Part 612

"Cromwell set himself to maintain and develop his new conquest. He issued a proclamation encouraging trade and settlement in the island by exemption from taxes. In order to 'people and plant' it, he ordered an equal number of young men and women to be sent over from Ireland, he instructed the Scotch government to apprehend and transport the idle and vagrant, and he sent agents to the New England colonies and the other West Indian islands in order to attract settlers. After the first three or four years this policy of encouraging emigration, continued in spite of the Protector's death, bore due fruit, and Jamaica became to a singular extent a receptacle for the most varied types of settlers, for freemen as well as for political offenders or criminals from Newgate, and for immigrants from the colonies as well as from the mother country. … The death of Cromwell brought over adherents of the Parliamentary party, ill content with the restoration of the Stuarts; the evacuation of Surinam in favour of the Dutch brought in a contingent of planters in 1675; the survivors of the ill-fated Scotch colony at Darien came over in 1699; and the Rye House Plot, Sedgmoor, and the risings of 1715 and 1745 all contributed to the population of the island. Most of all, however, the buccaneers made Jamaica great and prosperous. … Situated as the island was, well inside the ring of the Spanish possessions, the English occupation of Jamaica was a godsend to the buccaneers, while their privateering trade was exactly suited to the restless soldiers who formed the large bulk of the early colonists. So Port Royal became in a few years a great emporium of ill-gotten wealth, and the man who sacked Panama became Sir Henry Morgan, Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica. … In 1661 Charles II. sanctioned the beginnings of civil government. … Municipal institutions were introduced, judges and magistrates were appointed, land grants were issued, and the island began to take the form and substance of an English colony. The constitution thenceforward consisted of a Governor, a nominated Council, and an elected Assembly; and the first Assembly, consisting of 30 persons, met in January, 1664. … It was not long before the representative body began to assert its independence by opposition to the Crown, and in 1678 the Home government invited conflict by trying to apply to Jamaica the system which had been introduced into Ireland by the notorious Poynings' law. Under this system no Assembly could be summoned for legislative purposes except under special directions from home, and its functions would have been limited to registering consent to laws which had already been put into approved shape in England." Conflict over this, attempt to deal with Jamaica as "a conquered and tributary dependency" did not end until 1728, when the colonists bought relief from it by settling on the Crown an "irrevocable revenue" of £8,000 per annum. "About the time when the constitutional difficulty was settled, the Maroon question was pressing itself more and more upon the attention of the colonial government. The penalty which Jamaica paid for being a large and mountainous island was, that it harboured in its forests and ravines a body of men who, throughout its history down to the present century, were a source of anxiety and danger. The original Maroons, or mountaineers, for that is the real meaning of the term, were … the slaves of Spaniards who retreated into the interior when the English took the island, and sallied out from time to time to harass the invaders and cut off stragglers and detached parties. … Maroon or Maron is an abbreviation of Cimaron, and is derived from the Spanish or Portuguese 'Cima,' or mountain top. Skeat points out that the word is probably of Portuguese origin, the 'C' having been pronounced as 'S.' Benzoni (edited by the Hakluyt Society), who wrote about 1565, speaks of 'Cimaroui' as being the Spanish name for outlawed slaves in Hispaniola. … It is probable that the danger would have been greater if the outlaws had been a united band, but there were divisions of race and origin among them. The Maroons proper, the slaves of the Spaniards and their descendants, were mainly in the east of the island among the Blue Mountains, while the mountains of the central district were the refuge of runaways from English masters, including Africans of different races, as well as Madagascars or Malays. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the newer fugitives had found in a negro named Cudjoe an able and determined leader, and thenceforward the resistance to the government became more organised and systematic. … {1872} Finally, in 1738, Governor Trelawny made overtures of peace to the rebels, which were accepted. … By this treaty the freedom of the negroes was guaranteed, special reserves were assigned to them, they were left under the rule of their own captains assisted by white superintendents, but were bound over to help the government against foreign invasion from without and slave rebellions from within. A similar treaty was made with the eastern Maroons, and the whole of these blacks, some 600 in number, were established in five settlements. … Under these conditions the Maroons gave little trouble till the end of the 18th century. … The last Maroon war occurred in 1795." When the insurgent Maroons surrendered, the next year, they were, in violation of the terms made with them, transported to Nova Scotia, and afterwards to the warmer climate of Sierra Leone. "Thus ended the last Maroon rebellion; but … it affected only one section of these negro freemen, and even their descendants returned in many cases to Jamaica at a later date."

