yond" mere talking, in the ap- Beasts... 3,243 | Sheep...21,780

VOL. 48.-No. 10.] LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1923. [Price 6d. Published every Saturday Morning, at Seven o'Clock.

THE

WEST INDIA COLONIES.

or, rather, of civil war; the slaves

on one side and the owners on the other side.

At last, the curse seems to have fallen upon Jamaica itself, which appears likely to become a scene of desolation and horror, in con

Kensington, December 4th, 1823. CANT, impudence and malignity; persevering cant, impu- sequence of the impudent interdence and malignity seem, at last, meddlings of a set of men, who, to to be approaching fast towards speak of them in the mildest the accomplishment of depriving terms, are senseless fanatics. The this Kingdom of Colonies that it state of that valuable colony may has held for so many years, and be judged of by the following Adwith such great advantage. The vertisement, which was published bayonet, the bullet and the gibbet in the London Morning Chronicle have been actually put in requisi- of the first of this month. The tion in Demarara; and that, ob- Resolutions contained in this Adserve, for the purpose of putting vertisement, were, as the reader to death a part of one class of will perceive, agreed to at a persons, and, thereby, ruining Meeting held in the Island. They and reducing to beggary another have been published in the Lonclass of persons. Several other don papers by the authority of of the colonies have been, for the Chairman; and the people of some time, in a state, very little the island seem to have sent them short of that of open rebellion; forth as the North Americans

T

Printed and Published by J. M. COBBETT, No. 183, Fleet-stréet.

formerly did, as a declaration of rived from any equal portion of her possessions.

their determination not to submit to certain regulations and Acts of the English Parliament. Before I proceed further, I shall insert this declaration, with a request that

the reader will give it an attentive perusal.

Jamaica, St. David's, Oct. 4, 1823. Ar a numerous and respectable Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of this Parish, held this day at the Vestry Room, at Yallahs, called by his Honour the Custos, agreeably to a Requisition made to him for that purpose,

RICHARD DICK, Esq. in the Chair; 1. Resolved, That, at this period of unparalleled distress, we view with the most serious alarm the late discussions in the Commons' House of Parliament, connected with the internal policy of the West India Islands.

4. Resolved, That, as dutiful and loyal subjects, ever having maintained our allegiance inviolate to His Majesty's Family and Government, we have, to the utmost of our ability, supported the honour of his Crown and dignity, in seasons the most eventful and alarming, and on all occasions we have yielded to none in our zeal for the honour and the independence of the Empire.

5. Resolved, That we solemnly protest against the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to infringe upon our Constitutional Prerogative, or in any wise to disturb the prevailing harmony of this and the other Islands, by any intemperate harangues in the Great Council of the Nation, without having first taken into their most serious consideration our just claim to indemnity (which, it is admitted, should be" as liberal as necessary") from the inevitable ruin to which such interference cannot fail to lead.

6. Resolved, That, should the British Parliament proceed to legislate 2. Resolved, That the lives and for us by the enactment of any properties of the inhabitants of the laws which may have a tendency to British Colonies have been greatly deprive us of our just possessions, we endangered by the agitation of shall conceive ourselves bound to these measures, and that to them resist their unwarranted and unjustiis justly attributable our present fiable proceedings by every legitimate state of civil and political perplex- means in our power.

ity, the almost total annihilation of 7. Resolved, That we confide to our commerce, as well as of that our Rrepresentatives in the Hoconfidence, on the existence of nourable House of Assembly the which our prosperity depends. defence of our just rights and pri3. Resolved, That, under the vileges, and that it be recommendsanction of British Laws, and ad-ed to them, as the unanimous voice mitted to a full participation in the of this Meeting, to maintain our indeblessings of the British Constitu-pendence with temperance, moderation, we hesitated not to vest our tion, and decision. capital, under numerous disadvan- 8. Resolved, That, whilst we tages of climate, in these countries, firmly resist the violation of every whereby there has been added to Constitutional Charter, and inthe resources of the Empire an struct our Members to oppose accession of wealth, fully commen- every encroachment upon our estasurate to that which she has de-blished rights, we would neverthe

less impress upon them our entire | The Colony of Jamaica is of willingness to concur in whatever

prudent plans they may agree with more real value to England, is a the House in adopting, for the

moral and religious well being of source of greater wealth and our Negro Population, in whose

terest.

comfort we feel so great an in-strength, than the whole East Indies, and all the territories in the 9. Resolved, That, from the gradual dissemination of Christian Eastern seas. Nothing is easier principles, we look forward with

peculiar pleasure to the improve- than the proof of this assertion. ment of our Slaves in the scale of

civilized beings; and that, from Jamaica is, in short, little removed past experience, and the good

effects which have already resulted from being a part of England itfrom their instruction, we confi

mers and coffee farmers; and their

dently anticipate, under Divine self. The planters are sugar farProvidence, that we shall be enabled in due time, unaided by any interference in our Colonial Policy, to render them, what must prove highly pleasing to every master, a contented and happy people.

interests ought to be as scrupu

lously attended to, as if they were

10. Resolved, That the known farmers in Cornwall or in Yorktalents of the present Ministers of shire. Yet, owing to the calum the Crown would lead us confi

dently to expect, that the recent nies and the hypocritical cant, of calamity at Demarara will have

the effect of guarding them against the "faction" alluded to, in these the dangerous innovations of our enemies, and in future induce them spirited Resolutions, the people of to pause before they give the weight of their recommendation to the hypothetical projects of such visionary philanthropists.

this country have, by degrees,

been brought to look upon them

11. Resolved,That, should theFaction,alike hostile to our lives and our fortunes, and of which we have so much cause to complain, have sufficient interest to prevail against us in the House of Commons, we will still place the most firm reliance for support on the other Branches of humanity in ourselves, of the Legislature, but more especially on the well-known justice and humanity of our King, confi

as a sort of aliens whom we have

conquered, at some time or other,

and also, as a set of cruel wretches,

not to abhor whom, argues a want

The" faction;" this hypocriti

dent that he will not fail to inter-cal and calumniating faction have, fere in behalf of a class of his

faithful, though oppressed, sub- at last, driven this most chivaljects, who have ever been distin

guished for their unbounded loy-rously loyal Island of Jamaica, to alty, and for their devoted attachment to his Family and Person,

something very much like a deck