meeting on the 3rd of October, at which an oath was administered to him, and his name registered, was suddenly summoned from his bed late at night on the 9th to go to Stony Gut. Upon his arrival there he was told that the Volunteers and policemen were coming, and that he must assist in keeping guard. He remained in the chapel all night, and was one of those who answered to Bogle's call for help when the police arrived on the following morning.

It has already been mentioned that on the arrival of the policemen at Stony Gut on that morning some of them were compelled to take an oath, and that the purport of that oath was that they would "cleave to the blacks."

It was admitted too by a very unwilling witness, that for a week before the 11th of October the person before described as Captain Grant had been in the habit of drilling the men at Stony Gut; and it was stated by one of the constables who was detained in Bogle's house on the 10th that he saw a number of men drilled in companies by Moses Bogle and a person who was called Colonel Bowie. The account, in fact, which was given us of the proceedings on this occasion was so circumstantial that it deserves a place here. Paul Bogle said, "Colonel Bowie, take the men out to drill." Immediately, as we were told, about 300 men, armed with cutlasses, sticks, and lances, assembled about Bogle's house in three companies; one under Bowie, who appears to have taken the lead, a second under Moses Bogle, and the third under James Dacres. One company at a time went out to drill; the other two remaining in the yard of Bogle's house, "Colonel" Bowie's was the first company to be drilled; he ordered his men to fall in in threes, and gave the word of command, "March." They marched out in order with drum and shells, and practised marching and the use of their cutlasses. When Bowie's men came back, Moses Bogle took out one of the other companies.

Altogether the drilling occupied about three quarters of an hour.

On the morning of the 10th small parties were seen going, with fife and drum, in the direction from Stony Gut towards Coley, Somerset, and Mount Lebanus, and some of them were again seen in the evening returning with greatly increased numbers.

The conduct of the rioters on Wednesday, the 11th of October, was also very significant. They came, or, as some of the witnesses described it, marched into Morant Bay in different parties. There were individuals who exercised over them

some sort of authority, one being addressed as Colonel, another as captain. The larger body came from Stony Gut, where they had been collected from different places in the immediate neighbourhood. Others came from a distance of several miles from beyond Bath, while one large body, nearly 100 in number, came from Torrington, a large negro settlement to the north of Stony Gut, and joined those from the latter place at the entrance to Morant Bay.

Here the first thing done was to attack the police station, and to obtain possession of the arms placed there, consisting of muskets, bayonets, and pistols.

The muskets, however, proved to be of little use, as they were without flints. Upon this being discovered by their new possessors, they were heard to say, "How can they fight us when they have no flints to their guns."

It has already been stated that at this time an unsuccessful attempt was made to obtain gunpowder from a shop in the town.

Out of the very few persons assembled in the Court House who were allowed to escape, two were doctors, one of whom was told that if he had not been a doctor he would have been killed like the rest. Another pretended to be a doctor, and was let go by Bogle upon his swearing that he would not dress a white man's wound. A fourth was a Maroon.

There was manifested, indeed, throughout these disturbances, a great desire to conciliate the Maroons, and a great fear of offending them. Be careful what you do with this man, he is a Maroon," was sufficient to obtain the release of one of the policemen who was taken before McLaren, "The Captain of the Guard," and of one of his companions for whom he interceded. "Don't kill this man; he is a Maroon; the Maroon is our back," was the expression used by Bogle respecting one who had been taken prisoner,

"I am a Maroon, and if any one disturbs any one in my house I shall send for the Maroons," was the exclamation of a woman, of itself sufficient to frighten away a crowd of men intent upon violence.

We were unable to learn upon what foundation the hope of support from this singular people rested. Occupying as they do a mountainous district, difficult of access, and commanding the road from the north to the south of the Island, they had it in their power to afford most valuable assistance to any rising which might take place in St. Thomas-in-the-East. The only communication shown to us to have taken place between them and Bogle

occurred three or four weeks before the 11th of October, when Bogle paid a visit to the Maroon settlement at Hayfield in the neighbourhood of Bath, accompanied by Bowie and Bailey, both of whom were shown to have taken an active part with him in subsequent proceedings.

In this visit Bogle spoke of the grievances under which he said the people laboured from nonpayment of sufficient wages and the undue imposition of taxes.

He does not, however, appear to have obtained any encouragement from his audience, or to have said any thing as to any future plans.

Bowie, on the other hand, is represented to have said to one of the party that their intention was to beat the whites and browns out of the country, but that they were afraid of the Maroons, and wanted them not to interfere.

Among the members of the vestry deliberately murdered in the course of the night of the 11th was a Mr. Price, a negro, who had by his abilities raised himself to a position in life superior to that of most of his race.

