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Show 128 JAMAICA. We next stepped into the House of Assembly, and listened, for some time, to rather a lively debate, which, though relating to a subject of little comparative interest, would not have done discredit, either to Westminster or Waslu!1gton. One of the wost animated speakers, was a colored member. 'l'herc are several such in the Assembly ; and some of them are staunch supporters of the measures of the home government. Happy would it have been for Jamaica, had this been more generally the ·case, with the members of this colonial legislature; for if there is any one circumstance more than another, which endangers the peace and prosperity of the colony, it is,_ as we believe, the passing of local laws, opposed to the true mtent and purpose of the act of emancipation. That several such provisions have been enacted, within the last few months, is undeniable; so that a period of apparent smooth tranquillity, in the house, may possibly prove to have been the seed-time of much future mischief and confusion. I would jnst specify (as a mcmomndum) the Poundage act, the Fishery net, the Huckster and Pedlar act, the Petty Debt act, the Police act, and, worst of all, the Vagrant act. I confess that I am far from being fully acquainted with the details of these several provisions; but I know enough of them, to have formed the deliberate sentiment, that they reqnirc the rigorous scrutiny, and faithful check, of the· British government. The three former laws, now alluded to, are calculated, ns l believe, to interfere with those pursuits and prolits of the laboring people, which are independeut of the cultivation of the staple articles, but which are nevertheless legitimate and highly desirable, for their own benefit, and that of the commuuity at large. If so, the p<:>licy on which they are founded, is narrow indeed. The petty debt act, affords tremendous facilities to that oppressive system of penal and fictitious rents, which 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 JAMAICA. 129 alarm. Too soon may it also become an instrument of oppression and cruelty. Finally, in a country where there is scarcely to be found an instance of real vagabondism, but where laborers are often compelled to leave their homes, in search of new locations, one cannot but be alarmed at the tendency of a law, which subjects every poor fellow who may be found sleeping w1der a hedge, or in an out house, by the road side, to a long term of imprisonment, with hard labor in a penal gang ! 7'ltese things ought not so to be. At the hour appointed for the purpose, we were introduced to the Governor, Sir Charles Metcalfe, with whom we enjoyed the privilege of a long and free conversation. lie bears about him all the marks of long experience, knows the world well, makes a generous use of his large pecuniary resources, and by his urbanity of manners, and substantial kindness, readily engages the affections of those who surround him. We feur, however, that his well-intentioned efforts to please all parties in Jamaica, will not, in the end, succeed. 'vVc cannot but believe, that an individual of such evident benevolence and integrity, will soon find it his place to make a decided stand, against the variotls encroachments upon the rights and privileges of the laboring population, which are but too evidently malting a silent and insidious progress. We were sorry to hear that several ovc1·scers had lately been appointed to the station of local magistrates ; for since the questions which come before the justices, are almost uniformly between the laborers and overseers, it must surely be a dangerous expedient to constitute the latter, judges in their own cause. Between the two evils of no magistrates at all, and magistrates thus circumstanceu, the latter appears to us to be the greatest. The same remark applies, in a considerable degree, to the higher grade of "attorneys," and we apprehend that no~hing would more serve the purpose of good order and tranquillity, in the colony of Jamaica, than the settlement of a magistracy, wholly independent of all parties in the island, and paid by the |