ples. which the Government could show a de-jevincing the same anxiety and the same termination to trample upon the rights of fimness in maintaining the same princithe people of the colony-if I had been called upon to devise a scheme by which I could provoke the colony into acts which I might afterwards find it expedient to designate as acts of intemperance, and which I might make a pretext for saying, as the preamble of this Bill says, that the Assembly had suspended its legislative functions, and that I must, therefore, destroy the Assembly, I would have suggested the very course which has been pursued by her Majesty's Ministers. Sir, when the House looks at the conduct of her Majesty's Government, and, I may say, their studied abstinence from taking any step to reconcile the Assembly to the Prisons Act, and at the situation to which the Assembly of Jamaica was necessarily reduced by that conduct, and at the Prisons Act, standing, as it does stand, without precedent, and an unexampled and unjustifiable interference with the right of the colony to internal legislation, I am persuaded that of all persons, those who compose this House are the last to visit upon the people of Jamaica the punishment of being deprived of their Assembly because that Assembly adopted a course which they considered essential for the maintenance of the very rights for which that Assembly was created. Sir, I beg again to remind the House that the Assembly did not, as they might, avail themselves of the Constitutional right of withholding the supplies until their appeal had been answered. They would not embarrass the Government, or obstruct the public service. On the contrary, the Assembly expressed themselves ready to proceed with voting the supplies, by which the public servants or the public creditors of the colony might be paid. How is it that those supplies have not been raised? Because the Governor of the colony prorogued and afterwards dissolved the Assembly, on account of their having passed the resolutions to which I have adverted. Nothing, it would seem to me, would more completely evince the determination of the Government to create something like a pretext upon which it might come to this House and ask for the present measure, than the fact that its own Governor himself, by this dissolution and continued prorogation of the Assembly, before they had raised the supplies, deprived himself of the means of carrying on the Government, instead of affording the Assembly an opportunity of proceeding to legislate for the purpose of raising those supplies. Sir, I should suppose it was considered, that as it was a strong ground for the penal Sir, I do not feel that I am stating the ground which has been taken by the As-measure adopted towards Lower Canada, that its Assembly had stopped the supplies for five years, it would be as equally strong for this still more penal measure against Jamaica, that her Assembly had stopped the supplies for a few months, that is from the 31st December until her Majesty's answer to the Appeal of the Assembly had been given. sembly too strongly, when I say, that if it were possible to suppose that the executive government had adopted towards this House any similar conduct immediately affecting some of its dearest rights and some of its most valued privileges, that this House itself would not have hesitated to adopt the very same course which has been taken by the Assembly. Will, then, this House, because that course has been taken by the Assembly, proceed to the extremity which is required by the Government, and provernment cannot say that they are without nounce the Assembly to have committed a crime of so high a nature as to warrant the passing of this Bill of pains and penalties. I do not believe it possible that this Bill can be sanctioned by the House, because I cannot believe it possible the House can ever renounce those constitutional principles which it is the most anxious to maintain, and in the maintenance of which it has always evinced the most uncompromising firmness. It must renounce them, if it punishes the Assembly of Jamaica for But, Sir, that pretext does not exist here. The Assembly has not furnished the Government with that pretext. The Go supplies through any default of the Assembly. They must say, that they are without supplies either through their own default, or through the default of their Governor. They are without supplies, because they wanted to have an additional pretext for calling upon this House to take away the Assembly of Jamaica. Now, Sir, what, under these circumstances, is the effect of the resolutions which were adopted by the House of Assembly ? The Assembly express their opinion upon the effect of the Prisons Act And❘tion, a spirit of partizanship, indicating a desire to create a prejudice in this country against the people of the colony-I am not afraid, I say, that his language or his remarks can produce any unfair impression upon this House. Šir, he takes upon himself to state, passed by the Imperial Parliament. what further do they say? What conditions do they impose as the preamble of the Bill intimates? Sir, they impose no conditions. They say, that they are ready to grant the supplies. They say, "We have sustained a wrong from her Majesty's Ministers; they have invaded our rights, and we, therefore, make our appeal to our Sovereign, and we suspend our functions until we receive an answer to that appeal." Has any answer been given ? Has there been any intimation on the part of the Crown to the Assembly of Jamaica, that they had taken an erroneous view of the conduct and motives of her Majesty's Government? Any disclaimer of any intention to interfere with their rights? Any invitation to co-operate, or has any opportunity been afforded them to co-operate, in the legislation which was deemed expedient at this period ? Sir, I know it