The Sun. — 1865-12-09 (London, England)

GRAND TRUNK OF CANADA. The traffic receipts for the week ending 1cii;?...1& amounted for local passengers to £6,944, for foreign  " My Lord,—We ask permission, as committee of the Peace Society, to express to your lordship, and to the Government of which your lordship is the irlelaucchhedw tehliismc-ocu n treadly f ()hien jrecente at.i head, the feeling of deep sorrow and shame with gesd etdinl;laotrehaa v e d deprecate, in the strongest manner, the acts of violence and outrage committed by the coloured people at Morant Bay and elsewhere, even though, no doubt, the outbreak was immediately provoked by the volunteer force firing into the crowd who were assembled in the Court-house-square, to vindicate certain of their rights, which they believed to be imperilled. But it appears to us, my lord, that the authorities of Jamaica, in the means they have taken to suppress and punish the riot so occasioned, have gone beyond all bounds of justice or necessity. The lieutenant-governor acknowledges that there was no organisation' among the people ; that the troops who have passed through all the disturbed district have nowhere met with any resistance ;' that not a single casualty has befallen any of our soldiers or sailors, who are all in good health.' And yet, in the face of these admissions, he and those • acting with him seem to have given unlimited permisSion and encouragement to soldiers and sailors, and volunteers and Maroons, to seize and flog, and shoot, and hang, at their own discretion, any coloured persons who might fall into their bands— men, women, and children. This is done sometimes after the mockery of a trial by court-martial, one of which consisted of two sub-lieutenants and an ensign ; but often without the semblance of a trial of any kind, the people being shot, as one of the officers engaged in this work describes it, 'merely for running away' from those who were hunting them down like wild beasts. It is admitted by those, concerned in this terrible slaughter that numbc,rs of persons have been tortured 'and killed, of moaose participation in the riot there was no preter,ce of proof. In justification of these acts, it is alleged that a widespread conspiracy existed among the negro population to murder all the white, and coloured people%and to establish a black republic in the island. But up to this time no evidence whatever has been brought before the public in support of this allegation ; and it is rendered utterly improbable by the conduct of the blacks themselves, those actually engaged in the riot having spared several white lives even in the first outburst of pass'Lon, whilst others afterwards protected and succoured with the noblest devotion many of their white Lieighbours, who were supposed to be in danger from the fury of their more exasperated brethren— And surely, my lord, it is something new in the administration of British justice to deliver whole districts of country over to military execution, not far anything the inhabitants had done, but for som eating which it was suspected some of them intend.ed to do three months afterwards. But above all, my lord, it appears to us that the way in which Mr. G. W. Gordon, a member of the Legislature, and heretofore well known as a gentlemanof property, intelligence, and large benevolence, was apprehended and executed, admits of no justificatAon whatever, except on principles which would bring into jeopardy the liberty and life of all 'her Majesty's subjects in every part of the wein, and utterly undermine some of the most sol ;Inn guarantees of the constitution. We earnestly hope that peremptory orders have been despatched from the Colonial-office long before this to put a stop to the wholesale and -indiTriminate slaughter in Jamaica, which is filling the whole civilised world with indig, nation and horror. And finally, my lord, we bcg r-cpcttfn;;s• and '7nost- urg%smitly to-pres.z.: upon your lordship and the Government the duty of tustituting an immediate and searching inquiry into the whole of this deplorable business ; and if it shall appear that there has been a reckless effusion of innocent blood, that those who have been guilty of this crime shall be brought to justice.  " JOSEPH PEASE,. President. " SAMI'F,I, GURNEY, Treasurer. " Ricusr,D, Secretary."