BRITISH GUIANA.-New Ordinances.--The court of policy has been sitting, and had passed the two bills, which has been for some weeks before it, one for enlarging the jurisdiction of the Inferior Criminal, the other of the Inferior Civil Courts. The first-named tribunals consists of a sheriff and three justices of the peace. The sheriff sits as president. The courts are holden once in each month, and in each county there being a sheriff, who is an officer on the civil list, for each of the three. Hitherto the jurisdiction of these courts has extended only to the power of fining to the amount of £20 sterling, or 100 dollars currency, and of imprisoning for three months. The most remarkable feature of the new ordinance is, that the power of imprisonment is to be increased to six months. The inferior civil courts are holden in the counties of Demerara and Berbice

dentially dining with Mr.Allt at that instant. Mr. Ketley was speedily conveyed to Mr. Allt's residence, where Dr. Collins, with Dr. Edmund, who had by this time arrived from plantation John & Cove, examined the extent of the injuries, and found the left leg was broken in several pieces just above the ankle; and otherwise internally lacerated. It was set, Mr. K., as may be supposed, suffering great agony. Considering the amount of danger, the patient is doing well. The horse was uninjured, and the lad escaped with a few slight bruises."

TRINIDAD:-COOLIES;-The Duchess of Argyle, after a passage of 97 days, reached Port of Spain in safety on the 11th of February, bringing with her 267 men and women and 23 children. Other vessels, the Duke of Bedford and the Medusa were to follow.

be recovered in these courts. Now, debts to the amount of £50 are recoverable. The ordinance relative to these latter tribunals will abridge considerably the profits of the lawyers and of the officers of the law; but these results are more than counterbalanced by the great relief that will be afforded to the litigant of suing in a cheap, instead of an expensive court. Some objections have been made to both these measures; but on the whole, they seem to be very popular with the community. A clause to each of them suspends their operation till four months from the date of their publication, that is, until about the middle of June.-R. Gazette, Feb. 18th.

COOLIES.-We find the following in the Times :-The Manchester, a very handsome ship, 102 days from Calcutta, arrived to-day in the river with 279 immigrants on board. There are 216 men, 40 women, 16 boys and girls, and 7 infants. Five immigrants and the surgeon died on board. The surgeon's death occurred about 10 days after sailing, but his place was supplied at the Cape. There are two cabin passengers, a commissariat officer and his lady.-Feb. 6th.

The Manchester brought accounts of a large number of people from captured slaves (over 1800) having been taken into St. Helena; and that a request had been forwarded to Sierra Leone for tonnage to convey them to the West Indies.

On the 16th of Feb., the Thetis arrived with 258 Coolies from Calcutta. The Tamerlane was shortly expected. At first, these people are unsettled and wandering, quick at resenting fancied insult, and prone to change employ after employ. Then they settle down a little and stay more in one place. On the whole, they seem likely to turn out a not very profitable bargain, as compared with the Madeirans or even the Africans, who cost the colony so much less, and are so much more useful.-Emery's Journal, Feb. 18th.

THE STRIPES ORDINANCE:-The popular dissatisfaction with the attempt to give planter magistrates, sitting as an inferior Criminal Court, the power of whipping to the amount of 39 stripes, with imprisonment or fine, continues to increase. Another meeting of freeholders to petition the Queen not to approve of it, was held at Victoria, on Friday last.Record, Jan. 21st.

DOMINICA. The imports during the year 1845, amounted to £641,015. The produce shipped during the year, was 3189 hhds, 738 tierces, and 2623 barrels of sugar; molasses, 1055 puns.: 13 hhds. and 7 qr. casks; coffee, 75,427 lbs. ; cocoa, 17,906 lbs.

MADEIRANS :-The Barque Standard, of Liverpool, consigned to MESSRS. BOOKER, BROTHERS, and Co., arrived in the river this morning from Madeira with 187 Portuguese immigrants. We have heard, that this vessel has been privately chartered; and that of the immigrants brought, 50 are intended for plantation Sparta, and a like number for Windsor Castle, on the Arabian coast. We have not been informed what is the destination of the remaining 87: whether they have been brought out for estates, or have come to the colony on their private account. Two other vessels from Madeira are expected to follow the Standard immediately with immigrants.-R. Gazette, Feb. 12th.