has been said, that there is inextricable confusion, from a want of legislation, in the colony; that there are a great many laws which require to be immediately passed. Sir, the noble Lord, the Secretary for the Home Department, who writes the despatch of the 15th of February, says, that upon looking over the seventeen Acts which are blazoned forth in the letter of the Governor as Acts which were of vital importance to the colony, the not passing of which was an incalculable injury, there is one only which is of immediate importance, and that is the Police Act. Now, with respect to the Police Act the Governor himself possesses in his character of Captain General the means of providing an adequate force, either civil or military, for the purpose of repressing any insubordination or of executing civil process. Sir, I confess when I look at the conduct of the Governor, he seems to have imbibed, in an extraordinary degree, the spirit of the Government here, judging, as I must do, of that spirit from the conduct of the Government towards Jamaica. I am now about to refer to a passage in his despatch of the 24th of December. I am not afraid before this House to quote the passage, because I am quite persuaded, that when it is read, proceeding as it does from the Governor of a colony, one who is especially bound to keep the Government and the public mind in a right state, if you see language used by him indicating intemperance, indiscre "My late despatches will have prepared your Lordship for the event which the new House of Assembly brought about, a confirmation of the resolutions of the last House to do no business in consequence of the interference of Parliament in passing the Prisons Bill. Your Lordship will be fully satisfied from this last appeal to the electoral body, that no House of Assembly can now be found that will acknowledge the authority of the Queen, Lords, and Commons to enact laws for Jamaica, or that will be likely to pass just and prudent laws for that large portion of the negro population lately brought into freedom." Now, I confidently ask, where is the evidence to justify Sir L. Smith in making this statement respecting the persons whom he thus grossly calumniates? Have they had an opportunity of seeing and repelling any thing upon which he can found the conclusion that they will never acknowledge the authority of the Queen, Lords, and Commons to enact laws for Jamaica? Why, Sir, the very resolutions, the whole proceedings which the Assembly have taken upon various occasions-those resolutions which I have read to-night, contain a clear and explicit recognition of the authority of the Imperial Parliament upon all those subjects of legislation which belong to the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament, but assert the right of internal legislation as being not only consistent with their constitution, but established by actual usage -a right not to be inferred merely from an abstinence from internal legislation by the Imperial Parliament, but from particular acts, in which the line has been distinctly drawn between legislating for subjects and persons in the United Kingdom and for subjects and persons exclusively in the colony. Sir Lionel Smith says, "They are not likely to pass just and prudent laws for that large portion of the negro population lately brought into freedom." Upon what authority can Sir Lionel Smith, or can any man, tell her Majesty's Government that he will predicate of the future disposition and feelings of the Jamaica Assembly, not from any thing that they have done (for they have never been engaged in legislation since the apprenticeship has been abolished, since all those anomalies and difficulties incident to legislation in that state-anomalies and difficulties admitted by the noble Lord, the Secretary at War, in his printed speech on the 30th March, 1838, and admitted by him for the purpose of vindicating the Assembly. Upon what ground, I ask, does Sir Lionel Smith dare to make this prediction of the future conduct of the House of Assembly, conveying the gross charge that they have not the disposition to make fair, just, and prudent laws for the protection of that population? It was not twelve months before that, in his speech, he commended them for their conduct and disposition. The House of Assembly was at that time composed of nearly the same persons. What can have occasioned this alteration in the Governor's estimate of their disposition? Was it the abandonment by them at once of the apprenticeship, releasing this country from the fulfilment of its pledge to continue it for two years longer, abandoning that which formed part of their compensation, and abandoning it in order that they might purchase, if it were possible, a better disposition of the Government, and put an end to all future distrust and collision. But, Sir, where am I? Am I in a British House of Commons, sitting in the exercise of judicial functions on this occasion, for I am defending the people of Jamaica against a Bill of pains and penalties; and are they to be tried and punished, not for crimes, or for acts which are treated as crimes already committed, but upon the presumption, prediction, or speculation which a Governor chooses to entertain of the future dispositions of all the persons in Jamaica who may possess the qualification to become, and may become members of the House of Assembly. But, Sir, do the Government believe this representation? They do not; they cannot believe it. I must say so, for otherwise I should have to impute to the Government the disingenuousness, the unfairness, the injustice, of supporting this Bill upon a ground different from that which they allege in the preamble of the Bill. There they tell us, that the ground, the cause for this Bill, is the adoption, by the House of Assembly, of resolutions suspending their legislative