When he was first caught, a discussion was overheard as to what should be his fate. One said, "Kill him." Another said, "Don't kill him; we have orders to kill no black, only white." "He has a black skin but a white heart," was the reply, and he was beaten to death.

It was proved that after the murders Bogle returned to Stony Gut, and that there was a service in his chapel in which he returned thanks to God that he "went to this work, and that God had succeeded him in his work."

With this evidence before us it was impossible to avoid arriving at the conclusion that there was on the part of the leaders of the rioters a preconcerted plan, and that murder was distinctly contemplated.

We ought, however, to advert to the following letter signed by Bogle and nineteen others, and addressed to the Go

vernor :

We, the petitioners of St. Thomas-inthe-East, send to inform your Excellency of the mean advantages that has been taken of us from time to time, and more especially this present time, when on Saturday, 7th of this month, an outrageous assault was committed upon us by the policemen of this parish, by order of the Justices, which occasion an outbreaking for which warrants have been issued against innocent person, of which we were compelled to resist. We, there fore, call upon your Excellency for protection, seeing we are Her Majesty's loyal subjects, which protection, if refused to will be compelled to put our shoulders to

the wheel, as we have been imposed upon for a period of twenty-seven years with due obeisance to the laws of our Queen and country, and we can no longer endure the same, therefore is our object of calling upon your Excellency as Governor-inChief and Captain of our Island, and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray."

This letter was on the 10th of October, at some time after noon, given to a messenger, to be delivered to the Governor at Spanish Town, distant from Stony Gut about fifty miles, and was delivered at the Governor's house between ten and eleven o'clock on the following morning.

It seemed to be relied upon as showing the peaceable intentions of the writers. We confess we cannot look upon it in that light.

Its language is that of scarcely concealed defiance, and looking at its terms, at the time at which it was written, and the acts by which it was accompanied and followed, it seems to us to partake rather of the character of a manifesto preparatory to and attempting to justify a recourse to violence.

The designs of some of the insurgents, and the hopes entertained by others, will more clearly appear from what passed during the three days following the rising on Wednesday the 11th.

During the evening and night of the 11th some of those who had escaped from the Court House were concealed in places where they had the opportunity of overhearing the conversation of the insurgents. One heard them say that on the following day they were to go to Bath. Another, who was close to what he described as their guard-room, to which their prisoners were taken, learned that they were to meet at Stony Gut at two o'clock in the morning; that one party was to go and gather more men; another to proceed to Port Morant and the Plantain Garden River District. These plans appear to have been carried out. We find that there was a meeting at Bogle's in the course of the night, and that men were carried as prisoners by armed parties to Bogle's house; that one was compelled to swear that he would leave the whites and cleave to the blacks; and another was promised that if he would join Bogle he should have the land which he leased for his own from generation to generation; that early on the following morning a party consisting of 200 men armed with guns and bayonets mounted on sticks, and with shells blowing, proceeded to Coley, a few miles to the northwest of Stony Gut, endeavouring to obtain fresh support, and compelling persons, under the threat of immediate death, to

swear that they would henceforth join the blacks; that Bath and the estates in the Plantain Garden River District were attacked in the course of the day, and Port Morant on the day following.

The first party who entered Bath came in search of the ammunition belonging to the Volunteer Corps, which had been kept in the house of their late captain.

Later in the day a much larger party came marching in military order, with flags flying and drums beating. They had complete possession of the town till the following day, when on hearing the well-known horn of the Maroons, who, at the request of a magistrate resident there, came to the relief of the inhabitants, they fled from the place.

The stores in the town were pillaged, and property to a large amount was taken or destroyed.

The few white and almost all the coloured inhabitants fled to the bush.

The estates attacked in the course of that day and night were all situated within a few miles of Bath.

At an estate in Blue Mountain Valley, a few miles on the west side of Bath, an armed party of about fifty men, under the command of one addressed as Captain Wilson, attacked the book-keeper, who received wounds, from the effects of which he shortly afterwards died. The life of the son of the owner, who had lately arrived from England, was threatened, and saved through the zealous intercession of his coloured overseer.

At Amity Hall, on the other side of Bath, which was attacked by 400 men, Mr. Hire was murdered, and his son left for dead; while Mr. Jackson, the stipendiary magistrate, and Mr. Creighton, were severely wounded, the latter so severely that it seemed scarcely possible that he should survive.

The account given by some of the actors themselves of their proceedings at Amity Hall is remarkable.

They said in the hearing of a witness that they had murdered Hire, and would kill his son; that as soon as Jackson said he was a friend of Gordon they rubbed him up, and brought him to life; and that they had set fire to Dr. Crowdy's bed, but that when they discovered that he was a doctor they put it out.