ACCIDENT TO REV. Jos. KETLEY :-We record with deep regret the accident which has befallen our esteemed friend Mr. Ketley, and trust he may soon be restored to his wonted health and activity. The particulars of the accident are thus given in the Congregational Record of the 21st. of January last:-"We are sorry to record a providential occurrence of a serious nature, and which had well nigh proved fatal, to the Rev. Joseph Ketley. While on his way to the new station of the Congregational Dissenters at Greenfield, on the East Coast, near to Mahaica, on Thursday evening last, meeting with some obstruction at the bridge east of Victoria, occasioning a sudden jerk of the gig, the lad driving was thrown from his seat into the road. Having the reins still in his hand, the horse was suddenly drawn across the road. Seeing from the violence of the

ST. VINCENT:-The labourers imported into this island from Madeira, to improve (among other advantages) the character of the native peasantry, have commenced the work of improvement, it seems, at the wrong end. The Observer says :---

"A Correspondent has brought to our notice a practice of the recently imported Maderese which cannot be too promptly checked. Numbers we are told may be seen traversing the streets on Saturday and Sunday begging. This vagrancy is a novel feature with us, and will very soon extend its baneful influence to the more idle and ill-disposed of our own people. Nor will this be the extent of the evil-for it will soon produce serious results to the people themselves, and render their service less efficient than was hoped. We have observed one or two parties in town, but we had no conception that the practice was so general, or carried on by so many as our correspondent represents it to be. One or two instances of punishment under the vagrant act, and a firm determination of the public not to give anything, would soon put a stop to it. We thank our correspondent for his letter, which we would publish, did we not think that he viewed the matter perhaps too gravely, and that he has mistaken the cure."

The weather here continue fine but dry, and rain was desired for the young canes. "The prospect of the crop,” the Observer says, “is generally represented as most favourable, and that about the same quantity of sugar is made as was at the same period last year-the crop for 1847 is represented to be much more forward, and the cultivation much greater in extent."

BAHAMAS :-We copy from the Bahama papers the following official statement of the census of that colony, which shows the extent of the population of that colony ;

Foreign Intelligence.

UNITED STATES.-Virginia.-The Convention question was finally disposed of, in the Virginia House of Delegates, on the 9th instant. The proposition that the Convention should be organized on the white basis of representation, was negatived, yeas 54, nays 77. The bill was then indefinitely postponed, by a vote of 85 to 46. This is the beginning of the battle. And the progress of the fight tells well for future victory. Every thing for the last three years has tended to strengthen the slave power; it has had pretty much its own way; and we were surprised to find in Virginia so close a vote for a convention upon the white basis.

Fifty-four yeas! and the members voting them representing the only growing parts of the state! What more could be asked? From this time forward the slave power will decrease in strength; it is diminishing that strength by its fanaticism and ultra conduct; and this, added to natural causes, and a deepening moral and religious sentiment, will wring from it its usurped mastery of authority, and confer upon it the majority of votes to whom it rightfully belongs. When placed there, slavery falls. The refusal on the part of the majority in Virginia to grant a convention on the white basis, will swell the ranks of freedom in that state, and enable them, ere many years pass, to carry the day. The Old Dominion is ripening fast for the conflict, and, when ready, she will strike a blow that will make slavery reel to its very centre.-True American, Feb. 18. MISSOURI. Free basis.-Missouri comes up bravely. She is not to be controlled by the prejudice or power of the South. If slavery prevails there, slave-holders have a sense of justice strong enough to do what is right as regards the true basis of representation. The convention of that State has resolved to change the Constitution, so as to apportion the Representatives in the Legislature upon the number of free white persons! This is a step forward. It looks like doing justice to the whites at least, and promising it, hereafter, to the blacks. Said a wise Southern states"the best entering wedge for emancipation hereafter would be the establishment of the free basis."

man,

"Nov. 6. 1845-6m.

