Black Rebellion | Page 4

doors of
their little thatched huts they looked across these gardens of delight to
the magnificent lowland forests, and over those again to the faint line
of far-off beach, the fainter ocean-horizon, and the illimitable sky.
They had senses like those of American Indians; tracked each other by
the smell of the smoke of fires in the air, and called to each other by
horns, using a special note to designate each of their comrades, and
distinguishing it beyond the range of ordinary hearing. They spoke
English diluted with Spanish and African words, and practised Obeah
rites quite undiluted with Christianity. Of course they associated largely
with the slaves, without any very precise regard to treaty stipulations;
sometimes brought in fugitives, and sometimes concealed them; left
their towns and settled on the planters lands when they preferred them:
but were quite orderly and luxuriously happy. During the formidable
insurrection of the Koromantyn slaves, in 1760, they played a dubious
part. When left to go on their own way, they did something towards
suppressing it; but when placed under the guns of the troops, and
ordered to fire on those of their own color, they threw themselves on
the ground without discharging a shot. Nevertheless, they gradually
came up into reputable standing; they grew more and more industrious
and steady; and after they had joined very heartily in resisting
D'Estaing's threatened invasion of the island in 1779, it became the
fashion to speak of "our faithful and affectionate Maroons."
In 1795, their position was as follows: Their numbers had not
materially increased, for many had strayed off and settled on the
outskirts of plantations; nor materially diminished, for many runaway
slaves had joined them; while there were also separate settlements of
fugitives, who had maintained their freedom for twenty years. The
white superintendents had lived with the Maroons in perfect harmony,
without the slightest official authority, but with a great deal of actual
influence. But there was an "irrepressible conflict" behind all this
apparent peace, and the slightest occasion might, at any moment, revive
all the old terror. That occasion was close at hand.
Capt. Cudjoe and Capt. Accompong, and the other founders of Maroon
independence, had passed away; and "Old Montagu" reigned in their
stead, in Trelawney Town. Old Montagu had all the pomp and

circumstance of Maroon majesty: he wore a laced red coat, and a hat
superb with gold lace and plumes; none but captains could sit in his
presence; he was helped first at meals, and no woman could eat beside
him; he presided at councils as magnificently as at table, though with
less appetite; and possessed, meanwhile, not an atom of the love or
reverence of any human being. The real power lay entirely with Major
James, the white superintendent, who had been brought up among the
Maroons by his father (and predecessor), and who was the idol of this
wild race. In an evil hour, the Government removed him, and put a
certain unpopular Capt. Craskell in his place; and as there happened to
be, about the same time, a great excitement concerning a hopeful pair
of young Maroons, who had been seized and publicly whipped on a
charge of hog-stealing, their kindred refused to allow the new
superintendent to remain in the town. A few attempts at negotiation
only brought them to a higher pitch of wrath, which ended in their
despatching the following peculiar diplomatic note to the Earl of
Balcarres: "The Maroons wishes nothing else from the country but
battle, and they desires not to see Mr. Craskell up here at all. So they
are waiting every moment for the above on Monday. Mr. David Schaw
will see you on Sunday morning for an answer. They will wait till
Monday, nine o'clock, and if they don't come up, they will come down
themselves." Signed, "Col. Montagu and all the rest."
It turned out, at last, that only two or three of the Maroons were
concerned in this remarkable defiance; but meanwhile it had its effect.
Several ambassadors were sent among the insurgents, and were so
favorably impressed by their reception as to make up a subscription of
money for their hosts, on departing; only the "gallant Col. Gallimore,"
a Jamaica Camillus, gave iron instead of gold, by throwing some
bullets into the contribution-box. And it was probably in accordance
with his view of the subject, that, when the Maroons sent ambassadors
in return, they were at once imprisoned, most injudiciously and unjustly;
and when Old Montagu himself and thirty-seven others, following,
were seized and imprisoned also, it is not strange that the Maroons,
joined by many slaves, were soon in open insurrection.
Martial law was instantly proclaimed throughout the island. The
fighting men among the insurgents were not, perhaps, more than five
hundred;