28S 
were divided among themselves; that the 
milder and more numerous were kept in awe 
by the smaller and more violent, who were 
the younger. twas evident, too, that they 
were now in a state of repentance;- for, in 
an account sent on the 28th by major James, 
who had been requested to remain among 
them till the business was arranged by tlie 
executive power, they were stated to be in so 
humiliated a condition, as to be ready to ac- 
cede to whatever might be requested of them. 
One of them was in irons) by his order, for 
an impertinent expression, and the body of 
Maroons offered to sacrifice him rather than 
ageravate their offence: it was also deter- 
mined among them, that six of their prin- 
cipal officers should go the next day to make 
a submission, and obtain a passport from 
generat Palmer to Spanish ‘Vown, to hay 
‘their complaints before the governor, and 
submit themselves to him. 
« Thus affairs seemed to be in a train of 
tranquillity; and, indeed, so confident was 
lord Balcarres of it that, on the militia be- 
ing permitted by their commander to go 
home, and on the representation received of 
the state of things, he dispatched orders for 
the return of the troop of light dragoons 
that had been sent from Spanish Town, and 
suffered the 83d regiment of foot, which he 
had before expressly detained, to sail for St. 
Domingo, under convoy of the Success fri- 
gate. Healso sent orders for captain Craskell 
to xepair to Spanish Town, and directed that 
the chief captains of the Maroons should 
proceed to town by the 3jst of July to 
sake their submission.” 
This promising tranquillity was in- 
terrupted by the mischievous suggestions 
of the alarmists, who, by sowing mis- 
trust and exaggerating danger, provoked 
men in authority to take those critical 
measures of precaution which, by ter- 
Mminating the protection of law and the 
comforts of liberty, justify a reclama- 
tion of the rights of nature. ‘There is 
’ a species of moral cowardice, perfectly 
compatible with animal courage and 
personal bravery, which is in all emer- 
gencies the most dangerous and the 
most cruel of counsellors. It consists 
in a morbid irritability of the imagina- 
tion, which requires on all occasions, 
not the proportionate, but the strongest 
possible antagonist stimulus. Itisaspecies 
and degree of insanity which leads men 
to expend on precaution more than the 
worth of preservation, to break a but- 
terfly upon a wheel, to oppose a village- 
riot by inflicting martial law over a 
county, to answer a pamphlet by a 
proscription, and anil a heresy by a 
massacre. Those writers and speakers 
who are afflicted with this disease, the 
HISTORY, POLITICS, AND STATISTICS. 
professors of the terrible, as théy might 
be called, are sure to elevate and <ar- 
prize, to agitate and impassion their 
hearkeners: hence they acquire a re- 
putation for excellence and influence, 
which arises only from the imperfect 
and igncrant taste of their disciples. 
Merely to produce a great effect is not 
meritorious: he who throws a heavy 
stone into a puddle may do that; but if 
thereby he besplashes and bemires the 
ladies who are walking near, it is not 
his skill, but his awkwardness, that 
ought to be noticed. These agitators 
are in politics, what methodist preachers 
are in religion: the fears they infuse oc 
casion much useless misery, and though 
they prevent little, they never prevent 
great evils in social conduct. France, 
Ireland, and Jamaica have of late years 
suffered horribly in consequence: o¢ lis- 
tening to the energumens. ‘To overstate 
danger, and to propose extreme reme- 
dies ior any danger, is the greatest pos- 
sible inversion of political wisdom; the 
use of employing talent and virtue in 
the government of states is, that they 
can accomplish their objects by milder 
means and gentler efforts than stupidity 
and brutality can. But alarmists restore 
to civilized society the panic terrors of 
barbarism, and fling away the properties 
of provinces and the lives of millions, 
for the attainment of purposes which 
judicious men would have obtained by a 
slight tax and a little recruiting, by an 
address to the voluntary faculties, and 
without the infamy of oppression. 
“©In the end of July all was peace, and 
the humbled Maroons were directed to send 
their captains by the 31st of the same month 
to Spanish Town, to make their submission. 
‘This it was impossible to comply with, ow- 
ing to a delay occasioned by the messenger 
who brought the dispatches; but the Ma- 
roon captains came down as speedily as pos~ 
sible, and proceeded on their way to the 
capital. Inthe meantime, the public mind 
was considerably agitated by the affairs of Sr. 
Domingo, by an apprehension of the con- 
tagion of revolutionary principles spreading 
to Jamaica, by a currency of vague reports 
respecting Brench agency in the island, and 
by a reluctance to sending troops off the 
country at so alarming a juncture. It should 
seem that the commander in chief was also 
actuated by these motives; and they were 
certainly sufficiently substantial to excite vi- 
gilance and decision. A council of war was 
accordingly held on the 3d of August; the 
members of which, considering the flying 
reports that Frenchmen and eas of co- 
Jour were conspiring with the Maroons, the 
