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and those who had the charge of estates, abolished on their respective plantations the use of the whip in the field in the hands of the driver, and substituted the bell for the crack of the whip as the signal for going to work. Matters continued in this state of uncertainty till Monday the 18th of August, when information was received, that an insurrection was breaking out among the slaves on the eastern coast. It first manifested itself at Mahaica; and on that day assumed a more decided form on an estate called Le Ressouvenir, the negroes of which, rescued by force two slaves belonging to an adjoining plantation, who had been taken into custody, and were in the act of being carried back to their master. A Mr. Smith, a zealous missionary belonging to the London Society, reaided at Le Ressouvenir, and was at home when the tumult took place. He used his endeavours successfully to rescue the manager from the negroes, and continued his exertions to induce them to return to their duty, till he himself was, by violence, and with a weapon held to his body, driven from the estate.

The first suspicion of the conspiracy was founded on information given to a Mr. Simpson, by a faithful slave; who stated, that the negroes in his neighbourhood had been for some time assembling in great numbers at night; that some incendiaries (among whom were white men) were promulgating news of King George and the parliament having decreed a general manumission, which was frustrat ed only by the governor, the local authorities, and the white inha bitants; that the negroes were nevertheless resolved on securing

their freedom, and, if no otherwise attainable, by arms; and finally, that they were to commence.operations the same night. General Murray, the governor, repaired first to the court of justice, and hastened thence, accompanied by his staff and 8 or 10 of the George-town militia, to the disturbed district. He found several of the estates in insurrection, and the male negroes drawn up in regular order, armed with cutlasses, and some with firearms. He had a parley with them, and endeavoured to persuade them to return to their work. They told him, that they understood that their freedom, or some good thing for them, had come out from the king, and was in his hands; that he and their owners together withheld it; and that they were now determined to take it themselves. He explained the truth to them, and endeavoured to undeceive them; but they were not satisfied, and the governor and his party were fired on from the rear of the body of negroes. On this he retreated; his escape was attempted to be prevented at a bridge, where the negroes were in considerable strength; but partly through entreaty, and partly from the show of force, he and his escort got off. In the course of that night, all the negroes on the estates as far as Mahaica, with only one exception, rose, and took possession of the property-putting the proprietors, managers, &c. into confinement, and, in most places, in the stocks. There was no burning of buildings or canes, nor any personal violence, except where resistance was made to the delivery of the fire-arms, in the course of which three overseers, it is said, were killed, and twice as many wounded. The governor, on his return to the town, pros

claimed martial law, and took measures for the suppression of the revolt. On the same night, detachments of the 21st Fusileers and 1st West-India regiments, which had marched from the garrison under the command of captain Stewart, came up with the rebels at Plantation Wittenburgh, and, after a short engagement, compelled them to retire, having killed and wounded several, without any loss on the part of the troops. A detachment of the 21st, under the command of lieutenant Peddie, continued to push forward, skirmishing occasionally and successfully, and forcing the negroes to retire.

On Tuesday morning, a large body of the revolters, between 700 and 800 in number, and well armed, assembled at Plantation Douchfour. They commenced an attack upon lieutenant Brady, of the 21st, who had marched early in the morning with a small party of that corps under his command from Mahaica, to endeavour, if possible, to arrest their progress: they attempted to surround him; but he effected his retreat to the post in good order, killing and wounding from 10 to 15, without any loss whatever on his side.

On Wednesday morning, the rebels being still in the vicinity of the post, and at the Bridge of Plantation Beehive, lieutenant Brady proceeded to attack them, and, on his march, threw in a small detachment to clear some bushes he had occasion to pass, where the rebels had posted a party well armed to impede his advance. This service was successfully performed, six of the rebels being killed on the spot, the troops possessing themselves of their arms and ammunition, and the main body retreating with great precipitation. On the same morn

ing, a detachment of the Georgetown brigade of militia succeeded in coming up with, and defeating a strong party of the rebels at Plantation Elizabeth Hall, who were compelled to retreat immediately, with the loss of about 40 killed and many wounded. In the mean time, a strong detachment, composed of the 21st Fusileers, and the George-town brigade of militia, under the command of lieutenant-colonel Leahy, proceeded up the coast on Tuesday evening, and arrived at Chateau Mango about nine o'clock. Leaving a few of the 21st and some militia at that place, the lieutenant-colonel pushed forward with the remainder of his detachment (strengthened by a rifle company, and twenty coloured militia, who had joined him on the march) upon Lusignan, where the rebels were reported to be assembled in considerable force. In releasing the whites upon a plantation called Better Hope, a few shots were exchanged, some arms taken, and five or six negroes killed. The detachment proceeded, liberating the white people on the different estates as they advanced, leaving small parties at each to maintain the communication; and they arrived about three o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, at Plantation Bachelor's Adventure, the rendezvous of the disaffected, who were in num ber considerably above 1,500, and were bold enough to assail the sentries with cutlasses. The troops continued under arms; and as day-light began to break, the fronts of two considerable bodies of the rebels were discovered on the bridges to the right and left, amounting to about 1,000 each, all armed, mostly with cutlasses, and bayonets fixed upon poles; they did not appear to have more than

100 stand of arms and some pistols. The lieutenant-colonel, having in vain attempted to convince these deluded people of their error, and every attempt to induce them to lay down their arms having failed, he made his dispositions, charged the two bodies simultaneously, and dispersed them with the loss of from 100 to 150. On his side there was only one rifleman slightly wounded. This success put a complete termination to the revolt. During its continuance, the western district of the colony remained perfectly tranquil.