_C. P. Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies, volume 2, section 2, chapter 3, with foot-note._

ALSO IN: _G. W. Bridges, Annals of Jamaica, volume 1, and volume 2, chapters 1-16._

_R. C. Dallas, History of the Maroons._

JAMAICA: A. D. 1689-1762. The English slave trade.

See SLAVERY, NEGRO: A. D. 1698-1776.

JAMAICA: A. D. 1692. Destructive Earthquake.

"An earthquake of terrible violence laid waste in less than three minutes the flourishing colony of Jamaica. Whole plantations changed their place. Whole villages were swallowed up. Port Royal, the fairest and wealthiest city which the English had yet built in the New World, renowned for its quays, for its warehouses, and for its stately streets, which were said to rival Cheapside, was turned into a mass of ruins. Fifteen hundred of the inhabitants were buried under their own dwellings."

_Lord Macaulay, History of England, chapter 19 (volume 4)._

JAMAICA: A. D. 1834-1838. Emancipation of Slaves.

See SLAVERY, NEGRO: A. D. 1834-1838.

JAMAICA: A. D. 1865. Governor Eyre's suppression of Insurrection.

In October, 1865, there occurred an insurrection among the colored people of one district of Jamaica, the suppression of which throws "a not altogether pleasant light upon English methods, when applied to the government of a subject race. … The disturbances were confined to the district and parish of St. Thomas in the East. There were local grievances arising from a dispute between Mr. Gordon, a native [colored] proprietor, and Baron Ketelholdt, the custos of the parish. Mr. Gordon, a dissenter, and apparently a reformer of abuses and unpopular among his fellows, had been deprived of his place among the magistrates, and prevented from filling the office of churchwarden to which he was elected. The expenses of the suits against him had been defrayed from the public purse. The native Baptists, the sect to which he belonged, were angry with what they regarded as at once an act of persecution and a misappropriation of the public money. Indignation meetings had been held. … Behind this quarrel, which would not of itself have produced much result, there lay more general grievances. … There was a real grievance in the difficulty of obtaining redress through law administered entirely by landlords; and as a natural consequence there had grown up a strong mistrust of the law itself, and a complete alienation between the employer and the employed. To this was added a feeling on the part of the class above the ordinary labourer, known as the free settlers, that they were unduly rented, and obliged to pay rent for land which they should have held free; and there was a very general though vague expectation that in some way or other the occupiers would be freed from the payment of rent. The insurrection broke out in October;" a small riot, at first, at Morant Bay, in which a policeman was beaten; then an attempt to arrest one of the alleged rioters, a colored preacher, Paul Bogle by name, and a formidable resistance to the attempt by 400 of his friends. "On the next day, when the Magistrates and Vestry were assembled in the Court-House at Morant Bay, a crowd of insurgents made their appearance, the volunteers were called out, and the Riot Act read; and after a skirmish the Court-House was taken and burnt, 18 of the defenders killed and 30 wounded. The jail was broken open and several stores sacked. There was some evidence that the rising was premeditated, and that a good deal of drilling had been going on among the blacks under the command of Bogle. From Morant Bay armed parties of the insurgents passed inland through the country attacking the plantations, driving the inhabitants to take refuge in the bush, and putting some of the whites to death. The Governor of the Island at the time was Mr. Eyre [former explorer of Australia]. He at once summoned his Privy Council, and with their advice declared martial law over the county of Surrey, With the exception of the town of Kingston. Bodies of troops were also at once despatched to surround the insurgent district. … 439 persons fell victims to summary punishment, and not less than 1,000 dwellings were burnt; besides which, it would appear that at least 600 men and women were subjected to flogging, in some instances with circumstances of unusual cruelty. But the event which chiefly fixed the attention of the public in England was the summary conviction and execution of Mr. Gordon. He was undoubtedly a troublesome person, and there were circumstances raising a suspicion that he possessed a guilty knowledge of the intended insurrection. They were however far too slight to have secured his conviction before a Court of Law. But Governor Eyre caused him to be arrested in Kingston, where martial law did not exist, hurried on board ship and carried to Morant Bay, within the proclaimed district. He was there tried by a court-martial, consisting of three young officers," was sentenced to death, and immediately hanged.

