for the evil that he doeth. But this must come from England.
 The pandemonium at Spanish Town, called the House of Assem-
 bly, have neither the will nor the sense to bring about so desirable
 a change. Most of them are wedded to oppression. They cannot
 breathe any other air. When grapes grow on brambles, then
 may the people of England expect that the Jamaica slave-tyrants
 will frame laws for the protection of that liberty which has des-
 troyed all their long-cherished hopes. To entrust any longer
 the cause of the poor people to them, will be an infatuation un-
 equalled in the annals of political expediency. If peace is to be
 the portion of Jamaica, they must be deprived of their power."

 This was a virtual demand for crown colony government in Jamaica.
 It was echoed in the Colonial Office by the Permanent Under Secretary,
 James Stephen, a man of pronounced abolitionist views, who hinted,
just as broadly as Knibb, at the abolition of the Jamaica Assembly.
Stephen wrote in 1841 i

 Popular Franchises in the hands of the Masters of a great
 Body of Slaves were the worst instruments of tyranny which
 were ever yet forged for the oppression of mankind. What the
 Southern States of America are Jamaica was. If no Assembly
 had even been established in the Island I doubt whether any
 wise man would create such an institution even now, when Slavery
 is extinct. For still there survive indelible natural distinctions
 and recollections which divide Society into Castes, and which
 must make the, legislation of the European more or less unjust
 and oppressive towards the African Race."

 The Governor of Jamaica, .Lord Elgin, one of the most talented
 of British colonial administrators, who later became Governor-General
 of Canada, vainly tried to stem the tide of passion and to make the
 voice of reason heard. He wrote to the Secretary of State for the Colonies
 in 1844 :
 "I think that a popular representative system is, perhaps,
 the best expeident that can be devised for blending into one
 harmonious whole a community composed of diverse races and
 colours ... In colonies which have no assemblies, it would appear
 that aspiring intellects have not the same opportunity of finding
 their level, and pent up ambitions lack a vent."

 The Colonial Office, however, :ejected th's view. All that was
 needed was a Governor who opposed representative government as
 firmly as Elgin advocated it, and for the planters themselves to be con-
 vinced. The opportunity came in 1865 when a serious rebellion broke
 out in Jamaica, the issue being chiefly a question of landownership by
 landless agricultural workers. The Governor took the opportunity to
 propose the abolition of the elected Assembly; the planters, fearful
 of the rising coloured middle class, agreed. Both the Secretary of State
 for the Colonies and the Governor of Jamaica hoped to achieve a purely