46 [February, 1902.] 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
Vol. VIII. No. 86. 
considerable numbers of them remained irreconcilables ; and these, from time to time, were 
augmented by runaways from the slaves whom the British, in their turn, began to import for 
the purposes of settling and cultivating the country. 
It was about this time that the name Maroons first began to be definitely applied to this 
mixed race a word said to be derived from the French “ Maron” used by the buccaneers 
to describe fugitive negroes. As time went on they increased in numbers and confidence to 
such an extent that they occasionally raided the outlying sugar-plantations ; and as culti- 
vation increased, and plantations began to be carried further into the interior, each planter’s 
house had to be constructed in such a way as to be proof against the attacks of the Maroons. 
Arms and ammunition were provided, and guards were always in readiness ; in fact every 
house, many of which were still in existence, was a small fortification, and had massive stone 
walls, loop-holes for musketry, and, in some cases, underground passages and vaults as 
places of refuge in case of emergency. 
Altogether this turbulent people had from time to time been the cause of a good deal of 
trouble in the island, and much blood and treasure had been expended in contending against 
them notably in 1734 an d 173^, and again in 1795 - This latter outbreak had been caused, 
Mr. L homas considered, by the Government of the island in 1738 treating the insurgents, 
after their surrender, as an independent people instead of incorporating them with the rest of 
the population. The Government had made a treaty with them granting them — at that time 
merely a gang of depraved, ignorant African savages — numerous privileges which were not 
possessed by the great bulk of their countrymen throughout the island. Their mental and 
moral status was, il anything, lower than that of the slaves on the plantations, and very 
much lower than that of the free coloured people of the island ; and yet they were encouraged 
to keep themselves apart from, and regard themselves as superior to, all of these. 
A detailed account was given of the insurrection of 1795, the most formidable outbreak 
that had disturbed Jamaica during its existence of 250 years as a British Colony, and which 
resulted in the Maroons offering their submission. This was accepted on the condition that 
they resettled in the island as ordinary free negroes. As only a portion of them agreed to 
this, a large number, about 600 in all, were, in 1796, deported to Nova Scotia, but being 
unable to stand the climate there they were eventually transhipped to Sierra Leone, where 
their descendants might still be found. 
This exodus did not include every individual Maroon in the island. Small hands of 
them still lurked here and there in the woods, and any runaway slave who joined them 
became, by virtue of that act, a Maroon himself ; but they do not seem to have given the 
Government any further considerable trouble, and in the serious rising of slaves, which 
occurred in 1832, there was no record of the Maroons having been engaged either on the side 
of the slaves or as allies of the Government. 
Churches and schools were established in their settlements, and a large number gradually 
merged into the ordinary population while nominally maintaining their status as a distinct 
body. After emancipation many of them settled in the towns and other parts of the country 
and took up ordinary occupations. In all parts of the island, at the present day, were to be 
found men following different callings, some in the police force, who claimed to be of 
Maroon blood. 
The last occasion the Maroons had acted, and been recognised, as a distinct and homo- 
geneous body was in the year 1865, when they had been called upon to assist, and did 
assist, in the suppression of an incipient revolt. After the events of that year the Constitution 
of the island had been surrendered and the country became a Crown Colony, an era of reform 
had then been inaugurated, the country opened up by good roads, education taken in hand, 
the public service entirely reorganised, and altogether an entirely new order of things 
instituted. 
Under these conditions the anomalous element of the Maroons, as a separate and semi- 
independent tribe distinct from the rest of the population, had gradually disappeared. They 
themselves had intermarried with the rest of the people, and only those who resided in settle- 
ments affected to keep up the traditions of the past by occasionally making a show' of 
asserting their former privileges, by claiming exemption from taxes, and now and then laying 
a claim to lands which they alleged to have been devised to them by the Government in the 
past. It was a claim of this sort that had caused the disturbance referred to at the beginning' 
of the lecture. 
The Maroons relied on the mystery with which they had been surrounded in the past, 
and the traditional awe with which they w r ere regarded by all classes of the population of 
Jamaica, to aid them to achieve their ends by means of bluff. Mr. Thomas was of opinion 
that if they were given clearly to understand that they were regarded in precisely the same 
light as any other of the negroes of the island they would never press any of these demands. 
Any difference that existed between them and the rest of the negro population was, he 
said, entirely in favour of the latter. A great number of the men still followed their favourite 
pursuit of hog hunting and selling the “jerked” meat in the markets. Instead of carrying 
loads perched on the top of the head like the ordinary negro, they rested them on their backs 
suspended by a rope passed round the fore part of the head, a method which had obvious 
advantages when travelling through dense forests. 