"WILLIAM Gambrel."

-

masters."

KENTUCKY. THE GAG LAW.-The law proposed in the Kentucky Legislature, and which was designed to reach Mr. Clay's True American, has been deprived of its most objectionable feature, as we learn by the following letter from Frankfort, to the Louisville Journal:

"I have learned that in the committee of the whole in the Senate they have struck out the objectionable section of the bill in relation to slaves; and that an amendment, offered by Mr. Helm, has been, or will be agreed 'That if any person shall hereafter wilfully and mato, to this effect: liciously excite, or shall wilfully and maliciously attempt to excite, any slave within this commonwealth to insurrection or rebellion against the laws of this state, or against the lawful authority of his owner, by the publication of any newspaper, handbill, circular, or by other means, he It appears to me that this amendshall be liable to a certain fine,' &c. ment makes the Bill altogether unobjectionable. It does not seem to trammel the liberty of the press, and it furnishes legal remedy for an offence, which would otherwise be without any other remedy but the illegal action of the people."

MARYLAND. MEETING OF SLAVEHOLDERS.-A meeting of slaveholders was held at Centreville, (Md) on Tuesday last, for the purpose of taking some action in reference to the frequent loss of their slaves by absconding, and of adopting such measures as might be deemed advisable for the better security of such property in future. A series of resolutions were adopted in reference to the escape of some runaway slaves who were arrested in Delaware, through the assistance of abolitionists.-Baltimore Sun.

CUBA. The Herald has the following letter by the brig Joseph, arrived Tuesday, in 13 days from Matanzas :

Matanzas, Jan. 18, 1846. We profit by this opportunity of the sailing from this port, of the American brig Joseph, to inform you about the critical state of the country at the present time. The despotism and atrocious depredations of the Spanish Government, have arrived at the highest degree of iniquity. The enlistment for a militia, the suppression of a great number of advocates, the extinction of the University of this Island, the introduction of new and enormous taxes, have excited, at last, the public indignation and the opinion of the natives is almost pronounced.

The news about the proposed purchase of this Island by the Government of the United States, has reached us with incredible pleasure, and has been echoed with shouts of joy and enthusiasm in every quarter, and by every Creole heart. An agent of the Government of the Union, with the help of our brethren, the Anglo-Americans, might be enough to attain the object of the purchase, without millions being necessary to it. The natives are disposed to the co-operation, by all means, on that purpose, and we are the organ of the opinion of the greatest number of them.

PORTUGAL.-The most important subject introduced among the Peers since last packet, was a project of law presented by the Duke of Palmella, Conde Lavradio, and Conde Sa de Bandeira, for the suppression of slavery in the Portuguese colonies. The first article declares all children born of slaves to be free from the passing of the present law. The 3rd art. declares that all slaves belonging to the state are immediately free. The 5th, that the slaves of private individuals will be free in three years from the passing of the law, the owners to receive indemnity either in money or bills, gradually admissible in the colonial custom-houses. This project of law has not yet been discussed. Morning Chronicle.

On the subject of the slave-trade, the Minister for Foreign Affairs declares that the conduct of the Governors of Angola, Mozambique, and Quilimane, as well as of the commanders of Her Faithful Majesty's ships cruising on the coast of Africa, has been satisfactory in zealously repressing the slave-trade, and that attestations to that effect have been transmitted spontaneously by the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, "in consequence of which noble conduct of the said officers," he adds, "the Portuguese flag is no longer abused by being made a cover for such odious speculations." In reply to a note addressed to Lord Aberdeen, in reference to the late convention signed between England and France for a suppression of the slave-trade, the Portuguese Government had received the strongest assurances that the integrity and security of the Portuguese dominions in Africa would meet with due respect, and that lawful commerce would be protected.-Times.

