The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-27 00:00:00

sell-respect that is due to their office. The existence of
the former is, in great measure, dependent upon the latter.
And if the highest officer in the army sees fit to hob-nob
with horso jockeys and "sporting men" generally, how
can any one complain of the people for not paying to high
officials the deference due to their position, if not to them
in person.—. New York Round Table.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIiJOURNALS.

TlMES.—Throughout the long discussions on the
insurrection in Jamaica the British public have never
been able fully to realise the opinions and feelings of
those who were engaged in suppressing the out-
break, the apprehensions which pervaded the island
society, and the dominant motives which impelled
all concerned to treat the negroes with such extra-
ordinary severity. Even with the despatch of the
Governor and the narratives of the Jamaica press
in our hands it is difficult for us in England to form
a notion of the temper in which the murder of the
white people at the Court-house and the subsequent
risings in the eastern part of the island were re-
ceived by men of European race, whether British or
Jamaicans. People at home were informed at the
same time of the outbreak and its repression. They
never heard of Gordon till they learnt that he had
been executed. The vast majority of them knew
nothing about the state of the negroes and the
growing animosity which had long prevailed among
them towards the whites. But it is evident that to
judge fairly of the conduct of the authorities it is
necessary to become acquainted with the opinions
prevalent in the island before and at the time of the
insurrection, and to observe the impulses which the
white population obeyed. We are enabled in some
degree to give our readers a notion of the circum-
stances under which Gordon was tried and executed,
by publishing an account of the arrest, written by
Mr. Bowerbank, Custos of Kingston, who himself,
under the Governor's order, took Gordon into his
custody. It is well known that on the first news
of the rising Mr. Eyre devoted himself with great
energy to the task of repressing it. He was away
at Morant Bay, and almost every available soldier
in the island, together with the militia, which
could be got together, had gone with him. King-
ston being thus comparatively defenceless, there
prevailed a strong opinion in favour of proclaiming
martial law. This opinion, as we shall see, was
held by the chief persons in the place, and in the
end produced important results. Mr. Bowerbank
says that on Saturday, the 14th of October, a
special session of the magistrates of Kingston was
called. "On this occasion it was unanimously re-
solved by the magistrates present, some 40 in num-
ber, including several members of the House of
Assembly, that Kingston was in a very critical con-
dition, and required to be placed under martial law.
A resolution to this effect was passed, and I was
requested to forward the same to the Governor at
Morant Bay, which I immediately did." This com-
munication brought the Governor in haste back to
Kingston. He must naturally have been much im-
pressed by so urgent a request unanimously made
by the legal Guardians of the Peace, after the city
had been especially excluded from the proclamation
which was issued when the first news of the out-
break was received. We know from other sources,
and the Governor mentions it in his despatch, that
in the Morant Bay district the testimony was general
that Gordon was implicated in the rising. It is
equally clear that the people, high and low, in
Kingston no sooner heard of the massacre than they
said that it was Gordon's doing. The Governor
arrived in Kingston to find his own prepossessions
confirmed by every one he met, and to receive the
assurance of the whole body of magistrates that
the danger which Gordon was causing could only be
averted by extending the area of martial law-so as
to include the city. We are not, therefore, sur-
prised to find that almost the first question the
Governor addressed to the Custos was whethe'r
Gordon had been arrested. On receiving au
answer in the negative, he said he was sorry
for the delay, but that the arrest must be
made. Subsequently both the Governor and Mr.
Bowerbank went to General O'Connor, and
the Governor again expressed his regret that
Gordon was at large. The General objected to the
arrest at that time, though, be it remarked, not
from any doubt of Gordon's complicity with the re-
bellion ; but, on the contrary, from a belief that he
was too powerful with the negroes to be taken,
unless the peace could be maintained by a sufficient,
force. " The General then stated what had oc-
curred, and reiterated his opinion that Gordon
should not be arrested till more troops arrived."
