The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-04-06
The Late instruction in jamaica.

lfroE the Atlantic Monthly 1or APRIL
In little triangular tract of country on the
east shore OF Jamaica, hemmed in between
the sea and the Blue Mountains, twenty-five
miles long and two thirds as wide, occurred in
October last what Governor Eyre has seen fit
to DIGNITY with the name OF an instruction.
The first act of violence was committed at
Morant Bay,-a town where it is said that no
missionary to the blacks has been permitted to
live for thirty five yearS,-in the parish of st.
Thomas in the East,Cthat very st. Thomas,
possibly, whose courthouse was called forty
years ago the "hell of Jamaica" and where is
preserved as pleasant relic Of the past re-
cord book wherein the curious traveller reads.
the prices paid in the palmy days of slavery
Tor cutting off the ears and legs, and Sitting
the noses OF runaway negroes. Had these
negroes Of Morant Bay any special causes OF
evaporation? They had. Their complaint
was threefold First, that the only masis-.
trate who protected their interests had been
arbitrarily removed. Second, that a planta-
ton claimed by them to be deserted was as ar
bitrarily adjudged to be the rightfnl property
of white man. Third, that the plucking OF
fruit by the wayside, which had been a custom
from time immemoral, and which resembled
the plucking Of ears ct corn under the jew
ish law, was by new regulation made crime.
Thus matters stood on the day of the out
break; general condition Of poverty and dis
content throughout the island, special con-
dition of evaporation In the parish of St.
Thomas in the East, and particularly at Mo
rant Bay. M g -
On tue It'll OF last October, negro was ar
rested for picking two cocoa-nuts, value three
pence. This arrest had every exasperatine
condition. The fruit was taken from PLAN
tation whose title was disputed, and upon
which the negroes had squatted. The law
which made the plucking of fruit crime was
itself peculiarly obnoxious. The magistrate
before whom the offence was to be tried, right
ly or wrongly, was accused by the blacks of
gross impartiality and injustice. The accused
man was followed to the court by crowd of
his friends, armed, 1t IS said, with clubs, though
this latter statement seems to be doubtful
When sentence OF four shillings' fine or, in
default of payment, thirty days Imprisonment
was imposed, the award was received in ST.
lence. But when the costs were adjudged to
be twelve shillings and sixpence, there were
murmurs. Some tumultuOiisly' advised the
man not to pay. Some, believing the case in
volved the title to the land, told him to appeal
to higher court The magistrate ordered
the arrest Of all noisy persons. But these fled
to the street, and, Shielded by the citizens, es-
capped. The next day but one, six constables
armed with warrant proceeded to Stony
Gut, the scene of the original arrest, to take
into custody twenty-eight persons accused of
riot. But they were torcibly resisted, hand
'cuffed with their own irons, and forced igno-
miniously to take their way back. Some of the
arrests. however, were made quietly a little
time after. aallsa f,l,F ~ laai38 !,
On the 18th of October dawned an eyentfi,l
day. The magistrates were assembled in the
courthouse at Morant Bay for the purpose of
examining the prisoners. The courthouse
was guarded by twenty armed volunteers. a
body apparently of local militia. Some four
or tive hundred excited blacks surrounded the
court house, ar med with bludgeons, grasping
stones. What led to collision can never be
known. Very probably missiles were thrown
at the guard At any late the officer in com
mand ordered them TO fire upon the crowd.
and hfteen OF the rioters fell dead or wounded.
Then all restraint was at an end. The negroes
threw themselves with incredible ft1ry Enon
the guard, drove them into the COURTHOUSE.
summoned them to surrender at discretion,
then set fire to the building and murdered.
with many instances of atrocity, the unhappy
inmates, as they sought to fee.g Sixteen were
killed, and eighteen wounded, while a few es-
capped unframed, by the help of the NEGROES
themselves. This was the beginning and the
end OF the famous armed insurrection. SO far
as it ever was armed instruction. The riot
s.S 1919 ulp - sgu rue splrit OF characterization
90 so,,tc inefe was general
rohharH T THe Iessruc.lon Of property, some
MANY left ali and fed The ,,,"a+ nr,o Will a,aIn
renorts obtained credanco P,st =; HAaseraeed
a Mr.. Hine, who had rendered himself espec-
tally unpopular, and who was murdered on
his plantation, not one white man appears 10
have been killed in cold blood, and not one
White woman or child suffered from violence
come to LIGHT. OfSc;si renn,ts ~ may seI
some secret chapfer If hloodsbad Dr., 800, tha
chances of such revelation are y, o,sl,,, se
Three months have elansed s;ncs ,ta s.St ~
ipgs of the outbreak reached ~ =, :. ~ si.-
try. There has been oreat ooan7
vestigation has been demandaJ. eao.s h ~,
been called for; the defenders of the n1an+a ss
have been defed to produce facts. Meanwhile
the Governor of Jamaica has written .ho ,ne
repeated dispatches; the commander Of fy the
military forces which crushed the rahoo,, y, sns
visited Ensand the planters, innr,,aIs ha las
come out laden with yulpar abnse If tha aa ~
gro, and with all sorts of evil snrinises as 70
his motives and purposes: letters have hee,,
received from Jamaica from nerson. in avor,,
position in life I; and still no new facts.-not 90.
much as one clear accusation of any further
fatal violence. The conclusion is irresistiblo
that this was riot, and not an insnrrect;on.
and that it began and ended. SO far az armed
force was concerned, at Morant Bay. ON that
unhappy day, the eleventh of last October
1t cannot be denied that the Occurrences of
that Cay were marked by some circumstsnces
of painful terocity.sa Men were literally hacks
ed to pieces, crying for mercy. One mans
tongue was cut from his mouth even while he
lived. Another, escaping, was thrown hack
into the burning building, and roasted to
death. The JOINTS Of the hand Of the dead
chief magistrate were discovered by the blacks.
who cried out exultingly, "This hand will
write no more lying dispatches to the Onean y