Courts-martial were held for the trial of the prisoners; and many of the insurgent slaves were executed. From the evidence given upon the trials, there was reason to believe, that the object of the conspiracy did not go further than, by taking temporary possession of the estates, to compel the promulgation of those regulations in their favour, which they believed to have been made, but to be withheld by their masters and the go

vernor.

The vengeance obtained by the execution of slaves, was not deemed sufficient. Smith, the missionary, had been taken into custody on the 21st of August, on the charge of being concerned in the conspiracy; all his papers were seized; and so strict was his confinement, that his brother missionary, Mr. Elliott (against whom there was no ground of suspicion, as not a single negro under his superintendance had taken part in the revolt) was imprisoned for ten days, merely be cause he had paid a visit to his fellow labourer in the work of Christianity. On the 13th of October, Smith was brought to trial before a court-martial, which continued, by adjournment, to the 24th

of November, and concluded by finding the accused guilty of a capital offence. The men, however, who had courage to condemn, were afraid to carry their sentence into execution: and proceedings were suspended, till his majesty's determination on the case could be known. In the mean time, Smith was subjected to the closest imprisonment, the miseries of which were aggravated by much unnecessary severity. A disease, under which he had laboured, when he was first deprived of his liberty, went on increasing; and he was rescued by the hand of death, before the news arrived, that his majesty had rescinded the sentence of the court-martial.

The details of the proceedings of that court-martial were not known at the time; but the most important parts of them were subsequently published—a most melancholy specimen of ignorance and injustice. The members of it disregarded equally the forms and the principles of law; every rule of evidence was violated; and after all, there was not a shadow of proof, that Mr. Smith had had the slightest intimation of the insurrection, till the moment when it broke out, and he interfered to suppress it. But he was a missionary, and therefore he was condemned-condemned by a court sitting in the name of the Crown of England, in defiance of every principle that Englishmen hold most sacred. It is long since our anhals have been stained with an act of injustice equally outrageous; and the safety of mankind and the sanctity of law, require that the participators in so foul a deed should not pass unbranded and unpunished.

The emigrants, who had formed

new establishments at the Cape of Good Hope, were reduced in the present year to a very miserable condition. For three years successsively, the crops of wheat and Indian corn had been famished by drought, or destroyed by a species of blight called rust; the soil and climate were discovered to be utterly unfit for purposes of tillage husbandry; and the resources of the settlers were wholly exhausted. Many of them applied to lord Charles Somerset for a conveyance to England or to Van Diemen's land; but the answer was, that no means of such conveyance" were at his excellency's disposal." During his temporarv absence in England, Sir R. Donkin, who held the command ad interim, with a view to the safety of the emigrants, established military posts in the neighbourhood of the Fish River Fort Wiltshire, in advance of that river-and Fredericksburgh, between the Fish River and the Beeka. The latter, composed of half-pay officers and other military

acquainted with the mode of Caffre warfare, was half way on the route towards the Caffres, and formed an effectual protection to the settlements newly created. Immediately on lord C. Somerset's return, all these safeguards of the colony were, it is said, withdrawn. The town of Bathurst, in the centre of the emigrant country, was stripped at once of its garrison, and deprived of its rank as county town; the capital of the unfortunate persons, who had expended their all in buildings and domestic establishments there, was lost, and the whole country was left at the mercy of the Caffre depredations. The consequence was, that the cattle were carried off by droves; the colonists, Dutch as well as English, attacked by the plunderers in open day; and some of them savagely murdered. complaints against his lordship's administration were loud; whether they were well founded or not, we are as yet without the means of judging.

The

CHAP. IX.

Motion respecting Mr. Bowring's Imprisonment: the Conduct pursued by the British Government in that Affair-Claim of Mrs. Olive Serres to be Princess of Cumberland: "Mr. Peel's exposition of the Imposture Prorogation of Parliament-Mr. Canning's refusal to acknowledge or hold communication with the Regency of Madrid Appointment of Consuls and Consuls-General in the States of South America Our Relations with South America-Mr. Canning's increasing popularity: his speech at Plymouth.

AMONG the alleged cases of individual hardship, which were in the present session, brought before parliament, only two deserve to be noticed: those of Mr. Bowring and of Mrs. Olive Serres, styling herself the Princess of Cumberland. Mr. Bowring's case was brought into discussion, on the 27th of February, by a motion of lord Archibald Hamilton for the production of certain papers connected with the imprisonment of that gentleman.* According to lord Archibald Hamilton's statement, Mr. Bowring, being on his return from a commercial journey to France and Italy, had arrived at Calais. After his baggage was examined at the Customs, he was informed, that he must submit his papers to an inspection; and being taken before the mayor, was committed to prison. In answer to his inquiries into the nature of his alleged crime, he was told that a telegraphic despatch had been received, directing the examination of his papers. After remaining in prison at Calais two days, he was conveyed, in obedience to another telegraphic despatch, to Boulogne.

• Vide Vol. LXIV. p. 216,

Here again he was refused the information as to the nature of his crime. He had not been long at Boulogne, before the inconvenience of his imprisonment was increased by many unnecessary severities. He was confined au secret in a loathsome prison, deprived of the society of his friends, and denied the benefit of professional advice. Mr. Bowring having in the mean time applied to Sir Charles Stuart for protection, a new charge at the end of eleven days was manufactured; and Mr. Bowring learned, that he was now accused of being engaged as an accomplice with others, in a plot against the French government. After several other examinations, at none of which he had been allowed a professional advocate, a letter was received at Boulogne, by which Mr. Bowring was summoned to go to Paris, but was at the same time informed that he could not be compelled to go. At length the proceedings were concluded by a sentence, the words of which were, that Mr. Bowring was set at liberty, because the crime, of which he was accused, did not warrant his imprisonment at all.

Mr. Canning, in reply, gave such an account of the con◄

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