LORD BROUGHAMwished to put a question to the noble Earl the Under Secretary for the Colonies (the Earl of Carnarvon) with respect to some legislation which he understood had been going on in the West Indies in a retrograde direction, and which, if persevered in, was calculated to reduce the free negro population of those islands to somewhat of the same condition they were in before emancipation— or very near it. He had his information from a respectable clergyman in one of the colonies of the West Indies, whom he should take especial care not to name, having learnt the necessity of caution in this matter from what had formerly happened in the celebrated case of the missionary Smith, who was persecuted to death in that part of the world. The clergyman to whom he referred stated that an act had been passed in Jamaica which he hoped and trusted had not received 446 the sanction of the Government of this country, because, although, for anything he knew to the contrary, there might be unobjectionable and even good provisions in it, he was informed that some of its provisions were of a most reprehensible character. The rev. Gentleman stated, amongst other things, that the emigrants, as they were called, whether Coolies, Chinese, or African negroes, when brought to the island, were not allowed to choose their masters, but were apportioned or allotted by a public officer called the Emigration Commissioner; that they were kept under the strictest superintendence; that they were compelled to work every day in the year for nine or ton hours, with the exception of Sundays and three holidays; that they were not allowed to absent themselves from their master's grounds, and that if they should go from those grounds they were liable to be seized without a warrant; that if found five miles distant from the plantation, or out of the parish at any distance, they may be arrested or committed (without a warrant), and be sentenced to imprisonment for so many days with or without hard labour, and that whoever employs them should be liable to a severe penalty. He hoped and trusted the Act either had not passed at all, or if it had passed, that it had not received the sanction of the Government at home, at least as regarded those most objectionable parts of it. The rev. Gentleman had characterized the state of the negroes thus produced as an approach to Russian serfdom; but it gave him (Lord Brougham) inexpressible satisfaction to be able to state that at that very moment Russia was making great progress in the right direction towards the emancipation of the serfs, and that Russian serfdom was no longer what it was a few years ago. To the honour of the Emperor of Russia and his counsellors, serfdom in Russia would be brought to a very speedy termination, and it would ill become such countries as Prance and England to be making a retrograde movement in their colonies, when Russia was so laudably advancing. He wished to ask the noble Earl whether this Act, if it had been really passed in the colony, had yet received the approval of Her Majesty's Government? He earnestly trusted that the answer would be in the negative. He would also ask him whether he had any objection to lay a copy of the Act on their Lordships table?
THE EARL OF CARNARVONsaid, it was true that within the last few days an Act had been received from Jamaica, and 447 was at present under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government. As it had not received the Royal assent, however, it would he better to refrain from expressing any opinion upon its substance or general bearing. The interests of the West India colonies had suffered greatly from the deficiency in the labour market; but while we were anxious to give full relief to them, as far as it could be legitimately and reasonably given, it was also the duty of the Government to guard most jealously and watch more closely every Bill which had for its object the importation of free labourers into those islands. It was not usual to lay on the table of the House the Bills of Colonial Legislatures until they had received the Royal assent, but he would not object to do so in this instance, if his noble and learned Friend made a Motion to that effect.