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

. .
None of these muriTers enstiei which had marked for-
mer insurrections. The violence described by the Hon.
Gentleman was not general. The Lerdon Missionary
Society appealed to Mr. Austin, a Gentleman of the
Church of England, who had done much by his huma-
nity for the interest of the slave population. That Gen-
tleman stated, that the moral instruction of Mr. Smith
had a tendency to preserve peace an'song the slaves—
(Hear, hear). An Hon. Gentleman seemed to hear with
repugnance any encomium on Mr. Smith, but he was te-
peating the words of another: "Non meta hie sermb."—
To the instruction of Mr. Smith many owed their lives
who %Tie seeking to destroy his. Tnis was a question
on which every man in that House might to lay his
hand on his heart, and state what he really thought of
the conduct of Mr. Smith. Ile could lay his hand on
his heart, and declare lie believed him to be an inno-
cent, c irtuous man, illegally tried, illegally condemned,
and, if death had followed the sentence, it would have
disgraced the Government. It would have been an or-
der for the execution of a man which they had no au-
thority to give, and it would have involved all con-
cerned in a charge of murder. No Assembly could
refuse to pronounce against a Judge who suffered an
innocent man to be unjustly conietimed to death. If
there was a detect in the proof of guilt, Mr. Smith had
been improperly treated, and the House must agree to
the motion of his lion, and Learned Fiend. It was not
a question whether Mr. Smith had been imprudent or
enthusiastic. No doubt lie was enthusiastic. The love of
religion must have been strong to make him go to the
Island of Demerara, where he was exposed to a long train
of evils. Pat t of the evidence adduced against him had
no more to do with his case than the Gunpowder Plot.
‘Vhat bid the Count-martial to do with the evidence of
Dr. 'York, relating to a conversation which took place
four fears previous? This generous doctor, Turk, had
been engaged in a dispute with his neighbour five years
previous, and when the life of that neighbour was in
danger, he came and related the cause of dispute, fin
the purpose of proving his guilt. "If I coold adopt,"
said Sir James Mackintosh, " any of the old supersti-
tion, I should prefer never to sail in a vessel 1N ith Dr.
Turk. I will give him to them from whom he is
descended, and leave him like them to be expelled
from the Christian world." Was it evidence for any
fair purpose that the private journal had been dragged
from Mr. Smith to prove his opposition to slavery ?
The Judge-Advocate said—" So abandoned is Mr.
Smith, that he is an enemy to slavery—(A laugh).
Nothing can please Mr. Smith—slavery displeases him, and he even
mentions it in his journal." If hatred of slavery was a reproach,
that reproach might apply to Parliament, and every good man in
England. The Honourable Gentleman knew Dr. Johnson was
not a sectary, or deficient in zeal for the Church. W!, .!: Ur. John-
son Was at the University of Oxford, be propo:J as a toast,
" Success to the first revolt of the Negroes in the Wte,t Indies"
The Learned Doctor, by that roast, only meant to exi;ress his ab-
horrence of slavery. His Honourable Friend, in his impreg-
nable speech, which he believed to be so from the vain attempt to
answer it, had properly stated that martial :law, so soon as tit!
necessity ceased, should have been abandoned. It was unlawful
to maintain it, when the necessity did not exist. The doctrine
of Sir F.dsvard Coke was this; whilst the common law could act,
no martial law ought to exist. Sir Matthew Hale laid down
the same doctrine. From the time of Richard the Second to the
present day, the greatest lawyers had held that martial law
should not be resorted to whilst the common law was operative.—
There was nothing in the Dutch law, as the Honourable Gentle-
man supposed, that could alter the construction of the law in the
Island of Demarara. lie had seen an order from the States Ge.
neral, issued in 1793, stating that military crimes in the Colonies
were to be punished by a Council of War, leaving common causes
to the common law. If that were so, it was an act of lawless vio-
lence to try Mr. Smith by a Court-martial, after the necessity for
martial law had teased. It was not a question whether the unfelt-
tuna:e man had one Alderman-like quality of discretion. The
question was, whether he bad been guilty of misprision of we:pos.l
Now, befozeihat crime could be proved, there must be en overt sot.
