Policing the Caribbean

Abstract

This chapter examines the powerful resonance of Haiti in Britain in the aftermath of two conflicts that took place almost simultaneously in the Caribbean in October 1865: the sinking of the H. M. S. Bulldog in Haitian waters and the Morant Bay War in Jamaica. The British authorities and presses were initially convinced that Haitians had aided the protestors at Morant Bay. When scant evidence for this was forthcoming, the press insisted instead that Haiti had acted as a powerful inspiration for the protestors. In this fast-moving situation, British diplomats worked together with the Haitian state. Yet, the perceived opposition of Haiti to the British Empire in the Caribbean was further consolidated when news arrived that the Bulldog had been defeated by Haitian rebels. The various lines of communication between Haitian state actors and rebels and British diplomats, journalists and a popular reading public made for rapidly fluctuating representations of Haiti in this period.