found himself a beggar, at the moment he was calculating on realizing an enormous profit on his outlay. One mining scheme, to which his attention had been drawn the most, had been contrived by two obscure, but deep and designing men, who after managing to get the greater part of the amount subscribed into their hands, decamped, leaving the unfortunate shareholders to pay the debts already contracted. Maddened at the thought of having indiscreetly, although innocently, brought poverty on his mother, for whom he cared more than for himself, in an evil hour he was betrayed into the commission of a forgery, which was soon discovered, and brought home to him. His detection and trial succeeded each other with extreme quickness, and the horrors of a public execution stared him in the face. Happily this was spared him, the sentence having been commuted to transportation for life, and after a short period of confinement, in that horror of horrors, the Hulks at Chatham, poor Dillon, with a heavy heart, set sail for Van Diemen's Land. I need not endeavour to pourtray the feelings of my schoolfellow. The consciousness of the disgrace which must attach to him, the anguish of being separated from his native country, and of being torn from the companions of his innocent amusements, the parting with his mother, and all who had made life dear to him, must have embittered the sentiments of his heart, and produced intense misery. Often, while the reckless associates of his voyage indulged themselves in the laugh, the jest, the appearance at least of gaiety, with a slow step, and drooping countenance, Charles paced the deck, the blighted tree in the midst of an unscathed forest. Shortly after his landing he was assigned to an up-country settler ; and although the work was not that to which he had been accustomed, Dillon endeavoured to make himself useful, and succeeded so far as to gain the approbation of his master, who promised his endeavours and interest to obtain some indulgence for him. The kindness with which Mr. Smithson treated him, and the different manners he displayed towards him, excited the envy of two of his fellow-servants, who, by false appearances, persuaded Mr. Smithson to believe he had contemplated a robbery on him. It was in vain for him to rebut the charge, he appealed to his former conduct, but it was useless, the proofs seemed to be conclusive, there was no escaping, and again Charles suffered the ignominy of a public trial. His sentence was, a punishment of two years in irons, and under the control of a flint-hearted overseer, who, by the bye, are generally chosen from a class noted for depravity, and crime, he broke stones for the public roads, with a sad heart, and many a time an empty stomach. This was more than he could endure, and one day Charles effected his escape from the gang, and remained at large for two or three weeks; when apprehended, he suffered a punishment of fifty lashes, after which he never held up his head. In this condition he remained for upwards of eighteen months, when he received a ticketof-leave for having saved the life of a soldier. Still the feeling of degradation haunted him wherever he went ; and although a portion of his money had been recovered, (the projectors of the company having been seized with their booty upon them) which his friends forwarded to him, and which was sufficient for him to live on, he could not support himself under the recollection of the stripes he had suffered, and he pined away until he appeared more like a skeleton than one of flesh and blood. Poor Dillon! he is now dead-the victim more of the craft and cruelty of others, than of his own crimes, formed for every good, his course has been forced, as it were, into a widely different channel, and the being to whom a character of honor, uprightness, and virtue should be ascribed, has died stigmatised with every vice. his spirit! Peace to *K.* THE DAUGHTER. The crowd hath now forsaken him-and fled! And she hath wept beside a mother's tomb, Domestic Intelligence. PUBLIC MEETING, AT THE COURT HOUSE, JUNE 9, 1834. A little before one o'clock the Sheriff took the Chair, and after a few minutes had elapsed, he commenced the proceedings by reading the Requisition, and his reply thereto, which were as follow"SIR,-We the undersigned, request you will be pleased to convene a public meeting of the free inhabitants of the Colony, to take into consideration the necessity of addressing His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, that he will be pleased to refuse his sanction to the introduction of any measure with the Legislative Council, which may have for its object, any limitation of numbers, or restriction of qualifications of a Jury, beyond that established by British law, it being avowed by the Attorney General, that he proposes to reduce the old established British number of 12 jurymen to 7 in this Colony.