PART IV. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JAMAICA. JAMAICA was discovered by Christopher Columbus on the 3rd May, 1494, during his second voyage to the new world; and after remaining in Spanish accupation for 161 years was surrendered to an English Expedition under Admiral Penn and General Venables on the 11th May, 1655. The island was placed under military jurisdiction and the Leaders of the Expedition returned to England leaving General Fortescue in charge of the Land Forces and Admiral Goodson in charge of the Sea Force. Penn and Venables were committed to the Tower "for having deserted the forces committed to their charge," and Major General Sedgewick was sent by Cromwell as a Commissioner to conduct the civil affairs of the colony. On his arrival in October, 1655, he established a Council, of which Colonel Edward D'Oyley, who succeeded to the command of the troops on the death of General Fortescue, was appointed President. In the following month Sedgewick informed the Protector that the soldiers had destroyed all sorts of provisions and cattle and that nothing but ruin attended them wherever they went. "Dig or plant, they neither will nor can, but are determined rather to starve than work." The result was a scarcity, approaching a famine, with its usual attendants disease and contagion. "Such was the want of food that snakes, lizards, and other vermin were eagerly eaten, together with unripe fruits and noxious vegetables. The unwholesome diet concurred with other circumstances to produce an epidemic dysentery, which raged like the plague. For a considerable time 140 men died weekly, and Sedgewick himself at length perished in the general carnage."+ In June, 1656, Colonel William Brayne arrived as Commander-in-Chief, bringing with him a reinforcement of a thousand recruits and four months' provisions for 3,000 men. He was soon followed by 1,500 settlers from Nevis, Bermuda, Barbados and New England. One thousand girls and as many young men were "listed" in Ireland and sent to the colony. Brayne died in September, 1657, and the government again fell to D'Oyley. In the following year Don Arnold Sasi, the old Spanish Governor, landed at the north side with about 500 of the former inhabitants and 1,000 troops from Spain and built a fort at Rio Nuevo, in the present parish of St. Mary. On the 24th June, D'Oyley, with 500 picked men, attacked the fort and completely routed the Spanish army,-Don Sasi subsequently escaping to Cuba in a canoe from the Bay now called Runaway Bay in memory of the event. In August, 1660, a vessel of war arrived with intelligence of the restoration of Charles II., and in May of the following year the "Diamond" Frigate brought Colonel (then General) D'Oyley's commission as Governor of Jamaica. The commission required him to proceed to the selection of a Council of twelve persons (of whom one was to be the Island Secretary) and empowered him, with the advice of any five of them, to constitute civil judicatures and to pass Acts "tending to the security and prosperity" of the island. Courts of Justice were established at Port Morant, Point Cagua (Port Royal) and St. Jago de la Vega; and the members of Council were declared Justices of the Peace and empowered to choose three or more Constables for their respective districts. In December of the same year the King, by a Royal Proclamation, declared that "children born in Jamaica of His Majesty's natural born subjects of England shall be free denizens of England." In August, 1662, Lord Windsor arrived as the successor of General D'Oyley and brought with him a seal and mace for the island. His instructions from the King required him "to constitute a Council and to call Assemblies and to make laws and *The transactions of the Spaniards during a century and a half, in the settlement of Jamaica, have scarcely obtained the notice of history.-Bryan Edwards. † Bryan Edwards' History of the West Indies. levy moneys, such laws to be only in force for two years unless confirmed by the King." "All planters and Christian servants" were also required "to be provided with arms, mustered and trained, with power, in case of insurrection or invasion, to proclaim martial law." The late army was disbanded and the men were divided into five Regiments of Militia,-Lord Windsor himself becoming Colonel of the Port Royal Regiment. On Lord Windsor's retiring Sir Charles Lyttleton assumed the Government as Deputy Governor. He granted plots of land to Juan de Bolas and other Maroons (the name given to the slaves left by the Spaniards in the interior) on account of their submission and services to the English and by proclamation declared that they should enjoy all the liberties and privileges of Englishmen. De Bolas was appointed Colonel of a Black Regiment of Militia and a Magistrate over negroes, to decide all cases except those of life and death.