Description

Born in Jamaica, Robert Charles Dallas (1754-1824) was prolific author in a variety of genres, dedicating all of his work to 'the defence of society and reason against Jacobinism and confusion', having been forced to leave his residence in France by the Revolution. Despite 'an ardent tendency in my heart to disapprove the slave-trade', The History of the Maroons, published in 1803, offered a qualified acceptance of the institution of slavery in a fallen world, and addressed criticisms of planters' behaviour and the government's conduct against the rebellious Jamaican Maroons - runaway slaves who formed their own communities in the West Indies. They settled the mountainous inland areas of Jamaica and resisted assimilation by the British; two Maroon Wars were fought in the eighteenth century. They were deported by the British to Canada and then to Sierra Leone, but many returned to Jamaica, where they remain.