HISTORY OF THE OPPRESSED - PART TWO

• Land Grant!
• Treaty!
• Collaboration!
• Trelawny War!
• Nova Scotia!

Land Grant!
The many myths and legends surrounding Nanny of the Maroon in Jamaican folklore is a testament to the importance of this woman and the influence she had over her people. The windward Maroons was one of the most aggressive against the slave masters and Nanny was not in favour of signing treaty with them. Yet, a land grant was made to "a certain Negro woman called Nanny and the people now residing with her." There are many issues around this land grant; first, land grants were only given to white settlers; second, the land grant was separate from the two treaties signed in 1738/9 between the British and the Maroons. So, how is it that Nanny got this land grant? Perhaps, the government needed her cooperation and for her to stop hostility towards the white. Indeed, the Land Grant Act, 1720 was to encourge "white people to come over and become settlers" especially in the northeast section of the island. The land grant said,

"Unto the said Nanny and the people now residing with her and their heirs and assigns a ceratin parcel of Land containing Five Hundred acres in the parish of Portland bounding North South and East on Kings Land and West on Mr. John Stevenson ...." This land was vested in the Crown by two Acts of Jamaica passed in the 1720 encouraging "white people to come over and become settlers." Everything on the land - "Edifices trees woods underwoods ways waters rent profits commodities Emoluments advantages Easements and heridits - belonged to them, as well as all mines and minerals, gold, and silver only excepted.

Furthermore, "the said Nanny and her people, their heirs and assigns, must for ever more pay a "yearly and every year", rent of One Pound and Ten Pence current money of Jamaica on the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel and the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary," in addition to a twentieth part of the clear yearly profits of all base mines that be found on alloted land. Also,Nanny and her people and their heirs "shall upon any insurrection mutiny rebellion or invasion which may happen in our island during her residence on the same be ready to serve us and shall actually serve us ... in arms upon Command of our Governor or Commander in Chief .... " Nanny and her people and their heirs must also "keep and maintain five white men" on their land, in conformity with the acts for increasing the number of whites on the island.

Well how did Nanny become eligible under the Jamaican Land Grant Acts? If we recalled twice the British took "the great Negro Town or Nanny Town." The last time in April, 1732 that caused the rebels to march to St. Elizabeth on the Leeward side of the island. Once the rebels was routed from the town the government built barracks and established settlement there. Also, all the lands adjacent to the town were forfeited and vested in the Crown and were to be "granted to any person that will settle thereon, without any charge whatever; and to be exempted from all taxes for a certain time." Furthermore, encouragement should also be given to free blacks and mulattoes who would settle. This was a new arrangement by the government to encourage "those loyal "Negroes," including Captain Sambo and others who were lately freed for good behavior ... to settle around the Nanny Town area.

In looking at the legendary Nanny we need to keep in mind that African has a strong oral tradition, a culture rooted in the art of story telling that keep their history alive down through the ages. The myths and legends surrounding this woman of science is designed to keep the memory of the person alive. To the British the Maroons were an invisible foe, it was difficult to determine their size and whereabouts, and this further add to the mystique around them. They were never going to conquer these people, so the best way of making them visible is to put them on reservation and utilize their skills. If we think of the long march of 150 miles, through rugged terrain, by the Windward Maroons to St. Elizabeth, with women, children and without been seen by the British troops, then it is not difficult to believe that these people had supernatural powers.

Treaty!
The history of the Maroons of Jamaica is part military history and part economic history of the island. The Maroons adaptation to living in the hills of Jamaica served as a model to plantation slaves with the propensity to run away from their slave masters. They repeatedly attack plantations to encouraged away slaves, carry off cattle and horses or to kill and maim them, to capture ammunition and other military attachments or to kill or wound whites. Their actions adversely affected the development of the plantation economy.