-We are, Sir, your obedient servants, TO THOMAS BANNISTER, Esq. Sheriff of Van Diemen's Land, &e." "In pursuance of the above requisition, I hereby convene a meeting of the inhabitants of this Colony, at the Courthouse, Hobart Town, on Monday the 9th day of June next, at 12 o'clock precisely, for the purpose of taking the matters in the requisition named into consideration. THOMAS BANNISTER, Sheriff. Sheriff's Office, May 22, 1834." Mr. Kemp proposed that Mr. Gellibrand should take the Chair, upon which Mr. Meredith rose, and said that he NOL. ILL. NO. XVI. 2 should oppose the nomination of any other gentleman than the Sheriff, he being the most proper person to act as Chairman; he therefore moved, as an amendment, that Mr. Bannister do take the Chair. Mr. Gilbert Robertson seconded the amendment, which was carried unanimously. A. F. Kemp, Esq., then rose and said -Fellow Colonists-We are assembled here this day, in consequence of the Crown Lawyers having avowed their intention of recommending to the Government to reduce the number of the Jury, from twelve to seven in this Colony; twelve, we all know, has ever been considered a number sufficient to protect us against the unlawful exercise of power. I confess, when calling upon the Attorney General relative to the Insolvent Law, he did me the honor to place in my hands a letter, he was going to address the Lieutenant Governor on the subject. I was surprised; after reading it I exclaimed, "Good God! Mr. Attorney General, are we then to have no liberty in this Colony-are you to have it all your own way?" I returned to my counting-house, and feeling indignant, addressed him a letter, which is as follows: "Hobart Town, Feb. 19, 1834. "DEAR SIR-I shall be obliged to you if you will inform me, if I read your Insolvent Act in the way you mean it to be understood, namely, "That the creditor has not the power to make a person insolvent, but the debtor has the privilege to make himself insolvent. "This appears to me so repugnant to every principle of justice, that I cannot persuade myself to think that I construe your temporary Act rightly. "In regard to your proposed Jury Act, I have only to say, it shall have my unqualified opposition, for I cannot consider five or seven men would afford the same means of obtaining an uninfluenced and impartial verdict, as if the Jury was composed of twelve.-I am, dear Sir, your faithful Servant, A. F. KEMP. "To Alfred Stephen, Esq. Attorney General." F Mr. Stephen wrote in answer to this, and placed in one corner of the letter, private," by which he meant, no doubt, that I was not to consider it as official; but this being a public question, I have a right to bring it forward on this occasion: 66 Davey Street, Feb. 21, 1834. MY DEAR SIR,-In reply to the question put to me respecting the late Insolvent Act, I have to remind you, that the law was introduced only for the purpose of relief to the numerous individuals then suffering imprisonment for debt, and, consequently, it would have been superfluous to have provided for the debtors' discharge, on any other appliIcation than his own. The Act relates, as you seem not to bear it in mind, solely to the then existing cases-it can be ap; plied to no other. But even if it had been of a more extended nature, I believe, you will find it would have been, in respect of relief to the debtor, on his application alone, strictly in accordance with the Insolvent Law in England. If, however, it were thought desirable to introduce a general and permanent Insolvent Law into our Colonial system, I agree in the opinion, which I suppose your question implies that you entertain, that it should partake equally the character of a Bankrupt Law, and enable alike the creditor to procure an equal distribution of assets, as the debtor, on surrendering his all for that purpose, to procure his discharge. With respect to my opinion, commented on in the last paragraph of your letter, that in this Colony, a Jury of seven would be more convenient than twelve. I beg you to understand, that the opinion, however strongly entertained by me, is certainly not more strongly held by me than by others, practical men, far abler than I to judge correctly on such a point, and, I assure you, in most respects, quite of your way of thinking. I am yours very truly, ALFRED STEPHEN. "To A. F.Kemp, Esq." To this, I replied : Hobart Town. Feb. 24, 1834. "DEAR SIR.-In acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, I am free to confess that I consider a temporary Insolvent Act little calculated to benefit the mercantile community, and therefore it appears desirable that ar Insolvent Aet, partaking equally the character of a Bankrupt Law, should be immediately taken into consideration, for the relief of the mercantile interest; and to this effect the merchants have long ago written to His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor on the subject, and I orders when he was Attorney-General believe Mr. Justice Montagu received to prepare a Bill of the nature alluded to. "I believe, Sir, it is no uncommon thing here for persons who are in an in solvent state, to give a warrant of attorney a week before they suspend payments, to a favourite creditor, thereby defrauding all the other creditors, which could not happen if an Insolvent Law was passed, equally partaking of the Bankrupt Law; and I observe, in your letter, you allude to this mode of meeting the case, if however it were thought desirable. "In regard to your opinion on the. Jury, I am obliged to differ with you, respecting that Seven Jury Men would be more convenient than Twelve, looking forward as I do to the future advancewould look upon such an abridgement of ment of this Colony, I must say that I our civil rights, as a prelude to more arbitrary acts, and although practical men may think that Seven Men would be more eligible than Twelve, I am at a loss to know on what practice their opinions are grounded.