THE

TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY

A NARRATIVE

OF THE

DISTURBANCES IN THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA

IN

1865

BY

EDWARD BEAN UNDERBILL, LL.D.

(Honorary Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society).

Bonbon :

ALEXANDER & SHEPHEARD, FURNIVAL ST., HOLBORN

1895

LONDON :

PRINTED BY ALEXANDER AND SBEPHEARD,
27, CHANCERY LANE, W.C.

PBEFACE.

following narrative owes its existence to
the earnest desire of my family, and other
friends, to possess an authentic account of
the events, antecedent and consequent, to the Dis-
turbances which took place at Morant Bay, in the
Island of Jamaica, in the month of October, 1865.
This desire I have endeavoured to gratify.

My concern with the "Tragedy" will be found
sufficiently explained in the Introduction and in the
narrative itself. My personal recollections I have
tested and supported by reference to public docu-
ments ; but I am especially indebted to the sugges-
tions and manuscript reminiscences of my dear
friend, the Kev. D. J. East, for more than forty
years a resident in the Island, and President of
Calabar College, Kingston. I have also, in various
parts, availed myself of papers and communications
published by me in the periodicals of the time.

HAMPSTEAD,

February, 1895.

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ix

CHAPTER I.

TUB CONDITION OF JAMAICA

CHAPTEE II.
THK LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA 12

CHAPTER III.
RUMOURS AFLOAT 30

CHAPTER IV.
REPLIES TO THE LETTER 34

CHAPTER V.
THE OUTBREAK 45

CONTENTS.

y ORK

CHAPTER VI.

PAGK

ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK 55

CHAPTER VII.

"IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION ... 67

CHAPTER VIII.

OUTBURST OF FEELING IN ENGLAND 83

CHAPTER IX.

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON 89

CHAPTER X.
THE REIGN OF TERROR 110

CHAPTER XI.
THE ROYAL COMMISSION 120

CHAPTER XII.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS : —

PART I.— THE LAND QUESTION 134

PART II. — THE MAGISTRACY 142

PART III.— THE UNIVERSAL DISCONTENT 150

CHAPTER XIII.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES 158

CONTENTS. vii

CHAPTER XIV.

PAGE

THE REPORT, ITS RECEPTION BY THE ENGLISH

GOVERNMENT 185

CHAPTER XV.

THE TRIALS:—

PART I. — PROVOST MARSHAL RAMSAY 193

PART II. — PROCEEDINGS or JAMAICA COMMITTEE 198
PART III. — THE SHROPSHIRE MAGISTRATES AND

EX-GOVERNOR EYRE 204

PART IV. — CHARGE OF LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

COCKBURN 209

CHAPTER XYI.

JAMAICA UNDER THE CROWN 214

INTRODUCTION.

LETTERS from the missionaries of the Baptist
Missionary Society, in the year 1864, brought
vividly to the attention of the Committee the
depression existing throughout the Island of Jamaica,
among every section of the community engaged in
agriculture and mercantile pursuits. The returns
from the churches revealed a state of poverty of the
most distressing kind, more serious than the island
had for many years experienced, attributable in part
to the long and severe drought of more than two
years' duration. It was followed by widespread sick-,
ness. To the great decay of the sugar cultivation !
and the low price of produce, were added the dear--
ness of apparel, and a growing diminution in the?
wages of the labouring population. Schools and
churches fell off in attendance, and crime was largely
on the increase. The reports from ministers of other
missionary bodies were fully confirmatory of this state
of things.

An eye-witness thus describes what was passing
around him : — " There was hardly any employment
for labourers on the sugar estates, through the failure

INTRODUCTION.

of crops. The provision grounds of the people scarcely
afforded any subsistence. For food, such as corn-meal
and flour, all classes were mostly dependent on sup-
plies from abroad. To obtain it the poor had to
run into debt at the stores, thus entailing difficulties
which for years crippled their resources. I have seen
men and women with looks of despair, having neither
food nor clothing for themselves or their children. I
have preached in chapels partly deserted, in which
not a child was to be seen, because parents could not
find them food or raiment. In some districts, the
mango tree supplied the only food of the inhabitants.
Oh! it was a time of despair and woe to both ministers
and their flocks ; and, but for the response of British
Christians to appeals made on their behalf, multitudes
must have perished." *

For the relief of this painful state of things, the
Baptist churches of Great Britain, at the call of the
Baptist Missionary Society, raised at once a sum of
£1,500, and as the distress deepened, early in 1865,
added to their donations a further sum of £2,500,
for the special needs of the pastors and their congre-
gations.

No relief was forthcoming from the Government or
Legislature of the Colony. The administration of
justice was felt to be partial and often unjust. The
governing classes were indifferent and venal. Laws,
oppressive and injurious in their operation on the
emancipated population, were the fruit of tho

* "Reminiscences of the Rev. D. J. East," p. 9 (M.S.).

INTRODUCTION.

dominant influence of the planting interest in the
Legislature, to which the improved education of the
people rendered them more sensitive. They were
more than observant of the increased taxation, of the
increased expenditure, and of the increased punish-
ment rendered necessary by the growth of crime.
Starvation is ever a soil most fertile in discontent,
and a spirit of restlessness began everywhere to
appear.

Being on a visit to Sir Morton Peto, M.P., Treasurer
of the Baptist Missionary Society, at Christmastide,
1864, these distressing communications were natu-
rally a frequent topic of conversation between us.
Returning with him to town, our minds sorely bur-
dened with the sad tidings which every mail dis-
closed, he warmly approved my suggestion that I
should bring the case to the notice of the Right
Honourable E. Cardwell, then Secretary of State
for the Colonies.

I may here mention that through my father, who,
with my brother, had given Mr. Cardwell valued
assistance at a General Election, I was introduced to
that gentleman, and had received the kind permission
to write him on any matter on which he could afford
me assistance. My father had also sent Mr. Cardwell
a copy of my work on the " Social and Religious Con-
dition of the West Indies," published in 1862. In
reply to this, Mr. Cardwell said that he had always
taken a deep interest in the question of emancipation,
though he was not without some doubts " whether
the measures actually adopted were in all respects

INTRODUCTION.

perfectly adapted and most conducive to the interests
of the negro." *

This also had been the emphatic opinion of his pre-
decessor, Earl Grey, who held that the negro part of
the Jamaica population did not, by its voting power,
exercise such an influence over the Legislature as to
exempt the advisers of the Crown from the duty of
keeping a watchful eye upon the proceedings of the
Legislature, for the purpose of checking any attempt
which might be made to pass laws bearing unfairly
on the labouring classes. Unfortunately the English
Government had occasion too frequently to express
their disapproval of Acts of the Jamaica Legislature,
and to refuse to them the Royal Assent.f

On reaching home I devoted myself to the pre-
paration of the letter to which subsequent events
have given so much importance. It was despatched
to Mr. Cardwell, under cover from Sir Morton Peto,
on the 5th January, 1865. In a few days, on the 27th,
its reception was acknowledged, with the information
that the letter had been forwarded to the Governor of
Jamaica with instructions to report on its contents.

As this letter is the subject of many references in
the following pages, I append a copy of it for the full
information of my readers.*

c Letter dated from 74, Eaton Square, February llth,
1862.

f Earl Grey on " The Colonial Policy of Lord John Kussell's
Administration," vol. 1, p. 24.

J " Papers on the Affairs of Jamaica, presented to Parlia-
ment, February, 1866," pp. 1 to 3.

INTRODUCTION. xiii

Letter from E. B. Underhill, Esq., LL.D., to the Eight
Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.

" 33, Moorgate Street, E.G.,

" 5th January, 1865.

" DEAR SIR, — I venture to ask your kind consider-
ation of a few observations on the present condition
of the Island of Jamaica.

" For several months past, every mail has brought
letters informing me of the continually increasing
distress of the coloured population. As a sufficient
illustration I quote the following brief passage from
one of them : —

" ' Crime has fearfully increased. The number of
prisoners in the penitentiary and gaols is considerably
more than double the average, and nearly all for one
crime — larceny. Summonses for petty debts disclose
an amount of pecuniary difficulty which has never
before been experienced, and applications for parochial
and private relief prove that multitudes are sjjffering
from want little removed from starvation/ \ '

" The immediate cause of this distress would seem
to be the drought of the last two years ; but, in fact,
this has only given intensity to suffering previously
existing. All accounts, both public and private,
concur in affirming the alarming increase of crime,
chiefly of larceny and petty theft. This arises from

I the extreme poverty of the people. That this is its
true origin is made evident by the ragged and even
naked condition of vast numbers of them; so contrary
to the taste for dress they usually exhibit. They

xiv INTRODUCTION.

cannot purchase clothing, partly from its greatly
increased cost, which is unduly enhanced by the duty
(said to be thirty-eight per cent, by the Honourable
Mr. Whitelock), which it now pays, and partly from
the want of employment and the consequent absence
of wages.

" The people, then, are starving, and the causes of
this are not far to seek. No doubt the taxation of
the island is too heavy for its present resources, and
must necessarily render the cost of producing the
staples higher than they can bear to meet competition
in the markets of the world. No doubt much of the
sugar-land of the island is worn out, or can only be
made productive by an outlay which would destroy
all hope of profitable return. No doubt, too, a large
part of the island is uncultivated, and might be made
to support a vastly greater population than is now
, existing upon it.

/ "But the simple fact is, there is not sufficient
employment for the people ; there is neither work for
them, nor the capital to employ them.

"The labouring class is too numerous for the
work to be done. Sugar cultivation on the estates
does not absorb more than 30,000 of the people, and
every other species of cultivation (apart from provision
growing) cannot give employment to more than
another 30,000. But the agricultural population of
the island is over 400,000, so that there are at least

\ 340,000 persons whose livelihood depends on employ -

\ment other than that devoted to the staple cultivation

of the island. Of these 340,000 certainly not less

INTRODUCTION.

than 130,000 are adults and capable of labour. For
subsistence they must be entirely dependent on the
provisions grown on their little freeholds, a portion of
which is sold to those who find employment on the
•estates, or, perhaps, in a slight degree, on such pro-
duce as they are able to raise for exportation. But
those who grow produce for exportation are very few,
and they meet with every kind of discouragement to
prosecute a means of support which is as advantage-
ous to the island as to themselves. If their provisions
fail, as has been the case, from drought, they must
steal or starve. And this is their present condition.

" The same result follows in this country, when
employment ceases or wages fail. The great decrease
of coin in circulation in Jamaica is a further proof
that less money is spent in wages through the decline
of employment. Were Jamaica prosperous, silver
would flow into it, or its equivalent in English manu-
factures, instead of the exportation of silver, which
now regularly takes place. And if, as stated in the
Governor's speech, the Customs revenue in the year
gone by has been equal to former years, this has
arisen, not from an increase in the quantities im-
ported, but from the increased value of the imports,
the duty being levied at an ad valorem charge of
12 J per cent.y^h articles, such as cotton goods, which
have, withj^wie last year or two, greatly risen in price.

"I shUul say nothing of the course taken by the
Jamaica, ^legislature ; of their abortive Immigration
Joilis; of their unjust taxation of the coloured popu-
lation ; of their refusal of just tribunals ; of their

INTRODUCTION.

denial of political rights to the emancipated negroes.
Could the people find remunerative employment
these evils would, in time, be remedied from their
growing strength and intelligence. The worst evil
consequent on the proceedings of the Legislature is
the distrust awakened in the minds of capitalists, and
the avoidance of Jamaica, with its manifold advan-
tages, by all who possess the means to benefit it by
their expenditure. Unless means can be found to
encourage the outlay of capital in Jamaica in the-
growth of those numerous prodUdfcs which can be
profitably exported, so that employment can be given
to its starving people, I see no other result than the
entire failure of the island, and the destruction of the
hopes that the Legislature and the people of Great
Britain have cherished with regard to the well-being
of its emancipated population.

"With your kind permission, I will venture to
make two or three suggestions which, if carried out,
ma}7' assist to avert so painful a result.

" 1. A searching inquiry into the legislation of the
island since emancipation — its taxation, its economical
and material condition— would go far to bring to
light the causes of the existing evils, and, by convinc-
ing the ruling class of the mistakes of the past, lead
to their removal. Such an inquiry seems also due to
this country, that it may be seen whether the eman-
cipated peasantry have gained those advantages which
were sought to be secured to them by their enfran-
chisement.

" 2. The Governor might be instructed to encourage

INTRODUCTION. xvii

by his personal approval and urgent recommendation
the growth of exportable produce by the people on
the very numerous freeholds they possess. This
might be done by the formation of associations for
shipping their produce in considerable quantities ; by
equalising duties on the produce of the people and
that of the planting interests; by instructing the
native growers of produce in the best methods of culti-
vation, and by pointing out the articles which would
find a ready sale in the markets of the world; by
opening channels for direct transmission of produce,
without the intervention of agents, from whose extor-
tions and frauds the people now frequently suffer and
are greatly discouraged. The cultivation of sugar by
the peasantry should, in my judgment, be discouraged.
At the best, with all the scientific appliances the
planters can bring to it, both of capital and machinery,
sugar manufacturing is a hazardous thing. Much
more must it become so in the hands of the people,
with their rude mills and imperfect methods. But
the minor products of the island, such as spices,
tobacco, farinaceous foods, coffee, and cotton, are
quite within their reach, and always fetch a fair and
remunerative price where not burdened by extravagant
charges and local taxation.

"3. With just laws and Jight taxation, capitalists
would be encouraged to settle in Jamaica, and employ
themselves in the production of the more important
staples, such as sugar, coffee, and cotton. Thus the
people would be employed, and the present starvation
rate of wages be improved.

xviii INTRODUCTION,

"In conclusion, I have to apologise for troubling
you with this communication ; but since my visit to
the island in 1859-60, I have felt the greatest interest
in its prosperity, and deeply grieve over the sufferings
of its coloured population. It is more than time that
the unwisdom — to use the gentlest term — that has
governed Jamaica since emancipation should be
brought to an end ; a course of action which, while
it incalculably aggravates the misery arising from
natural, and, therefore, unavoidable, causes, renders
certain the ultimate ruin of every class-planter and
peasant, European and Creole.

" Should you, dear Sir, desire such information as it
may be in my power to furnish, or to see me on the
matter, I shall be most happy either to forward
whatever facts I may possess or wait upon you at any
time that you may appoint.

" I have, etc.,
(Signed) "EDWARD B. UNDERBILL.

" P.S. — I append an extract from the speech of the
Hon. H. A. Whitelock, in the House of Assembly, with
respect to the condition of the people.

"'He (Mr. Whitelock) would make an assertion
which could not be gainsaid by his successor, that
taxation could not be extended ; not one farthing
more could be imposed on the people, who were
suffering peculiar hardship from the increased value
of wearing apparel, which was now taxed beyond all
bounds. Actually, they were paying 38 per cent.

INTRODUCTION. xix

now, when 12£ per cent, was before considered an
outrageous ad valorem duty. Cottop-goods, including
Oznaburgh, and all the wearing^parel of the labour-
ing classes had increased 2^0 per cent, in value.
What was bought at 4cl. per yard before was selling
at a shilling per yard. Therefore, the people are now
paying IJd. duty on every yard of cloth, instead of
one halfpenny, which has been justly described as a
heavy impost. The consequence is that a disgusting
state of nudity exhibited itself in some parts of the
country. Hardly a boy under ten years of age wore
a frock ; and adults, from the ragged state of their
garments, exhibited those parts of the body where
covering was especially wanted. The lower classes
hitherto exhibited a proneness for dress, and he could
not believe such a change would have come over
them but for his belief in their destitution, arising
out of a reduction in their wages at a time when
every article of apparel had risen in value. This
year's decrease in imports foreshadowed what was
coming. Sugar was down again at £11 per hogshead;
coffee was falling ; pimento was valueless ; logwood
was scarcely worth cutting ; and, moreover, a sad
diminution was effected in our chief staple exports
from a deficiency of rain.' "

It will now be my object to trace, as impartially and
truthfully as I can, the origin and course of those
stirring events which arose from the steps taken by
the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY,

CHAPTER I.

THE CONDITION OF JAMAICA.

I VISITED the Island of Jamaica, in company with
the Rev. J. T. Brown, of Northampton, as a
Deputation from the Baptist Missionary Society,
in the cold season of 1859-60. After a short sojourn in
Trinidad and in Haiti, I landed in Kingston on the
5th November, and proceeded, with my colleague, on
his arrival a few days later, to visit nearly every part
of the island, inquiring into the religious and social
condition of the people. We concluded our investiga-
tions on the 9th April, when I left in order to inspect
the stations of the Society in the Bahamas. Captain
Darling was at that time the Governor of Jamaica.
On account of ill-health he was compelled to seek
leave of absence at the close of the year 1861.

In the early part of 1862, Edward John Eyre, Esq.,
some time Lieutenant-Governor of Antigua, was
selected by the Duke of Newcastle, tj^n Colonial
Secretary of State, to succeed Canidm Darling, as
Lieutenant-Governor, and in May, 1864, he received
full powers to act as Captain-General and Governor
of the island.

1

TEE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

The first measure of Mr. Eyre brought him a con-
siderable amount of popularity, especially among the
missionaries of all denominations. Its object was to
secure men of good and pure character for public
appointments. Intemperate or immoral habits were
held to be a bar to office. Though warmly approved
by the moral and religious portion of the people, it
stirred up the anger of other classes, so that on
meeting his first Assembly in November he found
himself in the presence of an active and influential
opposition. In carrying out his well-intentioned pur-
pose he had unwittingly aroused the susceptibilities
of many persons, and touched a sore spot in the body
corporate. Early in the month of October, 1862, we
find the Duke of Newcastle addressing a reproof to
Mr. Eyre for reflections, in his despatches, upon the
private character of certain persons who had attended
a public meeting held in favour of Mr. G. W. Gordon.
" I feel sure," says the Duke of Newcastle, " that you
will find it most conducive to the public interests you
have at heart, to occupy yourself rather with the sub-
stance of acts and proceedings with which you have to
deal, than with the private characters of the persons
who may assail or defend them." *

In entering on his duties, there can be no question
that Mr. Eyre was actuated by the best of motives,
but he soon found himself unequal to the strife, under
conditions many of which were the fatal heritage of
the errors of the past. The constitution of the Govern-

* Blue Book on Gordon's Removal from the Commission of
the Peace. Returned 2nd March, 1866, p. 41.

THE CONDITION Of JAMAICA.

ment of Jamaica was modelled on that of England,
with its two Legislatures, and a system of administra-
tion entirely independent of the control of the Home
Government. In one of his early despatches Mr. Eyre
himself calls the attention of the Colonial Office to the
utter inadequacy of the popular representation in the
House of Assembly. He found that, since emancipa-
tion, the population had largely increased ; that the
education given by the various religious bodies had
created a large number of intelligent coloured men
who should have enjoyed a place in the administration
of affairs. They had acquired property in land and in
commerce, but were denied the franchise ; so that the
representative body consisted almost entirely of
planters or their nominees, among whom the traditions
of the time of bondage still held full sway. Thus, at
the election of 1864, Mr. Eyre remarks that the number
of persons qualified to vote for the forty-sev^eff mem-
bers of the House of Assembly was only 1.90^B The
actual voters were not more than T,45l7r, out of a
population of 436,807 persons. He naively adds :
" And yet Jamaica is said to possess representative
institutions."

With rare exceptions the members chosen were all
white men. It was the rarest thing in Jamaica to find
a black or brown man on the benches of the Assembly.
Yet the white population numbered only one to thirty A
two black. No wonder *^nat in response to Mr. Eyre's
despatch, the Duke of Newcastle should declare,
almost in the language of his predecessor Earl Grey,

at, "while Her Majesty's Government are most

THE TRAGEDY OF HOE ANT BA Y.

desirous to exercise no unnecessary interference with
the action of the Colonial Legislature, they are bound
to bear in mind that the bulk of the population of
Jamaica are not represented in its Assembly."

Such interference as the circumstances allowed was,
nevertheless, constantly taking place. The approval
of the Home authorities was frequently refused to
laws of the most oppressive character. Of fo^ty Acts
actually passed by the Assembly in J>6l-62, and
allowed by the Colonial Office, only one in the
slightest degree touched the well- being 01 tne labour-
ing classes — an Act about Industrial Schools. All
the rest related to increased taxation, the increase of
paid offices, Immigration Bills, which in no respect
could be said to be beneficial to the labouring classes,
and the like. Not one gave direct attention to the
wants of the coloured people. Some were actually
injurious to their welfare. The planters and the white
population were careful of their own interests alone.

Mr. T. C. Burke, the member for St. David's parish,
thus sketches, in 1865, the condition of the island,
resulting from the course taken by the Jamaica
Assembly, the m^ptfbers of which he did not hesitate
to call " The Forty Thieves " :—

"Jamaica, liy sllUl, " ^as pursuing a senseless struggle
with the Colonial Minister, to the detriment of the best
interests of the Colony. The result has been that no
improvement has taken place in the moral or material
condition of the bulk of the population, and they have
been allowed to grow up in a state of semi-barbarism.
Laws most injurious to their progress were passed, but

THE CONDITION OF JAMAICA.

which were, fortunately, disallowed in England. High
import duties were imposed on the necessaries of life,
thereby enhancing the prices, which necessitated the
negro obtaining land for himself, and cultivating pro-
visions, whereby the estates were deprived of labour.
Everything was done Jto check the productive
industry of the smaji^settlers." "The result was,"
he added, " as Lord Grey wrote in 1852: — 'Although
the need of well-considered legislation, to meet the
wants of an entirely new state of society, was not less
urgent in Jamaica than in the other former slave
colonies ; and though Jamaica has far greater
facilities than most of these colonies for carrying into
effect such measures as are required, the Statute Book
of the island for the last six years presents nearly a
blank, as regards laws calculated to improve the con-
dition of the population, and to raise them in the
scale of civilisation.' " *

It can create no surprise that, with a House of
Assembly so constituted, there should rapidly arise
causes of dissension between its members and the
Executive Government. Early in 1864, the tension
became so great that the House of Assembly resorted
to the almost unprecedented step of forwarding direct
to the Colonial Office a memorial to the Queen, in
which it was stated, for reasons given, that the House
had declined to do any further business with the
Governor. They complain of his administration in
many of its acts, and virtually pray for his removal.

* " Parliamentary Debates of Jamaica, 1865," p. 47.

THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

Mr. Eyre immediately prorogued the Assembly,
and chiefly on the ground that the resolutions adopted
were passed by some thirteen out of forty-seven
constituting the House, though after a very pro-
tracted debate, from which a large proportion of them
were absent. On this account, Mr. Eyre was disposed
to disregard the vote. But it would appear that the
opinions of the absentees must have been in harmony
with it ; for on the reassembling of the House, on the
26th April, they allowed a somewhat similar number
to reaffirm the vote, and to order measures to be
taken for the publication of their resolutions in the
newspapers of the island, and for their transmission
to certain named members of the House of Commons,
in order that their complaints might be heard in
Parliament.

I do not think that this state of things can be laid
entirely at the door of the Governor. There were
doubtless faults on both sides. It was unfortunate ;
for these bitter disputes largely contributed to the
distractions of the time, and destroyed every hope of
good government. It was in vain for the Governor,
in his speech to the Legislature in November, to
appeal to them to "forget past differences," and to
co-operate with him " to promote the common
good." *

It might have been expected that when emancipa-
tion had become an unalterable fact, haste would
have been made to bring the legislation of the island

* Blue Book, June 3rd, 1864, pp. 350 to 356.

THE CONDITION OF JAMAICA.

into conformity with the new conditions ; that some
pains would have been taken to elevate the people,
and to remove the multiplicity of evils which slavery
had left as a malignant disease behind. On the con-
trary, an unreasoning and contumacious spirit took
possession of Jamaica legislators. They rejected with
heated words every proposal of the British Govern-
ment which had in view the benefit of the negro.^
They exhibited at every turn an intention to coerce,
as in the old time, their coloured fellow-subjects, and
to make " their lives bitter with hard service." They
threw every hindrance that couj^oe imagined in the
way of their enjoyment of t^eir common rights. A
small oligarchy of some 2,000 persons possessed them-
selves of the reins ol '"Udlflinistration, and laws of
monstrous stringency were often passed, to limit
unjustly, or to destroy, the freedom conferred by the
mother country. ^The barbarities of a slave code
were attempted to be perpetuated among a free
people, and excessive penalties were inflicted on the
slightest breach of intolerant laws. The expenses of
the courts were made enormously heavy, so that,
according to the report of a police magistrate, " the I
poor man was often debarred from seeking jus- A
tice." \

In view of subsequent events tha* following testi-
mony of the Hon. Dr. Bowerbank, a member of the
Island Privy CouncTf^'ought not to be withheld: —
" After many years' residence here, and after sitting
as a member of the House of Assembly for some three
years, I feel bound in honour and in duty to express

THE TRAGEDY OF MORA NT BAY.

my opinion that the House of Assembly is the curse
of Jamaica."

The futility of the legislation emanating from such
a body cannot be better stated than in the language
of Mr. Eyre himself ; and it is the more important as
corroborating to the full the statements of my letter
to Mr. Cardwell, so often charged: with exaggeration,
and even untruth. Writiu^to the Colonial Office on
the 2nd March, 1865,^ Eyre says : — " The young and
the strong of both sSx^s, tfiose who are well able to
work, fill the gaols of the Colony. The commission
of crime and its consequences are little thought of,
and larcenies have increased to an alarming extent."
He then quotes, with approval, the words of a resident
on " the inveterate habits of idleness, and the low
state of moral and religious principles which prevail
in so fearful a degree in our community." Imprison-
ment and hard labour proved no check, and Mr. Eyre's
only remedy was a return to the lash, as a moralising
agency and deterrent of crime. " It is undeniable,"
he says, " that wages are lower and necessaries are
dearer than in former years ; therefore, the mere
labourer for hire is necessarily poorer. . . . Im-
ported goods, especially clothing materials, have been
enhanced greatly in price since the commencement of
war in America. . . . Applications for private
relief are more numerous than formerly, and there
are, no doubt, many instances of extreme poverty and
distress, both in reference to food and as respects
clothing." He closes with theJpHowing emphatic
declaration, after his three years' government, of the

THE CONDITION OF JAMAICA.

ruin which had fallen on Jamaica : — " Deterioration,
decadence, and decay are everywhere noticeable, and
the elements which ought to sustain and improve the
national character, and promote the welfare and pro-
gress of the country, are gradually disappearing." *

This was Mr. Eyre's view of the condition of Jamaica
at the very time that my letter came into his hands.
At the same time all accounts concur in representing
Mr. Eyre to have been, during the two years preceding
the occurrences at Morant Bay, the most unpopular
Governor who had held office in Jamaica for many
years, and his unpopularity was not confined to the
emancipated peasantry, it pervade^ all classes of the
population. ^^^

To complete this picture, I need only add the
account given by Dr. Bowerbank of the influences at
work which so injiillifliklji uU^cleTf the lower classes.
He notes the acknowledged inefficiency of the courts
of law; the failure of justice for the lower orders;
the laxity, untrustworthiness, and improprieties of
public boards ; the gross and unblushing bribery and
corruption practised at elections by the upper classes ;
the licentiousness and gross perversions of the truth,
and the " immoral relations of the public Press " ; the
scandalous abuses, want of integrity and shortcomings,

0 Blue Book on Affairs of Jamaica, No. 9, p. 7. For a full
discussion of the subjects of the above paragraphs, see the
searching inquiry of Mr. J. M. Ludlow, Barrister- at-Law, in
his calm and judicial paper, entitled " A Quarter of a Century
of Jamaica Legislation." Published by the Jamaica Com-
mittee, 1866.

10 THE TRAGEDY Of MORANT BAY.

in the management of public institutions ; the laxity,
the perjury, the defalcations, and the frauds com-
mitted under the shelter of the laws ; the disgraceful
bickerings and jobbery of the members of the As-
sembly. He adds to all this the scathing remark :
— " It is unreasonable to expect that so imitative and
cunning a class of men as the lower orders of this
community, will see their betters in their own way set
at defiance all law, and justice, and religion to obtain
their own ends ; and that they will not in their own
way follow the example set them to serve their own
purposes." *

Bad as all this was, intensity was added to the
discontent and disquietude existing among all classes
by the severity of the drought which for three suc-
cessive years had dried up the productive industries
of agriculture. Through the failure of sugar cultiva-
tion, and the closing of more than one half the
estates,f employment was steadily diminishing, and
no persistent attempts were made to encourage the
cultivation of minor products, such as coffee, cotton,,
ginger and other spices, arrowroot, &c., &c., while at
the same time further taxation was laid on the
necessaries of life. So far back as 1862 the Governor,
in his speech to the Legislature, noted " the deprecia-
tion of the value of produce," and " the loss of con-

c Jamaica Blue Book, p. 78.

f Mr. Hosack, a member of the Privy Council, stated in
May, 1865, that " there are about 300 sugar estates in Jamaica
now remaining out of 700 once under cultivation." — Blue Book
on Jamaica Affairs, p. 248.

THE CONDITION OF JAMAICA. 11

siderable number of stock from drought." He also
refers to " the depressed circumstances of the Colony,"
and to " the unremunerative prices of produce." And
among his later despatches in 1865 (August 21st), ho
reports that the colonists have " suffered very severely
of late years from the continual low prices and from
bad seasons." * The laws enacted in the Session of
1864 also bear testimony to the distress as giving
rise to more numerous offences calling for extreme
severity as the true remedy, and for which, in some
cases, only compulsory service would suffice.*!* In
the time of drought, heartless land agents were even
found who wantonly destroyed the produce of the
provision grounds, to the amount of £15 or £20,
arising from disputes about the ownership of rocky
lands in the mountains, which with immense toil the
negro agriculturist had brought under cultivation. J

* Blue Book on Jamaica Affairs, p. 251.

f See " Facts and Documents," p. 7. Published by the
Jamaica Committee,
t Jamaica Guardian of March 2nd, 1865.

CHAPTER II.

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA.

SUCH was the general state of the island at the
time that my letter reached Mr. Eyre, at the
end of the month of February, 1865. Mr. Eyre's
relations with the House of Assembly, and with some
members of the administration, were in a very strained
condition. In a despatch, dated the 8th July, to the
Colonial Office, he informs Mr. Cardwell that, although
he had succeeded in passing some essential measures,
and in obtaining the revenue necessary for the year,
he had not enjoyed the co-operation of the Legis-
lature in his efforts for the promotion of the public
good. Still he hoped that much of the existing
agitation would subside before the Legislature would
again meet.*

My letter is first heard of, in the possession of the
Hon. William Hosack, a member of the Executive
Committee, and also a member of the House of
Assembly, on the 28th February. It was in the hands
of the Bishop of Kingston three days later, for, on the
2nd March, the Bishop had prepared a Circular of

0 Blue Book on the Affairs of Jamaica, No. 5, February 8th,
1865.

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 1%

Questions, addressed to a few selected clergymen,
requesting replies by the 8th March. His Excellency
the Governor was left at perfect liberty by Mr.
Cardwell to seek information in any quarter that he
might choose. For reasons unknown, the scope of
his inquiries was almost immediately enlarged ; for on
the 13th March, a Circular was sent out, through
official channels, to the custodes of parishes, the
judges and magistrates, and subsequently to all the
clergy and to ministers of religion of all denominations.
It consisted of the despatch of Mr. Secretary Cardwell,
with my letter, and requested these gentlemen to
furnish the Governor with the materials for his
reply. On the 21st March, a copy of the Circular
was for the first time published in the Jamaica
Guardian, by whose direction does not appear, but
we are assured without Mr. Eyre's sanction or know-
lodge. The Circular issued by the Baptist Missionary
Society in England, on the distress of the people of
Jamaica, and calling for subscriptions, had already
attracted the attention of the island press, but my
letter, now printed, and its circulation by local
authority, gave to the subject unexpected importance.
It was not only placed in the hands of the leading
officials and gentlemen of influence throughout the
island, but was scattered broadcast, and it became at
once the topic of heated discussion in every class of
the community. It was reprinted in all the news-
papers, and was the subject of daily comment. Not
a house, not an individual, but was made acquainted
with its contents, it was common property. The

14 THE TRAGEDY OF M OR ANT BA Y.

field labourer equally with the planter had it before
him. It touched the welfare of rich and poor alike,
and all without exception became intensely interested
in its contents. Never was any official document
printed and circulated which awakened such universal
attention. Since the date of emancipation no sub-
ject had so seriously agitated the public opinion of
Jamaica, or called forth more acrimonious discussion.*

In 1864, during the session of the Legislature, a

few public meetings had been held to protest against

/J the increased taxation proposed. It was said that

M already, under Mr. Eyre's administration, £300,000

* had been added to the burdens of an impoverished

people, much of which was spent, not for the public

benefit, but for the profit of private individuals.

But popular feeling now found stronger and more
definite expression in a series of public gatherings,
which universally obtained the designation of " Under-
bill Meetings." The first was held in Savanna-la-Mar.|
It was called on a requisition to the Gustos of the
parish, and was held in a schoolroom, the Court-
house being under repair. The chairman was a local
celebrity, by name John Deleon, Esq. About 500
persons were present, and three or four magistrates.
The purpose of the meeting was stated to be " the
consideration of certain statements contained in a
letter from Dr. Underbill, Secretary of the Baptist
Missionary Society in London, to the Right Hon.

* Eev. D. J. East's " Reminiscences."

f " Parliamentary Debates," vol. xii., pp. 157, 183, 187,
and 284.

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 15

Edward Card well, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary
of State for the Colonies, in relation to the distress
prevailing amongst the labouring population of the
island." Four resolutions were unanimously passed.
By the first it was affirmed that the peasantry, with
all other classes of the community, " were severely
suffering from the diminution of wages, consequent on
the low value of the staple products of the country."
The second resolution traces the depression to " the
abandonment of so many of the estates," and the
insufficiency of remunerative employment. The third
resolution gave emphasis to the fact that no attempt
had been made by the Legislature to relieve the
distress, or to ameliorate the condition of the suffering
classes. The final resolution directs that the pro-
ceedings of the meeting should be forwarded to the
Colonial Office through the Governor, and be published
in the newspapers, with the added suggestion that an
impartial and effective investigation should be made
by the Home Government.

The resolutions of the Montego Bay meeting took a
somewhat wider scope. It was called by advertise-
ment, and the Hon. G. H. Phillips, Custos of St. James,
and member of the Privy Council, took the chair.
All the resolutions were carried with perfect unani-
mity. The first resolution affirms that " distress
pervades every section of the community, and the
country is fast lapsing into ruin." It traces this state
of things — (1) to the fiscal policy of the mother
country, "which internal legislation and local rule
have consummated/' and they appeal to the Home

1 6 THE TEA GED Y OF MO RAN T BA Y.

Government as alone capable of extricating them
from their difficulties. (2) They declare that the evils
they suffer are beyond their power to cure. The
Legislature is unsuited to the country, its framework
cumbrous and expensive, its corruption and extrava-
gance unbounded, and they have no power to secure
reform. The narrowness of the franchise throws all
power into the hands of a few hangers-on in the capital,
and neutralises the votes of the agricultural and com-
mercial districts, while there exists in the Legislative
Council and the Executive Committee no available
check to the corruption and profligacy of the governing
class. The resolutions close by saying that, "in review
of the assertions made by Dr. Underbill, the meeting
deliberately and unhesitatingly endorses their sub-
stantial truth." *

Another meeting of considerable importance — and
which cannot be passed over — was held on the
3rd May in the city of Kingston. It was called in
pursuance of a numerously signed requisition to the
Hon. Edward Jordan, C.B., Mayor, who, at the last
moment, on account of sickness, was unable to take
the chair.f Mr. George William Gordon was there-
fore unanimously requested to preside. Mr. Wm. Kelly
Smith, connected with the Watchman newspaper,
was elected secretary. The Jamaica Guardian tells
us that this was a large gathering of the so-called
labouring classes, and the meeting was conducted in a

* Blue Book, " Papers Eelative to the Affairs of Jamaica,"
p. 211.

f Eeport of Commission, p. 554.