AUSTRIAN POLAND AND GALLICIA.-In Gallicia, things have taken a most melancholy turn. During the 50 years that Gallicia has belonged to the Austrians, they have done all in their power to persuade the people that it had always formed a part of Austria-that Poland had obtained possession of it for some years, and that those years had been very unhappy for the country-that the Poles were their enemies, and always treated them as a conquered people, and that since Austria had re-possessed herself of Gallicia, the inhabitants were far more happy, and ought to bless their adorable Sovereign and his Government. On the other hand, during the last ten years, communist emissaries from France have been working on this poor people, promising them a revolution in which they should first get rid of the nobles, and then share their lands and riches among themselves. These two influences, though emanating from different principles, tended to the same result-that of setting the peasants against the proprietors. When the revolution of Cracow broke out, the Government in Gallicia took the alarm, and formed guards of safety, composed of the peasants, to whom arms were given, and on the first indication of revolt (some horses being taken by force from a post-master) a reward of ten florins, good money (equivalent to £1. sterling), was promised for every insurgent, living or dead, who should be given up to the Austrian authorities. The spies and agents of the Austrian Government then played their part, intoxicating the peasants, in order to produce in them the proper degree of excitement, and thus inducing them to massacre some individuals who attempted to defend themselves. The promised reward for these bodies having been paid, and the pillage of their houses tolerated, the peasants attacked all they met, in the streets, on the public roads, and even in the houses, and a horrible massacre took place. Not more than three or four proprietors in the whole circle of Turnon have escaped death. The troops of the republic of Cracow had repaired to Gallicia, intending to join the revolution which was to have begun simultaneously with that of Cracow; but they were met by Austrian regiments far more numerous than themselves, and receiving no aid from the inhabitants, who had been already massacred, they were defeated and mostly cut to pieces by the excited peasants, the Austrian authorites continuing to pay for every dead body brought in, and the Austrian troops looking on, without endeavouring to prevent any of these horrors. In Galicia, the peasants will scarcely have completed their massacres, when they will in their turn be punished by death for what they are now paid to do. We are most unfortunate ! Our Governments say openly, "We thought we had crushed you long ago, but since you still live, we will soon find means to exterminate you!" -Times, March 30.

HAYTI. We copy the following from the New Orleans Delta. It would seem that the Jamaicans understood the Americans to be conspiring to obtain possession of at least a part of Hayti. Taken in connection with certain views on this subject, lately presented by us, the item below is worthy of remark :

"From Jamaica..-We have received, per the schr. Hope, from King. ston, the Jamaica Times, of the 22nd ult. We find in it the following paragraph :--' A report has reached us, that the view of the Americans, of taking possession of this island, under the pretext of annexation, through negociation with the Dominicans, has been thwarted by the acknowledgment by these people of the supremacy of Old Spain, and the surrender of their independence, and of the city of St. Domingo, to the Spanish squadron, which, as we noticed some time since, was lately sent thither. We are quite unable, however, to vouch for the authenticity or truth of this report.'

board. This seizure is believed to have been altogether illegal, but you will hear enough of it when the captain and crew arrive in England, where they have been sent to take their trial. A large steam-vessel sailed a short time ago from Congo, with the enormous number of 1,700 slaves on board. She was fitted out as a slaver in the Brazils, and of course escaped, by reason of her speed, Her Majesty's cruizers. The slave trade is, however, fast declining.”—Globe.

The Flying Fish, 12, Commander Harris, was lying at Whydale, all well, on the 13th of January. She had taken one prize—a brigantine, which she had sent to St. Helena for adjudication. A private letter says, "A few days previously a long low schooner was seen off the bar, but she by some means got intimation of our proximity, and stood out to sea. Our boats are now away looking after her."

The Prometheus steam-sloop, Commander Hay, arrived at Ascension on the 3d ult. from the Bight of Benin, with a prize brigantine, which she had captured a few days before, making the 13th prize to this fortunate vessel since she has been on the coast, not quite two years.

