charges generally made against him; but if he were justly to be suspected of one-half of these-if he (Mr. Brougham) believed that there was evidence to support onehalf, he should feel it to be his duty as a member of parliament to bring an impeachment. It would be seen how far the house inclined to protect him from the inquiry. He would move, in the first place, for leave to bring up the petition. He took that opportunity of saying that the commissioners appointed to inquire into the affairs of that colony had been a long time making their report.

Mr. Wilmot Horton thought that there was a want of the usual personal courtesy shown to him in not informing him of the intention of the hon. and learned gentleman to bring up this petition. He was happy that he chanced to be present. Any portions of the correspondence with his excellency Lord Charles Somerset might be obtained, as he would make no opposition to any proper motion submitted for that purpose. The case of the petitioner was a matter of some notoriety, and in all probability the report of the commissioners would contain much reference to it. As to the production of the report, there were circumstances which had tended to delay it. Mr. Biggs had been sent out to review the judicial institutions, with the design of assimilating at the earliest possible period the Dutch and English law. The health of Mr. Biggs failed, and that object was delayed. As to the abuses of the commissariat, he had heard nothing of the charges before. As to the exchanges, government, by a late regulation,

had taken away the possibility of any suspicions of unfairness in future. But if the charges were true, in God's name let them be regularly made and proved. Upon the subject of appeals, and the anecdote of Dune's horse, he cautioned the house and the country not to give full credence without more evidence. There seemed to be a certain degree of conspiracy prevailing against Lord C. Somerset. But the petition professing to be against the governor went against the constituency of all the judicial authorities, and it was unfair not to distinguish in such a complaint between the acts of the governor and the defects of the Dutch law. He was not responsible for the want of facilities for complaints against the law and authorities before the commissioners. were sent out to inquire, not into every case of grievance, but to discover the easiest and safest method of bringing about a speedy amelioration of the whole system of government in that colony. The house ought to be aware of petitions urged on individual suggestion against persons holding high and responsible situations under the government, and within the regular control of parliament.

They

Mr. Brougham said, that he would take an early opportunity of putting the sincerity of the hon. gentleman to the test, in his offer to produce the correspondence. Would he, to begin the experiment, produce the correspondence of Sir Rufane Donkin? He should very much like to see the correspondence of Sir Rufane Donkin with Lord C. Somerset produced. If after this it. were refused, he should know what to think.

Mr. W. Horton declared that he was utterly unconscious of any correspondence of Sir Rufane Donkin being in his office, which specifically charged Lord Charles Somerset with any thing.

Mr. Brougham said, that he did not at first believe that government would be willing to give up the correspondence. The hon. gentleman chose to qualify it in a manner which he (Mr. Brougham) did not, he having only spoken of the correspondence without saying that it contained any specific charge. By the conduct of the hon. gentleman he was confirmed in his first belief.

Mr. Baring said, that the present debate was a proof of the bad system which had been set up for the government of this colony. Formerly, this country colonized upon a different plan; and by giving better institutions, she had established one colony, the power of which was likely to transcend that of any other state in the world. Latterly, the government seemed to have adopted the Spanish principle of colonies, and a little despotic system of government was set over each of them. One thing he would recommend for the consideration of the commissioners-if this colony could not be benefited by extending to it the privilege of a representative system. Until something of this kind were done, there must be a constant recurrence of abuses; and as long as the power remained despotic-no matter who was chief governor-it was not in human nature that it should continue for any time in exercise without abuses.