At the hands of the Maroons, the Jamaican plantocracy suffered the most between 1720 and 1738. The first treaty been signed by the British in 1738. The most crucial years for the plantation economy was between 1728 and 1738, when naturally more planters left the island because of Maroon intrusion on their properties, many estates were abandoned since their were no whites who want to take them. In addition, Maroons living in the vicinities of arable land, prevents planters settling those areas. As a result, slaves alert to these weaknesses in the social structure of the slave masters' world, deserted the plantations in large numbers. Consequently, a parallel is seen between absenteeism of land owners and the flight of slaves into the hills.

"It was at this period that one saw a clear parallel and a relationship between marronage and absenteeism. Like marronage, absenteeism was a flight - the flight of the master class, at times from the crudities of the slave society, and this case definitely from the economics pressures derived from Maroons incursions. The relationship between these two flights, ... in the early 1730 - with more masters fleeing home as more slaves took to the hills to become Maroons and more masters again going off, and soon cause and effect become entangled. The process ... might well have destroyed the plantation economy at the time, and the urgency of the deficiency laws of the plantocratic legislature aimed at increasing the number of whites on the island testifies to the whites' awareness of this. But, with the signing of peace Treaties with the "rebels" in 1738/9, the economic uncertainty disappeared, and the country become economically buoyant almost immediately."

In making Treaties with with the Maroons, the British government and the local Colonial authorities objectives was to stop hostilities towards them, and above all facilitates the development of the sugar plantation economy. On the other hand, the Maroons frustation to the slavocracy was a matter of survival and to stop slavery. In addition to their military prowess the Maroons were the first domestic - oriented agriculturists on the island after the British invasion. The British recognized this in Clause 4 of the Leeward treaty with the Maroons, March 1, 1738 which said, "That they shall have Liberty to plant the said lands with Coffee, Cocoa, Ginger, Tobacco and Cotton and to breed cattle, Hogs, Goats, or any other stock, and dispose of the produce on Increase of the said commodities to the Inhabitants of the this island ...."

Similarly, the second treaty signed with the windward group, June, 1738/9 stipulated in Clause 2,

"That the said Captain Quao and his people shall have a certain Quantity of Land given to them, in order to raise Provisions, Hogs, Fowls Goats, or whatsoever stock they may think proper, sugar cane excepted, saving for their Hogs, and to have Liberty to sell the same."

The second treaty prohibits the Maroon from the cultivation of sugar cane except as feed for their hogs. It might had being an oversight in the first treaty or because the Leeward's were limited to only 1500 acres of land. It would be fair to say that the treaty prohibition was due to the lucrative market in the export of sugar, to the ever-expanding market of Europe and, to make sure the Maroons remain domestic farmers. For, even long before any Treaties were signed the Maroons were known to disguise themselves as free blacks so that they could enter the marketplace as buyers and sellers. Nevertheless, the British planters would not had wanted to compete with former slaves in the planting and harvesting of sugar cane a primary cash crop.

In the long run the treaties with the Maroons of Jamaica were to favour the British government, ultimately most of them was deported from the island and their land confiscated by the government. The Governor's report to the Colonial Office and the merchant class of England hinted at the stability achieved with the treaties - he now requested money for a settlement scheme,

"The chief reason," of the islands' being so thinly inhabited, is because there is hardly any Good Land which has been hitherto safe from the Incrusions of those Rebels unoccupied at least unpatented: there is enough and upon all accounts as good as that already patented which has remained desert for fear of those Incursions, and many who have began plantations expos'ed to that danger have been forced to abandon them upon that account. As these fears are now diminished and in a fair way to be soon entirely removed I think a critical conjecture to settle this island better than it ever yet been, and consequently to understand it more beneficial to our Mother Country" (Mavis C.Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica, 1655 - 1796, p.145; (C.O. 137/23 Trelawny to Board of Trade, November 21, 1741).

