NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THIS has been a week of preparation for the approaching trial of party strength. The Commons reassembled on _Monday; made THIS has been a week of preparation for the approaching trial of party strength. The Commons reassembled on _Monday; made
no House" on Wednesday ; and broke up their sittings at an early hour on other days. The Lords met again on Thursday, but their proceedings were unimportant: The points noticed in our Parlia- mentary record are therefore few. It has been found necessary to suspend the constitution of another important British colony. Mr. LABOUCIIERE has intro- duced a bill for placing Jamaica under arbitrary government. It is proposed to set aside the House of Assembly, and to empower the Governor and Council, aided by three salaried Commissioners, (to be sent, we presume, from England,) to administer the affairs of the island—to make laws and levy taxes for five years. The con- duct of the Jamaica House of Assembly is alleged as the reason of this measure. The Assembly refused to discharge their func- tions until their exclusive right to legislate on the internal concerns of the Colony should be admitted by the British Government, and the result is a deprivation of all legislative power. This virtual abro- gation of a constitution, which has existed for two hundred years, is a harsh proceeding ; yet it may have become unavoidable. A deputation of Jamaica gentlemen lately assured Sir ROBERT PEEL that the Assembly were willing to provide for the exigencies of the civil service, and that their intentions were prevented by a sudden prorogation : but sufficient evidence of this intention is not found in the acts of the Assembly, or in a declaration of readiness it made to provide funds for paying the " public creditor." The temper displayed by the Jamaica Planters forbids the notion that they would relinquish their only means of carrying on the contest with the Executive. But if it is true that the Assembly were willing to vote the supplies, they refused to pass other acts of pressing im- portance proposed to them by the Governor. A new instrument of legislation was therefore needed.
But why suspend the constitution for so long a term as five years? Lord Joust RUSSELL stated, as the principal reason for the Jamaica Government Bill, not any particular act of the Colonial Assembly, but their manifest disposition to impede the working of the Emancipation Act, and their claims of legislative indepen- dence. It would seem, however, that the power of obstruction must soon depart from those who now exercise it. Mr. LABOC- CHERE mentioned that probably in fifteen mouths hence the Negro population, would obtain a preponderating influence in the Assem- bly; and then Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S reason for supporting the bill will no longer exist. The Imperial Parliament, in filet, is called upon to enact a bill of pains and penalties against the Planters for fifteen months—against the bulk of the population thr three times that period. And this leads us to the question, whether the hacks, thr whose protection the measure is ostensibly brought for- ward, will hail it as a boon. The Planters, of course, must be ex- cessively irritated—will the Negroes be pleased ?
The idea of Negroes regretting the deprivation of political privi- leges, will appear almost ludicrous to many persons ; and it would be absurd to suppose that the bulk of the Black population know or care any thing about politics: yet a few may ; and when it comes to a question of "Black or White," as it must come, the more ener- getic and ambitious Blacks will be supported by all of the same race and colour. These men will be much disappointed by the unex- pected abrogation ofa privilege so recently conferred, and which ap- pears to be prized by all whose property entitles them to claim it, for the registry of Negro voters proceeds rapidly. But their discon- tent will be much increased, if in the minor and neighbouring islands their brethren be allowed privileges of which they are de- prived; and this feeling will naturally prevail among many who care little about the suffrage itself. This consideration may lead to the suspension of the constitutions of all the Chartered Colonies as well as that ofJamaica.
dealing with this difficult subject, it is necessary to bear in mind the proximity of Haiti, where fierce election contests be- [LATEST EDITION.]
tween the " Blacks" and "Browns" arc constantly carried on Captain PRINGLE, whose Report upon the Prisons of the West Indies was repeatedly referred to during the discussion on Mr- LAIMUCIIERE'S Jamaica Bill, states in a recently - published pamphlet,* that " ideas of independence " will be created in " the minds of the Negroes " by their intercourse with their brethren of Haiti. He also intimates, that when the Blacks gain the ascen- dancy in the Colonial Assemblies, they will retaliate upon their former masters by imposing taxes for exclusively " Black" pur.s poses. It is not to be supposed that this disposition is confined to Jamaica ; and it would seem necessary to take precautions for securing the Whites against oppression by their former slaves. This implies the general abrogation of those political privileges so recently conferred upon the Negroes, and which they are now beginning to exercise. The Planters may become a West Indian " British party," though now their proceedings are a la PAPINEAU ; and an increased military force may be requisite to keep in poli- tical subjection the population we have so lately raised to social freedom. The Twenty Millions, it is to be feared, was only the commencement of the cost of Emancipation.
The Lord Advocate of Scotland has introduced two bills re- lating to Scotch constituencies. To stop the creation of fictitious votes, he proposes to make residence a condition of the exercise of the suffrage : to procure uniformity in the decisions of Registration Courts, be wishes to constitute a Court of Appeal, to sit in Edin- burgh. The first and principal measure is simple, and would pro- bably be sufficient for the purpose; but no person acquainted with the present state of politics in this country can dream of'carrying it. An objection mooted by Lord STANLEY—that it would contract the right of voting established by the Reform Act, and deprive Scotch- men of a qualification perfectly good in England and Ireland—will serve as a popular reason for rejecting the bill ; the real cause, of course, being the resolution to retain the useful power of swampsf ing independent constituencies. The measure is doomed to certain rejection in the Upper House, if it ever pass the Lower.
