The Lynching of Thomas Jeremiah, 1775

In the spring of 1775, as South Carolina and other American colonies moved towards rebellion against British rule, frantic rumors swirled through the colony and its capital, Charleston. 

(Image: View of Charlestown in 1768, by Pierre Charles Canot, LOC)

Hysterical Carolinians accused the British government of plotting a rebellion of enslaved Africans against their masters. The hypocrisy of slaveholders demanding freedom from "royal tyranny" was palpable, but is often overlooked even today. The enslaved constituted the majority of South Carolina's population, the only American colony where this was the case. Rumors of a slave rebellion always aroused panic. In June Charleston authorities arrested several slaves and a free black, Thomas Jeremiah. At the time, Jeremiah was one of only about five hundred free blacks in the colony. He was also one of the most prominent. Many whites called him "Jerry." Whether they meant it affectionately is doubtful. Jeremiah had a successful fishing business and also earned money as a harbor pilot, guiding ships through the treacherous sandbars at its entrance. His net worth of over £1000, more than $200,000 in today's money, meant he was a wealthy man, perhaps the wealthiest black in the colony. 

On the basis of the testimony of two slaves he had allegedly tried to recruit, the authorities charged Jeremiah with plotting a slave uprising to benefit the British. He was tried under the Negro Act of 1740, which the colonial assembly had passed after a slave revolt in 1739, the Stono Rebellion. Under the Negro Act the accused were tried in special slave courts, which denied the accused the judicial rights of the regular courts. There was no jury, only a tribunal of five white men that functioned as prosecution, judge, and jury. In contrast to traditional English courts, the defendant was considered guilty until proven innocent. Lacking defence counsel, the accused was unlikely to prevail. Jeremiah, of course, was not a slave and should not have been tried under the Negro Act. The evidence against him was exceedingly flimsy. The testimony of the two slaves was highly suspect, probably extracted under threat. One of them, Jemmy, was Jeremiah's brother in law. Jemmy later retracted his testimony before Anglican minister Robert Smith, future Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina.   

By then the court had found Jeremiah guilty and sentenced him to death by hanging and burning. As an act of "humanity" the court allowed that he could be hanged until death before being burnt. The new royal governor, Lord William Campbell, judged the proceedings a farce. He tried to  pardon Jeremiah, but found that he no longer had any authority in the colony. Campbell's life was threatened because he had tried to help Jeremiah. He fled South Carolina a few weeks later, effectively ending British rule. By then, the court's sentence had been carried out. 

(Image: Lord William Campbell, by Thomas Gainsborough)

On August 18, 1775,  Jeremiah was brought to the place of execution, a green across from the Sugar House, the house of correction for "unruly slaves." In front of a large crowd of whites and blacks, he was hanged and his dead body was burned to ashes. 

Jeremiah seems an unlikely person to have led a slave rebellion. He may have owned several slaves himself. His rise to wealth and prominence may have been his undoing. It was a living reproach to the white elite's claims that Africans were fit for nothing but slave labor. He had once been put in the stocks for allegedly insulting a white ship captain. His work as a ship pilot also told against him. Fearful whites pointed out that no one knew the harbor as well as he, and worried that he would guide British navy vessels into it. Jeremiah had served the city as a volunteer fireman, but even that hurt his cause. People said he knew so much about putting out fires that he was likely setting them. Among his accusers was a member of the tribunal that tried Jeremiah, the city's fire master, Daniel Cannon. 

One of the people Governor Campbell had appealed to on Jeremiah's behalf was Henry Laurens, then serving as President of the Provincial Congress. Laurens was also one of the richest men in South Carolina. He had made a vast fortune in the slave trade, and used the profits to several plantations and hundreds of slaves. 

