AMONG THE over 1,000 persons who perished in the Kingston earthquake of January 14, 1907 were its Mayor Mr. Taitt as well as some senior military officers. Governor Sir Alexander Swettenham might not have been physically killed but his behaviour in the aftermath dealt just as devastating a blow to his career.

We have already seen the excoriation of him by The Gleaner. He seemed to have done his best to offend others as well far from the shores of his colonial outpost.

For example, he rebuffed the efforts of some in Britain to collect and ship material aid telling them that the island was in a position to provide these things. For this he received castigation from several in England, including the Editor of The Tribune newspaper who had earlier served as Editor of The Gleaner.

His behaviour towards American Admiral Davis immediately after the earthquake soured many in the USA who announced they would not contribute to relief collections in protest against his high-handed attitude.

The attitude of The Gleaner towards him was further evidenced in its coverage of a meeting of the Legislative Council of February 12, 1907.

"The Council", the report in the issue of February 14 said, "met with pomp and ceremony very much out of keeping with surroundings most mournful and anxiety widely prevalent. The gaudy scarlet livery which serves to proclaim the presence of the Governor attracted nobody's attention. The glory of the military salute passed also unnoticed.

"Deep sadness reigned still in the heart of men unused to the vanities of the world. Chilling indeed was the reception of the Governor... No better was the scene within the Council".

But not all of The Gleaner's rebuke was reserved for the Governor. In an editorial of February 16, it also sought to ridicule those doom-sayers who sought to portray the earthquake as some divine retribution. Titled: "But the Lord was not in the earthquake", it opened with the Biblical passage, "And behold the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break to pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind passed an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice."

It went on to say that on the day of the earthquake there were shouts along the streets of "judgement" and that the last days had come. However it said such attitudes soon gave way to reality that what had occurred was a mere natural phenomenon.

The fact that the attribution of such things to the supernatural had now been muted, The Gleaner said, showed advancement in science, philosophy, as well as theology. For before most Christians had attributed sickness, loss, misfortune suffering and distress to acts of God, as the direct manifestation of the power and might of a jealous God.. The majority saw in them chiefly a terrible weapon of punishment....

"Nor were they better because of their belief. Fear and superstition are by no means good correctors of evil conduct and it is a historical fact that in those ages when men most dreaded signs and wonders they were also at their worst... Instead of being awed, men have their brute instincts stirred to the depths".

In place of this primitive belief in the malevolence of spirits the paper exhorted its readers to hear God in the still small voice, to hear in that voice counsel to courage, patience and hope, for "if we believe that our calamities were but punishment we should either become demoralised by fear or be rendered defiant... We should not seek to minimise the horrors we have passed through. Some of them are too awful to be whispered even. Yet even this dark picture has its radiant aspects.

"When we remember how splendidly the people of Kingston have behaved; how kind all classes of Jamaicans have proved themselves to be; how heroically individual men and women have acted... when we call all this to mind we see at once that the existing situation is not without its compensating touches and that despair and agony are being soothed away by kindness and brotherly love.

"Truly the Lord is not in the earthquake but in the still, small voice. for the appeal to all that is best in many not through his feeling of fear, but through his feeling of reverence, hope and love!"

The beam of such a flashlight which could have lighted our pathway down the years seemed to have been switched off. And as we go into the next century with naught but the shrill voices of fear and derision drumming in our ears it might be well to repeat another section of scripture: "Is there no balm in Gilead?"