The houses upon the other estates in the neighbourhood were attacked and plundered, but in no other case was murder committed. Search, indeed, was made for different persons connected with the estates, and the intention of killing them if found was openly avowed, but the persons sought for either were absent or succeeded in making their escape, being

in most cases assisted by some of their own labourers.

In one case, "I am Manning of the Maroons seems to have been sufficient to enable Mr. Manning to secure the safety of those for whom he was interested.

Monklands, which is about sixteen miles up the valley from Morant Bay, was attacked by a party of above fifty men, armed with guns, cutlasses, bayonets, and swords.

At Hordley, an estate in the Plantain Garden River District, a large party of women and children, above twenty in number, were obliged to hide in the wood for the night, and to conceal themselves during the whole of the following day and night, until the advance of a small body of troops enabled them to reach a place of safety. And a faithful black servant, who assisted them in escaping, was herself compelled to flee in consequence of her life being threatened.

Whitehall, an estate in the Blue Mountain Valley, was attacked by a smaller party. The proprietor, Mr. Smith, was sought for, but escaped in the bush. He died shortly afterwards from the effects of exposure.

There was one curious exception to the rule generally followed, of destroying the furniture found in the houses, and that was in the case of Golden-grove, one of the most valuable properties in the eastern part of the island. When it was proposed by one to go over to what was called the Great House, the answer was, that is to be saved for Paul Bogle; those were the orders of the general."

It is always difficult to know how far to rely on the accuracy of ordinary observers when estimating numbers. But there were witnesses who gave evidence as to the number of the insurgents on this day having been at one place 1500, and at another as many as 2000, all or the great majority of whom were armed with various kinds of weapons.

It is impossible not to attach some importance also to the cries which were heard, as not unfrequently the real object of the body of men from which they proceed is thereby disclosed. "Colour for Colour," was the cry everywhere during the short time that the disturbances lasted.

"Blood, blood," "We want blood," was heard at one place.

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"We must humble the white man before us," We are going to take the lives of the white men, but not to hurt the ladies," was what was said in the hearing of the widow of one of the persons killed at Morant Bay.

"Hurra! Buckra country for us. Never mind the Buckra women; we can get them when we want," was the cry upon one estate.

"We want the Buckra men to kill, but we don't want the women now; we will have them afterwards," was what was heard upon another, by a faithful woman, who succeeded in hiding her mistress and all the members of her family.

Again, "Don't burn the trash house; we want sugar to make for ourselves;" and "Don't set fire to the house; only kill the white man, for when we have done that we have the house to live in for myself," were exclamations heard elsewhere.

The several estates to which reference has hitherto been made were all situated to the north or east of Morant Bay. The only movement in an opposite quarter which was made on this same day was in the direction of White Horses, a place four miles to the west of Morant Bay. There a party of thirty or forty persons attacked a shop, plundered the house, and compelled the owners to promise to go over to the side of the blacks.

During the next three days the insurgents continued their course through Port Morant northward to Manchioneal, and on to Mulatto river and Elmwood, the last of which places is situated in the most northerly part of St. Thomas-in-theEast, where that parish abuts upon Portland.

As they advanced with the cry of "Colour for Colour" they were joined by a considerable number of the blacks, who readily assisted in the work of plundering. The houses and stores were sacked. The intention also of taking the lives of the whites was openly avowed, and diligent search was made for particular individuals. But in each case the imperilled persons had timely notice, and sought safety in flight.

Elmwood was the point furthest from Morant Bay to which the disturbances extended, as on Sunday the 15th the troops arrived at Port Antonio, and put a stop to the further progress of the insurgents northwards.

Thus it will be seen that in the course of these few days the insurgents had spread over a tract of country extending from White Horses, a few miles to the west of Morant Bay, to Elmwood, at a distance of upwards of thirty miles to the north-east of that place.

They seem to have been under the impression that they would be allowed to remain in possession of the estates.

Not only were the crops uninjured, and the buildings for the most part preserved,

but the intention was openly avowed of proceeding to take up the crops.

"We are going down the river to take up the crops," was the statement of one man at Manchioneal, who just before had been telling of the events in the district of the Plantain Garden River, and how he and others "had downed that fellow Hire."

And by several of a party of armed negroes who entered Machioneal Bay it was openly said that they were going down next week to take off the crops, and take charge of the estates.

During these latter days very little was seen, by any of the witnesses, of Bogle or of those who were associated with him in the original outbreak.

It has been already mentioned that he returned to Stony Gut on the night of the 11th. He was still there with Craddock, McLaren, and Bowie on the afternoon of the 12th. On that occasion a large number of men met in the chapel, some of whom were afterwards drilled. They were then addressed by Bogle and Craddock. They were told "that this country would belong to them, and that they were about getting it, to take possession, that they had been long trodden under sandals," that the country "had long been theirs, and they must keep it wholly in possession."

