The Express.
London, England, 1866-02-07 00:00:00

THE OUTBREAK IN JAMAICA.

OFFICIAL DESPATCHES.

This morning a blue-book of 279 pages was issued
from the parliamentary printing office, containing the
papers relating to the recent riot of names in Jamaica,
and the suppression of it by Governor Eyre. These docu-
ments comprise as many as sixty-one despatches from Mr.
Eyre to Mr. Cardwell, with many enclosures ; and thirty-
three despatches from the Colonial Secretary, eighteen of
which are addressed to Governor Byre, and the remainder
to Governor Sir Et IL Starke. Of those now shwa, the
lint dispatch from the Governor of Jamaica 4 dated Oc-
tober 20, 1865 ; the4lastipecember 9. Mr. Cardwell's first

communication was written on November 17, and his bet,
to Governor Eyre, on December 16 ; his last to Sir H. K.
Storks was dated January 1.
In a despiteli dated Oct. 23, Mr. Eyre writes that it was
evident the " rebellion" had been instigated by the lan-
guage and writing of persons in a better sphere of life,
chief of whom was Dr. Underhill and some of the Baptist
ministers in Jamaica. Under these circumstances he (the
Governor) had dismal it right to examine the letters
coming by the last English mail for certain Baptist minis-
ters. One of these letters, from Dr. Underhill to the
Rev. J. Henderson, of Montego Bay, Mr. Byre enclosed,
and he quoted from it the following passage :
"In Jamaica the people seem to be overwhelmed with
discouragement, and I fear that they are giving up in de.
&pair their long struggle with injustice and fraud.* To
such expressions as three Mr. Eyre attributes the out-
break, and he adds—" If nothing can be done to stop at
home the pernicious writings such as I refer to, and if
Jamaica is to be retained at all, it will be aeoessary 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."

Extracts from Mr. Cardwell's despatch, dated Novem-
ber 17 (the day after the receipt of the first account of the
outbreak), were laid by Governor Eyre before the Jamaica
legislature, published in the colonial journal; and trans-
mitted to this country. The passages omitted by Governor
Eyre turn out to be important. "No doubt," he says,
"you will have mach further intelligence to communicate
to me hereafter on the subject of the measures of ity
to which you have felt it necessary to have re-
o arse. If you had time, in forwarding these en-
closures, to make yourself acquainted with all their
°entente, it will have been evident to you that they contain
many pssaages which will require to be explained as soon
a. there shall be sufficient leisure for the writers to explain
fully the proceedings t, which they relate." . . . "I
entirely agree with you that measures of severity, when
dictated by necessity and justice, are ha reality measures
of mercy, and do not doubt it will appear that you have
arrested the course of punishment as soon as you were able
to do so. and have exerted yourself to confine it meanwhile
to ascertained offenders and to cases of aggravated guilt.
I observe with pleasure thi!hope you express that if no
further outbreak occurs you will, in a short time, have
been able to proclaim a general amnesty, except to actual
murderers."

Governor Eyre's rejoinder is apologetic throughout. On
Nov. 23 Mr. Cardwell writes again, asking for explanation
of certain siatemeata (made by various officers es to their
doings in killing end dogging megrim), and adding that,
without satisfactory explsnatioe, " the severity inflicted
w:11 not appear to have been justifiable," Mr. Cardwell
also asks for copies of the proceedings of the court-martial,
and fall partimbirseuerally. On the same day Mr. Card-
well wrote a special despatch requiring from Mr. Byre
the reasons for hie assertions as to Mr. Gordon. and the
proofs of his guilt. The foot of his removal to Monet Bay,
where martial law prevailed, is pointed out, and the de-
spatch concludes:
" I desire also to see it clearly established that he WIN not
executed until crimes had been proved in evidence against
him which deserved death ; and that the prompt infliction
of capital punishment was necessary to rescue the colony
from imminent danger, sad from the horrors of a general
or wide-spread insurrection, and the repetition elsewhere
of such a slaughter of the white and eoloured colonists as
had taken place in the eastern part of the island."
Oo December 1 Mr. Cardwell writes as follows :

