"Now that the member for Westmoreland (Mr. Beaumont) has come over to our side, we will, by a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether, bring down the system by the run, knock off the fetters, and let the oppressed go free."
On the day of Mr. J.'s trial, the court-room was thronged with colored men, who had armed themselves, and were determined, if the sentence of death were pronounced upon Mr. Jordon, to rescue him at whatever hazard. It is supposed that their purpose was conjectured by the judges--at any rate, they saw fit to acquit Mr. J. and give him his enlargement. The Watchman continued as fearless and seditious as ever, until the Assembly were ultimately provoked to threaten some extreme measure which should effectually silence the agitators. Then Mr. Jordon issued a spirited circular, in which he stated the extent of the coalition among the colored people, and in a tone of defiance demanded the instant repeal of every restrictive law, the removal of every disability, and the extension of complete political equality; declaring, that if the demand were not complied with, the whole colored population would rise in arms, would proclaim freedom to their own slaves, instigate the slaves generally to rebellion, and then shout war and wage it, until the streets of Kingston should run blood. This bold piece of generalship succeeded. The terrified legislators huddled together in their Assembly-room, and swept away, at one blow, all restrictions, and gave the colored people entire enfranchisement. These occurrences took place in 1831; since which time the colored class have been politically free, and have been marching forward with rapid step in every species of improvement, and are now on a higher footing than in any other colony. All offices are open to them; they are aldermen of the city, justices of the peace, inspectors of public institutions, trustees of schools, etc. There are, at least, then colored special magistrates, natives of the island. There are four colored members of the Assembly, including Messrs. Jordon and Osborne. Mr. Jordon now sits in the same Assembly, side by side, with the man who, a few years ago, ejected him disdainfully from his clerkship. He is a member of the Assembly for the city of Kingston, where not long since he was imprisoned, and tried for his life. He is also alderman of the city, and one of its local magistrates. He is now inspector of the same prison in which he was formerly immured as a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition.
The secretary of the special magistrate department, Richard Hill, Esq., is a colored gentleman, and is one of the first men in the island,[[A]] for integrity, independence, superior abilities, and extensive acquirements. It has seldom been our happiness to meet with a man more illustrious for true nobility of soul, or in whose countenance there were deeper traces of intellectual and moral greatness. We are confident that no man can see him without being impressed with his rare combination of excellences.
[Footnote [A]: We learn from the Jamaica papers, since our return to this country, that Mr. Hill has been elected a member of the Assembly.]
Having said thus much respecting the political advancement of the colored people, it is proper to remark, that they have by no means evinced a determination to claim more than their share of office and influence. On the contrary, they stop very far short of what they are entitled to. Having an extent of suffrage but little less than the whites, they might fill one third of the seats in the Assembly, whereas they now return but four members out of forty-five. The same may be said of other offices, particularly those in the city of Kingston, and the larger towns, where they are equal to, or more numerous, than the whites. It is a fact, that a portion of the colored people continue at this time to return white members to the Assembly, and to vote for white aldermen and other city officers. The influential men among them, have always urged them to take up white men, unless they could find competent men of their own color. As they remarked to us, if they were obliged to send an ass to the Assembly, it was far better for them to send a white ass than a black one.
In company with a friend, we visited the principal streets and places of business in Kingston, for the purpose of seeing for ourselves the general employments of the people of color; and those who engage in the lowest offices, such as porters, watermen, draymen, and servants of all grades, from him who flaunts in livery, to him who polishes shoes, are of course from this class. So with the fruiterers, fishmongers, and the almost innumerable tribe of petty hucksters which swarm throughout the city, and is collected in a dense mass in its suburbs. The market, which is the largest and best in the West Indies, is almost entirely supplied and attended by colored persons, mostly females. The great body of artisans is composed mostly of colored persons.
There are two large furniture and cabinet manufactories in Kingston, one owned by two colored men, and the other by a white man. The operatives, of which one contains eighty, and the other nearly as many, are all black and colored. A large number of them are what the British law terms apprentices, and are still bound in unremunerated servitude, though some of them for thrice seven years have been adepts in their trades, and not a few are earning their masters twenty or thirty dollars each month, clear of all expenses. Some of these apprentices are hoary-headed and wrinkle-browned men, with their children, and grand-children, apprentices also, around them, and who, after having used the plane and the chisel for half a century, with faithfulness for others, are now spending the few hours and the failing strength of old again in preparing to use the plane and the chisel for themselves. The work on which they were engaged evinced no lack of mechanical skill and ingenuity, but on the contrary we were shown some of the most elegant specimens of mechanical skill, which we ever saw. The rich woods of the West Indies were put into almost every form and combination which taste could designate or luxury desire.
The owners of these establishments informed us that their business had much increased within the last two years, and was still extending. Neither of them had any fears for the results of complete emancipation, but both were laying their plans for the future as broadly and confidently as ever.
In our walk we accidentally met a colored man, whom we had heard mentioned on several occasions as a superior architect. From the conversation we had with him, then and subsequently, he appeared to possess a fine mechanical genius, and to have made acquirements which would be honorable in any man, but which were truly admirable in one who had been shut up all his life by the disabilities which in Jamaica have, until recently, attached to color. He superintended the erection of the Wesleyan chapel in Kingston, the largest building of the kind in the island, and esteemed by many as the most elegant. The plan was his own, and the work was executed under his own eye. This man is using his means and influence to encourage the study of his favorite art, and of the arts and sciences generally, among those of his own hue.
One of the largest bookstores in the island is owned by two colored men. (Messrs. Jordon and Osborne, already referred to.) Connected with it is an extensive printing-office, from which a newspaper is issued twice a week. Another paper, under the control of colored men, is published at Spanishtown. These are the two principal liberal presses in Jamaica, and are conducted with spirit and ability. Their influence in the political and civil affairs of the island is very great. They are the organs of the colored people, bond and free, and through them any violation of law or humanity is exposed to the public, and redress demanded, and generally obtained. In literary merit and correctness of moral sentiment, they are not excelled by any press there, while some of their white contemporaries fall far below them in both. Besides the workmen employed in these two offices, there is a large number of colored printers in the other printing offices, of which there are several.