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 17

regular and orderly manner. There were, however,
some foolish statements made, which should be
regarded as mere rhetorical flourishes, having no
definite meaning in the speaker's own mind. After a
few brief observations from the chair, on what the
meeting was intended to be, fifteen resolutions were
passed, and in a sixteenth, twenty gentlemen, mostly
consisting of the proposers of the resolutions, were
nominated to lay them before His Excellency the
Governor, and to forward through him a copy to the
Colonial Office. They deal with the same topics as
the resolutions already given ; but are notable for the
Christian spirit which pervades them. They affirm
the truthfulness of Dr. Underhill's statements. The
letter was a " gracious " interference, and a stimulus
to the expression " of their distress, and of the wrongs
and disabilities springing out of class legislation and
mal-administration, which it was their interest and
duty to endeavour to overcome in every constitutional
way possible." They enter into some details of the
injustice inflicted upon them by various parties, the
low rate of wages and its consequences, the neglect of
their representatives, the admission of immigrants,
enial of education to the masses, taxation for the
pport of religion, and express their indebtedness
the philanthropic labours of their friends in
England. They give their hearty thanks to Dr.
Underbill and the Baptist missionaries, and express
their belief that the course pursued by these gentle-
men " is calculated to secure the best interests of all
classes in the island."

18 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

Their final resolution is as follows : — " That, in keep-
ing with the foregoing resolutions, this meeting calls
upon all the descendants of Africa, in every parish
throughout the island, to form themselves into socie-
ties, and hold public meetings, and co-operate for the
purpose of setting forth their grievances, especially
now, when our philanthropic friends in England are
leading the way." *

The meeting did not attract much attention in
Kingston at the time, but the parties who thus tem-
perately set forth their grievances, and openly pursued
a remedy for them in a legal and entirely constitu-
tional way, are spoken of in the Governor's despatch
to Mr. Card well as " political demagogues ready to
stir up the people to a belief of imaginary wrongs,"
and not truly representative of the really thriving
black and coloured population.

A reporter present thus gives the substance of the
speeches he heard : — The people were sinking under
the heavy burden of taxation. It was time to seek
their liberties, for the black and coloured population
were oppressed and kept under. Situations were not
opened to them in the administration of affairs. The
Government gave them no encouragement, although
they were large taxpayers and were the larger section
of the community. They had no advantages whatever,
and it was only their duty to stand up as men and
seek to enjoy their rights and privileges.

These statements were received with applause,

* " Papers Eelative to the Affairs of Jamaica," pp. 189, 191.

TEE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 19

especially when the people were assured that the
Government was immoral and not to be obeyed. The
Governor's morality proclamation, they said, was all a
farce. This was true, for shortly after its issue appoint-
ments were made by Mr. Eyre of men of the very
character which the proclamation denounced.

The resolutions were published, but the speeches
were suppressed.*

Of the eleven meetings, of which records exist, not
one was of more value and importance than that held
on the 16th May in Spanish Town, at the seat of
Government, called by the Hon. Richard Hill, a
magistrate of eminent character and great influence.
It was presided over by H. Lewis, Esq., one of the
representatives of the parish in the House of Assembly.
I shall venture to give these resolutions at length, in-
asmuch as they were personally presented by an influ-
ential deputation, specially named, to lay them before
the Governor for transmission to the Colonial Office.
A copy, over the signatures of the chairman and
secretary, was also sent to me. They were unani-
mously adopted by the crowded assemblage : —

Resolved —

1. " That this meeting deeply deplores the present
depressed state of the inhabitants of this Colony, and
takes this opportunity of expressing its sentiments,
especially at this period, when the philanthropists of
England are trying to alleviate those distresses by
bringing the same before the British Government."

* Eoyal Commission : The Evidence of George Fouche, p. 553.

2*

20 THE TRAGEDY OF MOEANT BA Y.

2. "That this meeting views with alarm the dis-
tressed condition of nearly all classes of the people of
this Colony from the want of employment, in conse-
quence of the abandonment of a large number of
estates, and the staple of the country being no longer
remunerative, caused by being brought into unequal
competition with slave-grown products."

3. " That this meeting feels seriously the distressed
state of the mechanics of this country, who are
suffering from the injustice done to them, by the
Legislature having imposed the same import duty of
12 J per cent, on the raw materials as on the manu-
factured articles imported into this island, not only
from the mother country, but also from the United
States, thus paralysing the industry and crippling
the energies of the tradespeople of this country."

4 " That, in consequence of such distress, from no
work being obtainable, many of the inhabitants,
chiefly tradespeople, have been compelled to leave
their homes to seek employment in foreign climes,
and many others are only deterred from doing so,
because they do not know what is to become of their
families in their absence."

5. " That, as an illustration of the general distress,
this meeting gives as an example that there are in
Spanish Town, the capital of the island, nearly 150
carpenters, 60 masons, 91 shoemakers, 127 tailors,
772 seamstresses, and 800 servants, amounting in all
to about 1,900 individuals, out of an adult population
of 3,124 of all classes, many of whom are without
knowing where to obtain their daily bread, and all of

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 21

whom are suffering more or less from the high prices
of food and raiment, and excessive taxation."

6. " That, whilst recent legislation has been
directed to endeavour to reduce crime by increasing
the severity of punishment, no attention whatever has
been given by the Legislature to the establishment of
proper reformation, and a sound system of educa-
tion."

7. " That, in reference to the letter of Dr. Under-
bill, addressed to the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, we, Her Most Gracious Majesty's loyal
subjects, assembled this day, do corroborate the
statements made by that gentleman, and do most
cordially record our grateful thanks to him for the
warm sympathy he has evinced towards suffering
humanity in this island."

8. " That a copy of the resolutions of this meeting
be respectfully presented by a deputation appointed
by the Chairman to his Excellency the Governor, to
be by him transmitted to the Right Honourable
Edward Cardwell, Secretary of State for the Colonies,
and that a copy be forwarded to Dr. Underbill, and
that the same be signed by the Chairman and Secre-
tary on behalf of this meeting."

(Signed) A. H. LEWIS, Chairman.

JNO. S. M'PHERSON, Secretary.

Mr. Evre has stated that " these public meetings
were got up in many parishes, mostly through the
agency of Baptist ministers, or others acting or profess-
ing to act in connection with them ; and that Baptist

22 TEE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

ministers, in many instances, took a prominent part
at such meetings, addressing the mob, and joining in
resolutions, adopting entirely, and vouching for, the
correctness of Dr. Underbill's allegations."

It was notorious that in no sense could these
meetings be called "a mob." If enthusiastic and
unanimous, they were in no instance disorderly.
Baptist ministers had in fact a very small share, either
in calling the meetings or in speaking at them. In
the parish of Trelawney, in which there were seven
Baptist ministers, with nearly 4,000 members, no
meeting whatever was convened, except a small one
by a pastor with his own church. In St. Ann's, in
which there were six Baptist ministers and upwards
of 3,500 church members, a public meeting was con-
vened by the Gustos; but the missionaries unani-
mously declined to take part in it. They were not
consulted and did not sign the requisition for it. At
Lucea the pastor was absent in England. The
Montego Bay meeting was the result of a parish
requisition numerously signed by all classes. It was
addressed by a member of the House of Assembly,
who read a letter from two estimable and wealthy
planters approving of the object of the gathering.*

It is certain that out of the twenty-one parishes in
which Baptist ministers laboured, the meetings were
held only in eleven. Of thirty-six recognised Baptist
ministers in the island, only seven European and four
coloured men took part. Of other clergymen and

* Missionanj Herald, January, 1866, p. 13.

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 23

ministers who did address them, three belonged to the
Church of England, two were Wesleyans, three were
Presbyterians, and one was a Secession Methodist. In
fact the meetings and their leaders consisted of
thoroughly representative men, drawn from all classes,
called out by the action, prudent or otherwise, of the
Governor himself and his advisers.

The resolutions of the Spanish Town meeting are no
more than a fair and unexaggerated specimen of the
utterances of this popular movement. The meetings
were everywhere largely attended, and the resolutions
were enthusiastically carried. Such opportunities had
never before been afforded for the expression of public
sentiment on the part of the Freedmen and their
descendants, or for the setting forth of the grievances
under which they groaned. It was no part of Mr,
Eyre's plans or intentions to awaken this somewhat
dormant feeling. He had taken no pains to under-
stand the real condition of the island, as seen from the
point of view of the former serfs, of the white and
propertied classes of the Colony. An opportunity had
now come for the despised negro to give utterance
to his complaints. The oppressed and down-trodden
people were not without able expounders of their
rights, men risen from their own ranks, who had
happily enjoyed, and learnt to know the value of, the
privileges which education, civilisation, and religion
had brought to them at the cost, and by the instruc-
tion, of the Christian teachers in their midst. These
men had been taught in the elementary schools of the
missionaries, not of the State ; for the time had not

24 THE TEA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

come for the Government to take the charge of their
education. Reading and writing were their familiar
acquisition. ^The Bible had been their Primer, and its
Divine teachings familiarised them with the great law
of righteousness — that law which exalte th a nation.
Some of them had proved apt scholars.

Notably such men as Samuel Holt and Samuel
Clark were able public speakers, and could express
themselves in forcible Saxon speech. They were
converted men and earnest Christian disciples. The
very diction of the sacred volume had become to
them their mother tongue. They were leaders among
their brethren, loyal to the Queen, lovers of law and
order, peaceable and peace-loving. But they were
fully capable of appreciating their civil rights, and of
standing before any audience to advocate and defend
them. They knew their grievances, and could boldly
claim relief from the burdens that class legislation
unjustly imposed upon them, Holt attended and
addressed several meetings on the north side of the
island, always in the loyal and temperate spirit that
characterised him, yet with a force and eloquence
which facts within his personal knowledge naturally
inspired.

As the " Underhill Meetings " proceeded, during
the months of May and June, the excitement grew
more intense, when a circumstance took place which
added fuel to the flame. In the month of April, " An
Humble Petition of the poor people of Jamaica and
parish of St. Ann's," (so ran the title) addressed to the
Queen, was forwarded to the Colonial Office by the

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 25

Governor/-5 In plain but forcible language it described
the distress and grievances under which they were suf-
fering. Mr. Eyre himself tells us that the petition
represented " the peasantry of Jamaica as being
generally in a destitute and starving condition." He
does not deny the fact, but informs Her Majesty's
Home Government that it was a statement which
many of them " will be quite ready to take advantage
of, and try to turn to their own account in every way
they can." He feared that " these deluded people "
would be led to expect relief, perhaps by pecuniary
gifts, or by the removal of taxation, which they
affirmed was unjust and oppressive.

The petition is expressed in language of childlike
simplicity. It is warmly and affectionately loyal, a
fair example of what the Secretary of the Royal Com-
mission later on had in view, when he spoke of the
negroes of Jamaica as " venerating the Queen with
an almost more than English reverence." £clt describes
for the Queen's information their daily life, the
decayed state of the plantations, the difficulty of
finding work and its poor remuneration ; that the
little holdings and gardens some of them possessed
were trampled under foot by the cattle of estate
owners, who refused to repair the fences their cattle
had broken down, or to compensate the loss. " If,"
say these trusting children, "our Most Gracious
Sovereign Lady will be so kind as to get a quantity of
land, we will put our hearts and hands to work and

* See Blue Book on Jamaica Affairs, pp. 235 and 241.

26 THE TRAGEDY Of MORANT BAY.

cultivate cotton, coffee, corn, canes, and tobacco, and
other produce. . . . We are far away from our
Gracious Queen, otherwise your humble servants
would all speak to our Sovereign personally of our
distress. . . . We the undersigned, your humble
servants, have heavy taxes to pay, and have to pay
the export duty on our little produce when selling it
to the merchants. Your humble servants beg the
notice of our Gracious Lady Queen Victoria, wishing
her long life to reign over your poor and humble
servants of the parish of St. Ann's." Of the 108
names appended to the petition only twenty-six could
write, the rest affix a cross to mark their assent to
the terms of the petition.

The reply reached them from the Colonial Office on
the 14th June. In official and curt language these
" humble " people are told that, as the means of sup-
port for the labouring classes depend upon labour, it
is their duty, by industry and prudence, to use the
means of prospering already in their hands, and to
look to this source for their well-being, and not to rely
on any schemes that may have been suggested to
them. " Her Majesty will regard with interest and
satisfaction their advancement through their own
merits and efforts." *

It is difficult to believe that this document em-
anated from the home advisers of the Crown. It
displays an utter want of sympathy and appreciation
of the starving condition of the people, whom three

0 Blue Book on Jamaica Affairs, p. 235.

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 27

years of drought had pauperised. In the island it
was openly said to be, in substance, if not in form, the
production of " King's House," in Spanish Town. It
was immediately published by the Governor as a
placard, with the heading, " The Queen's Advice," and
)0,000 copies were sent for distribution to the officers
of Government, to be posted in prominent places

iroughout the island. Copies were also sent to the
clergy and ministers of all denominations, to be read

)m their pulpits.

To the people the disappointment was gall and
rormwood, and but for the good sense and prudence
of many ministers of religion, who refused to read it
to their hearers — or, if read, it was with such com-
ments as were calculated to allay the irritation, which
might even then have culminated in general disaster.
In one instance the Gustos reported to the Governor
that, on the Rev. M. Smith, the curate of Sacovia,
reading the placard in his place of worship after
service, the congregation hooted him out of the
church ; and that many members of the Bethlehem
Moravian congregation, at the collection, told the
minister they had no more to give him.*

It was heard with consternation by the well-
disposed and thoughtful, who at once perceived how
noxious would be its effect.f It was in truth a
challenge provocative of an outbreak, rather than a
well-considered effort to allay excitement. It sorely
aggravated the popular irritation. It was written in

* Blue Book on Affairs, p. 241.

f Eev. D. J. East's " Reminiscences."

TEE TRAGEDY OF MORA NT BA Y.

the spirit of the language of Pharaoh's taskmasters
to the Israelites, " Ye are idle, ye are idle." " Get you
unto your burdens."

" This," said Mr. Eyre, with bitterness, " is the first
fruits of Dr. Underbill's letter." "I fear," he adds,
" that the results of Dr. Underhill's communications
will have a very prejudicial influence in unsettling
the minds of the peasantry."* Certain it is, that Mr.
Eyre was himself, to a still greater degree, the real
agitator. To his unwise action must be attributed
the lamentable results which so speedily ensued. Mr.
Eyre, it must be supposed, was of the opinion of the
grand jurors of St. Ann's, that the petition might bo
treated with scorn — as foolish tattle — since, as they
affirmed, the document was merely the " concoction
of some idle persons living about the villages," not
" vouched for " by their ministers " or any persons
of respectability."

No wonder that Mr. Eyre's already acquired un-

„ popularity was deepened by this unfortunate event.
People longed for a change. Weak, vacillating, and
undignified in conduct and character, he proved him-

j self to be a ruler lacking in tact, wisdom, and pene-
tration. His removal was regarded as an event to be
ardently desired, in order that the affairs of so fine
and important an island as Jamaica might be placed
in more capable hands. A leading paper, by no
means unfavourable to the Governor, describes the
Government House as neglected, so that even the

* Blue Book on Jamaica Affairs, p. 235.

THE LETTER AND ITS RECEPTION IN JAMAICA. 29

ruling class was wearied with his ineptitude. Poli-
tically his government was a failure. It commanded
no respect. It enjoyed neither confidence nor affec-
tion.* It was ever more ready to fall back upon
barbarous means of punishment than to educate the
people ; and to visit crimes with the whip, the crank,
and the treadmill, which both the pulpit and press
affirmed were the result of poverty and starvation,
rather than of turpitude of heart.

0 Morning Journal of July 8th, 1865.

CHAPTER III.

RUMOURS AFLOAT.

IF the loyalty of the people remained unshaken by
the harsh and cruel indifference shown by Mr.
Eyre and his advisers to the wretchedness and
grievances pressing on their notice, from all parts of
the island, the Governor at length began to fear that
the agitation would take a violent direction and break
out in open rebellion. The first indication of this
expectation occurs in a despatch from Mr. Eyre to
the Colonial Office, dated the 24th July. It is re-
ported, he says, that a Mr. Hudson, writing on the
20th to the Hon. John Salmon, the Custos and Presi-
dent of the Privy Council, from the north side of the
island, tells him that for the past few weeks there
have been rumours of a rebellion among the peasantry,
" to break out on or about the 1st August ; " that, in
fact, " an organised plot existed having this as its end."
He gives as his authority a house-girl in his family,
who, if she knows more, refuses, he says, to tell it.
He also informs the Custos that other persons (with-
out naming them) had given intelligence of a like
import. Two days later, the Custos adds the further
information that he had been spoken to by several of

RUMOURS AFLOAT. 31

the peasantry and coloured people about it ; " but
that I cannot arrive at any certain information." He
further expresses the opinion that " it is unlikely,
almost impossible, that the constantly referring to over-
taxation and under-pay for labour, and unjust import
duties, and unequal administration of the law, and
impediments to export, and extortion and frauds — can
do no other than create dissatisfaction among even
the quietly disposed, and entirely prevent any good
feeling growing up.* He, therefore, intimates that
the presence on the coast of a vessel of war, with its
morning and evening gun, would have a salutary
effect, and check the evil intention if it really existed.
The day following the Gustos of St. Elizabeth's
mentions other rumours that had reached his ears ;
but he appears to have taken no steps to verify their
truth. It sufficed, however, to determine Mr. Eyre ta
take action ; for, on the same day, he writes to the
Commodore of the Navy, giving him directions to
send a man-of-war to the spot whence the rumours
came. He is to visit the ports of Lucea, Savana-la-
Mar, Montego Bay, and the mouth of the Black River,,
in the parishes of St. Elizabeth and St. James, all
places on the north side of the island, where the
agitation was reported to exist, stimulated by a few
evil-minded persons. The Gustos of the neighbouring
parish of Westmoreland, however, writes Mr. Eyre on
the 31st, that in his district he is not aware, nor does
he think, "that there are any grounds, direct or

* Blue Book on Affairs of Jamaica, p. 248.

32 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

indirect, for supposing that any disaffection or inten-
tion to resist the law exists in any shape."* He
further takes the trouble to inquire into these
rumours, and reports that he could not find any pre-
parations being made for an outbreak ; that there was
no unusual demand for gunpowder or firearms. Still,
he would put the police on the watch. With regard
to the parish of St. James, he feared there was good
cause for apprehension.

A coloured gentleman, Mr. John Gilling, of Black
River, St. James, who had taken an active part in one
of " the Underhill meetings," writes, on the 1st August*
to Mr. Eyre with regard to complaints of a serious
nature made by the Gustos against him, " That he was
the chief insurgent in the ' insurrection ' which was
to take place on that day." f A more false and un-
founded tissue of reports, he declares, " has never been
made up against his own and the unbounded loyalty
of the black population of the parish." As a loyal
subject he requests to be supplied with the information
given to His Excellency the Governor.

On the same day, the Gustos of St. James himself
reports to Mr. Eyre, that he " cannot say that he has
seen or heard anything showing any combination
among the labouring classes for any acts of violence."
Five days later, he adds that he had not found it
necessary to take any precautions of the nature recom-
mended to him.

On the 3rd August, Captain Wake, commander of

* Blue Book, p. 248. f Hid., p. 244.

RUMOURS AFLOAT.

H.M.S. Bulldog, who had been ordered to visit Black
River, reports to the Commodore : " Hitherto every-
thing has been perfectly quiet, and I see no reason to
apprehend that it will be otherwise in future. The
currency of mischievous reports among such an
ignorant, thoughtless, and credulous people has not
been without effect ; but I cannot find out that there
is any ground whatever for believing in a preconcerted
rising of even that small portion of the population
which is discontented."

In point of fact, it soon became clear that the
rumours of revolt which disturbed the Governor, and
led to his warlike and military precautions, and to the
seizure in the post-office of the letters of the Baptist
missionaries residing in that quarter of the island, had
no foundation whatever. Undeniably there was great
discontent and openly expressed dissatisfaction every-
where with the administration of affairs, fully justified
by the bitter feuds that prevailed in the House of
Assembly, and the miserable condition of poverty and
nakedness of multitudes of the emancipated popula-
tion ; but there was no sufficient reason for the exag-

jrated fears of Mr. Eyre, nor any good cause to doubt
loyalty of the great body of the people.

It must, however, be noted that rumours of a dis-

:bing character were not reported from St. Thomas-
i-the-East, or from the south side of the island, of
rhich Morant Bay was the centre,

CHAPTER IY.

KEPLIES TO THE LETTER.

IT was on the loth May that the Colonial Office
received the first batch of reports collected by
Governor Eyre in response to the views ex-
pressed in my letter. They were eighty-eight in
number. Others followed at various dates ; the whole
representing the views of the many different parties
to whom the Governor had addressed his circular. The
first two came from Mr. Hosack, a member of the
Executive Committee, and from the Bishop of
Kingston ; followed by a long array of replies from
the custodes of parishes, inspectors of prisons, and
other Government officials, with special communica-
tions from clergymen and ministers of all denomina-
tions. These all were from the white portion of the
community. The views of the black population came
to Mr. Eyre unasked for, in resolutions from the
" Underbill Meetings," and generally with an instruc-
tion that they should be forwarded to the Home
authorities.

A long despatch accompanied these papers from
the Governor himself,* passing them in review, with

* Papers Relating to the Affairs of Jamaica, presented to
Parliament, February, 1866, p. 29, 139, &c.

REPLIES TO THE LETTER. 35

his opinion as to their accuracy and value. The
Report of the Baptist missionaries alone fills thirty-
three folio pages in the Blue Book, * and consists of a
series of replies to questions drawn up by the Council
of the Baptist Union of Jamaica, representing seventy -
three congregations, having 20,000 church members,
and nearly 10,000 scholars in their day and Sunday
schools, spread, with two exceptions, through every
county or parish of the island. The Baptist congre-
gations for the most part were composed of the
labouring classes ; and the missionaries, from their
intimate relations and constant intercourse with
them, were certainly amongst the best informed on
their social circumstances and condition.

I may mention the chief subjects with which
this important report deals, the details of which are
clearly and accurately given both in extenso and in a
tabulated form. The places are carefully described
from which the information was drawn, and sorted
under the following heads : — The first schedule relates
to the poverty and distress prevailing in every district,
en follow the causes assigned for this state of
hings; the extent of the demand and supply of
bour; the rate of wages generally prevailing; the
rices of food and clothing ; the agricultural employ-
ments of the people apart from the estates ; the
causes of the increase of crime, especially larceny ; the
taxation and the operation of the laws; and, lastty,
certain topics specially relating to the larger towns.

Papers Relating to the Affairs oi Jamaica, presented to
'arliament, February, 1866, pp. 139, 147.

3*

THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

It is not possible here to summarise the mass
of fact and detail accumulated in this elaborate
document, with its carefully drawn schedules and
conclusions. A more searching investigation into the
social and economic condition of a people was never
undertaken. It is at once thorough and free from
bias and from exaggeration of language. It abounds
with irrefutable facts. Its moderation and candour,
the care shown in the collection of facts, and in
stating the conclusions to which the ascertained facts
lead, commend it to every thoughtful reader, and give
it authority on all the matters of which it treats. So
far as I am aware, not one of its statements has been
questioned by any person in a position to be con-
versant with the subject. It is even characterised by
Mr. Eyre as a paper " very carefully and ably got up,
and containing much interesting and valuable infor-
mation." " As a whole, the report," he says, " is a
very fair and candid one, and will convey to Her
Majesty's Government much important and useful
information." *

Yet with this document in his possession, Mr. Eyre,
betraying a prejudice unsuited to his position, can
write to Mr. Card well of " the serious mischief done
amongst an ignorant and easily led population, when
the missionaries residing amongst them, and profess-
ing to be their friends and instructors, endorse at
public meetings — got up for the most part by political
demagogues or designing agitators — such statements

* Blue Book : Papers Kelative to Despatch, May 6th, 1865,
pp. 139 and 140.

REPLIES TO THE LETTER. 37

as those contained in Dr. Underbill's letter, to the
effect that the population are driven to steal by
starvation, and that the coloured population are
denied political rights and just tribunals." * Many of
the men thus censured had laboured in Jamaica with
unimpeachable faithfulness for many years. To their
efforts was mainly, if not solely, to be attributed the
improvement that had taken place since emancipation
in the social, moral, and religious character and posi-
tion of the people. As men second to none in loyalty
to the Crown, they were justified in regarding with
indignation the uncharitable and undignified conduct
exhibited by one holding Governor Eyre's high posi-
tion as the representative of Her Majesty the Queen.

As might be expected, the resolutions emanating
from the "Underbill Meetings" met with scant
courtesy from Mr. Eyre. " They came," he frequently
repeats, " from deluded people," from " political dema-
gogues ready to stir up the people to a belief of
imaginary wrongs " ; " from an amalgamation (for
political purposes) between a portion of the country
party, who are opposed to the present Executive Com-
mittee, and a portion of the Baptist ministers who
desire to back up Dr. Underbill." " Documents pur-
porting to be a spontaneous emanation from the
peasantry, but in reality got up by designing persons
to serve their own purposes." f " Due entirely to Dr.
Underbill's letter, and to the delusions which have

0 Despatch of September 20th, 1865 : Papers relating to the
Affairs of Jamaica, p. 262.

t Blue Book. Papers relative, &c., pp. 189, 197, 222, 226, 235.

38 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

been instilled into the minds of the ignorant peasantry
by designing persons in reference to it." Such was
the attitude of Governor Eyre to the vast mass of
coloured people who formed the bulk of the com-
munity. His bias was unmistakable, and his spirit
most lamentable.

The largest portion of these voluminous communi-
cations was in the possession of the Colonial Office by
the end of July. On the 5th August, Sir Frederick
Rogers, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, in-
formed me that a careful inquiry had been made into
the allegations of my letter, and " that the state of the
peasantry, as disclosed by that inquiry, is a matter
which has received, and will continue to receive, the
anxious attention of the Government of the Colony ;
but that it does not appear that they are suffering
from any general or continuous distress from which
they would not be at once relieved by settled in-
dustry." *

I was quite aware that the Home Government stood
in a very awkward and often strained relation to the
Colonial Executive in Jamaica. The so-called Repre-
sentative House of Assembly enjoyed all the indepen-
dent powers ot the House of Commons. The Colonial
Office might suggest, but could not enforce. It might
give advice, but was powerless to secure its adoption.
Every attempt to bring the Jamaica Legislature
under the control of the Home authorities had been
baffled. Measures to secure the rights and the

* Blue Book on Jamaica Affairs, p. 1S9.

REPLIES TO THE LETTER. 39

improvement of the freed people of the island it had
long been felt it was hopeless to expect. Class interests
ever prevailed. The need of change, and a great one,
had even forced itself on Mr. Eyre's consideration,
" European proprietors," he said, " but above all
European residents of position, education, and wealth,
have dwindled down to an insignificant number ; their
places have not been taken by colonial-born persons
of corresponding status and ability. Even now there
is the greatest difficulty in adequately filling up the
various offices in the State, such as the members of
the Legislative Council, members of the House of
Assembly, custodes of parishes, magistrates, depart-
mental offices, &c. This state of things is getting
worse year by year. The European element is
continually decreasing, and my firm conviction is that
the day will come, though it may yet be distant,
when Jamaica will become little better than a
second Haiti." *

But events were hastening on to a solution, for
which it would seem the vilified letter of Dr. Under-
bill prepared the way.

Towards the end of August, the Colonial Secretary
of State became aware of Mr. Eyre's apprehensions of
" riots and rebellion among the peasantry in some of
the parishes." My correspondents attached no impor-
tance to these rumours, except that one friend
mentions that, to the surprise of everybody, " a man-
of-war had come to Black Kiver on that errand,

* Blue Book Despatch, August 19th, 1865, p. 247.

40 THE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BA Y,

and that the captain with everybody else was won-
ing where the treason could be, for they could not
find it," No doubt, however, Mr. Eyre's tremors
communicated themselves to the Colonial Office, and
the excitement occasioned by Mr. Eyre's distribution
of my letter was of a more serious and ominous
character than they were willing to believe. If the
authorities, both at home and in Jamaica, imagined
that my statements, even if partially true, were mere
exaggerations, there were certainly undeniable griev-
ances enough to form a fitting nidus for the
germination of any amount of discontent. Inflam-
mable materials in abundance existed, only awaiting
the accidental spark to burst into a flame. The
Governor put the match to the tinder, and the
publication of the placard, "The Queen's Advice,"
added to the already smoking heap.

From my intercourse with the Colonial Office, I
had every reason to hope that the state of affairs
would certainly obtain the best attention that could
be given to it. From the known ability, wisdom, and
skill of the Secretary of State I felt assured that
every effort would be made to meet the crisis, and
that measures beneficial to all classes of the popula-
tion would be devised. I had perfect confidence in
the goodwill of Mr. Cardwell, and that he would do all
in his power to provide a remedy for the evils that
were so threatening.

Writing Mr. Cardwell on the 1 7th August, I made
the request that I should be permitted to peruse
Governor Eyre's despatches, together with the replies

REPLIES TO THE LETTER. 41

to the inquiries lie had set on foot, adding that I was
given to understand that generally the facts to which
I had called his attention were not denied, although
opinion varied as to the causes of the distress. I also
expressed the opinion that, unless measures of relief
were speedily adopted, great disappointment would
ensue, and the existing despondency of all classes
would be aggravated, by the deceived expectations
which the Circular of the Governor had awakened.

Sir Frederick Rogers replied, on the 30th September,
that Mr. Card well would be pleased to permit me to
peruse the documents received from the Governor of
Jamaica and their voluminous enclosures, but as they
were too numerous for copying, they were open to my
inspection, at the Colonial Office, at any time con-
venient to me.* He adds : — " When you shall have
read them, Mr. Card well will be glad to learn what
specific action of the Government they appear to you
to suggest, always bearing in mind that legislative
action requires the concurrence and co-operation of
the Legislative Council and Assembly of Jamaica." I
was further informed that Governor Eyre did not
attach much credit to " the rumour of riot and in-
surrection, expected to break out in consequence of
delusions created in the minds of the peasantry, by
designing persons taking advantage of the representa-
tions of hardships to which they are subjected."

I made immediate arrangements to avail myself of
this permission, and, by the 9th October, I was ready

* Blue Book Papers, &c., p. 274.

42 THE TRAGEDY OF MOEANT BA Y.

to report the result of my examination. It appeared
to me that a mere criticism of these voluminous
documents would be of little value. It would be in
many cases only one opinion set over against another
opinion ; that questions were involved which deserved
closer investigation, and should receive a more
authoritative and impartial judgment. I felt, there-
fore, that, under all the circumstances, the suggestion
made in my original letter of the 5th January was the
most useful course, and, in the result, more surely
beneficial — viz., " a searching inquiry into the Legis-
lature and government of the island since emancipa-
tion, its taxation, and its economical and its social
condition. This a Royal Commission only could
effect, while its appointment was perfectly within the
legitimate action of Her Majesty's Government."

This step I ventured again to urge on the Home
Government. It had been more than once the sub-
ject of conversation with Mr. Cardwell. Among other
reasons, I urged : —

1. It would at once allay the ferment and quiet
apprehension. Despondency would yield to the hope
of escape from the present distress, and time be
secured for maturing the measures suited to the need.

2. It must be taken as a fact that, with few excep-
tions, the entire island was in a declining state, and
that all interests were suffering.

3. It was most necessary, in order to avoid mistakes
in the future, that the causes of the present lament-
able state of affairs should be thoroughly sifted and
inquired into by competent and impartial men.

REPLIES TO THE LETTER.

4. It was specially urged that the course of legis-
lation since emancipation needed investigation ; that
I had gone carefully through the titles of the Acts of
the Legislature allowed by Her Majesty's Government
from 1857 to 1865, 221 in number, and not more than
two had for their direct object the benefit of the
labouring population. One was concerned with the
formation of an industrial school, and the other made
provision for vacciDation.*

5. The revenue and expenditure of the island, the
mode of raising the revenue, and the incidence of
taxation on the staple products needed revision.

6. Inquiry was also wanted into the working and
results of the immigration laws, and into the serious
mortality said to prevail among the immigrants.

7. A Royal Commission, visiting the island with
ample powers, would be preferable to a Parliamentary
inquiry in England, as the important evidence of the
small freeholders and the peasantry, as well as that of
other interested parties, could be obtained on the spot,
and the investigation be made more thorough and
complete.

8. The conclusions thus reached would afford a

0 "I have often turned in disgust," said an able legal
gentleman, a member of the House of Assembly in 1863,
'• against the imperfect system that at present prevails. I have
often left the Court with a sense of shame for my country ; and
I am pained to think that the Government should show indif-
ference in this matter. We cannot long continue as we are, if
wa are to be a civilised people." (Jamaica Guardian, Sep-
tember 28th, 1866.)

44 THE TRAGEDY OF KORAN T BA Y.

suitable basis for Parliamentary action should Her
Majesty's Government deem it advisable.

9. Lastly, the strained relations of the Home
Government with the Local Legislature could be
removed, and Her Majesty's Government be placed
in a position more effectually to exercise the pro-
tection demanded for the classes whose condition and
interests had hitherto been disregarded.

In closing it was added, " That I believe the measure
will be beneficial to the whole island. And even if it
should not lead to any Parliamentary or legislative
action on the part of Her Majesty's Government, the
facts collected and the conclusions arrived at would
be of the greatest service in correcting errors, in guid-
ing administration, in stimulating the influential por-
tion of the Jamaica community to diligent effort to
improve the classes below them, and in teaching all
parties that the interest of any one class is best served
by the prosperity and well-being of all."

The words of Lord Grey, one of Mr. Card well's pre-
decessors in the Colonial Office, were in my mind : —
" The House of Assembly have ever used their power
to spare their own friends, and to burden severely
those who were opposed to them. The affairs of the
Administration were distinguished by corruption
\ and jobbing, and they exhibited a total want of
judgment in the local authorities in adapting their
measures to the existing state of things."

In a word, the representative Government of Jamaica
had proved itself to be a total failure, and must be
entirely reformed.

CHAPTER V.

THE OUTBREAK.

IT was not till late in September that the agitated
state of Jamaica began to attract public notice
in England. The first indication I can trace
came to me in a request from the editor of the Daily
News to write two or three articles on the subject.
This I did in three communications, which appeared
in three successive numbers of the journal, towards
the end of October ; but they were scarcely sufficient
to prepare the English people for the very alarming
news which reached the Colonial Office on the 16th
November. The startling information was contained
in a despatch from Governor Eyre, dated the 20th
October. * He stated that a most serious and alarm-
ing insurrection of the negro population, attended
with great loss of life and destruction of property,,
had broken out. Not, however, on the north side of
the island, whence the rumours which so excited Mr.
Eyre had originally come, but at Morant Bay, in the
south-east, in the parish of St. Thomas-in-the-East,
whence it spread rapidly through the contiguous
parishes.

* Papers relating to the Disturbances in Jamaica, presented
to Parliament, February, 1866, p. 1.

46 THE TRAGEDY OF MOEANT BA Y.

Two days later, on the 18th, the news was published
in a supplement to the London Gazette, and appeared
simultaneously in the Times newspaper. The same
mail brought me a brief account from three corre-
spondents confirming the full and more complete state-
ments of the despatch. It so happened that by pre-
vious arrangement I went down early in the morning
of that day to the Colonial Office, to confer with Mr.
Cardwell on the proposal contained in my letter of
the 9th October. I did not then know of the despatch
with its serious information, nor of the grave accusa-
tions brought against me by Mr. Eyre. I found the
Secretary of State too busy with the outgoing mail to
see me, and at his request I had an interview with the
Under-Secretary instead. He was in a state of great
agitation, entirely uncommunicative on the grave
matters that had arisen, and I soon left him, wonder-
ing in my mind at the fruitlessness of my visit.
Calling on a friend on my way home, he met me
with the question, " Have }^ou seen the Times ? "
" No." " Don't you know the news from Jamaica ? "
I told him of the general information of the outbreak
which my letters contained. He then made me
acquainted with the fact that Mr. Eyre had thrown
the blame of this " wicked rebellion " on my shoulders,
and had charged me as the author and a component
part of the disturbances which had broken out. I had
afterwards reason to know that the Government, on
Mr. Eyre's allegations, had under consideration the
propriety of my arrest, and within a few days I had
offers from two detectives to undertake any service I

THE OUTBREAK. 47

might desire for my protection. Of this, however,
there was no need, and my friendly relations with
the Colonial Office remained undisturbed.

