Charles Edwin Taylor om konsekvenserne af oprøret for general Buddhoe (1888)
Charles Edwin Taylor (1843-?) var en engelsk læge bosat på St. Thomas og både medlem af og sekretær for The Colonial Council of the Danish Antilles. Han var også forfatter til bl.a. Leaflets from the Danish West Indies (1888) og An Island of the Sea (1895) – sidstnævnte om St. Thomas. Kildeteksten er et uddrag fra Leaflet from the Danish West Indies og er Charles Edwin Taylors egne ord om afslutningen på de oprørsdage, der betød frigørelse for den slavegjorte befolkning. Taylor nævner i dette stykke hvilke konsekvenser oprøret siges at have haft for general Buddhoe.
Uddrag fra Charles Edwin Taylor: Leaflets from the Danish West Indies, Descriptive of the Social, Political, and Commercial Condition of these Islands.1888, Kessinger Legacy Reprints, side 144-145.
His Excellency Peter Hansen1 arrived shortly afterwards in the capacity of King’s Commissioner and ad interim2 Governor for the Danish West India Islands. He possessed full authority to regulate the existing difficulties and pass all necessary laws to govern planters and labourers in their relation to each other. Some experience had already been gained in these relations whilst he delayed his coming, and he was not, therefore, without some guidance under his arduous and responsible duty. His measures were wisely taken. In a short time he passed an Act, the provisions of which were commendable for their wisdom and adaption to meet the state of existing circumstances. This was generally known as 'The Labour Act', until the Riots of 1878, when it became, like slavery, its predecessor and prototype, a thing to be numbered with the past.
We have but little more to add to this sketch of the Emancipation in the Danish West India Islands. Buddhoe, or General Bourdeaux, after a forcible abduction from West End, was handed over as a prisoner to the authorities in Bassin.3 Major Gyllich, whose life had been saved by him, did not desert him. It is said that he even shared his imprisonment some days, having pledged his word that no harm should arrive to him. Though the nominal leader of the rioters, Buddhoe had done the island good service by preventing them from committing more excesses than they did. Placed on board the 'Ornen', Governor-General Hansen left it to the captain to land him anywhere he saw fit on any one of the other West India Islands. Dressed as a gentleman, Buddhoe went on board well provided with clothes and other necessaries, only to have them taken off as soon as the vessel was out of port and to be put to work among the crew. On the 8th of January, 1849, he was landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad, where Captain Irminger told him that if he ever went back to the Danish West Indies, he would forfeit his life. He is said to have been seen in Curacao4 afterwards, whence he proceeded to the United States of America.5
Tekst 41 | Oversigten over kildetekster | Tekst 43
1 Den nye generalguvernør, der blev indsat efter Peter von Scholten.
