II. FORM OF GOVERNMENT, ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, CIVIL DIVISIONS, POPULATION, SOCIAL EQUALITY.
British Guiana is a colony, conquered some forty years since from the Dutch, belonging to Great Britain. It is what is called a crown colony, and all its laws are made, or revised in England.
The governor, whose authority is very extensive, is appointed by the British queen. He is assisted in his administration by a council of nine persons, called the Court of Policy, four of whom are high executive officers appointed by the Crown. The other five are chosen by the inhabitants. No law made by the Court of Policy can remain in force unless it be approved in England by the queen in council.
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.