it was their intention to have burnt Frontier works and Port Maria, and killed the Whites; but none would mention any other Negroes concerned with them, or shew any symptoms of religion or repentance. They all declared they would die like men, and met their fate with perfect indifference." (E. p. 44.)

Such are the particulars of the formidable insurrection in St. Mary's, and of the sweeping and summary executions which avenged it. No act of violence whatever had been committed. Not a single weapon of any kind was found in the possession, or in the houses, of the convicts, or in the houses of any other of the slaves. One or two guns, and a little gunpowder, had been seen in the possession of Henry Nibbs by his wife, which he might have had for the purpose of killing game; and this appears to have been the total amount of warlike preparation that had been made for overthrowing the government of Jamaica, taking the fort at Port Maria, and exterminating the Whites of St. Mary's. Some persons must have felt how very inadequate the evidence was to support such a case as this. On the day following the execution, therefore, a Mr. Richard Gordon, overseer of Tremolesworth, is induced to file an affidavit, intended to satisfy any doubt that might arise as to whether there really had been a conspiracy which justified such prodigality of blood. Mr. Gordon gravely swears, "That on Wednesday night, the 17th December, lying awake, about twelve o'clock, he heard the report of a musket; he got up, and, on putting his head out of the window, he heard horns blowing. He got up, dressed, and took a

by any one of the witnesses. He is one of the four who were tried together. Not one of the witnesses mentions him, excepting Ned, who merely says he saw him with the others. No one else appears to have seen him, or known him. It would be important, therefore, to have had the notes of this man's confession to the Rev. Mr. Girod produced.-A person, who was present at the execution of these men, has stated that pardon was offered on the scaf fold to such of them as would acknowledge their guilt and discover their accomplices, but that they, one and all, persisted in protesting their innocence, and positively refused to save their lives by criminating other per. of whose guilt they abjured all cognisance. The value of these eight persons was assessed by the jury, and paid to their owners, at prices varying from 50%. to 1007. currency, but amounting, in all, to 6551. or about 4657, sterling.

sons,

sabre. On looking at his watch, he found it was half past twelve. Went out to the back door, and heard six different tones, or sounds, of a horn, in the direction of Nonsuch. Walked into the garden; was there about an hour. Two Negroes in clean frocks passed up the road*; they went up a small distance; heard the door of a Negro-house open, and saw the Negroes returning. They appeared to meet other people. They were so near him, whispering in conversation, he heard a voice say, 'It is no use, it is no use.' They then went

down the road. The rain set in, and he did not again hear the horns. They continued blowing about two hours in all, from about half past twelve to half past two o'clock. Before going to bed, about nine o'clock, heard five reports of guns in the direction of Nonsuch." (E. p. 40.)

In what a state of morbid excitement must the minds of the good people of Jamaica, high and low, have been, to convert stuff such as this into an official document furnishing evidence of insurrection!

A very striking proof of the extreme susceptibility of the public mind in that island, for some time previous to the affair of St. Mary's, may be deduced from a letter officially addressed by a magistrate of St. James's, Mr. S. Vaughan, to the Governor's secretary. It is dated the 9th October 1823, and evinces the eager appetite which had already been excited for something in the shape of a plot. "It appears," says Mr. Vaughan, "that there is a general expectation among the Negroes of freedom being given shortly by Government at home. The Negroes are every where behaving well, and perform their work as usual; but still entertain this belief. The grounds on which I have formed this opinion. I shall now give.

"1. Mrs. Fowler saw many strange Negroes, who talked freely with her that they were soon to be free.

"2. Eliza Tucker hired a man on his own day, who talked much of this free, but said he did not like it, for many Negroes would be idle, and quarrel and fight, as in Guinea country, and who was then to give clothes, fish, &c.

"3. The book-keeper on Caledonia estate heard a Negro

* He could see, at midnight, that their frocks were clean!

complain of their having Saturday stopped (always more days are given them than the law requires); when another said, Never mind, they would soon have Friday also; on which a third told him to hold his tongue, for they would soon be free altogether.

"4. Mr. Williams stated, as a report, of some Negroes saying that it was long in coming, and if it did not come soon they would take it, or to this effect.

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5. Mr. Moore mentioned two Negroes had gone to two overseers to ask when this free was to take place. This he had been informed of.

"6. The overseer of Bigland said the Negroes talked in the field, that, if they behaved well, they were soon to be free.

"7. Mr. Walter Murray heard that the Negroes at George's Plain had said, on the arrival of the last packet, they would wait till next packet; and that Mr. Mason, of St. James's, had heard very similar expressions, nearly in the same words--both alluding to the freedom in question."