functions. Upon this ground, and for this cause only, they call upon Parliament to supply those functions by a temporary provision. They cannot put their justification of this Bill upon any such ground as that which is stated by the Governor of Jamaica. I shall not deal with it. I am here to defend the Assembly of Jamaica against this Bill of pains and penalties, which it is pretended they have merited by a certain act they have committed; I look, therefore, to the preamble to see what that act is, for it is in respect of that act, and that act only, that I am here to defend them, and I address myself to that act, and to that act alone. Sir, I confess it is with great pain and reluctance that I speak in terms which may be considered in any degree disrespectful towards one intrusted with the high authority possessed by Sir Lionel Smith. But when I find him pronouncing such an opinion as that conveyed in the passage which I have just now read; when I see what the passage imports, the want of temper with which it is written, and the obvious desire to lead the Government and the people of this country to form an erroneous, unjust, and prejudiced estimate of the members of the House of Assembly, I must weigh it with all the deduction to be made from its soundness and correctness, in consequence of the loss of temper and this hostility to the House of Assembly which his whole correspondence exhibits. I must look at something else to assist me in examining the weight which belongs to it. I look at the despatch of the 3d of December, 1838, in which he tells her Majesty's Government, by way of prejudicing the people of this country against those who are interested in the colony, that they are turning the negroes out of their cottages by ejectments; and then I find, that this same despatch conveys returns from clerks of the peace throughout the island of the number of ejectments which have been issued; and I find that, with the exception of some eight or ten instances in the very extensive parish of Westmoreland, the returns from the twenty other parishes are "nil;" and in the return from Westmoreland, the eight or ten instances of ejectments took place upon grounds which are distinctly stated in the return. Sir, I look to another despatch, that which conveys Sir Lionel Smith's speech to a Baptist congregation on the 5th of January. He there says, "I have sent to England numerous testimonies that condition of the different classes of sowhere labour has been encouraged by fair ciety? remuneration and kind treatment, it has Sir, again, he says, there are 300,000 nowhere been wanting." Five days after- who will not be represented for fifteen wards, in his despatch, he says, "both months. That implies, that they will be parties are unreasonable." Sir, a cloud capable of returning representatives in of prejudice obscures the mind of Sir Lionel Smith. His judgment is in bondage to his passions. If I were a ked for any further proof of his spirit of partizanship, I would refer to that which is afforded by the nature of the information fifteen months. Sir, I was rather puzzled to know what was meant by the fifteen months which must elapse, and considering that Sir Lionel Smith has an executive council to whom he may continually resort, and an attorney-general and a chief communicated to this House by the Go-justice, it is somewhat singular, that he vernment, and furnished by Sir Lionel should not have conveyed to the Govern{APRIL 22} of this House. "Oh," it has been said | tained in the most decisive terms, and, with Smith. The West-India papers laid on the table of the House containing that information convey no statement from any person of an opinion favourable to the colony, or favourable to the individuals in it. Contradicted, as have been the statements made by the stipendiary magistrates, and which furnish the bulk of the reports transmitted by Sir Lionel Smith, his communications convey those statements only. He adopts them. No person can read them and the observations which accompany them, without at once perceiving that they proceed from persons under the strong influence of partizanship and prejudice. Sir Lionel Smith ought to have perceived it. Statements of an opposite character he does not transmit to the Government. He has not dealt fairly with the Government nor with the public, and still less with the people of Jamaica, by giving this imperfect and partial information, and that, too, of a description calculated to create feelings of hostility and prejudice against those who are resident in the colony. Sir, there is another statement made by Sir Lionel Smith which is certainly of a singular character, and which is also calculated to leave the House under a very erroneous impression. He talks of the white population entitled to the exercise of the elective franchise, first, as low as 1,500, then 1,700, and at last makes them amount to 2,000. Sir, the white population of the city of Kingston alone, exceeds 5,000. Does any man mean to say, that his representation of the white population of Jamaica is correct? The white population is stated to be 30,000. There is the same inaccuracy with respect to the coloured population; of whom there are not less than 110,000. Sir, I ask, is it fair dealing to lay before the House this description of the state of the relative ment a correct notion even on this subject. It would be supposed, that fifteen months must elapse between the time of a man acquiring the freehold which gives him a qualification, and his having a right to exercise it. It is true, that his title, his qualification, must be recorded for twelve months in the secretary's office, and that it must be recorded also three months in the parish books of the parish for which he claims to vote; but he may put his qualification upon the books of the parish two days after he has put it