" In your despatch No. 251 of the 20th of October, you
say that ►on mecca doubt that the rebellion of the estrus
in Jamaica is in a gre►t degree clue to Dr. ITederbill's
letter, and the meetings held in connexion with it. That
letter wee originally addressed, not to discontented per-
sona io Jamie*, but to me ; and wee by me forwarded to
you for your report I am desirous to know whether it
was by your sanction that it first obtained publicity in
Jamaica, and if not, what, so far as you know. were the
eircumstaoose under which it became the cause of political
agitation.•
On the same day Kr. Cardwell wrete, alluding to the
despatch from Mr. Eyre, dated Oct. 23, and says that
while it was in the discretion of the Wand authorities le
open letters arriving from England, it is to be hoped no
further interception of letters will take plan, and it is
added only, ie very ear:optional oases, could inch a course
be justified. The letter of Dr. Underhill has, it is said,
been seat to the writer, and Mr. Eyre is instructed to nod
the others he has stopped to this persona to whom they are
addressed. °slue serum mischief would follow such a
emu The despatch cosicludes
. .

" However reel-enable may be the sporeheosions which
yon express as to the geared effects of the injudicious and
inflammatory Isagnage upon an excitable and imperfectly
instructed people, it is not easy to see what steps can be
taken for the preveation of the evil. The measure width
you suggest is not cies to which i should wish you to have
recourse. The repreaskre of overt proceedings might lead
to secret proesediegs not less, but more dangerous ; and
the banishment of persons who are known, and may be
made responsible to the law, might have the effect of de-
volving their inflames upon person who are more obscure
sad less amenable to observatioe.

so---11rp3rUrit that we give it
satire:

" Doirularetreet. Dee. 1. 1865.
" Sir—ls roy dereeteh of the number sod date wee
Mond la the margin I oiled your attention to pelages
requirieg explanation in the reports of Who're employe

