The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-09 00:00:00

two men, Anderson and Gordon, is not correct.
Gordon's seems to be on hearsay, and Anderson's is
not correct. I solemnly declare I have only been
at the Stoney-gut Chapel once ; it was en a Sab-
bath evening, where we could not allow anything
else but religious conversation, so he must have
supposed that I said so. The statement of the man
at York seems to be a general statement. Ido not
know him. I deny what he attributes to me. In
the depositions from Vere, the words attributed to
me relative to Hayti are incorrect. I solemnly de-
clare I never thought of Hayti when I was in Vere ;
and those words, if spoken at all, were spoken in
another parish, and I emphatically declare I never
made any allusions to the Governor, or said that
he was a bad man on that occasion. I was in a
most chastened spirit on that occasion. I deny the
statement made by Mr. Chevannes—that I said the
people would take revenge. Revenge is not in my
1 heart. 'With reference to the parties, Paul Bogle
and Chisholm, in writing them letters, I have been
in correspondence with them for some time, in
general business, sometimes political matters. I have
no correspondence that I would not like to be seen by
this Court and by the world. I hope it will be the
pleasure of the Court to take further necessary in-
formation, and as no charge has been made against
me for any rebellion here, I had expected that for
any crime or misdemeanour charged to me I should
have been tried in Kingston, as I was not taken up
on any rebellious acts, or in any district under
martial law."

Of course, if the evidence against Gordon were
no more than that just summarised, there could be
little difference of opinion, that however indifferent
his private character, and whatever might have been
the pernicious influence generally exercised by him
over an excitable race like the negroes, there was
no evidence upon which even a drumhead court-
martial ought to have convicted him of high treason.
But I must repeat here the caution contained in my
last letter, that the reported evidence may be found
wholly incomplete for want of the documentary
proof, which formed the strongest part of the case
for the prosecution. The statement on the one side
is that these documents were handed to the Presi-
dent, were passed from member to member of the
Court, and lastly to the prisoner, being read in
silence by all, so that the reporters had no oppor-
tunity of giving even the substance. This is the
statement in the Gleaner, while, on the other side,
it is alleged that the first published report contains
the substance of every document used, and is there-
fore, as far as it goes, an accurate and complete
record of the whole evidence. This is one of the
many points in the questions at issue here on which
the public at home, like newspaper correspondents
here, must in fairness suspend their judgment until
the official proceedings are produced before the
Commission.

