The Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean.Pt1

The Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean.
Although politically tumultuous, the years following the French Revolution were quiet on Jamaica. Few slave uprisings occurred, and wars seemed to be finally at an end. However, when Britain called for the end of slavery, Jamaica's planters were faced with a situation they certainly did not want. WI Convicts (including Fenians) landed on the shores of Jamaica instead of Australia to fill the cheap labor gap left by the freed slaves?


Much of this draws upon Australian Colonial History including the Bush Ranger Ned Kelly becoming President of a Jamacian Republic. I used related events in the Fenian Movement and Hawiian induction into Statehood.

1788
Anti-slavery sentiment in Britain had been growing for approximately two centuries before finally coming to a head in the early 1800s with the passing of a ban on the importation of slaves in the Caribbean colonies, as well as a law declaring slave trade illegal. The House of Assembly in Jamaica claimed that the slaves were largely contented and objected to British Parliament's interference in island affairs.
As a result of their concerns, the British Parliament agreed to compensate the Jamaican landowners by transporting skilled convicts who had committed minor crimes to the Caribbean as well as to the new Australian colonies. The Jamaican House of Assembly initially rejected this offer fearful of the menace posed by an influx of known criminals. However the promise of cheap ‘white slaves’ proved too tempting so they finally acquiesced.
1790-1800
Included amongst the first group of convicts to arrive in Jamaica was John "Black" Caesar. Caesar was born in the West Indies, probably in Jamaica in 1764. Deemed to be a petty thief and pickpocket, his knowledge of the local population was considered an asset by local penal authorities. He was also a big man who needed more food to survive than the meager daily ration issued to the convicts. Therefore it was probably more in desperation than for any other purpose he stole a musket, cooking pot and some rations and bolted. Over the next few years he proved to be somewhat of a nuisance as he never ventured far from the Kingston settlement. Occasionally he was joined by other convicts and they would either steal food and clothing or live on whatever fish and game they could catch. John Caesar was captured several times but always managed to escape. He finally escaped to the Us and was never heard of again.
Romanticized versions of the ‘Black Caesar’ and his exploits spread throughout Jamaica turning him into a heroic rallying point for the aggrieved the black population whose emancipation was largely ignored by the Jamaican Land Owners.
 
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The Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean.Pt 2

Caesar’s growing legendary status coincided with unrest occurring in the British colony in Guyana as well as Jamaica. Using this conflict for their own purposes, the Jamaican Assembly claimed that the slaves had been happy until they began to believe the crown had made them free forcing them to rely on ‘Britain Scum’.
1800-1810
Though the initial impetus of the revolt centered upon a single convict, the House of Assembly acknowledged that Caesar was originally a native black and that the vast bulk of convicts had presented relatively little challenge during this difficult period. The convicts also proved useful in addressing the shortage of so called ‘English skills’ such as masonry and carpentry. A grant of 200,000 guineas from the British Parliament as well as an extra military regiment also sweetened the pot.
As a result a new contingent of 389 convicts was sent to Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean to assist with rebuilding property damaged in the uprisings. Another 305 arrived in Kingston and Spanish Town which remained surprisingly untouched by the revolt. These convicts were transferred to major plantations across Jamaica.
By the times the convicts had arrived, Government Troops had already brutally crack down on the slaves executing many of their leaders including Caesar. Some of the convicts innocently associated with Caesar were also put to death leading to the first signs of sustained disquiet amongst the convict population.
From the British Government’s point of view, the discipline of rural labour was seen to be the best chance of reform for a convict. However these policies were largely ignored by the Jamaican authorities. Instead the convicts were increasingly pressed into service operating largely under the same conditions of the slaves.
With only around six per cent of the convict population incarcerated in St Ann’s Bay Jail, the majority worked for the plantations and the local authorities. Only a few educated convicts were given relatively easy work such as record-keeping for the authorities. Many slaves and families were pushed out their homes to make way for the newly arrived convicts at the plantations as part of an active policy of segregation between the black and white workforces. Overtime, the freed slaves dominated in the north-west of the island around Montego Bay whilst the Convicts were generally found in the southern central districts near Spanish Town.
Growing convict concerns about their living conditions prompted a harsh repetition of the oppression meted out to slaves. The convicts were subject to increasing levels of cruelties including summary executions, flogging, torture etc. Places such as St Mary’s Parish became infamous for these kinds of practices. Unlike the black slaves, the British public at large was not aroused into acting on behalf of the convicts who were labeled by one British Parliamentarian as ‘dregs of our slums who deserves the full justice of God and the Law’.
Despite all the misgivings of many in the British Parliament, the assignment of convicts to private employers was expanded in the early 1800’s promoting an increasing demand for convict labor in all the Caribbean colonies.
 
Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 3

1820 -1830
By 1824, an estimated 84,000 convicts were transported to Jamaica making up around 20% of the total population. While the vast majority of the convicts were English and Welsh (70%), Irish (24%) or Scottish (5%). Some convicts had also arrived from various British outposts such as India and Canada. There were also Maoris from New Zealand, Chinese from Hong Kong.
Jamaica was also home to a large mulatto population, which would play an important role in the future political changes on the island. The mulattoes were the descendants of white planters, who, from the earliest days of the settlement, lived with slave women and had children with them. By the 1820s, Jamaica's combined population of slaves, convict, Mulattoes and free settlers dwarfed the Jamaican white population. Even though free convicts who had served out their sentences, they remain stigmatized by their past. Only women convicts who were deemed useful as wives and mothers.
Others turned to, or were pressed into piracy which had experienced a resurgence after the end of the 1812 War and the Wars of Independence in South America. Hundreds of Privateers began operating in the Caribbean with over 4000 recorded attacks on shipping (including the seizure of convict ships and their content). In response, the Royal Navy based most of its anti-piracy activities around Jamaica killing, capturing or deterring would-be pirates. Ex-Convicts were also engaged in the illegal trafficking of slaves into the West Indies which was declared an act of piracy by the British Parliament in 1827.
Many convict descendents were agitators, machine breakers, political activists and union organizers. Amongst their number was Francis Muir, son of Scottish lawyer Thomas Muir, who was transported to Jamaica in 1794 for distributing anti-government pamphlets.
In 1830 Francis Muir along with other free convict agitators formed a secret organization that aligned themselves with Patrick Jordan, the leader of the mulatto population. Members of both groups made contributed to Jordan’s newspaper calling for the abolition of slavery and improved conditions for serving convicts. This included a ban on the use of whip, increase in rations, access to religious instruction and church as well as an extra free day during the week when they could sell their produce as well as the right for free convicts. In respect to Mulatto and free convicts, they sought the right to vote and hold public office.
After the publication Patrick Jordan was tried for sedition and imprisoned for six month until his sentence was eventually overturned. Francis Muir and his supporters went on the run receiving support from Mulatto and convict sympathizers. Inadvertently this enabled them to move throughout Jamaica and other parts of Caribbean spreading their demands for justice and equality for all people.

 
Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 4

Eventually Muir and his followers were captured and charged with sedition. This resulted in their re-internment into convict captivity. However Muir took his own life before the sentence could be carried out. Like John Caesar before him, Muir was elevated to the status of a heroic martyr in the struggle for equality and freedom in Jamaica.
In 1827, the powerful Mulatto Community lobbied the House of Assembly to be granted them full civil rights. This was met with a flat out refusal by the House of Assembly. The island’s Governor, the Duke of Manchester, did little to assist the cause of social reform but hoped that the Assembly would eventually consider some of the proposals put forward by the British Parliament. Whilst the Earl of Belmore, the Duke of Manchester's successor as governor, had only minimally more success in modifying Jamaican society.
In 1828, a series of slave revolts occurred in Guyana spreading unrest to neighboring Jamaica. This led to the razing of the Sugar works in the St James Parish before moving south towards SpanishTown. However, the authorities delayed in intervening militarily hoping to teach the Mulatto and convict classes how much they depended upon the authorities to maintain control. By week’s end some 600 men, women and children were dead.
After a suppressing the slaves, law and order was quickly restored. Even so, the Assembly wrote to Britain asking for fiscal assistance in putting down these uprisings, claiming that it was the fault of London that the slaves were rising up. ‘The 1828 Riots’ as they came to be known created a deep racial divide between the convicts and slaves population which would come to a head in years to come.
One of the strongest arguments for slavery and convict labour had been the cheap cost of sugar production. However, mismanagement and other related factors had driven up the cost of sugar in the Carribean. In return, the government sharply taxed sugar imported from other sources, including European beet sugar. By 1829, most British people could not afford sugar because the prices had skyrocketed.

1830-1840
British amelioration laws to improve the quality of slave life were continuously rejected in Jamaica, but the argument for cheap labor had now dissipated. Parliament was no longer sympathetic to the troubles of the white plantation owners. However, in 1833 a bill to free all slaves was introduced in the British Parliament. It was passed the following month.
By 1835, unemployment was rife particularly amongst the unskilled black population. Escalating levels of upheaval across Jamaica quickly filled the already overcrowded St Ann’s Bay Jail which was struggling to deal with an influx of new convicts too dangerous to be released into the general public. Many of the imprisoned convicts were soldiers who had been transported for acts of mutiny, desertion and insubordination.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 5

Tension in the prison finally erupted into open violence. With the Government Troops dangerously thin on the ground across Jamaica, the inmates quickly overcame their guards and staged a break out. Looting the Jail’s store of weapons, they rampaged through neighboring townships killing 14 people including two officials and a Landowner. After several days of terrorizing the local inhabitants, the House of Assembly called in several militias which included a Mulatto Unit. As the revolt escalated, Free Convicts were also pressed into service to maintain order.
Set the task of hunting down the armed inmates, the Government troops met with no organized resistance but killed indiscriminately. According to one trooper, “we slaughtered all before us…man or women or child.” In the end, some 345 mainly blacks and convicts were directly killed by soldiers while another 278 were arrested and later executed, some without proper trials.
While few people perished, the damage done to buildings was extensive. Sir Willoughby Cotton, British Commander of the troops, quickly brought the revolt under control without much bloodshed. However the reaction by The House of Assembly was bloody and many of the leaders of the revolt were executed while others were badly flogged.
Faced with ongoing turmoil and a deteriorating grip on power, the Jamaican House of Assembly decided renounced its charter in 1838 and sought full sovereignty from Great Britain as a Crown Colony. A Royal Commission was established to find out those responsible for these acts of atrocities committed during ‘The 1829 Riots’. However no official action was ever taken against anyone.
The last act of the House of Assembly was to call on the British Parliament to abolish convict transportation.They argued that given only a small percentage of the convict population had ever been physically incarcerated, many believed that transportation was an inappropriate punishment - that it did not deliver 'a just measure of pain'. Based also upon the downturn in demand for cheap labour on the island, the British Parliament finally voted to halt all convict transportation to the Caribbean by the beginning of 1841.

