Star.
London, England, 1816-02-03 00:00:00

PRICE

AzT
numerous MEETING of PLANTERS,
MtRCH 1 V and o hen:, intereeed in the URI 1'ir;11
%VEiT-INDIA rOLONIKS, coniteoed by public, Adyprti,,
ment, ani hei,l at the Cily of t Tava-n, Eishopsgato
street. Lon Jon, :he :9 h d:y J moary, 1t416;

. . .
CHARI.Iii NICIiOi. AS PAL,. 1,,R, Esq. M. P. •
in the Chair;
The following Resolutions having been read, were ueanis
mously passed:
Resolution Ist. That a 1311 introduced a' the close of the
last Sess;on, into the House oh Commons, entities!, 4' A kW!
for more effectually preventing the unlawful Importstion of
Mayes, and the holding Tree Pers.lns In Sl:wiry in the Brit'sh
Colonies," has excited most serious atteminti and consnleraNe
alarm throughout the British West-India Colonies. .
tld. That al:hough this Committee hr rot yet f illy informed
reirctinz, the proceedings of all the Colonial Lesi.latures 'heti:i-
on, and till-, froth Jamaica and irons o•Itm Culouks, hurl,-
taw &consents are expected, iu contra lictinn and slisproof 4
those clieges uroo which tit, sad Bill is pr ,tessetlly granttles.l4,
Attila the prw.ecution of those inquiries w.lich the sub) et :sae
suggested: it is become already expedient to endeavour to goad
the. Members of the Legisliture and •the psblie against inser-
tions an.; representa:ions which, in r:roiemeit Loi..ti of the sed
Bill. bare he'll circulated with unceasi At Jsii.liiisy, but width
have been advanced without proof—and will appear, upon ins
qiiiry' to he utterly 'lnfiniti le I
ad. That the declared round of the proposed ussastere is the
actuator highly probable existence. In.ttie fintish t_l•iloales, of
_ _ . _

a contraband trade in• Slaves, and of an ille!al d,tentfon of free

persons in slavery ; and it it alleged, that tiks offei sch or will
prevail to an extent adequate tO defeat the salutary cud. -,MI bezt.e.
sary influence upon the mind.; of the Colonists, which the abolition
of the Mal/ Trade was calculated to effect.
4th. That so great an innovat'ou upon the long established
Colonial System as that wirch is proposed by this Bal—an inter-
ference, on the part of the Imperial Parliament, to the internal

mutucipal regulation of the filkmn• es, cannot, injus• ice, be v.:idi-
cued by the mere possibility of the commission of Climes, or by
rare and,trivial off.:nces, if etch can, indeed, be adduced ; b it t` at,
in consistency with the wisdom and equity of the British ?Arita.
tent, the enactment of such a law shoull, at least, be preaede by
the fullest proof of the existence and prevalence of those abuses to
which it is of as a remedy.

