Peter Espeut | Does history repeat itself?

It is an old saying that “History repeats itself”. I don’t know if that is exactly true, but there certainly are parallels and similarities between events that take place years, decades, or even centuries apart. I guess that is what the study of history is all about: trying to make some sense of today by examining the past in detail.

The words of Sir Winston Churchill – PM of Great Britain but also a historian (he wrote A History of the English-Speaking Peoples) – are also illuminating: “The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward”. I guess we all want to be able to see where our country is going. Sometimes looking where we are coming from helps.

Let us look back at some of the events around 1865 and the Morant Bay Rebellion.

The promise of social and economic progress that Emancipation promised did not materialise, and the newly freed were frustrated. Slavery had ended, but the slavemaster mentality among the plantocracy had not. The colonial state controlled by the planters did not offer land or education to promote social mobility, and the people could not get justice through the courts. In 1861 only 13 per cent of the population was literate, yet in that year the House of Assembly (HoA) voted only £2,500 to educate the 65,000 children of school age. Clearly a literate labour force was not in the national plan.

The HoA had imported cheap labour from China and India to keep wages low. The tax burden on the poor had increased, and toll gates charged peasants on the way to market (therefore with no cash yet in their pockets). At the same time, the US Civil War (between the northern and southern states) was in full swing; food and textile prices were high; many estates had shut down and unemployment was rife. Times were tough!

Crime was on the increase. The number of prisoners in the island’s penitentiaries jumped from 283 in 1861 to 629 by 1864; in 1865 there were 710 prisoners, 617 of them for larceny.

PROSPEROUS LANDOWNER

George William Gordon, a quadroon born in slavery, had become a prosperous landowner and member of the HoA; he co-founded the Jamaica Mutual Life Assurance Society, and was appointed a justice of the peace in seven parishes. He spoke up on behalf of the suffering poor, and also criticised the Governor (Eyre) for corruption – using public funds to purchase a piano for his family, and about the slip-dock and the toll road/tramway affair. He earned the enmity of the governor.

Today Gordon would be considered a zealous civil society advocate; then he was considered seditious and an enemy of the State.

The details of the Morant Bay Rebellion are well known, and need not be repeated here. The Bath militia fired upon the crowd in front of the Morant Bay courthouse killing seven protesters, and the crowd retaliated with sticks, stones and machetes killing 11 civilians and seven militiamen.

The following day Governor Eyre called a Council of War and proclaimed Martial Law in all the parishes in the County of Surrey except Kingston. Troops were sent to put down the “rebellion”, which actually had already come to an end.

After that first day only two civilians were killed by the rebels, two died from exposure, and three were wounded. In all, 29 whites were killed and 34 seriously injured by the rebels; five houses were burnt, including the courthouse and school; 20 stores and houses were wholly or totally robbed.

In putting down the “rebellion” 354 persons were executed by court martial, 50 were shot or hung without trial, 25 were shot by the Maroons, and 10 were “killed otherwise”; [total 439 put to death]; and 600 men and women were flogged. Over 1,000 houses (including all of Stony Gut) were burned.

At the time of the outbreak, Gordon was indisposed by illness, and went to Kingston (where there was no Martial Law) to stay with a friend. Eyre used the opportunity of the “rebellion” to get even with his enemies; he had a warrant issued for Gordon, who – knowing that he was innocent – presented himself at Army Headquarters. He was arrested, and taken by ship to Morant Bay where there was martial law, and tried by court martial. He was found guilty, and hanged the following day.

REMOVAL AND PROSECUTION

As news of the Morant Bay Riot reached England, and the brutal way it was suppressed, calls began to mount for the recall of Governor Eyre. Many petitions critical of Eyre were sent to the Colonial Office calling for his removal and prosecution.

On November 9, 1865 the HoA passed “An Act to Indemnify the Governor and all other officers and persons concerned in suppressing the late rebellion in this Island”. This self-serving piece of legislation was a clear abuse of power, to enable Eyre and his cronies to avoid criminal and civil responsibility for their atrocities. This would not be the last time that Jamaican politicians used their legislative powers to insulate themselves from prosecution.

On the same day, the JHA passed “An Act to enable the Governor to detain Persons arrested during the prevalence of Martial Law” for such time as necessary to dispose of their case. What they wanted was to be able to hold “suspects” in “indefinite detention”. Sound familiar?

On November 10, the HoA passed an Act to enable the Governor to declare Martial Law with the advice of his Privy Council. Previously it required a Council of War. At the least sign of trouble the head of government could call out the troops.

Because of the indemnity granted him by the Jamaica HoA, all the criminal and civil cases brought in England against Eyre and the army officers who brutally killed hundreds of Jamaicans were dismissed. Eyre was able to retire with a substantial pension.

I guess the authorities have to defend and protect their own.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com