, 1866-03-06
From tie london Times, February IT,

&)AAA AC "
yet in our hands, but its nature and OBJ
jects were clearly explained by Mr..
Cardwell in moving for leave to intro
duce it on Thursday night. 1t does not
purport TO establish a new Constitution
for Jamaica, but only to ratify the Act
already passed by the Jamaica Legisla-
ture, leaving the Crown free to provide
for the administration of the island for
u period of three years. That power
would then be legally exercised by the
Grown through an Order in Council, and
1t is intended ''to substitute, in the first
'instance, q Government for Jamaica
"similar to that now in operation in
"Trlnidad." This proposal obviously
involves a retrograde step in our colonial
policy, and can be justified by necessity
alone. 1t was entirely upon this assump-
ton that it was entertained by the Colo
NAL Office, and 10 his despatch of Deem
Der l Mr.. Cardwell betrays no undue
eagerness to undertake the new duty to
be cast upon hin. "For many years." he
says, "the disposition and practice Of the
"Crown have rather been TO devolve on
Colonial Representative Bodies the
powers and responsibilities of govern
"ment than either to keep the power it
possessed or TO assume powers and
responsibilities which had not hitherto
belonged to it. But in Il case IN which
"IocaI eEgoUermment is incompatible wiM
"the weJ0re and eUen the safety of the colo
'ny, there would be no hesitation on the
part Of Her Majesty's Government, If
"cGHe0 upon By the c~OLOniStS, to accept
"such an amount Of additional response
"blllty as the circumstances might seem
''to require"
1hlS measure, therefore, comes be-
tore Parliament under very different aus
Plces from that introduced by Lord Mel
Dourne'S Government in 1889. The
Bill OF 1888 was the result of frequent
collisions, ending in "a dead lock, be-
tween the Government of Jamaica and
the planters during the transition state
which followed the abolition Of slavery.
constant attempts had been made by the
House OF Assembly to infringe upon the
provisions of the Abolition Act, to thwart
successive Governors, and to obtain con-
ceSslonS from the Colonial Office, or the
home Legislature, by obstructing public
business in the Colony. At last the
E.O OAA All VIC ICSuldtlOu Vi
prisons in jamaica through the Imperial
Parliament brought matters to an issue.
The House of Assembly convened by
Sir Lionel Smith obstinately refused to
pass the laws, without which the Execu-
i've could not legally act. There was no
rebellion of the negroes such as had bro
Ken out IN 1891 and been suppressed by
martial law but the Colony had become
perfectly unmanageable, and some inter
v%entIon was felt by all to be necessary.
Accordingly, it was originally proposed
to suspend the Constitution Of Jamaica
and to substitute a provisional Government
tor i've years, with a view of allowing
time for agitation to subside. It was
found impossible, however, to carry the
Bill in this form, and an amended Bill
was ultimately passed, after the resigna-
ton and reconstruction of the Ministry,
which empowered the Governor in Coun-
Gil to renew certain Acts of the past year,
IN case the Assembly should fail to re-
enact them. The compromise proved
successful for the time, and the constitu-
tional changes of 1854 have, to some ex-
tent, facilitated the course OF Jamaica