Page:On the motion of Sir George Strickland; for the abolition of the negro apprenticeship.djvu/33

25 is the population, and the country destitute of inns, the man who refused hospitality would be regarded in the common opinion as a monster; it is given as a matter of course, and almost a right, and not as a matter of personal favour. If, however, I grant, that from this cause there may be an influence—is there none to countervail it? These magistrates are a body of English gentlemen; many of them from those services which are marked by the highest sense of honour; without West Indian interests or prejudices: but this is not all; they are judicial officers, and yet they are not, as judicial officers should ordinarily be, exempted from the control of the executive government, but they are absolutely dependent for their subsistence on the respective governors, and dismissible at their pleasure, while the governors, I need not say, represent the administration at home, so that if there were matter of charge against them it would redound upon the imperial authorities: but there is no evidence of the kind. There have, however, been two actions against them, with unfavourable verdicts given by Jamaica juries. And here I may say, I am not favourable to the interposition of West Indian juries, as at present constituted, between the planter and the apprentice: and my honourable friend, the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, can correct me if I am wrong in stating that he knows this is with me no new opinion. But let us take them as they are. Two verdicts were found against special magistrates: yet it is fair