The Government has done its duty, and the London Gazette
of Tuesday contained a draft of a commission to Sir H. K. Storks, G.C.B., as temporary Governor of Jamaica. After reciting that "whereas it is alleged that sundry ill-disposed persons have con- certed the destruction of other our subjects resident there," and "grievous disturbances have broken out, and have been sup- pressed," and "it is alleged that excessive and unlawful severity has been used in such suppression," therefore Edward John Eyre is suspended till "full and impartial inquiry has been made into the origin, nature, and circumstances of the said disturbances, and with respect to the measures adopted for the suppression of the same." It is understood, though not stated in the patent, that Sir H. Storks, of whom we have given an estimate elsewhere, will be President of the Commission of Inquiry as well as Governor, that he will have two colleagues not yet selected, and that the Secretary will be Mr. C. S. Roundell, of Merton Col- lege, Oxford,—a very able man. We trust that the word "origin" in the patent will be interpreted to include the grievance& of the natives, and that Sir H. Storks carries with him private instructions how to act, should the commission decide that 2,000 of Her Majesty's subjects have been put to death and 200 women flogged as a measure of precaution.