_J. F. Bright, History of England: period 4, pages 413-415._

"When the story reached England, in clear and trustworthy form, two antagonistic parties were instantly formed. The extreme on the one side glorified Governor Eyre, and held that by his prompt action he had saved the white population of Jamaica from all the horrors of triumphant negro insurrection. The extreme on the other side denounced him as a mere fiend. The majority on both sides were more reasonable; but the difference between them was only less wide. An association called the Jamaica Committee was formed for the avowed purpose of seeing that justice was done. It comprised some of the most illustrious Englishmen. … {1873} Another association was founded, on the opposite side, for the purpose of sustaining Governor Eyre; and it must be owned that it too had great names. Mr. Mill may be said to have led the one side, and Mr. Carlyle the other. The natural bent of each man's genius and temper turned him to the side of the Jamaica negroes, or of the Jamaica Governor. Mr. Tennyson, Mr. Kingsley, Mr. Ruskin, followed Mr. Carlyle; we know now that Mr. Dickens was of the same way of thinking. Mr. Herbert Spencer, Professor Huxley, Mr. Goldwin Smith, were in agreement with Mr. Mill. … No one needs to be told that Mr. Bright took the side of the oppressed, and Mr. Disraeli that of authority." A Commission of Inquiry sent out to investigate the whole matter, reported in April, 1866, commending the vigorous promptitude with which Governor Eyre had dealt with the disturbances at the beginning, but condemning the brutalities which followed, under cover of martial law, and especially the infamous execution of Gordon. The Jamaica Committee made repeated efforts to bring Governor Eyre's conduct to judicial trial; but without success. "The bills of indictment never got beyond the grand jury stage. The grand jury always threw them out. On one memorable occasion the attempt gave the Lord Chief Justice [Cockburn] of England an opportunity of delivering … to the grand jury … a charge entitled to the rank of a historical declaration of the law of England, and the limits of the military power even in cases of insurrection."

_J. McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, chapter 49 (volume 4)._

ALSO IN: _G. B. Smith, Life and Speeches of John Bright, volume 2, chapter 5._

_W. F. Finlason, History of the Jamaica Case._

JAMAICA: End----------

JAMES I., King of Aragon, A. D. 1213-1276.

James I., King of England, A. D. 1603-1625 (he being, also, James VI., King of Scotland, 1567-1625).

James I., King of Scotland, 1406-1437.

James II., King of Aragon, 1291-1327; King of Sicily, 1285-1295.

James II:, King of England, 1685-1689.

James II., King of Scotland, 1437-1460.

James III., King of Scotland, 1460-1488.

James IV., King of Scotland, 1488-1513.

James V., King of Scotland, 1513-1542.

JAMES ISLAND, Battle on.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (JULY: SOUTH CAROLINA).

JAMESTOWN, Virginia: A. D. 1607-1610. The founding of the colony.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1606-1607; and 1607-1610.

JAMNIA, Battle of.

A defeat by Gorgias, the Syrian general, of part of the army of Judas Maccabæus which he left under his generals Joseph and Azarius, B. C. 164.

_Josephus, Antiquity of the Jews, book 12, chapter 8._

JAMNIA, The School of.

A famous school of Jewish theology, established by Jochanan, who escaped from Jerusalem during the siege by Titus.

_H. Graetz, History of the Jews, volume 2, page 327._

JANICULUM, The.

See LATIUM, and VATICAN.

JANISSARIES, Creation and destruction of the.

See TURKS: A. D. 1326-1359; and 1826.

JANKOWITZ, Battle of (1645).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1640-1645.

JANSENISTS, The.

See PORT ROYAL AND THE JANSENISTS.

JANUS, The Temple of.

See TEMPLE OF JANUS.

JAPAN: Start----------

JAPAN: Sketch of history to 1869.