ness, the welfare, and the prosperity of any classes of the community of this Colony, unless they renounce the spirit of hostility in which this Bill has originated and adopt in its stead, conciliation towards the Assembly and people of Jamaica, and respect for their rights and institutions.

Sir, you never will command from your Co onies respect for the rights and institutions of the parent state, or their respect and attachment for the authority emanating from this country, so long as you evince a total disregard of those institutions which they enjoy, and of the authority with which these institutions invest them. If the fatal policy which has dictated this Bill shall be continued, this splendid Colony is lost, for it will cease to be the abode of civilization, social order, good government, industry or wealth. The island may stand; it may stand alone amidst those convulsions which sometimes sweep away Colonies. It may, by a special dispensation of Providence be spared, that it may remain a sad memorial of what it once was, and to awaken a recollection of the extent of its contribution to the wealth, the power, and splendour of the British empire.

Sir, it may remind future Ministers, that the only principles, the only policy, by which they can retain their Colonies in prosperity and happiness, are those which are founded in conciliation and confidence,

by exhibiting the desolation which has followed the abandonment of those principles, and of that policy. But the desolation of Jamaica will not only bring loss and reproach and disgrace on this country. It will involve the fate of millions, who are still under the yoke of slavery. This Colony will, indeed, be a memorial of the magnanimity of this nation in making a noble sacrifice for the abolition of slavery; but it will also record the mournful fact that this noble sacrifice had been made in vain, that the glorious purposes which were contemplated, and which might have been accomplished, had been defeated by the mistaken, ill-judged, reckless, and mischievous conduct of her Rulers. The fate of Jamaica will prevent other countries, where slavery exists, from undertaking its abolition. It will deter them from imitating the noble example which Great Britain has set before them, by her magnanimity, whilst it should be only a beacon to warn them from imitating the errors and misconduct of her Rulers, to which alone that fate is attributable.

Sir, I will no longer trespass on the attention of the House; I trust the great interests which I feel to be involved in the consideration of this Bill will be regarded as my apology, if I have exceeded the limits which I had prescribed to myself in addressing the House.

MY LORDS,

I HAVE the honour of appearing at your Lordships' Bar as the agent of the Legislature of Jamaica to defend that Legislature and the people whom it represents, against the renewed attempt of her Majesty's Ministers, by the Bill now under your Lordships' consideration, to subvert their constitution.

My Lords, I say that this Bill does subvert the Constitution of Jamaica, because it virtually suspends the functions of the Assembly, the popular branch of its Legislature; because, although it professes to leave the Assembly in the nominal exercise of those functions, yet, it renders their exercise utterly incompatible with the existence of that body, as a free and ndependent branch of the Legislature.

My Lords, it does then subvert the constitution of Jamaica, and it does deprive the people of that Colony of a form of Government which they have enjoyed for nearly two centuries, and to which they consider themselves entitled as British subjects.

My Lords, the punishment which this Bill inflicts on the people of Jamaica, is indeed, a heavy and severe punishment. They must have committed some heinous crime which merited it. The Bill before your Lordships it might be expected, distinctly specifies in its preamble the nature of that crime, and her Majesty's Ministers are prepared to substantiate that crime by full and satisfactory proof. But my Lords, there is no crime charged by the preamble against the people of Jamaica, because no is, indeed, a pretext assigned in the preamble as the ground upon which your Lordships are called upon to pass the Bill -but it is a pretext which under any circumstances would not justify the punishment which this Bill inflicts. Still less can it justify this Bill, when that pretext has been created by the conduct of her Majesty's Ministers themselves.

My Lords, the perseverance which her Majesty's Ministers have evinced in determining to supersede the Assembly of Jamaica, I should have been disposed to have attributed to that appetite for change in established institutions which has been the disease of the last few years, but then indeed I found I could not attribute the change which this Bill would effect, to that appetite, because that was an appetite for a change professing to correct existing institutions, because they were supposed to be not sufficiently popular, and in their place to substitute institutions more popular. But the change to be made now is of a totally opposite character, and exhibits indeed an inconsistency, certainly not of so rare occurrence as on that account to excite surprise, whatever other strong feelings it may excite on account of the extent to which that inconsistency is carried.

My Lords, the proposed change would supersede a popular Assembly, and, in its stead, create a new and despotic form of Government. I know not, therefore, to what cause it is to be attributed, unless indeed I am to suppose that either Her Majesty's Ministers themselves are, or they suppose your Lordships to be, imperfectly acquainted with that constitution which it is the object of this Bill to destroy.

