beneath the notice of his Excellency; yet by this volume, which I am at length enabled to lay before your Lordship, I think your Lordship will allow, I stand upon as solid and respectable ground, as either the Honorable Custos Bell, or The Most Noble Marquis himself; nay, I contend, I do more so.

I do herewith clearly show your Lordship, that I spring from ancestors, whose rank in life takes precedence of either, and whose loyalty has been marked in the annals of British History:

And, although my Lord, I cannot boast of either personal wealth or title, I can proudly boast of what I hold more dear, viz.-unblemished character and honour, neither of which my Lord Sligo can boast of; for both of which has he long since forfeited; and it is only a matter of surprise to me, that such an one as his Excellency, should have been so singled out, by a wise Government, and sent as the representative of Our Most Gracious Sovereign, to rule over so respectable and important a portion of the British Empire as he has been.

My Lord, I humbly trust, will pardon the strain of language in which I am now compelled to speak-the patience I have hitherto had for the past two years, with the difficulties constantly from time to time thrown in my way, by these two important personages, added to the justness of my cause, must plead my

excuse.

I shall therefore, at once, with your Lordship's permission, proceed to state my complaint:

FIRST then, as regards my Lord Sligo.

I conceive it to be a matter of great public wrong, his Excellency's refusing to investigate into the causes of my complaint, in the very first instance, so far back as the 27th of November, 1834, at which time, I stood forward, boldly and publicly, not underhanded, but above-board-not as a spy or informer, as I have been held up in the public prints of Jamaica, but as an independent citizen, seeking the public good, and which has been the main-spring that has actuated me throughout the whole of my proceedings.

It will be seen, my Lord, at page 13, that I premised the the Custos of my determination on the outset, and, at page 1, that I appealed to his Excellency, at the very outset, through an expensive channel, viz. that of my solicitor, sparing no expense, and running no risk by my own ignorance of the proper way of appealing at the beginning.

This first step having failed, I contend, to the eternal disgrace of his Excellency, as a Governor, because it was his

bounden duty, as the representative of our good King, the Father of his people, to have investigated into the matter of my complaint, and if substantiated, to have at once granted redress—but instead of which, he lent his kingly power to aid my destruction.

For it was in consequence of Mr. Custos Bell's representations to his Excellency, that, when Colonel Moody of the Saint George's Regiment, (see page 52) at the end of December, 1834, or early in January, 1835, recommended me to his Excellency, as Captain-General, to fill up a vacant Ensigncy in the Saint George's Begiment, to which I was justly entitled, both by respectability and long services; his Excellency, in the most pointed possible manner, passed me by, conferring such vacancy upon another, and three others in succession, in the course of as many months, to the great regret of the Colonel, and many other of my personal friends, although to the great satisfaction, and boast of the Honorable Custos and his proud minions.

Again, his Excellency's continued refusal to investigate into, or grant redress, for further most serious injuries, inflicted on me as an individual—upon my poor and innocent apprentice, on my account, and upon the public at large through us, notwithstanding my own, and my solicitor's very powerful appeals, as laid down at pages 29 to 39, and 34 to 41.

Again, his Excellency's most unjustifiable conduct, in granting power to, or instructing Special Justice White, as proved by evidence in a Court of Justice, (see pages 171 and 208) to keep me, although a free and natural born peaceable subject of his Majesty, out of every public Court of Justice, so that I should not have the power to watch and report of his arbitrary proceedings.

Again, his Excellency's most unmanly attempts from time to time, to stifle all my proceedings, instead of granting me that justice so greatly my due, and which would have tended so much to the public good, which are so fully explained by the documents themselves, or particularly at pages 152 to 157.

Again, his Excellency's further most unmanly conduct, when he became acquainted that I had sent out my actions against Special Justice White, for his gross outrages upon my person, in making armed police hustle me out of a public Court of Justice, instead of at once granting me redress, he backed Special Justice White, with the aid of his Majesty's Attorney General, the Solicitor General, and Clerk of the Crown, (see page 165), so as to defeat every possibility of my obtaining justice.

Finally, on my part, owing te

Excellency's neglect of

duty, and the countenance given by him to my persecutors, the protection of the laws have not been ceded to me-my lawful occupations have been disturbed—my industry has been fettered —my pursuits have been perplexed-my family has been distressed-and, worst of all, my property, not only exposed to insecurity, but, absolutely, under a false color of law, has been wrenched from me.

And finally, to close the whole, such conduct has been productive of evil consequences to the public at large; and our Gracious Sovereign, as the beloved Father of his people, through him, has suffered in their affection, for the countenance given by him towards oppression, has considerably damped, and destroyed the happiness of thousands,

And now, SECONDLY, as regards Sir Joshua Rowe.