(Image: Henry Laurens, painted by John Singleton Copley while Laurens was imprisoned in the Tower of London)

Laurens refused Campbell's appeal, claiming he was helpless to stop Jeremiah's execution. That may have been true at that point, but Laurens' private correspondence shows that he disliked Jeremiah. Laurens wrote that Jerry "is a forward fellow, puffed up by prosperity, ruined by luxury and debauchery and grown to an amazing pitch of vanity and ambition." In more colloquial terms, he was "uppity" and needed to be taught a lesson. Laurens denied that as a free man, Jeremiah should be accorded the rights of one and tried by a jury. English law was designed for whites. As an African, Laurens argued, Jerry had no claim to its benefits. The only option was to try him as a slave. 

Reflecting on Jeremiah's fate a short time later, Campbell described the event as a "judicial murder" and his executioners as "barbarians." After nearly 250 years of similar events, it is difficult to disagree. Thomas Jeremiah may have been given a "trial" but the whole proceeding was in effect, a lynching.

Further Reading: 

J. William Harris, The Hanging of Thomas Jeremiah: A Free Black Man's Encounter with Liberty (Yale University Press, 2009)

William R. Ryan, The World of Thomas Jeremiah: Charles Town on the Eve of the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2010) 

Peter McCandless, Remarkable Charlestonians in the American Revolution (Arcadia: The History Press, 2025)

Boston King: Black Loyalist, Minister, African Colonial Leader

 When the British attacked Charleston, South Carolina in the spring of 1780, thousands of enslaved Africans fled to the British lines. General Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander, offered them freedom as an incentive to leave their rebel masters. Among those who took up the offer was a young man named Boston King. (Image: Charleston, c. 1770)

King was born enslaved on a plantation near Charleston owned by Richard Waring, around 1760. His father, who was literate, had been born in Africa but "stolen away into slavery when he was young." King relates that Waring had been on good terms with his father and his mother, a skilled herbalist, and treated them well. Boston's experience was less fortunate.   

As a boy he trained as a house servant. When he was sixteen, Waring apprenticed him to a carpenter in a nearby settlement. His new master often beat him "without mercy." When the opportunity came, King joined the exodus of the enslaved fleeing to the British lines at Charleston. "I began to feel the happiness, of liberty, of which I knew nothing before " he later wrote. The British welcomed him, but did not always treat him well. (Image: Siege of Charleston, 1780, a somewhat fanciful depiction from 1862)

At the time, smallpox had broken out in and was spreading across South Carolina. The black runaways were highly vulnerable to this deadly, agonizing disease. Few of them had survived smallpox or had been inoculated, the two means of achieving immunity. It spread among them with terrifying rapidity. King became infected.

British authorities removed the infected blacks about a mile away from their camp to prevent their soldiers from being infected. There, most of them lay in the open without adequate food or care. 

King wrote later that he owed his survival to the kindness of a British soldier who had nursed and fed him. He was later able to do the same for his benefactor, when he was wounded in battle. Soon after, he narrowly avoided being sold into slavery by a white Loyalist officer. Captain Lewes was stealing horses from the British army and was about to switch to the rebel side. King escaped from him and alerted his British superior to Lewes' plan.

King went on to serve the British army in Carolina by carrying dispatches through enemy lines. One message he carried while stationed at Nelson's Ferry (Near Eutawville) helped save 250 soldiers from being captured by the Americans. 

He later joined the crew of a British man of war and took part in the capture of a rebel ship in Chesapeake Bay. His ship went to New York City with its prize. King decided to stay and worked at various jobs, including as a crewman on a pilot boat. The boat was captured by an American ship and King was nearly forced back into slavery.  But he escaped once again and returned to New York. 

By that time, the war was coming to a close. Thousands of  black Loyalists had converged on New York City, the last British stronghold in the former thirteen colonies. In New York, King married Violet, an enslaved woman from North Carolina who had also joined the British. But once again the threat of re-enslavement threatened him. 

Article 7 of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War in 1783 stipulated (at the insistence of Henry Laurens of South Carolina) that the British return all American property to its owners, including runaway slaves. The news filled King and his acquaintances with "inexpressible anguish and terror." 

