I

The produce of Guadaloupe, including what is poured in from the fmall islands under her dominion, ought to be very confiderable; but in 1768, it yielded to the mother country no more than one hundred and forty thoufand four hundred and eighteen quintals of finc fugar; twenty-three thousand fix hundred and three quintals of raw fugar; thirty-four thousand two hundred and five quintals of coffee; eleven thousand nine hundred and fifty-five quintals of cotton; four hundred and fifty-fix quintals of cacao; one thoufand eight hundred and eighty-four quintals of ginger; two thoufand five hundred and twenty-nine quintals of logwood; twenty-four chefts of sweetmeats; one hundred and fixty-five chefts of liquors; thirty-four casks of rum, and twelve hundred and two undreffed fkins. All thefe commodities were fold in the colony only for three hundred and ten thoufand feven hundred and ninety-two pounds, eighteen fhillings and three pence; and the merchandise it received from France has coft but one hundred and ninety-feven thousand nine hundred and nineteen pounds, eighteen fhillings and fix-pence; but from that period it confiderably increafed till the late troubles.

Saint Lucia is about twenty-two miles long and eleven broad, the middle of it lying in north latitude 39° 14', weft longitude 27° o'. It was first fettled by the French in 1650, but was reduced by the English in 1664, who evacuated it in 1666. The French immediately refettled the ifland, but were again driven away by the Caribs. As foon as the favages were gone the former inhabitants returned, but only for a fhort time; for being afraid of falling a prey to the first privateer that should vifit their coafts, they removed either to other French fettlements that were ftronger, or which they might expect to be better defended. There was then no regular culture or colony at St. Lucia, it was only frequented by the inhabitants of Martinico, who came thither to cut wood and to build canoes, and who had confiderable docks on the island. In 1718 it was again fettled by the French; but four years after, it was given by the court of London to the duke of Montague, who was fent to take possession of it. This occafioned fome difturbance between the two courts; which was fettled, however, by an agreement made in 1731, that, till the refpective claims fhould be finally adjusted, the island fhould be Evacuated by both nations, but that both fhould wood and water

there. This precarious agreement furnifhed an opportunity for private intereft to exert itself. The English no longer molefted the French in their habitations, but employed them as their affiftants in carrying on with richer colonies a fmuggling trade, which the fubjects of both governments thought equally advantageous to them. This trade was more or lefs confiderable till the treaty of 1763, when the property of St. Lucia was fecured to the crown of France. After that time the colony flourished confiderably. In the beginning of the year 1772, the number of white people amounted to two thoufand and eighteen, men, women and children; that of the blacks to fix hundred and fixty-three freemen, and twelve thoufand feven hundred and ninety-five flaves. There were feven hundred) and fix dwelling places. The annual revenue at that time was about one hundred and feventy-five thousand pounds, which, according to the Abbé Raynal, must have increafed one-eighth yearly for fome time. It was taken by the British fleet under admirals Byron and Barrington in the year 1778, but was reftored to France at the peace of 1783.

The foil of St. Lucia is tolerably good, even at the fea fide; and is much better the farther one advances into the country. The whole of it is capable of cultivation, except fome high and craggy mountains, which bear evident marks of old volcanoes. In one deep valley there are still eight or ten ponds, the water of which boils up in a dreadful manner, and retains fome of its heat at the distance of fix thoufand toifes from its refervoirs. The air in the inland parts, like that of all other uninhabited countries, is foul and unwholesome, but grows lefs noxious as the woods are cleared and the ground laid open. On fome parts of the fea coaft the air is ftill more unhealthy, on account of fome fmall rivers which spring from the foot of the mountains, and have not fufficient flope to wash down the fands with which the influx of the ocean ftops up their mouths, by which means they fpread themselves into unwholefome mar@hes on the neighbour. ing grounds.

TOBAG O.

Tobago is fituated in 11° odd minutes north latitude, one hundred and twenty miles fouth of Barbadoes, and about the fame diftance from the Spanish main. It is about thirty-two miles in length and nine in breadth. The climate here is not fo hot as might be expected fo near the equator; and it is faid, that it lies out of the course of thofe hurricanes that have fometimes proved fo fatal to the other

Weft

Weft-India islands. It has a fruitful foil, capable of producing fugar, and indeed every thing else that is raised in the Weft-Indies, with the addition, if we may believe the Dutch, of the cinnamon, nutmeg and gum copal. It is well watered with numerous springs; and its bays and rivers are so disposed as to be very commodious for all kind of fhipping. The value and importance of this ifland appears from the expenfive and formidable armaments fent thither by European powers in fupport of their different claims. It seems to have been chiefly poffeffed by the Dutch, who defended their pretenfions against both England and France with the most obstinate perfeverance. By the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, it was declared neutral, though, by the treaty of peace in 1763, it was yielded up to Great-Britain; but, in June, 1781, it was taken by the French, and ceded to them by the treaty of 1783.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW, DESEADA AND MARIGALANTE, Are three final iflands lying in the neighbourhood of Antigua and St. Chriftopher's, and are of no great confequence to the French, except in time of war, when they give thelter to an incredible number of privateers, which greatly annoy the British Weft-India trade. St. Bartholomew is now to be confidered as belonging to the crown of Sweden, being ceded to it by France in 1785.

