Star.
London, England, 1831-05-25 00:00:00

W EDNES IMY EVENING, MAY 25, 1831.

PRICE 7D.

PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED.
B. Ries and J. Butter Strand, tobacconists—J. Borrodaile and J.
Borrodaile Carlisle, carriers—F. Allison and A. Williams, Pall-mall,
miUiners-2S. Haynes ard J. Woodward, Oxford, plumbers--J. Bay-
lis, jun. and J. Warmington, ‘Vennington, Essex, graaiers—J. S.
Waliron and IL B. Giles, Clifton, Gloumstershirt, chemists—R.
Hogg and T. Starkey, 3laeelesfield, linen-drapers—J. Wight and
Co. Cheater-lc-Street, Durham, millers, so tar as regards T. Smith —A.
Lee and P. Polhill, Theatre Royal, Drury-lane.

SUPPRESSION OF THE GUIANA CHRONICLE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BARBA DOES GLOBE.

Guiana Chronicle Office,
Georgeto►on, Demerara, 17th March, 1831.
Stn—A circumstance having occurred yesterday in our
office which, in our opinion, as a precedent, deeply interests
every British subject, and more especially all those imme-
diately connected with the public press, we take the liberty
of coruou►nicating it for your information, requesting that
you .will-take such notice of it as in your discretion the case
may appear to require. For the facts of the case, we beg
to refer you to the notice, and other documents, which we
published yesterday, and to a copy of our paper of the 14th
instant, for publishing which our license to print the same'
has been arbitrarily withdrawn by the authorities named in
the interdict, without subjecting the question of our delin-
quency to the decision of any court of justice, or affording'
us any notice or explanation whatever.
This is the third time that our paper has been stopped, in
the same abrupt and arbitrary manner, by the same indivi-
dual, Major-General Sir Benjamin D' Urban, the Lieute-
nant-Governor of this colony. On the 18th of November,
1825, the same thing took place, and from an equally in-
significant cause, vie. for having published in our paper, a
most outrageously gross expression made use of publicly on
parade, by a Major in the Militia to a very respectable in-
habitant, a private in the same corps. Our paper was then
stopped for a considerable time ; and it was only in conse-
quence of making a personal application to the Colonial Se-
cretary in London, that we were allowed to resume its pub-
lication.

On the second occasion, the grounds were so trifling, that
the interdict was withdrawn in the course of two days. The
circulation of our paper is very considerable, not only in this
colony, but also throughout all the West Indies, and even
in Great Britain. The loss therefore to us, occasioned by
such suspensions, must be obvious to you, and the inconve-
nience and annoyance to the public, occasioned by the sup-
pression of the only paper which attempts the discussion of
our local grievances, is very considerable.
The effectual suppression of these repeated violations of
the legitimate freedom of the press, in many distant parts
of the empire, can only be obtained by strong public ap-
peals to the justice and sympathy of our countrymen in the
Mother Country. The delays and expenses of repeated
applications to law for redress, would exhaust the patience
and resources of the most fcrtunate:—

THE EDITOR OF THE GUIANA CHRONICLE.
NOTICE.—Wr have just received the following intima-
tion from the office of the Colonial Secretary, in conse-
quence of which, the future publication of our paper will be
stopped, until such time as advice can be received from
Great Britain on the subject, or the interdict be by any
other manner removed. With all due deference to the ex-
isting authorities, we declare ourselves totally unconscious
of having violated the terms of the license, on which we
have been permitted tc publish a paper in this colony—a
copy of which we hereunto attach for the information of the
public, and our justification.
MEMORANDUM.

WITH REFERENCE TO MR. •LEXANDER *TEVEXUOX'3 COMMIT.

NICATIOH HT TB! I2TH AUGUST, 1826.

I have received from his Majesty's Secretary of State for
the Colonies, a dispatch, dated 6th June last, in which I
am instructed, " if Mr. Alexander Stevenson should apply
to me for a license to resume the publication of his news-
paper, to grant it upon the following conditions":
lat. " Abstinence from all comments an the Slave question, except
such as are calculated to promote the measures recommended by his
Majesty's Government, and sanctioned by Parliament
2d. " Abstinence front all abuse of the Local Authorities.
"Abstinence from all violent and angry expressionson any sub-
ject, (whether original, or extracted from other papers.) which are
manifestly calculated to create initation and encourage acts of violence
in the Colcny."
And his lordship states in conclusion that " he has himself already
explained to 31r. Alexander Stevenson, that the continuance of his
license will depend on bis adherence to the terms en which it is granted,
and that it will be immediately withdrawn for any infraction of them.
According to the above instructions, and under the condition therein
prescribed, a license will be granted to Mr. Stevenson to resume the
publication of his newspaper, upon his making due application to me
for that purpose.
King's-House, 14th Aug. 1826. B. MASAN.