1840-1850
Now under direct rule of the British Parliament, the new Legislative Council in Kingston sought to adopt the provisions of the Emancipation Act 1833. These provisions included:
  • All slave children under six years of age would be free by January 1st 1841
  • Existing slaves would serve another six years as ‘apprentices’. Their working conditions will be restricted to a 40.5 hour week with the opportunity to sell their labour for their own profit.
  • All slaves are entitled to by their freedom with or without the consent of their master
 
Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 6

Gaining political office, Mulatto Patrick Jordan pressed for similar conditions for serving convicts. By 1842, not only had he secured similar working conditions for all convicts but passed a bill regulating the “Ticket of Leave” system which had been adopted in the Australian Colonies since the early 1800’s. This system entitled a convict normally sentenced to seven year terms to qualify for a Ticket of Leave after four years, while those serving 14 years could expect to serve between six to eight years. 'Lifers' could qualify for their 'Ticket' after about 10 or 12 years. Those who failed to qualify for a pardon were entitled to a Certificate of Freedom on the completion of their term as well as full citizenship.
The British Parliament remained wary of supporting this proposal in this volatile climate. But considering after considering the cost savings to the Crown in terms of convict upkeep, the proposal was granted. After the introduction of these social reforms, things remained relatively peaceful on the island for a decade. However, Jamaica still faced new hardships in terms of the over supply of cheap labour on the island after the downturn in the Sugar production.
With the ‘Ticket’ system in place, an increased number of free convicts returned to Britain and other parts of the empire as well as the US however the vast majority remained in Jamaica. Some even acquired a great deal of wealth, whilst most were engaged in the growth of coffee and pimento, two important exports. Fearful that other convicts could spread to other colonies, the British Parliament granted conditional pardons to all the remaining Jamaican convicts in 1849. However they were not permitted to return to Britain until their full sentences had expired.
It is estimated that somewhere between 30,000 and 80,000 Irish were shipped from Ireland. One of the last shipments was made in 1841 from Limerick aboard the Robert Kerr. The Jamaican newspaper: ‘The Gleaner’ noted of these arrivals: "They landed in Kingston wearing their best clothes and temperance medals," meaning they did not drink alcohol (as quoted in Mullally, 2003, part 2, pg. 1). The Gleaner also noted of another set of arrivals in 1842: "The Irish are repeatedly intoxicated, drink excessively, are seen emerging from grog shops very dissolute and abandoned and are of very intemperate habits" (as quoted in Mullally, 2003, part 3, p. 2). So the Irish gained a reputation for being something of a mixed blessing .
However, other European immigrants did not seem to fare as well as the Irish in the tropical climate. In the mid-1840s, for example, when the government was particularly concerned about replacement labor for the newly-freed slaves on the sugar and coffee plantations, the over 1,000 Germans and close to 200 Portuguese from Madeira, the Azores and Portugal notched a high mortality rate. This labor was supplemented by imported Indian, Chinese, Maori and other Empire races as indentured servants.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 7

The immigration of Europeans combined with convict labor slowly filled the gap left by slaves so much so by 1840 the authorities began to create several townships for the European immigrants most notably New Liverpool and Klein in the Dry Harbor Mountains where the temperature were cooler. Here they could also work as farmers, laborers and artisans on coffee estates and cattle pens. However, in order to maintain pre-abolition levels of production, convict labor was still needed in Jamaica's low-lands where the best land for sugar cultivation was located.

The descendents of these new settlers intermixed relatively well with the blended Jamaican communities. By the 1849, Kingston had been transformed into a vibrant multicultural hub prompting the exchange of new ideas and significant levels of political activism in its Public Houses and Coffee shops. An increasing American presence was also apparent at this time which also began to influence Jamaican society. Of interest was the number of artists, writers and adventurers who came to the island to explore its exoticisms including Ernest Hemingway who took up residency in 1939.

In comparison to other communities, the estimated 120,000 Irish Catholic convicts, free settlers and their descendents had formed into a distinct close knit group settling mainly in the Middlesex County. The deep mistrust felt for the British authorities was not unfounded having been specifically excluded from holding public office or government positions, this situation was compounded when the colony becoming a Crown Colony.
With the rest of the Jamaican population predominantly Protestant, old patterns of sectarianism began to reemerge and were readily passed on to the next generation. But despite these differences, an egalitarian spirit was arising amongst all Jamaicans, black or white, who had shared a common heritage in human bondage.
In 1845-1848 the Potato Famine decimated the Irish population two million within three years. Some of whom who did not perish or starve, immigrated to America as well as Jamaica.


1850 -1860

In 1852 the British government granted conditional pardons to all remaining convicts in Jamaica with the proviso that they did not return to Britain until their full sentences had expired. However many freed Irish Catholics chose to remain in St Ann’s Parish as times remained hard in Ireland.
After the famine ended, a steady stream of emigration continued to Jamaica throughout the 1850's. By 1856, the Irish Catholic population in Jamaica had more than doubled to 118,000. As their numbers swelled, greater levels of self representation and autonomy were sought by the Irish Catholics in the Jamaican Legislative Assembly. These efforts were actively opposed by the Parliament as resistance increased to British Rule in Ireland.

