The response to the Morant Bay rebellion…

The response to the Morant Bay rebellion had generated fierce debate after the news broke in Britain, with public figures of different political affiliations lining up to support or oppose Governor Eyre's actions.

When Eyre returned to Britain in August 1866, his supporters had held a banquet in his honor, while opponents at a protest meeting the same evening had condemned him as a murderer.

Opponents had gone on to establish the Jamaica Committee, which calls for Eyre to be tried for his excesses in suppressing the "insurrection."

More radical members of the Committee want him tried for the murder of British subjects under the rule of law.

The Committee includes English liberals, such as John Bright, Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Huxley, Thomas Hughes and Herbert Spencer.

An opposing committee, which includes such Tories and Tory socialists as Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens, and John Ruskin, springs up in Eyre's defense.

Twice Eyre is charged with murder, but the cases will never proceed.