INTERDICT.

On this day, the 16th of March, 1831, before me, Gordon
Clunes Reed, Sworn Clerk in the Colonial Secretary's Office
of the United Colony of Demerara and Easequebo, in that
capacity exercising the functions of a Notary Public, and in
presence of the Witnesses hereunto subscribing, personally
appeared His Honor Charles Herbert, First Fiscal ft 0,
who stated that he (acting under the direction of His Ex-
cellency the Lieut.-Governor of these Colonies), required
me to communicate unto Alexander Stevenson, the Pro-
prietor, Printer, and Publisher, of the Guiana Chronicle,
and to all concerned, that the Licence granted on the 6th
day of September, 1826, to Print and Publish the Newspaper,
called the Guiana Chronicle, and Demerara Gazette, is
withdrawn, and his future Publication of the Paper prohi-
bited, in consequence of a publication in the Guiana Chro-
nicle of the 14th March instant, in violation of the second
and third conditions of the said Licence—require his obe-
dience, subpoena as the Law directs, and request' an
answer.

In testimony whereof, the said appearer (ratione officii)
has hereunto set his hand : and I, the said sworn clerk and
notary public, have also subscribed my name, at George-
town, Demerara, datum ut supra, in presence of W. H.
Heintzen, and Richard Padmore,, as witnesses.
(Signed) CHARLES HERBERT, First Fiscal, R. 0.
Qood Attestor.
GORDON C. HERD, Sworn Clerk.

TO THE EDITOR 07 TDB BARBADOS GLOBE.
George-Town, Demerara, 18th March, 1831.
Sir—ln consequence of my paper, The Guiana Chroni-
cle, having been suppressed by an order from his honour the
First Fiscal, It. 0. (purporting to act under directions of
his Excellency the Lieut.-Governor of these Colonies) I take
Jove to address this letter to you. I am not conscious of
lay act of mine, either in my public or private capacity,
which was either intended or calculated to offer the slightest
personal offence or disrespect to our present governor. 1
cannot, therefore, for a moment suppose that his Excel-

lency has been influenced by any undue feeling of personal
resentment. That I have been grievously injured in my
property by repeated threats and actual suppressions of
my paper, during the last six years, is most true. That
the grounds, on which these interruptions, by actual or
threatened force, have taken place, have been insuffi-
cient to justify such means, is equally true, as proved, first,
by these interdicts having been withdrawn on application
being made to superior authority, and secondly, by the con-
tinued and marked favour with which my paper has con-
tinued to be received, not only in this Colony, but generally
tbrcughout the West Indies, and even in Great Britain.—
Had I committed myself by inserting in my paper any
unguardedly violent article, I, no doubt, should have
subjected myself to a legal prosecution for the sa:ue ; and
even (had the nature of the article justified such ex-
treme severity,) to personal arrest ; to be tried as a
criminal by the laws of the country ; and to even capital
punishment, if found guilty of a capital offeuce. All
this I most freely and fully admit, and am prepared, by
every means in my power, to assert and maintain, and that
as well from a conviction that it is essential to my own private
interest and security as from a sense of public advantage.
What I declaim against as an act unknown to the Dutch, and
contrary to the spirit and letter of the laws and constitution of
Great Britain is, for any individual, however high, to assume
to himself a right to pass by the ordinary trib.inals, established
for the dispensation of justice,in all cases,both civil and crimi-
nal, =,._tul on his own individual responsibility and private judg-
ment, aided bywhatever private councillors he may choose to
consult, to try and condemn any British subject; sod to
execute such sentince as he rrery deem proper, and that by
the strong arm fir ti •• public authorities, without smi the
semblance of submitting to any of those legal forms, which
the constitution of every civilized government, and most
especially the British, has established for the protection of
the just rights and liberty of its subjects—and which have
been secured to every Briton as his inalienable birth-right.
When my press was stopped in 1825, on account of my
having inserted in my paper an account of a most extraordi-
nary dialogue which had passed publicly on parade, between
a certain then Major in the Militia, and a highly-respectable
individual, a private in the same corps, not only were my
premises violently entered by the police in considerable
force, but my private property, the very implements of my
trade, I allude to the handle of my press, was forcibly taken
away, and carried to the Police Office; and when it was re-
quested to see the warrant on which my house was violently
entered, my private property taken away, my means of future
industry in the exercise of my legal employment suspended,
the Schout, or bead constable, of police-officer, laid his hand
upon the dirk which was hanging by his side, and declared
that to be his warrant. In the present case, the conduct of
the Authorities in regard to me, h-ts not been less sudden,
arbitrary, and in my decided opinion illegal. The day before
yesterday, when my paper was in press, a clerk from the
Colonial Secretary's office called at my office and delivered the
interdict, which was that day printed and circulated with the
notice, that day delivered to my subscribers. But I conceive
that I now stand on very different grounds from what I did
in 1825.