There were few persons in Great Britain to whom the
tidings did not come with a shock of surprise — a
surprise that deepened into bewilderment and horror —
when the country was told that a " rebellion " of wide
proportions had suddenly burst forth, like a destruc-
tive volcano, in the Island of Jamaica, the actors in
which had planned nothing less than the slaughter of
every white inhabitant and respectable brown person,
the seizure of their properties, and the separation of
the island from the British Crown.

The centre of the uprising was a small seaside town,
known as Morant Bay, in the parish of St. Thomas-
in-the-East, in the County of Surrey. There the
rebels had begun their career of slaughter and
plunder. The magistrates, clergy, and other gentle-
men of position were said to have been murdered in cold
blood, while peacefully engaged in the administration
of justice. Their bodies had been mangled in ways
only to be paralleled by the atrocities of the Sepoy

Mutiny in India. The rebels were further reported
have spread themselves over the surrounding

untry, plundering and burning the estates, and

aughtering their masters; with religious rites and

.runken orgies, praising God for their victory.

With the news of the rebellion came also the news
of its suppression. It had been almost as suddenly
extinguished as it had flamed forth, quenched with an
outpour of blood more frightful than the massacre

43 THE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BA Y.

which was its cause. Governor Eyre affirmed that the
most hideous atrocities had been perpetrated by the
rebels. The curate of Bath had his tongue cut out
while yet alive, and an attempt was made to flay him.
One person, a black gentleman, because he was a
friend of the white man, was ripped open and his
entrails torn out. Another victim was roasted alive.
Many others had their eyes extracted, their heads
cleft open, and their brains scooped out. Some of the
bodies of the dead were half burnt ; others were
horribly battered and mutilated. The women acted
worse than the men, the only redeeming feature being
that not a lady or a child was injured; spared,
according to some, for worse horrors when their
captors should be at leisure to indulge their brutal
passions.

But if such barbarities were reported to be the
crimes of the rebels, the course taken by the Govern-
ment and its soldiery had its horrors too. Three days,
says the Governor, sufficed to check the progress of
the rebellion and to stop the plunder of the estates.
Although not a single soldier was resisted, killed, or
wounded, for thirty days the sword was unsheathed,
and the work of retribution went on. Captain Luke
describes his men as riding " like devils " to the
carnage. All rebels who were captured, after a short
trial, and as short a shrift, were shot or hung. Many
whose participation in the outbreak was not proved,
were shot down without resistance on every roadside.
Says Colonel Hobbs, " I found a number of special
constables, who had captured a number of prisoners

THE OUTBREAK. 49

from the rebel camp. Finding their guilt clear, and
being unable either to take or to leave them, I had
them all shot. The constables then hung them on
trees, eleven in number. Their countenances were all
diabolical, and they never flinched the very slightest."

These men had no trial, and the deed was followed
by setting fire to the people's homesteads. The guilt-
less were plunged with the guilty into one common
ruin. It is the same " gallant " soldier who tells us
that he tied Paul Bogle's " valet " to his stirrup, and
with a pistol at the lad's ear forced from him the
recognition of the leaders of the rebels, among an
immense gang of prisoners waiting to be shot on the
morrow. *

Another English colonel boasted of having forced
his wretched prisoners to hang each other, and tells
how he put up a prisoner at four hundred yards as a
mark for his riflemen, f

One intrepid officer gleefully tells us how " we shot
two prisoners and catted five or six." Then a little

* Yet Colonel Hobbs, until this occurrence, was regarded as a
humane and Christian man. At first indeed he could not be
induced to pursue the cruel and vindictive course which had been
initiated during the personal presence of Governor Eyre on the
spot. For his reticence he was bitterly reproached. He at last
gave way, and did deeds which occasioned him the bitterest
anguish, which ended in a voluntary death. On his way to-
England he leaped overboard and was drowned.

f A highly esteemed friend informed me that on a visit a few
weeks afterwards to the Blue Mountains, the very spot on the
hill-side was pointed out to him, where the poor fellow Welling-
was set up as a target for the soldiers to fire at.

4

50 THE TRAGEDY OF MORA NT BA Y.

further on, how they flogged nine unarmed men. In
a raid the next day, with thirty of his band, three
negro homesteads were burnt ; several black men were
flogged without court martial ; nine others were tried,
one received a hundred lashes on the spot, and the rest
were shot or hung. " Such," he coolly adds, " is martial
law." " The soldiery enjoy it, the inhabitants have to
dread it. If they run, they are shot for running away.
The contents of all the houses have been reduced to a
mass of broken and hacked furniture."

Of the Courts Martial I need not speak here at
length. On the flimsiest evidence, or no legal evi-
dence at all, hundreds were condemned to death, and
with jocund shouts led to execution. The homes of
the peasantry, for miles beyond the scene of the dis-
turbances, were recklessly burnt and their contents
destroyed. Women and children were sent adrift
without clothing or food. Cruel scourgings, in some
cases with piano wire twisted up with the cords, were
freely inflicted. A scowling look was sufficient to
bring down vengeance upon the wretched captives.
Women were not exempt from torture and insult.
And so the carnival of blood went on ; the " fun " of
the pastime " ran fast and furious."

Besides these terrible exploits on the area of the
outbreak, arrests were made and threatened in other
parts of the island ; and the prisoners, in order to
secure their conviction, were carried, against all law,
into the districts where martial law was in force. In
this way, Mr. George William Gordon, having sur-
rendered in Kingston, was borne to Morant Bay, as

THE OUTBREAK. 51

«_u

:

the chief instigator of the rebellion, because it was
certain that legal evidence could not be obtained
to secure his condemnation by the ordinary civil
tribunals. On the slightest pretext, he was found
guilty and led to execution. Others, even, if possible,
with less justification, without either judge or jury,
were cruelly tortured and then imprisoned. A reign
of terror was established, and no man's life was safe.
The most estimable and peaceably-minded men were
not free from suspicion of complicity with the rebels.
They scarcely dared to open their lips to their dearest
friends. Letters were intercepted in the post office,
to find matter of accusation against men of known
integrity and good social position. Said a resident
of the district, writing at the time : —

" We are living in fear all the day long. Our lives
were in danger during the first few days of the rioters'
success, and were not less so when they were crushed.
Martial law is a dreadful thing ! a horrible affair !
The soldiers were let loose in the country, and did
their work with savage fury, shooting down good, bad,
and indifferent, spreading death and desolation. The
road for miles was said to have been insufferable, from
the stench of the rotting bodies of men and women." *

The outbreak was indeed awful in its massacre and
diabolical in its cruelty ; but it would be hard to find

ords to express the terribleness of the retribution

ith which it was visited. Although the Governor
himself went to the spot, he, it would appear, did not

* The Freeman, January 3rd, 1866.

4*

52 TEE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

attempt to exercise any restraining influence over
these shocking barbarities.

I have written this succinct narrative of the out-
break and its suppression, as it was given and
published for the information of the English people
by Governor Eyre and his subordinates, in order that
my readers may understand the exciting cause of the
remarkable agitation which ensued in this country, on
the " Rebellion " and the character of its suppression
becoming known. It led the Home Government
immediately to resolve on the suspension of Mr. Eyre,
to the formation of a Royal Commission to make a full
inquiry into events so fraught with misery, cruelty,
and horror, and finally to Mr. Eyre's supersession and
removal from an office for which he had shown such
signal unfitness.

It is some alleviation to this terrible picture to
know, from the investigations of the Royal Commission,
that in a certain degree these accounts, rendered by
the local authorities, and by the actors in the tragedy,
were much exaggerated. The reality was bad
enough, but the story came to this country darkly
coloured by the rage and revengeful feelings of the
men engaged in the suppression. The number of
persons killed by the "rebels," as accurately ascer-
tained by the Royal Commissioners, was in all twenty-
two, white and black ; but the horrible outrages on
the dead, so minutely detailed in the despatches, had
no existence. On the other hand, the Commissioners
establish the fact that at least 430 persons were shot
or hung in retaliation during the existence of martial

THE OUTBREAK. 53

law. They declare that the punishments inflicted
were indeed excessive; that many sufferers were
entirely innocent of any crime whatever ; that a
thousand dwellings were wantonly and cruelly burnt ;
and that certainly not fewer then six hundred persons
were scourged in a most reckless manner, with the
greatest barbarity, at Bath, with cats having piano
wire inserted in the lash ; while many, after flogging,
were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.*

With the full concurrence of all parties in the
State, the Home Government resolved to send out
without delay a Royal Commission armed with all
necessary authority. The Commission was pro-
claimed under the Royal Sign Manual on the 30th
December. Sir Henry Storks was placed at its head,
as Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Jamaica
and its dependencies, having as his colleagues on the
Commission, Russell Gurney, Esq., Recorder of the
City of London, and J. B. Maule, Esq., Recorder of
Leeds, with C. S. Roundell, Esq., as Secretary. They
were directed to " prosecute an inquiry into the
nature and circumstances of certain disturbances
which had occurred in the Island of Jamaica, and
with respect to the measures adopted in the course of
their suppression." The Commissioners met in
Spanish Town, in Jamaica, on Saturday, the 20th
January, and formally opened their inquiry on

I Tuesday, the 23rd. They began to receive evidence
:>n the following Thursday. In the course of the

* Keport of the Royal Commissioners.

THE TRAGEDY OF MORA NT SAY.

investigation they recorded the evidence of 730
persons, and visited several times the scene of the
outbreak. By the 9th April their work was
finished.

But before dealing with the Report of the Commis-
sion it will be necessary to give, in a little more detail,
the series of events which preceded the outbreak, and
the steps taken by the Jamaica authorities.

CHAPTER VI.

ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK.

'T'^HE parish of St. Thomas-in-the-East was one
of the many localities in which, from the
abandonment of estates and other circum-
stances, some of which will presently appear, "em-
ployment on hire could not now be obtained by all
the peasantry, even if disposed to labour." * And
although Mr. Eyre had not received from this
district any information that it was ripe for " rebel-
lion," difficulties with regard to the ownership and
tenure of land were fruitful of great discontent.

One of the last localities, in which an " Underhill
Meeting" was held, was Morant Bay. It was called
on Saturday, the 12th August, by the Gustos of the
parish, the Hon. Baron von Ketelhodt, on the requi-
sition of a numerously signed memorial. At this
meeting, Mr. G. W. Gordon, the representative of the
parish in the House of Assembly, took the chair. A
long string of resolutions was unanimously adopted,
in which special attention was given to the mis-
government of the island, the increasing taxation,

0 Blue Book relative to the Affairs of Jamaica : Eyre's
Despatch, September 20th, 1865, p. 262.

66 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

the depressing effects of the low rate of wages, with
the irregularity of their payment, the miserable con-
dition of the people with regard to clothing and
other necessaries, the enactment of oppressive laws,
more especially complaining of the arbitrary, illegal,
and inconsistent conduct of the Gustos, as destructive
of the peace and prosperity of the parish.*

It was unfortunate that Mr. Gordon, though from
his public position entitled to the honour, was called
to the chair, seeing that a long-standing feud existed
between him and the Gustos, who, after summoning
the meeting, attempted to prevent its taking place.
The local magistrates were notoriously corrupt ; and,
owing to their one-sided, unjust, and selfish decisions,
the labouring population had lost all faith in their
judicial impartiality. So much was this the case, that
they had ceased to bring their grievances to the Sessions
Court, and sought the settlement of their disputes by
secret and irregular tribunals of their own. Beyond
this, there is no evidence of any intention to violate
the laws of the land. Indeed, we have it on the
assurance of Mr. Eyre, on the 4th November, after the
outbreak had occurred and was put down, that there
" was no organised or combined action." f

The good faith of the people is made clearly manifest
by the fact, that they sent a deputation to Spanish
Town to lay before His Excellency the resolutions of
the meeting. They trudged the weary forty miles on

* From the placard containing these statements. It was
sent me by direction of the meeting.

t Papers on Disturbances in Jamaica, Part I., p. 79.

ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK, 57

foot to see him, that they might personally lay their
grievances at his feet; but the Governor not only
declined to listen to them, but refused to admit them
to his presence. The rebuff sent them home with
sore hearts, and the report of their treatment increased
the bitter feeling existing. Their last hope was gone.
He whom, as the Queen's representative, they rightly
expected to be their friend, acted as their foe. Their
leaders deeply felt the insult, and their enemies
triumphed over their defeat.

For the proper understanding of what follows, it
must be remembered that nothing had been done to
improve the character of the local Courts, before
which there had been many cases relative to the
occupation of land in the district. The Koyal Com-
missioners, in their report, explicitly state that " the
difficulties in the way of seeking relief by law were
very great, and it was not to be expected that, con-
stituted as the bench of magistrates at present is, it
would have the confidence of the labourers. The
magistrates are principally planters and persons con-
nected with the management of estates. Those who
^are not so connected are for the most part engaged
in business, and their attendance is very irregular."
Questions "are adjudicated upon by those whose
interests and feelings are supposed to be hostile to
the labourer and the occupier." *

The evidence is conclusive that the Petty Sessions
Courts were presided over by partial judges ; that the

* Papers on Disturbances in Jamaica, Part I., p. 79.

r,8 THE TRAGEDY OF MOT, ANT BAY.

costs were extravagant, and that the sentences were
severe even to injustice upon the labouring class
and lenient upon the higher. A stipendiary magis-
trate declared that the prevalent dissatisfaction
was well grounded. He had in his possession, he
said, instances of direct acts of oppression. Two
gentlemen had gained an unenviable notoriety for
their oppressive and unjust conduct. One was the
Gustos himself, the other was a clergyman of the
Church of England. They seem to have acquired
specially the hatred of the peasantry, and were among
the first victims in the " disturbances " that ensued.
The Church and the owners of sugar estates, were
believed to be confederates in their hostility to the
labourer.

The riot began at a Court of Petty Sessions held on
Saturday, the 7th of October. It was a market day,
and a large number of persons had collected for the
sale and purchase of their produce. The presiding-
magistrate was the Gustos, the Baron von Ketelhodt.
The business which came before the Court consisted
chiefly of charges of assault and the use of abusive
language. One was a case of assault brought by a
woman against a boy. He was convicted and fined
4s., with costs, amounting to 12s. 6d. When called
upon for the fine and costs, a man present in Court
told him to pay the fine only, and not the heavy costs-
which were added to it. This caused so much dis-
turbance that business was for a time suspended.
The magistrates ordered that the man by whom the
interruption was made should be brought before them.

ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK. 59

The constables arrested him, but he was at once
rescued by the bystanders. Followed by the police
outside, he was again seized, and again rescued. The
police were beaten, and compelled to release their
prisoner. The numerous attendance of the people at
the Court, on that day, was occasioned, however, by a
more important matter. It arose out of a dispute as
to the rightful possession of some land at a place
called Stony Gut, a negro settlement about five miles
from Morant Bay. It had been leased out, by whom
does not appear; but the occupiers had refused the
rent for their holdings, on the ground, it was said,
that the land was free and the estate belonged to the
Queen.

The case had been previously adjudicated upon by
the Court ; but during the summer it had again been
a subject of dispute. On this occasion, it was for a
trespass on a part of this estate that a man named
Miller was summoned. It was decided against him
by the planter magistrates ; but notice of an appeal
was given.*

On the following Monday, warrants were issued
against two persons of the name of Bogle and several
others, charged with having taken part in the riot of
Saturday. Six policemen and two constables proceeded
to Stony Gut on Tuesday morning to arrest the
Bogles and their associates. Paul Bogle resisted his

* As the trespass complained of involved a question of title,
it ought to have been tried by a judge and jury. The Petty
Sessions Court seems to have had no rightful jurisdiction iu
the matter.

€0 THE TRAGEDY OF MOKANT BA Y.

arrest, and was speedily assisted by some three to five
hundred men. Armed with cutlasses, sticks, and
pikes, they rushed out from a chapel near at hand,
where they had assembled, and of which Bogle was
the preacher or leader. The police were overpowered
and severely beaten, and three were, for a short time,
detained as prisoners. In the evening information
reached the authorities at Morant Bay that the
rioters would, on the following day, Wednesday, the
llth October, appear at the Vestry then to be held,
to state anew their grievances. The Gustos, fearing
further disturbances, summoned the Volunteers of
the district, and also wrote to the Governor for
military aid.

That there was no formed intention on the part
of the people to rebel or resist the authorities is
clear from the fact that, on Monday, the 9th, some
twenty persons, including three Bogles, forwarded
a petition to Mr. Eyre, which must have been
received on the next day, as it was replied to by
the Governor on the 12th. In this they complained
that an "outrageous assault" was made upon them
on Saturday, by the policemen of the parish, on the
order of the Justices ; that warrants had been issued
against innocent persons which they were compelled
to resist ; they therefore called upon His Excellency
for protection; that for twenty-seven years, though
always obedient to the Queen, they had " been imposed
upon," and could no longer endure it. If refused,
they had no other alternative than to put their
" shoulders to the wheel."

ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE OUTBEEAK. fil

The Governor's reply repeated, in his set phrase,
that they were " misled by the representations of evil-
disposed and designing men " ; that he was ready to
listen to their complaints, but not to any application
accompanied by threats ; and that it was His Excel-
lency's determination to vindicate and uphold the
majesty of the law.

It is obvious that, at this supreme moment, kind
treatment and an effort to deal impartially with
grievances, which unquestionably had just foundation,,
would have averted the calamity that fell on the
magistrates and community of Morant Bay on this-
Wednesday afternoon. The Gustos, magistrates, and
vestrymen met at noon in the Court House, and the
ordinary business was transacted ; but it would appear
that not the least effort was made to meet the prayer
of Mr. Eyre's petitioners. Between three and four
o'clock a crowd of people gathered about the Vestry
Hall, some of them armed with cutlasses and sticks,
and with other weapons which had been taken from
the police station. They assembled in a large open
space facing the Court House, in front of which the
Volunteers had been drawn up. Their presence was-
provocative of anger, and the coming forward of
the Gustos was the signal for its expression. The
attitude of the people became more threatening
when the Gustos began to read the Riot Act. Then,
it is said, stones were thrown, one of which struck
the captain of the Volunteers. The Gustos, without
further warning, gave the word to fire. The order
was obeyed, and some of the people fell. It is a

62 THE T RAGED Y OF MO RANT BA Y.

disputed point, however, whether the stones were
thrown before the firing commenced ; but the Eoyal
Commissioners conclude that they were most likely
thrown by the women, and not by the main body of
the people now advancing in mass towards the
Volunteers. At the time of firing the insurgents were
close upon the soldiers. The volley took effect, and
infuriated them. There was instantly the cry of
" War," and the rioters rushed forward. A few of the
Volunteers were disarmed, the rest fled or took shelter
in the Court House with the magistrates and the
members of the Vestry. Some escaped by the back
windows, others remained exposed to the now pelting
shower of stones, and to the shots fired by the mob
outside. Soon after the school-house was set on fire,
which spread to the Court House, driving its inmates
from the building. Favoured by the darkness, they
concealed themselves in different places near at hand.
" Some remained undiscovered, but others were
dragged from their hiding places, and, one by one,
either beaten to death or left for dead on the
ground." *

That several meetings had been held in the neigh-
bourhood, especially at Stony Gut, consequent on the
refusal of Mr. Eyre and the authorities to remedy the
grievances of the people, there can be no doubt. The
reports of the proceedings that took place are, however,
vague and contradictory, and it is altogether doubtful
whether there existed any organised or combined

* Royal Commissioners' Report, p. 12.

ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK. 63

action, beyond that which the bitter sense of common
grievances, and deeply felt injuries of long duration,
would produce. The result was most lamentable, and
deserves the strongest condemnation. The number
of persons killed by the rioters in and about the
Court House appears to have been eighteen ; the
wounded amounted to thirty -one. Two of those
most obnoxious, who fell, were the Gustos and a
clergyman, whose oppressive acts of injustice had
specially roused the passions of the people.

The confusion spread like wild fire, and as the cry,
" There is war at the Bay ! " reached the mountains
above Morant Bay, where the people were quietly
working in the fields in utter ignorance of what was
being done in the plains, the hoe and the machete
were at once thrown aside, and they flew to the scene
of conflict.* The only motive that actuated them was
curiosity to see what was going on, and probably to
share the spoil. In a few days the insurgents are
said to have spread themselves over some thirty miles
of country. Success led a few to entertain the wildest
notions. Some hoped to become possessed of the
estates which, in many instances, were carefully pre-
served from plunder. A few imagined that the
Government itself would fall into their hands. But
after the first access of fury they ceased to kill their
adversaries. The superior forces called forth by the
Government, and the fearful retribution which fell upon

0 This was stated to my informant by two young men,
nephews of a mountain coffee-planter, who afterwards became
Gustos of the parish.

61 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

the rioters, speedily crushed any hope of success. In
three days the rebellion was at an end, or, to use the
words of Governor Eyre, " Our most important work
being done, and the troops comfortably established in
their barracks, we had for the first time a night of
quiet and rest on the night of Sunday, the 15th
October." * This was on the fourth day after the
outbreak.

But the day of retribution had come. Martial law
was proclaimed on Friday, the 13th, and at daybreak
on Monday, the 16th, the first Court sat to try
prisoners. Twenty-seven were found guilty and hung,
Mr. Eyre having himself on the previous Friday
visited Morant Bay to inaugurate the reign of terror
that now set in. He returned to Kingston on the
evening of the same day, but martial law remained in
operation until the 13th November.

It is unnecessary that I should trace, step by step,
and day by day, the atrocities that were perpetrated
under the shield of martial law. It must suffice to
give here in full the conclusions to which the
Commissioners were led — the summing up of their
investigation.!

1. " The continuance of martial law in its full force,
to the extreme limit of its statutory operation, de-
prived the people, for a longer than necessary period,
of the great constitutional privileges by which the
security of life and property is provided for."

2. " The punishments inflicted were excessive."

* Despatch of 20th October, p. 5.

f Eeport of the Commissioners, p. 41.

bl;

ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK. 05

3. "The punishment of death was unnecessarily
frequent."

4. " The floggings were reckless, and at Bath posi-
tively barbarous."

5. " The burning of 1,000 houses was wanton and
cruel."

The number of persons executed by the order of
courts-martial was ascertained to have been 354;
there were shot or hung or killed without trial, 85 ;
a total of 439. Of these 147 were put to death after
the 25th October, when all resistance and necessity
for speedy punishment had entirely ceased. The
Commissioners, moreover, distinctly state with regard
to those brought before the courts-martial and suf-
fered death, " There were many who were neither
directly nor indirectly parties to the disturbances
which it was the object of those in authority to sup-
press." The evidence given was " wholly insufficient
to justify the findings."

I have already remarked that the statements of
Governor Eyre as to the terrible mutilations and
rocities alleged to have been perpetrated by the
lack people on the whites were proved to have been
unfounded. The persons murdered at Morant Bay
were in various ways killed or beaten to death ; but the
brutalities and horrors, which reminded Mr. Eyre of
he Sepoy Mutiny, were found to be purely imaginary,
as were the vast numbers of plots and conspiracies
which in their panic the Governor and his advisers
ncied were thick about them. In the same way,
he vauntings of the officers and others engaged in

5

66 THE TEA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

the suppression, as to the numbers they had shot,
hung, and flagellated, were found to be very inaccu-
rate, and their pictures of the multitudes they had
disposed of were discovered to be exaggerated. If
the English people were horrified at their tales, and
at the levity with which they were recorded, and
resolved to have an inquiry, the Governor and his
subordinates have themselves to thank for it, for they
were the authors of the despatches and letters in
which, with so much boastfumess and glee, they re-
ported the magnitude of their exploits, and the " fun,"
and the slaughter, in which they had revelled. Still,
allowing for their exaggerations, enough remains for
the most emphatic condemnation and agonising grief.
It must not be forgotten that blood was first shed
by the authorities on the spot. Frightful as was the
revenge taken by the rioters on their oppressors,
there is abundant proof that a spirit as malevolent
and bloodthirsty actuated their white adversaries.
The Royal Commissioners were constrained to endorse
the public opinion of England and Europe, that the
cruelties of the suppression were horrible and in-
excusable.

CHAPTER VII,

"IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION.

THE island was beginning to recover from the
state of panic into which it had been thrown
by the Morant Bay outbreak, when the Legis-
lature, at the call of His Excellency the Governor,
met on the 7th November for the despatch of business.
Though martial law was in operation for another six
days, and arrests were continually being made, and
sent before the courts -martial for trial, Mr. Eyre was
able to inform the members of the two Houses that,
what he called, "this most diabolical conspiracy to
murder the white and coloured inhabitants of the
Colony," had been "effectually subdued," and "the
chief instigators of it" punished with death. He
stated that this surprising feat had been accom-
plished " within three days of the first tidings reach-
ing Kingston," and that the rebellion, by his "well-
devised arrangements, had been headed, checked, and
hemmed in ; and within a week fairly crushed." *

Certainly, if the origin of the rebellion was the
result of a " wide and deeply-rooted conspiracy," the
Governor might well congratulate himself and his

* " Parliamentary Debates of Jamaica," vol. xiii., p. 2.

5*

THE TRAGEDY OF MOIIANT BAY.

audience, not only on the rapidity and thoroughness
of its suppression, but that history does not record so
remarkable an instance of courage, energy, and
success. " All vied with each other," he said, " in
zealously doing their duty, and that they did it well
is evidenced by the successful results attained."

It was now an imperative duty to take the measures
which might avert in the future a recurrence of such
frightful events. " Those measures," said His Excel-
lency, " may be summed up in a few words. Create a
strong government, and then, under a firm hand to
guide and direct, much may be accomplished. In
order to obtain a strong government there is but one
course open to you — that of abolishing the existing
Constitution (compensating the officers whose offices
are abolished), and establishing one better adapted to
the present state and requirements of the Colony. I in-
vite you then, Gentlemen, to make a great and generous
sacrifice for the sake of your country, and in immo-
lating on the altar of patriotism the two branches of
the Legislature, of which you yourselves are the con-
stituent parts, to hand down to posterity a noble
example of self-denial and heroism."

That a great change was absolutely necessary few
persons could be found to deny. The Home Govern-
ment had long desired it. In 1839, and again in 1849,
the Parliament of Great Britain had been asked to
sanction some such course, but without success.
Governor Barkley, in 1854, had succeeded in intro-
ducing a small executive body, or cabinet, responsible
to the House of Assembly, but it brought about no

"IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION. 69

material improvement in the conduct of affairs. Even
so late as July 7th, 1865, Mr. Cardwell had written to
the Governor urging some such measure. He says,
" With respect to the complaints of the conduct and
constitution of the Legislature, if the majority of the
Assembly could be induced to pass enactments in
amendment of its own Constitution, Her Majesty's
Government would be ready to give these enactments
its most attentive and favourable consideration." *

In anticipation of a favourable occasion arising
for the introduction of such a measure, an elaborate
Bill had already been prepared, "for altering and
amending the political Constitution of the island."
The opportunity had now come. It was brought in
and read a first time on the 9th November, on the
second day after the meeting of the Assembly, and
urgently pressed on the members for immediate
adoption. Advantage was promptly taken of the
existing terror to promote a measure which, in calmer
times, would certainly have met with the most
strenuous opposition. But Mr. Eyre had given so
bright and cheering a view of the success of his
military operations, that it became necessary for his
purpose not to suffer the panic-feeling to subside.

It was nevertheless, he said, his " duty " to point out
that the " entire Colony has long been, and is still, on
the brink of a volcano which may at any moment

I burst into fury." Disloyalty, sedition, and murderous
intentions were disseminated, and in some instances

* Papers relative to the Affairs of Jamaica, February, 1866,
p. 205.

7 0 THE TEA GEL Y OF MORANT BA Y.

openly expressed in almost every district. The mis-
apprehensions and misrepresentations of pseudo-phil-
anthropists in England and Jamaica, inflammatory
harangues, and seditious writings of evil-minded men
of higher position, and of better education, and other
worthless persons, were very prevalent. To all this
must be added the personal, scurrilous, vindictive, and
disloyal writings of a licentious and unscrupulous
press. Even ministers of religion, "sadly so mis-
called," by their misguided counsels, have led to their
inevitable result in exciting to rebellion, arson,
murder.

Well might His Excellency say of his own state-
ments, " These are hard and harsh words, Gentlemen,
but they are true, and this is no time to indulge in
selected sentences or polished phraseology. A mighty
danger threatens the land — we must examine boldly,
deeply, and unflinchingly, into the causes which have
led to this danger."

And yet, as if frightened by his own dark fore-
bodings, Mr. Eyre immediately adds, " I know of no
general grievance or wrong under which the negroes
of this Colony labour. Individual cases of hardship,
or injustice, must arise in every community ; but as a
whole the peasantry of Jamaica have nothing to com-
plain of." Still it was necessary to draw this terrible
picture of the condition of the country, in order to
convince or frighten the members of the Legislature,
" how widely spread, how deeply rooted, the spirit of
disaffection is ; how daring and determined the inten-
tion has been, and still is, to make Jamaica a second

"IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION. 71

Haiti, and how imperative it is upon you, Gentlemen,
to take such measures as, under God's blessing, may
avert such a calamity."

But were these representations true ? Ought not
such language to have been supported by substantial
evidence ? For two hundred and fifty years Jamaica
had possessed a representative Constitution ; would it
not be an eternal disgrace to the Colony to destroy its
very existence, unless the statements of the Governor
could be substantiated ? *\ Evidence is what we want,"
said the Hon. H. A. Whitelock ; " and for the sake of
the island, for the sake of peace, and considering that
other countries are looking on us with watchful eyes,
we ought to seek for such evidence. . . . We have
no evidence of our own ; the Governor has furnished
us with none." *

Again and again members of the Assembly urged
investigation, and the production of proofs for the
Governor's terrifying words. They were not forth-
coming. It was replied that the evidence was con-
fidential, and could not with safety to the parties who
gave it be divulged. The danger was real and great ;
the dark, thunderous clouds were ready to burst and
overwhelm the whole island in ruin, and time must
not be wasted in prolonged inquiries. Were not the
signs of another storm visible to eve^ eye, and needed
no corroboration ?

Among the voluminous papers laid before Parlia-
ment, I have found but one official document that in

* "Parliamentary Debates of Jamaica," vol. xiii., pp. 31,
30, and 93.

72 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

any degree can be said to support Mr. Eyre's affirma-
tions ; but even this was not laid before the Assembly,
and was known only to the Legislative Council. It
consists of an extract from a letter addressed to
Governor Eyre, on the 23rd November, by Colonel
Whitfield, on the result of a visit he had paid to the
detachment of soldiers located in his district, on
the north side of the Island. The Colonel says :
" I think that a considerable amount of intercom-
munication has and is taking place between the
disaffected in the different parishes, for I observe
men of sullen and dissatisfied looks riding about the
country in all directions. About one half of the
negroes look happy and contented, the remainder as
if they would take much pleasure in cutting our
throats. I think the same feeling exists among the
women. But I do not think this feeling is confined
to the district between Savanna-la-Mar and Montego
Bay, but everywhere." To such evidence as this may
well be applied the language of a member of the
House of Assembly. We ought " to probe the matter
carefully, and see if the fears that have been expressed
were entertained advisedly."

I may set over against this the testimony of my
friend, the Rev. D. J. East, relating to the same district
of the island : " A day or two after the Morant Bay
riot I made a journey, accompanied by one of my
daughters, from Rio Bueno to Lucea, passing through
the greater part of Trelawney and the parishes of St.
James and Hanover. On the way, being well known,
I was repeatedly stopped by numbers of the peasantry,

IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION.

who thronged the roads on their way to their respec-
tive markets (it being Saturday) to answer inquiries
as to the rumours they had heard of the disturbances*
All through these parishes it was evident that so far
from the people being in any way implicated in these
occurrences, or with their perpetration, they were in
utter ignorance. At Lucea, on the Sunday morning,
1 preached a sermon on ' Civil Government,' setting
forth the obligations of subjects to their rulers. I
delivered the same sermon at Montego Bay, both
times to crowded audiences, who evinced the fullest
sympathy with the teaching of the New Testament as
expounded to them." *

It was soon apparent that the state of the island
did not justify Mr. Eyre's strong and urgent repre-
sentations. The measure of the Government was
exceedingly distasteful to the majority of the House.
Even the placemen and partisans of the Administra-
tion who occupied its benches and filled the offices of
the State, although promised compensation should
they sustain any loss by the changes proposed, showed
themselves strongly adverse to the measure. The
dissatisfaction soon found expression. Several mem-
bers declared that unfair advantage was being taken
of the panic into which the Colony had been thrown.
The abolition of their long-standing and cherished

t independence of the Home authorities was being
pressed with undue haste. Members had been brought

The Rev. D. J. East's " Reminiscences." This sermon was
afterwards published and reprinted by the Royal Commissioners-
in the Appendix to their Report.

7 4 THE TEA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

together, not for consultation, but simply to attend
" the obsequies " of their free Constitution. Honour-
able members in the higher offices had gone "rebellion
mad," and the Government had been frightened out
of their wits. The statement that disaffection existed
throughout the island was an extravagant one, put
forth for the purpose of terrorising the Assembly.
Said one, " The handwriting is on the wall ; " " we are
doomed. He hoped," however, "that their dying
moments would be marked by something like decency,
and that they would go out of the world with credit
to themselves, respectably shrouded and respectably
buried." *

There was truth in these remonstrances. In the
circular summoning the meeting of the Legislature,
the Governor had assured the members that they
might leave their homes with safety ; and in the
resolution of thanks to General O'Connor and other
military officers, passed in the Privy Council held on
the 6th November, the day before the meeting of the
Assembly, His Excellency the Governor, with the
members of his Council, expressed the opinion " that
no reasonable cause now exists for expecting a con-
tinuance or revival of the late insurrection in the
eastern districts of the island " — that is, in the very
region of the outbreak. Only three days before the
meeting of the Assembly, I find Mr. Eyre informing
the Secretary of State for the Colonies that the
General in command was of opinion that martial law

* Jamaica Parliamentary Debates for 1865, vol. xiii.

"IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION. 75

had become unnecessary, and that, though there had
been a widespread feeling of disaffection, which, in a
measure, still existed, there was " no organised com-
bined action."

In the absence of colonial testimony to the
terrible state of the island, as depicted by the
'Governor, we may fairly take his own valuation of its
:probable worth. Writing to Mr. Cardwell, on the
23rd December, he says: "In colonial communities
fabrications and exaggerations of the grossest kind
are constantly being circulated, either for sheer
wantonness, or from a desire to appear important in
the eyes of those to whom the statements are made,
or from worse motives. These canards are very
generally circulated by the local press, and often
obtain currency and credence at a distance." *

Surely under such circumstances the House of
Assembly should have been fully informed, and not
driven, blindfolded by panic, or like scared sheep, to
the " heroic " leap they were called upon so suddenly
to make, " to offer on the altar of patriotism so great
and generous a sacrifice," on which posterity should
gaze " as a noble example of self-denial and heroism."

The history of this " Immolation" Bill may be dis-
missed in few words, for it was never in force. It
was a very elaborate document, bearing the mark of
prolonged deliberation, and having for its main object
to replace the two branches of the Legislature by a
single chamber, reducing the sixty-four members of

* Blue Book : Further Papers, Part II., p. 27.

76 THE T RAG ED Y OF MORA NT BA Y.

the Constitution to twenty-four, one half of them to
be nominees of the Crown, and re-arranging the
entire machinery of administration under the general
supervision of the Colonial Office. It was read for the
first time in the House of Assembly on the 9th
November, and passed through all its stages by the
5th of December. On that day it was read the first
time in the Legislative Council, and passed its final
reading two days later, on the 7th, when it received
the approval of the Governor, and was transmitted
on the same day, so great was the haste to secure
the Royal Assent, to the Colonial Office, with a long
explanatory despatch from Mr. Eyre.

