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Show 166 • rAMAICA· . 1 1 . 1 t e. for if there is any one circumcoloma egis a ur ' th another which endangers the peace stance more an . . . · f the colony, It IS, as we behe,·e, the and prospertty o , . . f I 1 l·tws opposed to the true mtent and passtng o oca ' ' . . , f tl act of emanctpatwn. 1 hat several purpose o Je ' h · · s have been enacted within the last few SUC prOVISIOn ' . h · ndeniable · so that a penod of apparently mont s IS u c ' • smooth tranquillity, in the house, may ?osstbly yro:e to have been the seed-time of much future mtsclncf and confusion. 1 would just specify (as a memorandum) the Poundage act, the Fishery act, the Huckster and Pedlar act, the Petty Debt act, the Police act, and, worst of all, the Vagrant act. . 1 confess that I am far from being fully acqnamted with the details of these several provisions; but I know enough of them to have formed the deliberate sentiment, that they require the rigorous scrutiny, and faithful check of the British government. The three former laws now alluded to, are calculated, as l believe, to interfere with those pursuits and profits of the labor· m· g peop1 e , which are independent of the cultivation .o.f the staple articles, but which are nevertheless legttt· mate, and highly desirable for their own benefi.t, and that of the community at large. If so, the pohcy on which they are founded is narrow indeed. The petty de b t act affords tremendous facilities to that o.p pres· sive system of penal and fictitious rents, whi~h IS now the very bane of Jamaica. A police armed with deadly weapons is always, to say the least of it, a dangerous expedient; and in country districts, where there IS confessedly scarcely any crime, it can be regarded only as a needless source of irritation and alarm. Too JAMAICA • 167 soon may it also . become an instrumen t o f oppress.w n and cruelty. Fmally, in a country. whe re th ere I.S scarcely to be found an instance of real vagabondism, but whe. re laborers are often colllllellecl t o ]c ave t 11 e·t r homes m search of new locations, oue cannot but be alarme.d at the ten.d ency· of a law which sulJ~. ec t s every po~r fellow who may be found sleeping under a hedge .o r Ill. an ont-hou.s c by the road-side , to a Jon g t errn o f' nnpnsonment, w1th hard labor in a penal gang. These t!ti11gs ought not so to be. At the hour appointed for the purpose, we were introduced to the Governor, Sir Charles T. Metcalfe with wbo~J we enjoyed the privilege of a long and fre; conversatiOn. He bears about him all the marks of long experienc. e, knows the world well , makes a gene-rous use of hts large pecuniary resources and b h' , , a '' , Y IS urbanuy of manners, and substantial kindness, readil engages t h e a Ife ct1. ons o f those who surround himy. We fear, however, that his well-intentioned efrorts to please all parties in Jamaica, will not in the end succeed. We cannot but believe that an individual f ~uc~ evident benevolence and integrity, will soon fin°d It hts place to make a decided stand against the various encroachments upon the rights and privileges of the 1.aborin~ population, which are but too evidently makmg a stlent and insidious progress. We were sorry to hear that several overseers had lately been appointed to the station of local magis~ rat~s; for since the questions which come before the JUsttces are almost uniformly between the laborers and overseers, it must surely be a dangerous expedient to constitute the ]· tt . · d · ~h . <1 er JU p;es In t e1r own cause. |