Fortunately, the British Commander in New York, Sir Guy Carleton refused to implement Article 7. He argued that the black Loyalists were no longer property but free persons. Returning them to slavery would violate Clinton's promise. Prior to the British evacuation of New York, Carleton sent them to the British territory of Nova Scotia, where many white Loyalists also took refuge. In all, the British issued certificates of freedom to more than 5000 black Loyalists. 

Boston and Violet embarked for Nova Scotia in July 1783. There they helped to establish a black Loyalist settlement called Birchtown. (King calls it Burch Town in his memoir). The settlement was named for General Samuel Birch, the British commandant in New York City who had issued certificates of freedom and overseen the evacuation of the black Loyalists. In Birchtown, King worked as a carpenter and various other jobs to support himself. (Image: Halifax, Nova Scotia, 18th century)

Methodist missionaries arrived in the area the following year. The Kings were among the first to be converted. Boston became a circuit riding preacher. Life was initially extremely hard, as in all new pioneering settlements The difficulties were increased by poor soil and a harsh climate. Tensions with white neighbors were often high as both communities competed for scarce resources and jobs. 

After a few years conditions began to improve, but in 1792 the Kings accepted an offer from the new Sierra Leone Company to emigrate to a new British colony in West Africa. They helped to recruit hundreds of other black Loyalists in Nova Scotia to join them.

The Company's backers were antislavery leaders in Britain, including Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce, and brothers Thomas and John Clarkson. They established the colony as a refuge for freed slaves, most of them Loyalists living in Canada and Britain. They called it the Province of Freedom. It was later renamed for the nearby Sierra Leone Mountains.  

John Clarkson led about 1100 Nova Scotia settlers, including the Kings, to the new colony. Together, they established the settlement of Freetown, now Sierra Leone's capital. Tragically, Violet died soon after their arrival, probably of yellow fever or malaria. Many other new arrivals, both white and black, also died. Few had immunities to the local fevers. [Images of Freetown, mid-19th century]

The Sierra Leone Company employed King to preach to the indigenous people. He was the first Methodist preacher to do so. That task proved immensely difficult, because he did not understand their language. He proposed to open a school. In 1794, the Company sent King to London to study at a Methodist institution, Kingswood School, near Bristol. 

At Kingswood, King trained as a missionary and teacher, returning to Sierra Leone in 1796. While at Kingswood, he wrote his autobiography, which the Methodist Magazine published in 1798. It is one of few accounts written by a black Loyalist or any Loyalist for that matter.

Meanwhile, King had remarried. He and his second wife Peggy relocated about 100 miles inland to missionize among the Sherbo people. The couple died there in 1802, probably of a fever.

Further Reading: 

Boston King, "Memoirs of the Life of Boston King, A Black Preacher," Methodist Magazine, 21, 1798. 

The Life of Boston King, Black Loyalist, Minister, and Master Carpenter, ed. by Ruth Holmes Whitehead and Carmelita A.M. Robertson, Nimbus Publishing Limited & The Nova Scotia Museum, 2003. 

Peter McCandless, Remarkable Charlestonians in the American Revolution 

Francis Barber: a Jamaican Slave who became Samuel Johnson's Heir.

Peter McCandless

1 hour ago

Samuel Johnson  (1709-1784), often referred to as Dr. Johnson, is best known for his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), and the classic biography of him by his friend James Boswell, The Life of Dr. Johnson. (Below: Portrait of Johnson by his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds)

Among Johnson's many other writings is a long essay, Taxation No Tyranny: An Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress  (1775). As the title indicates, Johnson rejects the American colonists' complaint that they were being oppressed by British taxes, which, by the way, were initiated by Parliament. Johnson argued that the Americans' claim that there should be "No Taxation without Representation" was unfounded. The colonists had voluntarily resigned the power of voting in British elections by leaving Britain, but retained "virtual representation" in Parliament, as did British people who had no right to vote. If the colonists wanted to take part in British politics, he suggested, they could move to England and buy an estate, which some, especially from the West Indies sugar colonies, did. This argument was unconvincing then and hasn't improved with time. Taxation No Tyranny has contributed to the common view of Johnson as an arch Tory. In some respects perhaps he was, but the reality is more complicated, and far more interesting. Another of Johnson's arguments is much stronger -- and it is a liberal one. It may be summed up in the line "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?" Here Johnson hit the colonial argument for liberty at its most vulnerable point. The colonists claimed that the British government was trying to enslave them while holding hundreds of thousands of people in the most oppressive form of bondage. 

