In 1674, the inhabitants of Antigua presented an address to the captain-general, Sir William Stapleton, praying him to grant them a commission “to kill and destroy the Indians inhabiting the island of Dominica.”
From the period when Antigua was first settled by the English, the Caribs, as we have already seen, had been in the constant habit of landing upon it, and perpetrating the most fearful and horrid acts of violence upon its inhabitants. So frequent and barbarous were these attacks, that the colony at one time was in danger of being abandoned; and nothing but firm and vigorous measures on the part of the English could restrain the fury of their Indian adversaries, and quell their turbulent assaults.
As soon, therefore, as his excellency, Sir William Stapleton, acceded to the request of the Antiguans in granting a commission, a large party of volunteers was formed, aided by some of the settlers from the neighbouring islands, of which, at the earnest entreaties of the council and assembly of Antigua, Governor Philip Warner took the command. They immediately proceeded to Dominica; and however different historians may relate the events of this action, they all concur in stating, that the English obtained a most signal victory over their Indian foes. In this fray the illegitimate son of Sir Thomas Warner, by a Carib woman—who was generally known by the name of Thomas Warner, or “Indian Warner,” and who is said to have headed the Indians in many of their attacks upon the English—fell, as it is supposed, by the hands of his half-brother, Philip Warner, the governor of Antigua. Whether this deed was done by open warfare, or by treacherous means, is uncertain; but, upon the return of Colonel Philip Warner, the governor, to Antigua, after the reduction of the Caribs, the circumstances of the death of Indian Warner were inquired into either by Sir William Stapleton or Lord Willoughby, the results of which were, that Colonel Philip Warner was sent to England to stand his trial for the murder of his half-brother. After being kept in the Tower of London for some time, Colonel Warner was placed on board the Phoenix frigate, and despatched to Barbados, in order that he might be tried in the Court of Oyer and Terminer in that island.
This resolution, on the part of the home government, was no sooner known in Antigua, than a strong remonstrance was drawn up in the name of the inhabitants, and after being signed by sixteen of the most influential men among the legislature, was transmitted to the justices for the trial of Colonel Warner at Barbados, setting forth the facts, that it was only through the most earnest prayer of the Antiguans, and not from any private motives of his own, that he was induced to take the command upon the attack of the Caribs, in which action the Indian Warner fell. The facts of this case being fully investigated, Colonel Warner was honourably acquitted, his lands,[[22]] which he had quietly yielded up on being sent to England for trial, were restored, and he was again permitted to exercise the functions of governor of Antigua.
It certainly appears rather extraordinary that Colonel Warner should have stood his trial for this massacre of the Indians, when we find, that for more than fifty years after this occurrence, the Caribs were still hunted and destroyed as so many reptiles; but Indian Warner was one who ranked rather high in the opinion of Lord William Willoughby, and probably that nobleman felt incensed at his death. Many are the opinions of writers upon this subject. While some look upon Colonel Warner as the unjustified murderer of his half-brother; others are led to palliate the circumstances on the plea of Indian Warner being the chief actor in those cruel Carib attacks, which were generally made upon unarmed Englishmen, or their defenceless wives and children.
Dampier, one of the greatest navigators among the Buccaneers, (before that name had acquired a dread from the lawless and bloody deeds its chieftains committed,) visited Antigua about the period of Indian Warner’s death; and in his history of his voyages he has the following passage:—“About this time (1674) the Caribbees had done some spoil on our English plantations at Antego, and therefore Governor Warner’s son by his wife took a party of men, and went to suppress these Indians, and came to the place where his brother Indian Warner lived. Great seeming joy there was at their meeting, but how far real the event shewed; for the English Warner, providing plenty of liquor, and inviting his half-brother to be merry with him, in the midst of his entertainment, ordered his men, upon a signal given, to murder him and all his Indians, which was accordingly performed. The reason of this inhuman action is diversely reported. Some say that this Indian Warner committed all the spoil that was done to the English, and for that reason his brother killed him and his men. Others, that he was a great friend to the English, and would not suffer his men to hurt them, but did all that lay in his power to draw them to an amicable commerce; and that his brother killed him because he was ashamed to be related to an Indian. But, be it how it may, he was called in question for the murder, and forced to come home, and take his trial in England. Such perfidious doings as these, besides the baseness of them, are great hindrances of our gaining interest among the Indians.”
Captain Southey, in his “Chronological History of the West Indies,” writing of the events of 1674, says—“Sir Thomas Warner’s son went with an expedition to suppress the Caribs, who were headed by his half-brother, his father’s son by a Carib woman. He was received in a friendly manner by his relative. In the middle of the repast, upon a signal given, the Caribs were attacked and all massacred. Different reasons are given for this act of atrocity: one, that the Indian Warner committed all the ravages upon the English; another, that the murderer was ashamed of his Indian relations.” Evidently Captain Southey took Dampier for his guide in relating this circumstance; and other authors, following in the wake, have handed Colonel Warner down to posterity, in the character of a fratricide. But before his actions are discussed, it would be well to lay aside all previously formed opinions, and, horrible as fratricide must appear to all, calmly take a retrospect of the great cruelties practised by the Caribs on the persons of the English, which led to the melancholy incident already narrated.[[23]] Before concluding this subject, it will be necessary to mention some further particulars of the Indian Warner, the half-brother, of whose death Colonel Philip Warner was made amenable.
At the latter end of 1629, after having the honour of knighthood conferred upon him by Charles I., Sir Thomas Warner returned from England to St. Christopher’s. Soon after his arrival, he entered into a league with the French settlers and Mons. D’Esnambuc, the captain of a French privateer; and, falling upon the Caribs by night, murdered in cold blood one hundred and twenty of the men.[[24]] The females they parted among themselves, and one of the handsomest of them fell to the share of Sir Thomas Warner,[[25]] by whom she had a son, a remarkably fine and intelligent lad. About the year 1645, when he was fifteen years old,[[26]] an old Carib man, who, by some chance, had remained upon the island after the expulsion of his countrymen, informed the boy of the former cruelties of the English to his mother’s relations—a tale which so exasperated him, that he was determined to escape, the first opportunity, and join his Carib friends. At length he effected his purpose, and fled to Dominica,[[27]] where the Caribs had taken up their abode after being driven from St. Christopher’s. So pleased were the Indians with this display of spirit on the part of their young relative, that they received him with open arms, looked upon him as their chief, shared with him all their predatory booty, and followed him in all his expeditions. In 1664, Lord Francis Willoughby appointed this half-Carib (who bore the name of Thomas Warner) governor of Dominica, then inhabited by Indians. In this situation he remained until 1666, when he was captured by the French, and carried prisoner to St. Christopher’s, (some authors say Guadaloupe,) where he met with very harsh treatment, and was not liberated until after the peace, and then only at the earnest interposition of Lord William Willoughby. After his liberation, he appears to have carried on his warfare with the English colonists, until, as already mentioned, 1674, when he met his fate in about the forty-fourth year of his age.
As perhaps it may be interesting to some of my readers to look over the “Remonstrance,” alluded to as drawn up by the members of the Antigua legislature in 1676, when Colonel Philip Warner was tried for the murder of his half-brother—I have inserted it in the Appendix, (No. 6.)