-I am, dear Sir, your faithful Servant, A. F. KEMP. "To Alfred Stephen, Eeq. Attorney-General." Now, Gentlemen, this correspondence is the cause of our attendance here this day, and any man that has English blood circulating in his veins, will support the old constitutional law of Trial by Jury of twelve, instead of Mr. Stephen's new method of seven-revised, corrected, and approved of, by the theoretical Solicitor General. Is it to be endured that the two. Crown Lawyers should recommend such an abstraction to our rights? Are our rights ever to be kept in abeyance, because we receive the degraded inhabitants of the Mother Country, the greater portion of whom are fed and clothed by our Colonists ? If we look at the Sister Colony, we find there, liberal institutions prevail-there, they have a Jury in criminal cases-and when an even number were for and against Trial by Jury in the Legislative Assembly, General Bourke gave his casting vote in favour of the people. (Hear, hear.) I hope Colonel Arthur, when it comes to this, will follow so good an example. Are our children's rights also to be kept in abeyance, because we emigrated to these shores? God forbid! Let there be one law for the bondmen, another for the free; and this Colony is now advanced enough to respectability and property, that this distinction should be drawn. With the prisoner population, we have no right to interfere; but as free men, we demand our rights of Trial by Jury of twelve of our peers. Gentlemen I hope we shall hear no more of speculative justice, and that Mr. Stephen's law will not supercede that of Blackstone's Commentaries and Burn's Justice, -we want none of this theoretical justice, although sanctioned by his friend the Solicitor General. I now come to Military Juries, and having been a military man myself for upwards of twenty years, beg to offer my opinion. Military men, Gentlemen, are imbued with subordination, and cannot deprive themselves of those feelings, even in a Jury box, therefore I am of opinion that a Jury of twelve Colonists are far more preferable to seven military men-more especially so when the Government are concerned. Mr. Kemp read the first resolution, and Mr. Meredith seconded it. "That this Meeting has heard, with extreme alarm and apprehension, that it is the intention of the Law Officers of the Crown to recommend to the Chief Authority the introduction of a measure into the Colonial Legislative Council, limiting and restricting the existing Jury Law, the adoption of which measure will be most dangerous to the liberties of the people of this Colony. The Local Government possesses such extraordinary and extensive powers, that in all cases wherein the interest of the Crown may be affected, the subject can only look for safety and protection to Juries possessing not only independence of principle and property, but also being composed of such extent in number, as shall be sufficient to place them beyond the reach of influence of any kind." The Sheriff put the Resolution, which was carried unanimously. William Gellibrand, Esq. J. P., then rose and addressed the Meeting in the following gentlemanly and most energetic manner :-Fellow Colonists-I have the honor and happiness to appear before you on the present occasion, when we meet to express our warm attachments to the British Constitution. I have been suddenly called upon to address you, having understood that it was the wish of some that I should preside at the present meeting. I have no desire to supersede the worthy Sheriff, for I am much happier at seeing him occupying the chair on the present occasion. It now therefore, falls to my lot to move the second resolution. We are met not to carry any political measure, but to express those sentiments of attachment to the British Constitution, which we have received from our forefathers, and we are expected to transmit to posterity. Such a meeting as this must give pleasure to every well-wisher to the Colony, to witness the unanimity and spirit with which you are actuated. We have been long considered by the Home Government as keepers of convicts, and consequently not entitled to our rights; but the advance of knowledge must in its progress bring with it the possession of those rights to which we are entitled. It is true we enjoy some of the privileges of Britons. I wish we enjoyed them all. (Cheers.) We are here assembled to enter our protest against any innovation which is likely to impair those rights. When we find men in power and influence publicly throwing out sentiments prejudicial to our dearest interests, it is our duty to make a stand. (Hear, hear.) It is the right of every free man to have a Jury of his peers; but because we live in a penal settlement, we are denied those rights. My blood boils with indignation when I contemplate the attempts of men to undermine and destroy our privileges. I have lived many years in the world, and my attachment to the Constitution has encreased with my age. But what is the innovation with which we are threatened is it to reduce the number of the Jury to answer certain purposes which I will not name? If we reduce the number from twelve to seven, we shall next hear of their reduction from seven to fivefrom five to three-from three to nothing and lastly, do away with Juries altogether. The Attorney General would then have nothing more to do than to |