Meanwhile the island remains perfectly tranquil.
Two or three incendiary fires have occurred in the
neighbourhood of Spanish Town and elsewhere, but
they are not shown to have had any connexion
with the late disturbances. The negroes in the
interior are quiet, but exult openly in what they
regard as the disgrace of Mr. Eyre. " Missis Queen
send Governor home to hang him" is a common say-
ing among them. After the outbreak in St. Thomas-
in-the-East, the black population throughout the
island became much subdued in language and man-
ner and, as one symptom of this, their revival
meetings and religious gatherings to a great extent
ceased. At Christmas it was noticed that they re-
turned to work after a much shorter holiday than
they usually take, but the news brought out by the
last mail restored their confidence and gave them
their former high spirits. You hear now at nightfall
the monotonous drumming by which they amuse
themselves, without always amusing their white
neighbours—an irritating, ceaseless turn-tum, com-
pared with which, in its effect upon the nerves, the
bagpipe or hurdy-gurdy is sweet music.
" Fuimus" is the motto of Kingston. It is a city
of the past, and lives upon rich memories of trade
with the Spanish Main now hopelessly destroyed, and
of sugar and rum, of coffee and pimento, once pro-
duced and exported in plenty, but now represented
by a beggarly array of empty hogsheads. Its tumble-
down condition may have been exaggerated, but one
hardly takes a step that is not suggestive of poverty
and of decay. Wharves are broken and unsightly,
shops, &c., are abandoned, warehouses shut up, and
the proprietors, in utter despair of new tenants, do
not even put up the notice "To be Let." This com-
mon form implies that you have some possible remote
prospect of receiving rent for your expenditure in brick
and mortar. But the Kingston landlords know better
than to be sanguine. Repairs are a serious thing
here, and, rather than incur the cost of repairing,
houses are sometimes allowed to fall into ruin. The
streets are laid out at right angles, and if the houses
were of better appearance, the roads well kept, and
the piazzas not quite so crumbling and shattered,
this might be no mean city. At present, adversity
seems to have marked it for its own. Two or
three years back there was a fire in the heart of
Kingston, and there the ruins stand or fall, as the
case may be, no one thinking of rebuilding. Even
the houses in the outskirts seem to bespeak commi-
seration for the shabby gentility that has known
better days ; and if you go beyond the outskirts you
come upon waste ground and jungle, once well cul-
tivated and fruitful, which tells a more piteous tale
still. Of course Kingston has its merchants and
thriving citizens, who keep their " pens," as Jamaica
country houses are called, and maintain there that
reputation for hospitality which the Jamaica
planters in the interior always enjoyed, and still, in
proportion to their means, maintain. But it is not
cheering to walk through the streets and see the
universal marks of decadence which force them-
selves upon the least observant visitor. Of course,
Kingston remembers with regret the good old times,
thinks it has been ill-treated, along with the rest of
the island, by the Imperial Legislature, hopes for
the best from the present inquiry, but rather fears
that things won't mend, and that from bad will
come worse. A stranger's impression, on the con-
trary, is that things could not be worse. One sub-
ject of complaint is that Kingston is not the seat of
Government, and that the public buildings, the
officials, and the Governor, and his little Court, are
located at the sleepiest of sleepy places—Spanish
Town, otherwise St. Jago de la Vega. It is as
though the capital of Great Britain were not Lon-
don, but Brentford. Something like this the Kings-
tonians say ; but, taking them altogether, they are
not a desponding people, and with such advantages
of position as the town enjoys.—a harbour in which
the whole English navy could ride at ease, and be-
hind it an island unsurpassed for excellence of cli-
mate, fertility of soil, and variety of products—one
is loth to believe that Kingston will always remain
as Kingston is. An Englishman of ordinary san-
guine temperament finds it especially difficult to be-
lieve, as some people here declare, that his country-
people must one day abandon this lovely island in
sheer despair of ever again paying their way. He re-
members how great a source of wealth it once was ; he
knows that its natural resources are boundless as
ever; he feels that if people of English blood aban-
doned Jamaica it would be given over to the wildest
anarchy ; and he is not inclined to acquiesce quietly
in the colonial philosophy which says, " Our glory
is departed," and does nothing to win back the pros-
perity and the glory. At every turn there are echoes
of England. The negro, it is true, does not do jus-
tice to the. English tongue ; but he speaks no other,
and does his best in speaking that. English planters
cultivate, or don't cultivate, the estates. English
merchants and shopkeepers carry on trade in the
towns. There is greater lethargy and less enter-
prise among the white people than you find in Eng-
land, but that is due to climate. Then there is a
more than English geniality and hospitality, to
which no stranger can be insensible ; and, along
with this, an attachment to English manners and
customs, and a love an 4 longing for the dear old
country, always spoken of by colonists'as " home,"
which are really touching. One is pleased to find
enter
that the more intelligent among the coloured people
v thoroughly into this feeling, and claim, as they
right to claim, their share in the traditions
d t
privileges of British citizenship. Some send
their children
among the clastsol hEanyge
1 andmen
mentioned
e db be educated.acknowledge
le Allthe
benefits which the colony enjoys—though lately
these benefits have been fewer than could be wished
—by being connected with the mother country.,
But for the hateful difference of colour, Jamaica
would be a thoroughly English l
co ony ; yet other
West India islands less blessed than Jamaica pros-
pered in spite of this difference. It is impossible