Was that made out? No. Mr. Smith expected sonic disturbisseW
on the arrival of Lord Bathurst's letter' and be told all be knew.
The whole evidence proved Mr. Smith bad acted from the beet'
motives. The negroes who gave evidence against him were in fear
of their lives • the skeletons of slaves were hanging over their
heads; they beard the lash of the whip, and had dread upon their
minds. After all, they gave but a doubtful character to words
they had heard, and which they might have misunderstood.
No Judge, on the words thus given in evidence, would have ven-
tured to tell a Jury to convict a man of high treason. The Right
Hon. and • Gentleman then adverted to the cruel manner
in which die unfortunate man and his wife had been confined in
two small rooms, from the _7th of August to October. Sentinels
were constantly keeping watch over him and his wife. After his
death, Mrs. Smith *as not allowed to attend his funeral. bin.
her companion in misfortune, said, " Is it possible General Murray
can deny a poor widow following her husband to the graire?" At
four o'clock the next morning, they went, in opposition to the Go-
' vernment, and paid the last sad duties. Two of Mr. Smith's hearers
—the one a carpenter, the other a bricklayer, both of wham had
received marks of kindness at his hands—rtsAved to evince their
gratitude by erecting some slight memorial of their respect over his
grave, actuated by that sentiment to which an English Poet has
, so beautifully alluded—
" Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh."
The Authorities of the Island, however, ordered this testimory of
respect to be taken down, and forbade any person to imitate their
example upon pain of their heavy displeasure. Eighteen days after
the death of Mr. Smith, a Resolution was published, condemning
the London Missionary. Society, and Lord Bathurst, for having
rescued Mr. Smith by procuring his return home. The colony of
Demerara were not satisfied with the mere death of the man ; they
required that his skeleton should dangle in the wind, to deter any
honest conscientious preacher of the Gospel from venturing to land
on that spot to correct their morals or instruct their ignorance-( Hear)
Mr. SCARLETT confessed that he felt himself un-
able to concur with a Resolution such as that before the!
House, which stigmatised the Colony of Demerara as
murderers—(heer, hear). Ile congratulated himself
in net possessing the power of declamation or any of
those forensic powers which were good for the purpose of inflam-
ing the passions but for nothing beyond. lie should endeavour to
come to a conscientious conclusion according to the facts of the
case. Ile was happy in the first place to bear to the ex-
cellent character of the Chief Justice of rm. who was a
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, which alone was sufficient!
to satisfy the world that he was a Gentleman of education and!
honuar. Mr. Smith could not but feel happy that he had such a
person :o judge him. The only fault he could attribute to the
Court-Martial was, filet they assembled before Martial Law was,
p o clai to ed . Mr. Smith was clearly guilty of misprision of treason,
and therefore amenable to the laws. The Hon. and Learned Mem-1
her here read extracts from the evidence before the Court-Martial,
in support of his argument. He particularly referred to the
testimony of Bristol, and the speech of Mr. Smith himself. He
did not mean to impute to the unfortunate Mr. Smith any intention
of knowingly acting wrong. But the law held that if a man had
knowledge of criminal intention, and did au communicate it, and
the act took place, he was guilty of misprision. Now Quamina was
fuond in open revolt, and it was proved in a manner that no twelve
Gentlemen on their oaths would have rejected, that he communi-
cated his treasonable intentions to Smith. How then could the Court
be blamed? lie contended that the proceedings before the Court
were such that it was impossible to lay it open to the censure cast
upon it by his Honourable and Learned Friend. lie must at the
same time say, that he did not think the sentence upon Mr. Smith
was correct according to the English law. He knew not what the
Dutch law of that colony might be, but he should certainly have re-
curium tided that the private journal of Mr. Smith should not be
used. 'lire colonists, it should be remembered, acted at the time
under the terror of rebel:ion. He implored the House to consider,
before they came to a vote of censure to render individuals tufa-
mous, what would be the probable consequences of such a course
in the presetit state of the colony. He should oppose the motion.
Ad-
journ wore
so Silli N
ouGtiTatad)N
lungro se, but the cries of Question and Ad-
continued that, after vainly =dem-