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

:BER.

Shrewsbury
Leamington Hunt l9

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This day.

LONDON, Feb. 9.—Wind this day at noon—South.
Westerly; moderate breeze, and cloudy weather, with
rain.

PORTSMOUTH, Feb. B.—Wind N.W.—Arrived—Alfred
and Nance, from Havre for Buenos Ayres.
SWANSEA, Feb. 7.—Wind N.W.—Sailed—Theta, for
Coquimbo.
OFF NORTH FORELAND, Feb. B.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—
Alliance, from Hartlepool for Cuba.
DARTMOUTH, Feb. B.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Fleeting,
from TeignMouth for Newfoundland.
PLYMOUTH, Feb. B.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Orion, from
London for Calcutta.
Pnii, Feb. B.—Wind S.W.—Arrived.—Nereide, from
Sulina.

HOLYHEAD, Feb. 7.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Castilian,
Erorn Liverpool for Rio Janeiro.
PENARTH, Feb. B.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Miner, from

Surinam.
CLYDE, Feb. B.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Holyrood, from
Mauritius.

LIVERPOOL, Feb. 7.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—General
Windham, from Charleston.
SOUTHAMPTON, Feb. B.—Wind N.W.—Sailed—Sason,
steamer, for the Cape of Good Hope.

LBY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. I
GRAVESEND, Friday Morning.
Sailed, Feb. B—Lady Hilda, for Barbadoes ; Nautilus
for St. Kitts.

DEAL, Friday Morning.
Arrived, Feb. B—Commodore, from London from Buenos
Ayres; Sent, from Kurrachee.

Bank of England Returns.---Last Evening.

An Account, pursuant to t]
cap. 32, for the week ending

he Act 7th and Bth Victoria,
Wednesday, Feb. 7, 1866.
PARTMENT.

ISSUE DE
Notes issued ....£26,922,520

Governmt. Debt £11,015,100
Other Securities 3,634,900
Gold Coin and
Bullion
Silver Bullion

£26,922,520,
BANKING D:

£26,922,520

Proprietors' Capi-
tal £14,553,000
Rest
Public Deposits
(including Ex-
chequer, Sav-
ings' Banks,
Commissioners
of National
Debt, and Div
Accounts) 4,549,904
Other Deposits 12,344,200
Seven Day and
other bills

:PARTMENT.
Governmt. Secu-
rities(including
Dead Weight

Annuity) - £9,865,483
Other Securities 18,857,681
Notes 5,906,320
Gold and Silver
Coin

784,473

409,301

£35,413,957
GEI

Feb. 8, 1866.

£35,413,957
1. Points, Doputy Cashier.

- -.,•••••••••••••••••
Foreign Mail Packet List

--4.----

arnesheilles
Australia and New ZelallaAnad,
Ditto
o:
bvyiav
Brazil and Cape Vends, B:iaDSl3:t7hampton Feb. 19
his, by British packet Feb. 13.
Mir. 6.
Mre packet ,
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension St. Feb.•
China, Penang, , and llelena Feb. 22.
---ag',. and Singapore. via Southampton Feb. 19.
Ditto, via Marseilles
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton.... Feb. 10
Ditto, via Marseilles • • • .. . Feb. 13
India (Bombay), via Southampton. Feb. 13.
Ditto, via garseiiles
Mauritius, via Southampton
Ditto, via Marseil el . Feb 13
Newfoundland . ****** Feb. 14.
Portugal
Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon... ............
United States and British North America, ty Bri-
tish packet ........ .., Feb 14.
Ditto. by United States packet, via Southamp-
ton .. ........ .
Ditto, via Cork
Londonderry..
Ditto, by Canadian packet, via 9.
West Coast ot Africa. Madeira, and Tencriffe Feb. it.
West Indies and Pacific (exceptßalia,ras, Cuba,
P) 13
and Mexico .................. • •
Cuba and Mexico: .............
Bahamas, via New York. Mar. 8.
Bermuda, ditto .......... ........... . Feb. IA

Lord Digby will leave Belgrave-square to-mor-
row, to join Lady Digby and family at Miuteru House,
Dorset, where his lordship is about to entertain a select
party.

THE OUTBREAK IN JAMAICA.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times)

KINGSTON, Jan. 15.

