5 APRIL 1834, Page 2

The Legislature of Bermuda have passed a resolution declaring the

utter abolition of slavery in the colony, without any modifica- tion of apprenticeship, from the 1st of August next.

A petition to the King has been signed by a large body of the merchants and planters ofJamaica, against the continuance of the Legislature of that island as at present constituted. The peti- tioners wish that, until the freedom of the Negroes is established on a permanent basis, the "Assembly should be suspended, and its legislative functions vested in a responsible Council appointed by the King, on principles similar (as far as the different circum- stances admit) to those regulations established in Demerara, and other colonies recently conquered." They allege as reasons for so doing, that as the Imperial Parliament has legislated for the in- ternal concerns of the colony, a seat in the Assembly is no longer held in esteem by men capable of legislating for the benefit of the colony ; that the Assembly will therefore be probably filled with unfit persons ; that to provide for emergencies, a more energetic and powerful government will be proper ; and that the suspension of their legislative functions will tend to allay party-spirit.