* The instructions of Lord Windsor with regard to the calling of Assemblies, were acted upon by Sir Charles Lyttleton, who issued the writs for the first General Assembly held in the island. The members were returned for the following districts: Yakalla, St. Jago, Old Harbour, Angels, Cagua, Seven Plantations, Guanaboa, Withywood, Morant, Liguanea, Dry River, Northside. All the districts returned two members except Morant and Northside which had but one each. The Assembly met at St. Jago de la Vegat on the 20th January, 1664, and selected Robert Freeman as their Speaker; it sat until the 12th February and passed 45 Acts. Beeston states in his journal that “the Assembly was very unanimous and parted with all kindness and feastings, having passed as good a body of laws as could be expected from such young Statesmen." Sir Charles Lyttleton having obtained permission to return to England on account of ill-health, LieutenantColonel Thomas Lynch assumed the Government as President of the Council. He was soon displaced by Colonel Edward Morgan, who arrived on the 19th May, 1664, as Deputy-Governor. He dissolved the Assembly, preferring the assistance of his Council alone in the administration of affairs. In the following month Sir Thomas Modyford arrived from Barbados as Governor, bringing with him a thousand settlers. He transferred the residence of the Governor from the "Point" (Port Royal) to St. Jago de la Vega and had a census taken which showed the population to be 4,205. In his first report on the condition of the island he informed the King that "sugar, ginger, indigo, cotton, tobacco, dyeing woods and cocoa may be had and are produced as well as anywhere; but pimento, chinaroots, aloes, rhubarb, sarsaparilla, tamarinds, cassia, vaignillios, hides and tallow are the proper commodities. There is the best building timber and stone in the whole world and great plenty of corn, cassada, potatoes, yams, plantains, bananas, peas, hogs, fowls, cattle, horses, asincoes, sheep, fish, turtle and pasturage. In fine nothing wanting but more hands and cows. The low valley grounds are feverish and aguish from June to Christmas, the rainy weather; but the uplands and hills are as healthful as Costall in England." Sir Thomas Modyford issued writs for the election of a General Assembly, the number of districts being reduced to nine, namely, St. Andrew, Port Royal, Northside, St. John, St. David, St. Catherine, Clarendon, Blewfields and St. Thomas. The deliberations of the new Assembly were not as harmonious as those of the first Assembly; one of the results was that Captain Butler of the Assembly was killed at a state dinner by Major Joy of the Council. Mr. Beeston (afterwards Sir William Beeston) was imprisoned for not returning to the House when directed by the Speaker. Articles of impeachment were in the same sitting preferred by Sir Thomas Whetstone against Colonel Samuel Long (afterwards Chief Justice) and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The charge preferred against him was that "he had caused himself to he elected Speaker at a meeting at Port Royal of members of Assembly whose authority, by the departure of Sir Charles Lyttleton, had ceased, and passed certain orders and votes, with intention to grasp the legislative power into his own hands, and traitorously and impudently refused to take notice of the Deputy-Governor (Colonel Edward Morgan's) dissolution of the meeting, &c." On his being brought before the * As the proclamation issued by Sir Charles Lyttleton had no substantial effect with the Maroons as a body Juan de Bolas was sent in 1664 to effect their reduction; but in the prosecution of this service he fell into an ambuscade and was cut to pieces. St. Jago de la Vega (now Spanish Town) was founded as the first capital by Diego Columbus while he personally governed the island. House in Custody the charges were remitted to the next general session, but the Assembly never again met during the administration of Sir Thomas Modyford, the then Governor. The subject of contention was the desire of the Assembly to exclude the King's name from the money bills. While these dissensions were embittering the feelings of politicians Sir Thomas Modyford, on his own responsibility, commissioned the privateers who at that time swarmed the Caribbean Sea, to act on behalf of the King of England, and declared war against Spain and other nationalities. The Privateers took Tobago from the Dutch and plundered Tobascoe and Villa de Mors in the Bay of Mexico and Saint Spiritus and Providence in Cuba. Admiral Henry Morgan, acting uuder a similar commission, captured and pillaged Panama and Porto Bello. On intelligence of these depredations reaching England Sir Thomas Lynch was ordered to return to the colony as Lieutenant-Governor and to send home Sir Thomas Modyford to answer for his assumption of authority. Sir Thomas Modyford sailed for the Thames as a prisoner, and six years afterwards Sir Henry Morgan arrived as Lieutenant-Governor and assumed the Government in succession to Sir Thomas Lynch. Morgan had been knighted for his brave attack on Panama.* In March, 1675, Lord Vaughan arrived as Governor. Twelve hundred of the inhabitants of Surinam, which had been ceded to the Dutch in exchange for New Amsterdam (New York) arrived in the same year and settled for the most part in the present parish of Westmoreland. "The poverty of these people inspired them with the resolution to labour. Their example excited emulation and in a short time the face of things was wholly changed. Jamaica soon exported vast quantities of sugar, superior to that of the other English islands." But while the colony was being thus improved the Governor and Assembly were in fierce opposition. The Assembly desired to bring on a new trial before the Chief Justice of a man who had been condemned by the Admiralty Court to be hanged as a pirate, and was dissolved, and the new Assembly passed a revenue bill which was unconstitutional in its character. By the refusal of Lord Vaughan to assent to this measure the island was left without a revenue. In March, 1678, he sailed for England and Sir Henry Morgan resumed the Government. He continued in office for four months, during the greater part of which time martial law existed; first on account of an apprehended attack from France, and, secondly, in