His essay " Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question " ( 1849 ) suggested that slavery should never have been abolished , or else replaced with serfdom . It had kept order , he argued , and forced work from people who would otherwise have been lazy and feckless : " West Indian blacks are emancipated and , it appears , refuse to work " . This , and Carlyle 's support for the repressive measures of Governor Edward Eyre in Jamaica during the Morant Bay rebellion , further alienated him from his old liberal allies . As Governor of the Colony , Eyre , fearful of an island wide uprising , brutally suppressed the rebellion , and had many black peasants killed . Hundreds were flogged . He also authorised the execution of George William Gordon , a mixed-race colonial assemblyman who was suspected of involvement in the rebellion . These events created great controversy in Britain , resulting in demands for Eyre to be arrested and tried for murdering Gordon . John Stuart Mill organised the Jamaica Committee , which demanded his prosecution and included some well-known British liberal intellectuals ( such as John Bright , Charles Darwin , Frederic Harrison , Thomas Hughes , Thomas Henry Huxley , and Herbert Spencer )
Morant Bay rebellion
Morant Bay rebellion
Thomas Carlyle