QUESTION. (Hansard, 21 March 1867)

§ MR. ADDERLEY

said, he could assure the hon. Member that the Government had strictly fulfilled all the pledges which they gave to the House in July last. A great deal had been done in anticipation of those pledges, if with an inadequate result, still to the utmost of the power of Her Majesty's Government, in following out the measures taken by their predecessors, during whose tenure of office those lamen- 276 table events occurred. The inadequacy of the result of their measures was, just as much as the insurrection itself; and the excessive severities which accompanied it, attributable to the state of society in Jamaica, and the mutual feelings of hatred engendered there between the black population and the whites. Yet, not only had Her Majesty's Government done all in its power under the three heads referred to by the hon. Gentleman, and tried to redress the deplorable evils which had actually happened, but they had issued regulations which were intended, if possible, to prevent their recurrence, and they were still more intent upon introducing measures for the amelioration of the state of society in Jamaica, to which these sad events were mainly to Le ascribed. With respect to the first part of the hon. Gentleman's question—namely, what steps had been taken by the Government to institute inquiries into any grave excesses of severity on the part of any officers, civil, naval, or military, after the suppression of the disturbances in Jamaica, in October, 1865—what had occurred on that point was as follows. But, first let him state that, in pursuance of the promise he had made, Papers would be presented by command in the course of a few days hence, giving the House every information on that subject. But with regard to what had been done—on the 30th of July, before these pledges were given, the Earl of Carnarvon issued instructions to Sir John Grant, the Governor of Jamaica, telling him that the Government deemed it a matter of primary importance that a thorough investigation should be made into any such cases as ought to be brought to trial, and requesting him to report immediately on what he had done, and also giving him general instructions that he was to take such measures as he might think best for restoring confidence to the inhabitants of the colony by the assurance that strict and impartial justice would be dealt out to all classes by Her Majesty's Government. On receiving, those instructions, Sir John Grant consulted his Attorney General, and they investigated all the evidence taken before the Royal Commissioners. The result was that Provost Marshal Ramsay was brought to trial for murder at the end of October, when the Bill against him was ignored. Then Woodrow was placed on his trial, being held to be the man most clearly guilty of very flagrant misconduct in the 277 flogging of women. He was tried at the same time, by the same court, and with the same result. There were four other cases in which depositions were taken for the purpose of indictment; but when these two bills against Ramsay and Woodrow were ignored, it was not deemed advisable on the part of both the Colonial and Home Governments to proceed further with those other cases then. The Earl of Carnarvon, however, wrote to Sir John Grant that if circumstances should afterwards arise showing that feelings in the colony had calmed down, and there was ally chance whatever of getting a fair trial, he was to resume those proceedings. A correspondence also took place between the Earl of Carnarvon and Sir John Grant as to whether those persons might not be brought home to be tried in England, and it was decided between them that it was not wise after the prosecution had been hanging over these men for more than a year, to keep up those deferred and protracted proceedings. It was thought that it would be against the spirit of British criminal jurisprudence to do so; and that, moreover—what was of even more importance—the keeping alive of agitation in flit island would probably be fatal to those important measures which Sir John Grout was carrying out for the social improvement and amelioration of the State of the colony. Those persons were therefore dismissed, and nothing further was done in their eases. So much for the civil officers, As to the naval officers, the right hon. Member for Oxford (Mr. Cardwell) referred to the Admiralty as early as the 18th of June the Report of the Royal Commissioners, and the Admiralty replied on the 5th of July that in their opinion the conduct of the naval officers at Jamaica was in every way approved as far as their service afloat was concerned, but that their service ashore on courts martial was deserving of disapprobation; but, at the same time, considering that in every ease they were young and inexperienced officers, and brought suddenly to the discharge of a most difficult duty, and that in the majority of cases the proceedings of the courts martial on which they served were confirmed by their superior officers, it was not considered necessary by the Admiralty to proceed against them. The Admiralty, therefore, sent a despatch to Vice Admiral Sir James Hope, who was in command of the fleet at Jamaica, approving generally the conduct of the officers afloat, but reflecting severely on the conduct of those 278 on shore, and also issuing instructions to guide naval officers in all similar cases which might occur again. With regard next to the military officers, in answer to a letter from the right hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Card well), dated May 31, the Secretary of State for War (the Marquess or Hartington), on June 10, informed the Colonial Office that the Commander-in-Chief had sent instructions to General O'Connor directing him to institute immediate inquiry into the two cases of Ensign Cullen and Surgeon Morris. On July 24 the Earl of Carnarvon asked the War Office to state the result, and suggested that these men should be tried by court martial and that officers should be sent out from England to constitute those courts martial, in order to secure perfect fairness and impartiality. General O'Connor approved that suggestion, and officers were sent out by the War Office, with the Deputy Judge Advocate to assist them, and the result was that the two men were tried and both of them acquitted. With regard to the second portion of the hon. Gentleman's question which related to granting compensation for property "wantonly destroyed" during the insurrection, the hon. Gentleman seemed to have misquoted what he (Mr. Adderley) said last year. What he said was not that the Government would take the matter into consideration as to whether compensation should be paid, but that the question was one that should be left to the Government of the colony. It was at first suggested that compensation should be paid out of the Imperial treasury; but that Her Majesty's Government at once declined to do, and the matter was left, as he said it should be, in the hands of the Government of the colony. As to the general question of compensation, all he could inform the House was that no application from either side had yet been made for it. In answer to the last question, he had to state that his noble Friend the Earl of Carnarvon had instructed the Governor, Sir John Grant, to consult the Judge who presided at the trials, to have the notes of trials referred to, and to ascertain whether there were any grounds on which any remission of the sentences passed should take place. The result was that it appeared there were cases tried by Special Commission. Three prisoners had been discharged; two of them who had been found guilty had been executed, and the others had been sentenced to Penal servitude and imprisonment for 279 various periods. The sentence upon one of those prisoners, who was convicted of a minor offence; had been remitted to the extent of one-half his term, and that upon Bogle, who had been sentenced to penal servitude for life, had been remitted to ten years' penal servitude. In the other cases there were no grounds for interference.