COLONY. 



755 



Cotoy. 



French 



culonict. 



and their new company performed less the part of 

 traders, than of directors of the naval exertions of 

 their countrymen in the West. When political circum- 

 stances produced a cessation of the long contest with 

 Spain, the unfitness of a great company for the ma- 

 nagement of concerns, merely commercial, was felt, 

 and, in 1674, the association was dissolved. A second 

 company was formed, but with no other monopoly 

 than that of the African slave trade ; and in 1734- the 

 latter likewise was laid open, on condition of the tra- 

 ders paying certain dues to the company. The Suri- 

 nam company was a kind of emanation from the larger 

 association ; the latter on obtaining, in 1682, certain 

 privileges from the States General, for the supply and 

 management of Surinam, admitted two new parties to 

 the contract, in consideration of their sharing the ex- 

 pence of the charter. These parties were the city of 

 Amsterdam, and the opulent family of Sommdsdyk. 

 The business of the association was managed at Amster- 

 dam by representatives from each of the parti' s, but all 

 the vigilance and economy of Dutch directors were una- 

 ble to form a counterpoise to the disadvantages inherent 

 in mercantile coalitions. The stock of the company 

 never rose to par, and fell eventually so low as thirty 

 per cent. These examples of failure, on the part of the 

 Dutch, are the more remarkable, because Holland was, 

 of all countries, best fitted to supply the large advances 

 required for newly settled countries. The interest of 

 money in Holland, so far as 150 years ago, was very 

 low, and did not, on undoubted security, exceed three 

 per cent, while in England it was nearly double. The 

 consequence has been, that while in this country no mer- 

 chant has advanced capital to a colonist without obtain- 

 ing a commission in addition to interest on his money, 

 the Dutch capitalists have not hesitated to make loans 

 on the security of West India plantations, for mere inte- 

 rest, in the same way as in London a banker sub- 

 scribes to a government loan on the security of stock. 

 The extent to which this kind of business was carried, 

 affords a striking proof of the case with which unculti- 

 vated regions might be rendered productive, if the fruits 

 of industry were not wasted in war expences. Thirty 

 years ago the capital due by the colony of Surinam to 

 the mother country, amounted, says M. Malouet, to 

 eight millions sterling. This sum, large as it was, bears 

 a small proportion to the mass of additional debt incur- 

 red by trie planters, since they came under our dominions 

 seventeen years ago. The high price of sugar in 1797 

 and 1798. induced our merchants to make very improvi- 

 dent advances for the purchase of negroes, as well as 

 for other purposes ; and the subsequent fall of sugar 

 prevented that repayment, which, with the ordinary con- 

 fidence of West Indians, was anticipated in the course 

 of a few seasons. 



French colonies. The foreign settlements of France 

 have differed from those of Holland, in being more ex- 

 tended in the West than in the East. In the war of 

 1756, the military talents of Lord Clive, and the deci- 

 ded superiority of our navy, put an end to the question 

 of ascendency between the French and English in the 

 Eastern world. The same war stripped them of Marti- 

 nique and Guadaloupe, although our solicitude to con- 

 solidate our North American posi,es:>ions led to the re- 

 sto. at ion of these islands at the peace. Bui ihe pride 

 of Fr.-nch colonies wait St Domingo a settlement never 

 wrested t'rom the mcther country until the miserable 

 disorders, of the late revolution. At first th>- inhabitants 

 of the French part of St Domingo, and of the adjacent 

 islands, were composed of the free- hooters, so well 



known under the name of Flibusliers, or Buccaneers. 

 Two centuries ago, this lawless and intrepid race, an 

 assemblage of pirates and desperadoes from all nations, 

 were the terror of the Spanish Americans. Their situ- 

 ation, which was chiefly in the Bahamas and the quar- 

 ters we have mentioned, afforded many facilities for ad 

 venturous enterprize, and deeds were performed which 

 might supply many a subject for heroic poetry. Part 

 of these atchievements have been rapidly traced by the 

 animated pen of Raynal. In the course of time, the 

 extension of regular government throughout St Domin- 

 go, and the rest of the West Indies, led to the incor- 

 poration of the descendants of these free hooters into the 

 mass of inoffensive citizens. The French colonies, be- 

 ing released, after the failure of the Mississippi scheme, 

 from the restrictions of an exclusive company, advanced 

 in population and prosperity with a success approxima- 

 ting to that of our colonies in North America. St Do- 

 mingo became the greatest sugar and coffee colony in 

 the West Indies, its population being computed, before 

 the revolutionary disasters, at half a million of negroes, 

 along with a correspondent proportion of whites. 



The French colonists, like the English, went abroad 

 only for a season, and steadily cherished the hope of 

 returning with a competency to their native country. 

 This feeling, however patriotic, is productive of an im- 

 patience in money making, which not only frequently 

 defeats its object, but interferes very materially with the 

 comfort of the colonist. Even in the long settled is- 

 land of St Domingo, an island where the proprietors 

 were much oftener resident on their plantations than in 

 the English colonies, the want of domestic comfort was 

 universal. " On n'y voit point d'homme," says Malouet, 

 " assis sur son foyer parlant avec interest de sa ville, de 

 sa paroisse, de la maison de scs peres. On n'y voit que 

 des auberges et des voyageurs. Tout correspond a 1'idee 

 que j'exprime. Entrez dans leurs maisons, elles ne sont 

 ni commodes, ni ornces ; Us n'en ont pas le terns ; ce 

 n'est pas la peine ; voila leur language. Est-il question 

 d'un bailment, d'une machine, d'une transaction, d'un 

 acte de partage, d'un reglement de compte ; rien n'est 

 fini, rien ne porte 1'empreinte de la patience et de 1'at- 

 tention." Though disappointments in trade prevent the 

 acquisition of fortunes in the limited period anticipated 

 in their sanguine calculations, bad health, and impatience 

 of an exile from home, are nevertheless productive of 

 incessant removals. " let," adds Malouet, " la scene et 

 les acteurs changent en moins de dix annees : vous avez 

 sans cesse des homines differens; sans patrie, sans fa- 

 mille, sans projets, sans moyens determines ; mais prets 

 a saiiir tous les projets, tous les moyens." This colo- 

 ny, now sunk beyond redemption during the present ge- 

 neration at least, was, in natural fertility, greatly superi- 

 or to the British settlements. On the sugar estates, 

 the average annual produce of an acre is said to have 

 been nearly one and a half hogshead, a quantity double, 

 as appears from the preceding Table, the average of our 

 colonies. St Domingo is said to abound in the fine 

 brick mould, which in Jamaica is found only in particu- 

 lar districts. Accordingly in a period of ten years pre- 

 ceding the horrors or the revolution, the negro popula- 

 tion, as well as the amount of produce, are believed to 

 have nearly doubled. Martinique and Guadaloupe, 

 though greatly behind St Domingo, haw long been im- 

 portant colonies, their joint exports having amounted, 

 many years ago, to a million sterling. Th< annual im- 

 portation of slaves into the French colonies, before the 

 revolution, was between 20<tnd 30,000. 



Colony. 