Such being the feeling of wakeful jealousy and suspicion in the mind of one of the chief magistrates of St. James's, it might be presumed that a plot would sooner or later develop itself more distinctly. Accordingly, in two or three months these various floating rumours had acquired sufficient consistency to lead to meetings of magistrates and examinations ; and two free Persons of Colour, named Bartibo, and a slave named Goldring, at last came forward to state that they had been at a festive meeting of Negroes, where they had heard it. said, that, if they did not get Friday and Saturday, or their freedom, they would rise; and where Mr. Wilberforce's health was drunk with hurrahs (p. 47). After ten days, however, spent in examinations and in the eager pursuit of every idle rumour, and after having taken up and committed a number of slaves on suspicion, the magistrates, on the 29th December 1823, were of opinion, that "though the evidence before them proves that some mischief had been intended," they did not recommend any trial at present. The slaves supposed to be implicated in the conspiracy were nevertheless kept in close confinement; and the same persons who originally gave information continued to be examined and re-examined, their statements meanwhile improving gradually in fearful

importance, by the invention from time to time of additional circumstances, until at length the affair had acquired the solidity and consistency of a regular plot; and on the 28th January 1824 it was thought expedient, by Mr. Vaughan and some of his brother magistrates, to proceed to the trial of the supposed conspirators. Fourteen individuals, thirteen men and one woman, almost all belonging to Mr. Galloway's estate of Unity Hall, and Mr. Kerr's estate of Spring Garden, were arraigned for conspiring together, and with other slaves, to enter into a rebellious conspiracy for obtaining, by force and violence, and by acts of resistance to the lawful authorities, the freedom of themselves and others, against the peace of the King, his crown and dignity; and for having attended a meeting for the unlawful and dangerous purpose of exciting, encouraging, and maintaining each other in this rebellious conspiracy, &c. The prisoners all pleaded not guilty.

The only evidence against them, of the very slightest force, was that of the three men, Peter and Robert Bartibo, and Goldring, who are declared by the Jamaica Assembly (A. p. 18) to be severally entitled to rewards for the information which they gave of the conspiracy. The temptation presented to these individuals to pursue the trade of plot-making, is very forcibly pointed out in one part of the evidence. A very respectable and intelligent female, a confidential slave of Mr. Galloway's, who had been eleven years with him as a servant in England, and evidently much attached to him and his interests, of the name of Jane M'Donald, having been called as a witness for the prosecution, gave the following evidence respecting a conversation she had had with one Bessy Bartibo, a sister of the two informers. Jane M'Donald remarked, with some emotion, what a hard thing it was for a person (alluding to one of the prisoners) for a little merriment to be taken up in that manner, though guilty of nothing on which Bessy Bartibo said to her, "Don't you hear that if any free people bring out such a thing as this, they will have maintenance for life; and if slaves, they are to be free, and have a house and land for their life-time?" (p. 75.) But the testimony even of the Bartiboes and Goldring does

K

lengths, in order to satisfy

not prove any thing beyond that idle conversation which was very likely to take place at a Negro merry-making, and especially where no harm was really intended-saving perhaps the crime of drinking Mr. Wilberforce's health, which appears to have been considered as the most serious part of the rebellion. But even to the commission of this overt act of treason by any of the prisoners, there is only one witness, Robert Bartibo. He alone heard this dangerous and inflammatory toast: neither his brother nor Goldring heard it, and some others who were present positively deny the fact. But, independently of the criminality of this wicked and insurrectionary toast, overheard only by one man, panting for the reward of such a notable disclosure, what is there to inculpate these poor creatures? Nothing but the idlest tattle. Even Robert Bartibo, though evidently disposed to go to all the prevailing appetite for plots, can frame no better a conspiracy than is conveyed in the following statement.—There was a dance in the houses of one or two of the Negroes at Unity Hall. Robert Bartibo was there-not an invited guest, but an intruder, and sitting on a bench outside the house. He swore he there overheard the following conversation : Trelawney * said, he heard they would get free, else Friday and Saturday. William Stennett said, he had heard so, but he did not look for no free, nor Friday and Saturday: since he got his cloth and fish he did not care for it: that was all he wanted. Trelawney said they would get free, else Friday and Saturday; and if they did not get it, they would rise at Christmas; and that, when they got free, he would not live in such small houses, but would have his master's great house; and that he and the White people would be on a footing then. William Stennett said, that, if they got free, the White people would hire them to cut canes. This was in Cunningham's house, when Philip Haughton drank Wilberforce's health." Witness did not hear any thing else, either there, or at several other dances at which he was present; but "most every

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* This Trelawney we afterwards find was a poor sickly hip-shot boy, who had been chiefly an inmate of the hospital for the preceding two years, and was still too weak to work.