The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-12-25 00:00:00

GENERAL STAFF.

His Excellency Lieutenant-General Sir John Keane,
K.C.B, G.C.H., Commander-in-Chief.
Lieutenant-Colonel R. Macdonald, K.H., Military Secre-
tary and Aid-de-Camp.
Captain Keane, Aide-de-Camp.
Captain Powell, do.
Assistant Surgeon liooke, Personal Surgeon.
Major James Keith, Deputy Adjutant-General.
Captain Hagan, Assistant do.
Major N. Campbell, Quartermaster-General.
Lieut. Ramsey, Assistant do.
Captain D. Davidson, Deputy Commissary-General.
Lieut. Bate, Assistant do.
Lieut. Thresie and Lieut. Stockley, Sub-Assistant do.
Lieut. A. P. Hogg, Charge of Bazaars.
Capt. Swanson, Paymaster.
Capt. E. Bulkeley. Deputy Judge Advocate General.
Lieut. Crawford, 3d liegt. N. I. Baggage Master.
.•

Dr. It. H. Kennedy, Superintendent Surgeon.
Assistant Surgeon Don, Deputy Medical Storekeeper.
The Rev. Mr. Pigott, Chaplain.
FIRST BRIGADE OF INFANTRY.
Major-General Wiltshire, C. 8., Commanding.
Capt. M. Wyllie, Brigade Major.
2d or Queen's Royals, Colonel Baumgardt.
Ist Grenadier Regiment, Major T. A. Billamore.
sth Regiment, N. 1., Major G. B. Atchison.
SECOND BRIGADE OF INFANTRY.
Brigadier W. Gordon, Commanding.
Capt. Clibborn, Brigade Major.
H. M. 17th Foot, Lieutenant Colonel Croker.
Light Infantry, 19th Regiment N. 1., Major Stalker.
23d Regiment N. 1., Major Wilson.
BRIGADE OF ARTILLERY.
Brigadier Stephenson, Commanding Horse Artillery.
Capt. W, Cohlan, Brigade Major.
3d Troop, Horse Artillery, Captain Martin.
4th do. do. do. Captain Leeson.
Ist Company, 2nd Battn. Foot do , Capt. Pondardent.
2nd do. do. do. Capt. T. Lloyd.
BRIGADE OF CAVALRY.

Brigadier Scott, Commanding H. M. 4th Light Dragoons.
Captain Gillespie, 4th Light Dragoons, Brigade Major.
2nd Squadron, 4th Light Dra,goous, Major Daly.
Ist Regiment Light Cavalry, Lieut. Col. Sandwith.
ENGINEERS.
Engineer Corps, Captain Peat, Chief Engineer. Two
Field Engineers.

Captain Oliver, R N., the Superintendent of the Indian
Navy at Bombay, has given much offence by certain orders
felt as insulting by the officers of the dock-yard. We under-
stand they have been disallowed by the government, and the
recal or removal of Captain Oliver is spoken of as not im-
probable.

JAMAICA.-By the Lord Melville, we have received
our ❑sual files of Jamaica papers to the 13th ultimo,
inclusive. From these papers it appears that the
House of Assembly met on the 3d of November, pur-
suant to the governor's proclamation, and, after the
usual formalities, proceeded to business. The speech
delivered on the occasion by the governor, together
with the reply of the House, we have already given
in the STANDARD. As our readers may remember,
the speech was referred to a committee for considera-
tion. After adjourning for half an hour the House
again resumed, when the following report was read
and agreed to, with only three dissentient voices:—

