ment of the charity. The interest of the invested sum amounted to £1,400 pe annum, which the act directed to be laid out "in the keeping and maintaining of a free school or free schools for the reception, education, and maintenance e poor boys and girls," for "the repairs of buildings, &c., and for keeping up ar supporting of the several schools for day scholars." Thus empowered, t Trustees in 1856 established a boys' school for twelve pupils and a girls' schoo with an equal number. They also instituted eleven day schools, and distributed them over the parish. They provided, moreover, an almshouse at Black River In addition to this they elected "poor boys and girls," chiefly orphans, whos parents had been reduced to a state of indigence. All the intentions of th

testators were respected.

The complaint is now made that since 1862 the existing trustees have se riously departed from the express requirements of the trust. The income of the charity amounts to £1,700 per annum. Of this sum £200 are distributed i grants of £6 to £8 and £12 to persons reduced from comfortable circumstances to a state of indigence. At Potsdam there is a principal school maintainir. about sixteen boys on the foundation, also six boys whose parents contribut £20 for each boy. Private pupils are taken by the trustees, who require 2 annual fee of £35 for each boy of twelve years of age and under, and £40 fer each pupil over twelve years. The master receives a salary of £350, with the residence and a glebe of 103 acres; the matron receives £500, more or less, fot the maintenance of the boys, with a salary of £40 per annum. A second maste is appointed at a salary of £60. There is a girls' school at Torrington, is which, for the education and maintenance of six girls, the matron receives £250, and £40 is paid for the rent of the house. The clerk to the trustees is paid £80 per annum, and a medical attendant has a salary of £50 per annum.

From these respectable establishments, the children of Black people are excluded. For the class of children for whom the endowment was intended to provide, four or five meaner schools of a low order only, are supported out of the funds of the charity, in which the master and mistress receive salaries ranging from £12 to £25. Practically the advantages of education, which with a just appropriation of the original funds would have been enjoyed by thousands of poor black children, are confined to a small number provided for at an expense of about two hundred pounds. We submit that there is a prima facie case for full enquiry. The correspondence on the Monro and Dickenson's charity was continued for several weeks in the Jamaica papers. Specific allegations are made in it against the trustees for various irregularities. The Hon. John Salmon on the part of the trustees, though constrained to write in the journals on the subject, offers no defence. The only reply of the trustees is the following:-"September 22nd, 1863. A series of letters,' signed 'C. Plummer,' and published in the newspapers, having been brought to the notice of the Boards.

66

Resolved, that the said letters be referred to a committee to report to the

6

next quarterly meeting, and that this resolution be published in the Morning Journal' and 'Guardian' Newspapers. True Extract,' &c.

The editor of a Jamaica paper writes: "the above quotation from the newspapers, professing to be a 'true extract from the Minute Book' of the Dickenson's and Monro's charity, indicates one of those legionary abuses from which this country and so many of her families and vital interests have suffered for a century past." "His Excellency the Governor ought to be advised by his counsellors to appoint an impartial and disinterested commission."

The Hon. J. Salmon did not answer Mr. Plummer, but in the perilous times of martial law he sent officers to search his honse. A A scrap of paper that might afford the shadow of a pretext for taking his life would have been sufficient. Nothing could have saved him from the fate of Mr. Gordon. The officers held Mr. Plummer in charge whilst every corner of his dwelling was ransacked. We have before us the original letter of perfect clearance. The following is an exact copy of the document ::

"Sir,

"2 November, 1865.

"I return you the papers I took to look over. I am very glad that I have to report to the Governor that there appears no reason to believe that you are in any correspondence with any party, or may have been supposed from any information the Government may have received, evil disposed; or which leads me, so far as I can learn from the examination of your papers, to take any measures against you, or hold you answerable to the Government. "I am, Sir,

"Charles Plummer, Esq., Berlin."

"Your most obedient servant,

"JOHN SALMON.

Downing Street, April 10th, 1867.