Governor Trelawny also mentioned in his report, that he had written to the Duke of Newcastle asking for representation to the King, to ask the King's consent "to the island having from the Parliament a sum of money for a settlement scheme. He estimated that one - third or one - fourth of the money granted to Georgia should be given to Jamaica to encourage newcomers with provisions and other necessities, as well as tools to prepare lands and build conveniences till they could provide for themselves." By August, 1752 ninety - seven famailes came to Jamaica under the settlement scheme. Each family was given free passages to Jamaica, fifty acres of land to the husband, fifty to the wife, to each child twenty, to each white servant fifteen, and to each slave ten acres, the whole not to exceed three hundred acres to any family. They were also given provisions for one year on their arrival in Jamaica.

So, in the signing and subsequent ratification of the Treaties, there were improvements to the island's economy in general, but in particular to the eastern and northeastern parishes, which were almost without settlements. Edward Long wrote that, "we may date the flourishing state of the (the colony) from the ratification of the treaty; ever since which, the island has been increasing in plantations and opulence." (Ibid p. 146; Long, History II, p.348). In addition, the treaty gave security to young settlers that lived in the remote parts of the island, it suppress their slaves plotting against them. For instance, in the Leeward Treaty, Clause 2, and the Windward treaty, Clause 3, the Maroons agreed to return runaway slaves dead or alive to their masters or to the authorities. These two clauses prove to be a deterent to slave running away from plantations into the hills. Another thing is that settlers could now live next to Maroon settlements and benefited from the protection of the Maroons. A direct reversal to of what conditions were before the Treaties. As Long pointed out the parish of Portalnd, with more than 15,000 acres of Crown land is now, "well settled and promised to become populous."

Collaboration!
It is significant that prior to the treaties, Portland had no plantations, and that the Maroons were the first to settle that area. They continued to develop that area by cutting access roads for new estates. For example, Clause Thirteen of the first treaty stated, "that they (the Maroons) shall be obliged to cut such Roads as the Governor shall order and that they immediately cut a Road, so as to be rideable, the nearest way possible to a plantation." Clearly it could be seen that the treaties with the Maroons stabilized the Jamaican economy - they provided internal security to local settlers, by keeping plantation slaves in check - while excavating some of the most fertile land for themselves and the British settlers on the island. As a result, some 80 to 90 settled under the settlement scheme. Though most troubling, is the reason why the Maroons cooperated and collaborated with their bitter enemy in apprehending and returning runaway slaves?

According to Mavis Campbell the treaties were signed conjointly by masters and slaves, and seems to be without precedents. Thus, the treaty has historical significance for the Maroons. They force the British to treaty with them. But in practical sense the treaty in effect, represents a victory for the Colonial powers than for the Maroons, who were never defeated by the British. It represents the triumph of diplomacy over warfare, in other words the British con the Maroons into submission over the negotiating table. Something they couldn't do on the battlefield.

The first treaty signed by Cudjoe, had too many "offensive" clause, thus a fundamental plan of oppression. The treaty made the Maroons a distinct people, they were not slaves or free people - they were bound by the terms of the treaty. The second treaty, three month later had even more "offensive" terms than the first. For example, Governor Trelawny's report to the Duke of Newcastle and the Board of Trade on June 30 , 1739 stated, "the rebels submitted upon pretty much the same terms as the Leewards only that they are obliged to deliver up the slaves that have not been with them above three years and receives a garrison of soldiers that can command them." (Ibid. p.137; (C.O. 137/56, Trelawny to Newcastle, June 30, 1739; CSF. 154/4, ACTS, p.239 - 240.) Why would the Maroons signed treaties with such offensive clauses?