It becomes my most painful duty, my Lord, to lay open such a scene of continued malice and disgraceful conduct, as regards this high, and ought to be, sacred character-being a Chief Judge, that I almost stagger in the attempt.

The different actions brought by me into his Honor's Court, one after another, with the different circumstances connected with each, and the determined stand his Honor took throughout the whole to trample on my rights, to overturn the laws, to make with one breath, and to unmake with the next, new rules, as they were falsely called, of court, on purpose to serve his own vile malice and revenge, are so plainly set down in this volume, as the attempts severally occurred, that I should be only recapitulating the same like grievances were I now to enter into them.

The audacious falsehood, my Lord, put forth so publicly by his Honor, under a plea of a mistake of counsel, on purpose to cover over his gross ignorance of the law

1st. In granting, and afterwards denying that he had granted, a new trial, in Sterne, v. White, (see pages 182, and 189) is so very glaring, as of itself, needs no comment from me, and sufficient of itself, alone, to shew how totally unfit, and how unworthy he is to be continued in so high, and so sacred an office.

My Lord, under him oppression and injustice must triumph, whilst truth and justice are unable to raise their heads.

It will be in vain, my Lord, for the valiant sons and daughters of religious liberty to cry out, or for those of his Majesty's Ministers, who have sincerely at heart, the welfare and happiness of their fellow subjects, to exert all their influential powers, if such men as these, as I am now compelled to so severely

animadvert upon, are continued in such high and important stations or if at first, ignorantly mistaken in, and then continued with refusals to hear the appeals of, and grant redress to their injured fellow subjects.

I take leave to refer your Lordship to pages 149 and 150, for a perusal of my charges, as against the Chief Justice to that period—and after that, to the remaining trials of Sterne, v. White, beginning at page 166 to the end, for a more clear and satisfactory exposure of naked facts, as to his Honor's ignorance of the laws, and arbitrary and disgraceful rule.

And now, my Lord, to close the whole, after having with such patience, perseverance, perplexity, uneasiness of mind, personal indignity, family disquiet, great personal risk, destruction of my business, and worst of all, immense sacrifice of property, succeeded in compiling a history of my case, I now, with all due submission and respect, lay it before your Lordship, as the great ruler of his Majesty's Colonies, and shall, with all patience, wait a further period of time, for your Lordship's adjudication of my case, never having been anxious, from the beginning, of inflicting uneasiness to any, but goaded on to the steps which I have hitherto taken, in order to seek Justice.

I have only now to add, that should your Lordship be pleased to think favourably of my case, and be inclined to grant me that redress, which, I submit, I am entitled to receive, as a deeply injured subject of his Majesty, and so injured, by the very powers who ought rather to have granted me their protection, that I shall abide by your Lordship's desire, either to prosecute my case further, or otherwise, as I have full and ample proof to substantiate every charge laid down, and shall not be found to shrink from the task.

In anxious expectation of your Lordship's reply

I have the honor to subscribe myself,

Your Lordship's

Most obedient humble Servant,

HENRY STERNE.

16th January, 1837.

Copy of Mr. STERNE'S Solicitor's, Letter, which accompanied the documents No. 1 to 11, transmitted to His Excellency, Lord SLIGO, Governor, &c, of Jamaica, 27th November, 1834.

SIR,

Spanish Town, 27th November, 1834.

On the request of Mr. HENRY STERNE, of the Parish of Saint George, I have the honor to enclose, for the consideration of His Excellency, the Governor, some documents, which have been transmitted to me, to be laid before His Excellency, involving a Complaint against the Chief Magistrate of the parish of Saint George, for an alledged evasion of Magisterial duty, in refusing to bring to Justice the supposed accessary in a case of theft, charged by Mr. Sterne to have been committed on his property.

I am instructed by Mr. Sterne that it was not his wish to seek the punishment of the party principal in the theft, whose conduct, it is supposed, proceeded from ignorance, but rather to expose the conduct of the accessary his mistress, under whose orders the theft was committed. Mr. Sterne is anxious that if the law is to be enforced it should take its course against the party morally guilty, an anxiety to which he is the more induced by the recollection of a somewhat analogous proceeding in the case of Mrs. Clarke of St. Andrew in 1830 or 1831, the history wherof is I presume preserved among the records in the Governor's office.

The documents transmitted by Mr. Sterne contain, you will observe, another accusation on the part of Mr. Sterne against the same Chief Magistrate, in reference to the escape from Justice of the supposed accessaries to the murder of a person named Graham, in the year 1827, the circumstances of which being wholly unknown to me, I leave to their own operation with His Excellency. I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your very obedient & humble Servant,

CHARLES HARVEY.

To William George Nunes, Esquire.

Secretary, King's House.