On St. Patrick's Day in1858, James Stephens and Thomas Clark Luby started the Fenian organization in Ireland as the Irish Republican Brotherhood. A friend of James Stephens, John O'Mahoney started the Fenian Movement in the United States at about the same time. Almost from its inception, Jamaican Irish immigrants also sought to further Irish political autonomy in Jamaica.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 8

1860-1870

Portions of the both Fenian movements gained supporters rapidly however it was largely unsuccessful in Ireland with authorities clamping down on it quickly in a successful effort to stop the problem. In the US the movement grew swiftly, attracting volunteers from the large population of Irish immigrants in Boston, New York, and other urban centers in the Northeast. Included in this uptake was a significant number of Jamaican Irish who had immigrated to the US. Many of the movement’s members had also gained extensive military experience serving in the American Civil War thus making them a force to be reckoned with.
In 1868, Fenian convict John O'Reilly escaped from the Western Australian colony gained passage to America upon a Whaler. (Convict transportation had continued in the Australian colonies until 1868). Eventually O'Reilly made his way to Boston where he became a respected citizen and editor of The Pilot newspaper. Over this time, O’Reilly forged close links with the Jamaican Irish ex-pats as well as becoming a central figure in the American Irish Republic Movement
During the ensuing years, O'Reilly assured that the Irish convict classes throughout the British Empire would not be forgotten in the struggle for Irish independence. By 1875 the Clan na Gael (America's Irish Republican Brotherhood) had managed to raise sufficient funds from the Irish in America to finance the escape of eight Fenians still serving sentences in the Fremantle Jail in Western Australia. After this successful endeavor, O’Reily turned his focus to the “Jamaican Question”.

Initially the Clan na Gael goal sought to gain control of what is now Canada and hold it in ransom for a free Ireland. According to Donald MacKay, author of Flight from Famine, the Fenians planned three separate invasions:

"The one aimed at Campobello Island in New Brunswick; the second at Fort Erie and Ridgeway in Upper Canada; and the third in Quebec's Eastern Townships near Frelighsburg.”

However O’Reily and his Jamaican supporters eventually convinced the Fenian leadership that the plan might have been appealing, but it was impractical and quixotic because the Fenians simply did not have enough soldiers and resources to have any realistic hope of taking Canada from Britain, the world's premier military power in the mid-19th century. The other factor was the lack of reliable support amongst the local Irish citizenry who would rise up against the authorities. Eventually it was decided that the raids upon Canada would be postponed indefinitely in order to focus all their energies upon Jamaica where a strong base had been established. This Jamaican arm of Clan na Gael was led by a courageous, intelligent young man called Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 8

Ned Kelly was born in the small north coast town of Ochos Rios of the Saint Ann’s Parish in 1855, the first-born son of an Irish Catholic couple. His father, John 'Red' Kelly was an ex-convict (transported for the theft of two pigs). Subsisting as a laborer, Red supplemented his income through thievery which eventually led to his arrest. Red Kelly died before finishing his sentence, Ned become the main breadwinner for the family doing odd jobs.
Growing up on tales of the legendary “Black Caesar’ and Patrick Muir, young Ned dreamed of ways that he could save the Irish from the oppressive ‘evil’ English. At the age of 14, Ned was arrested for stealing from a Chinese man where he reportedly announced that he 'was going to become a highwayman.’ For this crime, Ned was sent as a kind of ‘apprenticeship’ and taught skills in plantation work and bush craft. However, within a year, Kelly was again charged with theft and horse stealing but was freed for a lack of evidence. On his 17th birthday, Kelly would again be before the St Ann’s Magistrate after being involved a serious assault.
Fearing he would eventually end up on the gallows, his mother managed to coax her wayward son to make a fresh start in Kingston. Leaving with his brother Dan, both quickly became caught up in the town’s local black market trade where they were employed as a ‘stand over merchants’ for local cronies. After again falling foul of the authorities, Ned and Dan Kelly left Kingston to lay low in their mother’s home in Ocho Rios. It was on this return journey that Kelly came upon a young Mulatto boy named Robert “Bobby” Jenkins whom he saved from drowning.
For his efforts, Bobby’s rich Landowner father Fredrick Jenkins paid Kelly a handsome sum which Kelly promptly gave over to his ailing mother. Impressed by his act of kindness, Fredrick Jenkins took a life long interest in Kelly providing him with a full education through tutorage in reading, writing and arithmetic. Kelly also became an avid reader of books such as Tom Paine's The Rights of Man.
In 1880, Kelly had risen to a position of prominence at Jenkin’s Plantation whereby he was required to make regular journeys to Spanish Town. It was at this time that he decided to join the Clan na Gael.
By 26, Kelly became an influential leader in both the Jamaican and US Clan na Gael having gained the respect of other members of the US movement including the movement’s founder John O'Mahoney. Debate within the organization raged for several years in respect to the how they should pursue their aims in Jamaica. Many, including Kelly, believed an armed rebellion supported by US citizens would force the British to concede some level of autonomy to the Irish. He also believed that the former slaves and mulatto wanted independence for themselves and would support them establish a Free Irish State.
Many in the US movement believed that Jamacia could be transformed into a “New Ireland” in the Caribbean. However this proposal was vehemently rejected by Kelly and his supporters who viewed this plan as completely unrealistic with no hope of acceptability amongst the island’s black majority. Instead he proposed that the Caln na Gael should seek direct dialogue with the former slaves and the Mulatto community to
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 9

