charge to be delivered in
writing. This act was brought into the colonial legislature of Jamaica;
but it was accompanied by a proviso that no objection should ever be
made on a point of form. Men were prone to confound substance and form
to be permitted this latitude. An instance of this was supplied in the
present case. The prisoners were accused of being guilty of a rebellious
conspiracy, and other charges; thus the prosecutor could adduce whatever
evidence he chose under a charge so very broad. Here was a conspiracy
charged; but with whom? No individuals were mentioned. Any overt act
specified? Time? No time certified. Place? No circumstance or place.
When the Slave Evidence Bill was introduced into the colonial assembly
of Jamaica, it was rejected on the ground that the slave was too low in
the scale of moral beings; that he had no character, no distinct notion
of morality, no notion of religion, or of the distinction between truth
and falsehood. But when the slave was to be tried, other slaves were
admitted as witnesses; and that, too, on their bare word, and an
exhortation from the judge not to speak falsely. It was a known rule
in this country--and the common law of England was in force in the West
Indies--that hearsay evidence should not be received; yet the whole
course of these proceedings showed manifold departures from this
important rule: while it was an acknowledged law in regard to the
whites, it had no application in regard to the blacks. But while the law
was acknowledged to be bad, it was argued, that it was another thing to
pass a vote of censure for the observance of it, however defective it
might be. The house ought, it was said, to separate the defects-of the
law from the alleged delinquency of the parties, and reject a motion
which went, not to denounce the system of slavery or to censure the
law, but to condemn individuals who had no power to alter the one, or
to abolish the other. On a division the amendment was carried by one
hundred and three against sixty-three. During this session, however,
delay and remedial measures were suggested by Lord Liverpool in the
upper house, and by Mr. Canning in the commons, for the extinction of
slavery. Mr. Canning declared that if immediate and hasty steps were
not taken, our West Indian possessions would be abandoned to a state
of savage desolation, of which wild speculators had not the slightest
notion. At the same time he was obliged to confess that in most