The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-30 00:00:00

The Outbreak in Jamaica.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
KINGSTON, Jan. 9.

The Royal Mail Company's steamer Tyne, Capt.
Hole, arrived here on the evening of the 6th, bring-
ing Sir Henry Storks, G.C.8., with his Aide-de-
Camp, Capt. Baring, R.A., and the Secretary of the
Commission, Mr. C. S. Roundell. The appointment
of his Excellency was already known throughout
the island, the news having come by way of New
York. But no one anticipated that Sir Henry would
reach here so soon after his appointment as interim
Governor. There were groups of eager spectators
on the wharf when the steamer drew alongside.
The negroes shook hands and' looked triumphant.
" Now we shall have justice," some were heard to
say, and they raised a cheer as his Excellency drove
off. The whites who were present seemed anxious
and depressed. They did not conceal their regret at
what they regarded as the " humiliation" of Mr.
Eyre, and their fear at the effect which the inter-
position of the Home Government might have upon
the excitable black population. This feeling is still
uppermost with many, but all welcome inquiry, and
agree that the experience and discretion of Sir H.
Storks, his military promptitude and known admi-
nistrative ability, furnish the best guarantees for
good government and good order so long as he re-
mains in the island. On another point the whites
with whom I have conversed are singularly unani-
mous. No one of them entertains the least doubt
that Mr. Eyre will be triumphantly " acquitted."
The doubts and denunciations at home find no echo
here ; and this nearly universal agreement—for
such it seems to be—upon a subject which in Eng-
land has produced such wide disagreement is one
of the first things nated by a new-comer. Even
those Jamaica politicians who had been deter-
mined opponents of Mr. Eyre's administration, and
who at another time would have rejoiced at his
removal from the (colony, now rally round
him, express their gratitude for his efficient
measures in suppressing the rebellion, and protest
against the injustice to which they declare he has
been treated in turn by the Imperial Government.
One of the principal newspapers at Kingston, the
Colonial Standard, which repeatedly urged Mr. Eyre's
recall before the outbreak, now supports him warmly,
and says that the blind sympathy of certain philan-
thropists in England, and the imprudent interfer-
ence of the British Government, will lead the igno-
rant negro in the West Indies to think that he may
perpetrate any outrage with impunity. In conversa-
tion I have ventured to suggest that, perhaps, if the
negro can be convinced he will have justice from
England, such a conviction may form the best secu-
rity against future outrage by him. But generally
the feeling here is that the mass of the negroes will
misapprehend any reproof given from England to
the head of the colony, and will view it as giving
them licence to do just as they like, and to lord it
over the white man. It must be confessed that the
negro does not seem able to enjoy his triumph quietly
or discreetly; and I am not surprised that their exul-
tation and exaggerated talk should have irritated
the whites, used to command, and ill able to brook
what they regard as a mortification inflicted on the
superior race. Yesterday the black men were saying
loudly that Governor Eyre was to be hanged, and
that the chief authorities hero would be sent to the
Penitentiary. A negro called out to an officer who
was passing, " You won't oppress the blacks any
longer—new Governor come ;" and similar expres-
:ions flung at the whites have not tended to allay
their exasperation. Here, in Kingston at least, many
of the negroes seem intelligent. They read their
newspapers in the streets, when perhaps they should
be at work; and I believe the articles in the English
papers favourable to their cause are regularly repro-
duced here and eagerly looked for. In some cases
they are read and commented on in the native chapels.
The dangerous effects of this literature upon the
impressionable and ignorant blacks is strenuously
insisted on here.