HISPANIOLA.

In noticing the Spanish fettlements in this part of the globe, we have already taken a general view of this ifland; it only therefore remains to notice the French fettlements thereon.

The French towns are, Cape François, the capital, containing feveral years ago, about eight thoufand whites and blacks. Leogane, though inferior in point of fize, is a good port, a place of confiderable trade, and the feat of the French government in that island. They have two other towns, confiderable for their trade, Petit Guaves and port Louis.

The following is faid to be an exact statement of the population, product and commerce of the French colony of Hifpaniola in the year 1788, and may ferve to fhew the immenfe loffes fuftained by the late infurrections of the negroes.

Whites, twenty-feven thousand feven hundred and feventeen; free people of colour, twenty-one thoufand eight hundred and eight; flaves, four hundred and five thousand five hundred and twenty-eight.

The

The plantations were, of fugar, feven hundred and ninety-two; of indigo, three thoufand and ninety-feven; of cotton, feven hundred and five; of coffee, two thousand eight hundred and ten. The manufactories were, diftilleries, one hundred and feventy-three; of brick and potter's ware, fixty-three; of cacao, fixty-nine, and three

tanners.

Its productions exported to France were, feventy millions tw hundred and twenty-feven thousand feven hundred and nine pounds of white fugar; ninety-three millions one hundred and seventy-feven thousand five hundred and eighteen ditto of brut ditto; fixty-eight millions one hundred and fifty-one thousand one hundred and eightyone ditto of coffee; nine hundred and thirty thousand and sixteen pounds of indigo; fix millions two hundred and eighty-fix thoufand one hundred and twenty-fix ditto of cotton; and twelve thousand nine hundred and ninety-five dreffed skins.

Sold to American, English and Dutch fmugglers; twenty-five millions of pounds of brut fugars; twelve millions ditto of coffee; and three millions ditto of cotton.

The molaffes exported in American bottoms, valued at one million of dollars; valuable wood, exported in French fhips, two hundred thousand dollars.

Its trade employed five hundred and eighty large fhips, carrying one hundred and eighty-nine thousand fix hundred and seventy-nine tons, in which the imports amounted to twelve millions of dollars, of which more than eight millions of dollars were in manufactured goods of France, and the other four millions in French produce.

The Spanish fhips exported in French goods, or money, one million four hundred thousand dollars, for mules imported by them into the colony.

Ninety-eight French fhips, carrying forty thoufand one hundred and thirty tons, imported twenty-nine thousand five hundred and fix negroes, which fold for eight millions of dollars.

The negroes in the French divifion of this ifland have, for several years paft, been in a state of infurrection. In the progress of these difturbances, which have not yet fubfided, the planters and others have fustained immenfe loffes. As this unhappy affair has engaged much of the attention of the public, we are happy in being able to give a fummary statement of the causes of this infurrection.*

From a pamphlet published in 1792, entitled, " An Inquiry into the Causes of the Infurrection of the Negroes, in the Island of St. Domingo."

VOL. IV.

Tt

The

The fituation of the French colonies early attracted the atten tion of the Constituent Affembly. At this time all was as tranquil a: fuch a fate of oppreffion would permit. Political health can only be attributed to a country with a free conftitution. The fituation of the ifland is that of a paralytic; one part is torpid, whilst the other is affected with the frantic motions of St. Vitus's dance.

The first interference of the National Affembly in the affairs of the colonies, was by a decree of the 8th of March, 1790, which declared, That all free perfons, who were proprietors and refidents of two years standing, and who contributed to the exigencies of the state, should exercise the rights of voting, which conftitute the qua lity of French citizens.

This decree, though in fact it gave no new rights to the peopl of colour, was regarded with a jealous eye by the white planters, who evidently saw that the generality of the qualification included all defcriptions of proprietors; they affected, however, to impose a different construction upon it. The people of colour appealed to common justice and common fenfe: it was to no purpose, the whites repelled them from their affemblies; fome commotions enfued, in which they mutually fell a facrifice to their pride and resentment.

These disturbances again excited the vigilance of the National Af fembly; a decree was paffed on the 12th of October, 1790, by which the Affembly declared, as a constitutional article, "That they would establish no regulations refpecting the internal government of the colonies, without the precife and formal request of the colonial affemblies."

Peace, however, was not the confequence of this decree. The proprietors, it is true, had obtained a legal right of TYRANNIZING, but the unfortunate question still recurred, Who should be permitted to exercise that right? On this head the decree was filent. New dif fenfions arofe; each of the parties covered, under a factious patriotism, the most atrocious defigns. Affaffination and revolt became frequent. Mauduit, a French officer of rank, loft his life by the hands of his own countrymen. At length the unfortunate Oge, a planter of colour, who had exerted himself in France in the cause of his brethren, refolved to fupport by force their juft pretenfions. He landed in the Spanish territory of St. Domingo, where he affembled about fix hundred mulattoes. Before he proceeded to hoftilities he wrote to the French general, that his defire was for peace, provided the laws were enforced. His letter was abfurdly confidered as a decla