prints," &c.
and for the attainment of the civil and political rights con-
templated in said resolutions, more especially the right of
'urors. •

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KINGSTON, JA s ,
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itis and respects. 'ree
red Population of t way
to public notice, on Monday, the '22d
tobert Duff Littlejohn, Esq. was called to