The Express.
London, England, 1866-03-02 00:00:00

EXAMINATION OF MR. EYRE.

REVELATIONS IN THE EVIDENCE.

By the West India Mail, which arrived at
Southampton this morning, we have received
letters and papers from Kingston to Feb. 8.
The Royal Commissioners, who commenced their
sittings on the 25th January, bad been sitting from
day to day. The Kingston Morning Journal of
Feb. 8 says :
They (the commission) have examined • great many
witnesses, among them his Excellency E. J. Eyre, to whom
and to whams testimony the whole country had been looking
forward with the greatest possible anxiety. All who
desired, either from personal interest or for political
ends to make good the assertion that the late
outbreak was part of "a widespread conspiracy" relied
in the peatestoonfulenoe upon his excellency for the proofs ;
whilst those who maintained, from conviction, that the
outbreak was purely a local one and excited by local 0111/11114
were lead to fear, from the loud expressions of expected
triumph uttered by the late governor's partisans, that his
excellency had evidence in his possession that would far
ever settle all doubt respecting the extent and danger of
the alleged conspiracy. Both parties have been disap-
pointed—that is, the hopes of the one h►ve been defeated,
while the fears of the other have not been realised. His
excellency, is so far as the oral and documentary evidence
he gave before the oommission is concerned, has not ad-
vanced his position a step beyond that in which his de-
spatches to the Secretary of State showed him to have
stood.

Looking into the report of the evidence of Mr.
Eyre, as given in the journals, we find him stating
that the agitation in the country was to • very
great extent caused by Dr. Underhill's letter ; and
he believed disturbances would have broken out
before the time they did, had it not been for steps
which had been taken under his direction by the
local authorities. Describing the scenes at Morant
Bay, he said that one account as to the treatment
of dead bodies which he had forwarded to her
Majesty's government turned out afterwards to
be unfounded. He continued martial law in force
after the amnesty was declared because there were
a number of rebel prisoners to be dealt with. He
had also received communications from every part
of the island as to expected further risings, but he
could not at that moment recollect from whence
those communications bad been received. His
opinion of Mr. Gordon's guilt was founded on the
general belief of it, on his intimate connexion with
the chief rebels, and upon the fact of his
having issued • seditious placard some time
previously. " The very fact," said Mr. Eyre,
"of tis holding up the custos and Mr. Herschel
to the odium of the public in that placard, and
their being murdered after proved that he was the
prime mover of the insurrection." The following
incidents took place in the coarse of Mr. Eyre's
examination :

Mr. Gorrie dedred to ask Mr. Eyre a Dumber of questions
regarding Mr. Gordon.
Mr. Gurney—lf you will forward your questions to us we
will see if they eau be put.
Mr. Gorrie—Many questions might arise out of his
answers. Am I to understand that the royal commissioners
will not allow me to put any questions to Mr. Eyre relating
to Mr. Gordon at prmeat?
Mr. Gurney—Ws are not trying the guilt of any person.
Let us see your questions, and we will know what line of
action to take regarding them.
Mr. Payne would like to know whether himself and his
learned friend had or had not the liberty to cross question
his late exoelleocy Mr. Eyre. They both represented
numerous persons now deceased, whom characters had been
impugned.

The eourt consulted fora few moments.
Mr. Cierney—Do yon appear as representative of any
persona that have been executed

Mr. Payne—Yee, and for some who h►ve not been.
Mr. Gurney—Who an they ?

Mr. GorrieLSeveral persons who were arrested where no
martial law had been prochimed, one of whom is Dr. Bruce,
on whose behalf I wish to ask Mr. Eyre a few questions.
Mr. Gurney—You may rugged questions regarding his
statement about Dr. Bruce.

Question by the court at the request of Mr. Gorrie—Wu
the latter which you referred to the only information ow
which Dr. Bruce was arrested ?

His Raselleney—Yea.
Mr. Gorrie—Which was only found liter Dr. Bruce was
arrested.

Question by the court at request of Mr. Gorrie-Btate on
what grounds Dr. Bruce wee at rested.

His Excellency—l directed his apprehension ; I was in-
duced to do so from information I received, also from
letters found among Gordon's papers. I also received
information from the etudes of the parish that he was
likely to ornate disturbances. I merely mention his name
incidentally.

Question—What disturbance do you refer to?
His Excellency—The Underhill martinp amoogst others.
IRis Excellency the President—The object for which the
questions are put an quite evident.
Mr. Payne did not quite understand from the commis-
'loners, whether his learned friend and himulf were pre-
cluded from oroesexamining site/saes.

Mr. Gurney—You were told distinctly before that you
would sot be allowed to eras-examioe witneeses ; but we
also expressed oar desire to have any question which would
test the evideooe or throw light upon the occurrences
handed to us, and we would put them to the ',finesse..
Mr. Gorrie--As our questions depend upon the answer.
we receive, we will not ask any questions at all.
Mr. Payne would ask Mr. Eyre whether the wools "
have seen the prooeedliop of the ooart-martial (relative to
Gordon's trial), and concur with the eentesce," which appear
in a postoript of a despatch to Mr. Cardwell, were wateo,
by him?
Hie Earmillesey—l did see the proceedings of the court,
and I fully adhere to the expressions is that posteaript.
Question at the request of Mr. Gorrie—Whether the
Baron Ketelhodt's letter was the first be bad received of
the disturbances?
His Excellency—Yes.

Question—Did you not receive a letter from Bogle
His Excellency—l received a letter signed by Paul
Bogle and others late in the day, and the bearer who
brought it would not wait for an answer. The msjor;ty
of those persons who signed that letter were engaged in
the rebellion and were executed. I cannot exactly re-
member their names.

Many other witnesses besides the governor have
been examined. The occurrences of the first three
days, that is the outrages committed by the negroes,
have been fully established, with the exception that
many of the stories about the mutilation of the bodies
of the murdered gentlemen have not been sup-
ported—such, for instance, as the Baron Kettelhodt's
brains having been scooped out, mixed with rum,
and drunk by some of the rebels, the ripping up of
the bowels of Mr. Price, and the cutting out of the
tongue of the Rev. Mr. HerschelL The witnesses
appearing before the commission at the time the
mail left were those for the most part who testify to
the measures of reprisal adopted by the government.
They have brought to light some rather startling
facts, among others that the whips used for flogging
rebels were made partly of piano wire, that with
these instruments of torture women were flogged,
that in some places people were hanged and shot
without any form of trial whatever, sad that the
provost-marshal and others were apparently guilty
of acts of wanton cruelty.
The special commission of oyer and terminer
appointed by the late governor to try certain
offences committed during martial law had been
sitting for the previous fortnight. Eighty-five
prisoners had been brought down from the lately
disturbed district for trial; bp.t the time of the
court had been occupied with the trial of several