New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-11-20
THE REAL ISSUE IN THE CASE or
cor EYRE


II is by no means surprising that Gov Eyre should
find sympathirers in this country The spirit that
upheld and justified Negro Slavery. as Divine insti-
tuition yet lives among us in unimpered vitality. and
every conceivable atrocy Of which the negro happens
10 be the victim is regarded in certain quarters, as
yenial and pardonsble oifense. The World has yiru
lently attacked the Jamaica Committee" for pre-
Stunning to adopt measures for having the Ex-Governor
of Jamaica brought TO trial. and attributes the action
Of the Committee to mingled fanaticism and
yindictiyeness. II is easy to question mo
tiyes; it is easy to impute motives; 1t Is easy to
asperse and vlfy those who are doing battle for the
right-as The World we'll knows. But it is not quite
so easy TO set aside ndsputable facts TO debauch the
moral sense Of mankind, to persuade people that
wanton cruelty 10 only another form of heayen-born
mercy The case against Gov. Eyre lies in very
narrow compass, and no amount of sophstry can
hide from intelligent minds, not under the influence
Of prejudice the real issue involved. 1t is not for
what Gov. Eyre did in "suppressing the so-called
instruction of the blacks that he is to be brought to
trial, but for what he did, or caused to be done
after the disturbances had been, on his own showing,
completely Queed. The disastrous riot at Morant
Bay in which about dozen planters and their parti-
zans were killed by the blacks, and the subsequent
page and destruction Of property by the mob, were
embraced within period Of not more than thrtysiI
hours BY the time the military had been moved TO
the district all was over; the popular violence had
spent itself; quiet had been, in great measure,
restored. In their operations against the rebels,
the soldiers encountered no enemy whatever; and
it Is notorious that not one OF them re-
ceived 80 much as scratch during the memorable
campaign in which they covered themselves with
glory! Yet, as if purely in retaliation for the life
sacrificed at MOrant Bay in an outbreak provoked by
the wrong. headed obstinacy of the planters them
selves, hundreds of people, most of them innocent of
any participation whatever in the riot or the subse-
quent outrages were shot and hung scores of women
were logged their bare persons with "cats" in
which wire was twisted with the cords; fully one thou
sand Of the cottages of the peasantry were wantony
burned by the soldiers and several men, such as
George William Gordon and others, who were resid-
ing at a considerable distance from the scene Of the
outbreak, were seized tried by court-martal for
pessons said ohsve been used by them months before
the riot and forthwith put to death. In the case Of
Gordon, particularly, there was q most fragrant
violation of those safeguards which the law provides
for life and liberty inasmuch as he was not even re-
siding in that part of the country over which martial
law had been proclaimed. And TO make the matter
worse, he was il is well known, personally obnoxious
to both Gov. Eyre and the planter party on account
Of the prominent part he had taken in opposing the
administration of the former, and in bringing to light
the wrongs perpetrated by the latter on the blacks
Had he been taken in the act of rebellion, with arms
in his arms or had it been proved that he had inst
ha IN III nd he nla
would have been very different Bot he was tried and
executed, not for any overt act, not for any ascer
tanned connection whatever with the riot, but for al
legged reasonable language used at political meetings
held in different parts Of the island long prior to tho
outbreak 1t was, in fact, assumed that because he
was what is called political agitator he must of ne
cessty have been the nstgator and planner of tho
rebellion" and so no was sent to tho gallows II