The Legislature has been summoned, and meets
at Spanish Town on Wednesday for the despatch of
business. It had been prorogued till the 30th inst.,
but it is convened at this earlier date in order to em-
power the Royal Commission to compel the attend-
ance of witnesses and administer oaths. A short
bill will be introduced with these objects, and the
extraordinary session is not expected to last more
than a day or two. Here, as at home, the appoint-
ment of the Commission has occasioned a lull in
politics, and people are waiting for the evidence
which is now being prepared on both sides of the
question. It is difficult to convey any adequate
notion of the conflicting and contradictory rumours
and statements which meet one here. I have lis-
tened patiently to much that has been told me in
proof of excesses of authority by British officers,
and cruelties committed by subordinates during the
rebellion or after it was stamped out; but while
some of these stories are horrifying, and will, I be-
lieve, be given in evidence hereafter, it would be
manifestly unjust to repeat them until they have 11
been properly sifted and substantiated on oath. An
expression used pretty frequently among a few of
the whites and coloured people is that since the new
Governor's arrival they have felt themselves " un- 1
muzzled," and will now speak out. The arrest, 1
among others, of Mr. G. W. Gordon in Kingston,
of Mr. Levien in Montego Bay, and their convey-
ance to Morant Bay, seems, indeed, to have created
the greatest alarm among all who were liable to sus-
picion, or who thought that they might be suspected,
for using seditious language. It is possible that
these persons may find representatives in the House
of Assembly who on Wednesday will take the op-
portunity of discussing the policy of the Govern-
ment. But the general feeling i 8 that at this junc-
ture and pending inquiry such a discussion would
be time wasted.

It will be gathered from what I have just said
that a partisan writer finds no difficulty here in
procuring abundant materials either to justify or
condemn the measures taken in suppressing the re-
bellion. To collect such evidence is an easy task,
for it is volunteered on both sides with equal readi-
ness ; but you soon find that it cannot be tested
satisfactorily except before a judicial or quasi-
judicial tribunal ; and from all appearances, taking
into account the maxim testintonia non numeranda,
sed ponderanda, even the Royal Commissioners will
be puzzled to discover where the balance of evidence
rests. This caution must not be lost sight of in
reading any of the statements, on one side or the
other, which may come home by the mail. Since
my last letter the evidence taken before the court-
martial on Mr. G. W. Gordon has been published
in the colony. The reporters of two Kingston news-
papers were present at the trial, and both were
pledged not to publish the proceedings until they
received authority to do so from the military autho-
rities. In one instance this pledge was not kept, and
the evidence was published by the reporter against
the wishes of the gentlemen who were his employers
at the time when the court-martial was held. After
this publication the military authorities allowed the
Gleaner to publish its report, which accordingly
appears in that journal this morning. Substantially
there is no great difference between the two re-
ports ; and, assuming that they contain the whole
evidence against the prisoner, a foul wrong was
done to him. The case against him, as there stated,
could hardly be weaker. One witness, John Ander-
son) says :--" On a certain day George W. Gordon
came to Stoney-gut, and told Paul Bogle to get
volunteers and get the back lands ;' if the lands
were not got all buckras will die. George William
Gordon called Paul Bogle's chapel Island Castle,
and named M'Laren as secretary to himself. Paul
Bogle got M'Laren to go to the mountains to look
for hands to come to Morant Bay. I saw M'Laren
with papers in his pocket and pencil behind his ear."
In cross-examination by the prisoner, witness said
this occurred on a Sunday in June or July of last
year, that plenty more people were present, and that
all of them heard what the prisoner said to Bogle.
Another witness, James Gordon, had seen a letter
in which the prisoner proposed the people should col-
lect money and send it to him, in order that he
might pay for a letter to go home to the Queen, or,
" if the letter won't go, prisoner would go himself
to see the Queen face to face." But, though wit-
ness said the letter was signed G. W. Gordon, it
appeared that he did not know the prisoner's signa-
ture. A deposition made by a rebel who was
wounded, and afterwards died, was handed in. This
man (Thomas Johnson) in August, 1864, had
" heard the rebels talk at the meeting-house about
making war," and he said that the prisoner had at-
tended meetings at the same place ; but he did not
depose that this seditious language was made use of
by Gordon, or on the occasions when Gordon was
present. In another written depositionby awounded
rebel there was good evidence against the Bogies,
and deponent had heard Moses Bogle say that lie
had prisoner's handwriting, and that it was the pri-
soner who had put up the Bogies to this rebellion.
Mrs. Gough, the postmistress of Morant Bay,
knew Gordon's handwriting, and proved that he
was in correspondence with several of the rebels.
This seems to have been the substance of all the
oral evidence adduced against the prisoner, except
the fact that whereas he usually attended the meet-
ings at the Morant Bay Court-house, and had not
missed one for some years, he was absent from the
meeting held on the day of the massacre. In his
defence the prisoner said that his reason for not
attending the vestry then was his ill-health, and he
referred to two physicians who had recently pre-
scribed for him. His address to the Court is thus
given in the Gleaner:—

