Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-11-28
GDklloI':::::: { !: sState';sEjn,,rla3l,l'I,. te';Ej, \ III,
The Negro InsirrecfiOn In Jamai-
Comments Of English Jonr-
nals--The Outbreak I'm Former
Years--A Useful Lesson 10 she
AbOlitionists. ',H H..H E9upl U H


y nals--The Outbreak. I'm Former
!, Years--A Useful Lesson. TO she
AbOlitiOnists. ',H H.. E9up. n ~.
-.a4a. London Standard. Nov. Ill .r..-r.. u,
| Negro instructions are formidable mat
ters, not because the rebels are brave or res
olute, but because they are cruel, brutal,
and licentiOus to. a degree Of which En-
glishmen have happily no conception. The
unhappy whites of Jamaica know them but
too well. The island has several times
been terrified and partially devastated by
negro outbreaks. In 1888 o body of ma
rooms, or runaway slaves, established a set
Element In the north of the island, and in
spired no small alarm throughout the neigh
boring districts. In 1745 q conspiracy to
murder the whole white population, in
which at least 900 slaves are said to have
been implicated, was detected, and served
to exasperate the feelingsiot distrust and
alarm which too generally resulted from
the existing system of West Indian slavery.
In 1895 series of revolts broke out in vari-
GUS parts of Jamaica, and were not effect
ually suppressed till the following year.
In 1881 took place the most serious insur-
rection that had ever alarmed the master
race, and brought down condign punish
ment on the slaves. .,rt..- .,-,...,.
% The agitation for the Abolition of slavery
was In those days vehement and incessant,
and the excitement which it produced at
home speedily spread to the West Indian
colonies The missionaries, who were
possessed with that strong hatred to slavery
which has always, for nearly century past,
formed a part of the creed of the Dissenting
sects, to which they chiefly belonged, did
not deem it inconsistent with their duty to
tell their sable fiocks what was said
and done in England tor their cause, and the
negroes were eagerly on the watch for the
first announcement of their elevation to a
liberty which, as events have too abundant
ly proved, they were hardly able to under
stand and almost certain to abuse. At this
juncture the Home Government, with more
of human zeal than of statesmanlike knowl-
edge and forethought, issued certain orders
In council intended to ameliorate the con-.
dition of the slaves and restrain the author,
ity of the masters, These orders were pro-
duetive of consequences on which those
who drew them up had never calculated.
They provoked the fiercest Indignation
among the planters, who knew better than
the Home Government how impossible 1t
was to reconcile any limitation of their
power with the maintenance of their as
cendancy over the minds of their slaves.
And the negroes who heard the angry
speeches of their masters and drew their
own distorted differences from what they.
heard, fancied that the King had decreed
their emancipation, and that the planters
refused to grant it. They broke out into
insurrection; burnt houses, ravaged planta-
tipns, and committed all the atrocities which
might be expected from horde of savages
let loose on civilized country Martial
law was proclaimed, and the whites, armed
and aided by troops, succeeded in putting
down the rebellion. OF the vengeance that
followed we need not speak,. 1t was less
severe than that which followed the Indian
mutiny, and the provocation had not been
lighter. Other revolts and outbreaks fol-
lowed from the anti-slavery agitation in
England, and the alarm which they excited
probably hastened its triumph. In 1888
slavery was abolished throughout the Brit
ish colonies, and since that time the ne
groes have enjoyed all the privileges and
immunities of their white tellow-subjects.
| What then, means this insurrection, and
the atrocities which are said to accompany
it? 1t is impossible to say. The negroes
have no grievances, no wrongs, no disabili-
ties, to redress. They form a majority of
the island constituency they are allowed
to elect negro representatives. Negroes, sit
on the bench of Justice and in the Govern
or's council. The insurrection, then, has
not been provoked by oppression or suffer-
ing. 1t does not aim at the cure of evils or
the punishment OF injuries. 1t has probar
bly, been, excited by the events which have
taken place in the neighboring countries,
and which must aroused the feelings of
the West Indian negroes In no ordinary de-
gree. The defeat Of the Spaniards in San
Domingo may have done much to promote
state Of feverish ambition and restless
imaginings among the blacks of our islands.
The victory of the North in the American
war must have done much more. 80. q;
l. Let us ask ourselves how an ignorant
Jamaica negro would look on that struggle.
He would see that all the whites sympathiz-
ed with the, South, He would Know that
his own countrymen longed for the triumph
of the North. He would hear of negro
troops led to battle under the. Federal coll
ors and ,mown down by Confederate artil-
lery, His Ignorance and his vivid imagina-
tion would picture the war to him as a war
between blacks and whites, in, which the
whites of the greatest nation within his
sphere of knowledge had been crushed by
the negroes. He would hear Of negroes
dOmineering over conquered, whites and
| sQuatting on confscated lands. He would
hear of negro troops in garrison at Charles
ton, Mobile and New Orleans. What would
| be his Interpretation of these events, and
how great his eagerness to repeat the his
tory on the soil of Jamaicap Va t;os 81 -.
l. The aim, of negro instructions is easily
told. 1t is plumber, lust, and massacre. In
the old days, women and children had to
dread the worst outrages, and men a death
of agony from the fury of those ,halftamed
savagesl whom, they imported from the
Coast of Africa. Now, as we, saw, the 9TH
er day in St. Vincent the. scheme of the
/ do re Of oau 10 o..d fr,fra