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

much feverish anaiety in the minds of the planters;
411 cl that this .anti 'and the arrival of those in-
struttions should bd constiidnicated- to the field Ne-
groff is pet matte of surprise when. we consider
,tIW number of Negroes who are employed as do.
mestics in the houses of the White inhabitants.—
Thearrival of those instructions and the alarm of the
planters was communicated to the field Negroes. In
the meantime the instructions became the subject of
private discussion in the Court of Policy, where a great
difference of opinion was manifested. Another and a
third meeting took place ; and although in those meet-
ings there was no discussion of a hostile or violent
nature, yet there was considerable difference of opi-
nion. The difference of opinion upon those discussions
having got out among the people, increased the fever
into which society had been already thrown, and the
only means which could be devised for allaying that
universal irritation, and which would have suggested
themselves to any one not of weak intellect, did not'
suggest themselves to the person then at the head of
affairs in that Colony. No man is more willing than I
am to make allowance for his situation, which I readily

admit was delicate in the extreme ; but I confess that

feel astonishment that the propriety of promulgating at
once what the nature of the instructions was did
not suggest itself to that gallant individual—(Hear,
hear). I think it was his duty to have done so, even
before they had made up their minds with respect to
the instructions ; but, Sir, after the Court of Policy had
come to certain resolutions, still a fatal delay took
place. Is it not extraordinary that week after week
passed between the arrival of the instructions of this
Government and the lamentable occurrence which led
to the conviction of Mr. Smith, and that no public com-
munication respecting those instructions had been made
by the Government of Demerara, either to Whites or
Blacks? I again ask, what could be the reason for
suffering an interval of seven weeki to pass without
'making such a communication? The instructions ar•
rived on the 7th of July, and the revolt did not take
place until the 18th of August. Out of the whole of
the evidence in this case, I wish particularly to call the
attentiost of the House to two facts not.unconnected,
but the one absolutely growing out of the other. I
mean the alarm on the part of th?. Whites and the
anxiety for their own safety, and the questions of the,
Negroes wish respect to their freedom. What are the
questions which the Negroes are stated to have asked?
Ilac a paper with our freedom come out from Eng
land ?" Ilas not the King of England given us our
freedom?" " Have we not friends in Parliament who
speak fr,r us to get our freedom ?" Such, Sir, are the
questions which the Negroes put, and you see that the
word freedom was the word with them all, and that all

"relieved their freedom was granted. Now with respect
to granting freedom to the slaves, I shall now state
those opinions which I have often stated in this House,
and which I have maintained out of it long before I had
the honour of a seat in it, and which opinions I now ad-
here to in the main, perhaps conecting the manner ofl
expressing that opinion. As it is necessary, in justice to
oar White fellow-subjects, and as it is justice to the
Negroes themselves, who have been hitherto the victims
of our cruelty, our injustice, and I maintain our im-
policy, to maintain for the present the state of society
in the West Indies, I contend that it must be main-

tained by a steady and prompt execution of all laws re-
lating to those Colonies, and. that nothing can be so
dangerous as wavering or leaving a doubt where none
ought to exist ; where there is no occasion for the ex-
istence of such a doubt. Doubt for a moment may be
fatal; and mercy to the Black man, as well as justice
to the White, requires that you should never suffer for
an instant one party to dread, or the other to hope, that
the Parliament of England had decreed the sudden and
unjustifiable freedom of the slaves, before they were fit
to receive and appreciate such a blessingHHear, hear.)
it is first for the sake of the Slack man, and next, and
subsidiary to that, in justice to the White man, I feel
myself bound to state that I think unhappily the Blacks
are at this moment not in a fit state to receive the
blessings of unqualified freedom. A desire natu-
rally and inevitably excited by the improper con-
cealment of the contents of instructions known to have
been received from London, gave rise to those pro-
ceedings in which, in my opinion, all classes of his
Majesty's subjects are deeply interested. It happened,
Sir, that in the Colony of Demerara, a Mr. Smith
officiated as a Minister of the Gospel upwards of
six years; for a period I believe •f six years and a half;
during which time he obtained universal respect for his
amiable, religious, and moral qualities, together with
the love and veneration not only of the flock to whom
be administered the solace of religion, but even of those
of his neighbourhood, one of whom in particular was
attracted towards him by his amiable and quiet deport-
ment, and by his strictly moral propriety—(llea-).
And if the papers now on the table furnish but part of
the truth, still what they did furnish is sufficient to en-
able me to prove to this House, that Mr. Smith, when
not occupied in the usual discharge of his religious
duties, must have borne the highest character. This
person, a Minister of the Gospel, was dragged from his
house about three days after the revolt had commenced,
at a time when the first violence was not only expended,
but when the revolt was substantially put down. He
was dragged from his house without having been
granted time to procure those conveniences which in
other climates would promote his comfort, but in that
climate were absolutely necessary for the preservation
of his health, and in his case more absolutely necessary,
because his health was at that time attacked in the prin-
cipal seats by a disease, which, happen what might,
would in all probability have terminated his existence.
After having been dragged with this indecent baste to
prison, Mr. Smith was shut up many weeks, in an un-
healthy climate,in a room where he was exposed to the
sun, and he was afterwards removed to another room
where his health and his life were placed in greater
jeopardy than before, to a place which in any country
would not be considered fit for the abode of pri-
soners; to a place where, in consequence of the
heavy rains, the water lay underneath boards which
were a quarter of an inch asunder, and therefore
the dampness was the more injurious. Mr. Smith
was seized under the hollow pretence that, by the
declaration of martial law, he was required to serve
as a soldier. If from ignorance of the fact that this
was required, he had refused to serve, surely there was
some excuse for his so doing. Mr. Smith was, how-
ever, hurried to prison, and his papers were seized.
With these was his private journal, part of which was
intended to be sent to his employers, but the greater
portion of it was intended to meet no human eye but
his own. He was kept in confinement after the dis-
turbance had subsided. General Murray had written
home, that on the 26th things were quiet, and after the
Slst there was no movement at all. The Colony was