Mr. Thomas gave an interesting account of some journeys he had made to former 
Maroon strongholds, notably to Nannytown, a spot round which a considerable amount of 
superstition had arisen, and which, according to tradition, it W'as impossible for a white man 
to visit and return unharmed. He also described an expedition undertaken in 1890 by the 
then Governor, Sir Henry Blake, to a Maroon settlement, which he had conducted ; and in 
conclusion said that the day of the Maroons had passed, and their capacity for mischief, 
which had always been their prominent characteristic, was practically at an end, and the time 
w r as not far distant when the name of Maroon would be nothing more than a tradition and a 
legend of the darkest days of Jamaica. 
“EXPERIENCES IN ASIA MINOR IN 1857-8;” 
(By General Renouard JamesJ 
( ANG LO-RUSS IAN LITERARY SOCIETY). 
At a meeting of the Anglo-Russian Literary Society on December 3, Colonel Sir 
I homas Holdich, K.C.I.E., C.B., R.E., in the chair, General Renouard James read 
an interesting paper on his “Experiences in Asia Minor in 1857 and ’58,” while engaged 
there with the Turco-Russian Boundary Commission under the Command of Colonel Simmons 
(now Field-Marshal Sir John Linton Simmons), under whose orders were also Lieutenants 
Gordon and Helsham Jones, with Doctor Woodfall in medical charge. 
General James at once aroused the interest of his audience by a delightful description of 
his friend and fellow-officer Gordon, the future hero of Khartoum, who had been his 
companion at Woolwich, before Sevastopol, and on the Bessarabia Frontier Commission, and 
with whom he had continued in intimate personal relations until 1859, corresponding with 
him afterwards almost until his sad death. The lecturer remembered with pleasure how, as 
a young man, Gordon had combined unwearying devotion to duty with extraordinary energy 
in every action of his life. By his bright, merry manner he brought everyone, with whom he 
came in contact, under the immediate influence of his own enthusiasm. No doubt the stern 
events of after-life divested his manner of this invariable cheerfulness, and changed him into 
the self-contained taciturn man, wrapt in religious contemplation, which he became in the 
world’s estimation. But General James felt thankful that he could treasure him in his 
memory as he had himself known him. As an instance of Gordon’s untiring energy, the 
lecturer said that often at the close of a hard day, when the officers with him would retire to 
their tents to rest, he would go out with his gun and not return till dusk. At Kazar Abad, 
one halting-place on the frontier line of march, Gordon displayed his characteristic fearless- 
ness by attacking a mountain bear with his sword. On another occasion he very nearly Inst 
liis life whilst descending Mount Alagos, wdien, in order to make the descent more rapidly, he 
was reckless enough to slide down the steep snow-covered side of the mountain. After these 
pleasant reminiscences of Gordon, General James proceeded to give an account of the journey 
from Constantinople to Trebizond, followed by the long march through Erzeroom and Kars 
to the frontier at Alexandropol, where the whole Commission assembled. It consisted 
(besides the English party) of the French Commissioner, M. Pelissier, with his assistant, 
M. Saillard ; Baron Finot, the French Consul in the Caucasus ; the Turkish Commissioner, 
Hussein Pasha ; the Russian Commissioners, General Tchirikoff and Colonial Nanine ; a large 
detachment of Black Sea Cossacks under Colonel Kratchetefski, and two topographical 
officers. The lecturer then dealt in detail with the journeys made by the Commission along 
the frontier line southwards from Alexandropol to the Ararat range, and northwards from 
Alexandropol, through Georgia, to Batourn. In Georgia General James rode through some 
of the most beautiful scenery which he had ever seen. The desolate grandeur of the Ararat 
mountains had given place to the most lovely hills, valleys and lakes, resembling those in the 
highlands of Bavaria, while the wealth of forest — virgin oaks, ashes, and beeches — was 
beyond comparison. That the mountain tracks were very dangerous and difficult to travel 
on may be realised from the fact that, on one occasion, as the caravan was picking its way 
slowly along a precipitous mountain path, a mule, carrying a load of valuable surveying instru- 
ments, lost his footing, and fell into the bed of a torrent some hundreds of feet below. 
After the description of a visit to the interesting town of Tifiis, and a thrilling account 
of a rapid and dangerous journey in canoes down the Tcorahson to the Black Sea, General 
James concluded his interesting address by dwelling upon the great superiority of Russian 
over Turkish civilization in Asia. During his travels he had always preferred to be on the 
Russian side of the frontier. He believed that by this time the territory acquired by Russia 
in 1S7S had advanced in every possible way. If it had remained in Turkish hands stagnation 
would have, as usual, been the result. 
Colonel Helsham Jones, who had been a member of the Commission in 1857 and ’58, 
spoke in high terms of Sir William Fenwick Williams and the officers who had so ably 
helped him in his defence of Kars ; mentioning, also, the noble conduct of General Mouraviev 
on the surrender of the fortress. 