First, Cudjoe the captain of the Leeward Maroons wanted peace with the British, and they were less rebellious of the two groups. Second, neither Cudjoe or Quao fully understood the technical language of the Treaties. They were born into a slave society, and lived in the remote hills of Jamaica. There is no record that any of the leaders that signed the treaties could read or write. The mark of the cross was all that was needed as a signature on the treaties, as this was customary for the unlettered at that time. Third, the possibilities that the Treaties were drawn up by the Colonial Office only to be amend by the Governor. This perhaps is the beginning of the perfidy of the authorities towards the Maroons. For instance, in the original treaty with Cudjoe, the clause 14 stipulation "was for two white men to reside among them to maintain a friendly relationship with the wider society." This was changed three months later in Quao's treaty, it now required that four white men were to live with the windward group. Furthermore, by the time of the ratification of Cudjoe's treaty - about a year later - his group, which had "lately surrendered and submitted themselves to the government" should have four whites among them, to "receive and communicate such orders as shall be sent by His Excellency the Governor" to them. Each white resident was to be paid an annual rate of two hundred pound. These white people were to later become superintendents of the groups with powers similar to a justice of the peace. It easy to see some deception on the part of the British, since at no time had Cudjoe or his people surrendered or submitted, this was a tact to get the white residents to give order to him and his group.

The terms of the treaties bound the Maroons to destroy all other rebel communities wherever they might be throughout the island. This they should do by themselves or jointly with the government. This surely caused a rift among blacks on the island, this tactic of the British to divide and conquer. Amazingly, the Maroons took to this task as a duck to water. They would seek out and capture or kill runaway slaves, attack and destroy runaway slave villages and communities right up to the time of emancipation in 1834. Also, the Maroons were known to own slaves up to emancipation and they, too like whites planters, were compensated under the Emancipation Act.

Trelawny War!
The years after the treaties were turbulent for the Maroons and the government. And in 1793, trouble broke out between the Government and the Maroons of Trelawny, they complained that they were not being properly treated. In addition,the authority cause two Maroons to be flogged like common slave in a Montego Bay workhouse, instead of being handed over to the Maroons to be dealt with. Also, they asked for more land, as their numbers had increased. But, they had no satisfaction with the government. Instead Governor Trelawny decided to resolve the Maroon problems once and for all and war was declared against the Maroons. About 5,000 troops were deployed against the Maroons, and bloodhounds were imported form Cuba to hunt them down. The Maroons feared these bloodhounds more than they fear the soldiers. Furthermore, a bounty of 10 pounds per head was offered for each Maroon captured. The war continued for many months until the government tricked the Maroons into putting down their arms. The Government promised not deport them if they laid down their arms and that they could remain on the island. The government betrayed them and 543 Maroon men, women and children was shipped on three transports, the DOVER, MARY and ANNE sailed from Port Royal Harbour, Jamaica on June 26, 1796 and arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, July 21 and 23. Only the Trelawny Maroons were involved in the uprising and they were deported. The Maroons in other parts of the island were allowed to stay. And they continued to live with earned rights and privileges at the Governor's pleasure.

Nova Scotia!
On their arrival in Canada the Maroons were set to work on fortifying Citadel Hill in Halifax. They were good workers, and were settled on 5000 acres of land in the neighbourhood of Preston, Nova Scotia. They were also organized into military units with their own insignia, an alligator holding a wheat sheaf and an olive branch. The severe winters of 1796-97 and 1797-98 cause the government to agree to transfer the Maroons to warmer climates. In 1799 the government reopened negotiations with the Sierra Leone Company about shipping the Maroons from Nova Scotia. So, on August 6, 1800 the Maroons sailed for Sierra Leone, Africa. They arrived in FreeTown Harbour, Sierra Leone October 1, 1800. Read "Back to Africa, George Ross and the Maroons" for insights into Maroons settlement in Sierra Leone.

Campbell, Mavis C., (1990) "The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796"

Campbell, Mavis C., (1993) "BACK to AFRICA, George Ross and the Maroons: From Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone." Trenton: Africa World Press.

Grant, John N., (1980,1984) "Black Nova Scotians" Halifax, Nova Scotia pp.15-17

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