Johnson, unlike most influential Britons in the 1770s, hated slavery. He once proposed a toast to "the next rebellion of the negroes in the West Indies." He also argued that if the Africans were freed and given some land, they would likely prove better citizens than their masters. Johnson did more than talk the talk. Years before he had adopted a former Jamaican slave, Francis Barber, and educated him. Barber entered Johnson's household as a boy in 1752. Johnson's wife Elizabeth had just died, plunging Johnson into a deep depression. Barber's owner sent the ten year old Barber to serve as Johnson's valet. Barber  (1742/3-1801), originally named Quashey, was still a slave at that time, but his owner freed him two years later. After gaining his freedom, he worked for an apothecary, briefly as a sailor in the Navy, and then as Johnson's assistant. Barber married Elizabeth Ball, a white woman with whom he had two children. In his will, Johnson left Barber a substantial legacy in money along with his books and papers, and a gold watch. 

The portrait above, which some art experts attribute to Johnson's friend Joshua Reynolds, hangs in Johnson's house today. Whether it is a portrait of Barber or not is disputed. Some experts think it is a portrait of Reynolds' manservant.  Johnson's house, just off Fleet Street in Gough Square, is open to the public daily. It is well worth visiting to learn more about Johnson, his dictionary, and iinteresting household, including Francis Barber.

Further Reading: Michael Bundock, The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of the Jamaican Slave who Became Samuel Johnson's Heir (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015)

Remarkable Charlestonians in the American Revolution

The American Revolution was a struggle for liberty, but not in the uncomplicated way we learned in school. The traditional story holds that Patriots fought to free themselves from arbitrary taxation by a tyrannical king, George III. What is often left out of the story is that supporters of the British government also fought for liberty. People on both sides viewed their actions as patriotic, even if they were sometimes self-serving. Many white Loyalists throughout the thirteen colonies supported the mother country because they believed that the constitutional monarchy, checked by Parliament, was the best protector of their inherited liberties. Enslaved blacks fought to free themselves from slavery. The War for Independence in the southern colonies was also in part a war to to preserve slavery. Slaveholders feared that an arbitrary British government might grant their slaves freedom after Lord Mansfield declared slavery illegal in English law in 1773. In that sense the Revolution had more in common with the later Civil War than is generally acknowledged.

Charleston, South Carolina is famous as the place where the American Civil War began. Less well known is its significant role in an earlier civil war. For South Carolina, the American War for Independence was more truly a civil war than the conflict of 1861-1865. During the 1860s, South Carolinians were united in defence of their state. During the Revolutionary War, they were bitterly divided. South Carolina witnessed some of the most violent episodes of the conflict.

Remarkable Charlestonians in the American Revolution relates the stories of a spectrum of the city’s residents during this turbulent time. Its subjects were famous, obscure, rich, poor, black, white, men and women. Some supported the “Patriot” cause; others were loyal to the British crown, or tried to remain neutral. A few switched sides, one more than once. Collectively, their experiences highlight the often grim reality of the revolutionary era.

The public memory of the American Revolution is encrusted with layers of convenient forgetfulness, dubious facts, distorted legends, and outright myths. History, as Sir Lewis Namier wrote, is not a visit of condolence. Nor should it be. This book seeks to portray the complexity of a chaotic, turbulent, and fascinating time. Its pages provide, I hope, a nuanced sense of what it was like to live in Charleston during the American War for Independence, 250 years ago. It also, I believe, sheds light on the situation in the USA today.

