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regiment of regular troops is kept in actual service, and there is a strong militia of horse and foot arrayed in case of an invasion from abroad, or insurrection of the negro slaves on the island *.

*At this period there are on the Jamaica station six ships of the line, and thirteen frigates and smaller vessels. And on the Leeward Island station there are two ships of the line, two frigates of 44 guns each, and nine smaller

ones.

CHAP. XIV.

BARBADOES. By whom discovered. To whom granted. Disputes respecting regal Government. Conduct of Charles II. Present Situation of the Island. Its Constitution. Exports. GRENADA. By whom discovered. By whom and by what Means settled. Taken by the English. Attempt to levy a Tax. Island. ST. VINCENTS. Conduct of the French.

Present Situation of the
DOMINICA. Cruel

ST. CHRISTOPHERS.

Famous for its Sugar. NEVIS. ANTIGUA. Infa

mous Conduct of Mr. Park.

MONTSERRAT.

The BAHAMAS.

The

The VIRGIN ISLANDS.

BERMUDAS.

THE

HE island next in importance to Jamaica, which we possess in the West-Indies, but the oldest in point of settlement, is Barbadoes. It is one among the windward division of the Caribbee islands, and was probably discovered by the Portuguese in their voyages from Brazil, and from them it received the name which it still retains. The Caribbees, for reasons unknown to us, had deserted it, and the Portuguese considering it of little value, left it nearly in the same state as they found it.

When our countrymen first landed here, they found the place as destitute as if it had never been peopled by savages. Some years after this a ship of sir William Courteen's, a merchant of London, was driven by distress of weather to this island, and finding refreshments on it, the master and seamen, on their arrival in England, made so fa

vourable a report of the beauty and fertility of the country, that the earl of Marlborough immediately obtained from king James I. a grant of it for himself and heirs in perpetuity.

1624.

Courteen, a man of extensive views and magnificent projects, formed ideas of establishing a colony in the distant but promising territory. Having engaged about thirty persons, who undertook to settle in the island, and furnished them with every necessary, he sent them away: they arrived safe, and laid the foundations of a town which, in honour of the sovereign, they denomi- A. D. nated James Town. Sometime after, the earl of Carlisle obtained a grant of all the Caribbee islands, including Barbadoes; but when the charter came to be passed with the usual forms, the earl of Marlborough opposed it on the ground of priority of right. The dispute was at length compromised by the earl of Carlisle undertaking to pay his antagonist 300%. annually for ever; in consequence of which lord Carlisle became sole proprietor.

During this contest about the disposal of countries, most of which were occupied by their proper owners, the Caribbees,-the man who alone had the merit of annexing the plantation of Barbadoes to the crown of England seems to have been forgotten.

1631.

The administration of sir W. Tufton, the first governor appointed by the earl of Carlisle, proving disagreeable to his lordship, captain Hawley was sent over to supersede him. Tufton, A. D. resenting this measure, procured the signatures of some of the planters to a petition complaining of Hawley's conduct. Hawley construed this petition into an act of mutiny on the part of VOL. XXIV.

2 G

Tufton, for which he had him tried, condemned; and executed; a proceeding universally exclaimed against as a most horrid and atrocious murder.— Hawley was recalled on this account, but escaped punishment, and was sent back again as chief governor, in which capacity he remained till A. D. he was driven from the country by the

1638.

united voice of all the inhabitants. He was succeeded by major Hunkes, and afterwards

1641.

by Mr. Bell, his deputy, who in a few A. D. years was made chief governor. But the conduct of Hawley had alienated the minds of the new settlers from power thus delegated and shamefully abused, and the proprietor's authority lost ground every day. In the mean time the civil war in England caused many peaceable and welldisposed people to take refuge in this island. The emigration from the mother country became so great during the commotions in England, that in about twenty-five years from its first establishment, it was computed there were twenty thousand white men in Barbadoes, of whom one half were able to bear arms.

A. D. 1650.

A. D. 1676.

And

in twenty-six years after, the whites were computed at fifty thousand, and the negro slaves at double that number. They employed four hundred ships, one with another of one hundred and fifty tons burthen, in their trade. Their annual exports amounted to upwards of 350,000l. and their circulating cash at home was 200,000. Since that time the island has been much on the decline.

Soon after the establishment of the Commonwealth in England, circumstances arose respecting this colony, which have produced such effects on the general commerce of Great-Britain, as cannot

be entirely overlooked in an historical account of her West-Indian plantations. The Barbadians were warmly attached to the regal government, and on the death of Charles I. the popular resentment against his persecutors ran so high in the island, that the few planters who were suspected to be in the interest of the parliament thought it ne cessary to seek protection in England.

To punish these defenders of a ruined cause, parliament resolved to send a powerful armament to reduce the English colonies in the West-Indies, but particularly Barbadoes, at that time the most important and hostile of all. Ayscue, who commanded the parliament's forces employed in this expedition, arrived in October 1651, and succeeded at length in bringing the island to capitulate. He however met with so stout a resistance as determined his employers immediately to enforce a scheme they had projected a long time before, of altering the whole system of Barbadian commerce, by prohibiting all foreign ships from trading with the English plantations, and not permitting any goods to be imported into England, or any of its dependencies, in any other than English bottoms; or in ships of that European nation of which the merchandize imported was the genuine growth and manufacture. And thus arose the navigation act of this kingdom; for immediately after the restoration, its provisions were adopted by Charles II. with this addition, that the master and three-fourths of the mariners should also be English subjects.

The inhabitants of Barbadoes, justly considering the law as a chastisement inflicted on them by the Commonwealth for their loyalty tọ Charles II. were filled with indignation on finding its provi

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