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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 835: DISCUSSIONS ON THE REVOLT IN DEMARARA, ETC.
By Edward Farr
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The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

DISCUSSIONS ON THE REVOLT IN DEMARARA, ETC.

During this session Mr. Brougham called the attention of the commons to the circumstances of a revolt in Demarara. The negroes of that island had been led to believe that their freedom had been granted by parliament, and was withheld by the colonial assemblies. This delusion caused an insurrection; and a missionary, named Smith, was tried by martial law, on a charge of exciting the negroes to revolt, and was condemned to death. His case was sent to England for the consideration of the privy-council; but he died in prison before the pardon extended to him could arrive. Mr. Brougham moved that the court-martial held on him was illegal, and the sentence unjust; and it was with great difficulty that ministers could procure a small majority to acquit his judges. This discussion, however, led to beneficial results. Government formed plans for abolishing the habitual use of the lash; for regulating the punishment of refractory slaves; for preventing the separate sale of husband, wife, and children; for protecting the property of slaves, admitting their evidence, and facilitating their manumission; and for providing them religious instruction, and a regular ecclesiastical establishment, with two bishops at its head; one presiding over Jamaica, and the other over the Leeward Islands, These were the principal measures of parliament during the present session.