There were now forty or fifty men from the brig almost continually in the Fort as a reinforcement. As it was then found necessary to undertake military excursions inland to overawe the negroes, and at the same time to secure the authors of the riot, I took over on the 6th before daybreak the command of the Fort and garrisoned it with the crew from the brig. At four a.m. all the Royal infantry and artillery, together with the planters, overseers, and managers of estates, marched off under the command of Captain v Castonier. The latter force alone amounted to forty horsemen, and from sixty to seventy foot. At noon Art. Lieutenant Frank arrived from Bassin with a detachment of militia cavalry. Immediately after, a report was circulated that the Governor-General was dying, and on that account a Provisional Government had been organized in Bassin. I asked Lieutenant Frank if he knew anything about it, to which he answered that shortly before he had left Bassin, he had seen the General on the wharf. Some time after Kammerjunker Rothe arrived in a boat from Bassin and read aloud the following:-- "On account of the illness of the Governor-General, and with his concurrence, have we, the undersigned, Govt. Councillor Kunzen, Govt. Councillor Petersen, Kammerjunker Landsoverrets Assessor Rothe, Justitsraad Lands-overrets Assessor Foester, Justitsraad Police-master Frederiksen, Kammar Assessor Arnesen, and Lawyer Bahneberg, assembled as a Governing Commission, with full power to take all steps necessary in the present disturbed condition to bring about peace and order in the country. "The command of the military will be taken over by Oberst P. de Nully and Major A. v Falbe, who will confer with the above-named commission if necessary. St. Croix Christensted, 6th July, 1848. "KUNZEN, C. B. PETERSEN, FOESTER, ROTHE, FREDERIKSEN, II. L. ARNESEN, BAHNEBERG. "CARL REIMERS." As the two Royal Government Councillors, Kunzen and Petersen, according to my ideas, could just as well have been in charge of the Government with full powers, notwithstanding that the Governor-General was sick, and there were even contradictory reports as to the correctness of that. I, for my part, protested against acknowledging this new Government until I was certain as to how it had originated. At half past four o'clock p.m. the men that had marched out in the morning returned with several of the leaders of the rising, upon which I again handed over the Fort to its commander.