When the people separated it was arranged that those who lived on the valley side should leave for their homes, and that "when the enemy came" they should send a messenger to let the men in Stony Gut know, and that if any came towards Stony Gut information should be given to the men in the valley.

The next day Bogle and McLaren were seen at Chigoe Foot Market, at the head of 200 men, marching up the valley.

On the 15th he was at Mount Lebanus Chapel with more than 100 men, when the alarm was given that the soldiers were coming.

He then gave directions to the men that they should get their arms loaded, and that those who knew that their arms were not loaded should go and get powder and load their guns.

Later in the day it was mentioned in the hearing of a witness, who was for several days detained as a prisoner at Fonthill, that when on that day the troops were coming over a hill in the immediate vicinity of the insurgents, Bogle was in force, and advanced to give them battle, but that he was dissuaded by Cowell, one of the most active of his associates, and that his followers then became panicstricken and took to flight.

In corroboration of this account it is in

evidence that Bogle was seen, and pursued by General Jackson, who accompanied the troops on that day, at a time when the insurgents were seen to be dispersing.

On the following day he went with a very small number of followers to the Maroon settlement at Hayfield, but found that all the men had left, and were employed in guarding Bath.

From that time nothing appears to have been heard of him until the 23rd, when he was apprehended by the Maroons, and taken as a prisoner to Morant Bay.

In reporting the result of our inquiry into the origin of the disturbances it is necessary to allude to peculiar circumstances affecting the parish of St. Thomasin-the-East.

Mr. Gordon was a proprietor, and had been a magistrate in that parish, and had taken an active part in parochial con

cerns.

Among other things he had complained of the unhealthy state of a building at Morant Bay used as a lock-up house, and had caused inquiry to be made into the conduct of a brother magistrate in relation to that matter. The result of the inquiry was, that while the building was condemned as unfit for its purpose, he was thought to have made charges against the magistrate which he must have known to be untrue. On this ground he was dismissed by the Governor from the magistracy, and his dismissal was approved by the Home Government.

He had been also elected to fill the office of churchwarden, but his right to act in that capacity was disputed on the ground of his not being a menber of the Church of England.

This alleged want of qualification formed the subject of an action at law, in which Mr. Gordon was the plaintiff, and Baron Ketelhodt, the Custos of the Parish, was the defendant.

The action was twice tried, and on each occasion a verdict was found for the defendant, and an application for a third trial was still pending in the month of October.

By the law of Jamaica the parochial expenses are not defrayed out of a local rate but out of the general funds of the Island, on the application of the vestry, sanctioned by the approval of the Executive Government. As the Custos in questioning the right of Mr. Gordon to sit at the vestry as churchwarden had acted at the request and as the chairman of that body, they had included the costs incurred in defending the action brought by Mr. Gordon in their parochial estimate; and the Executive Committee, after taking

advice of the Attorney-General, had approved of the estimates so framed.

All these proceedings had produced considerable irritation in the western part of the parish, and especially among the members of the Native Baptist Communion to which Mr. Gordon belonged.

There were other causes for irritation existing alike in St. Thomas-in-the-East and in other parts of the Island. These arose from the alleged lowness of the rate of wages and irregularity in their payment, and the difficulty of obtaining relief from alleged injustice in consequence of the constitution of the magistracy.

The magistrates are principally planters and persons connected with the management of estates. Those who are not so connected are for the most part engaged in business, and their attendance is very irregular. The consequence is, that disputes between employers and labourers, and questions relating to the occupation of land, which are decided in the first instance at petty sessions, are adjudicated upon by those whose interests and feelings are supposed to be hostile to the labourer and the occupier.

We had a great deal of evidence on these subjects, and it did not appear to us that the rate of wages was low, but rather that the smallness of the sums frequently received by the labourer at the end of the week arose from the unwillingness to labour for more than a very limited time.

Nor was it proved before us that there was unfairness on the part of the managers of estates in the payment of wages.

Disputes, however, must frequently arise upon such subjects, and it was clear to us that the difficulties in the way of seeking relief by law were very great, and it was not to be expected that, constituted as the bench of magistrates at present is, it would have the confidence of the labourers.

The evils resulting from the want of a good Master and Servant Act, by which summary relief might be obtained before an independent and impartial tribunal, are evidently very great.

But the originators of the outbreak do not appear generally to have belonged to the labouring class. They were for the most part what are called free settlers, occupying and cultivating small patches of land, and placed in better circumstances than the ordinary labourer.

Their great desire was to obtain, free from the payment of rent, what are called the "back lands."

"Soon we shall have the lands free, and then we shall have to pay no rent," was the answer received by one rent collector in the summer of 1865.