Many in the US movement believed that Jamacia could be transformed into a “New Ireland” in the Caribbean. However this proposal was vehemently rejected by Kelly and his supporters who viewed this plan as completely unrealistic with no hope of acceptability amongst the island’s black majority. Instead he proposed that the Caln na Gael should seek direct dialogue with the former slaves and the Mulatto community to forge key alliances. However many Irish Catholics were uncomfortable with the idea of a power sharing arrangement with the ‘Black Baptists’.
In the end, Kelly forced the issue by openly negotiating with the former slave’s leader and Baptist minister Joseph Briggs as well as other key members of Mulatto community using his loyal friend Bobby Jenkins as an intermediary. Previously Caln na Gael had smuggled into Jamaica a significant stash of armaments stock piled after the American Civil war. Kelly threatened to distribute these arms not only to Irish supporters but also ex-slaves and Mulatto desiring independence.
Through their network of spies, the Jamaican Legislative Council had learnt of the growing threat of rebellion in their midst. Many Jamaican, particularly British free settlers were fervent loyalists of the Crown whom had prospered in the colony; subsequently they lobbied for immediate action by authorities. The loyalists also formed into government backed Protestant-based militias further reinforcing the growing sectarian divide on the island.
In 1886, Legislative Council recommended to the British Parliament that the Governor of Helgoland Sir John Nicholls O’Brien be appointed to Jamaica. Though the Legislator had previously turned a blind eye to such dissent, growing fears of an armed rebellion had persuaded many that a former soldier and strong leader like O’Brien was what was needed to ensure that a speedy resolution was found for the present unrest.
The first act of the Governor O’Brien was to declare martial law on the island and begin rounding up known separatists suspects. Suspecting such a move, many of Caln na Gael including Kelly’s brothers and Bobby Jenkins fled Spanish Town to the nearby Hellshire ranges.
Kelly, however, was less fortunate having been targeted early arrest as a known leader of the movement. After being surrounded his home in Spanish Town by troopers, Kelly decided to make a 'last stand’. After negotiating the release of his wife and two children, Ned Kelly charged at the troopers, shooting wildly at them with his two revolvers. However he was quickly brought down after being shot in both legs. Kelly was then bound in irons with sedition and attempted murder of the Troopers. He was then taken to the St Ann’s Bay Jail, only a few miles from where he grew up in Ochos Rios.
Meanwhile the Fenians in the Hellshire Hills had accessed their stash of weapons stored there. Immediately they set to work building a makeshift wooden barricade enclosing about an acre of ground in anticipation of an attack by Government Troops. With his brother in prison, Dan Kelly assumed full command of the Jamaican Caln na Gael.Inside the stockade some 500 Irish Catholics and a mixture of both freed slaves, settlers and Mulattoes who swore an oath upon that they would fight to the end for justice and equality for all Jamaicans.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 10

Early in the morning of Sunday 3rd December the authorities launched an attack on the stockade. Some weeks earlier the government had ordered two Regiments to the Hellshire Hills to support the police troopers. The Irish were outnumbered and the battle was over in twenty minutes. Twenty-two Irish and five troops were killed. The ‘Knights of Fianna’ as the flag was dubbed was pulled from the flagpole and taken by the Troopers. Dan Kelly escaped the scene fleeing to the US whilst Ned’s loyal friend Bobby Jenkins died of wounds at the stockade.
The 'Fianna Stockade' as it came to be known is often been described as a defining moment in Jamaican history with many arguing that ‘democracy was born in the Hellshire Hills.
Though martial law was effectively under the control of the British military, many Protestant Militias ignored orders to stay indoors and began to hunt down the Irish rebels fleeing the stockade. Subsequently Irish homes and property went destroyed and looted whilst two suspected rebels were lynched whilst another escaped mortally wounded.
In jail, Kelly wrote a long and articulate letters to Governor O’Brien speaking out against the oppression of Jamaican Irish. He also managed to have other letters smuggled out of prison which were sent to O’Reilly’s newspaper ‘The Pilot’. These letters became a kind of manifesto for the Fenian movement eloquently decrying not only the plight of the Irish but also the cause of the oppressed across the world.
“...to give those people who are suffering innocence, justice and liberty…to which we were compelled to show some colonial stratagems which will open the eyes of not only Jamaica authorities but also the whole British Empire...”
(St Ann’s Bay Jail Letter, p. 19)
Despite large public protests in Jamacia and the US, Kelly was sentenced to death. Upon hearing of his sentence Kelly calmly spoke the immortal words 'Such is life'. Kelly and the plight of the Irish Jamaicans soon became a major focal point of debate in the US increasing the popularity of the Caln na Gael generating volunteers, money and arms. The movement was also provided with various kinds of support from the US Government who continued to covertly support them. Eventually the US Government intervened on behalf of Kelly having his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 11

1890 - 1900
However these events were overshadowed by the 1890 Jamaican Rebellion that shook the British Empire to the core. The rebellion started because the 600,000 slaves who had been emancipated in 1834 were still denied true land rights 55 years later. Though the Plantation owners were forced to release the slaves by the reforms put in place by the Jamaican Legislative Council, the Land Owners still exerted significant influence over the council.
Though the Baptist church had bought land and given it to the freed slaves. The Planters put in place tax laws which forced former slaves and convicts to work on their plantations. This was intended to turn them into agricultural workers, expected to work for less than the equivalent of 1p per day.

