352 HISTORY OF [BOOK n. 



SECTION II. 







THE preceding Section consists chiefly of an ex- 

 tract from the History of Jamaica, by EDWARD 

 LONG, Esq. published in 1774, whose account I 

 have chosen to adopt, rather than offer a narrative of 

 my own, for two reasons ; first, because I nave no- 

 thing to add, concerning the origin of the Maroons, 

 to what Mr. Long has so distinctly related ; and, se- 

 condly, because its adoption exempts me from all sus- 

 picion of having fabricated a tale, calculated to justify 

 certain circumstances and transactions, of which com- 

 plaint was lately made in the British Parliament,* and 

 to which due attention shall hereafter be paid. In the 

 meanwhile, I shall take up and continue the subject 

 where Mr. Long left it, beginning with some reflec- 

 tions on the situation, character, manners and habits 

 of life of the Maroon negroes; and thus tracing the 

 cause of their late revolt to its origin. 



The clause in the treaty, by which these people 

 were compelled to reside within certain boundaries in 

 the interior country, apart from all other negroes, was 

 founded, probably, on the apprehension that, by suf- 

 fering them to intermix with the negroes in slavery, 

 the example which they would thereby continually 

 present of successful hostility, might prove contagi- 

 ous, and create in the minds of the slaves an impati- 



* March 1796. 