Sir,

I am directed by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th ultimo, relative to education in Jamaica, and enclosing a memorandum relative to endowed schools in that Island, especially Munro and Dickenson's schools. His Grace desires me to state that he will forward a copy of your letter and memorandum to the Governor of Jamaica, whose attention was especially directed to the subject of education by the Earl of Carnarvon.

I am Sir,

Your obedient servant,
FREDERICK ROGERS.

The Secretary of the British and Foreign Freed-Men's Aid Society.

THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND ON MARTIAL LAW

The Jamaica prosecutions have culminated in a result that must give satis faction to every lover of his country and to every friend of his race. We may dismiss entirely the grotesque proceedings of the Shropshire magistrates in the case of Mr Eyre, however tempting for criticism, though the levity and igra rance of the bench should not lead us to overlook the able and luming exposition of the case, by Mr. Stephens, who conducted it with legal skill not the less valuable because combined with discretion and self-control, which leaves those who were sincerely concerned for the maintenance of right, nothin to regret. The time will come we believe, when the apparent excess of courtest in conducting the prosecution, will be seen to have been of the highest advantag as keeping the case perfectly free from the semblance of vindictiveness. No can say that there was in it, for a moment, the tumult of passion, or the alloy a party bitterness. The charge of the Lord Chief Justice of England, (S Alexander Cockburn) given to the grand jury at the Old Bailey sessions, the indictment of Colonel Nelson and Lieutenant Brand, April 10th, will inves this prosecution with an interest as lasting we believe as the Petition of Righ or any of the grand constitutional securities for the rights and liberties of th British subject. It gives us inexpressible pleasure to put on record a summa of the charge, especially for the relief and encouragment of the Freed-men i Jamaica. They will read it with attention, and preserve it with care. Lord Chief Justice, in his opening remarks, narrated with great exactness events of the outbreak in Jamaica, and the circumstances which led to this prosecution. "THE FIRST QUESTION," continued the learned judge, "is whether the Governor had authority to proclaim martial law, this court having been instituti upon the assumption of that authority; and if it should turn out that there was any such authority, the further question is whether these parties, having all pro ceeded upon the assumption that the Governor had authority to declare martial law. had authority by virtue of that proclamation, to try the deceased on the charge and sentence him to death.

In reference to the first question, the Lord Chief Justice said: " one thing is quite clear, that the power of the Governor to declare martial law must proceed from one of two sources, either from the commission he has received froz the Crown, or from some Act either of the Imperial, or Colonial, legislature The Governor, simply as such, would have no power to declare martial law From the time of our colonial possessions, a distinction has been taken and established by legal authority between two classes of colonies, which are called by technicalities, crown colonies, and settled colonies. The crown colony one which has been acquired by conquest. With regard to such colonies, the power of the crown and sovereign is absolute. Very different is the case of the settled colonies, which are colonies where land has been taken possession of in the name of the crown of England as being unoccupied, and as having been

afterwards colonized and settled upon by English or British subjects. In such a case the inhabitants of the colony have all the rights of Englishmen.

The learned judge demonstrated from the history of Jamaica, and from the course of its legislation that from the first, Jamaica was an English colony peopled by this country. In 1728 an act was passed declaring that the laws of England became the laws of Jamaica. This was the decision of Lord Mansfield in 1774." Therefore," said the Lord Chief Justice, "upon principle, upon legislation, and upon the authority and the considered opinion of the great man whose name I have mentioned, I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that Jamaica was a settled colony, and therefore the inhabitants of that island were entitled to all the rights and liberties of British subjects."

-"Has

The Lord Chief Justice proceeded to consider the SECOND QUESTION. the sovereign, by virtue of the prerogative of the crown, the power in case of rebellion, of establishing and causing to be exercised martial law?"

law.