against the issergent wines and to the albums of the
minutes of prowasdings of courts martial which one of the
despatches addressed to you by Major-General O'Connor
had purported to endless.
" I have now received your further despatches enume-
rated in the minim but they do not contain any mioute of
the evidence takes by the courts martial. No doubt the
extreme pressure of burin's', consequent on the insurrec-
tion, and attendant on the meeting of the logielature, most
aossunt for the absence of these enclosures, and render your
present reports planrtsyinimsopnoarune potinpotainints are still complete.
uleexamptinn toedthoien
ca
which it is necessary that her Majesty's government should
be in possession of all the information that can be given.
I " Irendow soapy of a letter from the Admiralty, with
a copy of a despatch from Commodore S,r Leopold
M'aintock, dated the Bth November. This officer states
that it will be impossible to ascertain the total loss of life
. in the insurrection, but that 1,500 would perhaps be a mo-
derate computation ; that, at the date of his letter, arrests
were being daily made, and the prisoners sent to Mount
Bay, and a large proportion of them hewed.
" I °eclipse also extracts from • report made by Lieut.
Adceek, of the 6th Regiment, dated 25th of October, and
transmitted to Lord de Grey in a despatch from
Major-General O'Connor, of which I enclose a oopy, dated
the 7th November ; and I enclose an extract from a news-
paper of a letter purporting to have been written by
Captain Ford, in command of the St. Thomas-in-the-Rest
irregular troop. Thew extracts, equally with those •110001-
pimply; my despatch of the 23rd November, require sepia-
natio°. I should be glad to learn that the letter in the
newspaper is aot authentic, and if any official reports have
been made by Captain Ford I should wish to be furnished
with copies of them.
"And in reference not only to the particular reports
adverted to in this and in my former despatch, but to
the proosedinp generally, lam desirous to point to the
main topics which, in the opinion of her Majesty's govern-
ment, demand your report :
"1. The number of persons tried, and of those sen-
tenced by courts-martial, specifying the charge and
sentence, and whether or not the sentence was
executed, and under whose authority, and whether
minutes were taken of the evidence on which the sen-
tence was founded in each use ; all minutes of evidence
so taken to be appended to the return. The return
should show also at what places and times respectively
the offences were charged to have been committed, and
the accused persons were arrested or captured and tried,
specifying in each case whether the offence was committed
before or during martial law, whether the arrest or supine)
was made during martial law, and in a place to which
martial law extended ; and if the person accused was
arrested or captured Ma place to which martial law did not
extend, and removed to a place to which it did extend,
there to be tried by martial law, and for an amuse not
committed during and nodose Martial law, it should be
stated by whose authority this wen done, and whether
under the advice of the Attorney-General of Jamaica.
h 2. Whether any persons were hanged, flogged,or other-
wise punished without trial ; and if so, by whom and
under whose authority in each case, specifying the name
sex, colour, and quality of the person punished, the attar;
and date of the punishment, the nature and date of the
offence, and the grounds on which it was assumed to have
been committed.
"3. The number of persona, so far es can be as.
eartained, who were shot in the Held or in the bush, their
names, sex, quality, sod colour, and whether adults or
°blither., sPecsfying in all cues whether they were resisting or
flying, whether armed or unarmed, and if armed, with what
weapons, whether such as are used only for purposes of
offence, or such es are need also in agricultural or other
peaceful occupations.
"4. Whether any and what oral or written instructions
were given to officers in command of delaslimests sent
in pursuit of rebels, whereby they mitt
_know ma what
evidence or appearances, other than hostile action sr
attitude, they were to assume that those they might
meet with were rebels ; and whether these 080111 N,
any of them, were led by their instructions, or otheuries,
and without authority induced, to assume that all meow
flying or hiding from pursuit, or all persons found with
plunder, or all persons leaving their labour on plantations
were to be regarded as rebels and shot when met with.
Copies of all written instructions should be furnished.
"5. Colonel Fyfe being the only officer mentioned as
employed with the Maroons, whilst divers parties of
the Maroons appear to have been sent in various
directions out of the immediate observation of Colonel Fyfe,
was there any and what control exercised over the opera-
Hoes of those parties, and what was it expected that the
nature of those operations would be ; end of what nature,
in point of fact, did throe operations prove to be.
"In your despatches, in the addressee of the Legis-
lative Council sued Roue of Assembly, end in the reports
of the naval and military officers engaged in the sup-
pression of the insurrection, the loyalty of the Maroons
in resisting and defeating the efforts of the rebels has
been spoken of in terms of grateful commendation, no
doubt sincerely felt and well damned ; and I observe
one of the measures now to be proposed to the legis-
lature by. one of the members of your executive com-
mittee is 'Mauled A Bill to employ the Maroons as a
permanent Auxiliary Militia Force,'
" I have, however, been greatly concerned to find in
the enclosed despatch from Sir L. McClintock the
following statement :—' At least 800 were shot, chiefly
by the Maroons, who entered with tierce zeal into the
bush hunt alter rebel norms.' 1 have to request your
immediate attention to this subject. I trust it will
appear that Sir L McClintock has been misinformed,
and that an impression so nofavourable to the employ-
ment of the Maroons—as impression which I certainly
should never have derived from your despatches and those
to which I have above referred—will not turn oat to have
been well founded. _ _

It appears from your spee:h to the legislature, and
from the addresses of both its branches in reply, that you
and they were of opinion that there had existed a wide-
spread and diabolical conspiracy to murder the white and
mixed races, and amongst those races themselves this
opinion would appear to be almost universal. Proofs of
this conspiracy were adverted to as existing, bat they are
not to be found in the papers yet sent home. I request
that you will furnish me with them as fully and com-
pletely as you can without delay.
" In making these inquiries, I beg to be understood se
directing your attention to the principal points on which I
desire to be informed, sod not se prejudging say person
concerned in any proceeding.—l have, he.,
(Signed) " EDWARD CARDwm."
Some of the despatches refer to a conflict of authority
between Major-General O'Connor and Governor Eyre, the
former expressing his opinion in presemos of Colonel Elking-
ton "that the Governor had exceeded his authority in
ordering the troopship Urgent to Barbealces for reinforce-
ments." This little quarrel is, however, a mere episode.
The remainder of the blue-book contains the proceedings
of the Legislative Assembly of Jamaica is the onset-
meat of a "New Constitution" for the government of
the island, and depositions of various persona before justices
of the peace on matters relating to the actors in the oat-
break. The later despatches of Mr. Cardwell are addressed
(from No. 19) to the new Governor (Sir H. K. Storks), and
ber Majesty's letters patent appointing the various mem-
bers of the " Commission to Inquire into Certain Dilator.
beams in the Island of Jamaica, and into the measures
taken in the Course of their Suppression," are given.