My Lords, I pray your Lordships' indulgence for a few moments, while I tell your Lordships what is the Constitution which Jamaica possesses? I will tell you my Lords what that Constitution is in theemphatic words of Mr. Burkeinspeaking of the other colonial Governments in North America. Jamaica possesses "a Constitution which, with the exception of the commercial restraints, has every characteristic of a free Government. She has the express image of the British Constitution - she has the substance - she has the right of taxing herself through her Representatives in her Assembly -she has in effect the sole internal Government of the Colony." My Lords, Jamaica could have no other constitution consistently with the Law and

those who were the inhabitants of that Colony, when it was acquired by Great Britain, were not conquered Spaniards, for none were then remaining in the Colony, but they were Englishmen. They carried to Jamaica the right of Englishmen--the rights too, of the British Constitution-the right, therefore, to a form of Government which was based and founded upon the first principles of the British Constitution.

My Lords, the original settlers of Jamaica, when they ceased to have a voice in making the laws of England, of necessity must possess, in the country where they had settled, a voice in making those laws by which they were to be governed, and in imposing those taxes and burdens which were necessary for the support of their civil government.

But, my Lords, the constitution of Jamaica, and its form of government, did not rest alone upon this title, high and paramount as it is. It is expressly recognized and confirmed by the proclamation which was issued by Charles the 2nd, in 1661, shortly after his restoration, and by that proclamation it is expressly declared, that "all children of any of the naturalborn subjects of England to be born in Jamaica shall, from their respective births, be reputed to be, and shall be, free denizens of England, and shall have the same privileges, to all intents and purposes, as the free-born subjects of England."

My Lords, the Governor who was appointed shortly after that proclamation was issued, carried with him instructions to convene an Assembly. An Assembly was convened, which, within a few years after this period, consisted of thirty-two Members. At present it consists of forty-five members.

My Lords, it was the fate of that Assembly, a few years afterwards, to encounter, from the Ministry of that day, an attack similar, in many respects, to that which is made on their Constitution by the Bill now before your Lordships. A scheme was formed by the Ministers of Charles the 2nd to govern Jamaica nominally by the Assembly, but in reality by means of laws previously framed in England, and sent out to the Governor to be presented to the Assembly, and their concurrence to be given, without any deliberation on the subject of those laws. In short, my Lords, the scheme was to introduce into the colony of Jamaica, Poyning's Law.

My Lords, that scheme seems to have formed the model for the measure which is before your Lordships. In one respect, that scheme had a merit which the present does not possess-it had the merit of avowing its purpose, of really doing that which it professed to do, whereas the peculiar character of the scheme now before your Lordships is, that it does what it professes to abstain from doing-it does indirectly, that which it does not do directly. By the circuitous means of a Governor, with the aid of his Council, it makes the Assembly a nominal party in enacting, as laws, instructions or directions which the Colonial Office may, from time to time, transmit to the Governor.

their right to retain the free constitution which they have acquired, became the subject of grave and solemn deliberation before the Privy Council, at which the Chief Justice of England assisted. The result was, my Lords, that that scheme was abandoned. A new commission was sent to the Governor, Lord Carlisle. Under that commission, in 1680, the established Constitution of Jamaica was again recognized, and it was declared that the acts passed by the three branches of its Legislature should at once obtain the full force and effect of laws, and their operation should not be subject to be suspended until the Sovereign's pleasure was known. They were subject, of course, to disallowance by the Sovereign, but, until that disallowance was given, they remained in full force and effect.

My Lords, Lord Carlisle was the Governor entrusted by that Ministry to exe cute this scheme of calling upon the Jamaica Assembly to pass the laws which the Government, from time to time, sent out. He was furnished with a body of laws-he arrived in Jamaica in 1678. He proposed those laws to the Assembly of Jamaica. They were Englishmen, my Lords, they knew the rights to which they were entitled; they had the honesty to resist all the various means which were resorted to for the purpose of procuring their compliance. They refused to pass any of those laws. The governor resorted to measures of violence; he removed some, arrested and imprisoned other judges and members of the council. One of them, whose name is well known in the history of Jamaica, was brought from thence to this country as a prisoner. My Lords, the people of Jamaica did, in those days, what is now considered a crime-they appealed to their Sovereign against the arbitrary conduct of that Sovereign's Ministers. My Lords, their fate did not depend upon the will of the Ministers-it was not left to the feelings of wounded pride, or of disappointment at a party defeat, to dispose of the inherent rights of the people of this colony. Their resistance to that arbitrary scheme, and

Assembly consisting of forty-five persons, returned by the freeholders of the different districts. These are the three branches by whom those laws were to be passed, to which that effect was given, both by the original proclamation of Charles the 2nd, in 1661, and by the subsequent commission which was granted in 1680.

