He has no official place in the public life
here, but he is powerful with the masses. It is rumoured you have an
order to confine him to his plantation; but to apply it would bring
revolution in Jamaica. There are great numbers of people who love his
courage, what he did for the King's navy, and for his commercial success
here, and they would resent harsh treatment of him. They are aware, your
honour, that he and you knew each other in Ireland, and they think you
are hard on him. People judge not from all the facts, but from what they
see and hear."
During the Custos' narrative, Lord Mallow was perturbed. He had the
common sense to know that Dyck Calhoun, ex-convict and mutineer as he
was, had personal power in the island, which he as governor had not been
able to get, and Dyck had not abused that power. He realized that Dyck's
premonition of an outbreak and sending for the hounds was a stroke
of genius. He recalled with anger Dyck's appearance, in spite of
regulations, in trousers at the King's ball and his dancing with a black
woman, and he also realized that it was a cool insult to himself.
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