THE SUGAR CROP.-The N. O. Tropic, of Feb. 4th, says :-"The Bee of yesterday ventures upon an estimate of the sugar crop of Louisiana for the present year. One of the editors has just returned from a visit to several plantations, and he gives a gloomy account of the prospects. As far as he could learn, not more than half the crop had been cut before the cold weather set in. The planters set all their forces to work to cut and winnow the remainder, which was completely frozen. Should the weather, as it now threatens, become warm and rainy, the loss will be great. A gentleman (says the Bee) who has visited almost every plantation in the sugar district, gives it as his opinion that this year's crop, in fifteen parishes, will fall short about 36,000 hogsheads. In 1844, it was 190,000."

CONGRESS. THE GAG.-By a letter from Washington, United States, we learn that an attempt to restore what is called the Gag-a regulation, the design of which was to prevent any discussion of the question of slavery, has been defeated in the House of Representatives by a vote of 121 to 84; a larger majority than has ever been obtained before.

LOUISIANA.-The New Orleans Bee says, the grand jury have ignored the bill in the case of Joseph Lonapre, for manslaughter. in whipping his slave Moustache, whereby he died on the 26th uf November last. Where is the man, possessed in any degree of the better feelings of human nature, who does not feel sick at heart when he remembers the grievous, unutterable wrongs which the poor have (though he may be whiter than his oppressor) must bear, without redress, in this free land, where there is so much pretention to love of human rights, law, justice, equality, and liberty?

ALABAMA.-William Morris, an abolitionist, has been sentenced to the Alabama penitentiary for thirty years, for enticing slaves away to a free state. Particulars not given.

Miscellanea.

THE SLAVE TRADE.-The following is an extract from a letter received from an officer, dated Saint Paul de Loanda, January 23.-"The mixed commission is held here, and several vessels have been condemned, among which is an English brig, on the ground that she had too much water on

Reasons

for withdrawing Our Trading Connection with the American Slave-holder ........ The West Indies ................................ American Slavery Marriage among Slaves Slavery in the French Colonies Bible Argument against Slavery— No. 8........

"The undersigned has been directed to state to the government of Spain, that it is with real sorrow that Her Majesty's government, looking at all these facts, find themselves compelled to confess that it would be culpable on their part were they to continue to act as if any just reliance could be placed upon Spain executing her engagements.

"In 1841, the draft of a convention was transmitted to Madrid, by which it was proposed to institute, by the aid of British functionaries, on examination into the titles by which the slave population of Cuba is held. Encouraged, however, by the appearance of good faith on the part of the government of Cuba, as it was then administered, Her Majesty's government admitted the weight of certain objections raised against that proposal by the government of Madrid, and forbore to press the said convention. The state of things, however, which at present exists, puts an end to all the hopes that, for the brief and honourable period of the late governor-general's administration of Cuba, were entertained. Great Britain then must now trust to her own resources, and to those alone, for the suppression of the slave trade carried on by vessels under the Spanish flag. She is prepared to do so; but she is also entitled, by a solemn engagement of the Spanish Crown, to require that those who equip and navigate these vessels, as well as the receivers of their cargoes, shall be criminals by the law of Spain, and that they shall be punished accordingly. More than eight years have passed since this engagement was entered into, and it is still unredeemed."

Mr. Bulwer concludes his communication by demanding of the Spanish government "the promulgation of a penal law against all the slave-traders, subjects of her catholic majesty ;" and that "orders may be sent fothwith to General O'Donnell to carry out the measures necessary for the suppression of the slave-trade," to satisfy the just demands of Great Britain."-Slave-Trade Papers, pp. 3-6.

"The most cruel tortures were inflicted upon them to induce in them a confession of the origin and cause of the conspiracy. At the very stake they have declared, that it was not of any one particular feature of their treatment in Cuba, or of any one particular individual that they complained; and that it was not cruelty or ill-usage which drove them to rebellion, but the loss of that liberty of which they have been unjustly deprived, and for the recovery of which they declared themselves ready to brave any amount of suffering, and without which they would not willingly live; and in many cases even where insurgent negroes have not fallen into the hands of the authorities, they have made good this assertion by putting an end to themselves.

