The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-07-17 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

we,
"re
obligedobl to postpone the valuable favour of "Irenmus"
wutuil next publication.
*tit,hitili that the children of freemen "born after the pass-
tit t4e reform bill" can establish their claims; but
siArt certain whether parties " apprenticed to freemen"
fre4Pently to the passing of the said act can claim their
to br',„l42 At all events there has not been sufficient time
riAlt '9l the question to an issue.
441(;)c.,/,*B.ltrET —We have received a communication from
itivlt4nabita‘nt 4 Parker-street respecting the dangerous
b. :7 of the crossing at the Church-street end, rendered so
," multitude of vehicles continually passing to and
aotn the Railway, &c. We believe that the Improvement
• COMMittee are empowered, by the act of parliament, mate-
rially to improve that t+ tree', and they will, doubtless, avail
themselves of the opportunity.

itibctpool

TUESDAY MORNING, JUI,Y 17, 1838.

Thet Publication of the STANDARD commenced this
morning at 5 o'clock.

JAMAICA.—We have received our files of the Ja-
rneqCa-Despatch and Kingston Chronicle up to the
ultimo. The contents of these papers are ex-
tremely important. They are, of course, chiefly oc-
cupied with the discussions in the House of Assembly
ortite subject of the abolition of negro apprentice-
ship. The house met on the 7th ult. We have al-
"ady gives the opening address of Sir Lionel Smith,
the Governor, with which we were favoured by the
last arrivals front New York. The address in reply
to the Governor was moved by Air. Hvslop. It con-
tained a paragraph asserting the principle that the ap_
Prenticeship was awarded as part of the compen•
sAtroa. To thin passage several members demurred

and amongst others a Mr. Hill, one or the special
magistrates, who was, however, appealed to by Messrs
Guy and Manton, and asked whether he I:ad not in his
official capacity been frequently called upon to value
the services of apprentices, and to award to theirmas-
ters a compensation for the remaining term of their
apprenticeship. This, of course, annihilated the fu-
tile objections taken by Mr. Hill. We subjoin the
address as amended:—
" May it please your Excellency,
" We, her Majesty's dutiful and loyalsubjects, the Assem-
bly of Jamaica, thank your Excellency for your speech at
the opening of the session, and we duly appreciate the con-
sideration evinced by your Excellency in convening this
general Assembly on the earliest day consistent with the
public welfare, to meet the present emergency.
" On receiving the despatches alluded to by your Excel-

lency, we shall proceed in the critical posture in which the
Island is placed, to give to the momentous matters submitted
to us our most serious consideration.
"Jamaica does indeed require repose, and we anxiously
hope that, should we determine to remove an immaterial ser-
vitude, we shall be left in the exercise of Sour constitutional
privileges to legislate for the.benefit of ail classes without any
further Parliamentary interference.
" The apprenticeship was forced on the acceptance of the
House as one of the precautionary measures to be adopted in
the transition from slavery to freedom, and was a portion of
our compensation. While, therefore, we discuss the pro-
priety of its abolition, we neither assume the responsibility,
nor exonerate the public faith."
To which his Excellency was pleased to reply.
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly,
" I receive this your address with great satisfaction, feel-

• ing confident that you will give a calm and dispassionate
consideration to the important question upon which you
have been specially convened."
Respecting the injustice of terminating the appren-
ticeship in August next, instead of in 1840, Rs fixed
by the abolition act, the Despatch, of the Bth ult. has
the following remarks:—
"As the Governor has unwittingly acknowledged that it is
physically impossible to carry on the agriculture of the Coun-
try under the arbitrary act imposed by the Ministry (at Sir
Lionel's desire,) upon the apprentice masters of this Colony,
his Excellency is in honour bound to call upon his employers:
for the means of meeting the exigencies of the Country,
which is likely to be thrown into a state of anarchy and con-
fusion from this breach of contract, and unnecessary and co-
ercive act of interference with the equitable working out or
the system.
"If it were the Mammoth proprietors alone, such as Lords:
Sligo and Seaford, who have pocketed all the compensation,
and who now dwell in luxurious ease in Great Britain, regard-

less of the vexation and distress entailed upon the poor small
settlers, who will be reduced by their heartless agitation to
certain loss and ruin, we should say that they (the Mam-
moths) could very well afford to give up the two years' term,
and pay the negroes' hire; especially as they maks money by

their Parliamentary interference and intrigue!
"But what is become of the poor, industrious, and honest
free settlers, who, by confiding in the faith of the British
Government, have entered into engagements they cannot.
fulfil ? What is to become of those who have no means of
hiring a sufficiency of labourers to cultivate their fields, hav-
ing already expended ALL they were worth upon buying up
the term of a certain number of apprentices, whom they can
no longer retain at work? Many respectable widows and

mothers of families—many elderly and hardworking men,
who have speculated with a few hundred, or a thousand or

wo pounds, the savings of a laborious life of industry, honing;
_ .

