, 1866-05-25

agents were dTEdlSHcu DIS part VI d FdSL
system of unjust policy, influencing the
whole administration of our Indian m
pire. The disturbances in the West
Indies in c%onneXion with emancipation
caused much excitement in this country,
because they were felt to effect the great
issue between freedom and slavery. In
this case it was our sense of Justice and
humanity alone which called forth the
unanimous demand for a searching inqul-
ry. 1t must always be remembered that
a bloodthirsty massacre, In which more
than twenty whites were cruelty slaugh-
tered, was the only event OF which, tor
some days, we had any intelligence.
Then came reports of the measures taken
for purposes of self defence and repres-
sion-measures which, in the first ln-
stance, were justified by paramount ne
rcessity. It was not as though the gov
erning class in Jamaica had been guilty
of some wanton aggression on the ne
groes ; on the contrary, they had been
driven to arm by fearful Outrages on the
side of the latter. It was alleged, how
ever, that the retribution had been vim
d~ictive, excessive, indiscriminate, and
unduly prolonged, and it is highly to the
credit of English character that such a
suspicion should have shocked the nation
al conscience almost as much as if there
had been no provocation. There was,
on admixture of fanatical motives, inher-
tied from the days of abolition, in the
first outburst of indignation against the
civil and military authorities of the ISL
and and, on the other hand, it was too
roundlY contended that a Government
ought to support its subordinates at all
hazards. Both these preiudices rapidly
subslded when 1t was once known that u
judicial investigation would be instituted,
and all parties have long since tacitly
agreed to await the verdict of the Com
m~issioners. That verdict will very
shortly be published, and in the mean
time we are not altogether without the
means of anticipating its general effect.
That any report founded on the exa-
mination of 500 witnesses, most of them
coloured, and almost all strongly biased,
should be in all respects satisfactory"
is far more than We can expect. We
may be sure that it will leave many
things in doubt, that it will fail to draw
the line precisely between widespread
disaffection and an organized conspiracy,
that it will not exactly apportion the res
possibility or criminaIity of individuals,
and that, in short, it will be what q par
tisan would call "neither one thing nor
the other" Still, we venture to antici-
pate that it will materially elucidate
what it most concerns us to know, and
present us, for the first time, with an i'm
partial view of these deplorable events.
OF course, the first point to be cleared
up is the origin of the outbreak, and
upon this much light will have been
thrown by the labours of the Commits
sioners. The evidence has gone to prove
that while no plot for the murder of Ba-
ron Ketelholdt and his companions can
be distinctly traced, yet it was preceded
by symptoms of a rebellious and sanguin-
airy spirit in the population of st. Tho
mas's-in-the-E East, which, coupled with
the massacre itself, might we'll suggest
that inference. It has also shown that
in the west of the island sedition had
been so prevalent three or four months
before that such apprehensions as be-
trayed themselves in the expressions
about smines'' and "~volcanoes'' were by
no means unfounded. Considering, more