It was not a satisfactory measure even in the esti-
mation of His Excellency. " It was a compromise,"
he states, " in which many details were admitted that
were disapproved by one section or the other." There
were also at work strong personal feelings, antagon-
istic to the men who would probably form the new
Executive, and only " patriotic feeling " induced the
Legislative Council to concur in the measure as finally
passed by the House of Assembly.

But now, in the most unexpected manner, the
scene suddenly underwent a remarkable transforma-
tion. Five days later, on the 12th December, a
message, transmitted through the Hon. Henry West-
morland, one of the three members of the Executive
Committee, was read, from the Governor, announcing
that so convinced were Her Majesty's Government of
the paramount importance of a strong government,
" that he had been confidentially informed (and which,.

"IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION. 77

under existing circumstances, he feels justified in com-
municating to the Legislature) that there would be no
hesitation on the part of Her Majesty's Government
to accept any amount of additional responsibility
which circumstances might seem to require."

In consequence of this private information the
Governor respectfully invited " the Legislature so to
amend or rescind the Act, recently passed, as would
leave Her Majesty unfettered in determining the
character of the future Constitution, and the admin-
istrative machinery by which the business of the
country should be conducted." *

In reply to this message, so unexpectedly made
known to the Assembly, the House requested that
they might be furnished with a copy of the confi-
dential despatch. To this Mr. Eyre replied that he
was unable to afford the House any further or more
definite information. He had received only a " private
and confidential intimation, and in general terms " ;
but he was assured that Her Majesty the Queen would
not undertake the responsibility of directing the affairs
of the Colony " unless wholly unfettered " in the crea-
tion of a new Constitution. There was no help for it.
The Jamaica Legislature was in a fix. The surrender
of the old Constitution — the Constitution granted by
the Protector Cromwell — must be absolute and un-
conditioned ; and so great was the terror inspired by
Mr. Eyre's unproved assertions that, with only a few
remonstrances, the Act just sent off to the Colonial

~

* Parliamentary Debates of Jamaica, 1865, p. 151.

78 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

Office was rescinded, and a new Act, clear in its-
brevity, passed, surrendering the entire authority and
government of the island into Her Majesty's hands.
By the 21st of December the new and real Abolition
Bill had passed both sections of the Legislature, and
Her Majesty was endowed with the sole authority to
" create and constitute a government " for the island,
in such form as she pleased.*

If the new step was profoundly unwelcome to the
governing classes of the community, the passing of
this self-denying ordinance was hailed elsewhere with
universal joy. " I was amused," says a resident in the
island, "at the radiant looks of one of the most
thoughtful gentlemen — not a Baptist — with whom I
am acquainted, at the prospect of having legislative,
administrative, parochial, and magisterial functions,
all transferred into the hands of impartial men, sent
out from Britain by the British Government. Now
the thought is, we shall get on ; we shall have wisdom
for unwisdom ; the general weal in preference to class
interests, whether peasant or planter, black or white,
and integrity and justice for corruption and jobbery.
Now, too, it is believed, commercial confidence will be
again restored, both here and at home, I am sure
you will unite in the fervent prayer that these hopes
may be realised." f

It was a surprising and unprecedented thing that a
body of free men should surrender their power of self-
government. But some such issue had long been fore-

* Parliamentary Debates of Jamaica, 1865, p. 218.
f The Freeman, January 17th, 1866.

"IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION. 79

seen and desired in political circles in the mother
country. The old Charter had proved utterly
inapplicable to the changed condition of things. Its-
abolition was the natural termination of " a vicious
career." The governing class in Jamaica had failed in
every way. It paid no heed to the warnings addressed
to it. Under its rule the island had been going from
bad to worse, and it was a just retribution that a Con-
stitution, so scandalously used, should come to its end
by an act of political suicide. Surely the Governor
must have been laughing in his sleeve when he
characterised the deed as an " heroic act." It was a
shameful surrender of privileges which for nearly three
hundred years had been misused, a display of unfitness
for their enjoyment unparalleled in any free com-
munity. The Government of Jamaica had earned the
contempt of every thoughtful man, and deservedly
perished, " immolated " by its own hand.

The Legislature preserved to the end its character-
istic enmity to the coloured population. Within three
days of its assembling it passed an Act enabling
the Governor to detain persons arrested during
tial law, and another the effect of which was
extend indefinitely its duration. Another Act
le it unlawful to administer or take unlawful
iths, as if conspiracy was still rife, and gave the
>wer to inflict corporal punishment by the lash
>r offences hitherto exempt. Other Bills were
>rought in and discussed by this moribund body,
mt which did not reach the dignity of Acts. Such
ras a Bill which prohibited the importation of cut-

SO THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

lasses, and other implements necessary in the ordinary
occupations of the people. Another to embody the
Maroons as a permanent force, for the repression of
their more civilised fellows. A Liberal member of
the House of Assembly, speaking of the course taken
by the Government, forcibly expressed himself in
these terms : " Every Bill introduced by the Executive
cried for more blood. In the name of all that was
sacred, what could be the object of this measure,
except to provoke resistance from the masses ? Where
and how were all these proceedings to end ? All the
House could learn from the Government, as their
justification for daily bringing forward these bloody
measures, was, it was necessary to strengthen the
hands of the Government, by sending the police
and military among the quiet and unoffending
peasantry, who were peaceably pursuing their
work, to take the implements of labour out of their
hands, and render them furious." *

Under the pretence of preserving the worship of
God from scandalous abuses, a Bill as intolerant as the
persecuting Conventicle Act of Charles II. was intro-
duced. It was a blow aimed especially at the
Baptist ministers of the island ; and, in fact, included,
with but one exception, all religionists who did not
belong to the Church of England. A person pretend-
ing to be a minister of the Gospel was liable to a
heavy fine, or in default to an imprisonment of two
years. It was even provided that a person not

* Mr. Osborn's Speech, December 14th, 1865 : Parliamentary
Papers, p. 174.

"IMMOLATION" OF THE JAMAICA CONSTITUTION. 81

leaving a place of worship within twenty minutes
after the conclusion of Divine worship, might be fined
£10, and not less than £1, and in default be com-
mitted to prison for three months with hard labour.
This intolerant measure was so far-reaching hi its
operation that it would have prohibited the family
and students of the Calabar Theological Training
College from meeting together, according to custom,
for morning and evening worship. In vain did one or
two of the members of the Legislative Council protest
against a measure so repugnant to the principle of
liberty of religious worship. It was, however, read a
third time, and sent down to the House of Assembly.
After undergoing many modifications, it was finally
withdrawn.* This rendered unnecessary the opposi-
tion which awaited it in England. But it was an
evidence of the bitter spirit which to the last ani-
mated the Government of Jamaica, from the Governor
to its lowest officer, against the men who had been
the chief advocates of emancipation, and were its
jealous guardians so long as that Government en-
dured.

The abolition of the Jamaica Constitution met
with the hearty concurrence of both political parties
in this country. In the discussion which ensued in
the House of Commons, on the 23rd February, on the
Bill presented by Mr. Card well ratifying the " aboli-
tion " Act of the Jamaica Legislature, Sir John
Pakington, on behalf of his party, said that he could

0 Parliamentary Debates, p. 189.

82 THE TRAGEDY OF HOE ANT LA Y.

have no doubt that it was his duty to support the
measure of the Home Government. Under the circum-
stances, it was a necessary step ; and not only so, the
Jamaica Government itself " had abrogated their own
functions, and declared their own unfitness and in-
capacity any longer to carry on the business of the
Colony."

It was, undoubtedly, the general feeling of the
nation that it would have been happier if the change
of Constitution had been made at an earlier period,
and this fine Colony saved from the state of decadence
and ruin into which it had, through misgovernrnent,
fallen.

CHAPTER VIII.

OUTBURST OF FEELING IN ENGLAND.

I NOW turn to the course of events in England
following on the tidings of the disturbances
and their suppression.

The intelligence of the outbreak reached me by the
same mail that brought Mr. Eyre's despatch. Writing
on the same day, the 16th November, to the Rev.
J. M. Phillippo, and before I had seen Mr. Eyre's
despatch, I thus expressed myself: " What shall I say
about this most grievous and lamentable outbreak in
St. Thomas-in-the-East, but that I am deeply grieved
and shocked ? Not because your island papers throw
the blame of it on my letter. On that score I have
no regrets. My letter, now to become more famous
than ever, was not addressed to the people of
Jamaica. It was the Governor's act to give it the
publicity it has acquired. But I grieve for the people-
who have lost their lives, and for the massacre in the
name of justice which has followed it. The wicked-
ness and folly of the few have been atoned for by the
slaughter of multitudes. I can only console myself
with the hope that our God will bring some good for
Jamaica out of it. The state of things has been such

6*

84 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

as to demand great changes, and this will assuredly
hasten them."

On the same day, I wrote to the Rev. D. J. East : —
" The delay of the inward mail till within an hour
or two of post-time prevents me writing as I would
about this most lamentable outbreak. It gives
meaning to some of your letters, in which you say
that a strange feeling had come over the people. For
months past, I have felt that ' wrong ' had eaten deep
into the hearts of the peasantry, and that, if some-
thing were not speedily done, it was quite possible
that the wilder and lawless spirits in the community
might break out into some overt act of revolt. Our
Government here has not been without some dread
of this, and scarcely six weeks ago, Mr. Cardwell
wrote me asking for an opinion as to what could at
once be done. I again urged, and at length, a Royal
Commission. But no step seems yet to have been
taken. The Government must now resolve on some
radical change in the mode of ruling Jamaica. If
that be the result of this sad and frightful event,
then good may come out of it. I hear that the revolt
is laid at my door by your island press. This I quite
expected when the first rumours of it reached this
country. Of course, the thing is absurd, and the
truth once known will quickly refute the charge. If
anyone is chargeable with it, it is Governor Eyre.
His unwise way of collecting materials for an answer
to Mr. Cardwell of necessity stirred the popular mind
to its depths. He excluded the coloured classes from
his appeal, and his placard added fuel to the flame.

OUTBURST OF FEELING IN ENGLAND. 85

I do not believe that Mr. Card well intended him to
publish my letter ; at least, there is no evidence that
he did ; and the state of things must have been bad
indeed when the publication of it roused such an
intense excitement throughout the island. At all
events, Parliament will certainly take up the question
of Jamaica's condition, and thus out of this dark
and shocking event may come better days for the
unfortunate island."

Mr. Eyre's despatch was not published in this
country till Saturday, the 20th November, when it
appeared in the Times newspaper, and in other papers
in the week following. I was not till then aware of
Mr. Eyre's accusations. The effect was startling. It
immediately created an intense and widespread ex-
citement, extending not only to political circles, but
stirring the wonder and horror of all classes. To my
astonishment I read that, in a great degree, "this
most wicked and widespread rebellion " was due to
Dr. Underbill's letter, to "Mr. G. W. Gordon, a
member of Assembly, and a Baptist preacher," and to
a few Baptist missionaries, " who endorsed at public
meetings, and otherwise," all the untruthful state-
ments or inuendoes propagated in Dr. Underbill's
letter. This view was adopted after its own manner
by a leading article in the Times. The nation was
gravely informed that " in the old days of slavery, the
Jamaica negro was noted among his race for his
dangerous character, and that he rose against his
masters, under the guidance of the Baptists, on the
very eve of emancipation." And now again, " without

THE TRAGEDY OF MORA NT BAY.

the smallest provocation/' and excited only by a
fanatical hatred of the white man, they have broken
out into murder and rapine. Thus the seven millions
sterling paid in 1834 had only resulted in the ruin
of the old proprietors, and to purchase for these
300,000 blacks " the liberty to squat, and maroon, or
to hang about the towns of the island." It was added
in bitter irony, " How all the efforts of philanthropy
have ended may be read in our columns ! " *

The despatch was read with astonishment and
dismay, not only at the savage outbreak of the negro
population, but at the cruel severity of the measures
taken for its suppression. The more the appalling
details were studied, the more frightful and ghastly
did they appear. It was felt that the rising had been
crushed with a violence and slaughter out of all pro-
portion to the danger incurred. It was as if every
vestige of humanity had been rooted out of the hearts
and minds of the men, who revelled in the barbarities
they inflicted on the panic-striken and fugitive
wretches ; on a foe that never once crossed a sword
with them in fight, nor fired a musket at the men who
slaughtered them like frightened sheep, and burnt
their homesteads.

As the best answer to the Times article, and on the
advice of friends, I sent to the newspapers my letter
to Mr. Cardwell. It was no sooner published than
letters full of sympathy began to crowd upon me from

* To this portion of the Times attack a reply was given by
the Rev. Dr. Angus, but his letter was refused insertion. It
was published in the Daily News of November 23rd.

OUTBURST OF FEELING IN ENGLAND. 87

all parts of the country. An irrepressible agitation
sprang up throughout the land. I was urged to take
advantage of a meeting in Camden Road Chapel, on
the evening of the 20th of November, and again at
Maidstone on the 27th, in order to explain the origin
and nature of these painful events. The audiences
were crowded and enthusiastic.

A similar meeting was held at Folkestone on the
21st, when the Rev. William Arthur gave his impres-
sive testimony against the shocking crimes related by
the very men to whom the repression of the " rebel-
lion " was entrusted. From this time public meetings
multiplied in all parts of the land, at many of which
I was invited to be present. In almost all cases they
were called b}T requisition to the mayors, and often
met under their presidency.

Among the most important places that expressed
their horror of the statements of the military authori-
ties, and called upon the Government for immediate
intervention and inquiry, were Newcastle, Brighton,
York, Shields, Manchester, Plymouth, Leeds, Bradford,
Reading, Derby, Rochdale, and many others too
numerous to mention. A most impressive deputation
was appointed by Manchester to wait on the Secretary
of State. It was quickly followed by a larger body,
the Anti-Slavery Society, which gathered from its
thirty branches a deputation consisting of more
than two hundred and fifty delegates. They saw
Mr. Cardwell on Saturday, the 9th December,
They besought the Government to take immediate
steps "for an impartial and searching inquiry

THE TRAGEDY OF MOB ANT BAY.

into the deplorable events which have recently
occurred in Jamaica, and the causes which
have occasioned them." In the memorial they pre-
sented they briefly recount the facts as set forth in
Mr. Eyre's despatches, and affirm that there was no
evidence of a malevolent purpose on the part of the
rioters. While they condemn the outrages committed
by an infuriated populace, they regard the firing of
the Volunteers into the mob as a rash and unwarrant-
able act, and the indiscriminate massacre of the
coloured people by the soldiers, sailors, and the
maroons, when all serious apprehension of further
disturbances had ceased, as a proceeding deserving of
the strongest reprobation. The people were hunted
down in their own districts, the majority of whom
were unarmed and not implicated in the riot. The
proceedings against Mr. Gordon and his execution*
they say, were flagrantly illegal. They close their
memorial by a brief reference to the antecedent dis-
content, and to the unjust administration of the laws
in Jamaica.

To the profound gratification of the large assembly
before him, Mr. Cardwell stated that Her Majesty's
Government had anticipated their request, and " had
determined that there should be forthwith a full, an
impartial, and an independent inquiry." Arrange-
ments, he said, were already in progress, and informa-
tion of them would go to Jamaica by the next mail ;
but he desired that the conduct of Mr. Eyre and the
authorities should not be prejudged.

CHAPTER IX.

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON.

NO incident of the dreadful story narrated in
the despatches forwarded by Governor Eyre
produced a more painful impression than the
arrest, trial, and execution of Mr. G. W. Gordon. He
was a half-caste by birth, but a man of property, of
good education and standing in society, married to an
English wife, and of a religious habit of mind.* He
was one of the few coloured men who had found their
way into the House of Assembly. He was member
for the district in which the outbreak took place. For
many years before the arrival of Governor Eyre he
had held the position of magistrate, but was displaced
by Mr. Eyre, on account of a dispute which arose
out of the case of a negro whom Mr. Gordon had
befriended, believing him to be unjustly and cruelly
treated. Though the act of the Governor was not
reversed, the Duke of Newcastle, the then Colonial
Minister, required an apology to Mr. Gordon to be
made by Mr. Eyre. It was reluctantly and grudg^

* Some years before these events lie had been baptized by
the Rev. J. M. Phillippo ; but he did not join the Baptist
denomination.

90 TEE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

ingly done, and left in both parties much sore feeling
behind. During the administration of Mr. Eyre many
other causes of offence had sprung up, in which Mr.
Gordon had taken a leading part. He was often
an opponent of the Governor's measures in the
Assembly,* and a staunch and unfailing advocate of
the interests of the negro, to which race, by his birth
he was allied. He had also interested himself in the
land disputes, which stirred up so much discontent in
and around Morant Bay, where he himself also pos-
sessed a small estate.!

With the excitement that followed the publication
of my letter Mr. Gordon deeply sympathised. He
presided at the " Underbill Meeting " held in Kingston
on May 3rd,j in the absence of the Mayor, saying
but a few introductory words on the general object
of the meeting. He was believed to be the author
of the placard calling, with the consent of the
Custos, an " Underbill Meeting " at Morarit Bay.
Here he spoke more at length. He reminded the
people of the heavy taxation to which they were
subject, their destitute and forlorn condition, the
oppressive conduct of the Custos and local magis-
tracy, which, he said, was sufficient to extinguish
the patience with which hitherto it had been borne,

* He was regarded by Mr. Eyre as " the most consistent and
untiring obstructor of the public business in the House of
Assembly." Despatch, May 17th, 1865. Papers, &c., p. 192.

t " Personal Eecollections of the Hon. G. W. Gordon," by
the Eev. Duncan Fletcher. Chap, vi., p. 80.

| Eeport of the Eoyal Commission, p. 278.

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON. 91

and he energetically urged his fellow-citizens to
remonstrate, strongly and earnestly, against it. But
he advised no violent action.

He took no part in the rising or its immediate
antecedents. At the time of its occurrence he was in
Kingston, many miles away. His active interest in
public life, and close intimacy with the affairs of the
parish of St. Thomas-in-the-East, naturally led many
to associate his name with the names of the actors in
the outbreak. So that when, on October 12th, the
news of it reached Kingston, the authorities deter-
mined to treat him as a guilty party. He resided
usually at a short distance from the town of Kingston,
but had a place of business there. For three or four
days before his arrest he was occupied with his busi-
ness as usual ; but his friends urged him to absent
himself for a short time. Conscious of his innocence,
he positively refused. " If," he said, " it is for the
tranquillity of the country, I will keep myself quiet
for a day or two, but to go away to make myself guilty
I never will." * Hearing, however, that a warrant
had been issued for his arrest, on Tuesday, October
17th, he voluntarily proceeded to the office of the
commander of the troops. He was then and there
placed under arrest, by the Governor in person and
the Gustos of Kingston. The city of Kingston, by a
special resolution of the Privy Council, had been
exempted from the operation of martial law which
covered the county of Surrey. The Lord Chief Justice

* " The Case of G. W. Gordon," by B. T. Williams, Esq.,
Barrister-at-Law, 1866, p. 22.

92 THE TRAGEDY OF MOEANT BA Y.

of England, in his celebrated charge, distinctly states
that these two gentlemen " were not the ministers or
apparitors of the martial authority, and did not possess
the power to take up Mr. Gordon for the purpose of
handing him over to the martial law. Nevertheless,
they did it. They did it by the exercise of the strong
hand of power, because it was thought that a con-
viction could not be got at Kingston. It was alto-
gether unlawful and unjustifiable. To Mr. Gordon it
made the difference of life or death." * It deprived
him of the means and opportunity of self-defence and
legal assistance.

Mr. E}Te must have been well aware of the
illegality of the course taken.f He says himself in
his despatch : — " Great difference of opinion prevailed
in Kingston as to the policy of taking Mr. Gordon."
But he argued that, as Mr. Gordon was "the chief
instigator of all the evils that had taken place, and
there was fear of an outbreak in Kingston, he deemed
it right in the abstract, and desirable as a matter of
policy, not to let the chief rebel escape punishment ;
so I at once took upon myself the responsibility of his
capture." {

* Charge of the Lord Chief Justice of England, In re The
Queen v. Nelson and Brand, London, 1867, p. 114.

f It appears from the evidence of Mr. Westmorland, one of
Mr. Eyre's Executive Council, that he suggested at the time
that Mr. Gordon should be reserved for trial by a regular — i.e.
civil— tribunal, by which the means of defence are secured by
ordinary process of law. (" Case of W. G. Gordon," by B. T.
Williams, p. 23.)

J Papers relating to the Disturbances, &c., Part I., p. 6.
Despatch of October 20th, 1865.

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON. 93

In a later despatch, dated January, 1866, Mr. Eyre
distinctly recognises the illegality of his act, but he
trusted to obtain an " Act of Indemnity " to cover his
deviation from a strictly legal course, which he
secured prior to the final abolition of the Constitu-
tion. *

Without further delay, about noon on the day of
capture, the Governor, with a supply of arms and
ammunition, took his captive on board the steamer
Wolverine, and sailed for Morant Bay.

On Friday, the 20th, he set Mr. Gordon with other
prisoners on shore, and committed him to the custody
of Provost Marshal Ramsay. The intervening days
had been spent by the Governor visiting places on the
coast, precious days lost to Mr. Gordon, which might
have been occupied in preparation for his trial.

The crucial importance of this detention in custody
on board the steamer by the Governor, will be best
understood from the issue of at least one attempt
during the time to aid the prisoner in his anticipated
trial. Prohibited access to Mr. Gordon, a letter was
addressed to him, " A prisoner on H.M.S. Wolverine"
by Mr. Wemys Anderson, of Tichfield, enclosed in an
open state to Brigadier Nelson, who controlled all the
proceedings of the courts-martial at Morant Bay, and
which came into the Brigadier's possession previous to
the trial. In this valuable and most important letter,
Mr. Anderson states that he knew nothing of the
charges about to be brought against Gordon ; but, " as

* Further Papers, Part II., p. 195.

t See "Keport of the Royal Commission," p. 795.

94 THE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BA Y.

an old friend and professional adviser," he could not
refrain from tendering his advice. Whatever errors
Mr. Gordon may have committed before the pro-
clamation of martial law, "he advised him to plead,"
first, that you are answerable only to the ordinary civil
and criminal courts of the country ; and second, that
«' that only is crime which is prompted by criminal
intention, and that you, having no such intention, are
not criminally liable for the consequences, however
disastrous they unhappily may have been."

That letter never reached the prisoner. It was
read and destroyed by Brigadier Nelson.

At length, on the morning of Friday, the 20th, to
quote Mr. Eyre's despatch, " having landed Brigadier
Nelson, and the Militia officers who aided as members
of courts-martial, and having put on shore the
prisoners, including G. W. Gordon, I again proceeded
in the Wolverine to Kingston, reaching that city about
2 p.m." Thus was Gordon left to his fate. He was
imprisoned in the police-station, in the charge of the
Provost Marshal. During his confinement on board
the Wolverine, and afterwards in the police-office, Mr.
Gordon was labouring under great infirmity ; he had
no coat on, "he had a blanket which he wrapped on
his shoulders and it hung down." *

The Brigadier found a considerable mass of docu-
ments, awaiting his perusal, from which to select such
evidence as existed of Gordon's criminality to guide
the Provost Marshal, who acted as prosecutor on behalf

* " Papers Eelating to the Disturbances," Part I., p. 7.

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON. 95

of the Government. The Court-Martial was com-
posed of two Lieutenants of the Royal Navy, and an
Easign of the 4th West India Regiment. The Court
assembled at two o'clock on Saturday, the 21st, Lieu-
tenant-Commander Brand acting as President. Care
was taken to exclude all persons friendly to the
prisoner.

The President read the charges, which were as
follows. I take them as stated in the Report of the
Royal Commission : —

" The charges against the prisoner were for further-
ing the massacre at Morant Bay, and at divers periods
previously inciting and advising with certain insur-
gents, and there by his influence tending to cause the
riot. Two heads of offence were drawn up, one for
High Treason, the other for complicity with certain
parties engaged in the rebellion, riot, and insurrection
at Morant Bay." *

Such were the charges. About four hours and
a half were occupied in the trial, of which an
hour was employed by the prisoner in his defence.
Five witnesses were sworn and examined for the
prosecution, and one, living on the spot, was sum-
moned on behalf of the prisoner.

How evidence was obtained may be imagined by
the following statement, given to the Royal Commis-
sion on oath by Joseph Gordon Smith, a volunteer of
Astwood's troop.

* I have taken this precis of the Trial from the report pub-
lished in Jamaica, in 1866, by A. W. H. Lake. It may also be
found in the Report of the Eoyal Commission, p. 277.

-06 THE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BAY.

" I went," he says, " with a number of prisoners, to
Morant Bay. Ramsay flogged them without even
asking their names. Afterwards I went to the guard-
room, and he was then swearing five of them, with
their hands fastened and a rope round their necks ;
and he was swearing them in these words : ' You
shall well and truly state what G. W. Gordon has to
do with the rebellion ' ; and between each part of
this a sailor came down with the whip over their
shoulders." * Under such circumstances, it will be
interesting to give a brief sketch of the evidence laid
before the Court.

The first witness for the prosecution was a black
.man, a schoolmaster and a rebel, John Anderson by
name, who had been hunted up by the Provost
Marshal from the mass of prisoners in his hands.
He stated that he had seen Mr. Gordon at Stony
Gut on a Sunday, about the month of June or July,
and that he had been present at a meeting in August,
near the Court House. Gordon said to Bogle that if
the back lands were not obtained they must all die.
He knew Mr. Gordon quite well. Some resolutions
were passed at this meeting which dealt with the
degraded state of the people and the base treatment
of the labourers; but no suggestions were made of
violent reprisals or insurrection. This was the
strongest evidence against Gordon adduced at the
trial.

The next witness, James Gordon, was a black man

* Keport, p. 54.

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON. 97

and a rebel. A deposition was put in, taken in the
presence of the Inspector of Prisons. It was to the
effect that Mr. G. W. Gordon had sent a letter to the
Yalley stating there would be war, that the people
must prepare for it, and that then they would get
their land free. Cross-examined, he said he knew
the letter came from Mr. Gordon, but he did not
know the signature ; only from the contents he knew
it came from him. Mr. Gordon remarked in reply,
" I never wrote such a letter in my life."

Next was tendered the dying confession of a rebel,
by name Thomas Williams. It stated that Gordon
said all the outside land should be got for nothing.
He held two meetings. At Stony Gut all the people
were Gordon's friends. Mr. Gordon's people made
the disturbances, and " he teach them." The prisoner
observed, "All this is given on hearsay, and I deny
it all."

The Provost Marshal then tendered a document
signed by two men named Peart and Humber, of the
parish of Vere,* sworn before a Justice of Peace in
the same parish. It purported to contain a portion of
a speech delivered by Gordon at an " Underbill Meet-

* The Eoyal Commissioners state that Peart and Humber

were in Jamaica at the time of the trial, and might have been

summoned to give oral testimony. They were of the class

between which and the negroes there was constant strife, on

account of wages, &c. Chevannes and Thomas also were

Jiving in Jamaica. Their written statements were taken in the

absence of Gordon, and were inadmissible in English courts,

ither civil or military. (Eeport, p. 36.) This, too, was tho

)inion of Lord Cockburn. (Charge, p. 126.)

7

98 THE TEA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

ing " in Vere. Gordon was said to have declared the
Governor to be a bad man, who sanctions everything
done by the white man to the oppression of the black
man. " The friends of Mr. Eyre represent to the
Queen that you are thieves. The ' Queen's Advice '
is all trash ! It is not her advice." You work on
Sundays. Sabbath-breaking is bringing down a curse
on you. " Do as they do in Haiti." The prisoner
remarked : " As to Haiti, I never thought it, and my
Heavenly Father knows it." *

A letter was next handed to the Court, seized in
the house of the rebel Chisholm, which he swore was
in the handwriting of Gordon. The only sentence in
it of any importance, was a statement that " the
people are all starving in Yere ; pray to God for help
and deliverance. " f He regarded Mr. Gordon as a
peacemaker.

There seems to have been no reason why the three
persons last mentioned were not produced in Court
for cross-examination.

The next following evidence was a deposition made
by Charles Chevannes before a police magistrate,
stating that after the trial of the case of " Gordon v.
The Baron" in which Gordon was worsted, he said,

* Dr. Bruce, who was at the meeting, and sat close to Gordon,
with others, deny that Gordon used these words about Haiti.
(Report, p. 32.) On the 12th September, therefore long before
the trial, Gordon denied in the Guardian that he used the
expression.

t The Court seem to have made no inquiry into the genuine-
ness of any of the documents. (Report, 633, 653.) " I asked no
questions," said Lieut. Bray (p. 654).

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON.

Never mind; if 1 don't get revenge, my people
will."

Another deposition was next handed in, made by
George Thomas, lying sick in the hospital, within 130
yards of the Court-Martial. So far as it affected the
accused, the purport cf it was that Gordon never
came to the meetings of Bogle and his friends ; but
that by letter he told Bogle that the lands were going"
to be free, and put up Bogle to do all this rebellion.
" Mr. Gordon was the head of the rebellion. I have
heard Mr. Gordon advise the people not to pay for
the lands." The prisoner's reply was simply, "That
is quite untrue." *

The Court had next laid before them three hundred
copies of a placard, which was simply a notice, with
blanks, of a meeting to be held (blank) for the
purpose of (blank), and so on.

Another placard produced was supposed to be
printed at the Watchman office, and was headed,
" The State of the Island." t It announced a public
meeting at Morant Bay on the 29th July, urging the
people to attend. The postmistress of Kingston
was called to give evidence respecting it. Elizabeth
Jane Gough said it was one of two papers addressed

* Lieutenant Brand swore before the Commission that he
did not ask where Thomas was, who made the deposition, or
whether he could be brought into Court. Thomas swore
before the Eoyal Commission that he was quite capable of
giving his evidence in person. Ho had a wound in the
shoulder, but nothing was the matter with his legs. (Report,
p. 655.)

t See Report of Commission, p. 31.

100 THE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BAY.

to Bogle and Chisholm, in the handwriting of Gordon.
A letter was shown to her, which she also swore was
in Mr. Gordon's handwriting, and signed by him. She
liad taken the placard out of the wrapper.

(In the sworn evidence of George Sharp, given
before the Royal Commission,* he stated that he was a
compositor in Mr. Gordon's employ, and that three
packets of the above placard were addressed by him to
Bogle, Chisholm, and Sullivan.)

James McLaren, a rebel prisoner under sentence of
death, was examined on oath. To the question, " Do
you know Mr. Gordon has something to do with the
rebellion ? " he replied, " I know I am going to be
hanged this night ; I don't know if he has anything
to do with it." To the prisoner's question, " Have I
ever sent up to tell you to get up a subscription, and
not to pay for the lands, and to get up a rebellion, or
to advise them to any improper act ? " the witness
answered, " No. I heard him (G. W. Gordon) at the
public meeting on the 12th of August advise me and
others to pay my taxes."

The Provost Marshal finally handed in a letter from
the prisoner to a Mr. E. C. Smith, in which he lamented
the death of Mr. Hire, and attributed it to the arbitrary
power of the Baron, adding, " People can't hope for
justice. This is the true cause of the discontent."
The prisoner admitted this to be his writing, but added,
" There was no intent there."

* Report, pp. 905 and 1041. Sharp al*o testified that he
received the paper headed " The State of the Island " from Mr.
Gordon to set up.

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON. 101

Here the evidence for the prosecution closed. To
say it was inconclusive is to minimise its worthless-
ness; it was morally and intrinsically bad. It was
evidence which neither by the ordinary nor military
law ought to have been admitted. It was utterly
contrary to the rules of right or justice. There was,
in fact, no evidence to warrant the allegation that Mr.
Gordon was an accomplice of the rebels.*

The only witness available for the prisoner was a
man called to speak to Mr. Gordon's illness, as the
cause of his absence from the Vestry on the llth
October. A Dr. Major, whom he wished to call, was
declared by Kamsay to be absent from the Bay.t

The prisoner was then called upon for his defence. In
a speech of about an hour's duration, marked by some
natural hesitation of manner and great debility, for
he had been kept standing during the whole of the
trial, he referred first to the circumstances of his
arrest, as already given. He then expressed his regard
for Europeans, being brought up among them, and
his desire for the education of the people by their
agency. Possessed of much land, he could have no
interest in promoting rebellion. He had endeavoured

* Lord Cockburn's Charge, pp. 115 and 119.

t It was subsequently ascertained that Dr. Major was in
Morant Bay, but that the desire of Gordon to call him
as a witness was wilfully kept from his knowledge. The
absence of Gordon from the Vestry on the day of the out-
break was regarded as a conclusive proof of his knowledge
of what was about to take place. Dr. Major could have
disproved this; hence the denial of his presence in Morant
Bay on the day of the trial.

102 THE TRAGEDY OF MORAKT BA Y.

to secure the franchise for the black people, that in a
legitimate manner reforms might be secured. " And
I solemnly, before my Maker and this Court, declare
that I never knew from Paul Bogle or any other
person in this parish of an intended insurrection. I
knew nothing of it until I was informed by a police-
man in Kingston. I never heard from any of the
parties of their movements or intentions in the least
degree. Circumstantial evidence may be suspicious
on me, but I can't help that." He finally referred to
the words attributed to him about Haiti as incorrect.
" I solemnly declare I never thought of Haiti when I
was at the meeting at Vere ; and those words, sup-
posing them to be correct, were spoken in another
parish, having nothing to do with this." He con-
cluded his defence with these words : " I hope it may
be the pleasure of the Court to take further infor-
mation. No charge is made against me for being
concerned in any rebellion. I had expected, if any
crime or misdemeanour were charged against me, I
should have been tried on the merits in Kingston ;
and as I was not taken up in any rebellious act, nor
on rebel ground, neither within any martial-law dis-
trict, I freely gave myself up to His Excellency the
Governor so soon as I heard that suspicions were held
against me." This pathetic appeal was without
effect.

After half an hour's deliberation the Court ad-
journed.

My readers will readily perceive the worthlessness
of the evidence on which this excellent man was ad-

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON. 103

judged to death. It will suffice to quote the conclu-
sion formed respecting it, in the impartial and patient
investigation of the Royal Commission. "The evi-
dence, oral and documentary, appears to us to be
wholly insufficient to establish the charge upon which
the prisoner took his trial."

This mockery of a trial came to a close about half-
past seven, after " set of sun," and in the following
laconic words Brigadier Nelson announced to his
superior officer the finding of the Court : " The sen-
tence was death." But before the victim could be
informed, the finding had to receive the approval of
the authorities, and the Sabbath day was spent in
forwarding the papers to Kingston, and in securing
their assent.

At six p.m. on Sunday evening, Governor Eyre
wrote to Nelson * : " Your report of the trial of George
William Gordon has just reached me through the
General, and I quite concur in the justice of the
sentence, and the necessity of carrying it into effect."
At ten minutes past seven on Monday morning, so
precise is the language of the despatch, Mr. Gordon
was informed of the doom awaiting him, and at eight
o'clock the dread sentence was carried into effect."t

He occupied the brief hour allowed him, in writing
to his wife, a few sentences from which deserve to be
quoted : —

* Papers, &c., Part I., p. 24.

f He was hung by two or three sailors from the centre of the
ruined arch of the Court House. Lieut. Errington, one of the
members of the Court-Martial which condemned Gordon, was in
command of the men by whom he was hung. (Report, p . 663.

104 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

" My Beloved Lucy, — General Nelson has just been
kind enough to inform me that the Court-Martial on
Saturday last has ordered me to be hung, and that
the sentence is to be executed in an hour hence, so
that I shall be gone from this world of sin and sorrow.
I do not deserve this sentence, for I never advised or
took part in any insurrection. All I ever did was to
recommend the people who complained to seek redress
in a legitimate way ; and if in this I erred, or have
been misrepresented, I do not think I deserve the
extreme sentence. It is, however, the will of my
Heavenly Father that I should thus suffer in obeying
His command to relieve the poor and needy, and to
protect, as far as I am able, the oppressed. . . .

"The judges seemed against me; and from the
rigid manner of the Court, I could not get in all the
explanations I intended. The man, Anderson, made
an unfounded statement, and so did Gordon, but his
testimony was different from the deposition. The
judges took the former and erased the latter. It
seemed that I was to be sacrificed. I know nothing
of Bogle, and never advised him to the act or acts
which have brought upon me this end. . . .