Despite various petitions to the Legislative Council and the British Parliament they were told that their salvation lay in their 'industry and prudence'--this callous response in the face of deplorable conditions was penned by Governor O’Brien himself.
Enraged, the black leader and Baptist minister Joseph Briggs led a march of supporters to the St James Parish court which was in session at the time and demanded the right to be heard. The magistrate, who was 'shocked and shaken,' demanded, cleared the court. The crowd then seized control of the court, taking a policeman hostage and beating him until he handed over the keys to the prison. They freed all the prisoners who were being held for non-payment of taxes on the land.
In response the magistrate sent militias to Montego Bay and surrounding townships to arrest all those who had been involved. But the villagers were prepared and organized an army that proceeded to defeat the militias. They went on to burn down the courthouse with the magistrate in it. The rebellion spread across the whole of St James parish, involving up to 2,000 people at its height. They sacked the plantations, killing planters, militia men and other collaborators, but saving a planter who was sympathetic to their cause.
The response of Governor O’Brien to the rebellion was brutal: 500 people were hanged including Briggs. A further 600 were flogged, and 1,000 homes were burnt to the ground. We can gain a flavor of his response by one of O’Brien’s letters describing the execution of suspected rebels: 'It was agreed we would adopt a plan which would strike immense terror into these wretched men far more than death…in some cases causing them to hang each other whereby they entreated to be shot to avoid this.'
In response, Dan Kelly called upon the Irish Catholics and all ‘free minded Jamaicans to take up the cause of liberty’. However the rumors of the terrible events occurring in St James Parish prompted most to avoid conflict.
For the next almost ten years, Dan Kelly and the Caln na Gael went about preparing a volunteer fighting force of almost 3000 Jamaican Ex-Pats and American Irish who were prepared to invade Jamaica on behalf of the Irish Catholic cause. In addition to this, the movement had put together a small fleet of armed vessel as well as commissioned John Holland to the construct the Fenian Ram and The Fianne.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 12

In 1898, the Spanish-American War fanned expansionist feeling in the US and the importance of the Caribbean in terms of the national strategic interest. Subsequently the Caln na Gael lobbied heavily for the US to intervene directly in Jamaica in light of the atrocities committed against the free slaves and the repression of the Irish.
However President McKinley had already reluctantly entered into a war with Spain and made it plain he had no intention of going to war with Britain over Jamaica.

In the Caln na Gael’s favour was the Assistant Secretary for the Navy: Theodore Roosevelt and his friends whose unilateralist views were well known having advocated for war with Spain. (McKinley once commented that his secretary (Roosevelt) was “like a bull in a China Shop” in respect to Foreign Policy).

Though he held no special affinity for the Irish Catholics, Roosevelt felt that "American values" always favor the underdog”. He also recognized that in terms of his own aspirations, this was a popular cause thus it may pay some ‘political dividends’ when he ran for high office.

In 1899 The Fenian Army commanded by Dan Kelly boarded their ships and left from Florida Keys. 2550 Fenians landed 1:06 PM on July 8th at DreamBeach not far from SpanishTown. The remainder of the Fenian Army made land fall at St Ann’s Bay to free Ned Kelly from the jail. Meanwhile the Fenian Ram and Fianne were deployed in KingstonBay where the Fianne malfunctioned and sank with all hands whilst the Fenian Ram managed to sink the HMS Nile causing the harbor to be temporary blocked. The ensuing distraction and unrest caused by the sinking managed to buy the Fenians valuable time in achieving their land based objectives.
Encountering little resistance, the main body of the Fenians marched into SpanishTown just before dawn where the militia was taken completely by surprise and soon surrendered. The euphoric Jamaican Irish Catholics took up arms swelling the Fenian ranks to well over 4000. However terrible retributions occurred in the town resulting in the deaths of two officials and four Militiamen.
Meanwhile similar success was achieved on the north coast at St Ann’s Bay Jail with only two prison guards wounded in the raid. Marching southward towards SpanishTown, the 450 strong force was joined by a mixture of some 200 Irish Catholics, Mulattoes, free slaves who sought independence from the British. Despite his protests, the weakened, poorly treated Ned Kelly was taken back to the US taking no further part in the rebellion.
Still largely deployed in Montego Bay, the 6th, 9th and 21st British Regiments rushed back towards SpanishTown with conflicting reports of an American invasion of the island. The elderly Governor O’Brien oversaw the preparations himself in Kingston and rallied his remaining military and loyalist militias to march west to SpanishTown.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 13

Those Jamaicans accompanying the Fenians informed them about the British deployment in the northwestern part of the island. On July 9th at 8:24 pm, a Fenian scouting party assisted by locals spotted the approach of the British Army from in the CaveValley. The order was given to break up into smaller units and to begin to pin down and harass the British. So intense were some of the initial attacks that the British were unsure if they had encountered the main body of invaders. Subsequently their Commanders decided to take defensive positions halting their advance.
By the time O’Brien arrived in SpanishTown, the large Irish population had barricaded itself in at all entry points. Several skirmishes ensued along the towns perimeter as the British soon learnt they were dealing with a substantial Fenian army. O’Brien, having sent envoys to the British forces in the west, brought up all available artillery and began bombarding the town. Though it cost the lives of several civilians and two fenians, the bombardment was largely unsuccessful.
Word soon reached the regimental commanders that the main bulk of the invaders were held up in SpanishTown. This prompted them to break out and continue their advance southward resulting in many casualties on both sides. However, the seasoned British eventually routed the smaller Fenian force who decided to beat a hasty retreat back over the mountains to regroup.
By 9 pm the British Army had joined up with O’Brien’s forces whereupon he took over overall command. Now mindful that he was dealing with US citizens, O’Brien encircled SpanishTown in order to bring it under siege. He then offered terms of surrender to the Fenians who promptly refused. However they did negotiate the safe release of all women and children in the town in exchange for some of the militia and officials being held hostage.
After a week, the situation in SpanishTown was becoming desperate as food, water and medical supplies was in short supply in hot conditions that most of the American Fenians were unaccustomed to. Having regrouped near Falmouth in the north, the second Fenian force now intended to march south to SpanishTown in order to try and break the siege. However it was quickly met by elements of the 6th Regiment who outmaneuvered the smaller force completely encircling it.
Within an hour 56 Fenians and their supporters lay dead or dying whilst most of the survivors were rounded up and taken back to St Ann’s Bay Jail. Upon arrival at the jail, the free black slaves and Jamaican Irish were separated out from the Amerians and tried under a martial law court whereby most were hung for sedition.
News of the Fenians began to trickle back to the US prompting a huge anti-British back lash not seen since the War of 1812. Soon there were vehement protests outside various British Consulates as well as calls to boycott British made goods.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 14