thus, barring the possibility of a MAO* as*traUiluil as
it could be, and as much so as it had been before the
new instructions were sent out... Mr. Smith was kept in
prison four calendar months. On the 9th of. November
he wits coufined in a room called the Gain?, wbere he
was :objected to many privations, and it was finally re-
solved to bring him to a Court-martial. He called on
the House to pause, and survey as it *ere the outside
of this proceeding. He believed it would puzzle the
most learned member of the Court to Say under what
law this was done. As a lawyer, he could not under-
stand how Mr. Smith could properly be tried before
a Court-martial. He would not say that in bad times
there had been no example of the kind in England,
but he would say, that nothing of the sort had been
attempted since we bad been in possession of any
thing that deserved the name of a Constitution.—,
Formerly, indeed, the Crown would order, by Procla-
mation, that civil offences should be prosecuted before
a military tribunal. The nearest precedent for what
had been done in Demerara, was to be found in the au-
gust and liberal decree issued in the teign of Philip and
Mary, which ordered to be tried before a Court-martial
those guilty of the rebellious offence of holding hereti-
cal (Pt otestant) books in their possession, and not giving
them up to the Public Authorities, without first reading
them. Similar proclamations, perhaps, but not so ex
travagant, were issued in the reign of Elizabeth, in that
of James the First, and al,o in the time of Charles I.
till at length the evil was thought unbearable ; and
thence arose the celebrated " Petition of Rights," one of
the best, if not the very best, of the legacies left by
Lord Coke, to entitle him to the gratitude of his coun
trymen. The Petition of Rights declared that all such
proceedings should thenceforth be put down, and that
no subject should be bowl,' in life or limb but according
to the law of the land, " lest," the Petition went on to say,
" any of the subjects of your Majesty should be put to
death contiary to the law of the land." Since that time
martial law had not been tied in England, and was de-1
claied by the Courts to be contrary to the law of the,
land. The evil complained of had been much miti-
gated in the time of Charles, and that which the Peti-
tion aimed at was to pi event militat y persons, and
those c:muecte,l w ith them, Isom being brought to a
Court-martial for cffcm es not cognizable before a
military tribunal. At that time a standing army, in
time of Feace, was not known ; but when the Mutiny
Bills came to be brought in annually, certain offences
were made punishable by martial law; and martial
w, as administe, ed under the Mutiny Acts, was
all that now remained of it in England. If the
proceedings in Demerara w ere to be justified on the
ground that they were sanctioned by a Dutch law,
he would answer to this, that the Crown had no right,
constitutionally speaki,lg, from conquering colonies,
to import into our Constitution laws which were un-
known to it. Were this permitted, the Crown, from
conquering one colony, might introduce the bow-'
string; from a second, the 'practice of paving court-
yards with the skulls of those who offended against
despotism ; and from a third, the practice of scalping,
and the tomahawk. Were the pi inciple admitted, these
things might all he denizened in out Constitution with-
out consent of Parliament. But it was unuecessary for
him to dwell on this subject, as the proceedings which
had taken place professed to be founded on the law of
England. The patties charged could not plead that
they took place under a Dutch law, as it was uncle! the
Mutiny Act, which was often cited on the tiial that
they affected to act. Now, how did this bear in the
case of the poor Missionary ? He was tried by a Court
Martial, and Governor Murray wrote home that tlris
was better for him, as had a different course been taken,

