JAMAICA.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 359, 19 March 1866, Page 1

JAMAICA.

(To the Editor of the Timas.) Sir, —The packet which brings this to England will convey to you intelligence of an insurrection and massacre by the negroes of Jamaica, accompanied with atrocities shocking as those of the late Indian" mutiny. Without going into particulars, which can be learnt from the papers, the sad tale can be told in a few words. It is this—that on the 11th of October the vestry of St. Thomaain the-East met at Morant Bay, the chief town of the parish, to transact the usual parochial business; that, after doing so, a very large crowd of negroes, who had come from the surrounding neighborhood and were hanging about the Court-house during the early part of the, made a sudden attack on the Court-house, where the gentleman of the vestry still were; that finding the Court-house suddenly and somewhat securely bolted they set the building on fire, and murdered those, inside when trying to escape from the flames; that in a few minutes the dead bodies of the Gustos, of the magistrate, of a clergyman, of the two sous of the rector, of several meu of

property, and of officials, were lying about the street, —some chopped to pieces, some with their tongues cut out, some with their bowels tom out, some with indignities that cannot be mentioned ; that after plundering the town, the mob withdrew to some neighboring chapel to thank God and sing hvmns; and that after all this they proceeded in desperate crowds to tbe estates around, murdering the proprietors or representatives if there, and sending such terror through the whole district that mothers with their little children were obliged to conceal themselves for days in the bush, while the respectable families from the neighboring parishes fled either to Kingston on the one side of the island, or to Port Antonio on the other.

This, which is very shocking, becomes additionally so since it has come ft>g light that this insurrection and masacre was only a portion, and a premature portion too, of an intended massacre of the white and respectable brown people, and that in the perpetration of this tragedy the time was to be Christ mas-day—the directors, the members of a secret society which has existed in Kingston for some time, and the object, the slaughter of the whites and the seizure of their property. In thinking of the great danger from which we have been saved, and the prospective one against which w 6 now shail be able to take our precautions, each man who asksj..himself what has been the cause of this kite massacre, and this state of feeling on of the negroes, is unable to poiu to a single cause of grievance. The negro is as free, if not freer, than the white man. If lie wish fur distinction, there is wothiug to keep him down ; or', if he wish to to become rich, there is no impediment in Ins way more than in that of the white man. In fact, the people who engaged massacre were persons who had their farms and their mules, their furniture and their money. In the absence of any substantial grievance we must look for something which will help to account for this sudden and apparently, unaccountable outbreak. In doing so it will be evident that there have been several elements at work, all of which co-existing and cooperating, and having a tendency to tile same issue, were such as under the particular circumstances of the case to bring about this tragedy. The first aud fundamental one is the light tn which the negro since his emancipation has been regarded by the people of England, lu the estimate of the great mass of these he is still romantically looked upon as the vsctim of the white man’s oppression, and the repository of all those qualities which are only waiting developemcnt to make him noble and heroic. In the recognition of his brotherhood there was a forgetfulness that the white man was also a man and a brother. The unconcealed avowal, moreover, of the early emancipationists, of freeing and training the black x-ace, to be the ultimate and solo occupants of Jamaica is not yet forgotten ; while the occasional threats which have been uttered in the House of Assembly—and that, too. without rebuke—of driving the whites into the sea. is a proof that the possibility of such an event was regarded'as a thing for the white man to fear, and for the black one to hope. The negro knows all this. Many here, as well as at home, pander to all this; so that it has really come about that, on the one hand, if you express any opinion as to the comparative inferiority of the black race, you are beset with calumny and abuse, or are obliged to encounter the insolent aud gratuitous accusation that you are advocate of slavery, or, on the other, if you expect from the negro a fair day’s work for a lair day’s wages, you are regarded as an oppressor. This is a very unhealthy state of feeling on the part of those who have been educated by a certain class in England into the conviction that Jamaica is to be their owu ultimately.

In this state of tilings Dr Underhill paid a visit to Jamaica about two years ago or so. I look on this as one of the most disastrous events that has occurred here fur some time. In some accredited capacity he came out to the Baptist ministers and to the negroes. While liie mass of all experience is that, if the negro be in want, it is because he will not work. Dr Underhill’s gospel was that the. poor negro was suffering because be could

not get work. Additional surliness and discontent have been manifested by the black people ever since, and more especially since the reception in this country of the lett er'he wrote to Mr Cardwell. A staff of itinerant and interested politicians have gone about ever since holding public meetings, at which there was much nousence, but more treason, spoke.