consequence of mutiny among the slaves. On the 19th July the Earl of Carlisle arrived as Governor and soon after summoned a new Assembly. He informed them that he had been instructed by the King to change the mode of passing the laws of the colony by introducing the system then existing in Ireland under Poyning's Act and presented 40 Acts (among them a law to grant a perpetual revenue to the crown) engrossed on parchment and attested under the Great Seal of England for their acceptance. The Assembly rejected the laws on the ground that this system of legislation was "repugnant to the constitution of England, of which country they were the natural subjects." As there was no revenue the Governor assented to a revenue bill for one year and then dissolved the Assembly. Other dissolutions followed but the Assembly remained unchanged in their determination. The Chief Justice of the Island, Colonel Samuel Long, was arrested and sent under bail to England to answer to the King for advising the resistance of the Assembly. He was followed by Colonel Beeston, the Speaker of the Assembly; and they both appeared before the King in Council and so ably supported their views that the instructions to the Earl of Carlisle were annulled and the old form of Government continued. Long and Beeston returned in triumph, and Sir Thomas Lynch was for the second time appointed to govern the Colony. On meeting the Assembly he informed them that "His Majesty, upon the Assembly's humble address, was pleased to restore us to our beloved form of making laws, wherein we enjoy, beyond dispute, all deliberative powers in our Assembly, that the House of Commons enjoy in their House." After administering the government for over two years Sir Thomas Lynch died and Colonel Hender Molesworth (afterwards Baronet) became Lieutenant * Sir Henry Morgan was in 1683 sent to England by order of the Secretary of State as a prisoner "for breaking the peace with the Spaniards contrary to His Majesty's express orders." After remaining there for three years without a hearing he was released. ↑ Gardner's History of Jamaica. See article on Political Constitution. Governor. For two years there was harmony between himself and the Assembly, but at the end of that time he found himself compelled to reject the Poll Tax Bill and to dissolve the Assembly on account of "its partial and unjust proceedings." In December, 1687, the Duke of Albemarle arrived as Governor, bringing with him Father Churchill, a Romish Priest, to convert the inhabitants to Roman Catholicism, and Dr. Hans Sloane, the Great Naturalist, as his Medical Attendant. It was not long before this nobleman and the Assembly were in open antagonism. He dissolved the House suddenly, because one of the members in a debate repeated the old adage, salus populi suprema lex, and had the offender taken into custody and fined £600. Writs were issued for another Assembly. "The freedom of election was grossly violated by the Duke, who admitted hosts of servants and discharged seamen to the poll, and actually imprisoned many legal voters of wealth and consideration. He imposed fines on the latter to a large amount and threatened to whip two gentlemen for requesting a habeas corpus for their friends."* The Assembly thus elected met and while in session the Duke died, and Sir Francis Watson, as President of the Council, assumed the Government. Soon after intelligence of the flight of James II and the proclamation of William and Mary reached the island. The colonists thereupon petitioned the new Sovereigns against the tyrannical acts of the late Governor, and the illegality of the Assembly that enacted the laws recommended by him. In response the King restored the dismissed members of Council and Public Officers to their places and trusts, remitted the fines imposed and referred the laws to a new Assembly. In May, 1690, the Earl of Inchiquin arrived as Governor, with instructions to ship to England the sufferers from the field of Sedgmoor, and the whole body of the "sold-out rebels" arrived in England on the anniversary of the day on which they had been sent as convicts to Jamaica. The Earl very soon exhibited his natural petulance to the Assembly. Some discussion arose in the House on a bill for the defence of the island and the Earl, taking offence at the proceedings, rejected the congratulatory address to himself and "threw it to them with some contempt." War then existed between England and France and Freebooters and other hostile cruisers were making depredations on the seaside plantations of Jamaica. In retaliation the Earl despatched the "Swan" and "Guernsey," men of-war, to attack the French settlement in Hispaniola, and just about the time of his death these vessels returned with valuable prizes, having been eminently successful in the enterprize. These were taken to Port Royal which was then the "finest town in the West Indies and the richest spot in the universe." On the 7th June, 1692, the great earthquake occurred which almost destroyed this opulent city. Whole streets with their inhabitants were swallowed up by the opening of the earth, which, as it closed again squeezed the people to death, and in that manner several were left with their heads above ground. "It was a sad sight," wrote the Rector of the Parish, "to see the harbour covered with dead bodies of people of all conditions, floating up and down without burial, for the burying place was destroyed by the earthquake, which dashed to pieces tombs, and the sea washed the carcasses of those who had been buried out of their graves." Of the 3,000 houses but about 200, with Fort Charles, remained uninjured. "The whole island felt the shock. Chains of hills were riven asunder, new channels formed for the rivers, mountains dissolved with a mighty crash, burying alive the people of the adjacent valleys, whole settlements sunk into the bowels of the earth, plantations were removed en masse and all the sugar works destroyed. In fact the whole outline was drawn a fresh and the elevation of the surface was considerably diminished. The sentence of desolation was thus, however, but partially fulfilled; a noxious miasma generated by the shoals of putrefying bodies that floated about the harbour of Port Royal, or lay in heaps in the suburbs, slew thousands of the survivors."