The Governor maintained a different opinion ; he
considered it " essential to the safety of the island"
that the arrest should be made, and asserted that
though the rebellion in St. Thomas-in-the-East had
been crushed "more was requisite to deter other
districts from rising." This description gives us an
idea of the state of feeling in the island. All these
people,—the Governor, the General who had passed
all his military life among negroes in Africa or the
West Indies, the Custos, who had the best oppor-
tunities of knowing what was going on in the city,
and to whom communications were continually
being made—the 40 unanimous magistrates, the
Executive Committee, the members for the city—
in a word, everybody who had anything to do with
the maintenance of order, fully believed that King-
ston and the rest of the island were in the greatest
danger, and that Gordon was the cause. In this
belief the Jamaica authorities and Legislature have
persevered in the most extraordinary manner. What-
ever discontent may have been excited by the mea-
sures of the Government before or since, whatever
opposition may have appeared in the House of
Assembly or the press, the idea of asserting that
Gordon was innocent never seems to have been en-
tertained. Yet it must be admitted that there are
grave doubts as to this guilt, which people high and
low, white and black, appear to have taken for granted.
According to Mr. Bowerbank's account, Gordon
came to the General's voluntarily, and probably to
surrender to the warrant. When he was arrested
and told that he was to be taken to Morant Bay he
expressed his belief that he would be condemned.
It is fair to infer that by this he only meant that
the odium in which he was held was so great that
he would not have an impartial trial. But he also
appears to have been aware that there were suspi-
cious circumstances against him, the chief of these
being that he was closely connected with the leaders
of the insurrection, and that though a constant
attendant at the vestry meetings he had absented
himself on the Wednesday of the massacre. With
regard to the latter of these remarks, it appears he
told Mr. Bowerbank before leaving Kingston that
he had been ill, and that a Dr. Fiddes was attend-
ing him. Though Mr. Bowerbank does not believe
this, he indirectly confirms it in another part of his
narrative by saying, "As I was leaving, the Hon.
Mr. Freeman said to me, ' Gordon 'is not in St.
Andrew's; he is in Kingston at his mother-in-law's.
Dr. Fiddes, who is attending him, told me so a few
minutes back." However, no one will deny that
there were grounds for arresting Gordon The
fatal mistake was in sending him to a spot where
he could not communicate with the persons who
might have given evidence in his favour, and then
bringing him suddenly before a court-martial to
answer for a capital crime. A man whom everybody
in a moment pointed to as a traitor and murderer
must have given ground for suspicion, but unless
there be further evidence of Gordon's wilful connec-
tion with the outbreak, we must hold that he ought
not to have suffered death.
THE " ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES" ON THE UNITED
STATES AND MEXICO.—By far the most ab-
sorbing topic of newspaper discussion since
the close of the slaveholder'c rebellion is that
which has arisen by the present attitude of
the United States with regard to the so-called
Mexican Empire. It is assumed by a portion of the
English press that the late diplomatic correspon-
dence between the United States and France dis-
closes, on the part of the first-named power, a dis-
position to adopt a new and dictatorial course with
reference to Mexico ; whereas the fact is, that the
United States Government has simply re-affirmed,
in Mr. Seward's correspondence, a doctrine which
has been an essential part of its political
creed for the last forty years. It is well
known, and it is felt by every individual
member of the Government at Washington, that
the Mexican question cannot be decided either by
President Johnson or by Congress. That question
is one which concerns the American people, and any
action on the part of the Government or Congress
in favor of the Austrian usurper in Mexico would
be met by the whole people of the United States
with such indignant remonstrance as would not only
settle for ever the whole question, but also the
political future of those who could be mad enough
to oppose them. For the feeling among the Ame-
rican people is deep. It does not express itself
much in words, because they know that the policy
of every Administration must of necessity be
opposed to all interference on the part of
European powers with the North American Conti-
nent. Neither President Johnson, nor any other
chief magistrate, would dare act in antagonism to
this sentiment, even if they desired to do so. But
we know that the feeling of the American Govern-
ment on this subject is strictly in accord with that
of the American people—namely, that come weal
or woe, peace or war, life or death, no Monarchical
or Imperial Government shall ever be established
on American soil by the aid of foreign bayonets.
If the Mexicans deliberately choose an Imperial
ruler—be he even an Austrian—the United States
will oppose no objection ; but if France will force
an Austrian prince upon the people of the
Mexican Republic, then the United States
will feel impelled to protect and defend Republi-
canism OR the. American continent, at whatever
Cost. It is not, lie think, strange that Europeans