Inducements to the Colored People of the United States to Emigrate to British Guiana — John Shaqi
Inducements to the Colored People of the United States to Emigrate to British GuianaHildreth, Richard
History
Inducements to the Colored People of the United States to Emigrate to British Guiana
Hildreth, Richard
African Americans -- Colonization; Guyana
Justice is administered by a Supreme Court consisting of three Judges,
who are always lawyers of high standing, sent out from Great Britain.
In the criminal trials which come before this court, the judges are
assisted by three assessors, who answer to our jurymen, being persons
chosen by lot from among the inhabitants,--who have an equal vote with
the judges. No prisoner can be found guilty, except by at least four
votes out of the six.
The colony is divided into three counties, Demarara, Berbice and
Essequebo. Each of these counties is again divided into parishes, and
the parishes are subdivided into judicial districts, each under the
superintendence of a Stipendiary Magistrate, appointed and paid by
the Crown. These stipendiary magistrates are persons of education and
character, sent out from Great Britain, and who, having no interest
or connections in the colony, and being frequently removed from one
district to another, may be expected to be impartial, and not likely
to be warped in their judgment by personal considerations. These
magistrates are under the sole control of the Governor, by whom they
can be suspended from office. They have exclusive jurisdiction, as will
presently appear, of all controversies, as to contracts and labor,
arising between employers and laborers. The whole population of the
three counties may be estimated at one hundred thousand, of whom six or
eight thousand are white, and all the remainder, colored. The English
language is now spoken by all, and is the only language used in the
colony.
Those distinctions which prevail to so great a degree in the United
States, between the free colored and the white population, and which
render the position of the colored man in the United States so
mortifying and uncomfortable, are wholly unknown in British Guiana.
In this respect all are equal: colonial offices and dignities are
held without distinction by white and colored. Colored men are
indiscriminately drawn to sit as assessors on the bench of the Supreme
Court. The colored classes in British Guiana are wealthy, influential,
and highly respectable. Many of them are magistrates, proprietors,
merchants with large establishments, and managers of estates receiving
liberal salaries. The collector of customs at one of the principal
ports, is a person of color, and many others hold public stations. It
is evident from these facts that color is no obstacle to advancement or
distinction. It is difficult and almost impossible for a citizen of the
United States, educated in the midst of distinctions and prejudices,
to realize the state of things so entirely different which prevails in
British Guiana.
III. SPECIAL LAWS FOR THE PROTECTION OF LABORERS AND EMIGRANTS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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