JAMAICA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 720, 6 March 1866, Page 6

JAMAICA.

[To the Editor of tlie Times.'] Sir, —The packet which brings this to England will convey to you intelligence of an insurrection ancl massacre by the negroes of Jamaica, accompanied with atrocities shocking as those of P 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. Thomas-in-the-East met at Morant Bay, the i 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 neighbourhood and were hanging about the Court-house during the early part of the day, made a sudden attack on the Courthouse, where the gentlemen of the vestry still were; that finding the Court-house suddenly and somewhat securely bolted they set the building on lire, and murdered those inside when trying to escape from the flames ; that in a few minute's the dead bodies of the Custos, of the magistrate, of a clergyman, of the two sons of the rector, of several men of property, and of officials, were lying about the street, —some chopped to pieces, some with their tongues cut out, some with their bowels torn out, some with indignities that cannot be mentioned; that, after plundering the town, the mob withdrew to some neighbouring chapel to thank God and sing hymns; and that after all this they proceeded in desperate crowds to tho 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 neighbouring parishes fled either to Kingston on the one side of tlie island, or to Port Antonio on the other. This, which is very shocking, becomes additionally so since it has come to light that this insurrection and massacre 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 Christmas-day—the directors, the members of a secret society which has existed in Kingston for some time, and tho object, the slaughter of tho whites and the seizure of their property. In thinking of tlie great danger from which we have been saved, and the prospective one against which we now shall be able to take our precautions, each man who asks himself what has beon tho cause of this late massacre, and this state of feeling on tho pnrt of the negroes, is unable to point to a single cause of grievance. The negro is as free, if not freer, than the white mail. If he wish for distinction, there is nothing to keep him down ; or, if lie wish to become rich, there is no impediment in his way more than in that of the white man. In fact, the people who engaged in this 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-existent and co-operating, aud having a tendency to the same issue, were such as under tlie particular circumstances of the case to bring about this tragedy. Tlie first and fundamental one is the light in 1 which the negro since his emancipation has been 1 regarded by the people of England. In the esfi- 1 mate of the great mass of these he is still ' romantically looked upon as the victim of tlie * white man's oppression, and the repository of " all those qualities which are only waiting development to make him noble and heroic. In the recognition of his brotherhood there was a for- ' getfulness that the white man was also a man and a brother. The unconcealed avowal, more-, over, of the early emancipationists, of freeing and training tho black race, to bo the ultimate and solo oneupants of Jamaica Is not yet i'or<

gotten; while tho 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 eventwas regarded as athingfor the white man to fear, and for the black one to hope. The negro knows all this. Many hero, as well as .at home, pander to all this ; so that it has Teally como about that, on the one hand, if you express any opinion as to the comparative inferiority of tho black race, you are beset with calumny and abuse, or aro obliged to encounter the insolent and gratuitous accusation that you are an advocate of slavery, or, on the other, that you expect from the negro a fair day's work for a fail" day's wages, you are regarded, as an oppressor. This is a very unhealthy stato of feeling on the part of those who have been educated by a certain class in England into the conviction that Jamaica is to bo their Own ultimately. In this state of things Dr. Underbill paid a visit to Jamaica about two years ago or so. I look on this as one of the most disastrous events tliat has occurred here for some time. Ia some accredited capacity he came out to the Baptist ministers and to the negroes. While the mass of all honest experience is that, if the negro be in want, it is because lie will not work. Dr. Underbill's gospel was that tho poor negro was suffering because he could not get work. Additional surliness and discontent have been manifested by tho black peoplo ever since, and more especially since the reception in this country of the letter 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 nonsense, but more . treason, spoke. • But the event or tho 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. He had some short time ago turned Baptist, and, though contrary to tho law. claimed it as his right to continue churchwarden. Tile vestry and he came into collision—t niean the vestry of St. Thomas-in-tlie-East. He instituted a lawsuit, in which he was defeated. He appealed against the doeision, in which he was again defeated. Much ill-will arose in tho parish, and threats of vengeance on the part of his followers. Though a regular attender of the vestry for ten 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 mau'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 in which we aro. In the midst of all this, tho murders that have taken place, the executions which are daily performed by martial law, the unsettledness of everything around, the auomalous condition of society in which so many families having fled their homes are still crowding together in Kingston, it is very hard to look calmly at this whole matter. Still two things at once strike any one. The first is that, surely, the people of England will at last have their eyes opened to the character of the negroes. WhctLer they will or not, I can testify that all confidence in them as a class is broken down for ever in this country. Even here men 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 in the present outbreak there is no assignable or real cause whatever. We have beed 1 petting panthers. A class of men who could plan the destruction of the white and coloured races, and perpetrate such a human battue as that at the Court-house ; who, not satisfied witli murdering their victims, afterwards mutilated their dead bodies ; who chopped fingers off and said, " Hi! you no write no more lies to the i Queen!" and cut out tongues of clergymen, L saying they would tell no more lies ; who chaffered and higgled with gentlemen 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 tho crops, and the ■ women, because, as they said, they would lie their own : who roared out that they would not leave a Buckra man or a 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 God for all this massacre, and did all that, too, in the utter absence of any grievance, are not n class of men to be pelted aud trusted, notwithstanding the statements of the Anti-Slavery Society and Mr. Chamerovzow to boot. AVe have been living upon a mine, and wo wish the people of ■ England to know it. We were all to be murdered on Christmas Day; and if the Anti- • Slavery folks do not believe it, we do. We protest against this game of humanity-monger-ing, tho players of which are at a safe distance, while we aro tho victims. There is not a respectable man in Jamaica who will over sleep again with tho confidence he did before ; nor is there one of that class who would not leave it to-morrow if he could. The hopes of missionaries are broken down as to the improvement of the negro ; and no wonder, for, in addition to all eke that has taken place, the declaration of the St. Thomas-in-the-East murderers was that they would kill every parson in tho 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 peoplo who thirty years ago were slaves arc as capable of self-government as the people of lingland, who have been trained to the exercise of their political rights by the experience and education of centurics. Wo argue that laws should be adapted to the state of tho people for whom they are made. We want protection, however it may come, irom a system which gives power to a class or mon who, si Her thirty years of kindness and education, have turned round like savages on the white man. "W"c want no slavery; but we want to be ruled by the Governor in Council, We want, jf needed, martial law. In short we want to live under any i'orm of Government so be that wc shall not have our throats cut. "We therefore, beseech, as those who aro pleading for their lives and the lives of their little children a „ T-7 CS ' 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 thoy 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 tho meddling of all persons,_ tho tendency of whose disastrous influence is that it obstructs the passing of laws [ which are needful for our protection, aud makes the poor negro believe, as I know, that the yueen pays his taxes, but that the white man pockets the money. We utterly repudiate, because of its evil consequences to ourselves that courageous and valuable philanthropy' which enables its possessors to livo away from danger, and, after imbuing the negro with ideas of imaginary grievances, will send home on the evo of a 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 bo ruled with a strong hand, or we shall soon not be in existence to be ruled at all. I remain, your obedieut servant, J. Uadcliffe, Minister of the Established Church of ■ , Scotland, Jungsteii, Jamaica, October 20,