" Your Honours,--I have to state that I was not
taken up, but gave myself up at Kingston when I
heard there were some rumours about me. Feeling
myself quite innocent, I called on the General, in
company with Dr. Fiddes, and told his Excellency
if I was required for anything concerning the dis-
turbances here I was at his command. Ile told me
he had no authority over me; and I was about taking
leave of him, when his Excellency the Governor
drove up with Dr. Bowerbank ; and I was stating
to his Excellency the same thing, when he told me
he would come for me and take me on board the
Wolverine. Dr. Bowerbank then escorted me to
my lodgings, and to the wharf for a passage off. I
have been entirely brought up with Europeans, and
all my best friends are of that class at this moment.
I have never had any other feelings but love and
affection for them. I have myself imported Euro-
pean labourers, thinking they would be desirable for
the improvement of the negroes. I have always been
desirous to see Europeans introduced into the country
as a blessing to it; and instead of driving them out,
I should like to see them more numerously located ;
and the extensive possession of land which I have
would, I think, be sufficient guarantee for my wish-
ing the safety of property. Therefore a rebellion
would be the last thing I should wish to see. I have
always recommended the people, who have frequently
complained to me, patience and perseverance, and
as a proof of
have their votes that I have always endeavoured to
position, and recorded,l so as to obtain legitimate
Court declare ts'i'aeroly before my Maker and this
pertsel never knew from Paul Bogle
or any other
kind. I knew nothinng off any insurrection of this
it_until I was informed by
policeman in tithing °{
he Ihethen went to my friend
Mr. Airey to inquire if
parties
anything of it. I
never went to any of the
it in the least degree.
a _ait_
ec.ircumstances
I admit sthtoa inquire about
in appearance suspicious
trne
are
but I
by his profession it was certainlycertiaimulyy
cannot help that. Paul Bogl: is°
friend, and
at the head his duty to practise peace and goodwill.
astonished when I heard that he was
this rebellion. I regret it, but that I could not con_
trol. 111•Laren I have lately known chiefly since
last meeting. My
reason for not attending the last
vestry was ,solely from ill health. I had a severe
couch, which shook my whole frame. Dr. Major
called on me at the end of September and regretted
my inability to attend the meeting of the vestry. I
then saw Dr. Fiddes. I also refer you to my friend,
Mr. Airey, that I told him my knees were so weak
1 would not be able to attend the vestry, and he
said I was better away. The late Custos and my-
self were old and familiar friends, and, although
we have had political differences, fought upon their
merits, I should never have wished or done him any
personal harm. The proof is this, that at the last
election there was a slight disturbance, and I went
to the baron and asked that he would allow things
to go on quietly, although we were not on speaking
terms, and I advised the people to e•
, and •
o on quietly to-
wards him generally. The eyidenee of the

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
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 aro 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 tutu-turn, 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,
1 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-
-1 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-
aeration 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 and longing for the dear old
country, always spoken of by colonists as " home,"
tte whichr hro
taroerulyeaglhlytouching. One is pleased to find
that the more intelligent among the coloured people
enter
into
have a right tclaim,this feeling, and claim, as they
,
and the privileges of Bt
rhi
teii
srh Belli
tairzee
hisnh i
pt h. e
stor
tandei tsieonnds
their children to England to be educated. All
among the class I have mentioned acknowledge the
benefits which the colon
these benefits have been feYweerntjh°aYns
—though
wished
y
—by being connected with the mother country. 1
But for the hateful difference of colour, Jamaica I
would be a thoroughly English Colony ; yet other
West India islands less blessed than Jamaica pros-
pered in spite of this difference. It is imposabie