May it please your Excellency,
We thank your Excellency for your speech at the open-
ing or the session.
"We feel, in common with your Excellency, the emer-
gency in which the country may be placed by the expiration
of the annual laws, and we also are well aware of the neces-
sity which in our present state of society exists, that laws
for the prevention of vagrancy—for regulating the relative
tights and duties of masters and servants—for determining
the qualification of electors—for the regulation of the mi-
litia—and for preventing the unauthorised occupation of
lands, should be enacted, but we ate keenly alive to the fact,
that our legislative rights have been violated ; and so long as
these rights continue to be invaded, we feel ourselves com-
pelled to adhere to our resolutions of last session."
At half-past five o'clock the House waited on his Excel-
lency, and presented the same, when his Excellency was
pleased to make the following reply :
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen o- fthe House of Assembly,
" It is always my duty, and no less my inclination, to re-
ceive every communication fruits you with sincere respect;
but I must express my regret at your reply to the speech
with which 1 opened the present session."
Immediately after this address was read at the table
the Provost Marshal-General appeared at the bar, and
summoned the House to attend in the Council Cham-
ber, when his Excellency was pleased to dissolve the
House in the following speech :

" Gentlemen of the Council,
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly,
" It is with unfeigned regret I have to inform von, that
although the House of Assembly have acknowledged the
'emergency in which the country may he placed by the expi-
ration of the annual laws, and have expressed themselves
aware of he necessity which, in the present state of society,
exists for the enactment of laws providing for those impor-
tant objects which I pressed on your attention at the opening
of this session ; that body still adheres to the determination
which compelled me to bring the last session to a close.
" So little can I reconcile this determination with the true
interests of the colony, and hopeless as I ant of any change
in the sentiments of the present representatives of the people,
I have reluctantly resolved on taking the sense of the con-
stituency, and, therefore, in the exercise of the prerogative
vested in me, I do now, i❑ her Majesty's name, dissolve this
General Assembly, and it is hereby dissolved accordingly."

This extraordinary and summary proceeding neces-
sarily gave rise to much angry discussion in the various
public journals. In order to place our readers in pos-
session of the sentiments with which Sir Lionel Smith's
conduct was regarded in Jamaica, we transcribe a few
passages from the papers which have reached us, re-
serving our own comments for a future occasion. As
the present state of affairs in Jamaica must necessarily
give rise to much discussion in parliament, we shall
feel called upon frequently to recur to the subject.
The Jamaica Despatch, while commenting upon
the summary dismissal of the House of Assembly,
indulges in the following remarks :—" The above will
engage the first attention of our readers, and very
justly so, because the determination of the Assembly
to maintain the privileges of the people, will acquire
the support and applauSe of the whole country. And
if his Excellency the Governor for a moment imagines
that he will succeed in packing a house, who will an-
swer to his beck and call, he will find himself grossly
deceived. However, it is reported that his excellency
is only awaiting for the naming of his successor to
take his departure from our shores—in which case we
may safely congratulate his Excellency upon relieving
himself of a responsibility he was incapable of bearing,
and had not the strength of mind to encounter. How-
ever, passing by his Excellency's incapacity to govern,
we feel it to be our duty towards the popular branch of
the legislature to hurl back upon the government the
charge that they have acted in a way calculated to un-
settle society. The paid agents have done every
thing in their power to keep up agitation, for the pur-
pose of bewildering the country, and excusing on the
part of the government the retention in office of Sti-
pendiary Magistrates, the Governor of the Colony has
countenanced bodies of armed men, contrary to the
terms of the general commissions of Judges, and which
hi Secretary was so particular in impressing upon the
minds of the Stipendiary Magistrates. All these, and
a hundred other things, the Governor and his agents
have done; and it is too bad that the Governor should
now charge upon the Assembly that which he, his Se-
cretaries, his Agents, and Justices sworn to administer
the law impartially, have been instrumental in effect-
ing. It is too bad to taunt and twit the Assembly
about measures which they themselves have proposed
for the government of the island and the better pro-
tection of life and property, and which have been in-
variably disallowed upon representations from the
island of Jamaica, and which were possibly made by
parties connected with Sir Lionel Smith's govern-
ment."

