The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-12-15
THE JAMAICA 1NsURRECr1oN.


The record of England should have been
better; there should have been fewer blood
marks on the pages Of her history ere she
assumed to become to the United States the
selfappointed teacher of kindness and mercy
TO rebels. From her own rebellion in India
which she suppressed with severity without
precedent in the military usages of civilized
Europe, from the pleasant pastime of shoot
ing Sepoys from cannon, she turned to us to
teach us the blessedness Of forgiveness and
charity. She called SHERMAN brute, for the
the necessary destruction of property and
places from military considerations. and Bur-
LER beast for saving his soldiers from the
offensive assaults and vituperation of she
rebels.
Recently England has had an insurrection
in Jamaica. 1t was not formidable insur-
rection. From the report of Governor EYRE
of Jamaica, just published, it appears that on
the English side nobody was hurt" Among
an agricultural population of four hundred
thousand, which in his fright, Gov EYRE pro-
nounee to be in "most serious and alarming
insurrection,'' goes Col. HoBBs with less than
two hundred troops, and though he declares
he finds thousands of rebels, yet he adds,
"No stand has ever been made against the
troops" and that not single casualty had
befalen them. And, although the chivalrous
Governor gives notice that he took steps to
defend and protect ''the women and children
on the Island, this seems to have been un-
necessary, as his report shows that not a wo-
man or child was harmed.
Now what was English policy in this
"strangest rebellion ever seen,'' as the Ems G.
lish Ne,cs calls it, from its harmlessness on the
negro side. Gov. EYRE says, at may suffice
10 state generally that large number of reb
els have been shot with arms in their hands,
that great many prisoners have been tried
and hung, shot or hogged, and that consid-
erable number of prisoners are still ON hand
awaiting trial by court martial" Among
those hung was quiet and wealthy merchant,
CSC. WILLIAM GoBDEy, who was court mar
tailed and executed upon the slightest
grounds. The New York Ereaing Post con.
eludes an examination of this whole subject
thus:
Surely, on Governor Eyre's report, and on
the facts as published by his own organs he
and the British officers who acted under him
stand convicted of the most abject cowardice,
the most brutal and blood thirsty eruelties,
and the most disgraceful and inexcusable fal
sification and exaggeration. The mutinous
Sepoys in India did not much excel In inhu-
manlty and murderous zeal the English
woman whippers in Jamaica, who, scared out
of their wits by the phantom of negro revolt,
have run amuck over the Island, killing and
burning indiscriminatey. The Governor $
official report confirms the almost incredible
stories told by the press of his party 1t is no
longer doubtful that what he calls s'most
serious and alarming insurreeton" was a
purely local outbreak, produced by the sol
diers firing on the people before the latter had
committed any act of violence. 1t is equally
well established that the riot which followed
this act was put down ON the first day. but
that it was made the pretext, by the planters
and the Governor for the most shameful
murders and hoggings and indiscriminate de-
struction OF negro villages, all which was
done upon people who made no sort of re-
sistance. After these English gentleman had
''catted' hundreds OF women as well as men,
and had hanged or otherwise killed over two
thousand peopie, after reporting themselves
surrounded by thousands" of armed and
desperate rebels, and in She most imminent
peril after describing great bands of insur-
gents traversing different districts, pillasing
and murderingthe defenceless planters fami
lies, their Governor and leader shamelessly
confesses that mot a. lady or child has
been hurt" and mot a single casualty has be-
fallen any of our soldiers or sailors. and they
are all in good health. "