" I did not expect that, not being a rebel, I should
have been tried and disposed of in this way. I
thought His Excellency the Governor would have
allowed me a fair trial if any charge of sedition or
inflammatory language were justly attributable to me,
but I have no power of control. May the Lord be
merciful to him. . . .

"Now, my dearest one, the most beloved and

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON. 105

faithful one, the Lord bless, help, preserve, and keep
you." *

An eminent journalist at the time thus sums up
the case of Mr. Gordon : — " It is not alleged that Mr,
Gordon was taken with arms in his hands, though
even that would not justify his trial by Court-Mar tial,
unless he was taken in a district which was at that
time under martial law; and according to English
law, a military court has no jurisdiction to try a non-
military subject of the Crown for any offence what-
ever, other than armed resistance to the authorities
in a proclaimed district. The Brigadier-General and
the officers who sat on that Court-Martial, and the
soldiers who carried their sentence into effect, have
one and all been guilty of wilful murder." f

Such was the judgment formed at the time by
eminent jurists, and held for truth by vast numbers of
the people of Great Britain. It cannot be remembered
but with the deepest regret that a man estimable
in some respects, a Governor of an English Colony,
should have allowed his personal feelings to prompt
him to take so prominent a share in the arrest and
prosecution unto death of a man who, if too strongly

* Fletcher's "Personal Recollections," p. 125.

t The Solicitors' Journal. Even the Times gives their Jamaica
correspondent (March 30th) credit for saying : — " I may as well
express here my opinion that no evidence has been given to
prove either that Mr. Gordon could have been legally convicted
of complicity with the rioters or rebels of Morant Bay, or that
there was anything like organisation among the negroes-
throughout the island with a view to rebel."

106 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

sensitive to the oppression of the race to which he
belonged, was actuated in the main by humane and
Christian motives. " I can say," were his dying words,
" it is a great honour thus to suffer in such a cause,
for the servant cannot be greater than his Lord."

The view here taken of Mr. Gordon's case, finds its
fullest and final justification in the remarkable
language of the Lord Chief Justice of England, in the
summing-up of his charge to the Grand Jury in the
case of " The Queen against Nelson and Brand," in the
Central Criminal Court of the Old Bailey, on the 10th
April, 1867. *

After contrasting the treatment in Mr. Gordon's
case with that of the Fenian prisoners at Dublin by
Mr. Justice Fitzgerald, Lord Cockburn proceeds to
say : —

4< Taken from a place where he would have had the
advantage of a regular trial, a previous knowledge of
the case he had to meet, the means of defence, the
presence of friends, the assistance of counsel, the
cross-examination of the witnesses, the full opportunity
to rebut their testimony by counter - evidence, the
direction to the jury of a professional and responsible
judge, he is hurried off without an opportunity of
communicating with anyone, and transported to
another part of the island, where he had neither
friend nor adviser. Even a letter written to him by a
friend suggesting the line of defence is purposely kept

* "Charge of the Lord Chief Justice of England," revised
and corrected ; edited by Frederick Cockburn, Esq., of the
Crown Office (London: Ridgway, 1867), p. 164.

QEOEGE WILLIAM GORDON. 1C/

from him. Alone and helpless, he is immediately, and
with unseemly and deplorable haste, put upon his trial,
without knowledge of the charge till called upon to
answer it, without knowledge of the facts intended to
be proved, or of the witnesses intended to be examined,
still less that the depositions of living witnesses taken
behind his back would be brought forward against
him. Under these most disadvantageous circum-
stances he is put upon his trial, before a court in all
probability sharing in the common prepossession
against him, and is condemned on evidence, in my
judgment, wholly insufficient to warrant his con-
demnation.

" It may be said, it is true, that Gordon did not
apply for a postponement of the trial. But of what
advantage would a postponement have been to him
while in total ignorance of what he had to meet?
Besides which, this unhappy man appears, if one may
judge from the utter want of vigour and intelligence
displayed in his defence, to have been paralysed by
the circumstances in which he was placed, and to
have been rendered incapable of grappling with the
difficulties by which he was surrounded. No one, I
think, who has the faintest idea of what the adminis-
tration of justice involves, could deem the proceedings
on this trial consistent with justice, or, to use a homely
phrase, with that fair play which is the right of the
commonest criminal. All I can say is that if, on
martial law being proclaimed, a man can lawfully be
thus tried, condemned, and sacrificed, such a state of

Iings is a scandal and a reproach to the institutions

108 THE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BAY.

of this great and free country ; and as a minister of
justice, profoundly imbued with a sense of what is
due to the first and greatest of earthly obligations, I
enter my solemn and emphatic protest against the
lives of men being thus dealt with in the tune to
come."

I shall not be doing full justice to Mr. Gordon's
memory if I do not add a few extracts from a letter
I received from him, dated September 8th, a month
before the outbreak, clearly showing that he had no
part in or expectation of a violent explosion of the
existing discontent : —

" I have had a great deal to do with meetings con-
vened to consider your letter, and a circular sent by
Mr. Cardwell to Mr. Eyre, which the latter has issued
as 'The Queen's Advice.' This document is exten-
sively circulated, and sent to all ministers of religion.
By several it has been accepted and read in the
churches for effect, so that the poor people think there
is no hope for them. The planters rejoice over it, and
seem delightfully encouraged in their unreasonable-
ness and oppression. The condition of the people
continues deplorable, and nowhere that I have been
more so than in the parish of Vere, where a meeting
was held on Monday, the 4th July. The state of
matters here is really serious — children naked and
starving, and coolies too; adults in misery, and not
having raiment even to come to the meeting; and
from these causes the places of worship are nearly
empty, and the schools badly attended, so that in
point of fact the social fabric is fast giving way."

GEORGE WILLIAM GORDON. 109

He then relates the sad details of a case at " The
Alley," and continues : — " The magistrates are princi-
pally all overseers, of a very inferior class of men,
and they sit in judgment on the labourers employed
by themselves, and it becomes the law of terror and
oppression."

" As to the poor people, they have no chance with
the Governor when they complain of wrong and
oppression ; and all this really exists in Jamaica.
After the labourers have worked, the planter-magis-
trates make all possible objections and refuse to pay,
and the people have virtually no redress."

" Were Mr. Eyre a gentleman, and a man of con-
siderate feelings, one would endeavour to confer with
him; but it is hopeless. He is prejudiced and ill-
disposed. We must depend on Divine interposition.
Something must be done, and it occurs to me that
our people would do even better in America as soon
as matters are settled there."

CHAPTER X.

THE REIGN OF TERROR.

^ I ^HE atrocities of the suppression acquired
additional horror by the employment of
the Maroons. These semi-civilised negroes
are the descendants of original runaway slaves, at
the time when the island was in the occupation of
the Spaniards. Living in the fastnesses of the
mountains, they resisted subjugation when the
island fell into the hands of the English, and were
increased in numbers, from time to time, by fugitives
from the sugar and coffee plantations. About the
year 1838 they acknowledged the British rule, but
were permitted to retain their own officers, laws,
and customs, under a white superintendent. To
Colonel Fyfe, a former governor amongst them,
was given the command of a body numbering about
seventy or a hundred men, who came to Bath offering
themselves for enlistment. On the 19th October,
under orders from Governor Eyre, arms were provided
for them by Brigadier Nelson,

Sudden and rapid in their movements, undis-
ciplined and unencumbered with commissariat, these
rude denizens of the mountains were deemed suit-
able allies in hunting the rebels, and in tracing them

THE REIGN OF TERROR. Ill

to their hiding places. They were sent off' to scour
the country, to break into the dwellings of supposed
rebels, shooting captives without trial, and burning
their homesteads on the most insufficient evidence*
or no evidence at all, of complicity in the out-
break. Many prisoners were also taken and placed
in the hands of the military. Some of the rebels,
it was stated, were Obeahmen, dealers in magic
and secret arts, and on that account alone worthy
of death. In these excursions many persons were
shot, and 140 cottages destroyed by fire. A grand
banquet was finally given them, in Kingston, on
the 13th November, to celebrate their exploits, and
to receive the thanks of the Governor.

A large number of persons were arrested at various-
times, in places both within and without the sphere
of martial law, and on its cessation were detained in
custody for trial before a Special Commission of Oyer
and Terminer formed in Kingston, the legality of
which was subject to the gravest question. The
members of the Court were selected specially for their
known hostility to the coloured race. The prisoners,
with few exceptions, were accused of " felonious riot."
On trial some were declared not guilty; but the
majority were convicted on the most flimsy evidence,
and sentenced to various terms of penal servitude,
some for life and others for twenty years. But the
following cases deserve special mention from the
position and estimable character of the men.*

Report of Royal Commission, p. 25.

112 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

E. J. Goldson was arrested in Kingston. He had
been for eleven years in the police force, in which he
had attained the rank of sergeant. On his arrest, he
was first tried for using seditious words at the
" Underhill Meeting " on the 3rd May. As the jury
could not agree, after six days' detention he was
discharged. On the 19th October he was again
arrested, without a warrant, and taken to the bar-
racks, and thence to the Up Park Camp. His jailer
examined him. He denied that he was a friend of
Mr. Gordon, and said that at the meeting he had
spoken only against the law of assault. He was,
however, taken on board the Aboukir, with his hands
tied to his back, and so tight as to cause excruciating
pain. He was put into irons, and so remained from
Saturday to Tuesday, exposed to the foulest abuse
from the soldiery. On the 1st November, he was
removed to the Cordelia for transport to Morant Bay.
Here he was given in custody to Provost Marshal
Ramsay, who, seeing him, asked, " What is that man
doing there ? " He was taken out, stripped, lashed to
a post in the street, and flogged by a white soldier.
A policeman was ordered to flog him, but he refused.
After suffering other indignities, he was released on
the 26th by a writ of Habeas Corpus, when he returned
to Kingston. He was afterwards charged before the
Commission Court and tried for conspiracy. He was
acquitted.*

The Rev. J. H. Crole, a fair, brown man, a native

* Keport of Ko^al Commission, p. 310.

vi

i

:

THE REIGN OF TERROR. 113

Baptist minister connected with Mr. Gordon's Taber-
nacle, was another of these victims of injustice. He
was fellow-prisoner with Goldson and Kelly Smith,
and transhipped with them to Morant Bay. His
companion, Kelly Smith, thus describes what he
saw : " The perspiration was running down his face."
Kamsay said : " That man is winking at his fellow-
prisoner ; take him out, and give him a dozen." He
said "he was not doing anything." Ramsay said:
" Give him another dozen for saying that." He had
one dozen. They were about to tie him again, and
some gentlemen outside interfered by some sort of
sign, and Crole was released, to the amazement of the
police and others.* He was subsequently tried by
the Commission Court for using seditious language
at the " Underhill Meeting," of May 3rd.

Mr. Kelly Smith, part editor of the Watchman, was
also a companion in tribulation ; and, though he
escaped the lash, he had to endure a severe imprison-
ment, and was daily made to witness the numerous
executions which took place. His friends obtained a
rit of Habeas Corpus, and he returned to Kingston,
here he was tried for conspiracy, and acquitted.!
Mr. Sidney Levien, editor of the County Union, an
opposition paper, published in Kingston, was also
arrested during the reign of terror. For fifteen years
e had creditably filled the post of editor. His crime

Report of Royal Commission, p. 195 : Kelly Smith's
evidence.

t Fuither Correspoadeace relative to the Affairs of Jamaica,
73.

8

114 THE T RAGED Y OF HOE ANT BA Y.

consisted of an article, in which he declared that the
outbreak was the natural consequence of Mr. Eyre's
misgovernment, his disregard of justice in his treat-
ment of Mr. G. W. Gordon, his failure to give reason-
able support to native industry, and his general
neglect of duty. These statements were interspersed
with some personal allusions to the Governor's private
habits. For this article, however (if there was any
other offence, it was not stated), he was arrested, put
in prison, and sent to Morant Bay, which place he had
styled a " Gehenna," and the " Valley of Death." His
trial did not, however, come on during martial law,
nor do we know whether it could have taken place
under the clauses of the new Act passed by the
Legislature then in session. He found means to bring
his arrest and detention under the consideration of
the Civil Court, and before judges trained in the
principles of English law. The result was that the
Chief Justice discharged him from custody, on the
express ground that the Act of the Legislature was
unconstitutional, and gave a power to the Governor
which ought not to be entrusted to anyone in his
position. He also stated that, for his arrest, Mr.
Levien might obtain redress. He was, however, again
arrested, and tried before Sir Bryan Edwards under the
same Commission as Palmer and others. He was con-
victed and confined in the Surrey Jail. Sir John
Peter Grant, after his arrival in Jamaica as Governor,
offered him a free pardon, which he declined to accept.
He was, however, subsequently released.

One other case deserves further mention, that of the

TEE REIGN OF TERROR. 115

Rev. Edwin Palmer, a black man and minister of the
Baptist Church meeting in Hanover Street, Kingston.
Though a coloured man, he had received a good
education.

As my readers already know, martial law was not
proclaimed over the city of Kingston, where Mr.
Palmer lived, and where there was not the least sign
of rebellion or sympathy with the atrocities that had
been committed elsewhere. With other peaceful in-
habitants, Mr. Palmer was arrested, without any
warrant, on the 20th October, by the order of the
Governor. Of the crime with which he was accused
he was kept in perfect ignorance. After being detained
in the city cage for some hours, he was conveyed to
the barracks, and placed in a dark cell. The day
following, under military escort, he was removed to
the Up Park Camp. Here he was stripped of his
boots, his hair cut, his hands tied behind him, and
locked up in a cell. The next day, guarded by a large
military escort, with muskets loaded and bayonets
fixed, he was led through the city of Kingston to the
Ordnance Wharf, and delivered into the custody of
the master gunner of the guardship Aboukir. He
was put in irons by the captain, and remained in that
condition from Saturday night until Tuesday, the 24th.
The cruelties inflicted upon him induced a high state
of fever, and for a few hours partially unhinged his
mind ; but under the direction of the ship's doctor he
was relieved of his irons and brought on deck, and
recovered. On the 2nd November he was placed on
board H.M.S. Cordelia, and taken to Morant Bay.

8*

1 1 6 TEE TEA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

With his iellow-prisoner Goldson, he was handed
over to Provost Marshal Kamsay, and was instantly
marched to the police-station ; and on his way thither,
amidst the taunts and jeers of the marines, he was
shown the gallows and ropes all prepared, he was told,
for his execution at seven o'clock the next morning.
Goldson was lashed to a post and flogged, also Samuel
Clark, who on the following day was hung. For some
unknown reason, though foully and wickedly abused
as a " Baptist parson " by the Provost Marshal, and as
a " black devil," fit only to be a hewer of wood and
drawer of water, Palmer was left unwhipped, but was
constantly ordered on parade to witness the frequent
executions. In all this there was an entire disregard
of sex or age, the innocent or the guilty, and an utter
recklessness with regard to the taking away of human
life. It is, however, particularly mentioned that his
fellow-captives, Dr. Bruce and the editor of the County
Union, who were treated as political prisoners, by the
compassionate interference of the Inspector of Prisons,
were spared this degradation, The district prison
was a miserable place. The prisoners were fed like
pigs. Bad food and water made them sick, and two
of them died in their cells. Happily, by the interven-
tion of Mr. George Phillippo, the barrister, and the
Baptist missionaries, after a cruel captivity of thirty-
four days, a writ of Habeas Corpus was obtained from
Judge Kerr, and on the 21st December Mr. Palmer
was released on bail, and ordered to appear before the
Special Commission in Kingston on the 10th February.
To the last he remained entirely ignorant of the

THE REIGN OF TERROR. 117

charge on which he had been arrested. The Attorney-
General was instructed by the Queen's Advocate-
General not to disclose it, and it was not until the
indictment had been found by the Grand Jury on
the day of trial, and the Court had directed a copy
of it to be furnished, that the offence was known
either to the accused or his counsel. Mr. Palmer
was indicted for " seditious language " used at the
Court House in Kingston on the 3rd May, at a
meeting "held to support the statements of Dr.
Underbill's letter." The resolutions and speeches
may have contained a little unsound political
economy, and some severe reflections on the Govern-
ment and House of Assembly, but not a word of dis-
loyalty, or that savoured of sedition. On receiving
the indictment, the first step taken by counsel was to
place on record thirteen pleas touching the legal and
constitutional character of the jury itself. After argu-
ment and a night's consideration, the Chief Justice
pronounced a judgment in favour of Mr. Palmer, and
he was discharged.

Notwithstanding this damaging check to the prose-
cution, the representative of the Crown renewed the
indictment. It had been proved that the jury panel
was improperly selected by the clerk of the Provost
Marshal, and persons omitted from it who it might be
supposed would take an unprejudiced view of the
cases brought before them. Although the previous
decision of the Chief Justice had thrown the gravest
doubts on the legal constitution of the jury as em-
panelled, every effort made by Mr. Phillippo to set

118 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

the jury panel aside failed. The counsel for the
Crown persisted in the trial, and on Monday, the 19th
February, Mr. Palmer was a second time arraigned on
an indictment, if not in exactly the same words,
similar in purport to the one previously quashed.

The result was a foregone conclusion. Every ob-
jection was overruled. An eye-witness thus describes
the scene : — " I sat so as to be able to keep an eye on the
jury-box. I observed the utmost eagerness in listen-
ing to the evidence for the prosecution, but as soon
as the defence had begun, most of the jurors became
listless, and, except occasionally, they seemed scarcely
to pay the least attention to the witnesses." The chief
witness, named Fouche, was a man no jury in England
would have believed. He was ignorant of shorthand.
He swore he had made notes of the speeches delivered,
and then enlarged them from memory five months
afterwards. Testimony was given that Mr. Palmer
had never uttered the words attributed to him, yet, on
the evidence of this one man, in about ten minutes
the jury came into Court with a verdict of guilty.
Even the Attorney-General (the prosecutor) made the
damaging admissions : (1) That the meeting on the
3rd May was a lawful one, legally convened ; and (2)
that it had no connection with the Morant Bay out-
break. Yet it was not till that event had taken place,
five months afterwards, that the prosecution was
thought of. But the Governor was driven by events
to find a justification for his accusations against
Baptist ministers, and for the atrocious measures em-
ployed in the suppression of the so-called rebellion. Mr.

THE REIGN OF TERROR. 119

Palmer was therefore included with other persons in
an indictment for conspiracy ; but the case broke down
so utterly in the hands of the Attorney-General, that
on the advice of the Chief Justice this part of the
prosecution was abandoned, even before any witnesses
had been called.* The Rev. D. J. East, who was pre-
sent day by day at all these mock trials, writes : " I
generally travelled to the Court with the Attorney-
General. One morning, while the trials were going on,
I said to him, ' "Well, Mr. Attorney-General, suppose
you get a conviction, what then?' 'Oh,' he said,
' twenty-four hours.' No one could have been more
surprised than the Government Prosecutor that Mr.
Palmer should have been sentenced, not for twenty-
four hours, but for two months."

At the termination of his imprisonment Mr. Palmer
was heartily welcomed by his flock in a warm and
eloquent address, at a public meeting held in his
chapel on the 19th April. To the end of his days,
prolonged some twenty-five years, he retained the
esteem and affection of his church, and of all who
knew his genuine excellence and devotedness as a
minister of Christ.

* For fuller details of the events here summarised I must refer
to the Missionary Herald, for 18G6, pp. 13, 21, 37, 58, 89, 137.
See also Report of the Royal Commission, p. 304.

CHAPTER XL

THE ROYAL COMMISSION.

THE announcement on the 12th December of the
supersession of Mr. Eyre by the appointment
of Sir Henry Storks, and the resolution of the
English Government to make a thorough inquiry
into all the circumstances of the outbreak by a Royal
Commission, of which Sir H. Storks would be the
head, rapidly quieted the agitation in England.

It may be interesting, by a few quotations from my
letters to Jamaica, to mark the progress of events as
they became known to me.

"E. B. U. to- the Eev. D. J. East.

"London, December 15th.

" Finding my letters intercepted, I have not written
the last two mails so fully as I would have done ; but
now I think we may write freely again. Sir Henry
Storks, at all events, will look calmly at the state of
afiairs, and I do not doubt that the truth will be fully
elicited.

" As I expected, Governor Eyre has attempted to
fasten on my letter the origin of this lamentable out-
break. His despatch to Mr. Cardwell (of the 20th

TEE ROYAL COMMISSION. 121

October), published here too late for me to notice in
my letter of the 16th November, distinctly names me,
and implicates a few (who they are he does not say)
of our brethren. Of course, the Times took up tho
slander, which I immediately met by writing the
editor stating the real facts of the case.

" It has been curious to see the effect. As it became
known that Governor Eyre was himself the publisher
of my letter, and by the course he took gave it the
importance it has acquired, one after another of our
public prints vindicated me and expressed astonish-
ment at the absurdity of the charge.* But its effect
on the public mind with regard to Governor Eyre
himself was most prejudicial. Here, said they, 'is a
case in which we have the full means of testing the
Governor's judgment and capacity. Dr. Underhill's
letter is before us. It is a letter that ought to have
been written to a Secretary of State, and is totally
incapable of promoting sedition. Yet Governor Eyre
attributes to this mild and courteous production all
the mischief that has been so dreadfully crushed.
Governor Eyre must have acted under panic, or is
totally unfit to hold so responsible an office.'

" Then came the account of Gordon's death, and his
remarkable letter to his wife, and the almost unanimous
judgment of lawyers that he was illegally arrested,
tried, and executed. Then were added the details of

* From the Daily News of Monday, November 20th : — " We
published Dr. Underhill's letter last Tuesday, and we believe a
more temperate representation of the causes of popular suffering
was never made."

122 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

the repression, its awful extent and indiscriminating
vengeance, lit up with the fiendish glee of the actors.
Indeed, I do not remember in my time so deep and
profound a feeling of horror as the severities inflicted
by the soldiery and the Maroons have produced.

" The Maroon glorification is a shocking business.
It has done Governor Eyre much harm in the minds
of thoughtful people that he should have employed
them, and then given them a roving commission to
kill and slay. That dance round the gallows-tree was
a dreadful exhibition of savagery. Yet the writer
who gives the account of it calls it a ' grand sight/
You cannot then wonder that the mind and heart of
England have been roused, and the Government con-
strained to take measures that will create no little
consternation among the agents of this frightful
tragedy.

" Of course I have now published (and for the first
time) my letter to Mr. Cardwell. I gave no copy of
it to anyone either here or in Jamaica. Now my
vindication required that it should appear under my
own hand. I have added to it some of the resolutions
passed at the public meetings in Jamaica, especially
your reply to Governor Eyre's circular, schedules and
all.* Already about a thousand copies have been
sold, and we are sending a copy to every member of
both Houses of Parliament. It, is felt everywhere to
be a complete vindication both of your proceedings

* "Dr. Underbill's Letter, and an Explanatory Statement."
London : Arthur Miall, Bouverie Street. November 24th, 1865.
8vo.

THE ROYAL COMMISSION. 123

and mine, and has had its effect in guiding public
opinion. *

"I will send you a copy by the mail, as you will
like to see my explanatory statement. We had pro-
posed vigorous action with regard to the Bill of Pains
and Penalties for Dissent ; but, as it has been with-
drawn, it will not be necessary to complain to the
Government.

" Of the destruction of the Constitution of Jamaica
I shall say nothing now. I can hardly imagine that
the Colonial Office will allow it to pass without a
Parliamentary inquiry. Indeed, this panic-stricken
legislation will need to be reviewed altogether when
Parliament assembles."

" E. B. U. to George Phillippo, Esq., Barrister-at-Law.

" London, December 15th, 1865.

" This mail will convey to Jamaica Sir H. Storks.

His first duty will be to supersede Governor Eyre, and

then to enter on a thorough investigation of all the

circumstances attending the recent most lamentable

* The Saturday Review spoke of Governor Eyre's attack on me
as " extravagant injustice." The Athenceum of December 16th :
"The general accuracy and honesty of the letter have been
sufficiently attested. Dr. Underhill would have been blame-
worthy had he neglected to put his special information at the
service of the country." "S. G. O.," in the Daily Telegraph:
"I cannot be expected to coincide with Dr. Underhill in all
that the letter in question contains ; but I do not hesitate to
say that it appears to me to be a most temperate and truthful
production, and in no way deserving of the anathemas which
Governor Eyre hurls against it."

121 THE TRAGEDY Of MO RANT BAY.

outbreak. As I write it is not known who the
English Government will appoint as his colleagues ;
but I have every reason to believe men of eminence
will be chosen, to labour with the new Governor in
elucidating the origin of the riot at Morant Bay and
the manner of its repression. In the despatch of
Governor Eyre to Mr. Cardwell, published in the
London Gazette of the 18th November, Mr. Eyre has
not scrupled to accuse me as the chief cause of the
outbreak. He names me, while he refers to other
Baptist missionaries, omitting their names. Of this
portion of the despatch I send you a copy. In the
judgment of my friends, legal and others, this accusa-
tion gives me a status before the Commissioners, and
the right to appear and take part in the proceedings
of the Court.

" We do not yet know in what way the Commis-
sioners will proceed ; but can hardly doubt that the
Inquiry will be an open one, and that parties directly
interested will be allowed to appear either in person
or by their representatives.

"The object of my writing you is, therefore, to
request and to authorise you to appear for me before
the Commissioners, to watch the proceedings ; if
necessary also to call witnesses on my behalf, and to
cross-examine others who may give any evidence
bearing on my position in the matter. If you think
it necessary to have the assistance of a solicitor, or the
etiquette of the profession in Jamaica requires you to
be instructed by a solicitor, you will kindly secure the
services of Mr. Harvey. His long acquaintance with

THE ROYAL COMMISSION. 1'25

the affairs of our Mission will give him advantages no
one else can possess. Besides, I have the pleasure of
personal acquaintance with him.

" You will note that Governor Eyre in his despatch
alludes to a few Baptist missionaries as alike guilty
with me of furthering the rebellion. Who they are I
cannot say. But it has occurred to us here that the
position given me before the Commissioners by
Governor Eyre, actually naming me, may be made use
of to watch the proceedings for them also, and I shall
be glad if you will do this. I dare say some of our
brethren will take care that the Commissioners shall
be informed as to their share in the outbreak ; but you
will greatly add to our obligations to you if you will
aid them in every way in your power to justify them-
selves from the scandalous accusations of Governor
Eyre."

"E. B. U. to the Rev. B. Millard, of the same date.

" The Jamaica Mail tells us that the Bill of Pains
and Penalties for Dissenters is withdrawn by your
Government, but that another to apply to native
Baptists only is to be substituted for it. To-day we
had a meeting of various dissenting bodies, and have
sent in a resolution to Lord Russell begging him to
direct the Governor to disallow all such Bills. We
intend to oppose every Act that limits religious
liberty. If the native Baptists talk sedition, the
ordinary laws are quite strong enough to punish
them. If such Bills are allowed to pass, a very little
twisting will make them applicable to a wider circle

126 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

than they professedly embrace. On principle, every
limitation of religious liberty should be rejected."

The continuance of the "excessive and unlawful
severities " alleged in the Privy Council Minute, ren-
dered it necessary that no time should be lost in
entering on the proposed Inquiry into "the origin,
nature and circumstances " of the disturbances, and
the measures adopted in the course of the suppression.
The " Commission of Inquiry " was resolved upon, and
a draft of the necessary document was approved at
the Privy Council held at Windsor on the llth of
December. It was declared necessary at once to
suspend Governor Eyre, and not only was Sir Henry
Storks appointed head of the Commission, he was
invested with all necessary powers for the govern-
ment of the island. But during the sittings of the
Commissioners, Mr. Eyre is directed to remain in
Jamaica. It is obvious that no fair or full inquiry
could be made so long as he was at the head of the
Administration, and the legal representative of the
Crown. Such a position would have opened the way
to every kind of obstruction, and would ensure the
continuance of the acts of injustice that were being
daily perpetrated.

Before the opening of the Commission, and during
the later weeks of his administration, we find Mr. Eyre
busy in passing an Act by which he could absolve
himself from all blame as to the illegal character of
his proceedings; while another Act conferred upon
him the power of imprisonment, without trial, of

THE ROYAL COMMISSION.

persons exposed to arrest for acts committed either
during or after the existence of martial law. The
arrest of Mr. Sidney Levien, of the County Union, as
we have seen,* was declared by the Chief Justice to
be both illegal and unconstitutional. By another
section, the Governor could, at his pleasure, deprive
the people of Jamaica of the safeguards still existing
against an unnecessary and improper declaration of
martial law. By Chapter 5 of the same series of
enactments, the forfeiture of the property was directed
of all persons pronounced guilty of treason or felony,
by the courts-martial that had been held during the
time of terror, and the proceeds thereof were to be
placed over against extraordinary expenses occasioned
by the rebellion. By another Act the severity of the
lash for larceny, and other minor offences, was in-
creased. But perhaps the most monstrous and un-
constitutional of all these Acts was the one intended
to deprive persons accused of seditious offences, com-
mitted during martial law, or within six months
thereafter, of trial by the civil courts, by handing
them over to military tribunals. And finally may be
mentioned the offensive and tyrannical Bill for the
Regulation of Dissenting Chapels,! by which every
Nonconformist chapel might be closed as a nest of
sedition.

Happily, these proceedings of the moribund Legis-
lature of Jamaica were never sanctioned by Her

* Ante, p. 113.

t See No. 1 of Jamaica Papers, published by the Jamaica
Committee, pp. 60 to 68.

128 TEE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

Majesty's Government. But it was made abundantly
clear that there was no prospect of better government
or of wiser administration under the existing Con-
stitution, or of any effective measures being taken
to find a remedy for the grievances and evils out of
which the recent disturbances had sprung.

Within six days of the issue of the resolution of
the Privy Council, Sir Henry Storks sailed in the
Shannon for Jamaica, and immediately on his arrival
assumed "all the powers of the Crown, both civil
and military," which the Queen had conferred upon
him, for " the completeness and effectiveness of the
Inquiry." * The administration of affairs was vested
in his hands during the whole of his stay in the
island. His colleagues, Mr. Recorder Russell Gurney
and Mr. Recorder Maule, quickly followed.

Sir Henry Storks arrived in Kingston on January
6th, 1866, and the next day took the necessary oaths.
Being Sunday, his full inauguration was deferred to
the following day. It took place at King's House,
Spanish Town, the seat of Government and the
Governor's residence, amid the salutes of artillery and
the jubilant shouts of the people, who pressed forward
to witness the commencement of a new era in the
history of Jamaica.

The arrival of the new Governor, at once diffused
throughout the island a feeling of confidence and
hope, to which the people had long been strangers.
He was received with rapturous enthusiasm. The

* Mr. Card well's Speech at Oxford on tlie 2nd January.

TEE ROYAL COMMISSION.

jign of terror was over, and that of law and order

ras begun. Loyal men had for many weeks been living
continual peril. After all the vengeance that had
>een taken, and although the greatest order prevailed

iroughout the island, men were still trembling

T their lives when Sir Henry Storks landed on its
shores. No one dared to express an opinion contrary
to that prevailing in Government circles. Opinion
was terrorised. It was still the fashion to speak of
recent events as a "wide-spread rebellion," sim-
mering still in quiet corners, and to be read in the
scowling looks of the sufferers. The arrival of the
new Governor dispelled these apprehensions, and a
truer estimate began to express itself of the nature
and extent of the crimes which had been committed,
and of the character of the parties engaged in the
commission of them.

At their first meeting, on the 20th January, the
Royal Commissioners explained their powers and de-
fined the extent of the Inquiry. It would be an open
one, "full, searching, and impartial." Witnesses
would be summoned who were presumed to be able
give information on the events of the outbreak.

leir evidence would be taken on oath. If their
evidence criminated any individual, that person
would be allowed to test its accuracy, and to tender
counter-evidence in reply. The Court would not
confine the witnesses to those only who were sum-
moned, but would willingly receive information from
others able to throw light on the late transactions.

The Commissioners further expressed their willing-

9

130 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

ness to grant, to certain legal representatives of
parties interested in these proceedings, the privilege
of questioning witnesses, and producing evidence
strictly relative to the Inquiry. Of these, special
mention may be made of John Gorrie, Esq., and
John Home Payne, Esq., of London, appearing on
behalf of Mr. Gordon and other injured parties, at
the cost of the Jamaica Committee formed for this
purpose in England. Also, George Phillippo, Esq.,
barrister-at-law, of Kingston, who appeared as the
representative of Dr. Underhill and the Baptist mis-
sionaries, implicated by Mr. Eyre as parties in the
so-called " rebellion."

The Commissioners, however, considered it their
duty to limit the Inquiry somewhat strictly to the
events which had taken place in St. Thomas-in-
the-East, antecedent and subsequent to the out-
break; so that investigation into the general char-
acter of Mr. Eyre's administration, except so far
as it bore upon the actual events of the "rebel-
lion," was ruled as unnecessary. Thus, the general
condition of the island, and the transactions aris-
ing out of, and incident to, the publication of
my letter, could be received only as indirectly
illustrating the origin of the outbreak at Morant Bay.
The grave questions of Jamaica government, the con-
dition of the people under the laws in operation,
and the general conduct of Mr. Eyre's administration
were passed by as irrelevant. The term " origin " oi
the outbreak, was interpreted as embracing those
events only which, related to the riot at Morant Bay.

THE ROYAL COMMISSION.

131

The " Inquiry," it was stated, found its natural limit in
the facts which occurred in the parish where the
outbreak took place.

It will subsequently be seen that in this limitation
lies the weakness, and partly unsatisfactory character,
of the Commissioners' Report. But whatever may be
the shortcomings of the Inquiry, as thus cramped and
confined, the praise of diligence and unwearied pursuit
of their object must at least be fully accorded to the
Commissioners. They displayed the most anxious
desire, and spared no pains, to discover the truth.
They showed an admirable demeanour towards every
class of witnesses, to the poor negro as well as to the
most exalted personages. Their conduct was marked
by patience and a most commendable impartiality.
They listened with interest and marked attention to
the most illiterate native, and gave the amplest
opportunity to every man to state, and even to correct,
the information he brought to their knowledge.

It would be impossible and inconsiderate to follow
the proceedings of the Commission day by day, for
which ample materials exist not only in the well-
digested Report of the Commissioners, but also in the
letters of the newspaper correspondents to the English
journals. The proceedings maintained their interest to
the last, and were read by all classes with the greatest
avidity/ The Report must be received with the heartiest
recognition of its excellence, and with admiration of
the laborious devotedness of the Commissioners to
their task. It is a just and impartial statement of

taentable events which they had to investigate.
•

132 THE TPAGED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

I shall, however, attempt a somewhat extended
analysis of the contents of the Report, so as to enable
my readers to form their own judgment. It will be
seen that this is no light task, when I describe the
general characteristics of the voluminous papers
before me.

The first part of the Report, some forty pages in
length, consists of a condensed narrative of the origin
of the disturbances, and of the outbreak itself, and a
review of the conduct of the persons engaged in the
suppression. The case of Mr. Gordon is examined in
much detail, and a few sentences are given to the
trials of the political prisoners, who were brought
before the courts-martial. Finally, the question of
the necessity ,and duration of martial law is discussed

In conclusion, the Commissioners sum up the result
of the whole^nquiry. The extent of the slaughter at
Morant Bay and its neighbourhood by the rioters, was
accurately ascertained to be twenty-two persons in all,
white and black ; but that the horrible outrages on
the dead, so minutely detailed by Governor Eyre, had
no existence. On the other hand, the investigation
establishes, in the judgment of the Commissioners,
the following facts : — That the punishments inflicted
on the people were excessive; that the names are
known of at least 439 persons who were shot or hung,
many of whom were entirely innocent of any crime
whatever ; that a thousand dwellings were wantonly
and cruelly burnt ; and that certainly not fewer than
six hundred persons, men and women, were scourged
in a most reckless manner, those at Bath with the

THE ROYAL COMMISSION. 133

greatest barbarity ; besides many of them being
sentenced, after flogging, to various terms of imprison-
ment.*

The second part of the Eeport consists of the
evidence itself. This forms a volume of 1,075 folio
pages, with an appendix of 90 pages more. The
Inquiry lasted fifty-one days, during which time 730
persons were examined, some of them more than once.
The number of questions and answers was 49,158.