i for an Englishman to despair of an island in which,
I as I write, the Guards' waltz is being extracted by
vigorous thumping from a piano in the opposite
house, while a group of black children in a yard
I close by have just sung, " Lo, He comes, in clouds
descending," and now and then I hear distant
snatches of a sturdy chorus proposing three cheers
for " the Red, White, and Blue !"
I do not pretend to have fathomed the negro's
character ; to do so requires close study and wide
observation, for he seems to have a complex charac-
ter, with many good qualities, crossed by much that
requires humouring, management, and firm control.
On the surface of things, however, Quashie appears
to be a likeable fellow, good-tempered, sociable,
joyous, easily pleased, easily—ah, too easily—
wrought upon and led ; excitable, and in that state
liable to sudden and almost unaccountable excesses
of rage; fonder of, basking in the shade than of
working in the sun, and as political economists agree,
contented with too little, having few wants, and
these easily supplied, and seldom caring to raise his
condition. I wish he would be more careful of his
womankind, and less careful of his own ease. It is
nearly always the women who bring down the heavy
loads to market. Sir Quashie rides his pony or mule
in dignity and ease, while the hewer of wood and
drawer of water whom he has taken to wife trudges
patiently by his side, generally poising on her head
a big basket of yams, bananas, or green oranges. How
well she poises it, too, and with what a Royal air she
walks. Her lithe, shapely figure and well-set head,
the light, clean dress and gay turban, the basket full
of tropical fruit—perhaps gold-coloured, perhaps
flaming red—and the good-humoured black face,
which returns your nod, and shows the reddest (also
the thickest) of lips and the whitest of teeth, make
a study of form and colour which would delight an
Academician. But, then, this always graceful, sel-
dom pretty, black Venus, who toils so hard for six
days in the week, is actually fond of wearing finery
on the seventh ! I believe she shares the reproach
with a good many of those in Europe and elsewhere
who think themselves her betters. She is a daugh-
ter of Eve, and on Sundays at all events likes to be
well dressed, according to her notion of good
dressing. Let me assure all who may be inclined
to think poorly of her in this respect that the
black woman seems to possess an instinct for dress-
, ing well, that she evidently has an eye for
colour, and is gifted with a taste very far beyond
that of her class in England. Her turban is gay, as
I have said ; but its bright colours contrast well
with the dusky face and gleaming teeth below. Her
dress is a cool, clean print, always light, hardly ever
gaudy. In the early days of emancipation I am told
that the negress bought dresses of flaming colours,
but for these there is now no market in Jamaica—a
proof that, in matters of taste, the negress is, at all
events, an improvable being. For this reason, a lady
assures me, the black girls make excellent ladies'
maids. They are never tired of brushing and dress-
ing hair, and are never happier than in decking out
their mistress in her best, and in showing their taste
by the choice of her dress and the jewellery which
is to help her charms.
That the blacks are not very considerate towards
their women seems to be too true. In the market
groups here this is very apparent, and on the wharves
the same scene is enacted. The coaling of the steam-
boats is done principally by women. Some weeks
ago a sketch of this very lively scene appeared in
the Illustiated News, and was accurate so far as it
represented the women carriers, but not at all accu-
rate in depicting them as half-naked. Capt. Cooper,
R.N., the manager of the Royal Mail Steamboat
Company here, showed this sketch to some of the
women employed, and they were highly indignant.
" Him make great mistake," one of them said ; " let
'em come and see us Sundays." And no doubt on
Sundays these women, coarsely dressed as they are
when at work, and necessarily dirty while doing this
dirty work, come out resplendent. They are well
able to do so, for they earn excellent wages. The
Royal Mail steamer Tamar was coaled here the other
day, and 260 tons were put on board. I have ob-
tained the statistics, which are curious enough.
Forty-seven people were employed as day labourers,
of whom 13 were women; in three-quarters of a day
they earned ls. 6d. each, no difference being made
in the payment to either sex. At task-work 99 per-
sons were employed, and of these 84 were women.
The coal is carried on the head in baskets from the
head upon the wharf to the steamer, and in this in-
stance the price paid, which varies according to the
distance traversed, was 3d. per dozen baskets. The
largest number of baskets carried during the three-
quarters of a day was 166, the next highest was 161,
and in both instances the carriers were women.
The average earnings of each person were about
ls. 9d. At night the pay is double. There was
no difficulty in getting the requisite number of
hands; but the work, of course, is not continuous.
On Saturday his Excellency Sir Henry Storks re-
ceived the heads of the military department at
Head-quarters House, in Kingston, and afterwards
paid a visit to Admiral Sir James Hope on board
the flagship. He was accompanied by his aide-de-
camp, Lieutenant Baring, and the Secretary of the
Commission, Mr. Roundell. His Excelloncy re-
turned in the afternoon by train to Spanish Town.
Mr. Eyre continues at Flamatead.