§ President White (who succeeded in the government on the death of the Earl of Inchiquin) was among those who died from injuries received at Port Royal during the earthquake. The destruction of Port Royal led to the settlement of Kingston. Many of the survivors removed to the lower part of Liguanea in St. Bridges' Annals of Jamaica. Narrative of the Rector of Port Royal, † Leslies's New History of Jamaica. Andrew, then the property of Colonel Beeston, and formed themselves into a community. They procured for their settlement the status of a town and had it laid out by Colonel Christian Lilly of the Royal Artillery. In March, 1693, Sir William Beeston, Knt., formerly Colonel Beeston, arrived as Lieutenant-Governor and assumed the Government. In May, 1694, intelligence of a projected invasion of the island, in the interest of the fugitive King, was communicated to him, and on the 17th June a French fleet, commanded by Admiral Ducasse, came in sight. They landed detachments of men at Cow Bay and Port Morant, who penetrated the interior and destroyed fifty plantations. By horrid atrocities they secured a large amount of money and other valuables. Both men and women were murdered. The squadron took several merchant ships and carried off one thousand three hundred slaves. When they had accomplished their depredations on the north and east sides of the island they sailed for Carlisie Bay on the south, but there they were met by the Colonial Militia wh › bravely encountered and eventually defeated them, driving them back to their ships with the loss of 700 men. The sale of the negroes kidnapped realized £65,000 to the captors. In July, 1702, war was again declared by England against France, and Admiral Benbow sailed from Port Royal in search of the French fleet under DuCasse, and on the 19th August fell in with it off Santa Martha. Benbow was defeated and taken to Kingston where he died from the effects of a wound in his leg. In the following January Colonel Thomas Handesyd (afterwards Major General) was appointed Governor. There were eight Assemblies and fifteen sessions within the eight years of his administration. The Governor in proroguing the last of these Assemblies declared that their conduct reminded him of a " party of barbarous people who took off the head of Charles of ever blessed memory.' Among the revenue bills of this period was one levying a poll tax of 10/ on every white person above the age of 15. In July, 1711, Admiral Lord Archibald Hamilton arrived as Governor. He was directed in the Royal instructions not to pass any law for a shorter period than 12 months. This was in consequence of the habit of the Assembly to limit their money bills to three months, "under a jealous apprehension of the Council's interference or the Governor's intemperance."* The differences between the Governor and the Assembly were as fierce during this administration as during that of Colonel Handesyd and culminated in the Governor's refusing to receive any more messages from the House. Lord Hamilton was re-called and Mr. Peter Heywood, a planter, succeeded to the Government. He was directed not to pass any law that should repeal a law confirmed by the Crown, without a suspension clause, or first transmitting the draft of the bill to the Secretary of State. In April, 1718, Sir Nicholas Lawes, another planter, became Governor. He endeavoured to conciliate all parties, but the publication of a libel by Mr. James Wood, the Clerk of the Council, on the Assembly, led to the renewal of the political conflicts. The libel was in defence of Lord Hamilton. An interchange of intemperate messages between the Council and the Assembly ended in the determination of each party to have no further communication with the other, the last message from the Assembly being thrown off the Council table by one of the members of the Board and trampled beneath his feet. This led to a dissolution of the Assembly. In the following year the Legislative brawls were continued and five members were expeiled by the Assembly "for having urged that the House had fallen by the Speaker remaining in the Chair without a quorum." The House was again dissolved. The interruption to the progress of public business involved the Government so much in debt that its bills were at a discount of fifty per cent., and even the expenses incident on the trial of some pirates could not be defrayed. The rebellious negroes also harrassed the country and appeared in such force that it became necessary to summon the aid of the Mosquitto Indians. A party of them arrived under the conduct of their King but the want of money obstructed even that important service. The "Picaroons" from Cuba also made frequent invasions on the unprotected coasts. The house of the proprietor of a considerable settlement on the beach of St. Ann was one night surrounded and set on fire in all directions and in the * Bridges' Annals of Jamaica. |