The claims of the colonists for "justice to Jamaica"
are very forcibly stated in the following article from
the Despatch of the 13th tilt, IVe submit it to the
consideration of every Englishman, in the oonfidnnt
perstlasigg t44-t the people of this maitry will rePpoPd

to its appeal, however indifferent or indisposed the de-
graded ministers of the clay may be on this momentous
subject. The time is not far distant when the eyes of
the British people will be opened to the enormous op-
pression practised towards the loyal inhabitants of our
West Indian colonies. But to proceed with our ex-
tracts from the Despatch—
The people of Jamaica (of all classes) having obtained the
common franchises, they will insist upon their free enjoy-
ment. But as franchises in the Island of Jamaica have nut
even yet been properly exercised—as the British Government
have shewn a desire to tantalize, viz., to give privileges for
the pleasure of destroying, the people of Jamaica will no
longer be trifled with—therefore they demand the erection of
those barriers which will protect the enjovi:lent of rights to
which they are now clearly entitled. And the first they
demand is,

A Legislative Council.
We do not deny the right of Government to
A Privy Council.
But let us know of whom that Privy Council consists, in
order that we may hold them responsible for the advice they
give the Governor of the Colony. The green can do no
wrong. Her Majesty's Vice-Itoy must be equally held re-
sponsible in the persons of her Ministers, for wrong Counsel,
or for the execution of measures calculated to destroy the
agriculture of the Island, from which the revenue is derived,
and the coffers of the empire enriched!
Sir Lionel Smith, and nit predecessors, having destroyed
the influence of Government in the Itssembly,—the second
branch of the Legislature, the Council of the Island being
subservient to the Government, which is directed and con-
trouled at home by the pressure from without—in other words,
the office of Downing-street, being regulated by the Mob
which besieges its door—or, a seat of the Council being al-
ready open to the highest and best bidder, as the Blue nib-
bon, in the case of Lord Seaford,—our constitution has in its
essential features become democratic.

The government of England, from the system they have
adopted, and are now pursuing, is fast verging to republica-
nism, and exciting the contempt of every man who, by perse-
verance and industry, by skill, courage, and intrepidity—by
years of trial and struggle, have advanced themselves to
wealth, rank, honour, and distinction !—But every paltry
voter, intriguant and courtier, can secure distinction in these
degenerate days, which, in former times, would have required
years of study, add of practice in science, and in sear and
belles letters, trouble, toil, triumph, and glory ! !
In Jamaica, the principles which regulate the mind and
conduct of Englishmen, triumph. Under every vicissitude,
the monarchy has proved the security, the happiness, and the
growing prosperity of the nation. Now that it has arrived
at the highest pitch of wealth and glory, puny senators have
contrived to undermine their constitution, and first wish to
experimentalize in the colonies, to see and feel whether a
REPUBLICAN form of government will succeed!
Here is the grand error :—the physical force of the colonies
hate republicanism as they view it in America; for in Ame-
rica the prejudice of colour is tenfold stronger than in the
British Colonial Empire. And now we prove the error.
The people of the Island of Jamaica struggled for a par-
ticipation in the Constitution as they found it exercised by
white men, Governor, Council, and Assembly ! In the
struggle they were assisted by the Wilberforces, Lushingtons,
Buxtous, and 111`Cauleys; eventually they succeeded, and
the very moment that they find themselves in the possession
and enjoyment of all the privileges to which they aspired, an
exertion is used to destroy them, and to fetter the minds
and deliberate judgment of the Island—in other words, to
enslave the free born as well as newly made free men.