Colonel Hamilton Vetch, C.B., and others, expressed their appreciation of the 
instructive paper just read. Mr. Cazalet said that he had travelled, in 1S59, when the 
Russians captured the Circassian Chief Shamyl, through most of the places referred to by the 
lecturer. He also read a post-card written to him by General Gordon from Khartoum a year 
before his death. 
Sir Thomas Holdich made some very interesting remarks with regard to Russia’s 
policy towards Turkey, and the Russo-Turkish boundary question, in the course of which he 
said that although he was not one of those who thought that England had everything to 
learn from foreign countries, and nothing to leach them — quite the contrary — he, neverthe- 
less, thought that, in the matter of geographical surveying, we might take a lesson from 
Russia. For instance, we seemed to imagine that a few trained officers and untrained 
assistants were enough to cope with the whole area of South African mapping, and thus it 
was that we never seemed able to get our information till the critical time had arrived, and 
when it was most needed. Russia’s policy in this respect was very different. 

PROCEEDINGS OF INSTITUTIONS. 
THE LONDON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 
At the third monthly dinner of the present session of this Chamber, held on the 15th ult,, 
the subject for discussion was “British Commercial Interests in Japan.” Sir Vincent 
Kennett-Barrington presided. In the course of the discussion Mr. J. II. Longford, 
British Consul at Nagasaki, said that it had unfortunately been the custom in late years in 
England to overlook the great interest which we already had in Japan’s foreign trade, in the 
contemplation of the possible share which we might have in the future in a greatly developed 
trade with China. But that time was still remote. Japan’s foreign trade now exceeded in 
annual value ^50,000,000. Her import of Western goods was over £ 19,000,000. Her imports 
from Great Britain exceeded ^7,250,000, and from British dependencies, India, Hong Kong, 
and Australia, ^3,750,000, So long ago as 1894 the two Japanese ports of Yokohama and 
Kobe had already become, next to Shanghai, incomparably the greatest seats of direct 
foreign trade, north of Hong Kong, in the Far East ; and the imports in that year of the port 
of Kobe alone, which were very largely of British or British-Indian origin, exceeded in value 
the aggregate of those of the five principal ports in China, exclusive of Shanghai. The ratio 
of commercial progress between the countries had since been largely intensified. The 
commercial advance of Japan, the increase within the short space of ten years, not only in 
foreign trade, but in domestic industrial activity, had been no less marked than the display 
which she had given of her naval and military efficiency, and the fairest prospects existed 
that the results attained might be dwarfed into insignificance in the future. There was no 
likelihood of any diminution, either in the desire of her people to obtain from abroad what 
was becoming necessary to their comfort and well-being, or in their ability and willingness 
to pay for it. It was in manufactured goods that we in England were most interested. The 
import of woollen piece-goods, in which we found our principal competitor in Germany, 
would probably continue to increase. The home supply of cotton yarn, and, perhaps, also 
piece-goods, might become greater in Japan ; but in all metal manufactures, in machinery of 
every description, especially spinning, weaving, printing, and sugar refining, in electrical 
appliances of all kinds, in locomotives, in all railway appliances, in all appliances necessary 
for the construction and maintenance of waterworks, in bridges, in steam boilers, steamers, 
sewing machines, pumps, fire-engines, and arms and munitions of war, he believed that, for 
very many years to come, there would be in Japan a steadily growing market well worthy 
of the most attentive cultivation in every respect. He could not now regard Germany’s 
competition, either in Japan or Corea, as a factor which need be viewed with any extrav- 
agant alarm by our manufacturers. 
But very recently another rival had appeared on the scene, the United States; whose 
fiscal policy enabled the American manufacturer, who was geographically nearer to Japan 
and China than we were, to sell his goods to advantage at home, and thus console him for 
small profits or even occasional loss on the surplus sent abroad. American workmen were 
superior to our own in intelligence, ambition, education, mechanical ingenuity, energy, and 
desire to excel. Strikes were not unknown among them, but they were not heard of against 
the introduction of labour-saving machinery, which the American workman recognized must 
tend in the long run to his own betterment, while the manufacturer himself was bound by no 
rigidly conservative adherence to methods and traditions of the past or to established 
standards. He recognized that the seller must seek the buyer and meet his wishes, and that 
it was not the buyer who must take what the seller desired to provide. It used to be the 
custom to inscribe in large letters Nelson’s historic signal on the quarter-decks of all 
His Majesty’s battleships. That custom might now be imitated not only in every chamber 
of commerce in the United Kingdom, but in every factory and workshop, by inscribing 
prominently on their walls the Prince of Wales’s warning, “The old country must wake up.” 
Unless this were the case as regards both master and man, we should fail not only to 
advance, but even to maintain the position in Far Eastern trade which we still had. 
As to the prospects of Japan as a market for the future, we could only judge by the 
history of the advance which she had made in the past, to which Mr. Longford proceeded to call 
