they did something
towards suppressing it,--but when placed under the guns of the troops
and ordered to fire on those of their own color, they threw themselves
on the ground without discharging a shot. Nevertheless, they gradually
came up into rather reputable standing; they grew more and more
industrious and steady; and after they had joined very heartily in
resisting D'Estaing's threatened invasion of the island in 1779, it
became the fashion to speak of "our faithful and affectionate Maroons."

In 1795, their position was as follows:--Their numbers had not
materially increased, for many had strayed off and settled on the
outskirts of plantations,--nor materially diminished, for many runaway
slaves had joined them,--while there were also separate settlements of
fugitives, who had maintained their freedom for twenty years. The white
superintendents had lived with the Maroons in perfect harmony, without
the slightest official authority, but with a great deal of actual
influence. But there was an "irrepressible conflict" behind all this
apparent peace, and the slightest occasion might at any moment revive
all the Old terror. That occasion was close at hand.

Captain Cudjoe and Captain Accompong and the other founders of Maroon
independence had passed away, and "Old Montagu" reigned in their stead,
in Trelawney Town. Old Montagu had all the pomp and circumstance of
Maroon majesty; he wore a laced red coat, and a hat superb with
gold-lace and plumes; none but captains could sit in his presence; he
was helped first at meals, and no woman could eat beside him; he
presided at councils as magnificently as at table, though with less
appetite;--and possessed, meanwhile, not an atom of the love or
reverence of any human being. The real power lay entirely with Major
James, the white superintendent, who had been brought up among the
Maroons by his father (and predecessor), and who was the idol of this
wild race. In an evil hour, the government removed him, and put a
certain unpopular Captain Craskell in his place; and as there happened
to be, about the same time, a great excitement concerning a hopeful pair
of young Maroons who had been seized and publicly whipped, on a charge
of hog-stealing, their kindred refused to allow the new superintendent
to remain in the town. A few attempts at negotiation only brought them
to a higher pitch of wrath, which ended in their despatching the
following remarkable diplomatic note to the Earl of