in the secretary's office; so that while the twelve months are running to make out the period required for the registration in the secretary's office, the three months are running during which his qualification must be registered in the parish office; so that, in fact, it would be twelve months, and not fifteen. Sir, I have a right to call the attention of the House to this erroneous representation, because it is a representation intended to operate adversely to the interests of the Assembly. But he says fifteen months must elapse before those persons are capable of being represented; that would imply, that they had all a qualification. Sir, I hope, that the negro popu. lation may speedily acquire a qualification to vote, and exercise that qualification. I fear nothing from its exercise. I am not one of those to urge, and God forbid that I should ever stand at this bar to urge, that they should not have the full enjoyment of political rights, now that they possess the rights of freedom. I never would contend, I do not believe the House of Assembly would ever require me to contend, but I know, that I never would contend, that such a measure as would suspend for a time the exercise by the negro population of their political franchises ought to receive the sanction by some of your liberal principle professing politicians, "such a measure is required to preserve the asendancy, and to prevent the entire swamping of the white population." Those who are the best able to judge, namely, the people in the colony, have no such fears on this account. Those whom I represent, are not only not unwilling, but are desirous that the emancipated population should enjoy and exercise the elective franchise. They know, that in the natural course of events, and according to the ordinary principles of human nature, their exercise of that franchise cannot place in jeopardy the other classes of society. I confess, having, from my long residence in Jamaica, no inconsiderable experience of the emancipated population, and having unbounded confidence in their disposition, and their feelings of attachment and respect towards the other classes of society, that I am persuaded they will return to the Assembly those who are best qualified from their character, property, and station. Sir L. Smith has represented, that the 300,000 emancipated negroes will in fifteen months become entitled to the qualification to vote. Sir, that will be true, provided they have acquired the property which gives the qualification; but it would have been quite as well if Sir Lionel Smith had told the Government how many of those 300,000 were possessed of the electoral qualification. Sir, if the House were to read the statement of Sir Lionel Smith it would be inclined to believe, that the qualification was what it is said to be by the ex-commissioner, Captain Pringle, in his pamphlet, namely a 40s. freehold. The ex-commissioner writes on subjects in this pamphlet, of which he is grossly ignorant. The qualification is a freehold of 10l. currency, or a leasehold property of the annual rent of 50l. currency; a qualification, in the estimation of Lord Glenelg, sufficiently low. His Lordship, in a despatch which is to be found in page 20 of the printed papers, conveys this opinion; and, at the same time, discusses this subject with no apprehension that any evil will result from the extension of the elective franchise. The despatch to which I am now adverting, is an exceedingly important one. contains this passage: It "Her Majesty's Government having main out exception, the principle that neither distinctions of national origin nor those of religious opinion" (he has, in the preceding part of the despatch, stated, that there are no "should be admitted in the West Indies, as laws creating distinctions in Jamaica), disqualifications for office, and having opposed themselves to the adoption of proprietary qualifications, designed or calculated to accomplish that disqualification by indirect means, have never denied, that the possession of some definite amount of property ought to siderable franchises, whether political or juaccompany the exercise of all the more condicial of those colonies. They regard property there as the proper criterion of fitness for such trusts, first, because the holders of it have a more direct and palpable interest than other men in maintaining the public tranquillity, and in avoiding crude and dangerous expericondly, because property, as it affords the ments on established institutions, and sepresumption of superior knowledge, intellimeans of leisure and education, raises a fair gence, and fitness for the conduct of civil business. I am disposed to admit, that the proprietary qualification ought not only to be maintained, but to be attended with new and effectual securities for ascertaining, that it is disposed to acknowledge, that in the very not fraudulently claimed. But I am still more peculiar state of society in the West Indies, it would be reasonable to demand, as a test of the right of exercising these franchises, that they should be enjoyed by none who cannot be readily applied in any case in which there read and write. This is a test which might might be reason to suppose, that a party claiming to vote or to be elected was so illiterate as to be destitute of the first rudiments of learning, and the efforts made for the diffusion of knowledge would render any complaint of such a criterion ill-founded and un reasonable." nies laying down certain principles with the justice of an expedient which proI never can, I never will, acquiesce in fesses to pass the Bill upon the pretext stated in the preamble-namely, the proceedings of the House of Assembly in 1838, and yet solicits the support of the Members of this House upon a pretext, of the Bill, and which is not even pubwhich is not put forward in the preamble |