he had made, through the disorderly and riotous conduct of thé
soldiers which followed ; accordingly he changed his policy towards
them, and having secured Sergeant Tooley as a. prisoner, he proceeded
with the men of the main guard to the barracks to confront the
mutineers, hut only to find, on arrival there, that the larger portion
of the garrison had betaken themselves to the high land with the
view of gaining possession of the Alarm House, a position which
commanded the town, and where there was a small guard with several
guns. Major Græme, by the Governor’s directions, proceeded immediately
on horseback, by way of Side Path, to gain the Alarm House,,
if possible before the mutineers, who had taken the route directly
Up the steep, rugged hillside. At one part of Major Græme s perilous
ride—for he took the shortest way that a horse could possibly travel
the mutineers were very close to, and fired several shots at him ;
but he succeeded in arriving at the Alarm House guard before them,
and, with the assistance of the six men on duty, fired several rounds
of grape shot from the field pieces stationed there at the mutineers
as they advanced. I t was then dark, and they cunningly evaded the
discharge by throwing themselves flat on the ground at the time,
then surrounding Major Græme, they pursued him for a considerable
distance, firing at him several times. He escaped back to Jamestown
late that night, but in the meantime the Governor had
despatched Major Bazette with a detachment of seventy men, who,
taking a circuitous route, approached the mutinous party m the
rear, but found they had fortified their position on all sides with the
Alarm House guns, and received him with a shower of grape shot.
Major Bazette’s party, however, made a dash at and secured the-
gun from which it proceeded, scattering those who had worked it,
and, following up the attack with the aid of musketry, eventually
overcame the mutineers, many of whom, taking advantage of the
darkness, deserted their own, and joined the Governor’s side, while
others took refuge in the Alarm House. Two of Major Bazette s
men were killed in this attack, while several of the mutineers were
wounded, and one hundred and three taken prisoners. These were
tried by court-martial, and, with the exception of four, all sentenced
to death ; eventually, however, nine only of the leaders were put to
^ O n the résignation of Mr. Corneille, Mr. (afterwards Colonel)
Bobert Brooke was appointed Governor in 1787, and it was at this
time that the trial of acclimatizing European troops for India, by a
short period of previous ser-vice at St. Helena, was found to be so
successful. The Island garrison was augmented to a battalion of
Infantry and a strong corps of Artillery, while many other changes
and improvements were also effected during the governorship of
this energetic man, including the establishment of telegraphs, the
conveyance of water from Plantation House to Ladder Hill Port,
also from near Diana’s Peak to Longwood, and the construction of the
lower wharf and crane at Jamestown. He also laid the foundation
of the present Government House. I t was in the year 1795, on
receiving intelligence of the Dutch joining in the war with England,
that, with the assistance of H.M.S. Sceptre and several of the
Company’s ships, he captured and made prizes of eight richly-laden
Dutch East Indiamen, while calling at St. Helena on their way
home to Europe. For this act, as well as his energetic despatch of
a portion of the St. Helena garrison, consisting of near 400 men,
nine pieces of ordnance with ammunition, ten thousand pounds in
specie, and a quantity of provisions, to assist the then small
garrison at the Cape of Good Hope, he was deservedly commended.
In ill-health he retired from the Government in the year 1800,
Lieut.-Colonel Bobson acting in his stead for a few months until the
arrival of Governor Colonel Patton in March, 1802, to whom is
due the merit of improving the watercourses by puddling them
with a mixture of lime, gravel, and clay, which he called puzzolana;
also the construction of batteries, one of which, situated on the
western side of Jamestown, to this day bears his name. In the
year 1805, the garrison of St. Helena afforded a reinforcement,
amounting to 260 men, to General Beresford’s expedition against
Buenos Ayres in South America. Much annoyance seems, just at
this time, to have occurred to all in the Island through the rapid
spreading of the blackberry plant, which had been introduced, it is
said, about five:and-twenty years previously. I t quickly overspread
the best pasture lands, and, though never entirely extirpated, a
considerable effort was made at that time to do so. A much more
serious cause for alarm than brambles, however, occurred a few
years afterwards, when, in the year 1807, measles was introduced,
and, almost the whole population being at once attacked therewith,
threw the place for a time into the greatest state of disorder. This
disease again appeared in the year 1848, and in a similar manner