Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-08-21
A SLAVE INsURRECiIoN AND ITS RE
SUITS.


Indies, aud who was engaged ia that capacity il
tho Island OF Jamaica previous 10 and Mt the tim
Of emancipation made an instructive and interest
ing speech at the First Of August celebration II
Arlington, Mass. From it we extend the follow
ing;
From the Libvrator.
/ am happy Mr.. President. that you have plac
ed me before this assembly, not as one from whom
II speech may be expected. but in the eapncity Of
witness; and therefore [ can tell plain, straight
forward tale without being at all cast down by th
consciousness that cannot make any pretensiUr
TO those gifts OF oratJry, which | have observed
our friends have been accustomed to meet with IL
connection with those who have taken q leading
part on such occasions at this.
| anS perhaps Mr. Chairman, the only person
present whO was an eyewitness OF that event
which you have met together this day 10 celebrate
You Will see that nm very old man, sir the
SHOWS Of age have not entirely covered my head
but am old enough to have leen present. during
that insurrectiun to which you have referred, and
which was one Of the principal events which has
enc d on the crisis pf the movement for est In
III emancipation. and constrained tie British gov
rnment to let the oppressed 60 free. 1t had been
customary with the pro'slavery press OF Great
Britain,-and u very large portion OF that press
was, up to a late hour, under :hc iuhuence of the
West India body, aud Of those interested in the
mantaince Of slavery,-it bad been customary for
that press as t is for the proslavery press OF
this country, endeavor to mi-lend the masses by
asserting that the slaves better Uf than they
would be in freedom that they would be perfectly
content with their lot that they hugged their chain
and that it was, in brief. condition very little
short of the happiness of Paradise. You may
imagine. then. what sort OF feeling would be ex,
cited in Great Britain, among its churches and the
people generally, when the startling intelligence
reached them, i'll the be ginning of 1882 that fifty
thousand slaves in the island of Jamaica had made
an Effort for liberty, lad resolved to strike blow
for freedom, and had stood up in opposition to
their masters, and to the law which held them in
bondage, ard claimed their freedom. Sir, th3 il.
lusion was Mt once dispeled, and it was aeen and
felt throughout the Length and breaeth Of Great
Britain, that the public mind had been mpOs.
ed upon and that there existed in the West Indies,
amongst the slaves an intense desire, nay, more
than that, n determination to be tree. Sir. | hap
pened to be stationed in the leland of Jamaica,
and in that part of it which was the ecene of this
insurrection. | knew the person with whom the
insurrecti0n originated very well | marked its
progress; | was ewitness to the cruelties
and saushte by which it was suppressed and
saw ii brought to q termination. The man with
whom the insurectlon originated, Samuel Sharp
was slave, and member of the Baptist church
lin Mnntego Bay. Although it may seem strange
to many, Sam Sharp was Sery handsome negro.
perfect model man and more than that, he had
learned to read lie was born in slavery but he had
felt ythng Of the bitterness of slavery. He
was born in q family that treated him indulgently ;
he was pet, and was brought up a. play mate of
the juvenile members Of the family, and had op.
portuntes of learning to read and for mental cul.
tivation, to which very few of his fellow slaves had
access: and Sharp. above all this. was possessed
Of n mind worthy of any man, and of oratorical
,.nwerS of no common order. l have been aston
shed, when l have heard that address large
assembly, rs did several times while he in
jail to see the power with which he swayed the
feelings the hearts, and the minds OF HIS auditory.
He was man Of no common stamp, though a.
black man, aud born in slavery.
Well sir, Sharp determined to free himself and
his fellow. slaves. | do not know whethar he was
himself deceived, or whether no knowingly de-
.eived his felluw.cOnspiratOrs, but he persuaded
large number Of them to believe that the British
government had made them free and that their
lwners were keeping them in slavery in o2pos tion
to ,hc wishes OF the authorities in England. IL
80 happened sir, that ust at that time, the plant
ers themselves were pursuing course which fa
Vored Sharp's proceedings directly. They were
holding meetings through the Length and breadth !
pf the island, protesting against the interference |
nf the home government with their property, pass
ing very il famatur" resolutions and threatening
that they would transfer their allegiance to the
United States in order that they might perpetuate
their interest IN their slaves. Sharp deAterousy
took advantage of these meetings and pointed Ou'
to the slaves that il it were not true that the Bit
ish governments were willing to make them Tree
there would be no necessity for such meetings and
such publications. as these. The Consequence vas
that about fifty thousand of these people, ut the
Christmas hullidays, we're in nsurrecton, aud
claimed their rights British sul ljecs, and free
men, refusing II go to work on any terms, except
On the payment OF their proper wages rs free
wurkmen. The insurrectiCn was soon put down,as
YOU may imagine. Sharp really believed that the
British soldiers would not act ih opposition to the
-aves in claiming their freedom;lhe soon found his
however. A large budy Of military was
ordered to that part of the island. The command
er in.chief was a man who felt as man ought to
iee under such circumstances, and sought to du
everything he could to put on end to the lnsurrec'
tiun by snieut measures and issneG prOclama
ton promising that all who would return to their
duty within IA limited period should be pardoned,
that notice should be ,aken Of what they bad
done, unless they had been guilty OF ipcendiarism
pr had committed personal violence upon the op-
posire party. Parties were sent out with the pro
and many of the slaves, finding that
heir attem pt to recover their freedom in this way
would he ysn came in, and resumed their labOrs
u non The estates. The insuyreciun would s0Ou
have been put dawn. ard very little loss OF life |
would have epsued, had not the militia OF the IL
land. consisting of the planters who had manifest
I'd the greatest cUwardIce when tho insurrccuuu /
lruke out, now recovered their bravery, and sub |
iIgni,y and outrage, | have seen men and women !
v ho came in under the PROCLAMATION, and the !
promise il contained from the commander n.chiei,
AIKEN out of the field with their hoes in their
lands tied aud shot dead. | used To see tho gal.
uws filled with insurgents from morning to night
remember, on one occasion, my attention was di
eeted to an execution which was about to take
ilace that Of oue Of the principal leaders in the
a court martial was sitting in Mon,
egu. Bay, and about twenty or thirty yards of. u
,allows had been erected On which five or six per-
nn could be executed Mt once. Five men weie
langng on il. and five more we're beneath 1t, ami
{ was rumured thai Capt Dehany, a mnn who had
aiken Il leading part in the insurrectOn. was 20 b.
xecuted in the next lot. TIE eSecutioner, who
vas a brutal black man, and who who had escaped
he gaows On condition that he should perform
hcse horrible duties, was leaning against one OF
he posts of The gsllUvs, eating his breakiast,-a
,iece Of sal, fsh in enc hand and piece Of plaut.
in n the other. lie WAS told bis victims were
eady They only allowed the doomed ones hal