In consequence of the disclosures recently made
as to the state of the Lambeth and other casual wards,
the casual wards at the 'unions workhouses and unions In
the south of England have been considerably improved.

A fatal accident happened near Windsor on
Holiday. Some waggoners in the employ of Hr. Thom,
farmer, left Windsor on that day with some loads of barley
for Staines. On their way back they took what is called
the lower road, which runs on the sloping bank of the
liver, and which was partially covered with water. The
first waggon, driven by a man named Hambledon, had not
gone far when it was carried into the stream, and the man
and his horses were drowned. The late storms and floods
had, it seems, swept away pert of the bank of the river.
THE HEALTH or LONDOIC—It appears from the
rehire issued by authority of the Registrar-General that in
the week that ended on Saturday, February 3, the births
registered in London and twelve other large towns of the
United Kingdom were 4,400 ; the deaths registered, 3,351.
Tbeansual rate of mortality was 29 per 1000 peewee Lein.
In London the births of 1,100 boys and 1,071 glue,, is all
2,171 children, were registered in the week. In the cor-
responding weeks of ten years, 1856-65, the average num-
ber, corrected for increase of population, was 2,185. Ti'.
deaths registered in Loridon during the week were 1,417.
It was the fifth week of the yaw ; and the average num-
ber of deaths for that week is, with a correction for increase
of population, 1,519. The iv:tual number was leas by 132
than that °bulged by computation. Bronchitis has been
decreasing slowly during the last four weeks. The number
of fatal eases referred to it io the first week of the year was
219 ;le the present return it is 161. The deaths from
pseamonia also exhibit a decrease ; and the samber in the
week is 76. Phtblsis was fatal in 178 mass. There were
21 deaths from small-pox. In the ninth districts there
were 6 (3 of which were in the Small-pox Hospital) ; in the
central districts om; in the east districts 8 ; sod is the
south districts 8. None in the west districts. Of 86 deaths
from whooping-cough, 7 were lo Isliagton west sub-district,
and 6 is that of the Hackney-road There were 19 deaths
from diarrhma. At 6, Little Hermitage-street, St. George-
in-the-Bast, on 26th January, the wife of a general labourer,
aged 53 years. died of " cholera.' There was also a fatal
case of cholera infaatum. In the Adelaide-rad, Hamp-
stead, a gentleman, seed 79 years, died of exhaustion
follow's( yeriola. At ST. Natildaetmet, Hackney-road,
es Bth January, a needle-woman, aged 48 years, "asthma
seettlerated by destitution." (Inquest.) The following
four deaths by carriage accidents in theatreets were regis-
tered in the week :—A carman, aged 76 years, run over by
a van on London-bridge. Died on 24th Januari Guy's
Hospital A eowlereper, ared 61 years, run over his van
at Lewisham. Died on 25th January in Gay's Hospital.
The see at a general dealer, aged 11 years, run wee by a
vas. Died ma 26th January in Siriseer-street. Somers-
two. A house-painter, aged 37 years, rapture of Seer.
knocked down by a cab. Died oa 23rd January in Univer-
sity College Hospital.
WKITZELLL, Fin. S —The Queen has been
phased to premise the Reversed David Strong to the church
and parish of Harr, in the presbytery end meat of Ayr.
vacant by the resignation of the Reversed Maw
gal (since deceased.)—Gazette.