The premise of Remarkable Charlestonians is that people on both sides of the War for Independence fought for liberty, although with a different sense of what liberty meant. The majority black population wanted to rid themselves of enslavement, and many joined the British, who promised them freedom. Many white Loyalists believed that the British government was the best protector of “the rights of Englishmen” against what they saw as mob rule. White revolutionaries (Patriots) opposed what they perceived as the arbitrary actions of the British government. One of the things they feared and fought to prevent was the possibility that an overpowerful Parliament would declare slavery illegal in the colonies.

If you are convinced that Mel Gibson portrayed the Revolution correctly in “The Patriot” this book may not be your cup of tea. (Pun intended).

For more information, visit Remarkable Charlestonians in the American Revolution – Arcadia Publishing $24.95

Available at all good bookstores -- and even some bad ones.

The Orange Piper of Shamelin An Almost True Fairy Tale

Shamelin was once the richest, most powerful, most envied country on the planet Zed. Yet, somehow many of the Shamelians were discontented. The grossly rich, because they never felt rich enough. The poor, because they were poor. For some odd reason, many of the poor did not blame the grossly rich. They blamed immigrants, foreigners, "libruls," "lefties," "commies," and other rats, as they called them. "We are temporarily embarrassed millionaires, and we are patriots," they said with pride. "We just need to get rid of the infestation of rats in this country, and all will be well."

"We need new leadership," the malcontents said, urged on by FUX News. "Someone who will make Shamelin Great Again. The last Leader wasn't a true Shamelian. He sure didn't look like one of us." The cry went up from the voices of millions of Shamelians "Make US Great Again! MUGA! MUGA! MUGA!" They had hardly ejaculated this chant when a voice boomed out to them from the sky. Or so it seemed. It actually came from their TVs, amplified daily by the MSM, especially FUX.

"I am a famous TV star. You know me as The Boss. I'm also the world's greatest real estate developer. I'm so good at what I do I've gone bankrupt many times. How many people can say that? I will save Shamelin from its enemies within and without. I will get rid of the rats plaguing this country. Make it great again. Make me The Leader and there will be bigly changes. The best bigly changes. I will build a wall! A bigly wall. The best wall. To keep out the bad people. Bad people. Rapists, drug dealers, killers. Sad. The best things will happen to the economy. It will be so good you can dress in dollars."

The Shamelians cheered. They felt a sudden surge of pride in his words, despite the weird orange glow of his face. No one had spoken to them with such brilliance in decades, if ever. The Boss is our man, they thought, and we have made him possible. Because we love our country. They cried out as one: "How can we help you, Boss?" "Vote for me in the next election for The Leader. The Dumocrats think they have it locked up. But I have a secret weapon. Friends in very high places. Bigly places. The bigliest places." "Who are those friends in high places?" asked one slightly skeptical Shamelian. “Give us some evidence!” The people around the questioner grabbed and beat him, and told him to shut up. "I can't tell you who,” the Boss said, snarling. “It's a secret. But they love you and want to save you from the evil Dumocrats, and they know I’m a genius who can do anything. Now, if you want me to save you, you must love me. I can't stand to be unloved. Sad! Vote for me and you will never have to vote again!"

Voting day came, and the results were close. The Dumocrat candidate for Leader got more votes than the Boss. But Shamelin had a strange clause in its constitution, which allowed the loser to win. Forgive me for not explaining it. Only three people have ever understood it. One is dead, the second went mad. I'm the third, and I forgot. This is how The Boss became The Leader, along with help from the unknown people in high places. He started off his Leadership by engaging in his favorite task: firing people. Not only people from previous Leaders' administrations. He even fired his own people after a while, people he said were the best people when he hired them. He said they did not love him enough, did not appreciate his genius, or were too lazy. He hired replacements who, he said, were even better. 

