by twelve of his soldiers, who were driven to desperation by his insufferable cruelty.

About this time, 600 Dutch families settled on the banks of the Surinam.

The widow of Somersdyk offered to transfer her third of the colonial allotments to William the Third of England; but the offer was not accepted.

The African Company, between the years 1680 and 1688, imported into the British West India Islands 46,396 slaves. It was computed that Barbadoes wanted annually 4000 Negroes, Jamaica 10,000, and the Leeward Islands 6000. Private traders trafficked in them, notwithstanding the Company's charter.

In Barbadoes, an act was passed, this year, for summarily punishing slaves, without trial by jury, which makes the attempt to commit specified crimes capital, as well as their actual perpetration: even the stealing, or attempting to steal, any "quick or dead thing," of the value of twelve pence; as they "many times, by attempting to steal from the inhabitants of this island stock and other goods before mentioned, of above, or under, the value aforesaid, do put such inhabitants, or some of their family, in terror, dread, and jeopardy of their lives; which several offenders, for danger of escape, are not long to be imprisoned, and being brutish slaves, deserve not, for the baseness of their condition, to be tried by the legal trial of twelve men of their peers or neighbourhood; which neither truly can be rightly done, as the subjects of England are, nor is execution to be delayed towards them, is case of such horrid crimes committed."

But the justices of the peace, who give sentence, are ordered "forthwith, by their warrant, to cause execution to be done by some Negro, to be pressed for that purpose."

And on the 8th of August, a law was passed, which says, "That if any slave under punishment by his master, or his order, shall suffer in life or limb, no person shall be liable to any fine for the same. But if any person shall wantonly or cruelly kill his own slave, he shall pay into the treasury £15. If he intentionally so kill the slave of another, besides paying the owner the value, and £25 to the public, he shall be bound to his good behaviour by the next justice of the peace, during the pleasure of the governor and council. And if another person kill another man's slave by accident, he shall be liable to the owner's action at law. But if any person kill a slave by night, out of the common road, stealing, or attempting to steal, his provisions, &c., he shall not be accountable for it!"

A party of wild Irish landed upon Anguilla, and treated the

Atkins's Voyage to the West Indies, p. 154. Stephen on West Indian Slavery, p. 280. Report of the Lords of the Committee, 1789. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 247.

defenceless inhabitants more barbarously than any of the French pirates who had attacked them before. Several planters after-wards removed to the island from Barbadoes, and carried on a profitable trade, but without any government, civil or ecclesiastical.

The French, under the command of the Count de Blenac, attacked St. Eustatia, then in possession of the Dutch. Survilliee, Touche, and Casting, were the officers that attacked the Cabsterre, while others attacked the Basse Terre: they carried the island without much opposition.

His Grace the Duke of Albemarle died at Jamaica.

"Sir Hans Sloane says, that when he was at Jamaica in 1688, he knew Blacks of 120 years old, and that 100 years was very common among such of them as were temperate livers."

1689.

Captain Thorn removed the inhabitants from Anguilla to Antigua: they had suffered dreadfully from the barbarity of the French and Irish.

Colonel Hewetson sailed with an expedition from Antigua, against Mariegalante; and after destroying the fort and town, and driving the inhabitants into the woods, returned to Antigua with their plunder.

Another insurrection took place among the French colonists in St. Domingo, in consequence of permission for supplying the colony with slaves being granted to some merchants of Majorca. The colonists accused their governor, De Cussy, of recommending this grant to his government, to forward his private traffic with the Spaniards. The insurgents were headed by a man named Chevalier, of whose person M. de Franquesnay obtained possession by a stratagem: he was then sent to the Cul de Sac, and hung; and two of his principal followers shared the same fate.

A dreadful mortality swept away one half of the inhabitants of Nevis.

In consequence of the revolution which had taken place in England the preceding year, the French planters in St. Christopher's, declaring themselves in the interests of the abdicated monarch, assisted by their countrymen from the other islands, attacked and expelled the English from the island, laying waste

Labat, tom. vi. p. 87. Long's Jamaica, vol. i. p. 374. Charlevoix, tom. iii. pp. 279. 282, 283.

Biographical Dictionary.
Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 270.

Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. p. 8.

B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 460.

their plantations, and committing such outrages as are unjustifiable among civilized nations, even in a time of open hostility. Their conduct on this occasion was deemed so atrocious, that King William assigned it among the causes which induced him to declare war against the French nation. The French continued about eight months sole masters, during which time a most dreadful earthquake happened on the island. Among many other buildings which were destroyed was the Jesuits College: it is to be remarked, that the Jesuits looked upon King James's cause as their own, and were the principal instigators of the attack upon the English.

Le Comte de Blenac, who married the sister of the Duke de la Rochefoucaut, was the commander-in-chief of the French in the West Indies at this time. He also took the island of St. Eustatia from the Dutch, and built Fort Royal in Martinico. The English, during his government, attacked Fort St. Pierre, in Martinico; but after remaining five days on shore, were obliged to reimbark. Blenac, in answer to M. Gabaret, who requested permission to attack the rear-guard of the English, replied, "Sir, I am persuaded you would destroy a great number of the enemy, but the death of a thousand of these gentlemen would not recompence the King for the loss of even one of these brave inhabitants." Whatever may have been the motive, it seems the French did not choose to go near them.

Blenac was succeeded by the Marquis de Ragny, in December,

1689.