that by the sale of a few crops, they would be enabled to aug-
ment their resources, and plaee themselves in a condition to
engage free labour by the year 1810, will be in the situation
described. The abrupt termination and violation of the term
will deprive such persons of tbe means of obtaining a living.
Lords Brougham, Sligo, and Co., have put their hands into
the pockets of these persons, and have, literally robbed them
of their all! They have forgotten the maxim. "to be just
before they are generous"—and they are inhaling the praise,
and accepting the gifts of a set of plundering hypocrites,
whilst they are inflicting want and suffering on a most de-
serving class of their fellow-subjects, and sending miflions
miserable Africans to a premature grave, through the am 7

-•••-
inented horrors of a foreign slave trade, stimulated by their
ruthless and withering agitation.
"If this be philanthropy, it, is the philanthropy of fiends
and demons, who delight in the misery, starvation, and de-
struction of mankind! !!"
On the 7th and Sth ult., we learn from the Jamaica
Gazelle, the -House of Assembly sat in committee on
the bill for the abolition of apprenticeship, which is
entitled "an act to abolish the apprenticeship of prce-
dial labourers within this island on the Ist of August
next." The report which is furnished of the proceed-
ings is but meagre. We lay before our readers all
that we can infer from the summary before us. The
bill was passed in all its stages through the House of
Assembly, and was expected to be ready for transmis-
sion by the packet which sailed on the 9th. Several
protective clauses had been added in committee, which
are considered highly favourable to the negroes. Not
only have the Assembly provided against the sudden
ejectment of those who ate capable of labour, but they
have also.made provision for the aged and indigent, in
a way which, as is well remarked by tile Gazette, will
"put England to the blush for her own institutions,"
where the poor and helpless have dealt out to them,
under the niggardly poor-law system, a subsistence
which is barely sufficient to keep body and soul to-
gether.

But will England have to pay nothing for this further
step towards the liberation of the negro ? Let the
following extract from the paper which we have last
quoted afford an answer :
" We are glad to observe our House of Assembly is not
likely to pass over, without notice, a most important comli-
lion, which certainly ought to attach to the great sacrifice
they are making of their constituents' interests, by abroga-
ting the remaining term of the apprenticeship, in compliance
with the voice—the all-powerful voice of the British nation.
" This subject was brought to the notice of the House by
the honourable senior member for the pal jab of Manchester
(Mr. Berry), who is always alive to the several interests of
the country, and his application of the words of Lord Howick,
one of the Ministers of the Crown, was happy indeed. The
words of Lord l-lowiek are as follow :—` If justice to the
negrces requires that we should put an end to the appren-
ticeship, we are bound to do so; and if, by taking this course,
any pecuniary injury is done to the colonial proprietors, this
will give them a claim upon as for eUttTrlEls compensation.'
" We therefore recommend, previous to the next meeting
of the Assembly, which will probably take place in October,
that all persons suffering injury under this act, will be pre
pared with authenticated statements of the same to be laid
before it. It would be difficult for us at the present moment
to describe the various claims that could probably be pre-
ferred-; but we do not think ourselves far wrong in classing
them as follows:
" Ist. All persons having a right in the remaining two
years' services of their apprentices.
"2nd. All persons who purchased property on the faith of
the British nation fulfilling the compact ; but which, for their
interference, would not have terminated until 1810.
" 3rd. Of all annuitants whose claims are secured upon real
property here.
" 4th. Of those apprentices who have purchased an exemp-
tion from the provisions of the act fur the abolition of slavery.
" This statement, going from our Representatives in res-
pectful terms cannot fail to awaken the sympathy of those
who have, from professed feelings of philanthropy, urged the
parliament and government to the measures they have adopt-
ed, and which have led to such injurious results to a numer-
ous and loyal portion of their fellow-subjects, and the govern-
ment to a due sense of retributive.justice !"
Glorious results of Whiggery !

We had written thus far when we received our file
of the Royal Gazette and Jamaica Times—a journal
of more moderate views than the Despatvh. We so-
licit the attention of our readers to the following very
sensible remarks, which we extract from the Royal
Gazette of June 9th.:—
" It is with sincere pleasure that we congratulate
the island on the successful issue of the deliberations
of the Hun. House of Assembly. Freedom will ere
long be proclaimed—full, complete, and unrestricted
freedom will be conferred on those who, according to
law, would have had to continue in servitude for two
years more. No dissentient voice was heard within
the walls of the Assembly, all joined in the wish so
often expressed, that the remaining term of appren-
ticeship should be cancelled, that the excitement pro-
duced by a law which has done inconceivable harm in
Jamaica, in alienating the affections of her people, and
creating discord and disaffection, should at once cease.
Thank God ! it is now nearly at an end, and we trust
that Jamaica will enjoy that repose so eagerly and
anxiously sought after, by all who wish the island
well.