lie might have been brought Leibre a mote prejudiced
tribunal. Ile, however, had no he,itation in saying,
that had he been the accused, or Counsel for him, he
would have preferred being brought before a Civil
Tribunal to appealing before that anomalous Court to
which the I.lissionat y had been sent. In the fist in-
stance there would have been delay, which was in all
cases an advantage for the accused, but which, in a
case like that of Mr. Smith, was an inestimable benefit.
The Roman law, as administered theie, offered many
advantages of which a defendant might avail himself ;
and the proceedings necessary to establish the admissi-
bility of slaves to give evidence, if that course were
taken, presented chances in favour of the accused. By
the rules of the civil law, two witnesses were necessary
to each fact: let any man look at the evidence given on
the Court-martial, and say if this would not have been
of-importance to the accused. Last of all, there was the
advantage in a trial by common law of a learned per-
son presiding as Chief Justice, acting on his individual
and professional responsibility, in the fate of the Bar of
the Colony; and under the observation of that Bar to
which he went, and to which lie may return, whose fa-
vourable judgment, if he retained the common feelings
of an advocate and a man, he could not but anxiously
desire. But the same individual took quite a different
character when he became a member of the Court-
martial, to qualify him for which, he some days before
had taken upon himself the rank and state of Lieute-
nant-Colonel of the Militia. This was done for the ex-
press purpose of enabling him to sit on the Court-mar-
tial. Coming there partly a lawyer, partly a soldier, he
saw those forms brokon which, surrounded by a Bar, and
administering justice in his black robe, he would not have
failed to protect. fle passed from this to another mockery.
The Judge Advocate, who on these occasions was said
to be a prosecutor, was still generally regarded as coun-
sel for the prisoner. It had been laid down by a reve-
rend Judge, in the middle of last centui y, to be the duty
of the Judge Advocate, when the case was doubtful, to
incline towards the prisoner. He was sorry to say he
saw nothing of the kind in the conduct of this Judge, or
of those Judges he might say. They displayed all their
parts to oppose the accused with vehemence ; and the
attempts made to confound the prisoner were such as
could never have been made in a differently constituted
Court. The specific charge had been concealed from
the prisoner. It had been drawn up in a short, brief,
vague manner, and the opening speech veiled the sub-
ject still more. Half a page sufficed for the opening
speech, but eighteen pages scarcely contained his reply.
After the prisoner's mouth was closed, when he could
not be heard again, then was all his subtlety and twisting
let loose against the unhappy man; and this was carried
to the monstrous extent of introducing new facts—the
names, the dates, the places of which had not been
hinted at or alluded to in the course of the preceding
twenty-seven days of the trial—(Hear, hear). He there-
fore again said, that if he had been the party accused,
or his Counsel, he would have preferred a thousandfold
being tried before a civil tribunal. As to the other
Members of the Court-martial, he should remark on one
who, though the highest in rank next to the Governor,
appeared to him unfit to assist on that occasion. The
individual was Colonel of a Regiment in the Colony. It

—.war

.~~

was known that Officers commanding West India Reg.
mints had generally a connection with the Cohnly in
which they held such rank. Of the President,Lieutenant-
Colonel Goodman, he wished to say a single word,.
That gallant Officer, than whoM, as he understood,
nobody could bear a higher character, besides his cows..
mission, held the office of Vendtte-master to the Colony,
an office which pointed him out as the last man who
ought to sit upon such a trial. It was the observatio%
of General Murray,that it was necessary for Mr. Smith
not only to have a fair and impartial trial, but the full
semblance of one. How then came he to appoint aq
Officer to be President of the Court who held such
situation as he had mentioned ? It happened that only
a few days previous to this, there was a great sale of
slaves, a circumstance naturally calculated to excite

6 . _....
(Treat sorrow in the hearts of those unfortunate people,
fifty-six of whom were to be torn from the place of
their birth and residence, and many from their dearest
ties and connections. He had in his hand the adver.

tisements of these sales, and every one of them ua,

signed "4S. A. Goodman." These poor creatures were
described as being orderly and industrious, and well
worthy the attention of masters. Another advertise.
ment was for the sale of a mother and her three chil-
dren ; and another for that of a young female, who was
pregnant; altogether they amounted to seventy-six, an..l
the whole of the advertisements were signed with Lieu•

tenant-Colonel Goodman's name. Let it not be sup.
posed that he meant to say the holding of this (Ace
would be an inducement to lieutenant-Colonel Good.