Mr. Hume was afraid that there was no very well-founded hope of

seeing any report from these commissioners. He had seen a gentleman from the colony very recently, who had assured him that there was nothing there but arbitrary and despotic power. Any one obnoxious to the government authorities was removed without difficulty. This petitioner was banished for five years merely for sending in a memorial. Did the governor send home any copy of it, or of his own proceedings upon it? What grounds did he give, then, for his own sentence? The honourable secretary would find that the same opinions pervaded all minds in the colony. The 10,000 dollars for the governor's horse were considered there as a most unquestionable bribe for the settling of an appeal in favour of the purchaser. The colonists looked upon themselves as persons being under a corrupt and despotic government. He had entertained some hopes of Mr. Biggs before now: recent accounts had almost proved to him that they were groundless. Let the honourable gentleman look well to it. Property would not be embarked in any undertaking on those shores, while the rights of property and of personal liberty were so much at stake. Oliver, who now called himself Jones, was in the office of surveyor of lands. He had considerable power, and he certainly did not fail to abuse it.

He (Mr. Hume) assured the house that he advanced what he had offered upon the testimony of men whose veracity had never been doubted.

Mr. W. Horton advised the hon. member to move for such papers as he thought necessary, giving the customary notice. He was not there to stand up for the sys

tem

tem of Dutch and Roman law, which he admitted to be bad. But the government had taken the very course now prescribed. It had not only appointed commissioners to make a general investigation, but it had within these few months, of its own free motion, directed that there should be a council appointed to act with the chief governor, and that they should take and remit minutes of their proceedings, bringing the colony, as far as they could, into conformity with the system of Indian government.

Mr. Ellice said, that government ought certainly to effect a revision of colonial law. Most of the colonies were governed by some old system now got into disuse in the countries from which the laws were derived. In the French colonies the old Bourbon law prevailed, though that was rejected at home in favour of the code Napoleon. And now upon a case of any complexity, even the French themselves could not agree upon the proper interpretation of it. Another great evil in matters of colonial law, was the fluctuation of the orders in council, which strangely unsettled it.

Mr. Brougham said, that by moving to refer the petition to a select committee, it seemed that he would be doing that which best suited the views of all parties. Lord C. Somerset ought not to be the sport and victim of charges loosely ventilated in this house. If those charges were untrue, they ought to be able to punish the authors of such gross mistatements. Lord C. Somerset ought to challenge investigation, and government ought to wish for it. He wanted to have the opportunity of

inquiring for himself in a committee. He would for the present content himself with having the petition laid on the table, and printed.

Dr. Lushington rose, pursuant to notice, to present a petition from two persons of the names of Escoffery and Lecesne, complaining of having been, without any just cause, sent out of the island of Jamaica, in 1823, by the Duke of Manchester.

Mr. W. Horton wished to know what motion the learned gentleman meant to found on that petition.

Dr. Lushington said, it was his intention to have it referred to a select committee; and he wondered, after the discussion which had formerly taken place on this subject, that the honourable gentleman should have asked the question. He would have brought the subject before the house at an earlier period, if it had been in his power. In his view of the question, it was of very considerable importance to the safety and prosperity of the colonies in general, and to the colony of Jamaica in particular, that this case should be investigated; for it certainly disclosed one of the greatest outrages that ever was committed on British subjects. It might be proper to state, that the population of Jamaica consisted of 360,000 blacks, 36,000 free men of colour, and 25,000 whites. These 36,000 men of colour had long been under the most heinous disabilities. No farther back than 1813 were they, for the first time, allowed to bequeath a sum of two or 3,000l., if by their industry they had amassed so much. They were prohibited from giving evidence against

whites,

whites, and they laboured under several other oppressive regulations. Those persons paid all the taxes, they subscribed to funds for the furtherance of education, and for the support of religious institutions, and yet they were not allowed to have any share in the elective franchise. In that situation they stood at the present moment. There was another and a most extraordinary law, by which they were much affected. A white alien could not be convicted on the evidence of a slave; but a coloured alien might. An attempt was made, in 1822, to get rid of those disabilities, which led to considerable discussion. That effort, however, had failed. Now he thought that any man who considered for a single moment how exceedingly important it was, not only to the interests of justice, but to the safety and preservation of this colony, to consult the good wishes of this large class of the population, who at that moment enjoyed their freedom, who were possessed of property, and who were daily increasing, not in the ordinary course of population, by the addition made amongst themselves, but also by the increasing offspring from whites and blacks, must see the necessity of treating them with kindness and consideration. Those persons were allowed to serve in the militia, and to hold the rank of sergeant. They were trained up in, and they understood, the art of war; and on their fidelity and allegiance the safety of Jamaica depended. If they were, by acts of oppression and injustice, driven into hostility towards the government, then the safety of the colony was endangered. Up to the present moment,