" Yet while we congratulate the island in its almost
certain road to happiness, it ‘vould ill become us to
forget the many, very many, which by this measure
will be reduced to beggary. There are those in Eng.
land, as well as in this country, who, depending en-
tirely upon the return received from Jamaica property

--annuitants and others, we feat, will be thrown into
utter destitution. It may be said, that the unhappy
day has only come a little sooner; but two years is an
age to those who may not have bread to eat in conse-
quence. There are others also, who have been in-
duced to lease and purchase properties, in the faith
that the apprenticeship would have been continued;
they, too, will suffer n-Ji--their expenses will be
doubled, if not trebled, and in fact in many ifttances,

where they have expended their little all, in anticipa-
tion of the next yeaWa crop, and have not wherewith
to meet the expenses which the future culture will
require, the loss will be very great. It is the poor
man and the helpless annuitant that we look upon as
being truly objects of pity, and require the sympathy of
the British government to be extended t.Qwards them.
The rich landholder we do not consider will be a loser;
it may, in the first place, require an advance of capital,
and partially reduce his income, but it may also be the
means of increasing his resources; what appears at
present a sacrifice- may be the means of affording,a
very great return. We trust that those who can show

a loss, and that they have sustained an injury by the

measure, may receive that further compensation they
are so justly entitled to, and although government has
decidedly stated they will not entertain the question
of further compensation generally, we have no doubt
that individual cases of suffering brought to their no-
tice, will be readily attended to.
" The die is now, however, cast. In less than two

short months, the great experiment of emancipation
will be complete. ft only remains, then, for us, indi-
vidually and collectively, to sooth down angry conten-
tions and lurking asperities—to forget the past. We
say, let all heartburnings be buried in oblivion, and
let us one and all join in advancing the true interests
of the country. We shall continue, on our part, to do
our duty; and it affbrds us a pleasing retrospect in
having advocated and recommended that course upon
which the safety and salvation of the country depends."
Let us now hope that our West Indian colonies may
speedily experience the benefit of a firm and prudent
administration at home. We say speedily, because if
Lord Glenelg and his associates in office are allowed
much longer to mismanage our colonial affairs, we
shall have the Canadian tragedy re-enacted in the
West Indies, accompanied by aggravated horrors. If
the antislavery agitators are sincere in their profes-
sions of sympathy for the welfare of the negroes, they
will now and henceforth direct their most strenuous
exertions to accomplish the overthrow of the present
inefficient ministry, and seek to replace them by men
who are qualified, by their wisdom and experience, to
reconcile tire conflicting interests, and to remove the
perplexing difficulties, which may yet continue to
afflict our West Indian colonies. We therefore call

upon the abolitionists to prove the honesty and purity
of their intentions, by labouring with their accustomed
zeal and assiduity for the expulsion of the Whig Radi-
cals from (Alice. Unless this is soon brought to pass,
their blundering policy will most certainly involve the
\Vest Indies in all the miseries which have attended
their administration of the affairs of Canada. The
elements of mischief are already at work, especially in
the larger of the \Vest Indian Colonies, and it will re-
quire the greatest vigilance and determination, on the
part of the executive at home, to prevent the seeds of
republican disaffection from spreading over the most
valuable and 'productive of these appendages to the
British Crown. Not cne of our colonies can be con-
sidered safe while the ministry of the day depend upon
the breath of Hume and his clique, who will only yield
their support to the party in power as lung as the lat-
ter connive at their treasonable designs.

FREEMEN OF LIVERPOOL!—An act has just passed
the legislature, and obtained the royal sanction, which
repeals the Stamp duty heretofore paid on admission
to the freedom of corporations in England. The ra-
dical press of the town has taken good care to conceal
this matter from your notice. The liberal authorities
at the Town-hall have been equally silent, trusting
that you may not be able, this year at least, to avail
yourselves of the advantage which the act confers
upon you. It is scarcely necessary for us to do more
than -call your attention to the act itself, which is as
follows Whereas the right and privilege of the
freemen of the cities and boroughs in England, who
have acquired their freedom by birth or servitude, to
vote for members to serve in Parliament, have been
confirmed by divers statutes; it is expedient that all
impediments to the admission of persons entitled to
the freedom of corporations should be removed, and
that the stamp duly payable on such admissions should
be abolished; be it therefore enacted by the Queen's
most excellent. Majesty, by and with the adi'ice and
consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Con]•
mons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by
the authority of the same, that after the passing of this
act no Stamp duty shall be chargeable on the
admis-
sion of any person entitled to take up his freedom by
birth or servitude, in any city or borough in England
returning a member or members to serve in Parlia-
ment."