The Economy of Intellectual Prestige: Thomas Carlyle, John Stuart Mill, and the Case of Governor Eyre

Abstract

In October 1865, a riot took place outside the courthouse in Morant Bay, a small town on the south eastern side of the island ofJamaica. Crowds had gathered to protest about a disputed fine; the protest turned to violence, and a number of people were killed both by the rioters and the volunteers. There was already a high level of political tension on the island and the British Governor, Edward John Eyre, fearful of a general rising of the 350,000 blacks against the 13,000 whites, proclaimed martial law and sent in the troops. In the subsequent reprisals, 439 blacks and coloreds were killed, 600 men and women were flogged, and over 1,000 huts and houses were burnt. A member of the Jamaican House of Assembly, George William Gordon, was hanged. The initial response of the British government was to back Eyre, but as more news filtered back to England increasing criticism was heard. A Royal Commission was set up to investigate what had happened, but

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