The evidence seems to me, however, to justify a
far stronger condemnation of the parties engaged in
the suppression than the Commissioners have ven-
tured to pronounce. Their language is timid and
hesitating when it ought to have been unsparing and
firm.

The third part is devoted wholly to the papers laid
before the Commissioners by Governor Eyre. It is a
volume of 482 pages, and consists of very numerous
documents collected by him in vindication of his
proceedings, with his comments thereon. Their
value is not great, but they illustrate Governor Eyre's
weakness of judgment, and his ready belief of every
lying rumour that floated to his ears. By the Com-
missioners these papers were rejected as evidence.
In their opinion they were not proofs of the guilt of
the parties Mr. Eyre had accused, nor could they be
received as a correct account of the causes of those
events in which he was the chief actor. They sufficed,
however, to show the grounds of the course he
pursued.

* Eeport, p. 40.

CHAPTER XII.

REPORT OF THE EOYAL COMMISSIONERS.

PART I.— THE LAND QUESTION.

THE Commissioners were instructed specially to
inquire into " the origin and nature of the
disturbances." This portion of their task
seems to me to have been very imperfectly accom-
plished, if regard be had to events antecedent to the
outbreak at Morant Bay. Ignoring these, they tell
us that the first resistance to "lawful authority"
occurred on Saturda}r, the 7th October; but that it
was proved that, two or three weeks before, meetings
had been held in the vicinity of Morant Bay, at
which an oath was administered and the names of
the persons sworn were recorded. The terms of the
oath are not shown. Yet one, at least, of the police-
men to whom the oath was administered was made to
say, " Swear, so help me, God, to tell the truth, and
nothing but what was the truth." Another man, a
book-keeper, declares that he was asked, "Do you
join us ?" and then, on answering "Yes," he was told
to kiss the Bible. It is clear that the oath, what-
ever its object, did not reveal any unlawful purpose.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 135

Nevertheless, combining with this the wild statements
made by several persons as to what they heard black
men say, both before and after the outbreak, the
Commissioners conclude that there was on the part of
the rioters " a preconcerted plan," and that murder was
directly contemplated — a conclusion that the evidence
does not sustain, if it be meant that a " plan " existed
previous to the Saturday. There was some vague
evidence given that drilling was carried on at the
meetings referred to; but on this point the Com-
missioners lay no stress, as it was proved to be a
harmless amusement and well known to the authori-
ties. The evidence shows that there was no attempt
at organisation. Negroes are incapable of it. They
are excitable and impulsive enough ; they may easily
be provoked, perhaps, to the extent of a riot ; but to
combine for general and considered action they dis-
play little thought or skill. The alleged " planned
resistance to lawful authority " amounted, in fact, to
no more than this: — That the events of Saturday
forced on their minds the uselessness of all appeals to
those to whom, as their judges and masters, they had
a right to look for redress, and led them to resolve no
longer to submit to the oppression under which they
suffered. The riot was, therefore, entirely local in its
origin, and sprang from causes which, though in
general operation throughout the island, had reached
a climax that was intolerable in St. Thomas-in-the-
East.

It must be distinctly remembered how short was
the time for preparation, and how closely the move-

136 TEE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

ment of the people was connected with the perverse
action of the magistrates on the Saturday. There is
positively no evidence at all that any plan had been
formed, or any resolve to resist or commit murder
thought of, previous to that day. Certainly the
Commissioners must have often felt bewildered by the
evidence which was brought before them. They say,
" The negroes were for the most part uneducated
peasants, speaking in accents strange to the ear, often
in a phraseology of their own, with vague conceptions
of number and time, unaccustomed to definiteness or
accuracy of speech, and in many cases still smarting
under a sense of injuries sustained." * Evidence was
drawn from all quarters — from editors and writers in
newspapers ; from the loose talk of the nursery ; from
alarmed magistrates, who heard in every sound of the
estate-horn a summons to the fight. The scared looks
of the frightened peasantry, after they had heard of
the horrors of martial law ; the jokes of friends in
the intercourse of private life ; the absence of people
from the markets ; the vague rumours which ac-
companied or followed the political meetings; the
exasperated language of men smarting under fresh
acts of injustice — all were given in as witnessing to
the presence of conspiracy. ^£ut proofs of general
or local seditious intention' the evidence utterly
fails to establish. The riot was the outburst of
long- endured suffering, and of down- trodden serfs
animated by a common feeling of hatred for their

* Eeport, p. 8.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS.

137

oppressors. They were united, not as conspirators,
but as men similarly wrought upon by common
grievances, suddenly crystallised by the destruction
of the last hope of redress.*

Of the " manifold " causes which culminated in the
riots and atrocities at Morant Bay the Commissioners
select only three for special mention. The first was
the desire of the disturbers of order to obtain land
free from the payment of rent. The evidence on this
point was both imperfect and unsatisfactory. It does
not appear that the views of the people themselves
were ascertained with regard to the tenure on which
they held their land. Inquiries were chiefly confined
to persons whose interests as proprietors of estates or
as landowners were adverse to those of the people.
At Stony Gut, near to Morant Bay, a Mr. Anderson
claimed to be the owner of certain settlements. Says
the Clerk of the Peace, " For seven or eight years past
the people have been under the impression that the
property belongs to the Crown, and that it is ' Queen's
land,' as they call it, and that Mr. Anderson has no
right to it." It was one of many cases that may be
cited where the freedmen have purchased plots, paid
the money to the presumed owner, and have after-
wards found the transaction repudiated by some other
person, who had subsequently put forward a claim to
be the real proprietor.

An illustration or two may be given from the history
of affairs at Morant Bay. Mrs. Herschell, whose

See ante, pp. 55 to 66.

133 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

husband was one of the victims, says that in August
the people of their estate at Sunning Hill, which the
Rev. Mr. Herschell had lately bought, refused the
payment of rent, on the ground that the land was
free. But from the evidence of the Bishop of King-
ston, it appears that Mr. Herschell was selling off this
estate in small lots, and that there were disputes
about the boundaries. The Bishop further depicts
the character of this clerical landowner, of whose
grasping spirit after land he disapproved, in the
following words : — " He was of a disputatious, litigious
disposition rather, a man who would not let a trifle
pass unnoticed when it would have been better to do
so." It cannot be wondered at that such a man had
excited great animosity against himself. He was one
of the first to fall a prey to the rage of the people on
the fatal October llth. And yet the Bishop adds
that, as far as he had ever seen the people there, they
were "generally a docile and loyal people."1 Cer-
tainly the Bishop's testimony does away with the
notion that people desired the land rent free.

In the evidence of Mr. Skyers, a magistrate of St.
George's Parish, we find him declaring that the
request of a tenant to have a reduction in his rent
really meant, that the Queen had given the people a
right to be " rent free and land free " ; for which
idea, he candidly admitted, he had no foundation
in anything the man had said, f He added further
that, although a magistrate, he was not aware ot

o Eeport, p. 778. t. Ibid, p. 592.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 139

any conspiracy or combination, secret or otherwise,
to employ force to change the established order of
things.

Attorney - General Heslop informs us that Mr.
Hire, who was killed by the rioters, was involved in
numerous disputes with the people about their rights
to the land they occupied. Many of them had been
summoned to the Circuit Court. Mr. Hire wanted
"to run his lines" through their grounds; that is,
to fix the boundaries of the property in dispute ; but
he could not do it owing to the resistance he en-
countered. To meet such cases, the Legislature had
passed an Act to empower persons to run a sur-
veyor's line through the property claimed by poor
people, without their consent. Mr. Hire had no right
to entitle him to take the course he did, and for which
he was remonstrated with by the Attorney-General
himself. *

Many disputes arose out of the desire of the people
to occupy outlying and uncultivated lands on the
borders of the estates ; but the Attorney-General
declared emphatically that he had never heard that
there had been any agitation arising out of claims to
occupy them without the payment of rent. No
evidence was adduced that the people wished or
attempted by force to take possession of these lands ;
they were often selfishly refused the occupation,
although willing to pay rent for them.

There is one notable case reported by the Commis-

* Eeporb, p. 330.

140 TEE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BA Y.

sioners, that of a Mr. Gyles, who possessed some un-
cultivated land especially suitable for the growth of
provisions. "The people," Mr. Gyles said, "made
several applications to rent this land, and I refused
renting it." Following on this, he said that the people
told him that the Queen had given it to them. The
question was put : " What was the particular nature
of the application, and the nature of their remarks
about the Queen ? " Answer : " They came to ask me
if I would rent them some of my land, and I refused
doing it. They said the Queen would give it." Now
here is a man possessing good provision land essential
for the livelihood of the negro. It is lying unused.
Again and again on his own showing they make
application to rent it. He won't. Can we wonder
that poor, uneducated, starving people catch at any
hope, at any rumour, that such an unnatural and
wicked state of things must be altered ? Have these
famished men and women no right to live — no claim
on such an owner for the necessaries of existence ? *

During the sittings of the Commission an event
occurred which gave the Commissioners a striking
example of this cause of the disturbances. It took
place at the Hartlands, a settlement about five miles
from Spanish Town. The estate once belonged to a
merchant of the name of Hart, and comprised about
2,500 acres. Shortly after the abolition of slavery
portions of this land, in an uncultivated state, were
purchased by people principally from the neighbour-

* Report, p. 459.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 141

ing estates. Some paid for their allotments at once,
and received their titles ; others paid by instalments,
and had only their receipts to show for their legal
occupation. At Mr. Hart's death, his affairs fell into
confusion, and for twenty years scarcely any attention
was given to the property. Trespassers were said to
have taken possession of the unsold portions. At
length the people generally were called upon to show
their titles, but in 1862 a fire in Kingston destroyed a
large proportion of the papers the peasantry had sent
in. The rights of the several owners were thus thrown
into great uncertainty and confusion. Measures were
taken, at the instigation of partisans of Ex-Governor
Eyre, that threatened another carnival of blood, and
Mr. Eyre immediately availed himself of this incident
to justify his proceedings at Morant Bay.

By the providential interference of the Rev. J. M.
Phillippo, Baptist minister at Spanish Town, and with
the full approbation of Sir Henry Storks, ths catas-
trophe was at the last moment averted ; and by the
wise and conciliatory action of Sir Henry Storks and
his eminent successor, Sir John Peter Grant, the
questions in dispute were finally settled by arbitra-
tion. For his active and successful exertions, Mr.
Phillippo received the " cordial thanks " of the
Government. The people were induced voluntarily
to obey the laws, and that without the exhibition of
any force on the part of the authorities. It cannot
be doubted that if Mr. Eyre had adopted a similar
course at Morant Bay, which it was quite open to
him to do, the nation, and Jamaica itself, would have

1 42 THE TEA GED Y OF MO RANT BA Y.

been spared the tale of horror which history now
records.*

PART II.— THE MAGISTRACY.

As the second incentive to the violation of the law,
the Commissioners report f " the want of confidence
generally felt by the labouring class in the tribunals,
before which most of the disputes affecting their
interests were carried for adjudication."

This " want of confidence " the Commissioners
evidently think was justified. For, in the explanation
given in another part of this Report, they say: — "The
magistrates are principally planters and persons con-
nected with the management of the estates. Those
who are not so connected are for the most part
engaged in business, and their attendance is very
irregular. The consequence is, that disputes between
employers and labourers, and questions relating to the
occupation of land, which are decided in the first
instance at Petty Sessions, are adjudicated upon by
those whose interests and feelings are supposed to be
hostile to the labourer and the occupier." They con-
clude, "that the difficulties in the way of seeking
relief by law were very great, and it was not to be
expected that, constituted as the Bench of Magistrates

* The story of the Hart.lands affair may be read in full in my
" Life of the Rev. J. M. Phillippo " (London, 1881). For Mr.
Eyre's conduct in the matter, see his letter of the 6th April,
1866, to Sir Henry Storks: Parliamentary Papers, p. 312.

f Report, p. 40.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 113

at present is, it \vould have the confidence of the
labourers." *

The evidence is conclusive on this point. The
Petty Sessions Courts were presided over by partial
judges. Their sentences were often marked by great
severity on the labouring classes and small settlers,
and lenient upon the higher. The costs inflicted were
extravagant, creating a barrier in the way of redress
insurmountable by the poor. The most vexatious
delays were interposed by the magistrates themselves,
especially when a case against their own class was
brought before them for adjudication. Whatever
vice can attach to the administration of justice, was
found to be existent in these courts, and, of all
parishes in the island, St. Thomas-in-the-East stood
pre-eminent as the worst.

The origin and concomitants of the riot at Morant
Bay clearly show how closely this failure to do
justice lay at the foundation of the murderous out-
break which took place. The first symptom of
disturbance, as we have seen, began in a Saturday
Sessions Court, with a refusal to pay the exorbitant
costs exacted in the case of an assault by a boy on a
girl. It occasioned a suspension of the business of
the Court. The man who told the boy not to pay
the costs, but to appeal against the decision, was
"shoved" out of Court by the police, and, when
arrested for the disturbance that ensued, was rescued
by the people present. Out of this rescue came the

* Keport, pp. 17, 13.

144 THE TRAGEDY Of MORANT BAY.

issue of the twenty-nine warrants against some of the
men engaged in the row, which led directly to the
lamentable events of the following Tuesday and
Wednesday.

Another case tried on the same Saturday was
one of trespass. This arose, say the Commissioners,
" out of a dispute relating to an estate in the neigh-
bourhood of Stony Gut, a portion of which had been
leased out to small occupiers." * This affair, from
the interest felt in it, had caused a numerous
attendance. The question was decided against the
occupiers. There is no doubt that the people, rightly
or wrongly, regarded themselves as unjustly treated,
and, judging by the constitution of the Court, it may
be believed that the people were not altogether
wrong in their contention. The man Miller was con-
victed, but appealed against the conviction to a
higher court. Alas ! he did not live to explain to the
Commissioners the real state of the matter, for he
was put to death at Morant Bay, on the 23rd October,
charged with rebellion. His case was carried to the
Highest Tribunal of all.f

The evidence presents us with a most instructive,
but distressing, picture of this ill-fated parish. The
Hon. Mr. Justice Kerr declares that " St. Thomas -in -
the-East has been conspicuous in Jamaica as a district
torn by dissensions of every kind. It is almost a dis-
tress to travel through it. All the leading parties
there, so far back as my recollection extends, rank

* Report, p. 11. + Hid., p. 1136.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 145

upon one side or the other — two parties, whose spirit
towards one another is something which I would rather
not speak about. It is very much the reverse of that
which should be expected of Christian men ; that is
the explanation. I believe, I cannot say I know, but
I believe it is a fact of notoriety that Mr. Jackson and
his brother justices were in a state of constant
dispute ; I believe even on the Bench." " I am bound
to say that I have come to the conclusion that the
labourers of St. Thomas-in-the-East have not that
confidence in the administration of justice at Petty
Sessions which it is of so much importance to the
peace and order of the community they should have."
Mr. Justice Kerr further stated that one ground of
his unfavourable judgment was the number of appeals
that came from the parish.*

Yes, " that is the explanation " of the outbreak.
The people were goaded to resistance by the unjust
doings and bitter contentions of the magistrates them-
selves. The honourable Judge might well say their
conduct was "the reverse of that which should be
expected of Christian men." Among these quarrel-
some and partial administrators of the law were two
clergymen — Mr. Herschell, who was killed by the
rioters, and the Rector, Mr. Cooke, who narrowly
escaped with his life.

The character of the magistrates has so important
.a bearing on the cause of the riot, that I may be
permitted to trouble my readers with some further

* Seport, p. 285.

10

146 TEE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

extracts from the evidence on this point. Mr. J. G.
Sawkins is the local director of the Geological Sur-
vey. He tells us that he had personal knowledge
of almost every magistrate in the parish, and of the
peasantry as well. He knew well the Baron von
Ketelhodt, and also Mr. G. W. Gordon. His examina-
tion was as follows : —

" Could you judge from your own experience and
observation what the state of public feeling was in
the parish about the middle of last year ? — I could.

"What did you conclude was the state of public
feeling in the middle of 1865? — A very excited
one.

"Do you mean disaffected, or only generally con-
tentious with regard to election of members ? —
Personal contention.

" About what subject ? — They were quarrelling
among themselves almost on every point.

"Public, personal, or private ? — Public as well as
private.

" Upon public subjects ? — Yes.

" Did you notice anything in the demeanour of the
labouring class at large ? — I am speaking now of the
magistrates.

" They were all squabbling, were they ? — They were
all squabbling.

" About public and personal matters ? — Yes.

" Did that extend throughout the whole body of
magistrates ? — It appeared to be very general from all
I could understand.

" Did you gather from your intercourse with the

rei

s

ac

I

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 147

magistrates what were the political subjects that
agitated them, and made them quarrel among each
other ? — Some had rendered themselves obnoxious to
the others, and they would not sit on the Bench with
each other.

"They did not say on what ground they were
obnoxious ? — I did not gather particulars.

" Only you heard one man abuse his neighbour ? —
Yes.

" And he returned the compliment back again in
the usual way of squabbling ? — Yes."

And then Mr. Sawkins goes on to give an illus-
tration in the case of Mr. Hire, who fell a victim in
the riot. Between him and Mr. Shortridge the
bitterest personal hostility existed, which interfered,
on one occasion, in Mr. Sawkins' presence, with the
due administration of justice.*

Important evidence on this subject was also given
by Mr. T. W. Jackson. He had been twenty-nine years
resident in the island as a stipendiary magistrate, and
as generally esteemed by the people as just in his
nduct on the Bench. He was sent into St. Thomas-
-the-East by Mr. Eyre, in 1860, but was removed on
account of his differences with the Gustos, Baron von
ietelhodt and on his complaint to Mr. Eyre, in
'.ugust, 1865. He testifies that, to his knowledge
he people "were most assuredly" dissatisfied with
the administration in the parish. Five-sixths of the
agistracy were planters, or connected with the

Eeport, p. 524.

148 THE TEA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

management of estates; the other sixth were
merchants or shop-keepers. He usually attended
at the Sessions Court in Morant Bay, but there were
constantly dissensions among his colleagues, and he
was generally outvoted by them. There were many
instances of the bias that animated them, and of their
unjust decisions. He gives the following instance : —
" A woman was going to work on an estate. By acci-
dent, apparently, her hoe struck the horse's nose. The
magistrate retorted upon her by supple-jacking her
very severely. She took out a summons against him,
and it came into Court — Court after Court, for about
three months or more ; and it was not until a represen-
tation was made to the Governor that a Court could be
formed to try this magistrate up in that district." He
was fined five shillings and costs. Next Court, this
same magistrate tried a case for assault — a trifle com-
pared with the assault he himself had committed — and
he imposed a fine of thirty shillings. This man was one
of the magistrates killed by the rioters at Morant Bay
on the fatal llth October. In another case, this same
magistrate literally stole a dog from a boy who would
not sell it to him. The boy repossessed himself of
the dog, and the thieving magistrate actually put the
boy in prison for stealing his own dog, and he lay
there untried for two months. No punishment for
this outrage was inflicted. Mr. Jackson's departure
from the district was greatly regretted. It appeared
to the people as if the last ray of hope for impartial
justice was extinguished.*

0 Keport, pp. 360, 362.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 149

With such courts and magistrates as these, perform-
ing deeds of wrong, and abusing their power in forms
so gross and wicked, it is no wonder that we come
upon traces of local efforts among the people to set
up a jurisdiction for themselves, in which truth and
justice might have fair play. A magistrate, Mr. W. C.
Miller, of the Parish of St. Thomas, tells us that the
people hold " courts of their own in the interior
districts of Manchioneal, and punish offences by money
fines ; and the same procedure had been carried on in
the Blue Mountain Valley, at a village called Huntley,
up to the time of the rebellion." " I have a summons,
now," he said, " that was taken from one of my Africans,
since the rebellion, and signed John Lamont, J.P.
This man is a field labourer on Serge Island estate."
It is dated February 28th, 1865, and as if to show
that it was no treasonable attempt to interfere with
the lawful rights of the Crown, it is issued in the name
of " our Sovereign Lady the Queen," the offence being
charged as " against her crown and dignity." *

The truth is, justice was a scarce commodity h>the
Parish of St. Thomas-in-the-East. The administration
of the law was corrupt and oppressive. The magistrates
were partisans, covering each other's delinquencies,
and refusing justice where their own interests or
passions were concerned. The people, with reason,
had no confidence in the regular tribunals. It is a
wonder that they should have borne for so many years
the iniquities to which they were subjected. The Com-

* Keport, p. 919.

] 50 THE TEA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

missioners say that when the day of " resistance " came,
it was " against lawful authority." If technically the
authority of the magistrates of St. Thomas-in-the-East
was "lawful, "yet was their conduct often stamped
with all the characteristics of illegality, oppression,
and wrong. It is a question not here to be discussed,
but which irresistibly arises to one's lips, whether a
time may not come when resistance to such " authority"
may not be both a virtue and a right. . At all events,
let the poor people of St. Thomas-in-the-East have the
benefit of whatever extenuation such facts as the above
may fairly suggest for the crimes of the llth October.
If they sinned, they were also sinned against. Their
offences ought in truth to be measured by the wrongs
they endured. Is there no reality in the saying of the
Lord Jesus, " With what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured unto you " ?

PART III.— THE UNIVERSAL DISCONTENT.

While the Parish of St. Thomas-in-the-East stood
pre-eminent for misgovernment, the evidence also
establishes the fact that the proceedings of the
Petty Sessions Courts throughout the island were
regarded with extreme dissatisfaction. Some magis-
trates indeed were forward to affirm, that complainants
in their Courts were well satisfied with their decisions.
But in this matter the magistrates are judges in their
own cause. We have the thoroughly impartial, as
well as judicial, opinions of the highest legal authori-

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 151

ties in the island, which put bsyond question the
unsatisfactory character of "justices' justice," and its
heavy cost to the suitors.

Sir Bryan Edwards, the Lord Chief Justice, was
asked " Whether there is confidence in the adminis-
tration of justice by the magistrates of the island?"
He tenderly replies, "To a certain extent I think
there is not." The connection of the magistracy with
the planting interest, " induces a suspicion beyond all
question, and to some extent this suspicion may be
correct." He goes so far as to state that he has no
doubt that this suspicion is justified, even "though
there may be perfect honesty of intention among the
magistrates." So true is it, that self-interest may
blind even good men to their shortcomings.

Sir Bryan Edwards next calls attention to the state
of the law with regard to the trespassing of cattle.
This is a very serious grievance to the poor peasant.
" I have no doubt," he says, " it creates a great deal of
dissatisfaction and is often a great hardship. It seems
to act most unjustly and injuriously." He then
mentions a case among the papers sent to him by the
then Governor. " I read them, and pointed out to the
Governor the extreme hardship suffered by these
persons, whose lands were so much exposed, and who
could rarely get redress. Unless a man could say he
had sustained damage to the amount of more than
forty shillings, it would almost ruin him." It is a
well-known fact that the planters seldom enclose
their lands, and, as a consequence, their cattle are
continually trespassing on the provision grounds of

152 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

their peasant neighbours. The Chief Justice affirms
that practically, in such cases, there is no redress, or
only a ruinous one. In fact, both the law and its
ministers, in this matter, inflict great injuries on the
poor. It would, he said, be an advantage if there
were more stipendiary magistrates, who were without
any personal connection with the island.*

The Honourable Mr. Justice Allan Kerr also gave
evidence on this point, and it brought upon him un-
measured obloquy in the island press. We have
already seen his views on the character of the magis-
tracy of St. Thomas-in-the-East. The evidence now
epitomised relates to the entire island. In answer to
the Commissioners, he frankly says : " I must say that I
believe the law of labourer and employer is altogether
in a most unsatisfactory position in Jamaica. I have
lived in four of the West India Islands, and in none
have I found it so unsatisfactory as here." " In what
respect ? " he is asked. He replies, " In this respect :
that from the expense to which the parties are put,
and from other causes to which I will refer, lesral

' O

redress is absolutely shut out -from one class alto-
gether." "You refer to the labouring class rather
than to any other ? " " Yes."

This evidence contrasts strangely with Mr. Eyre's
very confident assertion in his despatch of October 20th:
" 1 know of no general grievance under which the
negroes of this Colony labour ; the same laws as to the
administration of justice apply to them as to the white

* Report, p. 834.

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 153

and coloured inhabitants alike." The Governor's
ignorance is fairly astounding.

Judge Kerr next proceeds to indicate the costs
which have to be paid before even a case can be
brought into Court. He states that the costs are
extravagantly high, and the difficulties that a poor
suitor has to surmount are both intricate and well-
nigh insuperable. He gives the following as an
example : —

" It occurred at the end of October, in the year
before last. An appeal came before me in which the
appellant sought to reverse the judgment of the Court
below, which was a judgment against him by default,
for not appearing to answer a civil claim. I think a
man had sued him for some twelve or fourteen shillings.
I called upon the appellant to explain. The statement
he made was this : That he lived fifteen miles off. He
came to Port Antonio on the Court day, and found no
Court sitting. He remained a greater part of the day
and then went away. He attended at the next ad-
journed Court; there was no sitting then. A labouring
man's time was valuable. He waited the greater part
of the day, and then wheeled about as on the first
occasion. He came up the third time ; still no Court.
He said, ' Is it of any use for me to go up again ? '
And he allowed the case to go by default." The
hardship of such a case is intensified by the
badness of the roads, by the entire absence of any
public conveyance, and at certain seasons by the
severity of the weather. And when the case gets
into Court, it not infrequently happens that, for

154 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA 1 .

the most trivial reasons, the magistrates will again
postpone its consideration.

But the law of appeal is itself most perplexing.
" Instead of providing facilities to the complainant for
bringing his case to the notice of the Circuit Judge, it
is surrounded with snares and formalities and
technicalities, which really in the great majority of
cases, as I have seen over and over again, render the
law of appeal not at all an available opportunity or
means of redress." To this Mr. Justice Kerr adds,
that in some parishes there is no available lawyer, and
the suitor may have to go, perhaps sixty miles, as in a
case he mentions, to find an attorney to draw up the
requisite papers. No wonder that great dissatisfaction
was the consequence of such a denial of justice.

But the Judge is not less decisive and emphatic
when speaking of the administration of the law. Here
are his well-considered words : " I think it right to
state, that I have for years past come to the conclusion,
that the present system of the unpaid magistracy in
Jamaica is the most unsatisfactory that could well be
conceived. Of the two hundred and seventy magis-
trates that hold the commission of the peace, from
personal observation and knowledge of a good many,
I should say that more than half were utterly unfit
to hold that trust ; unfit by want of education, capacity,
social position, and pecuniary independence." He
further illustrates the style of legislation in Jamaica
by telling us that the Act establishing the above
oppressive system of appeal, and which increased
the expenses of a suit from 20 to 100 per cent.,

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS. 155

passed the Legislature without a dissentient voice.
The House of Assembly, the presumed popular
branch of the Legislature, has never shown itself
backward, by insidious laws, to injure the poor and
to oppress the labouring class.

Mr. Justice Kerr's opinion on the cause of the
disturbances deserves the highest respect, and ought
to have weighed with the Commissioners more than
it seems to have done, when forming their judgment
on the guilt of the rioters : —

" I have no doubt whatever, I think I ought to
mention (it is for the Commissioners to consider
whether they think it worthy of being noted), that I
believe the disaffection of certain parties was caused
by the bad administration of justice in the first
instance, and to another cause, namely, to the dimin-
ished respect for all manner of authority — executive
authority, judicial authority, ecclesiastical authority
— produced by the turbulent tone of the House of
Assembly, and the seditious tone of the public press.
I believe these to have been the causes of the melan-
choly events that are now being inquired into." *

From Judge Kerr's evidence it is clear that nearly
all parts of the judicial machinery of the island were
equally bad, and productive of cruel wrong. He
complains of the utter unfitness of the juries. Nothing
was more notorious than the wilfully unjust verdicts
they gave. There was much complaint of the
manner in which the clerks of the peace fulfilled

* Keport, pp. 284, 287.

1 56 THE TEA GED Y OF MORA NT BA Y.

their duties, which indeed were often discharged by
incompetent deputies. With these circumstantial
and unimpeachable statements in our hands, there is
no need to revert to Mr. Eyre's theory of a "diabolical
conspiracy," or the action of " wicked agitators and
sedition-mongers," to account for the universal dis-
satisfaction prevailing throughout the island, or for
the display of it which the publication of my letter
called forth. The testimony confirms and establishes
the fact that the negro part of the population had
many just causes for their unrest and discontent, and
sufficiently explains the origin of those " feelings of
hostility towards political and personal opponents "
which animated, in the opinion of the Commissioners,
the minds of the men who committed the crimes of
Morant Bay.

I may here close my examination of the Report with
regard to the origin and nature of the causes from
which the disturbances sprang. I cannot but think
that my readers will be fully convinced of the truth
of the averments of my letter, and that the com-
munication to Mr. Cardwell of the facts as I knew
them was fully justified. It is clearly with some
hesitation that, in his latest justificatory letter to Mr.
Cardwell, Mr. Eyre very anxiously explains that he
did not publish the letter he incriminates, and was
therefore not responsible for the effects he affirms
that it produced. But just as clearly the Commis-
sioners did not believe this pet fancy of Mr. Eyre's,
for they refused every attempt made by the represen-
tation of the missionaries and Dr. Underbill to bring

WORT OF

COMMISSIONERS.

the facts of the case before them. In truth, by the
interpretation put upon the text of the Commission,
the Inquiry failed to elicit, or to deal with, many im-
portant events bearing on the origin and nature of
the disturbances. I cannot but think that had the
investigations of the Royal Commissioners taken a
more extended range, on the one hand less prominence
would have been given to the errors of Mr. Gordon,
and the crimes of the negroes; and, on the other, much
stronger relief would have been given to the acts of
oppression and injustice suffered from the time of
emancipation by the people, the lawlessness of the
magistrates, and the general mal-administration of
affairs, which provoked the people to resistance, and
created throughout the island deep discontent, and a
spirit of bitter resentment against the authorities,
which the evidence, as it stands, shows to have been
fully justified.

CHAPTER XIII.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES.

IN the Report of the Royal Commissioners it may
be noted with some surprise that there is no
deliverance on the conduct of the Baptist
missionaries.* In " the nefarious proceedings " which
took place in the island subsequent to the publication
of my letter, Mr. Eyre distinctly names as having
taken part in them " a few Baptist missionaries, who,
like Messrs. Henderson, Reid, Dendy, Hewett, and
Maxwell, endorse, at public meetings or otherwise, all
the untruthful statements or inuendoes propagated in
Dr. Underbill's letter." Not that all the missionaries
were involved in the offence ; for he adds : " Whilst it
is my duty to point out how mischievous has been
the influence of a few of the Baptist ministers and
of various members of that persuasion, it is equally
my duty, and a pleasure to me, to state that I believe
a large majority of the Baptist ministers have
been most anxious to support the authorities, to
teach their people to be loyal and industrious, and to
endorse the advice given to the peasantry by Her
Most Gracious Majesty."

Why the five ministers named were singled out by

* Blue Bouk : Eeturn, June 26th, J 866, p. 13, &c.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 159

the Governor for reproach and blame, and their con-
duct contrasted with that of the majority of their
colleagues, may afterwards appear ; but it is remark-
able that the Royal Commissioners should, in this
respect, entirely omit all reference to them or to the
author of the incriminated letter. Among the causes
to which they ascribe the disturbances at Morant
Bay, and into the origin of which it was their duty to
inquire, " the nefarious proceedings " of these Baptist
missionaries find no place. As we have seen, the
Royal Commissioners trace to three chief causes, or
rather grievances, the people's resistance to lawful
authority: — (1) The desire to obtain land free of
rent ; (2) want of confidence in the administration of
justice; and (3) hostility to the white inhabitants,
especially to their political opponents. But the Com-
missioners entirely disregard the accusations brought
by Mr. Eyre against these " few Baptist missionaries."
This singular omission finds its explanation in a
correspondence (appended to the Report) between the
Royal Commissioners and certain of the missionaries.
On the 26th January, 1866 — that is, on the second
day after the Commission commenced the reception
of evidence — the Rev. J. M. Phillippo, of Spanish
Town, the senior missionary on the spot, brought the
subject to their notice, and afterwards, on the 26th of
February, in order to obtain a written reply from the
Commissioners, forwarded to them, on behalf of the
ministers, a memorial, signifying "their desire and
ability to vindicate Dr. Underhill and themselves"
from the charges, expressed or implied, of having

160 THE TRAGEDY Of MO RANT BAY.

been accessory by their letters and meetings, as also
in other ways, to the late riot at Morant Bay, and the
chief authors of the dissatisfaction that is stated to
have existed in other parts of the country."* The
memorial was signed by the Kevs. J. M. Phillippo,
W. Dendy, J. E. Henderson, B. Millard, and D. J.
East, all of them long residents in Jamaica, men of
standing, and held in great respect throughout the
island. Both in private, as well as in open Court, the
desire of the ministers was urged upon the Com-
mission.

The reply was courteous, but decided. The request
could not be entertained, and that on the following
grounds : — " No evidence (it was stated) has been given
before the Commissioners affecting the character of
Baptist missionaries in relation to the recent disturb-
ances in St. Thomas-in-the-East, to which subject
their Inquiry is limited." And in regard to Dr. Under-
hill, " the form of attack was so modified as to enable
the Commissioners on the same grounds to disallow
any evidence in refutation."

His Excellency Sir H. Storks and his colleagues
were, therefore, of opinion " that it would be a de-
parture from the rule laid down by the Commissioners
to admit evidence in contradiction of charges of which
they have no cognisance."

Two things are clear from this reply : first, that
Ex- Governor Eyre did not dare, or did not think it
prudent, to repeat the accusations of his despatches

* Appendix to Report, p. 1160.

OR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 161

before the Commissioners ; and second, that in the
judgment of the Commissioners the cause alleged by
Mr. Eyre as originating the riot was no cause at all ;
for it was their special duty, the very object of their
Inquiry, to ascertain " the origin, nature, and circum-
stances of the said disturbances." If the Baptist
missionaries and Dr. Underbill, or any of them, had
contributed in the remotest degree to the outbreak at
Morant Bay, the Commissioners were surely bound
not to wait for Mr. Eyre to restate his charges, or for
the accused missionaries to bring them to their notice.
They should of their own motion have diligently
sought out the facts. The missionaries, by appearing
before the Court in person, as well as by writing and
by their counsel, George Phillippo, Esq., challenged
the accuser ; they offered every facility for pursuing
the inquiry, and they importunately pressed for an
investigation. They omitted no possible course open
to them to bring to the test of the closest scrutiny
what they had done and said. But their accuser did
not venture to repeat his untrue allegations, and the
Commissioners ruled that the question was therefore
beyond their cognisance.

In the ex-Governor's second and final examination,
he declared that he had no charges to bring against
the Baptist missionaries, except one in connection
with the " Underhill Meeting " held at Montego Bay,
and that he held the majority of the Baptist ministers
in high esteem. On this, one of the ministers who
took part in that meeting, wrote to the Commissioners

K-1 — — ing to be heard in self-defence. In reply, the
•

162 THE TRAGEDY OF MOP ANT BA Y.

Commissioners again explained to counsel that tlie
documents put in by Mr. Eyre, in the course of his
examination, were admitted, not as evidence of the
" facts " contained in them, but merely as information,
whether correct or incorrect, on which Mr. Eyre and
his Council acted. So the reports of the speeches
made at these " Underbill Meetings " were to be re-
ceived, not as evidence of the language actually used,
or of the effect, whether good or bad, produced by
them, but simply as an element which at that time
contributed to influence the action of the Island
Government. The issue was entirely irrespective of
the accuracy of the "facts," and, consequently, the
occasion for evidence in explanation or contradiction
did not arise.

We are, however, entitled to conclude that, in the
judgment of the Commissioners, the Morant Bay riot
can have had no part of its origin in the conduct of
the accused missionaries, or of the author of the
letter. Mr. Eyre's charges were calumnious and in
truth groundless, and the course he pursued towards
these ministers of the Gospel was dishonourable and
unjust.