sth. 'Filet in the laboured productions which have been given
to the public in support of the proposed measure, no one fact of
the illicit practices charged has been hitherto brought satisfacto-
rily home to the British Colonies. An appareet increase in the
Census of Trinidad refutes, by its very magnitude. the accusa-
tion which It is brought forward to prove, and is evidently the
result of the impi.rfection of a preceding Censui. In re,pect to
the other Colonies, although imputations are not spared, evi-
dence is silent, and the Bri.ish Legislature Is invitee, le the Re-
port et the African Ineitutioe, to adopt this measure, so formi-
dable in its principle, because " there is abundaet reasmi to con-
clude," nr because " it cannot reasonably b • douh:ed," that the
alleged ilEcit practices exist. or because it is barely pornsibl: Oat
at snme future time, and in some one particular island, they mar
exist, while the history of all the Colonies, daring the eight years
which have elapsed since the-abolition ef the Slave Trade, has
been sedulotts,y, bat vainly, ransacked for use satisfactory proof
of the participation of a single British Col'ely in the crime of
which they are directly or iiithrectly accused.
6th. That even the possihility of c treying on the illicit rrac-
tices ques:ion has been consi lerehly narrowed since tins Bill
was hat <sauced into the Reese of C.,einiani by the Decree of the
French Government abolishing lie Sieve Trade.
7th. That title Committee cannot but notice, respectettle au-
thority having given *auction to them, those °flee:ere in •ietta-
done, that crimes, confessedly not proved, may be reasenetly
bnputed to his Majesty's subjects in the West India Cotuid. s,
because (under the sanction of British Laws) they are hec.mte
peesemors of Slaves, and that the laws and regulations weich •he
Cellessial Legislature.: have fai :nerd for tho maintenance and go.
VentMent et those :Slaves, and for the .atety and welfare of the
whole population under their jeriolic•ions, have been ei:lser made
for the sake of the privileged order alone, or, where they hold
out protectlon to tint Slaves, have been illusory, enacted in bad
faith, or passed with fraudulent designs That asseteirins thus
extravagant and illiberal do not merit refutation, but that the
great body of British subjects .who inhabit the West India Colo-
nice have cause to complain, that, went those injurious impute-
dons, which calumny has first fixed upon their character, new
calumnies are roundel
nth. That could it be proved, which has not yet been done,
that in some one island some obscure act of contraband dealing
In Slaves had occurred, it would be a moat unwarrantable con-
clusion, that the conduct of the Planters of Jamaica, and of
other Colonies in the West Indies, in the government and treat-
ment of their Slaves, had been influenced by the commission of
a crime, of which, so far front being accomplices therein, they
have never heard: and the British Legislature and the British
Public may rest assured, that in the great Colony of Jamaica
at least, which in territoey and population forms ot itself a
moiety of the insular Colonic; of Great Britain in the West lee
dies, and this Committee verily beli.ves equally in the other
Island', every beneficial consequence to the Slaves, which was
necessarily connected with a complete abrAdon of the British
Slave Trade, has been, since the pasting of that taw, progressively
operating.
9th. That the Legislature of Jamaica, although firmly deny-
ing the existence, within its knowledge, of an illicit Trade in
Slaves, since the passing of the Abolition Act, has nevertheless •
commenced an investigation, for the purpose of ascertaining---
whether there be the least reason to suspect any evasion of the
Abolition Law in that island ? and has explicitly declared its re-
solution to make a completerovision, in whatever instances it
maybe found necessary, fur aiding and enforcing that law ; and nu
doubt the same course, necessary,Will be pursued in other Wands.
10th. That the Legislature of Jamaica is also engaged in an in-
vestigation of the actual situation of the Slave Poet la ion tinier
its jurisdiction, with a view tairly to disclose its cote:bijou, that
it may be compared with the dark amid &aml representriuns
which have been made of it, and with a deter initiation also to in-
quire whether further improvements or amelioretion he situ-
ation of the Slaves can be acc.miplished by legal enasersetes,
with safety to the community, and due regard to the mere:, itelita
of properly ; and the result of similar iuvestigations iney be ee-
pected from other islands.
Ilth. That, meat time, it is the duty oft his Committee to de-
clare, that the Bill in question is considered, by the Legislatures
of Jamaica and other Colonies, whose prat.- edines have reached
this Committee, as the basis of a system ot most grievous oppreise
akin, striking eventually at the properties, liberties, cl.a.leters,
and lives, of his Majesty's faitleul eubjects in :he '. es:-India Co-
lonies; and that, hi the first Ole:once (to use the words of tee Ja-
maica House of Assembly), " it assumes a EVIL of legislation
within the island, upon a subject of mere ineeicipal regutatain
and internal polite; exercises a power Over the estates and pro-
perty of the inhabitants; imposes the most grievous penalties end
forfeitures, to be inflicted at the will of a single officer, wilioat
trial by Jury; and levies hues amid gratuities, to the use of the
said officer ant others, on the inhabitants, not given or cue-Rived
to by their Representatives in General Ass. tubly ; by weiett
enactments, penalties, forfeitures, and aatressniencs, not only the
constitutional deist of bovine' legislation. is infringe'', but C.*
pledge in respect to taxation,given to the Calioni4 by the statute
of the lath Geo. lid. cap. 12, it violated.
I Stk. That if it could he supposed that those who framed this
Bill, and who have recommended it to Parham, nt, had not se
much in view the remedy of any notorious existine evil as the
estahlishmeot.ai a precedent on which to ground a s) went of le-
gislation by the British Parliament, in thi entire municipal regu.
Luton and Automat Government of the Colonies; the rachneete ma-
policy, and danger et such an experiment ehould be taken
dueconsideration by every friend to the prespetity of Great Bri-
tain; by every rational wellswither to our Colonial Slaves. By
persevering in an experiment similar to that which L. now sup
Bested, the great rod flourishing Celony ot Saint Delano was
utterly lost to France; and the British Parliament will wiwiy de-
liberate upon the awful responsibility which it would Italksithr, un-
deraucli &system, for all the train or consequences whisk at Wit
oillOo to Prirate property and to public resources."
C. N. Y.Al.l.Mlig, atairloori.