In the mulct of this seemingly general conspiracy to defraud the laborer of his wages by exorbitant rents, &c.  Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor, proceeds from district to district, giving advice to both of the contending parties, and striving to promote a mutual understanding.  His testimony to the designs of the planters given to their faces, and not denied, is very important; we give therefore one of his meetings, as the find it reported in the Jamaica papers.  Here is a rather familiar conversation among some of the chief men of that island—­where can we expect to find more authoritative testimony?

SIR LIONEL SMITH’S VISIT TO DUNSINANE.

His Excellency, Sir Lionel Smith, visited Dunsinane on Thursday last, agreeably to arrangements previously entered into, for the purpose of addressing the late apprenticed population in that neighborhood, on the propriety of resuming the cultivation of the soil.  About two miles from Dunsinane, his Excellency was met by a cavalcade composed of the late apprentices, who were preceded by Messrs. Bourne, Hamilton, and Kent, late Special Justices.  On the arrival of his Excellency at Dunsinane, he was met by the Hon. Joseph Gordon, Custos, the Lord Bishop attended by his Secretary, and the Rev. Alexander Campbell; the Hon. Hector Mitchel, Mayor of Kingston, and a large number of highly respectable planters, proprietors, and attorneys.  His Excellency, on being seated in the dwelling, said, that from information which he had received from other parishes, and facts gathered from personal observation, he believed that the same bone of contention existed there as elsewhere—­a source of discontent brought about by the planters serving the people with notices to quit their houses and grounds.  He did not question their right to do so, or the legality of such a proceeding, but he questioned the prudence of the step.  The great change from slavery to unrestricted freedom surely deserved some consideration.  Things cannot so soon be quiet and calm.  Depend upon it, nothing will be done by force.  Much may be by conciliation and prudence.  Do away with every emblem of slavery; throw off the Kilmarnock cap, and adopt in its stead, like rational men, Britannia’s cap of liberty.  He (Sir Lionel) doubted not the right of the planters to rent their houses and grounds; in order to be more certain on that head, he had procured the opinion of the Attorney General; but the exercise of the right by the planter, and getting the people to work, were very different matters.  Much difficulty must be felt in getting rid of slavery.  Even in the little island of Antigua, it had taken six months to get matters into a quiet state; but here, in a large country like Jamaica, could it be expected to be done in a day, and was it because it was not done, that the planters were to be opposed to him?  You are all in arms against me (said his Excellency,) but all I ask of you is to exercise patience, and all will be right.  I have done, and am doing all in my power