It is beyond question that it was the sincere desire
of the Home Government and of the Royal Com-
missioners to get at the truth. But, while they in
effect exonerated the missionaries, the course taken
deprived the parties accused of a public opportunity
of vindicating themselves in the most effective manner,
from the injurious imputations so abundantly strewed
over the pages of the Governor's despatches. His

uuo

dia
+i,«

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 163

charges and misrepresentations had obtained a world-
wide circulation — in Jamaica, in the English Press,
and in the voluminous papers published for the
information of Parliament, It was but due to these
maligned individuals that there should be given a
fair opportunity to vindicate their characters from the
aspersions so persistently made by Mr. Eyre. It was
denied them, and if we now pursue the inquiry, it
will have the incidental advantage of throwing
further light on the conduct of the Government of
Jamaica, to whose misrule the disturbances must in
the last resort be attributed.

The first despatch of Mr. Eyre to the Colonial
Office, having reference to my letter, is dated the 2nd
March, 1865. In acknowledging the receipt of it
from Mr. Cardwell, he expresses the opinion that,
while there is a considerable amount of distress
among all classes in Jamaica, the letter contains " a
very exaggerated view of the state of the Colony";
a.nd that, although there is an undoubted increase of
the crime of larceny, it does not follow "that the
resort to thieving is because the people are starving."
I have already spoken of the intense excitement
arising from the "Underhill Meetings,"* and from
the bitter discussions in the newspapers which imme-
tely followed the publication of the letter, and of
the steps taken by the Governor to obtain information
for Mr. Cardwell. From Mr. Eyre's despatch of the
9th April,f it is clear that he did not anticipate any

* See Chapters II. and IV.
t Papers, &c., p. 29, No. 90.

11*

164 THE TRAQED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

mischievous results from its circulation. While ho
combats some of its statements, he deals fairly with it.
There is no trace of a suspicion that Baptist ministers
were or had been engaged in any " nefarious proceed-
ings," occupied as they were in gathering materials
for a reply to the circular requesting their views on
the questions which the letter had raised. It is in
his despatch of the 25th April * that the Governor for
the first time expresses his fears of coming mischief.
He is forwarding the petition to the Queen of certain
poor people of St. Ann's. " This," he says, " is the
first-fruits of Dr. Underhill's letter. I fear the result
will have a very prejudicial influence in unsettling
the minds of the peasantry, making them discon-
tented with their lot, and disinclined to conform to
the laws which regulate their taxation, their civil
tribunals, or their political status— all of which they
have been informed are unjust, partial, or oppressive."
Mr. Eyre was altogether mistaken in supposing that
the St. Ann's petition was the "first-fruits of Dr.
Underhill's letter." It is in evidence that the petition
originated some two or three weeks before the letter
was published, and that no Baptist minister had any-
thing to do with it. Mr. Eyre, in a despatch devoted
to the defence of himself at a later period, endeavours
very evasively to escape from the error into which he
had fallen. He attributed to the letter an influence
which at that time it did not enjoy. It is, however,
probable that Mr. Eyre soon thereafter began to

* Papers, &c., p. 135, No. 117.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 165

perceive how unwisely he had chosen his course.
The first of the " Underbill Meetings " took place at
Savanna-la-Mar, on the 21st of April, and there was
the prospect of others to come. Still, up to this
point he had no complaint against the letter or the
missionaries.

On the 6th of May * Mr. Eyre transmitted to Mr.
Cardwell, with other communications, the reply of
the Baptist missionaries to his circular. He very
fairly points out, in his despatch, the differences of
opinion existent among them on two or three of the
subjects touched upon, but says, "The Baptist Society
Eeport is a very carefully and ably got up paper, and
contains much interesting and valuable information."
And again, " As a whole the Report is a very fair and
candid one, and will convey to Her Majesty's Govern-
ment much important and useful information." There
is very little criticism in this despatch to which ex-
ception can be taken, and the Governor seems at the
time to have had no idea that Baptist missionaries
were disposed to originate, or to join in any "nefarious
proceedings " to create, discontent or disaffection. He
somewhat ungraciously, however, hints that the
failing off of the contributions of their people on
account of their increasing poverty may, " in part, be
due to a growing irreligion, or to an indisposition to
support their ministers."

In the month of May several important " Underbill
Meetings" were held. Mr. Eyre's fears grew with

* Papers, &c., p. 139, No. 128.

166 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

their progress. The first took place at Kingston, on
the 3rd May, at which was present the Rev. E. Palmer,
the only Baptist minister there connected with the
Missionary Society. Mr. Eyre characterises the meet-
ing as having for its object to induce the descendants
of Africa throughout the island " to co-operate for the
purpose of setting forth their grievances." It was not
till nearly six months had elapsed that Mr. Eyre
discovered that this object was seditious, and laid
Mr. Palmer open to the charge of conspiracy. Not
till the Governor had a purpose to serve in justifying
the severities inflicted in St. Thomas-in-the-East, was
Mr. Palmer's presence at this meeting deemed a
criminal act worthy of punishment.

But the meeting at Montego Bay, on the 19th May,
was the first in which Mr. Eyre discerned the evil
designs of the Baptist missionaries. Reporting to Mr.
Cardwell the resolutions that were passed, he says : —
" The meeting appears to have been an amalgamation
(for political purposes) between a portion of the
country party, who are opposed to the present
Executive Committee, and a portion of the Baptist
ministers, who desire to back up Dr. Underbill." *

The "mischievous designs" of this meeting were
said to be two : the first, to obtain an alteration of the
Constitution ; and the second, the annihilation of the
Established Church. Strange to say, Governor Eyre's
despatches abundantly prove that he was himself an
advocate of the abrogation of the Constitution. He

* Papers relative to the Affairs of Jamaica, p. 197, No.
137.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 167

seized the time of panic, in the following October, to
induce the Legislature of the island to "immolate
itself on the altar of patriotism." And with regard to
the Church Establishment, Mr. Eyre has left on record
his opinion, in his despatches to the Secretary of
State, that its cost is "large in proportion to the
revenue," and that its existence is " at variance with
the principles, or system, which prevail in the more
recently formed colonies." *

Again and again in his despatches does Mr. Eyre
refer to the speeches of the missionaries who took part
in these meetings. In uniting with others to condemn,
in a lawful and constitutional manner, the misrule
which was hastening the island to ruin, they com-
mitted, in his judgment, an unpardonable offence.
From this time must be dated the manifestation of
that malevolent spirit with which Dr. Underbill and
these ministers were pursued by the Governor and
by his partisans, and which culminated in the ex-
travagant charge of their being, with others, the
authors of a " wicked and unprovoked rebellion."

1 have elsewhere spoken of the placard issued as a
reply to the petition from St. Ann's, entitled " The
Queen's Advice," and of the refusal of the Baptist
ministers generally to assist in its promulgation.!
As ministers of religion they were not alone in re-
garding its circulation as unwise and mischievous.
The Rector of Vere, the Rev. J. Garrett, thus wrote to
Mr. Eyre : — " I thought it desirable to refrain from

* Papers, &c., p. 216. t See ante, pp. 24—27.

163 THE TEA GED Y OF MOEANT BA Y.

distributing copies of the Hon. Mr. Cardwell's letter,
sent to me by the Government for that purpose. In
the then state of feeling, I felt convinced they (the
people) would be rather exasperated than appeased."

The Kev. H. Clarke, Curate of Westmoreland, ex-
presses his opinion more boldly : — " I don't consider
that His Excellency Governor Eyre and his advisers
are free from the guilt of inciting to rebellion. They
have persistently ignored the distress which every-
where exists among the labourers, and, in publishing
that most inappropriate reply of Mr. Cardwell, they
mocked the cry of the poor, and showed themselves
the mere partisans of the class opposed to the negroes.
I was as much filled with amazement at the reckless-
ness of the Government as with uneasiness at the
probable consequences of their act, and I determined
to suppress the placard as far as I could in this neigh-
bourhood."

Events justified the foresight of these ministers and
clergymen, for no act of Mr. Eyie's Government during
the excitement of the summer months created greater
heart-burning than this foolish and ungracious pro-
clamation. Yet the Baptist missionaries, for their
manly and courteous protest, were insulted by Mr.
Eyre in the correspondence that ensued, and after-
wards held up as guilty participators in the disturb-
ances which incompetence and injustice had produced.

Next we read in a despatch, dated July 24th, that
the disorder now apprehended by Mr. Eyre " will be
due entirely to Dr. Underbill's letter, and to the
delusions which have been instilled into the minds of

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 169

the ignorant peasantry by designing persons in refer-
ence to it." * And a day or two later he comments
on the "spirit of disaffection which existed in the
minds of the peasantry from the same causes." It
was all owing to the teaching of the Baptist ministers,
who dwelt among " an ignorant, debased, and excite-
able coloured population," endorsing and reiterating
such assertions as were contained in Dr. Underhill's
letter, especially in districts where the rebellion of
1831-32 broke out.

In fact, aided by an unscrupulous press, Mr. Eyre
had succeeded in rousing into activity that class
hatred which existed at emancipation, and which
of late years had in some measure been allayed,
but never eradicated. An old resident in Jamaica
fully corroborates this statement. He writes : " For
much of this spirit Mr. Eyre is responsible. Before
he commenced his unfortunate career, class and
complexional animosities were dying out, or seemed
to be. From the commencement of his administra-
tion as Governor they multiplied and grew, till at
length they have culminated in the present state of
things." f Government by and for the white minority
of the inhabitants had reached a crisis, and by the
foolish, one-sided, and often spiteful conduct of
Mr. Eyre and his Administration, had produced a
spirit of animosity and hostility to his rule which he
was unable to stem. Hence the bitterness with which
the current of obloquy was directed against his

* Papers, &c., pp. 235, 239, 256.
t The Freeman, July 19th, 1866.

1 70 THE TRAGEDY OF MOR A NT BA Y.

political opponents, and against the Baptist mission-
aries in particular. The voices of the missionaries
were indeed scarcely heard in the din which Mr. Eyre's
use of the " infamous letter" had created. In but one
public meeting, that at Montego Bay, had any Baptist
minister taken chief or prominent part. A few of
them individually attended in other places, but they
contributed very little to the turmoil which sprang
from the passions and prejudices of the whites, or to
the outburst of that rankling sense of injury existing
among the blacks. The Baptist missionaries rarely
appeared as correspondents in the newspapers. Ex-
cept in one or two instances they did not reply to the
vile calumnies and falsehoods heaped upon them.
They magnanimously bore reproach, assured, as the
result proved, that their rectitude and moderation^
the purity of their motives, and their freedom from
all just blame would be made to appear.

In the reign of terror which followed the riot at
Morant Bay, the Baptist missionaries were everywhere
taunted as the chief promoters of the "rebellion," as it
was called. The inflammatory language addressed by
Mr. Eyre to the Legislature called forth an intense
hostility against them. One native minister of their
number, the Rev. Edwin Palmer, a black man, already
referred to,* for a so-called seditious speech, was cruelly
and unjustly seized in Kingston and borne to Morant
Bay for trial, where he was exposed to horrible tortures
and the chance of death by the hands of the execu-

* See ante. Chapter X., p. 115.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND TEE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 171

tioners of Mr. Eyre's wrath. Nor were efforts wanting
to bring the white missionaries within the grip of the
cruel Provost Marshal Ramsay.

Their correspondence with the Mission House was
violated. The senior Baptist missionary, a man
universally known for his lofty Christian character,
and a lover of peace, had four letters detained for
several days, and was informed by the Postmaster
that the letters of many others had been detained by
the Governor's orders. Selected letters, or portions,
of them, were sent to the Colonial Office, and
attention directed to passages that it was thought by
Mr. Eyre might be used to criminate the writers. In
his despatch of the 23rd October,* he tells Mr.
Cardwell that the " rebellion " had been stirred up
" by the indiscreet acts, language, or writings of
persons of education, as well as by political dema-
gogues and agitators. Chief amongst these, I regret to
say, are the Secretary of the Baptist Missionary
Society in England, Dr. Underbill, and some of the
Baptist ministers in Jamaica, who have endorsed
and enlarged upon his views and statements." " The
Governor and the whole force of the Government
officials are against us," says a missionary, writing to
Dr. Underbill in November. " Our conduct is care-
fully watched ; the Press, with only one exception, is
bitter in its opposition ; we are afraid to write to you
rith our accustomed freedom.''! Another, writing

Papers on the Disturbances, Part I., p. 46, No. 253,
received by the Colonial Office, November 17th, 1865.
f Missionary Herald, 1866, p. 8.

172 THE TEAGED Y OF MOEANT BA Y.

me on the same date, says : " In advocating as you
did the cause of the poor, you committed an offence
for which you never will be forgiven. Deep, bitter
hatred will ever be the reward meted out to those
who dare to point out to the negro that he might be
better employed than working upon a sugar estate
for sixpence or ninepence a day." Bearing in mind
the imminent jeopardy, it was imagined, in which
the Colony " was placed " by their proceedings, for
Mr. Cardwell's information, Mr. Eyre enclosed one
of my letters which he had intercepted. It was
written to one of the marked men, the Rev. J. E.
Henderson. From this letter Mr. Eyre quotes the
following words as specially deserving condemnation :
" In Jamaica, the people seem to be overwhelmed
with discouragement, and I fear that they are giving
up in despair their long struggle with injustice and
fraud."

The Governor's comment on this sentence is too
curious and suggestive to be passed by * : —

" If such language as this is addressed by the repre-
sentative of the Baptist Missionary Society at home
to its ministers out here, these ministers will naturally
endeavour to give effect to the suggestion by stimu-
lating the people not to ' give up the struggle,' whilst
they will, no doubt, reckon and enlarge upon the
alleged ' injustice and fraud/ as some of them have
already done at the meeting at Montego Bay and else-
where."

0 Blue Book. Further Correspondence, 10th August, 1866,,
p. 50. Address to Lord Eussell.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 173

"The result is obvious, and, as instanced in the
massacre at Morant Bay, in the outbreak of rebellion
through an extensive tract of country, and in the dis-
affection and disloyalty which exist in so many
parishes, and make it a question whether the rebel-
lion may not become general throughout the entire
island."

" If nothing can be done to stop at home the per-
nicious writings such as I refer to, and if Jamaica is
to be retained at all, it will be necessary to pass a law
in the Colony authorising the deportation of all per-
sons who, leaving their proper sphere of action as
ministers of religion, become political demagogues and
dangerous agitators."

The monstrous proposition here made found no
sympathy in the Colonial Office. I remained un-
molested. A communication from Mr. Cardwell in-
forming me of the stoppage and violation of my
correspondence led to an interview on the subject
with the Secretary of State, by my colleague, the Rev.
F. Trestrail. The following are extracts from the
despatch to Mr. Eyre, which Mr. Cardwell immedi-
ately wrote * : —

" At a moment when the Colony was placed, as you
say, in imminent jeopardy, it was doubtless within the
discretion of the executive authorities to resort to
such a measure."

" I trust, however, that order having been restored,
no further interception of letters, passing either to or

* Papers on Disturbances, Part I., p. 244, No. 353.

174 THE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BA Y.

from the Colony, will have been thought necessary.
It is only under very exceptional circumstances that
such a departure from ordinary practice can be
justified."

" The letter from Dr. Underhill has been returned
to the writer, and I have to instruct you to forward
any other letters which may have been detained to
the person for whom they were destined, unless in
any instance you should have the strongest reasons
for believing that serious mischief would follow."

" The measure you suggest is not one to which I
should wish you to have recourse. The repression of
overt proceedings might lead to secret proceedings,
not less, but more dangerous."

Previous to the receipt of this despatch, Mr. Eyre
had actually given orders for the arrest of my corre-
spondent, the Rev. J. E. Henderson. This deed of
wrong was only stayed by the officer charged with its
execution requiring from His Excellency a written
order instead of the verbal one he had received.
This Mr. Eyre refused, fearing, doubtless, to commit
himself to a written paper which might become proof
against him in a criminal prosecution. He did not,
however, wait for Mr. Card well's reply to obtain, by
a law from his moribund Legislature, the arbitrary
power, as it might please him, of deporting any ob-
noxious individual. Only Mr. Eyre's suspension from
his office as Governor prevented its wide application.
My excellent and worthy friend, the Rev. J. M.
Phillippo, of Spanish Town, was one among several
others, both lay and clerical, whose names were

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 175

already inscribed on a black list for proscription and
exile. And another, whose honoured name was never
mentioned but with respect and confidence, received
a friendly intimation that he had need be careful, for
he was suspected of sympathy with the rebels.* But
it is worthy of note that in the political trials which
afterwards took place, only one Baptist minister, a
black man, Mr. Palmer, was arrested, and tried, and
convicted of sedition by a common jury packed for
the purpose. Not a single member of the Baptist
churches was indicted by the officers of the Crown.f
Had I been a resident in Jamaica, there can be little
doubt what my lot would have been. Happily, I
was beyond the reach of the interested attentions of
Governor Eyre, and the tender mercies of his satellite,
Provost Marshal Ramsay.

At the best, however, the vindication of the mis-
sionaries by the Commissioners, such as it was,J cannot
be said to be sufficient. It did not meet the facts of
the case. The allegations of Mr. Eyre, in his numerous
despatches to the Colonial Office, were in the main
unknown till they met the public eye in the Blue
Books published for the information of the British

,;.

ina-

* Missionary Herald, 1866, p. 11.

Memorial of Baptist Union. Blue Book, Juae 29th, 1868,
14.

To a motion made by Mr. George Phillippo for the exam-
tion of the Eevs. B. Millard and D. J. East, to reply to the
statements of Mr. Eyre, the Commissioners replied "that there
were no charges against Dr. Underhill or his Mission to require
.e Commissioners' interference at this stage." (Blue Book,
'apers, &c., p. 19.)

176 THE TRAGEDY OF MORA NT BA Y.

Parliament, to say nothing of the calumnies adopted
and circulated by the English Press. Under these
circumstances, and as soon as the course resolved upon
by the Royal Commissioners was understood, a very
large proportion of the Baptist ministers and their
congregations, some thirty in number, during the
months from February to June, addressed memorials,
some to the Queen, some to Lord Russell (then at the
head of the Government), and others to the chief of
the Colonial Office, by the hands of Sir Henry Storks,
denying in forcible but dignified language the unjust
allegations of Ex-Governor Eyre, and complaining of
the gross aspersions on their Christian character
which had fallen so freely from Mr. Eyre's incon-
siderate pen.

It would be difficult to summarise or to state in
detail the contents of these numerous memorials. It
must suffice to say that they denied in firm and
earnest language the Governor's assertions as to their
conduct. They affirmed that on inquiry it would be
found that no Baptist missionary congregation, white
or black, existed in the Parish of St. Thomas-in-t'he-
East. That not a single member of their churches,
there or elsewhere, was either arrested or charged
with having taken part or had the slightest complicity
in the disturbances at Morant Bay. That only one
black minister connected with the Mission, the Rev.
Edwin Palmer, of Kingston, was tried for seditious
language used at an " Underbill Meeting," uttered five
months before the outbreak. One other coloured
Baptist missionary, the Rev. James Service, living in

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 177

another parish, was arrested without the shadow of a
ground of suspicion. After a few days he was acquitted
with honour, not having even been brought to trial.
They pointed out that the " rebellion," so called, was
strictly local, both in its commencement and progress,
and that the population among whom they laboured
was ever loyal, and untouched by a seditious or evil
spirit. As teachers of religion, they say, they have
taught their hearers " the value of human life by the
price paid for its redemption by the Lord Jesus, and
not only to be loyal, but grateful to your Majesty's
Government." They are neither factious nor dis-
contented with the Queen's rule, however much they
feel and complain of the misrule and injustice of the
Jamaica authorities ; and they add, " We would most
solemnly renew to your Most Gracious Majesty our
assurance that we are and ever have been your
Majesty's peaceful and loyal subjects, valuing the
blessings of civil and religious liberty too highly to
hazard them, by insubordination to the laws under
which we live, and to the authorities your Majesty has
placed over us." They recall with grateful satisfaction
the testimony of several of Mr. Eyre's predecessors to
the loyalty they have ever shown, to their quiet
demeanour under circumstances of great trial, and to
their industry and improvement both in a physical
and social aspect since their release from the bondage
of slavery. They point to the settlements they have
made, to the villages they have built, to the home-
steads they have acquired, to the culture of products
other than sugar for their own sustenance and for

12

178 TEE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

export, and, finally, to the flourishing schools and
institutions they enjoy, as the fruit of their own
exertions, with the beneficent aid of their ministers.*

But urgent as were these representations of the
many thousands of loyal men, and of ministers of the
Gospel, eminent for their fidelity to their calling, the
following was the only recognition they received of
the justice of their appeal. It came from Lord
Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary of the new Adminis-
tration, which, in the latter part of the year, held the
reins of government in Great Britain. " Parliament,"
he writes, to Sir John Peter Grant, the new Governor,
" has been put in possession of despatches by your
predecessor (Sir Henry Storks), expressing a high
sense of the services rendered to Jamaica by the great
majority of the Baptist missionaries employed there,
as well as a condemnation of the conduct of some
of those missionaries. With those despatches the
counter-statements of the Baptist missionaries have
also been presented to Parliament, and thus all
persons who take interest in the question will have
the materials for arriving at a conclusion."

* On a review of the entire course taken by the missionaries,
the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society thu=i expressed
themselves : — " They only repeat the judgment of all impartial
men when they affirm that there was not the shadow of an
excuse for the obnoxious and calumnious charges made against
them by the late Governor, and that the ordeal through which
they have passed has left their honour unstained, thf-ir integrity
untouched, and their Christian character undimmed." (Report
for 1867, p. 90.)

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 179

" I can only say that I gladly accept the assurances
by the memorialists of their loyalty, and trust that for
the future Her Majesty's Government may rely on
their co-operation, both as regards the religious,
moral, and social training of their flocks, and by the
example which they have it in their power to give to
the people of respect for the institutions of the
country, and willing obedience to all constituted
authority." *

Before leaving this part of my subject, I may be
permitted to quote the language of Mr. Cardwell,
spoken by him in the House of Commons, in the
course of the debate on Jamaica affairs, f He says : —

"Before I sit down I wish to allude to another
subject which should not pass unnoticed. It will be
remembered that in the first despatch, in which
Governor Eyre spoke of the principal causes of the
disturbances, he alluded to a letter which had been
addressed to me by Dr. Underbill, and he attributed
to that letter, in great part, the origin of the
disturbances. That letter having obtained publicity
in Jamaica entirely through me, I feel bound to
express my opinion on that part of the case. From
the letter itself I very much dissent. It has been
the subject of inquiry, the result of which is on the
table. The letter was brought to me by my honour-
able friend the member for Bristol (Sir Morton Peto),
was a bond fide letter, and addressed to me for the

Further Correspondence presented to Parliament, August
LOth, 1866, p. 58.

t Speech in the House of Commons, September 30th. 1866.

12*

180 THE TRAGEDY OF MO RANT BA Y.

purpose of obtaining practical inquiry into the sub-
ject. I accordingly sent it to the Governor for that
purpose. If the consequences which have been said
since to have resulted from that letter could have
been reasonably expected by the Governor of Jamaica,
I do not think it was necessary to give the letter
publicity. I must say, too, with respect to the persons
connected with that letter, that their conduct has
been most moderate and reasonable ; and of all the
deputations which came to me there was none more
temperate and calm in dealing with the subject than
a deputation of Baptists, which came from different
parts of the country, in company with the honourable
member from Bristol." *

The result of this examination of the Report of the
Royal Commissioners makes it abundantly clear that
the Baptist missionaries had not, directly or indirectly,
any part whatever in producing or aiding the out-
break at Morant Bay. In fact, the Baptist Missionary
Society had no connection whatever with the Parish
of St. Thomas-in-the-East. This arose, however, from
no lack of effort in earlier times to secure a footing
there. It may be seen from Dr. Coke's History of the
West Indies, and the works of Duncan and Samuel,
that a fierceness of opposition to the Gospel raged in
this parish more strongly than in any other part of
the island. It was the fixed determination of magis-
trates and rectors, both before and after emancipation,
to allow no Baptists, if they could prevent it, to enter

* See Missionary Herald, 1866, p. 164.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 181

that parish. The devoted missionary, Joseph Burton,
once attempting it, was thrown into gaol, and was
only released on very heavy bail being taken that he
would come no more. A few faithful men of other
denominations who visited the district were also
bitterly persecuted, and the results of their ministry
were but small. Four-fifths of the people were
without religious instruction at all, and much of the
hatred incurred by Mr. Gordon arose from his endea-
vours to secure for the population the preaching of
the Gospel, and from his efforts to disseminate Divine
truth *

During the course of the proceedings of the Royal
Commissioners, several of the Baptist missionaries in
attendance had opportunities of intercourse with the
Commissioners. On one of these occasions the Rev.
D. J. East informed Sir Henry Storks that throughout
the whole of the disturbed district there was no agent
of the Baptist Missionary Society; that the only
recognised Baptist minister in its neighbourhood was
a native, who, so far from having any complicity with
the riot, had to seek refuge on board one of H,M. ships;
but not one European. Sir Henry expressed his regret
that this was so, and his hope that in the future the
Society would again endeavour to enter on this field
of labour ; and added, " If I had the keys of the
Treasury you should not want for funds."

This favourable opinion encouraged the Jamaica
Baptist Missionary Society to appoint the Rev. J. M.

* See Missionary Herald, January, 1866, p. 7.

182 THE TEA GED Y OF MORA NT BAY.

Phillippo and the Rev. T. Lea to visit the district, and
on the 1st March they entered on their task. They
reported of one fertile and beautiful spot, that they
found the inhabitants ignorant, superstitious, and, with
few exceptions, "far from God, by wicked works."
They were suspicious and discouraged, yet received
the messengers with hopeful confidence. As they
passed along they met with most piteous tales of
mourning, lamentation, and woe, and saw on every
side the sad evidences of destruction, the work of an
infuriated and irresponsible soldiery. In the district
around Morant Bay there lived a dense population,
morally dark and degraded. So far as any religious
feeling was expressed, the people said they were Bap-
tists, and were not disposed to unite with any other
community. But they would welcome the representa-
tives of the Baptist Mission, and rejoice to have public
worship and schools set up in their midst by them.

The conviction was impressed on the minds of the
deputation that the opportunity was most favourable
to renew the attempt made in times gone by, and to
send an earnest and experienced missionary to Morant
Bay, " who, by his life and teaching, may diffuse the
holy influences of the religion of Jesus in the places
where so recently anarchy and bloodshed held their
sway, and have left behind the most lamentable
results." *

Supported by letters from several missionaries,
these facts were laid before the Home Committee,

* Missionary Herald, July, 1866, pp. 119-122.

GOVERNOR EYRE AND THE BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. 183

who, also encouraged in a subsequent interview,
enjoyed by their Treasurer and Secretary, with Sir
Henry Storks, at once resolved on the appointment
of the Rev. W. Teall, of Lucea, who, by his energy
and devotedness, was well qualified for the task.
They voted for the primary expenses the sum of
£250, undertaking also to support the work for seven
years, or until the result of the labours of the
missionary should be successful in the formation of
a self-supporting church.

The introduction of the Mission was hailed by all
parties in the parish. The times were changed. The
black people were jubilant. The new Gustos engaged
to do all in his power to protect and aid Mr. Teall.
His coming was regarded with pleasure, even by
those whose enmity in earlier days had been so
unhappily displayed. His first visit to Stony Gut
was a most affecting one. He preached to a large
congregation on the spot where Paul Bogle's chapel
had stood. The widows of the two Bogles, George
Clarke (the brother of the Samuel Glarke who was
hung at Morant Bay), and a host of women and
children, clothed in mourning, crowded around him.
At the close of the service, George Glarke thus
addressed the congregation : — " My friends," ho said,
" all the wrongs which so many of us have suffered
unjustly at the hands of the authorities and soldiers,
I know I speak your sentiments as well as my own
when I say, we freely forgive, as well as all who have
injured us in any way." To which there was the
hearty response of " Amen."

184 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

In July, 1868, the Society purchased a disused
chapel in Morant Bay, and the work thus established
has now become the scene of a flourishing church
and schools, and has extended its beneficent action in
all directions around this central spot. The unhappy
events we have narrated are not, indeed, forgotten ;
but God has been pleased to lead many of the
people into the paths of righteousness and peace.
Their mourning has been turned into joy.

CHAPTER XIY.

THE REPORT, ITS RECEPTION BY THE GOVERNMENT.

BEFORE closing this account of the work of
the Royal Commissioners, it is of some
importance to record its reception by the
English Government, and the results which followed
in this country.

The two Commissioners, Messrs. Gurney and Maule,
arrived in England on the 28th April, bringing with
them their united Report. Sir H. Storks remained
in Jamaica to induct his successor into the office
which Sir Henry had so ably and temporarily filled.

!At the close of their inquiries, the Commissioners left
the island in a state of perfect quietude, the more
remarkable when contrasted with the excitement and
terror in which they found it four months before
On the north side the sugar estates were in full crop,
and the crops were larger than they had been for
many years. The demand for labour was urgent
everywhere, and all capable hands found full employ-
ment. Order prevailed in every district. The ex-
pected change of Government was joyfully looked
forward to by all parties. The administration of
justice had been carefully watched by Sir Henry

186 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

Storks, who by circular had required all magistrates,
either to give regular and prompt attention to their
duties, or to resign their commissions. A goodly
number of resignations of the most unworthy of them
speedily followed.

But attention must now be given to the views of
Her Majesty's Government at home. These are found
in a despatch from the Hon. E. Cardwell, addressed
to Sir Henry Storks, on the 18th June, the very day
on which Lord Russell's Reform measure was rejected
by the House of Commons, and a week before
the resignation of office by his entire Ministry.
Generally, the Government, writes Mr. Cardwell, con-
curs in the conclusions arrived at by the Com-
missioners, and approves of the commendation
bestowed upon the skill, promptitude, and vigour
displayed by Mr. Eyre in the early stages of the
insurrection, to which must be attributed, in a
great degree, its speedy termination. The causes
which led to the resistance to lawful authority must
be reserved for future consideration, in conjunction
with the new Government about to be established in
Jamaica.

In judging of the excessive nature of the punish-
ments inflicted, Mr. Cardwell considers that the
" greatest consideration " is due to a Governor placed
in the peculiar position of Mr. Eyre. The insurrec-
tion was sudden ; its extent was unknown. It took
the character of a contest of colour. The nature of
the atrocities committed, and the enormous disparity
of numbers between the white and black population,

?

THE REPORT, ITS RECEPTION BY THE GOVERNMENT. 187

had to be taken into account. It was difficult to
discriminate the false from the true in the number-
less rumours that ran from place to place, while the
forces at hand for the suppression of the outbreak
were but small, and inadequate to control every
district. Mr. Eyre properly felt that the most serious
consequences might ensue from the slightest in-
decision. He also wisely resisted the advice of his
Council to place the whole island under martial law,
and showed himself superior to the feelings of alarm
entertained by those around him.

On the other hand, it is pointed out that martial
law, though limited in its range, and confined to the
statutable time, was continued for many days after it
could have been dispensed with. For after the first
two or three days no serious outrages were committed
by the insurgents, nor was any resistance at all offered
to the troops. On the 20th October, the day Governor
Eyre departed from Morant Bay, leaving Gordon to
the mercy of the Court- Martial, he wrote to Mr.
Card well that he was satisfied the rebellion was got
under ; and on the 30th, a fortnight before the expira-
tion of martial law, it was formally stated in the
proclamation of amnesty that the "wicked rebellion"
isting in certain parts of the County of Surrey had
en subdued. The insurgents, it was said, were
desirous to return to their allegiance, and the chief
instigators of the rebellion had suffered the punish-
ments their heinous offences deserved. For these
reasons Her Majesty's Government cannot but concur
in the judgment of the Commissioners, that martial

188 THE TEA GED Y OF MO RANT BA Y.

law and its severities had been continued longer than
necessity required.

Three if not four weeks before its close, prisoners
could have been arraigned, and sufficiently punished,
by the ordinary tribunals, and a calm inquiry might
and ought to have been substituted for the violence
and arbitrariness of the military power. Numbers
were executed who were neither ringleaders of the
insurrection, nor participators in the crimes committed
at the commencement of the outbreak. Nor did the
circumstances justify the wholesale floggings and
burning of the houses of the people. Public safety
did not require these pitiless deeds. Her Majesty's
Government were therefore unable to regard Mr.
Eyre as " irresponsible " for the unnecessary sus-
pension of the ordinary judicial procedure. Blame
must rest upon him for permitting the severities
which attended the reprehensible measures adopted
on his authority. Especially does this apply to the
case of Mr. Gordon, whose unjust condemnation
Her Majesty's Government " cannot but deplore and
condemn." As suggested by Mr. Westmorland,
Mr. Gordon might well have been reserved for
trial by a regular tribunal, and "have enjoyed
the means of defence which are secured by the
ordinary process of law to every subject of the
Queen." Having regard to all the circumstances of
the case, and also to other portions of Mr. Eyre's con-
duct while administering the affairs of the island, of
which they had been compelled to disapprove, the
Government felt it to be their duty to advise the

THE REP

THE REPORT, ITS RECEPTION BY THE GOVERNMENT. 189

Crown not to replace Mr. Eyre in the Government of
Jamaica.*

In simply dismissing Mr. Eyre from his office as
Governor of Jamaica, and also from future employ-
ment in the civil service of the Crown, the Ministry
of Lord Russell was to my knowledge actuated by the
fact, that the Government felt themselves under a
certain amount of obligation to him for seizing the
opportunity to effect an entire change in the system
of government in operation in Jamaica. In this
despatch, Mr. Cardwell speaks with approval of the
promptitude and judgment Mr. Eyre had shown in
obtaining from the Jamaica Legislature the abolition
of all their privileges as a self-governing Colony, by
which the English Government were enabled to in-
augurate a new administration under the direct control
of the Crown. The change had long been desired.
Several attempts, since the period of emancipation,
had been made to bring the administration of the
Colony into harmony with the new conditions created
by that great act of justice and mercy. Mr. Eyre had
accomplished what all former Governors had failed
to do ; and, though it was achieved during a state of
craven panic, it was not the less a welcome relief
from the perplexities and strained relations which
had so long existed between the Home and Colonial
Governments. The island had fallen into an un-
exampled condition of poverty and distress, and grave
forebodings were prevalent of its speedy ruin. Some

* Blue Book: Further Correspondence, 10th August, 1866,
p. 92.

190 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

consideration was doubtless due to Mr. Eyre for his
success in this respect, and it fully accounts for the
reluctance displayed by the Government of Lord
Russell to sanction any judicial inquiry into the faults
and crimes of his administration.

In one point only did the Government lean towards
any semblance of severity. Sir Henry Storks was
instructed not to give a certificate of indemnity to
any one who had exceeded his instructions, and they
further directed the trial of persons charged with real
enormities — as, for instance, the Provost Marshal
Ramsay. It is not possible to say what the Govern-
ment of Lord Russell would have done to meet the
loud demand, which immediately rose on the publica-
tion of the Report from a very large proportion of their
party, to bring Mr. Eyre to trial before an English
Court, charged with the death of Mr. Gordon and
of others who had been convicted on insufficient and
illegal evidence.

But the Conservative party were now in power,
under the leadership of the Earl of Derby, with Lord
Carnarvon as his Colonial Secretary. The opportunity
of learning the decision of the new Government soon
arose in the House of Commons, in^the discussion
which was called forth by a series of resolutions pro-
posed by Mr. E. Buxton, on the 31st July. His first
resolution affirmed " that this House deplores the
excessive punishments which followed the suppression
of the disturbances of October last, in the Parish of
St. Thomas, Jamaica, and especially the unnecessary
frequency with which the punishment of death was

THE REPORT, ITS RECEPTION BY TEE GOVERNMENT. 191

inflicted." The second resolution approved the dis-
missal of Mr. Eyre from his governorship, and the
concurrence of the House in the view of the late
Colonial Secretary, that while minor offences might
be overlooked, still greater offenders ought to be
punished, and excesses of severity in the suppression
should not be passed over with impunity. And, lastly,
that compensation should be awarded to those whose
property had been wantonly and cruelly destroyed.

