No
language can convey an accurate idea of the consternation of the white
inhabitants, as it was described to me. The tocsin was sounded, the
citizens assembled, armed _cap-a-pie_, and after much hard fighting,
the rebellion was crushed, and large numbers of the insurgents were
slain or arrested. Then came the bloody hand of what was impiously
termed retributive justice. A court, or sort of drum-head court-martial,
not worthy to be called a trial, condemned numbers of the slaves to
death, and they were led out instantly to execution. My informant told
me that many a brave, noble-hearted fellow was sacrificed, who, under
happier circumstances, though in a cause not half so righteous, would
have been extolled as a hero, and bowed down with honours. Many a humble
hearth was made desolate, and, in the language quoted by my informant,
"as in the days of the curse that descended on the people of the
obdurate Pharaoh, every house mourned its dead." Still, there was a
strong lurking suspicion that the _emeute_ of the negroes had only been
temporarily suppressed, and awful forebodings of fire and of blood
spread a gloom on the minds of all.
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