He soon made it clear who was Boss and Leader on Zed. He told other countries that Shamelin was number one and should get all the best stuff. A few other countries had some good points, if they were trying to be like Shamelin, but they were sad places compared to number one. A lot of them, he said, were shithole countries. His supporters cheered these statesmanlike words. He insulted Shamelin's allies and refused to cooperate with them to protect Zed’s environment. To show who was Boss, he got rid of environmental protections. "We have lots of bottled water for sale. And a little polluted water won't hurt you," he said. "It strengthens your immune system. And smoke is good for the lungs. Makes you tough, like me." 

He told the leaders of other countries that he would destroy them if they didn't do exactly what he said. When they didn't do as he said, he said he loved them and wanted to be best pals. His supporters loved everything he said, because he said it. He could say one thing one day and the opposite the next. They cheered it all. They would deny he ever lied or contradicted himself. He claimed he was the most honest Leader Shamelin had ever had. And he knew more than anybody, on any subject. He was, as he so often said, a stable genius. His MUGATs drank it all in, like Kool Aid.

He was so brilliant, so perfect in every way, that some of his most enthusiastic supporters claimed he had been sent by God to save Shamelin, God's favorite country. Why it needed saving if it was God’s favorite country was a question they never asked. The Boss agreed with all this and began to do something new: he prayed, or made others pray for him. One day he proclaimed that he had done more for the true faith than God himself. He sold Bibles, printed in Orientia, a rival of Shamelin’s, at a considerable markup. They sold out. Religion is good business, he concluded.

Things went along swimmingly like this for about three years. About that time, Orientia reported the outbreak of a new epidemic disease. It was killing many people, mostly old. The major symptom was laughing, which ranged from a mild Ha! Ha! to a ceaseless, hysterical guffawing. When a patient cried out, "I'm going to die laughing," the doctors knew it was all over. The Leaders' medical advisors warned him about the new disease. "It's so far away. It'll never get here." They told him it was caused by a virus that could spread far and fast. "What's a virus?" he asked. When they told him, he laughed. "Nothing that small could hurt a person, unless they were small, too. Like the Orientians. Nothing to worry about." Unfortunately, the virus did not heed the Leader's words. It spread to many countries on Zed. Within a few weeks, it had arrived in Shamelin. The Leader laughed it off. "It's a hoax. Just a common garden variety bug. We might have a handful of cases, all mild, and then poof, it will be gone. It might kill a few old, useless persons, but nobody will miss them leeches. I know more about this virus than anyone. The doctors are amazed by my knowledge."

Once again, the brainless virus outwitted the great genius. The number of cases mounted, slowly at first, then more rapidly. They included people of all ages, not only the old. The Leader blamed his political opponents. He blamed other countries, especially the Orientians. He blamed the media. "Bad reporters," he said. He blamed his medical advisors. "They're Chicken Littles. Always crying about the sky falling." When things got worse, he complained that "No one warned me about this," he said. "It caught me by surprise." He said the whole virus thing was an underground plot to make him look bad. "They want to spoil my chances to get re-elected and become Leader for Life." As the virus spread, The Leader’s utter lack of preparation quickly became obvious. Those fighting the epidemic lacked the protective equipment, the testing kits, and the technology to do their job. The Leader insisted that these things could be had in plenty if health care workers weren't stealing them. When the governors of Shamelin's hardest hit states asked The Leader for help, he told them they didn't love him enough to deserve it. He told them to help themselves. "I have absolute authority, of course. But the responsibility for this is yours."  

One day, The Leader told an astounded country, "This virus is really dangerous. It could kill a lot of people. If we can keep the number of dead under 200 million that would be a victory. And that victory will be my doing!" Hearing this, the Shamelians -- well, about half of them -- cheered wildly. The rest put their hands to their faces in disbelief, even though they knew that could spread the virus, which was killing people all around them. Things, as you can imagine, got worse, much worse. Shamelin had more deaths than any other country on Zed. But the Leader smiled and told Shamelians that the best was yet to come.