It need scarcely to be said that the speeches of Mr.
Buxton, Mr. Mills, and others were worthy of the
occasion. The mouthpiece of the Government was
Mr. Adderley, Under Secretary of State. He professed
fully to recognise the gravity of the events in Jamaica,
and proceeded to treat the Commission as a fully con-
stituted tribunal for the trial of the facts, of which
the Report was " the only authentic information they
possessed." The Government, however, were not
" going to re-open the case and try it again." The
House was not a judicial tribunal (nor for the matter
of that was the Commission). The Report must be
taken as it is given, and Mr. Buxton's " resolutions
ought not to be adopted." In concluding his speech
Mr. Adderley moved the previous question, as if the
acts done in Jamaica were worthy of praise, and in
order to avoid even the appearance of deploring the
official slaughter. This was too gross a condonation
of the crimes admitted to have been committed. Mr.
Adderley's resolution was negatived, but he finally
assented to the adoption of the first resolution.

Thus, so far as the Government of Great Britain

192 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

could accomplish it, the final appeal to the Imperial
Parliament, to judge between the negro subjects of
the Queen and the officials who so mercilessly
scourged them and put them to death, was set at
nought. The House would weep over these atrocities,
but it declined to punish the authors of them. It
is unnecessary to go over the sickening story again ;
but it was resolved that, so far as the Government and
Parliament could determine, the guilt of the perpe-
trators should go unpunished, and the terrible injustice
pass away unavenged. For the astounding catalogue
of crimes recorded by the Commissioners, there
should be no judicial or even political remedy, though
not one tittle of the facts was denied or disproof
attempted. With regard to Mr. Gordon, Mr. Com-
missioner Gurney said that even if the evidence
against him might have justified an indictment for
sedition, "it did not justify the sentence passed upon
him and unfortunately carried into execution." It
was painful to think that he was carried from a
Queen's ship, whence ah1 Jamaica could not have
rescued him, to be put to death,* without a voice
being heard in his defence.

* See the Spectator of August 4th, 1866.

CHAPTER XV.

PAET I.
THE TRIAL OF PROVOST MARSHAL RAMSAY.

OF all the instruments employed by Mr. Eyre in
the "retribution" and punishment inflicted
on the alleged rebels, no one attained a more
dreadful notoriety than Provost Marshal Ramsay.
The story of his cruelties, of the scourgings and hang-
ings of the unfortunate peasantry who fell into his
hands, as recorded in the evidence, would fill many
pages. But apart from his share in the execution of
Mr. Gordon, and many other innocent sufferers, there
is one example which stands out beyond all others
for its savagery and brutal callousness, and its utter
illegality. By the direction of the Colonial Office he
was arraigned for this crime, before the Special Com-
mission of Oyer and Terminer, assembled at Kingston,
for wilful murder. The case to be tried was that of
Gaorge Marshall, residing in Morant Bay, a coloured
man, but not a negro. The reporter of the Colonial
Standard, Mr. Lake, states that his offence was that
he was met, on October 18th, \vithout a pass in his
possession from the Provost Marshal. In the inquiry
before the Royal Commission the accusation brought

13

194 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

forward was that he was seen by a policeman carrying
some woollen goods, presumably stolen, but of which
there was not a particle of evidence. The charge was
an afterthought; it was not adduced at the time.
Without trial or investigation, as no pass could be
found upon him, he was treated as a rebel. He was
tied to a gun and flogged by three sailors from H.M.S.
Wolverine. " On receiving the forty- seventh or forty-
eighth lash he turned round and ground his teeth.
The Provost Marshal saw him, and ordered him to be
hanged immediately. His hands were so tied that
he could make no gesture. His back was like a bit
of raw beef, bleeding very profusely. He was taken
down, thrown on his back, his hands and feet tied, a
rope put round his neck and thrown over a rail, and
then he was hoisted up as you would a barrel of flour.
He had no drop. After about three minutes a huge
white stone was taken and put between his arms,
which were tied behind him." *

So far the evidence of the journalist.

Mr. Daniel Marshallack, a magistrate and store
keeper at Morant Bay, corroborates this ghastly story.

" I was sitting at my house, and I heard that a man
was to be flogged. I went out in the Parade, in com-
pany with another party, and I saw a man by the
name of Marshall being tied. He was tied to a gun
and flogged. He had a great number of lashes given
to him ; I think very nearly fifty. I did not count
them, but there was a great number of lashes. The

* Keport of Royal Commission, p. 275. Further Correspon-
dence, &c., p. 16.

THE TRIAL OF PROVOST MARSHAL RAMSAY. 195

man shrieked a little, and drew up his body ; and I
immediately heard the Provost Marshal, Mr. Ramsay,
say, ' Take down that man and hang him.' The man
was immediately taken down. He was so weak that
he could scarcely walk. He was pulled along, and
when he got just under the hanging place he was
pulled up. A rope was put round his neck as he was
lying down, or very nearly so. He could scarcely
stand. And he was pulled up and hanged, just as a
barrel would be hoisted up by the side of a ship."
Very significantly the witness adds, in reply to a
question whether he informed anybody, "No one
dared to say a word. The magistrates and every
person of respectability were treated with the utmost
disrespect. They were not solicited nor asked a
single question." *

For this cruel and savage crime the Government
of Jamaica ordered the prosecution of the Provost
Marshal in the Commission Court. The Grand Jury,
happily for him, was composed chiefly of planters and
book-keepers from the sugar estates. On the 18th
October, 1866, the very day twelvemonth on which
the crime was committed, the case was called on.
With the above evidence in his hands, the Hon. Judge
Kerr charged the Grand Jury. He stated that under
le ordinary law, the treatment of Marshall consti-
tuted " a murder of the purest type." " Martial law,"

. — . — — — . — _

* Eeport of Royal Commission, p. 57. On the same day,
Ramsay attempted to hang two other men, without trial ; but
his intention was frustrated by the intervention of one of the
officers of the Wolverine.

13*

196 THE TEA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

he said, " is the recurrence to physical force for the
bringing about of results beyond the scope and capa-
bilities of the ordinary law." Acts in themselves un-
lawful under the ordinary law must, therefore, be
justified by the special exigency of the case. But
even martial law does not authorise or sanction every
deed assumed to be done in its name. It stops far
short of that. Men, otherwise innocent of crime, may
suffer from mere gratified malice, hatred and ill-will,
lust and rapacity."

The limits of martial law can be thus defined.
First, it allows all that is necessary to the suppres-
sion of resistance to lawful authority. Second, it
requires that the acts done under it should be honest
and bona fide, or they will be disallowed. Thirdly,
the acts of its agents " shall be adjudged to be
necessary in the judgment, not of a violent or excited,
but of a moderate and reasonable man. Reason
and common sense must approve the particular act.
It is not sufficient that the party so acting should
unaffectedly believe such and such a line of conduct
to be called for: the belief must be reasonably
entertained, and such as a person of ordinary under-
standing would not repudiate." Vindictive passions
must have no place. They are as much prohibited
during military rule as in the most orderly, tranquil
condition of human affairs. " Excess and wantonness,
cruelty and unscrupulous contempt for human life
meet with no sanction from martial law any more
than from ordinary law. No amount of personal pro-
vocation will justify or excuse vindictive retribution."

THE TRTAL OF PROVOST MARSHAL RAMSAY. 197

The learned Judge concluded by warning the Grand
Jury that the Indemnity Act, with which the Jamaica
Legislature had lately wound up its baneful legis-
lation, " could only be pleaded in a court of justice
by those who have fulfilled the conditions above
stated."

True to their evil history, the Jamaica Grand Jury,
in the teeth of the clear statements and recommenda-
tion of the Judge, refused to bring in a true bill, or
to submit the clearly unlawful and criminal acts of
Provost Marshal Eamsay to a petty jury.* The lucid,
temperate, constitutional, and impartial charge of the
Judge availed nothing, and this case of awful crime
has passed into history unpunished and unavenged.
After fifteen minutes' consultation, the prisoner was
discharged from custody, and walked out of Court
with the Victoria Cross upon his breast, won in the
raad cavalry charge up the heights of Balaclava, a
disgrace to the profession to which he belonged.!

Kamsay was, however, dismissed by Sir J. P. Grant
from employment as Inspector of Police, and from all
public employment soon after his arrival, the Gover-
nor recording in his minute: — "I cannot guess the
ground on which the Grand Jury thought it their
duty to contradict the Judge's charge by their finding.
It carried to every unprejudiced mind the conviction
of his guilt." J There can be no doubt, said Lord

0 Further Correspondence, &c., May 28th, 1867, p. 11.
t The Freeman of November 16th, 1866, pp. 472, 575.
t Despatch of November 8th, 1866 ; Blue Book, May, 1867,
p. 23 ; also Despatch of November 16th, No. 89, p. 46.

198 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

Carnarvon, that the course of justice has been griev-
ously defeated in this case.

It was the Colonial Minister's opinion that it was
of no use to carry these proceedings further, and all
efforts to bring to trial, parties guilty of similar acts of
cruelty, were abandoned.

PAET II.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE JAMAICA COMMITTEE.

This miscarriage of justice in Jamaica, in the case
of Ramsay, rendered it the more necessary that an
attempt should be made, in this country, to bring
some of the parties engaged in the suppression of the
disturbances before an ordinary civil tribunal, both to
test the validity of the courts-martial under which
these crimes were committed, and to visit with due
punishment the parties guilty of them. For this
purpose the case of Mr. George William Gordon was
selected by the Jamaica Committee. It was thought
to be the most flagrant example of an innocent person
done to death by these courts, and which, if per-
mitted to pass unnoticed, would render insecure the
life of every British subject throughout the world.

The treatment that Mr. Stuart Mills' appeal to
Parliament, and the resolutions of Mr. Buxton,
received at the hands of Lord Derby's Government
rendered it certain that it would neither prosecute
any of the parties inculpated, nor give any sanction
to proceedings against them by others. So far as the

PROCEEDINGS OF JAMAICA COMMITTEE. 19D

authorities of the Crown were concerned, the Govern-
ment was resolved to take no notice of the findings
of the Royal Commission, and to oppose all judicial
inquiry into the conduct of the military forces of the
Crown, however serious were the infractions proved
or declared to have been committed on the constitu-
tional privileges of the Queen's subjects.

The Jamaica Committee were not, and could not,
be actuated by vindictive feelings. They were a body
of honourable men, held in high public estimation,
and representative of the best elements of England's
political life. It was their anxious desire, in the
first place, " to establish, by a judicial sentence, the
principle that the illegal execution of a British
subject, by a person in authority, is not merely an
error which superiors in office may at their discretion
visit with displeasure or condone, but a crime which
will certainly be punished by the law." In the second
place, it was their object to challenge in a court of
justice " the jurisdiction of courts of martial law,
which, as late events showed, may be made engines of
indiscriminate butchery and torture, and to examine
their claim to try charges of high treason or other
civil offences in the absence of a jury or any adequate
security for justice, and without necessarily keeping a
record of their proceedings ; whether, in fact, the law
which these courts assume to administer is really law
at all, or a truly sanguinary licence, which the law
will repress or punish." *

* Jamaica Papers, No. 3, Statement of Committee, p. 4.

200 THE TRAGEDY OF MOEANT BAY.

The refusal of Lord Kusseli's Government to rein-
state Mr. Eyre in his office of Governor gave to the
Committee, in common with multitudes of their fellow-
citizens, little satisfaction on the first point and none
at all as regards the second. It was not that Lord
Derby's Government approved of Mr. Gordon's ex-
ecution, or of the unnecessary severities inflicted by
the soldiery and other officers of the courts; but
they did not care to treat the proceedings at Morant
Bay as infractions of constitutional law. They would
leave the definition of the law of England with regard
to martial law to stand as bluntly stated by Air.
Disraeli in his reply to Mr. Mill, that martial law is
the suspension of all law, and exposes the lives of
British subjects to irresponsible butchery.

It is advisable, in order to understand Avhat follows,
briefly to recapitulate the main facts of the case of
Mr. Gordon, on which the Committee relied, to justify
the prosecution of Ex -Governor Eyre and his sub-
ordinates. The following facts were admitted on all
hands to be indubitable. Mr. Gordon had for years
been in a position of strained political antagonism to
the Administration of which Mr. Eyre was the head.
There was no military necessity for taking his life.
He was living out of the reach of military law, and
within the jurisdiction of the civil courts. He had
taken no part in the outbreak. Mr. Eyre personally
arrested him, which he had no ministerial right to do.
He accompanied him to the spot where military law
prevailed, kept him in his own custody for several
days, till he could deliver him over to the military

PROCEEDINGS OF JAMAICA COMMITTEE. 201

tribunal. The Governor would not listen to the voice
of warning raised by a member of his Council, who
admitted the reason of his advice to be that, on the
nature of the evidence that could be produced, a fatal
verdict would not be assured in Kingston, where
Gordon was known and respected, and where legal
assistance was at hand. The composition of the
Court-Martial was such as to cut off all hope alike of
justice or mercy. * Mr. Gordon was further deprived
of legal advice, which, when furnished in a letter
by Mr. Wemys Anderson, his private solicitor, was
refused, and the letter never delivered to Gordon.
No delay was permitted in order to obtain the local
evidence within reach, or otherwise easily procurable
for his defence. The evidence adduced against him
was palpably "insufficient," and some of it contra-
dictory. The Royal Commissioners were convinced
that the charge of conspiracy could not be sustained,
since there was no proof that a conspiracy ever
existed. They also affirm that much of the evidence
given against Mr. Gordon was "inadmissible according
to the rules that regulate evidence in English courts,
either civil or military. "-f- In fact, they declare that
the evidence, oral and documentary, was wholly in-
sufficient to establish the charge upon which the
prisoner was put upon his trial. Nevertheless, the
sentence was death. It was warmly approved by
Governor Eyre, who took the responsibility of it,

GU.li

although he knew that the insurrection was at an

* Jamaica Papers, No. 3, Statement of Committee, p. 4.
t Report of Hoyal Commission, p. 36.

2 Y2 THE TRA GED Y OF MORANT BA Y.

end, and the plea of military necessity was no longer
of any force.

Such, in brief outline, was the case as it presented
itself to the Jamaica Committee, and in the impartial
judgment of the Royal Commissioners. Not only
was this view sustained by many men of great legal
knowledge, but the Committee were also confirmed in
the propriety of the course they determined upon by
the special opinion of the two eminent counsel by
whom they were advised. These gentlemen held
that " Mr. Gordon, with others, had been illegally put
to death, or flogged, and in some cases flogged and
afterwards put to death, and the homes of many
others illegally burnt by Ex-Governor Eyre, Brigadier
Nelson, and their subordinates and coadjutors." *

The first step taken was to apply at Bow Street
Police Court for warrants to apprehend Brigadier
Nelson and Lieutenant Brand, who were at the time
within the jurisdiction of the Court. Ex-Governor
Eyre would have been included in the summons but
that he resided in Shropshire, and refused to place
himself within reach of the prosecution. The appli-
cation was made to Sir Thomas Henry, the Chief
Magistrate at Bow Street, on the 6th February, 1867,
by Mr. Fitzjames Stephen and Mr. Home Payne,
acting on behalf of the Jamaica Committee.
Brigadier Nelson, it will be remembered, was the
General Officer in command at Morant Bay at the
time of Gordon's execution ; and Lieutenant Brand

* Jamaica Papers, No. 3, p. 3.

PROCEEDINGS OF JAMAICA COMMITTEE. 203

was the President of the Military Court, assisted
by two young officers, before whom Gordon was
arraigned. The solemn and grave responsibility
assumed by this scratch tribunal may be gathered
from a brief notice of its achievements. In the few
days of their existence as a Court, its members
sentenced 189 persons to be hung, and the execution
was carried out with the briefest possible delay.
Only twenty-five of the number were accused of
murder. The rest were charged with "rebellion."
Of these rebels, so-called, three were women. Of the
whole number, 160 at least were not shown to have
teen engaged in any armed resistance to the authori-
ties.* On the 30th October, Mr. Eyre declared the
" rebellion " subdued ; yet in numerous cases this
military tribunal, after that date, continued to inflict
the penalty of death, with the express sanction and
approval of Brigadier Nelson. Not one of these
victims was convicted of complicity with murder;
only of " rebellion," and that on the most flimsy
testimony.

Such was the case as laid before the Magistrate on
this 6th February. Four days were devoted to the
hearing of evidence and to the speeches of counsel.
On the 23rd the warrants were issued and the accused
arrested. Bail was accepted on their behalf, and they
were ordered to appear at the Old Bailey Sessions to
be held on the 8th April. The accused were not left
without defence, the War Office and the Admiralty

* Mr. Buxton's Speech in the House of Commons.

204 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BA Y.

furnishing the necessary counsel. In giving his
decision Sir Thomas Henry gave the following reasons
for his action : — " The arguments," he said, " which
have been addressed to me afford abundant proof that
there are doubtful and difficult questions of law, and
disputed questions of fact, which must arise in this
case. I purposely abstain from expressing any opinion
of my own upon the painful case before me. It is
enough for me to say that it is a case that demands
further inquiry. It is my duty, therefore, to put it in
train for that inquiry."

But before the day appointed for the trial the case
of Ex-Governor Eyre requires attention.

PART III.

THE SHROPSHIRE MAGISTRATES AND EX-GOVERNOR
EYRE.

However unwilling to face his accusers, the Ex-
Governor was not to be allowed to escape, and on
Monday, the 26th March, Mr. Fitzjames Stephen
appeared before an ordinary Sessions Court for the
County of Shropshire, held at Market Drayton. It
consisted of Sir B. Leigh ton, Chairman of Quarter
Sessions, assisted by five other county magistrates.
Residing in the county, Mr. Eyre was within their
jurisdiction. In his luminous address, Mr. Fitzjames
Stephen cited the Acts of Parliament under which he
claimed the issue of a warrant for Mr. Eyre's arrest,

EX-GO VERNOR EY1L E IN SHROPSHIRE. 205

stating briefly the facts, and calling as witnesses
several persons who had arrived from Jamaica for the
purpose, Dr. Fiddes, Lake, and others. After con-
siderable discussion the warrant was issued, and the
Ex-Governor was ordered to appear before the Court
on the Wednesday following. As the counsel for Mr.
Eyre promised he should appear on the day appointed,
the warrant was not actually executed.

The proceedings of the Court were resumed on
Wednesday, the 28th; with the same Chairman, and
four county magistrates on the Bench. The prosecutor
on this occasion was Mr. P. Taylor, M.P. for Leicester,
and a prominent supporter and member of the Jamaica
Committee, the existence of which was most per-
sistently ignored by the advocates of Mr. Eyre. In a
very clear and masterly address, Mr. Fitzjames Stephen
first dwelt on the general causes of the outbreak at
Morant Bay, and, secondly, on the proof that the legal
position of the ex-Governor was either that he was
guilty of murder, or his acts constituted a case of
justifiable homicide. He showed that Mr. Eyre was
responsible for the proclamation of martial law, and
for all the deeds done under its authority. Indeed,
it was to the credit of the Ex-Governor that he had
voluntarily and honourably assumed this responsible
position, and had fairly acknowledged his entire
responsibility. But this did not justify the putting to
death a man who was not living under martial law,
and had done nothing to bring him within its scope.
There was no question that Mr. Eyre, owing to political
differences, had long entertained the most hostile

206 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT HA Y.

feelings against Mr. Gordon. He had on several
occasions expressed the worst possible opinion of him
years before these transactions occurred. He may
have thought his treatment of Mr. Gordon was just-
even a political necessity ; but it was nevertheless
illegal, and ought not to have been done, even to in-
timidate others with whom Mr. Gordon was supposed
to have made common cause. Martial law does not,
and cannot, justify the putting a man to death, who
had no connection — no open and undoubted connec-
tion— with a state of insurrection among Her Majesty's
subjects. Legal proof must be found that he was
actually a party to the insurrection. Otherwise the
execution was a murder. Mr. Eyre was, in fact, fully
aware that his conduct was of doubtful legality.

The Court had to consider two questions: First,
whether it was legal to take a civilian from a district
not under martial law to one in which such a law pre-
vailed ; and secondly, whether Mr. Eyre's conduct to-
wards Mr. Gordon was that of a man who only desired
to punish treason. Mr. Eyre had allowed himself to
form such an opinion of Gordon's character, personal
and political,* that he really seemed to think that in

* Mrs. Gordon has furnished us with the folio whig protest
against Mr. Eyre's abuse of her husband received from many
most respected residents in Jamaica : — "We, the undersigned,
having resided in the island many years, and having had very
considerable opportunities of knowing and forming an estimate
of the late Mr. Gordon's character in his various relations, do
hereby protest against the allegations as made by Mr. Eyre,
and declare them to be utterly without foundation." — James

EX-GOVERNOR EYRE IN SHROPSHIRE. 207

putting him to death he required hardly any legal
justification at all, or anything else except his own
judgment of what a bad and immoral man Gordon
was.*

No evidence was called to rebut the arguments of Mr.
Stephen or the statements of his witnesses, nor did Mr.
Giffard, the counsel for Mr. Eyre, make any attempt
to reply on the legal aspects of the case. His address
was an appeal to the prejudices of his auditory, and
the grave questions involved were quietly passed by.
Mr. Giffard knew that the magistrates deeply sympa-
thised with the bulk of their party, and it was with no
surprise after a consultation of ten or fifteen minutes
at the close of the counsel's speech, that the Bench
delivered their decision to dismiss the case. Mr.
Fitzjames Stephen's speech had been an exhaustive
one, both as to the facts and the law, and remarkable
for its erudition and eloquence. But Mr. Giffard's
address appealed chiefly to the emotions of his hearers,
and revelled in laudation of the Ex-Governor, and in
abuse of the prosecution. There was an endeavour to
perplex by raising irrelevant issues, and frequent in-

Phillippo, senior Baptist missionary ; William Andrews, attor-
ney-at-law; Eobert Osborn, James Bell, Alexander Fiddes,
F.E.C.S. ; Andrew Lyon, Common Councilman of Kingston;
Thomas Geddes, Savanna-la-Mar ; James Scott, M.E.C.S. ;
Abraham Pinto, M. Eamos, merchants; Eev, E. Gordon,
priest of the Church of England."

* In this precis of the proceedings at Market Drayton, I have
followed the excellent reports of the Daily News, published at
the time.

THE TRAGEDY OF MORA NT BAY.

terruptions were encouraged in the course of Mr.
Stephen's argument. The decision was a foregone con-
clusion and no one wondered at the result. It stood
in strange contrast to the grave and weighty words of
Sir Thomas Henry. The Shropshire Magistrates ad-
judged that " the evidence which has been adduced
before us does not raise in our minds a strong or
probable presumption of the guilty motives imputed
to Edward John Eyre in the alleged murder of George
William Gordon, and we are confident that if the
same evidence was brought before a jury, a verdict of
acquittal would be recorded. It now only remains for
us to direct the discharge of Edward John Eyre.
Mr. Eyre, you are discharged."

So a question which the learned and practised
Judge of Bow Street, a man eminent for legal know-
ledge and impartiality, deemed to be of so serious a
character as to require the verdict of a higher tribunal,
was peremptorily and lightly dismissed, in defianceboth
of facts and law, by a Bench of county squires, who
are not usually regarded as gifted with farsightedness,
freedom from prejudice, or a knowledge of constitu-
tional law. The proof of malice on the part of Mr.
Eyre was overwhelming, to which point the decision
of the Bench was arbitrarily confined, while the utter
illegality of Gordon's arrest and execution was entirely
ignored. However, the decision fully answered the
purpose of shielding Mr. Eyre from suffering any other
penalty than his dismissal from office, and the deep
regrets which must have accompanied him into his
retirement from the public service.

THE CHARGE OF THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 209

These county justices did not profess to inquire
into the law, or the validity of the Jamaica law of
indemnity. They simply despised the great weight of
the evidence laid before them, and refused to allow
the case to proceed to the stage at which it would
receive the enlightened exposition of Her Majesty's
superior courts.

In the case of Nelson and Brand it was the opinion
of both Sir Thomas Henry and of the Lord Chief
Justice, that the charge against them should go
forward to the higher tribunal. How much more
should that of Governor Eyre, seeing, on his own
admission, he was entirely responsible for the terrible
events at Morant Bay.

PAET IV.
THE CHARGE OF LORD CHIEF JUSTICE COCKBURN.

On the opening of the Old Bailey Sessions Court
on the 10th April, it was soon filled by a profoundly
interested audience. Under ordinary circumstances,
the judge would have been the Recorder of London,
Mr. Russell Gurney; but his connection with the
case as a Royal Commissioner led to the substitution
of the Lord Chief Justice, who, on the Court as-
sembling, proceeded at once to deliver a charge to
the Grand Jury of seven hours' duration, listened to
throughout with the most strained attention. It was
subsequently printed with the revisal of the Lord

14

210 THE TRAGEDY OF MORANT BAY.

Chief Justice himself, and constitutes a work of the
greatest authority, with regard to the nature and
legality of martial law, within the compass of the
British Empire. It is not possible to give here more
than the conclusions to which Lord Cockburn came,
for his charge ranged over the whole extent of the
subject, both in its history and its modern application,
That such an inquiry was absolutely necessary,
Lord Cockburn shows by the quotation of certain
doctrines, " of the wildest and most startling " char-
acter, which he said had of late been put forward to
justify Mr. Eyre's proceedings. Thus, " Martial law
is arbitrary and uncertain in its nature, so much so
that the term law cannot be properly applied to it."
Again, " When martial law is proclaimed, the law is
the will of the ruler, or rather the will of the ruler is
law. Martial law is, in short, the suspension of all
law." And he found in print this amazing proposi-
tion : " When martial law is proclaimed, there is no
rule or law by which the officers executing martial
law are bound to carry on their proceedings. It
overrides all other law. It is entirely arbitrary." If
such, said the Lord Chief Justice, is the character of
the system of law under which British subjects can
be tried for their lives or liberties, it is high time it
should be brought to the test of judicial determi-
nation, and that Parliament should interpose and put
some check upon a jurisdiction so purely arbitrary
and capricious. But there is no authority at all for
such doctrines. They are as unfounded and as
untenable as they are mischievous. Such doctrines

TEE CHARGE OF THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 211

are repugnant to the genius of our people, to the
spirit of our laws and institutions.* And it must not
be forgotten that, whatever the crime with which a
man is charged, he is still a subject and entitled to
those safeguards which are of the essence of justice.

After tracing the history of martial law in this
country, the Chief Justice remarks : " So far as I have
been able to discover, no such thing as martial law
has ever been put in force in this country against
civilians, for the purpose of putting down rebellion.!
So far as I can find it has never been resorted to or
exercised in England for such a purpose at all." He
next quotes the eminent judge, Lord Hale, as defining
martial law to mean, " a law applying only to members
of the army, and not intended to be applied to others
who were not bound by a military constitution, but
were to be governed only by the ordinary law, though
it were in time of war."f With which judgment other
sages in English law agree.

Even under martial law there is nothing arbitrary
or capricious. The accusation must be distinctly
specified. The evidence must be such as an ordinary
court would receive. The accused must enjoy the
fullest opportunity of defence. The witnesses must be
confronted with him, and cross-examination allowed.
But if this be granted to a soldier, bound by his
military oath, much more must it be allowed to a
civilian.?

* Charge, &c., p. 22. f Ibid., pp. 23, 47, 48.

| Ibid., pp. 57, 58. § Ibid., pp. 97, 99.

14*

2 1 2 TEE TEA GED Y OF MORA NT BA Y.

In coming to the case of Mr. Gordon, I will not
repeat the language of the Lord Chief Justice, which I
have given fully in another place.* It will suffice
here to mention that his Lordship questioned the
legality of his arrest by Mr. Eyre. It was an unjusti-
fiable act to remove him from Kingston to Morant
Bay. The constitution of the military tribunal was null
and void. The evidence on which he was convicted
was " inconclusive and utterly worthless," and much
of it totally inadmissible in a properly constituted
court of justice, honestly desirous of discharging its
duty. Mr. Gordon was a man of peace, and had no
intention, the very essence of crime, to produce an
insurrection or of committing the offences of which
he was accused. The judge concludes in these memor-
able words : —

" I CAN ONLY SAY THAT IT WAS AS LAMENTABLE A
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE AS THE HISTORY OF JUDICIAL
TRIBUNALS CAN DISCLOSE." f

With these notable words ringing in their ears, the
Grand Jury were in possession of ample reasons to
justify sending the accused before a jury of their
countrymen for full inquiry and decision. The
charge failed in its purpose, and the arrested men
were discharged.

Thus ended the Morant Bay tragedy, " IN A MIS-
CARRIAGE OF JUSTICE." At all events the actors in it,
while they may rejoice in their escape, must ever

* See ante, p. 106. f Charge, &c., p. 154.

THE CHARGE OF THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 213

remain in the history of these events under the con-
demnation that fell from the lips of the highest
representative of the majesty and righteousness of
.British law.

One happy result, however, of these discussions
has been to remove from the Statute Books of the
Colonies every Act which gave authority to the
Governors to proclaim martial law.* For the future,
though the prohibition, on necessity arising, is not
absolute, the Governor cannot be relieved from the
responsibility of taking such a step. He must him-
self be the judge whether the responsibility of pro-
claiming martial law is or is not greater than that of
refraining from doing so.

0 Lord Carnarvon's Despatch to the Government of Antigua,
January 30th, 1867, printed 24th June, 1867.

CHAPTER XVI.

JAMAICA UNDER THE CROWN.

IT was with unfeigned satisfaction that the vast
majority of the population of Jamaica, especially
the coloured portion of it, received the nomina-
tion of Sir John Peter Grant to the Governorship of
the Colony. As an old servant of the Indian Govern-
ment, he was a man of great experience in the work
of administration, and in all respects was admirably
suited to deal with the grave questions it involved.
His appointment was one of the last acts of Lord
Russell's Ministry, and the result has more than justi-
fied the wisdom of the choice.

Sir John Peter Grant arrived at Kingston on Sun-
day, the 5th August, 1866, and on the next day was
sworn in by Sir Henry Storks as Captain-General, and
Governor-in-Chief, of the Island of Jamaica and its
dependencies, with the usual ceremonial.

In his brief administration, Sir H. Storks had
inspired all classes in the Colony with confidence and
respect by his invariable kindness, firmness, and im-
partiality. He was well able to assure his successor
11 that perfect tranquillity prevailed throughout the
Island of Jamaica, and persons of all parties seem

JAMAICA UNDER THE CROWN. 215

disposed to afford the new Government every support
and assistance." *

Governor Grant's first act was the appointment to
his Council, in addition to his official staff, of three non-
official members, all of whom had served under previous
governors in the same capacity. The Government of
Jamaica, under Sir J. P. Grant's direction, finally
assumed the form of a Legislative Council of sixteen
persons, consisting of the Governor at its head as Pre-
sident, and eight official and eight non-official members,
all nominated by the Crown, forming one Legislative
Chamber, and holding office at the Royal will and
pleasure. All questions of revenue were to be intro-
duced by the Governor alone, or by his authority.

The first time on which Governor Grant met in
Session the new Council was on the 16th October,
when, in a few words, he sketched the general
character of the legislation he proposed to introduce.!
He stated that in every department of administration
there was much to be done ; and in no part of the
work would be found a subject more important than
a reform in the legal system of the Colony. The pro-
cedure of both civil and criminal courts, and the
duties of the police, required the earliest attention.
The actual police system was worthless, and the pro-
cedure of the courts, as it affected the poorer classes,
was extremely bad, and gave no justice at all.

* Farther Correspondence, August 10th, 1866, p. 94.
f Further Correspondence on the Affairs of Jamaica : Blue
Book, dated July, 1867, p. 8.

216 1HE TEA GED Y OF MORA NT BA Y.

J amaica, in fact, was, and always had been, a genera-
tion behind the mother country. Too much, however,
must not be expected from legislative measures ; but
all bars and obstacles to progress must be removed.
The question of taxation also required immediate
notice. Ketrenchment in expenditure was imperative.
The continual deficit must be checked.

But the new Governor's measures did not stop here.
He took in hand the appointment of a new and revised
system of magistracy. Public works, such as the
creation of roads and bridges, were placed on a
sounder basis, and so as to prevent fraud and pecula-
tion. The reduction of the Ecclesiastical Establishment
to a more moderate cost was essential, with a view to
its final abolition. The great question of elementary
education must be taken in hand, and, by a wise system
of grants-in-aid, the opening of schools must be en-
couraged in all parts of the island, by the various
Christian denominations, and under their direction.
The savings on the Ecclesiastical Establishment could
at once be devoted to this most important object.*

These measures were quickly adopted. Sustained
by a wise, watchful, and vigorous administration, they
quickly changed the aspect of affairs, so that by the
beginning of the following year Jamaica was declared
never to have been in a more tranquil state. The
advent of Governor Grant was hailed everywhere
with acclamation. A general tone of hopefulness
took the place of depression and despondency. During

* Blue Book, July, 1867, p. 41.

JAMAICA UNDER THE CEO WN. 217

the recent agitations there had been a loud outcry for
a strong Government. It was now felt that the
Government was in the hands of a strong man, armed,
indeed, with unusual powers, but one whose rule was
as just as it was strong, and as beneficent as it was
wise. It was conducted, not in the interests of any
class, but with a view for the benefit of all, labourers
and planters alike. The lowliest subject of the
Queen was made to feel that henceforth he would no
longer be at the mercy of a corrupt Legislature or
irresponsible magistrates, but under the immediate
and vigorous protection of laws which govern the
British Empire throughout the world. The way was
cleared for the great Act of Emancipation to produce
its richest fruits, and measures were actively taken
to secure the rights and privileges it was passed to
give.

On many of the subjects here referred to, previous
to his departure for Jamaica from England, I had
both the honour and pleasure of two or three long
conversations with Sir John Peter Grant, and I have
witnessed the execution of the plans we then dis-
cussed with the highest gratification. And if the
publication of my letter, which drew so much at-
tention to these subjects, was followed by dark
moments, deep sorrows, and painful memories, it
cannot but be a joy in my advanced years to see
more than my most sanguine hopes realised in the
present, by the encouraging success of the measures
introduced by Sir John Peter Grant.

Jamaica is now inhabited by a flourishing, con-

21 8 THE TEA GED Y OF MORA NT BA Y.

tented, and happy peasantry. Peace and order every-
where prevail ; crime has largely decreased. The
cultivation of the soil, the growth of numberless
homesteads and settlements, the secure possession
of their holdings by laborious and skilful labourers,
bear witness to the capacities and industry of a class
which, half a century ago, was held in hard and hope-
less bondage.

The spread of education is assured by the establish-
ment and prosperity of some 900 elementary schools,
all under Government inspection, but in the conduct
and improvement of which every section of the
Christian Church in the island bears a useful and
successful part. Ample provision has also been made,
under the Education Act, for the training of teachers,
in the richly endowed Mico Institution, in the Baptist
College (Calabar), Kingston, in the Moravian Male and
Female Institutions, and in the Government Female
Training College. New churches and chapels have been
built and are rising in every district, not only by the
vigorous and ever active exertions of the Dissenting
denominations, no longer treated as dissenters, but
as brethren, by the Episcopal Church, once called
" Established," now prospering in its liberty and self-
control, freed from State trammels, and occupying
its pulpits with a class of earnest, devoted, and pious
clergy it never before enjoyed. Congregations are
everywhere increasing in numbers and respectability.

Trade, too, has undergone many changes, but is
released from burdensome and obstructive charges.
The State expenditure is economised. Corruption

JAMAICA UNDER THE CROWN. 219

among officials is a thing of the past, and free access
is enjoyed to all the markets of the world. And if
sugar cultivation continues depressed from causes not
local in their character, and has not shared to any
great extent in the general revival, other exports more
than replace it, and give opportunities of culture of
desirable things which only tropical climes can
produce.

Thus " The Morant Bay Tragedy," which at the time
of its occurrence inflicted on the people such a burden
of loss, lamentation, and woe, has, in the mysterious
working of Divine Providence, proved to be laden
with blessings, contributory to the well-being of a race
" long despised and rejected of men." " The wilder-
ness and the solitary place have been made glad, and
the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall
blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and
singing."

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