there had not been imputed to this class of persons the slightest disposition to commit any offence against the government, or the slightest wish to promote insubordination. All the writers and authorities on the subject of Jamaica, from the earliest time to the present, concurred in stating that their loyalty and steady attachment to the government was unimpeached and unimpeachable. Mr. Bryant Edwards spoke in the highest terms of those people. The secret committee appointed last year, in Jamaica, to inquire into the cause of certain disturbances which had prevailed there some time back, reported, in strong terms, that the coloured inhabitants deserved well of the community in general for their irreproachable conduct. The committee used this language :-"The committee cannot close their report without bestowing its praise on the zeal and alacrity manifested by the free people of colour. The good conduct which they evinced was of the utmost importance to the colony, and identifies them with those who are most intimately connected with its interests." In the month of November last, the house of assembly, after inquiring into all the circumstances of the preceding disturbances, praised those people for their loyalty, and for the active zeal which they had displayed in the service. Yet it was on two persons of this class, so highly praised, valued, and esteemed, that acts of the greatest injustice had been practised. There were, in the population of Jamaica, four intermediate classes, between absolute darkness and whiteness. First, the mulatto; second, the gardoon; third, the mustee; and

fourth,

fourth, the marzta. It seemed that freedom in that island depended entirely on the relative fairness of the skin. But it was a fact, that though colour produced disabilities in Jamaica, it did not produce any in England. One individual of colour held a post in his Majesty's government; and another had arrived at high rank in the army, and had formed a connexion with a branch of the other house. Here those persons were treated as gentlemen, and had all the respect paid to them which their personal qualities and their propriety of conduct entitled them

to.

The learned gentleman then proceeded to state, that the petitioners, Messrs. Escoffery and Lecesne, were, in the month of October, 1823, put under arrest; but, on the business being heard before the proper law authorities, they were set at liberty as freeborn British subjects. They were, however, again arrested on the 29th of November, and banished as aliens. Now, it was admitted on all sides, that they had, from their infancy, resided on the island; and the point agitated against them was, that they had not been domiciled there till they were two years old. He, however, did not care whether the period was three or four years; for it was notorious, that when they were school-boys they were domiciled in Jamaica. They had, in 1815, taken up their freedom, and they had served as sergeants in the militia. In short, they had resided on the island for 25 or 26 years; but they were, notwithstanding, under the power of the alien act removed from that country, and deported to St. Domingo. The provisions of alien acts, either here or in Jamaica,

ought to be administered with caution; and he was sure it never was intended, either here or there, to give to government the power of inquiring into the birth of individuals who had resided in the country for near 30 years. It certainly never could be meant that the government should be at liberty, at such a distance of time, to call on an individual to prove his birth--when, from various circumstances, he might not be cognizant either of the time at which, or the place in which, he was born. Yet, such was the course pursued towards the petitioners; and he must say, it was an exercise of the power of the alien act, under the government of the Duke of Manchester, which really astonished him. Now, what was the charge against these persons? It was contained in a letter written by one of the government collectors, and dated the 30th of September, 1823, in which an accusation was made against them for raising money, ostensibly for a religious society, but in reality to procure arms. Now, this was unsupported by evidence. There was not a single word to prove one tittle of this assertion. He had himself seen all the papers of this religious society, which fully accounted for all the money they had received and expended. It was complained that this society placed too much__confidence in those persons. But who were those in whom the confidence was reposed? Why, in those very people of colour whom the assembly of Jamaica described as most zealously attached to the peace, security, and happiness of the colony. This was no blame to them, but a matter of praise and honour.