Upon the 17th of May, 1689, William the Third and Mary, King and Queen of Great Britain, declared war against the King of the French. The following extract is from the declaration:

"Mais que le Roi des François ait envahi nos Isles Caribes; qu'il se soit emparé, par force, de nos terres dans la province de Nouvel Yorc et de la Baye de Hudson; qu'il se soit rendu maitre du nos forts; qu'il ait brûlé les maisons de nos sujets, et enrichi son peuple du pillage de leurs biens et de leurs marchandises; qu'il ait retenu quelques-uns de nos sujets dans des cachots; qu'il en fait massacrer d'autres, et exposer le reste en mer, sur un petit vaisseau, sans nourriture, et sans les autres choses necessaires à la vie: ce sont des actions indignes d'ennemis qui n'ont pas renoncé à l'humanité. Neanmoins, il etoit si eloigné de ce declarer tel, qu'en même temps, il faisoit negotier ici en Angleterre, par ses Ministeres, un Traitté de Neutralité et de bonne Correspondance en Amerique."

King William, in his instructions to Lord Inchiquin, the

Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 254.
Du Mont, tom. vii. partie 2. p. 230.

Labat, tom. v. pp. 255-7.
Long's Jamaica, vol. i. p. 626.

Governor of Jamaica, says, "Whereas it has been represented to us, that several of our subjects have been kept in slavery and barbarously used at Mexico, La Vera Cruz, and other parts of the Spanish West Indies; you are upon your arrival at Jamaica, to send to the governors of those places, and to demand of them such our subjects as are detained there, and to use your utmost endeavours that they be set at liberty."

Upon the 15th of April, 1689, Louis the Fourteenth, King of France, declared war against the Spaniards.

Upon the 29th of April, 1689, William the Third and Mary, King and Queen of England, and the States General of the United Provinces and the Low Countries, concluded a Treaty, "touchant l'Armement par Mer," from which the following extracts are made:

16. Que leurs Majestez ordonneront, que dans toutes les instructions aux capitanes de leurs vaisseaux de guerre destinez, ou qui seront destinez, pour convoyer les vaisseaux marchands par tout, et aussi qui iront, de temps en temps, aux Indes Occidentales, il soit inséré un article, leur enjoignant tres expressement de proteger contre les insultes ou attaques de qui que ce soit les vaisseaux marchands appartenans aux sujets desdits Etats Generaux, qui suivront le même route que lesdits vaisseaux de guerre, et desireront de se mettre sous leur pro

tection.

"Et qu'il sera inséré un autre article, enjoignant aussi tresexpressement ausdits capitanes, en cas que les plantations, colonies, ou autres etats quelconques, que lesdits Seigneurs Etats Generaux possedent à present, ou qu'ils possederont à l'avenir, dans les Indes Occidentales, ayent besoin de secours pour se defendre contre les attaques ou insultes de leurs ennemis, qu'aussi tost qu'ils en seront requis, ils donneront toute aide et assistance pour la defence desdits plantations, colonies, ou autres etats, contre toutes les attaques ou insultes susdites, autant que l'estat des plantations, colonies, ou autres estats, contre toutes les attaques ou insultes susdites, autant que l'estat des plantations, colonies, ou autres estats, de leurs Majestez le pourra permettre; et lesdits Seigneurs Etats Generaux ordonneront aussi, que dans toutes les instructions aux capitaines de leurs vaisseaux destinez, ou qui seront destinez, pour convoyer les vaisseaux marchands par tout, et aussi qui iront, de temps en temps, aux Indes Occidentales, il soit inséré de semblables articles, et expressement à l'egard de la protection que lesdits capitanes donneront aux vaisseaux marchands appartenant et des sujets de leurs Majestez, qu'à l'egard de l'aide et assistance qu'ils donneront pour la defense des plantations, colonies, ou autres etats,

Du Mont, tom. vii. partie 2. pp. 221, 222.

tres

que leurs Majestez possedent à present, ou qu'elles possederont à l'avenir, dans les Indes Occidentales, le tout dans la manière et forme cy-dessus prescrite."

In July, the French inhabitants of St. Christopher's, instigated by some Irish upon the island, before war was declared between England and France, entered the English ground with fire and sword, and forced the inhabitants to fly to the fort for safety. The English applied to the government of Barbadoes for assistance, and the honourable Sir Timothy Thornhill, Bart., volunteered to go at the head of a regiment to their relief. In less than a fortnight, 700 able men were raised and equipped at the cost of the island of Barbadoes, and vessels provided for transporting them to St. Christopher's. They sailed on the 1st of August, arrived at Antigua on the 5th, where they received the news that the fort at St. Christopher's was surrendered to the French on the 29th of July, and the English sent off the island to Nevis.

Sir Timothy Thornhill, therefore, landed his troops at Antigua. After a month's continuance in that island, Lieutenant General Codrington sent three sloops, with eighty soldiers, under the command of Captain Edward Thorne, to fetch off the inhabitants, with their goods and stock, from the island of Anguilla, where they were miserably abused and destroyed by some Irish, whom the French had put on shore amongst them.

Before and during Sir Timothy's stay in Antigua, the Indians in league with the French landed several times upon the island, killing the inhabitants who lived near the sea (to the number of ten), and then escaped in their swift piraguas. Guards were afterwards placed at all the bays and landingplaces, and these incursions prevented.

About the middle of September, a French privateer landed at Five Islands, near Antigua, and carried off some Negroes. Sir Timothy sent out two sloops, with a company of grenadiers on board, under the command of Captain Walter Hamilton, who next day brought her in. Besides thirty French, there were six Irish on board, who were tried by a court-martial, and executed.

At this time a dreadful mortality raged at Nevis, especially among the men. The inhabitants sent to Antigua for assistance. In November, as soon as the distemper was abated, Sir Timothy removed his regiment thither.

In the beginning of December, Lieutenant-General Codrington arrived there, and it was determined, in a council of war, to

Relation of the Proceedings of the Forces in their Expedition against the French in the Caribbee Islands. By T. Spencer, jun. Sec. to Sir T. Thornhill, Lond. 1691. Harleian Miscellany, vol. ix. p. 308.