The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-12 00:00:00

The Insurrection in Jamaica.

MEETING AT LIVERPOOL.
A town's meeting was held in St. George's Hall,
Liverpool, yesterday, convened by the mayor in ac•
cordance with a requisition, to express the opinion o'

the inhabitants with regard to the recent negro in
_ _

surrection in Jamaica, and the conduct of Governor

Eyre. The Mayor (Mr. J. Farnworth) presided.
The CHAIRMAN said the requisition which the
meeting had heard read spoke for itself. He was
quite aware that upon this subject a great diversity
of opinion existed ; and, perhaps, if he had been
allowed to have his own way, that meeting would
not have been called. (Hear, hear.) He himself
would not express an opinion on this important
subject. Representations had been made to the

Government, and the Government had already

stated that the most strict and searching inquiry,

not only as to the rebellion itself, but as to the man-
ner in which it was supprcseed, would be instituted,
and he was sure that any discussion which might

arise would be of the most moderate and Christian-

like descrirtion. They must all admit that a great
rebellion—a rebellion which seemed to have been

promoted by great malice—had broken out in Ja-
maica, and that a great number of lives had been
lost. (Interruption.) The Government had stated
that an inquiry of the most strict character would
be instituted as to the means taken to suppress the

outbreak, and he thought they would all agree with
him that what might be done that day should.be

done more with the intention of assisting the Go-
vernment than of complaining of what had been al-
ready done. They were met neither on the one

hand to condemn the Government of Jamaica, nor

to say on the other hand that the rebellion had

been brought about without sufficient cause.
The Rev. Canon M'NEILE moved the following
resolution :—" That we, the inhabitants of Liver-

pool, in public meeting assembled for the purpose of
urging upon her Majesty's Government the ap-
pointment of a commission to inquire into the

causes of the late insurrection in the eastern part

of Jamaica, and whether the means by which it has
been suppressed have or have not been in violation
of the constitution, have heard with much satisfac-

tion that such a commission has been appointed,
and trust that its investigations will prove
searching and effective." Their object in view from
the first, in calling this meeting, had been a mode-
rate one—not to prejudge, but to inquire. (Hear.)
The reason which the mayor had assigned for not
approving of the meeting was one of the reasons
which he (Canon IWNeile) thought to be good for
approving of it, namely, that there existed a great
variety of opinion. It was difficult even to state
the case without exciting that diversity of opinion,
but he believed that something had occurred which
they all agreed in thinking and feeling to be very
distressing. A collision had taken place between
the inhabitants of a district in Jamaica and the go-
verning authorities of the island ; extreme violence
had been used ; many valuable lives lost ; martial
law proclaimed ; and military executions had fol-
lowed. This much was admitted, and this much
seemed to him quite sufficient to justify them in en-
deavouring to ascertain, as far and as accurately as
possible, what had led to these disastrous events.
He had been asked why an inquiry should take
place in this case any more than in the Indian
mutiny. But the cases were not parallel. In the
Indian mutiny they were kept on self-defence for a
by
long time __
an open declaration of war against
the
authorities,
tealtlxid before the tide turned so that
retaliation could take l they
intelligence. In
th we e r e i
othern possessioncase
ofauthenticthe
offence and the retaliation were reported by the
same mail. The locality, too, of Jamaica was pecu-
liar ; there were no special ,4newspaper correspon-
dents" there when the disturbances occurred ; and
in the absence of reliable information we naturally
turned to our own Government, who had the power
of ascertaining, by a grave judicial inquiry, what
actually had taken place. The statements as to
the origin of the rebellion were extremely contra-
dictory. One authority, for instance, had said that
for the last eight years, all had been going to ruin
on the island ; while another stated that, in 1862,
the governor found 456,000 negroes in full pros-
perity. (Hear, •hear.) Hence the necessity for in-
quiry. Perhaps, if they went back a littlefurther into
the antecedents of the island they might find some of
the roots of the causes that had led to the pre-
sent outbreak. When this great country broke the
chain of slavery in the West Indian colonies, and
paid the money for compensation, she thought she
had done all, and she did no more. The prophets of
the evils that would result from emancipation took
no step to prevent the evils which they had foretold,
and the prophets of good took no adequate steps to
secure the benefits which they anticipated, and,
therefore, both were to blame. (Hear, hear.) He felt
persuaded that meeting would unite with him in the
declaration that no adequate steps were taken by
either party to render liberty a real blessing to the
negro. (Cheers.) Further still, the greater part of
the proprietors of West India plantations were deeply