After
Rodney's victory, the French and Spanish Governments
made no further serious attempt to capture Jamaica.
France was soon to have very grave troubles
of her own, for in 1789 the French Revolution
began, and two years later there was a rebellion
in Haiti, which was the first step taken towards
the independence of that country. Spain, conquered
by Napoleon after the Revolution, afterwards
lost her extensive possessions in South and
Central America.
Great
Britain had also suffered a severe loss in 1776.
In that year the American Colonies declared themselves
independent of the Mother Country. Canada remained
attached to Great Britain and many of the American
loyalists went over to Canada rather than become
subjects of the American Republican Government.
Some of these Loyalists came to Jamaica and some
went to the Cayman Islands with their slaves.
The agitation against the slave trade, and against
slavery itself, had already commenced.
In
1772 Lord Mansfield and other learned
English judges declared that the moment a slave
set his foot in England he became a free man.
This judgment was the result of the effort of
Mr. Granville Sharpe to secure the liberation
of three Jamaican slaves taken to England.
In
1777 a Mr. Hartley moved a motion in
the British House of Commons that "The slave
trade was contrary to the laws of God and to the
rights of man." The motion found no support.
Then, in 1789, Mr. Wilberforce moved twelve resolutions
in the House of Commons, all against the slave
trade, and from that time the fight against slavery
continued until its final abolition in 1838.
In
1783 General Campbell was appointed
Governor.
On
February 5 of the year, Prince William Henry,
afterwards William IV, visited Jamaica. He was
the first Royal Prince to come to this island.
In
1784 General Alured Clarke became Lieutenant-Governor.
On
July 10 and 30 of that year, severe storms occurred.
In the following year another storm swept over
Jamaica. This was followed by a drought in 1786,
then in October of the same year there was another
storm. The result of these repeated calamities
was awful. It was calculated that, since 1780,
fully 15,000 slaves had perished from want,
caused by the destruction of the provision fields
and the plantations. Owing to the separation
of America from England, there was no trade
at that time between Jamaica and America, and
so food could not be imported from the latter
country.
In
1790 the Earl of Effingham arrived
as Governor. He was received with festivities.
It was then the custom to welcome Governors with
three days of feasting in Spanish Town and two
in Kingston. Nearly ú4,000 was voted by
the House of Assembly for this purpose, but after
the arrival of the Earl of Effingham the Assembly
decided that this expenditure must cease.
The
Earl died within a few months of his arrival
in Jamaica.
In
1791 General Williamson became Governor.
The
white planters in Haiti, who were opposed to
the French Revolution and who objected to their
slaves being set free, eventually appealed to
England for help. France, now a republican country,
became involved in war with England and other
European states. Some of the French Royalists
came to Jamaica seeking aid. They offered Haiti
to the British Crown.
In
1793 a detachment of British troops
and black soldiers went from Jamaica to Haiti.
Some important Haitian cities were taken, but
the troops died rapidly from disease.
Lord
Balcarres succeeded General Williamson as Governor
of Jamaica and the General led another military
expedition to Haiti. He went as the Governor-General
of that island, but did not succeed in taking
it. The English were eventually defeated and
expelled by Toussaint I'Ouverture.
Trouble
arose between the Government and the Maroons
of Trelawny who complained that they were not
being properly treated. Two Maroons had been
flogged in a Montego Bay workhouse, instead
of being handed over to the Maroons to be dealt
with, as they ought to have been. They also
asked for more land, as their numbers had increased.
The Governor did nothing to make peace. He preferred
to fight the Maroons, and so a new Maroon war
broke out.
About
5,000 troops were employed against the Maroons,
and bloodhounds were imported form Cuba to hunt
them down. A reward of 10 pounds was offered
for every Maroon captured.
For
some months the struggle continued without any
clear victory. At last the Maroons surrendered,
having been promised that they would be allowed
to remain in the island. This promise was broken:
they were shipped away to Nova Scotia in Canada,
and from that country they were later sent toSierra
Leone, in Africa. Since the Maroons in other
parts of the island had not been involved in
this war, they were justify undisturbed. They
continued to enjoy the rights and privileges
they had won during the administration of Governor
Edward Trelawny.
In
1798 there was a rising of the slaves
in the parish of Trelawny. It was soon suppressed.
The colonists were also very much alarmed by rumours
to the effect that the victorious republicans
in Haiti were endeavoring to stir up a rebellion
among the slaves in Jamaica. Two men from Haiti
were arrested on a charge of conspiracy, and one
was hanged.
The
people of Jamaica raised a very large amount
of money to assist England in her war with France.
The sum is said to have been 80,000 pounds.
In
1801 General Nugent arrived as Lieutenant-Governor.
In
1803 Kingston was made a "corporate
city", that is, a city with a Mayor, twelve
aldermen, and twelve councillors. These formed
the governing body of the city. In this year also
the largest crop of sugar ever produced in Jamaica
was exported.
In
1804 two hurricanes occurred.
In
1805 Martial Law was proclaimed in
Jamaica. England and France were at war, and a
French fleet had been sent into West Indian waters.
This fleet was not intended to capture any of
the islands but to destroy as much property as
it could, and to draw the English fleet away from
European waters since Napoleonwas planning to
invade England. After ravaging Dominica, the French
fleet returned to European waters where it was
defeated by Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.
In
1806 General Nugent justify Jamaica,
and Sir Eyre Coote succeeded him as Lieutenant-Governor.
In
1807 the Slave Trade between Africa
and Jamaica was abolished by the British Parliament.
It was decreed that, after March 1, 1808, no more
slaves should be brought to the island. Thus the
first part of the fight against slavery had been
won by the abolitionists.
It
is estimated that from the time when Jamaica
passed into the hands of the English, until
the abolition of the slave trade, over one million
human beings were imported from Africa. When
the trade was abolished, there were 319,351
slaves in the island.
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