The weekly Anglo-African., 1860-02-11

l y
of you. In neither of them can ascend
or descend with my arms, which must be
handed to me, step by step, as practised
by the Maroons themselves. One of the
ways lies to the eastward, and the other
to the westward and they will take care
to have both guarded, if they suspect that
| am with you; which, from the route you
have come today, they will. They now
see you, and if you advance fifty PAGES
more, they will convince you of it." AT
this moment a Maroon horn sounded the
notes indicating his name, and as he made
no answer, voice was heard, inquiring if
he were among them. ''If he is" said the
voice, "let him go back, we do not wish
to hurt him; but as for the rest of you
come on and try battle, if you choose
But the gentlemen did not choose.
In September the House of Assembly
met. Things were looking worse and
worse. For five months handful of ne.
groes and mulattoes had defed the whole
force of the island; and they were defend
ing their liberty by precisely the same
tactics through which their ancestors had
won it. Half million pounds sterling
had been spent within this time, besides
the enormous loss incurred by the with
drawal of SO many able-b bodied men from
their regular employments. Cultivation
was suspended" says an eyewitness; "the
courts of law had long been shut up; and
the island at large seemed more like gar
rison under the power of law-martial, than
country of agriculture and commerce, of
civil judicature, industry, and prosperity"
Hundreds of the militia had died of fatigue
large numbers had been shot down, the
most daring of the British officers had fall
en-, while the insurgents had been invaria-
bly, successful, and not one of them was
known to have been killed. Captain
Craskell, the banished superintendent, gave
it to the Assembly as his opinion, that tn,
whole slave population of the island was III
sympathy with the Maroons, and would
soon be beyond control. More alarming
STILL there were rumors of French emissa
ries behind the scenes; and though these
were explained away, the vague terror re-
mained. Indeed the Lieutenant Governor
announced in his message that he had sat
isfactory evidence that the French Con
vention was concerned in the revolt A
French prisoner named Murenson had tes-
tilted that the French agent at Philadelphia
(Fauchet) had secretly sent hundred and
fifty emissaries to the island, and threaten
ed to land fifteen hundred negroes. And
though Murenson took it all back at last,
yet the Assembly was moved to make a
new offer of three hundred dollars for kill.
ing or taking Trelawney Maroon, and a
hundred and fifty dollars for killing OF
taking any fugitive slave who had joined
them. They also voted five hundred
pounds as a gratuity to the Accompong
tribe of Maroons, who had thus far kept
out of the insurrection; and various prizes
and gratuities were also offered by the diff
ferent parishes, with the same object of
self protection.
The commander-in-c chief being among
the killed, Colonel Walpole was promoted
ed in his stead, and brevetted as general,
by way of incentive. He found people
in despair, soldiery thoroughly intimida-
ted, and treasury, not empty, but use
less. But the new general had not served
against the Maroons for nothing, and was
not ashamed to go to schoolto his opponents
First, he waited for the dry season; then
he directed all his efforts towards cutting
off his opponents from water; and, most eff
fectual move of all, he attacked each cock
pit by dragging up howitzer, with i'm
mense labor, and throwing in shells
Shells were visitation not dreamed of i'll
Maroon philosophy, and their quaint com
pliments to their new opponent remain on
record "Damn dat little buckra !" they
said; "he cunning more dan dem toder
Dis here the new fashion for fight: him fire
big ball arter you, and when big ball top
de damn sunting something fire arter you
again. With which Parthian arrows OF
rhetoric the mountaineers retreated.
But this did not last long. The Maroons
soon learned to keep out of the way of the
shells, and the island relapsed into terror
again. 1t was deliberately resolved at
last, by special council convoked for the
purpose, "to persuade the rebels to make
peace" But as they had not as yet shown
themselves very accessible to softer infu-
ences, it was thought best to combine as
many arguments as possible, and a certain
.
new one. His plan simply was, since men,
however well disciplined, had proved pow
erless against the Maroons, to try Span
ish fashion against them, and use dogs
The proposition was met, in some quar-
ters, with the strongest hostility. Eng
land, it was said, had always denounced
the Spaniards as brutal and dastardly for
hunting down the natives of that very soil
with hounds-an should England now fol-
low the humiliating example? On the
other side, there were plenty who eagerly
quoted all known instances of geological
warfare: all Oriental nations, for instance,
used elephants in war, and no doubt wonld
gladly use lions and tigers, also, but for
their extreme carnivorousness, and their
painful indifference to the distinction be-
tween friend and foe;-why not, then, use
these dogs, comparatively innocent and
gentle creatures? At any rate, something
must be done;" the final argument always