My Lords, there arrives another memorable period in the history of Jamaica, in the year 1728. There had been an attempt for some few years preceding, to obtain from the Assembly of Jamaica a permanent revenue. The Assembly refused to grant their supplies except from year to year, unless they were secure of their appropriation to the service of the island. In the year 1728, that contest between the Crown and the Assembly of Jamaica was terminated by the Crown giving up, on its part, the title to the quit rents of the colony, and on the other receiving a permanent revenue of 8,000l. per annum: but the special purposes to which that sum was appropriated were named in the very act by which it was granted. That law continues in force, and it contains an express provision that all the laws, "statutes, usages, and customs of England, shall continue the common laws of his Majesty's Island of Jamaica, for ever."

My Lords, there is one other period to which I must advert, because it termi nated in an important law, not, indeed, applicable to Jamaica exclusively, but to all our colonial possessions. I mean, my

My Lords, another instance occurred in the year 1808, at the commencement of the government of the Duke of Manchester. The Assembly claimed, as an essential part of their Constitution, the right to examine witnesses at their Bar, or before their Committees. A gallant Officer, Major - General Carmichael, who was then the Commander - in - Chief of the forces in the island, considered, that it was not proper for him to appear before a Committee. The Duke of Manchester expressed his concurrence in this view. The House of Assembly came to a Resolution nearly in the language of the Resolution of 1838, that the refusal of that Officer to appear, and the conduct of the Governor in sanctioning that refusal, was a breach of the privileges of the House, and that they would proceed to no business until reparation had been afforded them. My Lords, the Governor, the Duke of Manchester, prorogued the Assembly, and re. ferred to the Government here. My Lords, the subject was much discussed by the Government. Their decision was, that the interference, on the part of the Duke of Manchester, and the refusal, on the part of General Carmichael, were not warranted by the principles of the Constitution which the people of Jamaica possessed, and the Duke of Manchester was directed to convene the Assembly, and make adequate reparation. He did so. That reparation was made; and it was met in the spirit in which every attempt towards conciliation by the Government in this country has been met by the people of Jamaica. It was met more than half way; they called General Carmichael before them to assert their right, but forbore examining him at all.

My Lords, an instance occurred in 1836, in which another attempt was made to interfere with one of their rights, with the freedom of debate. The Marquess of Sligo, then the Governor, took upon himself to send down a message to the Assembly on the subject of a Bill which was then pending between the Assembly and the Council. The Assembly expressed their deter

of February, 1836. The Marquess of Sligo persisted in asserting, that he had been guilty of no breach of the privileges of the House; that he was right. He prorogued the Assembly; the Assembly again met; he continued to maintain his former assertion; the Assembly renewed their Resolution. An appeal was then made to the Government; and Lord Glenelg appears to have received, on the 19th of March, a statement of this proceeding on the part of the Marquess of Sligo; and on the 31st of the same month, he addressed a dispatch to the Marquess, in which he distinctly stated to him, that he had been guilty of a breach of the privileges of the House, and called upon him to make reparation. He did make that reparation frankly; it was met by the Assembly. They, at once, expressed themselves perfectly satisfied with it, and then proceeded with their functions. "We are perfectly satisfied," they say, " with the reparation which your Excellency has offered for the breach of our privileges which led to the late prorogation of the Assembly."

Now, my Lords, what is the necessary effect of these attempts, on the part of the Government, to interfere with the rights and privileges of the Assembly of Jamaica, and the success which attended the resistance of that body? My Lords, it has taught the Assembly of Jamaica to be jealous of their rights and privileges. It has also taught them to maintain those rights and privileges with uncompromising firmness. My Lords, I ask your Lordships, to bear this in recollection when you examine the proceedings which took place in 1838, and the Resolutions which they then adopted, and which are made the pretext for those measures by which their Constitution is to be subverted.

My Lords, such is the history of the Constitution of Jamaica. Under that Constitution this great Colony has prospered. It comprises, as your Lordships are aware, at least one half of the population of all your West India possessions. It gives you in imports into this country four millions; it receives from you in exports from hence nearly three millions. Well did it merit the description which it received from that great naval hero, Lord Rodney, "It was the brightest jewel in the British Diadem." Against the Con