§ Sir J. Mackintoshrose to present a Petition from the body of the emancipated colonists of New South Wales, complaining of certain disabilities to which they had been subjected by the courts of law in that territory, and from which, they had hoped to be relieved by the bill before the House, for 1457 the better regulation of the colony. The petition, he stated, had been sent over some time ago, with another to be presented in another place, but had not been heretofore presented, because the agents for the colony, who were in constant communication with Government, expected, and had strong grounds for expecting, that ministers would have supported a measure in the House, which would be in itself a gracious answer to the prayer of the petition; and would prevent the necessity of further application. That not having been done, he was under the necessity of making one more appeal, not to the liberality, not to the equity, not to the humanity of the House, but to its bare and strict justice, in behalf of a body of men who had been unjustly deprived of their rights, who were afterwards taught to believe that those rights would have been restored, but who were to the last hour most cruelly and miserably disappointed. The petition stated that the emancipated colonists were in number 7,556, having 5,859 children. It also stated, that they were the persons by whose labour and industry the colony had been cleared and cultivated, and raised to its present state of prosperity. The petitioners set forth, that they possessed 29,000 acres of cultivated land, 212,000 in pasture, 1,200 houses in towns, 42,988 head of cattle, 174,000 sheep, 2,415 horses, 15 colonial vessels of different burthens, 150,000l. employed in trade and agriculture, making in all a capital about a million sterling. They stated, likewise, that in consequence of instructions issued by his Majesty, in pursuance of an act of parliament, they had been manumitted, and allowed the rights of freemen, until by a determination of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, they were, in consequence of lâches, for which they were not answerable, deprived of the privileges to which they had been admitted. The omissions were chargeable on the public departments of the state, in not inserting or registering the pardons in the manner specified by the act, and in not issuing a general pardon, as ought to have been done, whereby one condition of the act of parliament was not performed, and the petitioners were, in consequence, decided to be in the situation of attainted felons. They could hot sue or be sued in a court of justice; they could not give evidence or enjoy any other of the legal rights 1458 which belonged to freemen in civil society. They, therefore, prayed the House to take into consideration the decision pronounced upon their case by the court of Civil Judicature in the colony, and to afford such relief as to them might seem meet. The hon. and learned member observed, that he considered this as not only a strong, but an irresistible appeal to the justice of the House, and he still entertained hopes that the House would not allow the clauses in the bill to be omitted, which were intended to afford immediate relief to the petitioners, and which had been inserted by ministers themselves. He objected to the delay of the consideration of the bill to next Session, and he still more strongly objected to the pretext for that delay: which was, the necessity of an investigation into the propriety of the pardons.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.