Today marks the two hundredth anniversary of one of the Caribbean’s great uprisings. About 6 pm on August 18th, 1823, the plantation of Success rose in revolt, followed by most of the others on the East Coast of Demerara. The enslaved Africans and Creoles took action partly in response to what they thought was happening in the metropolis, and even although their revolt lasted for not much more than two days and was put down with the utmost ferocity, it nevertheless had a major impact on events in Britain itself. In other words the 11,000-12,000 enslaved who rose up two hundred years ago, in a direct causal sense made a significant contribution to the abolition of the institution of slavery itself.
This revolt was different in character from what took place in Berbice in 1763. That rising involved far fewer enslaved in terms of total numbers, nevertheless geographically speaking it engulfed the entire colony. In the case of the 1823 rebels, they did not succeed in spreading their action beyond the limits of the 55 plantations between Liliendaal and Mahaica, and did not find the support from the maroons in West Demerara they were hoping for. They also were not unanimous in their view that military methods had to be used, although the main leaders were committed to that. Some had wanted what was effectively strike action, surely the first such proposal in this country.
The problem with a military approach was they had few firearms and lacked any kind of military training and experience, which is why their main encounter with the colonial militia and regulars at Bachelor’s Adventure ended in a virtual massacre.
The 1763 revolutionaries in contrast right from the start intended to take over the colony of Berbice militarily, and attempted to ensure they equipped their men with as many firearms as they could lay their hands on. Furthermore, in the days before repeating rifles, certain kinds of tactics were essential when confronting an enemy in battle, and from the beginning soldiers were trained at Fort Nassau, something which continued later with the assistance of a few white military defectors. If they did not win most of their engagements, they suffered no humiliating defeats either, and the revolt lasted around a year.
Sixty years after the Berbice enslaved began their rising on the plantation of Hollandia, the pall of slavery still hung heavy over the Africans and Creoles across the three colonies comprising what is now Guyana. But there was a difference: the international situation had quite changed, and it was in this altered context that the freedom fighters of 1823 made their decisions. All those in slavery wanted to be free, but then freedom is the natural condition of humanity as a whole, and anyone in bondage will struggle against their yoke. If individuals or a group saw an opportunity they might try to escape, such as those in Essequibo who might make a bid for freedom by trying to reach what is now Venezuela, or those in Suriname and Jamaica who might run away to maroon bands, but large-scale action was very uncommon in plantocracies.
The reason is not far to seek. In the first place it was very difficult to organise, particularly in Guyana where the plantations tended to be strung out singly along the rivers, or else along the coast. In such circumstances it was a challenge for those who lacked freedom of movement to contact and organise a large group of dispersed people. In the second place, given the time these things took to set up maintaining secrecy was difficult. And in the third place, as every enslaved person well knew, the consequences of failure were horrendous, and with the exception of the case of St Domingue – Haiti – revolts failed. Those enslaved on the East Coast would no doubt have heard all about what happened in Barbados following the uprising there only seven years earlier.
So what caused so many thousands to take such a radical step? Certainly working conditions had deteriorated, with harsher regimens instituted as a consequence of the change-over from cotton to sugar, and with that change had come even more brutal punishment. Creoles in particular were angry because they found it harder to be assigned to a privileged position on the plantations, and were being sent out to the fields instead. While a little more than half the enslaved population of Demerara and Essequibo was African born, the leaders of the uprising were Creoles.
Then there was the matter of religion. The London Missionary Society had set up the Bethel Chapel in 1808 on Plantation Le Resouvenir at the invitation of an unusual planter, Hermanus Post. Its first minister was John Wray, but from 1817 onwards that post was held by John Smith, who was opposed to slavery, and was at odds with the planters about them either preventing or hindering their workers from attending chapel, and for the fact that he refused to back down over the holding of evening services. The impediments placed by the planters in the way of members practising their religion was a particular source of resentment, and 1823 was the first Caribbean uprising to be led by Christianised enslaved.
The chapel attendees would not have missed the fundamental message of Christianity of equality before God, and one of their favourite biblical stories was said to have been the escape of the Jews from Egypt. From an organizational point of view too, the revolt was organised through the deacons, class teachers and members of the congregation of Bethel Chapel, something which did not escape the notice of the planters afterwards.
But unlike the case in 1763, where nothing was known by the enslaved about what went on in the Netherlands even if they had heard of it, those who rose up in 1823 had a good general idea, if not always an accurate one, about events in the metropolis, and how those events affected them. In mid-18th century Berbice there were no newspapers and no town, and contact with the Netherlands was a long, drawn-out affair. Except for the governor and Court of Policy, even the planters, therefore, saw themselves as the ultimate authority, as did the enslaved.
The 1823 rebels were infinitely better informed, given their links up and down the East Coast, as well as with Georgetown where some were in contact with domestic servants who heard about letters which came in, and where newspapers were to be had which maybe a small number of them could read, and if not, which in any case the planters discussed in public. As it was they knew about the circular sent by the Colonial Secretary Earl Bathurst. That circular recommended that the colonial legislatures pass certain slavery amelioration measures, but the local authorities did not act with any dispatch, and some of the enslaved believed that the government in Britain had granted them freedom and that the planters were withholding it. Not all of them thought they had been emancipated, but there was no doubt about the dilatoriness of the local planters. It seems that this might be described as the proximate cause of the uprising.
What was unique about it was that the planters were so incensed by John Smith, that he was charged with inciting the revolt, although he had nothing to do with it. It does seem, however, that he did have some level of advance knowledge through his senior Deacon, Quamina, the father of the main leader of the rising, Jack Gladstone, and had not reported it to the authorities. In any event, he was condemned to death, although this sentence had to be confirmed by the metropolitan government, which instead decided to pardon him. Before the pardon arrived, however, he died in prison of tuberculosis.
His story became a cause célèbre in London, and his case was discussed in the House of Commons, which received numerous letters on the subject of abolition. While it did not help the Anti-Slavery Society initially, it did arouse renewed interest in the matter, and after the Jamaican enslaved followed the action of their Demerara counterparts some eight years later, emancipation was in sight.
Despite the fact that the rebels remarkably had not used violence against the whites when they first rebelled, except in one or two cases where they were fired on, the uprising was put down with utter ruthlessness and dozens were hanged. Some were beheaded thereafter and had their heads mounted on poles at the fort and on the seawall. Their sacrifice is part of the story of metropolitan slavery abolition.
There is so much talk of STEM subjects nowadays, that sometimes it seems we can cruise along with an oil economy and forget about our past and what others have done to bring us this far. One wonders if the events of 1823 are taught in schools, and if the educational authorities bother about history any more. It is important to learn about those who have gone before, so we can put some perspective on our world and where we should be going. There is no future without a past.
