The colonel is mistaken
Dear Editor,
Colonel Richard Currie of the Accompong Maroons has been misled into believing that the 1739 treaty between Cudjoe and the King of England are “treaties signed between two sovereign states”. The concept of the modern treaty era began in 1973 after the Supreme Court of Canada decision (Calder et al v AttorneyGeneral of British Columbia ) which recognised aboriginal rights for the first time, and cannot be backdated to the 18th century.
Archaeology has provided us with examples of covenants from all over the ancient Near East, dating from around 750 BC, as far back as the third millennium. Two main types of covenants are evident. The first is an agreement between equals called a parity agreement. The second, between a lord and his vassal, which is known as a suzerainty or vassal treaty.
The 1739 treaty between the Maroons and the British contains elements of a suzerain treaty, such as a title/ preamble. This identified the giver of the treaty, his titles, and the nature of the relationship between the parties (whether parity or suzerainty). In the case of suzerainty treatie, the vassal was bound by an exclusive relationship with the suzerain.
In examining the historic 1739 Maroon Treaty, we find the following: “In the name of God, amen, Whereas Captain Cudjoe, Captain, Acompong, Captain Johnny, Captain Cuffee, Captain Quaco, and several other negroes, their dependents and adherents have been in a state of war and hostility for several years past against our sovereign lord The King and the inhabitants of this island; and whereas peace and friendship among mankind and the preventing of effusion of blood is agreeable to God, consonant to reason, and desired by every good man; and whereas His Majesty George the Second, King of Great Britain,
France, and Ireland, and of Jamaica, Lord, Defender of the Faith, &c has by his letters patent, dated February the twenty-fourth, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight in the twelfth year of his reign, granted full power and authority to John Guthrie and Francis Sadler, Esquires to negotiate and finally conclude a treaty of peace and friendship with the aforesaid Captain Cudjoe and the rest of his captains, adherents, and others his men; they mutually, sincerely, and amicably have agreed to the following articles.”
The treaty was initiated by the British as is customary in parity or suzerainty treaties. The Maroons were mere vassals, that is, holders of land by feudal tenure on condition of homage and allegiance. This is why, by 1937, the last act of the colonial authorities was to revert the Accompong lands to the Crown, making them Government-owned.
Dudley C Mclean II Mandeville, Manchester dm15094@gmail.com