In a most careful and elaborate historical review the learned judge examined every case of so-called martial law in England on record, and proved that none of these acts of arbitrary military power had the form or the force of law. It was solemnly asserted by the Petition of Right, the supplementary charter of English liberties, that an English subject was not to be subjected to martial "I can find," said the learned judge, "no such thing as martial law in this country for the putting down of rebellion. Never forget that whatever may be the charge of which a man is accused, although he may be a rebel, although he may be the worst of traitors ever brought to the block, yet until he is convicted, until his life is taken, he is still a subject, and is entitled when brought to justice, to all those safeguards which are the essence of justice, and which have been found by experience to be necessary to prevent rash and hasty judgments, which even men experienced in the administration of justice are at times too apt to pronounce, and to prevent sometimes that innocence which has the appearance of guilt from being treated as although the guilt were actually established; to prevent innocence from being confounded with guilt, and an innocent man from being destroyed, more especially in times of excitement and passion."

The learned judge then gave an exhaustive exposition of courts-martial in connection with military discipline, and referred to the power given to the Governor of Jamaica. "I suppose," he added, "there is no island or place in the world in which there has been so much insurrection or disorder as in Jamaica, and there is no place in which the curse which attaches to slavery, both as regards master and slave, has been so fully illustrated. Had not the rains of Heaven washed away the blood from the streets of Jamaica, it would have spoken out against the atrocities which have been committed there." In one case 1,000 negroes perished by execution. People were burnt alive, which was a very common form of putting an end to their lives.

The learned judge then passed on to the enquiry-whether George William Gordon, who was put to death under the sentence of this court-martial, was amenable

to its jurisdiction. Entering into the details of the case, he showed clearly that the Governor had no power to arrest. I cannot help thinking,” he said, “and I have a strong opinion on the point, that the whole proceeding of taking Mr. Gordon from where he was, putting him on board a war steamer, and conveying him to Morant Bay, was an unjustifiable proceeding, and to Mr. Gordon it made the difference of life and death." Nine-tenths of the evidence upon which he was convicted and sentenced to death (according to no rules of right and justice) would never have been received if a competent judge had presided. No jury, however influenced by prejudice or passion, could upon evidence so morally and intrinsically worthless, and upon evidence so utterly inconclusive, have condemned that man upon the charge of murder.

The Lord Chief Justice next considered the question, whether this jurisdiction be it well founded, was honestly and bona fide exercised, whether, as suggested by the prosecution, it was not corrupted. He commented severely on the evidence and on the entire mode of procedure. "It is impossible," he said, "to suppose that Mr. Gordon contemplated the outbreak which did take place. I have seen it written, and I confess I shuddered as I read it, that it was justifiable to send Mr. Gordon to a court-martial to be tried, because a court-martial might be justified in committing a man because he was mischievous. If that was the principle on which they proceeded in Mr. Gordon's case, I say it was one of the most lamentable instances of a miscarriage of justice with which history can furnish us." In closing the learned judge referred to the doubtful points as to the implication of the accused parties, and left the case to the judgment of the grand jury. The address, of which we have given only a brief outline, occupied six hours in the delivery.

On the following day the grand jury came into announced that they returned both bills "Not Found."

court, and Mr. Avery Just before the rising

of the court the grand jury attended before Baron Channel and made the following presentment: "The grand jury strongly recommend that martial law should be more clearly defined by legislative enactment."

The gain to the cause of right and truth by this judicial exposition of the case by Sir Alexander Cockburn is incalculable. The facts contained in the Blue Books of the Royal Commission have been mastered by few. Many have been misled by a reckless press. "Of late," said the Lord Chief Justice, "doctrines have been put forward which are to my mind of the wildest and most startling character-doctrines which if true would establish this: that British subjects not ordinarily subject to martial lak may be brought before tribunals armed with the most arbitrary and despotic powers-tribunals which are to create the law which they ought to administer, and are to decide upon the guilt or innocence of persons brought before them, with a total abandonment of all those rules and principles which are the essence of justice. These doctrines seem to me, I must say, as unfounded and as untenable as in my judgment they are mischievous-I will almost say detestable."