"In other instances they have been tortured, to induce them to confess their associates. In their agony,' says the consul, 'they have promised to tell all; and when that all has been told, it has turned out, not that disclosures have been made as to particular parties engaged in the plot, but that all the black and coloured people are of the same opinion, considering themselves to be as free as the whites. 'The lash' continues the consul, has been resumed, and continued until death has released the victims from their sufferings.' Negroes,' he says in his latest despatch, are cut to pieces and butchered wholesale in every direction.' "The insurrections, however, are not put down. Every day,' observes Mr. Crawford, 'the state of the island becomes more and more alarming.' The negroes are in a disturbed and very dissa

neighbourhood of Matanzas, Santa Clara, and all up to Cardenas. The proprietors find that with the severity of treatment and restraint consequent on the recent disaffection, there is great disposition to revolt, and upon some estates the negroes refuse to work altogether.'

"According to a private letter from a respectable planter, all is suspicion, distrust, and apprehension, throughout the island.

"It was not an unnatural consequence of this state of things that the most respectable and wealthiest proprietors in the island should have joined in addressing a memorial to the governor, in which they urged him to put in execution the treaty of Spain with Great Britain, reminding him how constantly and how notoriously it had been broken; and to take every possible means to prevent the success of the rising rebellion of the slaves; but concluded by saying that all measures would be in vain, unless he put an end to further importations.

"The captain-general, in one instance, refused to receive the memorial, and warned those who presented it that their conduct in so doing would be marked. Instead of stifling the expression of opinion by this course, the feelings of dissatisfaction and apprehension which produced that memorial were only strengthened; another was drawn up and presented to him, which he tore to pieces

before the memorialists.

"In a third instance he is said to have committed himself even further, and to have written to the parties transmitting it to him a threatening letter, of such a character,' adds the informant, as effectually to prevent their further expression of opinion.' Nevertheless, the memorials have got abroad; two of them having reached Madrid have been sent as enclosures in my despatches to her Majesty's government, and others have reached England, and have been forwarded to me. And yet, when the commissioners recently represented to the captain-general the violations of the treaty which were continually taking place, and supported their representations by calling his attention to the statements confirming them in these memorials, his excellency ventured to declare to the commissioners, that he had neither memorial presented to, nor representations made to him, from any place in Cuba of the character they alleged; whence,' said he, I draw the conclusion that the people are satisfied with my resolution to fulfil the treaties and punish the

offenders.'

"The commissioners exclaim, and no doubt justly, that the whole community of the place is scandalized by the manner in which these affairs are carried on, raising fear and apprehension in the minds of many, and exciting the indignation of all.' They repeat over and over again in the dispatches, with copies of which I am furnished, that the only persons in Cuba who are willingly parties of this scandalous state of things, are the local authorities and the slave merchants themselves; and that the 'cupidity of the governor,' (such are their words,) is the real cause of the con'This baneful traffic," say tinuance of the slave-trade in Cuba.'

her majesty's functionaries, is forced upon the island to the manifest peril and discontent of the proprietors, merely to enrich the captain-general.'

"The bribes which the authorities of Cuba have for many years received for upholding the slave-trade of that island have been well known, and have been pointed out to the government of Spain, and they had been often urged to put a stop to these iniquities. The precise sum given for each slave, the officers among whom it was divided, and the proportion in which it was shared, were notorious. The Spanish government have not been able to deny those facts, although they have asserted that it has not been for any neglect of duty on the part of the authorities that the slave-trade was kept up. But it has been proved, that when the government of her catholic majesty appointed a person of honour and integrity to be governor of Cuba, and one who undertook the high functions entrusted to him with other views than those of enriching himself and his associates by a corrupt connivance at the crime which he was appointed to repress, that trade speedily declined, and indeed had almost ceased to exist. A change, however, was made in the government of the island, and the iniquitous traffic is again in full vigour, notoriously encouraged, and almost openly defended, by the man to whom her catholic majesty's government have confided the interests and honour of the colony, and the duty of watching over the faithful discharge of an engagement solemnly entered into by the crown of Spain.

"It is for the Spanish government alone to consider what may