Governor of Jamaica

“ Lawrencefield is said to have been the residence of Sir Henry Morgan, governor of Jamaica (1673–82) . St. Jago Farm is said to be the site of the residence of Sasi, the last of the Spanish Governors. Government Pen was the residence of former governors, and is frequently mentioned in Lady Nugent’s “Journal.” At Caymanas is an Arawâk kitchen-midden·, at Mountain River, St. John’s, some Arawâk rock-carvings, and at Goat Island (in Old Harbour Bay) is a cave with Arawâk remains. At Point Hill are some old barracks which are now used as a police station. ”

“ Some account has been given of the difficulties which attended the government of every West Indian colony, and of those which were peculiar to that of Jamaica. It should be added, that the office of Governor, independently of the difficulties occasioned by any particular event, is itself of so peculiar a character as to require no inconsiderable share of temper and address as well as judgment. He is the representative of his Sovereign, invested with many of the executive powers of sovereignty. He must constantly by his conduct maintain the dignity of his Sovereign. ”

“ There can be no difficulties which may not be surmounted, and confidence can never be supplanted by distrust: there can be no governor of Jamaica whose administration will not have merited and received the approbation of his sovereign, and the gratitude of the colony, so long as he religiously follows the example, and adheres to the principles of Lord Metcalfe. ”

“ After the revolution in 1689-90 he was appointed governor of Jamaica. On his arrival an assembly was immediately summoned; its first act was to offer him a bill abrogating the laws passed in the late reign of tyranny and terror. ”

“ The history of Jamaica abounds in numerous instances where governors, who had by their conduct given occasion for its adoption, had been either recalled, or ordered by the Executive Government to make such communication to the Assembly as had the character of being an atonement for the violation of their privileges, and an express recognition of them. Upon this resolution being passed, the governor prorogued the Assembly. On being re-assembled, they adhered to their former resolution. The governor dissolved the Assembly. ”

“ The Earl and Countess of Effingham arrived at Port Royal on March 17, 1790, in the ship Catherine Countess of Effingham. During his short period of governorship the condition of Jamaica was the cause of some anxiety owing to the nearness of the republican movement in San Domingo; so much so, that during the Christmas holidays of 1791 two ships of war patrolled round the island. The National Assembly of France passed a decree of thanks to the King of Great Britain, to the English nation, and to Lord Effingham, governor of Jamaica, for his generous conduct in relieving the planters of St. ”

“ Peter Beckford, who matriculated in 1688, and afterwards became lieutenant-governor of Jamaica, is the first on the list which includes other well-known names, such as Garbrand, Dawkins, Nedham, Ellis, Price, Gale, Gregory, Haughton, Morant, Barham, Lawrence, Lewis, Clarke, Barrett, East, Dallas, Dwarris and Scarlett.
A review of the state of education in the middle of the eighteenth century is given by Leslie in his “New History of Jamaica” (1740) . He says:
“Learning is here at the lowest Ebb; there is no publick School in the whole Island, neither do they seem fond of the thing ”

“ It was one of the instructions to Doyley, when he was made governor in 1661, that he should give the best encouragement to ministers “that Christianity and the Protestant religion, according to the profession of the Church of England, may have due reverence amongst them”; and later in the year it was resolved that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London should choose five able ministers to be maintained in Jamaica at the King’s expense for one year, the governor to provide for their maintenance afterwards. ”

“ The reconstructed Institute of Jamaica possesses several objects of considerable historic interest. Besides the Arawâk pottery and implements and the slave branding-iron alluded to in the Introduction, there is a cage in which criminals were hung to die of starvation, as late as the early days of the nineteenth century. There is also the Chancellor’s purse for holding the official seal of the colony, recalling the days when the governor sat as chancellor, which lasted up to the passing of the judicature law of 1879. ”

“ During his government he furnished the British parliament with much information concerning the colony, and advocated the introduction of coolie and Chinese labour, an innovation which has since been successfully attempted. He also endeavoured to develop the resources of the country by the introduction of railways. At the close of his term of office he left the colony contented and comparatively prosperous. On 18 July 1853 he was nominated K.C.B., and on 9 Aug. he left Guiana to succeed Sir Charles Edward Grey [q. v.] as governor of Jamaica. ”

“ In Jamaica one does come in contact with coloured men. They are to be met at the Governor's table; they sit in the House of Assembly; they cannot be refused admittance to state parties, or even to large assemblies; they have forced themselves forward, and must be recognized as being in the van. Individuals decry them—will not have them within their doors—affect to despise them. But in effect the coloured men of Jamaica cannot be despised much longer. ”

“ Francis Fuller (1814–17) ; Henry Conran (1817–23) ; Sir John Keane (1823–30) , who had served under Wellington in the Peninsula, and while in Jamaica took part in the attack on New Orleans, and later served with distinction in India; Sir Willoughby Cotton (1831–37) , who in Bermuda had had Havelock as his aide-de-camp, and in Jamaica suppressed the rebellion in St. James; Sir William Maynard Gomm (1839–42) , at one time governor and commander-in-chief of the Windward and Leeward Islands; Sackville Hamilton Berkeley; Samuel Lambert; Thomas Bunbury; Sir Richard Doherty ”

“ Although the governor of the colony has ever held the rank of captain-general of the forces, there has always been a general officer in actual command of the troops; and in former days, and as late as 1895, such general held, ex officio, a commission as lieutenant-governor of the colony, and succeeded to the control of affairs when occasion arose. The house still retains the name of Headquarters House, though it has been the colonial secretary’s office since the government was removed from Spanish Town to Kingston. ”