THE STANDARD OF CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOM having
been raised, is it likely that any community of intelligence
and independence will allow it to be struck down remorse-
lessly ? We leave the question to be answered by Britons !
Believing that the question will be answered in the affirma-
tive, then we assert that Sir Lionel Smith and his predeces-
sors have betrayed their trust—we mean the exercise of our
rights, guaranteed by charter, by British faith and honour,
because, in leaving Albion's shores, we left not British
rights behind; and being unrepresented in Great Britain, we
were entitled to local representation in the colonies!
Sir Lionel Smith has struck at the monarchy of Great
Britain, through the colonies. Jamaica is a miniature of
Great Britain ; therefore, if our monarchical system is to be
destroyed, the blow will next be aimed at Englishmen's
rights !
Sir Lionel Smith had a Treasury Bench in the Asssemblv
—the Custodes and Majors-General. Instead of submitting
to this influence, and supporting. the views of Government
thereby, instead of strengthening it by all means in his power,
these officers have been rendered contemptible, placed on a
footing with constables, and rendered unworthy of holding
office. The consequence is, the influence of Government has
been reduced and rendered equally contemptible. Instead of
redeeming the mistake, the object seems now to be to pitch-
fork into the House common secretaries, in order that Govern-
ment should have a mouth-piece! Alas! that an all-powerful
Government and omnipotent Parliament should be thrown
upon such miserable shifts!
We therefore charge the government of Great Britain with
the endeavour of introducing a REPUPLICAN form of govern-
ment. They have by extraneous influence, their counten-
ance to anti-slavery and Exeter Hall institutions, their Lush-
ingtons, Buxtons, Sturges, Scobles, &c. &c., succeeded in in-
troducing into our Legislative Assembly common secretaries,
lacqueys, spies, and also rag-sellers. And now that they
have done all this, they desire to rule us by proclamations
dictated by mobs in England, denying us local representa-
tion as well as proper representation in the Imperial Parlia-
ment. This we will never submit to; they may attempt it,
but they, never shall collect the taxes but with our free
consent!

Sir Lionel Smith may dream that we are now unnecesarily
severe; but we have not forgotte❑ his words to the Custos of
Port Royal, and to a late receiver, appointed by Lord Sligo,
that in the event of a dissolution they should be ejected, and
a second dissolution would render the Assembly purely de-
mocratic! Such, then, being Sir Lionel's express declara-
tion, we no longer act upon the defensive, but on the
offensive!

In the name and behalf of an oppressed people, we de-
mand a LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL—men selected from
our soil. Sir Lionel Smith (the Agent of Government) has
attempted to infuse into the popular branch an exclusive de-
mocracy, where the rights of property, the aristocracy, can
expect no support, no shelter. We were always opposed to
such a principle of exclusion. Sir L. Smith has advanced it,
and therefore, regarding alike the interests of all classes, we
call for

A LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,
where the interests of the Crown and the aristocracy, as well
as the just prerogatives of both shall be fairly and equitably
represented, and where the just balance of the Constitution
shall receive its equipoise.
Next, we demand—

A PRIVY COUNCIL,
which shall be responsible for their advice to the Governor—.
for at present everything is so ill regulated with regard to the
Government, such liberties are taken with our institutions
and properties by irresponsible parties, over whom a shield
is thrown, that we know not whom to seize as the aggressors,
and punish for their outrages. Requiring, therefore, some-
thing tangible—a responsible for an irresponsible power—we
demand a Privy (besides a Legislative) Council, but separate
and distinct from each other !!

Want of space precludes us from proceeding any
further this day with our extracts. We shall, there-
fore, merely add for the present, that the conduct of
the Governor is viewed in the same light by the other
journals, in which there appear also strong remon-
strances on behalf of the independent members of the
House of Assembly, whose spirited conduct and con-
stitutional bearing seems to have elicited almost uni-
versal approbation. It is confidently anticipated that
the members of the next house will be still more unan-
imous in their determination to stand forward boldly
in defence of their country and their rights.

THE UNITED STATES.—We learn that the Indepen-
dence, which sailed from New York on the Bth inst.,
arrived late last night, but as, we did not receive our
papers before going to press, we are unable to give
any later news than that brought by the Liverpool.

Several original articles are inevitably postponed in
consequence of the extent of our correspondence, and
a press of advertising favours.