man to act cow r.try to his judgment, but it gave Lim a
manifest interest in the system, and everybody must
suppose him rrejudiced in its favour. But the Chief
Justice he could not leave. He must again advert to
that monstrous and unheard-of injustice. He, to whom
lay the right of appeal; was appointed to this tribunsit
—not as President, where his acts would stand tOrward
and attract the eye cf scrutiny, but hidden amongst the
common and iriesponsible members of the Comt. One
word more upon the jurisdiction of the Court itself.
It could not be denied that any sudden :d urgent
emergency, such as foreign invasion or reb,:i!ion against
the St:tte, justified the proclaiming of in.n law, and
the suspension of Civil Courts. But necessity Alone
justified it. And the very fact of that justification proved

that martial law could no longer. exist when such
necessity should cease. But here it continued for five
months, and it was two months before the Court-mar-
tial for the trial of Mr. Smith was assembled. Uiroa the
lapse of that period of time he was tried as a st.klier.
The most favourable way of putting the case for the
opposite argument was, that every man became a sol-
dier under martial law. And if Mr. Smith had been
brought before what was technically called a Drum-
head Court-martial, which sits for an litair, and in
the moment of rebellion, be should have nothing to
complain of in that respect. But instead of that,
all necessity fr:r maintaining a state of martial law
had ceased, and tranquillity had been everywhere
restored. Yet, in defiance of this, after two months
had elapsed, the Court-martial was assembled, and sat
twenty-eight days. He would now beg the House
to look for a moment at the course of the proceedings
on the trial. And if he had strewn that the Court had
no jurisdiction over the case of Mr. Smith, it he had
proved that his Judges were interested persons and dis-
qualified for that ()lice, he could equally she a: that their
pre ceedings were nei:her sanctioned by the maxims of
justice, nor justified by the principles of law ; even if
there had been no defect in the original construction Cr
power of the tribunal. lle begged to observe that the
Minutes laid before the House, were by no means fuli,
although he did not say they contained any thing fithe:
They told nothing which was untrue, but they omitted
much that ought to be told. First, as to what legal
Gentlemen well understood by " leading questions.
The objection to this species of examination was, that it
put answers into the witness's mouth, and was not so
mttch his evidence as the statement of the person ex
amining. This was peculiarly the case when the evi-
dence was afterwards written in substance, and not
with the question and answer. The Honourable and
Learned Gentleman then read extracts from his Re-
port, where leading questions were put, and the wit-
ness affirmed them. In the papers before the House,
the substance Was given as being the evidence of
the witness. It was well known that hearsay evi-
dence was not permitted to be received in Courts
of Justice, not even upon Corirti-martial. But,
in this case, witnesses were asked, " Did you hear
so and so tell so and so that he had beard this or that ?"
" Did you ever bear anybody insinuate ?" and ques-
tions of this monstrous and unheard-of description. This
was ten times worse than what was usually termed hear
say evidence, and as being such rejected by the Courts;
so much worse that to compare them would be an ab-
solute injustice to the latter. Yet this was what the
Court thought proper to admit in some parts of this
trial, and up to a certain point which he should pre-
sently shew to the House. The Honourable and Learned
Gentleman then read various passages of the evidence
where leading questions had been put, and evidence as
to imputation and hearsay had been admitted. The
same thing was to be found in the cross-examination of
the prisoner's witnesses. Mr. Austin, the Curate of the
Colony, was asked if he had never heard insinuations
that Mr. Smith stimulated the negroes to revolt? This
question Mr. Austin declined answering, upon the grouhd
that he was a Member of a Board of Inquiry then sti:-
ting to ascertain the causes which led to the revolt. It
was, however, decided by the Court that anything
which had passed before the Board of Inquiry, of ehe-
where, must be stated by the witness. Accordingly he
answered that he had heard such insinuations. Thus
the evidence taken before other bodies was brought by
insinuation to bear upon the trial of this unfortunate
man, in addition to all the other injustice and oppression
with which he had to contend, if he (Mr. Brougham)
had been Counsel for Mr. Smith (but he had noCounset
at that stage of the proceedings, and therefore, by plead-
log, acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Court) he should
have challenged their jurisdiction,but much more should
he have objected to all persons sitting on the Court,
who had already sat upon the trials of the Negroes.
Could they, he would ask, come to the trial of his guilt
or innocence with unprejudiced minds—they who had
extorted from those unhappy persons evidence against
Mr. Smith ? One of these, a slave named Paris, had
been induced to make a statement so wild, he would not
say so improbable, but such a wild and impossible tissue
'of stories, that it would be idle to think of shewing
their contradictions and falsehood. It was altogether
so wild and incredible, that even these soldiers sitting
in judgment upon Mr. Smith would not bring it for-
ward ; whilst his prosecutors summarily dispatched those
slaves who had gone so tar in their confessions. This was
the same with Sandy and other slaves, who, having told
too much for the purpose of their judges,. were led to in-
.

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