But the event or the events which above all others produced the massacre was the conduct of Mr George W. Gordon. It was like the match to the train. This Mr Gordon was a member of the House of Assembly, and a well known demagogue for years. Hebad some short time ago turned Baptist, and, though contrary to the Jaw, claimed it as his right to continue churchwarden. The vestry and lie came into collision—l mean the vestry of St. Thoinas-in-tho-East. He instituted a lawsuit, in which he was defeated. He appealed against the decision, in which he was again defeated. Much ill-will arose in the parish, and threats of vengence on the part ,of his followers. Though a regular attendee of the vestry for tea years, yet he was absent at the late meeting. At the day of the meeting, as has already been mentioned, the negroes assembled in wrath and numbers, and the massacre which took place was the result of their cupidity and vengeance. So many proofs of this man’s treasonable conduct were obtained that he was arrested and executed a few days ago by martial law. Such is the state of things in which we have been and iu which we are. In the midst of all this, the murders that have taken place, the executions which are daily performed by martial law, the unsettledness of everything around, the anomalous condition of society iu which so many families having fled their homes are still crowding together ia Kingston, it is very hard to look calmly at tills whole matter. Still two tilings at once strike any one. The first is that, surely the pe nde of England will at last have their eyes opened to the character of the negroes. Whether they will or not, I can testify that all confidence iu them as a class is broken down for ever in this country. Even here u.en could not believe they were capable of such atrocities. In the insurrection of 1832 they were struggling for liberty ; and men feel that with such an object there was some palliation for their conduct; but iu the present outbreak there is no assignable or real cause whatever. We have been petting panthers. A class of men who could plan the destruction of the white and colored races, perpetrate such a humau batiue as that at the Courthouse ; who, not satisfied with murdering their victims, afterwards mutilated their dead bodies; who chopped fingres off and said “ Hi! you no write no mure lies to the Queen!” and cut out tongues of clergymen, saying they would tell no more lies; who chaffered and higgled with gentleman for their watches, and then when they got the watches broke their promise of protection and took their lives; who in their march through the estates spared the houses, and the crops, and the woman, because, as they sail, they would be their own: who roared out that they would not leave a Buckra man ora brown man in Jamaica; who during their murderous orgies withdrew to the chapel of the notorious Paul Bogle, and drank rum mixed with gunpowder and the brains of their victims, and thanked Goff for all this massacre, and -did nil that, too, in the utter absence of grievance, are not a class of men to be petted and trusted, and that notwithstanding tlie statements of the Anti-Slavery Society and Mr Chamerovzow to boot. We have been living upon a mine, and we wish the people ot England to know it. We were all to be murdered on Christmas Bay; and if the Anti-Slavery folks do not believe it we do. We protest against this game of hu-manity-mougering, the players of which ara v at a safe distance, while we are the victims. There is not a respectable man in Jamaica who will ever sleep again with the confidence he did before ; nor is thex-e one of that class who would not leave it to-morrow if he could. Ihe hopes ot missionaries are broken down as to the improvement of the negro, and no wonder, for, in addition to all else that has token place, the declaration of the St. Thomas-in-the-Eact murderers was that they would kill every parson iu the island.

The next thing is that surely we shall have . some change in our political Constitution here. Everyone seems tired of it. It is based on the principle that people who thirty years ago were slaves are' as capable of selfgovernment as the people of England, who have been trained to the exercise of their political rights by the experience and education of centuries. We argue that laws should be abapted to the. state of the people for whom they are made. We want protection, however, it may come, from a system which gives power to a class of men who, after thirty years of kindness and education, have turned round like savages on the white man. We want no slavery; but we want to be ruled by the Governor in Council. We want, if needed, martial law. In short we want to live under any form of Government so be that we shall not have our throats cut. We, therefore, beseech, as those who are pleading for their lives and the lives of their little children and wives, that all sentimental young ladies, and all philanthropic ladies, and all old ladies of both sexes will discard from this time forward all romantic ideas about the gentleness of the negro, or if they will persist in such a fancy, that they will come and experimentally test the correctness of our opinion and the extent of our danger. And we do most emphatically, yes, indignantly, protest against the meddling of all persons, the tendency of whose disastrous influence is that it obstructs the passing of laws. The poor negro believe, as I know, that the Queen pays his taxes, but that the white man pockets the money- We utterly repudiate, because of its evil consequences to to ourselves, that courageous and valuable philanthropy which enables its possessors to live away from danger, and, after imbuing the negro with ideas of imaginary grievances, will send home on the eve of murderous insurrection, tracts which he does not read, and clothes which he is too proud to wear. We want no interference of such men. We want no tentative or blundering legislation. We want protection. We want to he ruled with a strong hand, or we shall soon not be in existence to be ruled at all. . I remain, your obedient servant, J. Radcliffe, Minister of the Established Church of Scotland. Kingston, Jamaica, October 25.