“ His Excellency the Governor and his advisors have thus shown their utter inability to understand the economic needs of the island. Deliberately—we do not say with malice aforethought—have they decided to perpetuate conditions which in the past have served to disintegrate the population of this colony, and will in the future continue to do this with even more harmful effects than hitherto unless some well-considered attempt is made to produce more wealth from our soil for the benefit, not of a few capitalists, but of the nine hundred thousand inhabitants of Jamaica. ”

“ We asked the governor for more land and he moved us off. We warned him against having one of our head young men flogged by a slave in the presence of slaves—for we are free men, and he laughs. So, knowing a few strong men can bring many weak men to their knees, we rose. I say this—there's plenty weak men in Jamaica, men who don't know right when they see it. So we rose, massa, and we'll make Jamaica sick before we've done. They can't beat us, for we can ambush here, and shoot those that come after us. ”

“ The Governor was a man of stainless honour, who in a moment of extreme difficulty and danger had rendered a great service to his country. By his prompt and courageous action a negro insurrection was quickly suppressed, which, if it had been allowed to extend, must have brought untold horrors upon Jamaica. ”

“ The crown council of Ceylon may be cited as an example of the first kind, and the crown council of Jamaica of the second.
In colonies possessing representative institutions without responsible government, the crown cannot (generally) legislate by order in council, and laws are made by the governor with the concurrence of the legislative body or bodies, one at least of these bodies in cases where a second chamber exists possessing a preponderance of elected representatives. The Bahamas, Barbados, and Bermuda have two legislative bodies—one elected and one nominated by the crown ”

“ For a time Port Royal was the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor, while the Governor’s official residence was at Spanish Town. In November 1661, it was ordered “that no person remain on Point Cagua without giving security to a Justice of the Peace not to be chargeable to the inhabitants for more than one month. Any waterman bringing a person likely to be chargeable to pay a piece of eight and carry him back again.” In 1664 the Assembly desired and advised the Council that the Court of Common Pleas should be held constantly “in St. ”

“ Nominally, at least, the people are free and self-governed; and if, under propitious skies, the burdens either of the private home or of the state are heavy and crushing, it is because of mismanagement and not of necessity. To a casual observer, therefore, it would seem as if nowhere in the same space were gathered more elements of wealth, prosperity, and happiness than in Jamaica. ”

“ I.J. The great weight of this lower pedestal enabled the statue to stand the earthquake of 1907 unmoved; while every other statue in Kingston was either thrown down or slued round on its base.
“Selections from the Papers of Lord Metcalfe” contain papers from Jamaica, dealing with such divers subjects as the Conditions of the Island; the Social Condition of the People; the Labour Question; the Stipendiary 193Magistrate; the Governor’s Salary; Reforms of the Judicial System; Advantages of Conciliation; Prison Discipline; the Health of the Troops, and Answers to Addresses from the parishes of St. ”

“ It is in fact impossible, except where tact and goodwill and friendly feeling exist in an unusual degree, for the government of a country to be carried on when those who are responsible for it are in a permanent minority in the Legislature. I decline to allow the Jamaica Government to remain in that position any longer, not merely because it is unfair to them, but also because, recognizing the ultimate responsibility of Her Majesty's Government for the solvency of the Colony, I must ensure that the measures which they may consider necessary are carried out. ”

“ The constitution of Jamaica is based on those rights and privileges. It is, to use the emphatic language of Mr Burke, in speaking of our North American colonies, "a constitution which, with the exception of the commercial restraints, has every characteristic of a free government. She has the express image of the British constitution. She has the substance. She has the right of taxing herself through her representatives in her Assembly. She has, in effect, the sole internal government of the colony." ”

“ While Jamaica is a well-governed country, and its revenue is all honestly expended for the public good of the people, it is far from an economically administered government. Order is thoroughly established, laws are obeyed, justice for the humblest is easily obtainable, education is general, sanitary matters admirably administered, roads maintained, the rights of all conserved, and the revenue honestly collected and expended. In these particulars the government of Jamaica differs widely from that which the author found in Cuba. In that unhappy Island all is absolutely the reverse of this. ”

“ In November 1688 a petition was presented to the king by the planters and merchants trading to Jamaica protesting against the new régime introduced by Lord Albemarle:—"The once flourishing island of Jamaica is likely to be utterly undone by the irregularities of some needy persons lately set in power. Many of the most considerable inhabitants are deserting it, others are under severe fines and imprisonments from little or no cause.... ”

“ The weakness of the English rule in Jamaica is that the island is governed by those who are paid to govern. The ambition of the majority of the English officials seems to be to earn their money and begone. Jamaica is not their home. Just as I in England always thought of this island as home, and worked in England so that I might return here, so do the English people think of England while living here. It would be foolish to expect anything else. The more ambitious servants of the British Government work hard here, not so much for the good of the place as for the good of themselves. ”

“ THE SQUARE, SPANISH TOWN 106The president of the Council, which was not infrequently recruited from the Assembly, was John Lewis, the chief justice, a relative of the well-known “Monk” Lewis; and other members (twelve in all) bore the well-known Jamaica names of Broadbelt, Ross, Pinnock, Cuthbert, Scarlett, Nembhardt and Jackson. Its chaplain was the Rev. John Campbell (rector of St. Andrew) . Its librarian was Alexander Dallas, a relation of the author of the “History of the Maroons.” The Assembly opened daily with prayer. ”

“ This I know may be said, that be the Lords and Commons there for good or evil, they are to be moved neither by men nor gods. It is I imagine true, that no power known to the British empire could deprive Jamaica of her constitution. ”