Originally McKinley took a relatively conciliatory stance to this dispute however as reports of the Fenians on the island grew bleaker by the day, he concluded that he could no longer ignore the fate of American citizens and sent a USS Oregon to Kingston Bay cautioning Roosevelt to do it "as unostentatiously as possible." He also agreed to the Briton’s idea of an arbitration tribunal in Paris. An idea initially rejected by the more hawkish of his colleagues who favoured breaking off negotiations with London altogether.

A tribunal eventually ruled in America's favor, thereby removing an important obstacle to extracting the offending US citizens from the island. However when further demands were made in respect to the treatment of the Jamaicans Rebels, the British refused to negotiate any further insisting that Jamaica was a Crown Colony and therefore dealings with its citizens was solely an internal matter. After intense lobbying by the then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley approved the decision for the US Navy to conduct naval maneuvers off Jamaica in a show of strength.

Already over-extended in the face of Germany’s growing power in the region and elsewhere it needed to maintain good relations with the US. Subsequently Britain returned to the tribunal and adopted a far more conciliatory approach. It finally agreed to release all US Fenians and ‘other belligerents’ which included Jamaican Rebels who had joined with the American Fenians.

In return the US would monitor all anti-British activities in the US and publicly withdraw its support for the Clan na Gael. It would also ensure none of the exiled rebels would be permitted to return to Jamaica. The United States agreed to these conditions with the proviso that Britain continue to pursue its own policy of social reforms on the island.

However when these conditions were presented to the Dan Kelly and rest of the Fenians held up in Spanish Town they were flatly refused and the siege continued. Furious with this outcome, O’Brien ordered his troops to fire upon the town killing and wounding several of the rebels including 4 Americans. O’Brien also sought reinforcements from other British units in the Caribbean as unrest returned to Montego Bay other parts of the island.
As the siege dragged on, public condemnations threatened to escalate into attacks upon British interests and individuals in the US. The Clan na Gael even acted upon some of it original intentions by staging border raids into Canada causing widespread disruption to trade between the US and Canada. In one such incident, the Canadian Mounties shot and wounded a US Fenian who was setting fire to a goods warehouse in New Brunswick. So disturbing had these developments become that the Canadians petitioned both the American and British Governments to resolve this issue quickly before the situation worsened.
 
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Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 15

Finally after another week, it was the Fenians who lifted the siege in Spanish Town after several of their wounded lay close to death, requiring urgent medical attention. However, upon leaving, Dan Kelly swore an oath that he would one day return and continue the cause of the Jamaican Irish.

Though the majority of their supporters return to Florida Keys, a small group of Fenians remained behind in Spanish Town before escaping with local sympathizers into the island’s interior. Some were hardened veterans of the Spanish American War whilst others were Jamacian Irish Ex-Pat determined to free their homeland whatever the cost. Operating beyond the direct control of the Clan na Gael, this splinter group called themselves ‘The Knights of Fianna”

1900 – 1910
By the beginning of March 1900, the “Knights of Fianna’ combined with other Free Jamacian rebels engaging in protracted hard-fought guerrilla warfare against the British Forces. This lasted a further eighteen months, during which time they raided targets such as troop supply columns, telegraph sites and plantation storage depots. Governor O’Brien responded by destroying property of suspected rebels as well as summary executions.
Though the guellias had separated from the Clan na Gael, their former comrades-in-arms still acted on their behalf in terms by smuggling in supplies and arms as well as caring for their families. Keeping to its bargain with Britain, the US officially maintained strict restrictions on the Clan na Gael’s activities, sympathizers at all levels of government continued to give them support. Eventually the militant arm of the Clan na Gael was able to set up military training and bushcraft camps on private property in Upper State New York for the purpose of fielding volunteers to join the ‘Knights of Fianna’ in Jamacia. It was also around this time that Ned Kelly was installed as the new leader of the Clan na Gael in both the US and Jamacia.
Having achieved made little headway, Governor O’Brien was replaced by Governor Sir Anthony Musgrave who was Jamacian born and a local property owner with a stake in quelling the unrest.
After McKinley’s assassination in 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him as President. Clan na Gael were more optimistic that a unilateral expansionist like Roosevelt would assist the Irish in their cause in Jamaica in order to expand US interests into the Caribbean.
However, Roosevelt believed that as an island power, America's "natural" ally was Britain, which together with France was slowly becoming a midsize power. Subsequently he saw the need to counter-balance the strongest continental powers, Germany and Russia. Keeping in mind this broader global perspective, he wrote to a British friend, "If the British Empire suffers a serious disaster [in the Boer War], I believe in five years it will mean a war between us and one of the continental European military nations.”
 
Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 16

Public sentiment in Britain had also intensified over the “Jamaican Question” leading to ongoing antagonism towards the US. This was exasperated in 1903 during the Canada-Alaska border dispute in 1903 when a live fire engagement broke out between British and US forces. Though no one was hurt in this exchange, it highlighted the growing tensions between both nations. The protracted insurgency in the Jamaica was also unpopular in Britain especially in light of the expense and apparent failure of the Boer War in South Africa.
Desiring a quick resolution in Jamaica, so called ‘scorched earth’ tactics used in South Africa were adopted resulting in the wholesale destruction of private property as well as incarceration of many selected townships into concentration camps where several hundreds Jamaicans died of disease and malnutrition including women and children. When Roosevelt learned of these atrocities, he changed his position privately on Jamaica confiding to his advisers that he now supported a popular uprising "but for me to say so publicly would amount to an instigation of a revolt, and therefore, I cannot say it."
Finally, Roosevelt and his advisors opted to appease the British by building closer military ties by sharing detailed military intelligence together so that both nations would keep abreast of the latest technical developments. As one of the conditions to this new partnership, Roosevelt asked that some level of independence be granted to the people of Jamaica as well as an end to the British ‘scorched earth’ policy.
This demand for peace led to a settlement of hostilities in 1904 with the signing of the Treaty of St Ann’s Bay. This agreement abolished the draconian Land Tax Laws preventing freed slaves and convicts working on the lands bought by the Baptist Church as well as provide limited autonomy over the Middlesex County.
On St Patrick Day in 1905, forty-seven years after the formation of Clan na Gael in Ireland. Ned Kelly triumphantly returned to Spanish Town to take up the role of Governor of Middlesex County, later to be renamed the Irish Free State of Jamaica.
Under Ned Kelly’s governance, active efforts were made to attract new Irish settlers and US investors to the Irish Free State. However, friction began to emerge between other communities on the island who were not enjoying the same opportunities whilst under ongoing British Rule. Without hope of gaining home support for another campaign of suppression in the Caribbean and the growing threat of war in Europe, the British withdrew their forces and left Jamaica in 1907.

Though independent, the sudden withdrawal of a recognized authority across the island led to wide scale unrest broke out resulting in the destruction of property and numerous deaths. Only Irish and Mulatto Militias were able to maintain any semblance of order dispatching units to Montego Bay and Kingston.


 
Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 17

Governor Ned Kelly appealed to the US Government to help preserve restore on the island. When it was suggested he should consider annexation, Roosevelt responded,
"I have about the same desire to annex it as a gorged boa constrictor might have to swallow a porcupine." However, having initially turned aside requests for intervention by a number of individuals and groups on the island. He reluctantly intervened militarily after it became clear that Jamaica was in a state of anarchy. Having quickly restored order, he chose a civilian judge rather than a military officer to act as an administrator to restore its economy. On the eve of Roosevelt departure from the presidency in 1909, he withdrew American troops after peaceful elections were held. Now functioning as a political party, Clan na Gael endorsed Ned Kelly to be elected as the first President of the United Republic of Jamaica (URJ).

1910 -1920
Diplomatic maneuverings during the 1910s secured recognition of the Republic from the America, Britain, and France. As the American presence on the islands increased, however, so did pressure for US annexation—a move resisted by President Kelly. However, many of the systems in place were modeled upon US institutions and values including a Jamaican Charter of Rights & Liberties largely based upon the American Constitution.
Jamaica quickly grew as an international port of call with increased interest from American planters. After Kelly’s death in 1918, an Irish Mulatto popularist called ‘Bergo’ O’Bridie was inaugurated as President of Jamacia. O’Bridie had been a significant figure in the Jamcain Rebellion who had helped establish the Jamaica Christian Party.
Known as the “Merry Monarch”, O’Bridie’s was best known for his earthy style and regular bouts of drunkenness in and around Jamacia. Soon into his presidency, he began to openly clash with the power of the Jamaican Legislature as well as the planters who still held a considerable sway over the government.
The most significant event of O’Bridie’s presidency was the signing of a formal treaty with the US in 1918 guaranteeing access to American markets and military protection in return for a US Naval Base in the refurbished Port Royal.
Two years later, after further political wrangling, President O’Bridie was voted out and Clan na Gael was reelected with Dan Kelly as the new President. As the influence of US permeated throughout the island both culturally and economically, The Clan na Gael softened its fierce republican position adopting a pro-US stance.


 
Dream of a New Ireland in the Carribean Pt 18

1920 - 1930
With a steady US military buildup in Jamaica and the creation of a thriving tourism industry (spurred on in 1934 by the inauguration of commercial air service), an increased desire for US statehood grew amongst the general populace. Jamaicans formally held a referendum in 1926 whether to seek statehood with 6 to 1 voting in favor of annexation. However, the Congress remained cautious in endorsing such a move mainly out of fear of upsetting the colony’s former masters: the British.
1930 - 1940
With growing fears of a war in Europe, the US stepped up its militarization of Jamaica in order to protect its vital shipping interests across the Caribbean. (This included the formation of the 435th Jamaican Regiment that would eventually distinguish itself as a formidable fighting force against the Japanese in WW2).
In 1937, The House of Representatives and the Senate finally passed the statehood bill whereupon President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill making Jamaica the 49th state on St Patrick’s Day 17 March 1937.:D
 
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