I have published my paper some years back on this
license, and in such strict conformity with the three con-
ditions therein contained, as to defy the jealous and vigilant
eye of the many who are deeply interested in the auppres•
don of a free press in this colony, and the consequeut ex •
posure of that system of financial extravagance, and of the
legislative abuses from which it originates, on which they
thrive, but to the severe cost and injury of the more useful
and industrious classes of the conim,inity. At laAt, how-
ever, the sinker influence of these interested parasites
has swayed the better judgment of his Excellency :
they have discovered another gunpowder p;ot in a nut shell.
I conclude this letter by a very brief history of myself since
ate year 1807, when I arrived in this Colony. I commenced
the business of a master printer in 1811, which I have con-
tinued ever since, consequently now for twenty years. In
the year 1814, I obtained from his Excellency, the then
Governor, Major-General John Murray, permisbion to puh•
fish a newspaper. This I applied fo•, merely in conformity
with an old Dutch custom in this colony, hut which neithei
was, nor is absolutely required by any, either Dutch of
En;4lish law. This paper was commenced in January,lBls,
and was so successful, that in 1321, I reckoned upwards
of seven hundred subscribers, at tw•o joes each, besides
the profits which 1 derived from advertisements. This
flourishing condition of my paper continued until the
arrival of his Excellency Sir Benj. D'Urban, as Governor
of these Colonies, in April, 1824. In the short space of
four days, after the arrival of this officer, he manifested his
intention of abridging the liberty before enjoyed by the ple.s
under his predecessor; and although a reference to my
papers of that date will show that no intemperance whatever
on my part could possibly, in that time, have influenced bin
conduct In that respect, His Excellency the Governor
did, however, think proper, both by his own memo-
randa, as well as by those of the Fiscal repeatedly
to interfere with and interrupt the legal and temperate
observations which I had thought proper to introduce
into my paper; and on the 28th of July, 1824, lie required
me to give in, for his consideration, reasons in writing, why
the publication of ony newspaper should be any longer tole-
rated. This requisition I complied with in the most cou•-
teous and respectful terms, which reply, however, failed in
its intended purpose ; and in August, 1824, his Excellency
communicated to me a memorandum, in which he distinctly
assumes the right of judging and dictating to me on all
points relating to my paper. In August, 1824, his Excel-
lency thought proper to suppress the paper called the
Colonist. The grounds of this suppression are foreign to
my present purpose, which is merely to justify myself; but
what I then felt as a most severe because unmerited perso-
nal insult, was his order to the effect that the same should be
communicated to me, as a warning—intimating also, that he
possessed the absolute power (with threats of employing it) of
inflicting the punishment of banishment, without form of
process of law, for any infraction of his orders and decrees
On the 10th Sept. 1824, his Excellency sent to me, unsoli-
cited, a new license to print my newspaper, clogged with
many conditions and restrictions not contained in the previous
licence which I had obtained 10 years before from Major-
General Murray, and which I then held. This, wishing to
avoid any unpleasant discussion, I quietly retained without
returning any answer. After various other most annoying
interferences with my management of my paper, as 1 am
ready to prove by the production of many written doers
menu, his Excellency finally, on the 12th October, 1825,
subjected my paper to his absolute control, by ordering
that a proof sheet of every future publication should
be submitted to him, previous to publication. In this
country, where it is well known how difficult it is to get
any periodical work regularly executed, you may easily con-
ceive the dreadful annoyance of having a paper sent about
five o'clock to Government House, there to be revised, per-
haps to be shorn of Many columns, for which I was then
called upon to substitute other matte►, after the hour when
the paper was to have been circulated.
Finally, on the 18th November, 1825, when I was myself
in the country, my paper was stopped by an order from hie
Excellency, as before stated—my house violently entered by
armed men—my property seized and taken away—my Edi-
tor (Mr. Barker), arrested, and taken to the Fiscal**
Office, from whence be was dismissed without any charge

t

i
i i
i
I I