TBC

   

1984, US Style: One Nation Under Trump

Dear Mr. Orwell, I hate to bother you, but 1984 is here. Big Brother is watching us closely. Last week two UK Police officers paid me an unexpected and unannounced visit. They informed me that US authorities (unnamed) had reported to the UK government that I was posting extremist (i.e., anti-fascist) stuff on social media. The officers assured me that they didn't care what I posted; that I had a right to express my views as a British citizen. They just wanted to alert me that I am on Trumpist radar, and it might cause me problems if I went to the US. They were probably aware that I am a dual citizen of the US and the UK, with family and friends in both countries. It was clear that the officers were appalled by it all. We had a nice chat and said our good-byes. 

My first reaction after the officers left was, what if they had been ICE bandits at my door, as might well have been the case in the current US? But they were UK police, polite and friendly. Still … I got kicked off Facebook in January 2025 for implying that Trump and his supporters were Nazis. That was right about the time Zuckerberg donated a million bucks to Trump’s inauguration, which he attended, along with other billionaire Trump supporters. I have been an active critic of Trump’s actions and words for more than ten years on other social media accounts. But I am not a major “influencer,” probably not even a minor influencer. Most of my posts have generated little interest or comment from anybody, but some have obviously attracted the attention of Trump’s Gestapo. Maybe I should consider it a badge of honor.

I am not writing to complain about my situation. Many people, especially in the US, are in a far more precarious position than I am. I am lucky to be where I am, but the arrival of the officers at my door show that the tentacles of the Trump fascist regime can reach well beyond the US borders. There is a domestic danger here as well. It’s called Reform. Its leader Nigel Farage follows the Trump playbook, which derives from Hitler and other fascists. Reform was leading all the other parties in the polls until quite recently and there was talk in the media, even the BBC, of a Reform government in 2028 as if it was a normal political party. The appointment of Andy Burnham as the new prime minister has put Labour back at the top of the polls for the moment, but Reform is only a few points behind. There is no reason for complacency.

Thanks for listening, George

Written from somewhere in the world.

Artificial Intelligence and Samuel Butler's Erewhon

I'm not worried, of course, but the current controversy over AI made me think of Samuel Butler's dystopian novel, Erewhon; Or, Over the Range (1872). Butler's narrator in the novel is a New Zealand sheepherder in search of lost sheep. He gets lost in the mountains himself, and stumbles into an isolated civilization. "Erewhon" is an anagram for "Nowhere." Butler was following the example of Sir Thomas More's Utopia. More's title means Nowhere in Latin. But you probably already knew or guessed that. 

Erewhon is an upside down world which the author uses to satirize the customs and practices of Victorian England. Erewhonians are vegetarians, but some people (men) are unable to follow the vegetarian code. They go to illicit chop houses to eat forbidden meat. The parallel to Victorian brothels is obvious. Crime is treated in hospitals rather than punished. In contrast, illness is criminalized and the ill sent to prison. 

Instead of churches, it has lavishly decorated musical banks, where people (mostly women) go ostentatiously once a week in their best outfits to deposit money and listen to "hideous" music. They act as if  they place the greatest value on the musical banks, and the money they deposit into them is the "real" currency. In fact, the musical currency is worth very little. Erewhonians place most of their wealth in an alternative set of financial institutions. No points for guessing what Butler was satirizing here.

Now to the connection to AI. The people of Erewhon have destroyed most of their machinery, except for some disabled models they have put in museums as a warning. The machines had been reproducing themselves. They were evolving, becoming intelligent and threatening to become the masters of humans. Here Butler was no doubt influenced by the evolutionary writings of Charles Darwin and others, which were producing enormous controversy in the Western world. 

The destruction of the machines had taken place hundreds of years before. The controversy over the machines had divided Erewhon into two camps, the machinists and the anti-machinists. A bloody civil war ensued that lasted for many years. The anti-machinists prevailed, wiped out their opponents, and destroyed the hated machines. Not all of them, but the most advanced and dangerous

Perhaps the Erewhonians were onto something. We may be at war with the machines soon, I write on my laptop, while listening to music on my iPhone and checking my activities on my Smart Watch.