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52 A. D. 1795- 



•of the ifland ; and on the day followmg the lieutenant-governor and 

 ibme others of the prmcipal Britifli inhabitants became their prifoners. 

 Reinforcements were received on both fides from the neighbouring 

 iflands: and a horrid, and fanguinary, w^ar enfued, which, after raging 

 above a year, was terminated by the defeat of the French infurgents. 



In the infurredion, which took place in S'. Vincent's, the Caribs, the 

 original pofTeflbrs of the ifland, bore the principal part. Their undif- 

 ciplined valour could not long ftand againitthe regular Britifli troops*. 



In Dominica the French inhabitants wei'e excited to infurredion by 

 parties from Guadaloupe and Marigalante, who invited the free people 

 of colour and the flaves to join their ftandard, and defl:royed many of 

 the plantations. There being but one company of regular troops in 

 the ifland, the defence of the colony lay almofl: entirely upon the Britifli 

 inhabitants, who, with fuch of the negroes as adhered to them, oppofed 

 the invaders with great fpirit and judgement, and at length furrounded 

 them, and made them prifoners f. Of the French inhabitants fome 

 were put to death, and above fix hundred, whom the governor fufpeded 

 of dilliffedion, were fent home to England. 



June 14'" — Montego Bay, a flourifhing town in the north-vvefl:. part 

 of Jamaica, which in the year 1792 contained 225 houfes, whereof 33 

 were capital fl:ores or warehoufes, and about 600 w^hite inhabitants, was 

 reduced to alhes by a conflagration, in which many of the fl;ores, with 

 produce and merchandize to a large amount, were deflroyed. 



Another calamity immediately befell Jamaica, which was mofl: fevere- 

 ly felt in the fame quarter of the ifland. The horrors of the war with 

 the Maroon negroes, which after diftrefling the ifland and retarding the 

 cultivation of it during almofl a century, had been terminated by the 

 prudence and moderation of Governor Trelawny, who, together with 

 -the aflembly of the ifland, confirmed the pofleflion of their liberty, and 

 ■ their lands to them in the year 1738 :}:, were now renewed. Two fuc- 



* Thcfe irifiirreflions in Grenada snd S'. VIn- 1655. Wlien the Spaniards left the ifland, tlii; 

 cent's, with the con fcquent deftniftioh of property, negroes retired into the mountainous interior part 

 produced the diltreffes, which required the parha- of it, where they hoped to enjoy independence, 

 nientary afliRance, already noticed in abridging the The Engh'ili fettlers confidercd them as their pro- 

 commercial acis of parliament. pcrty, and invaded their retreat. A fierce and 



+ In order to avoid the imputation of partiality fanguinary war enfued, wherein the negroes, from 



I here do a violence to myfelt in fupprcfting an in- their fuperior knovvlege of the defiles aad fallncffes 



ftance of the happy confequence of the n'anagcr of the country, had generally the advantage, moll 



of a fuorar plantation acting with proper kindnefs of the foldiers who fell being killed by invilihle 



to the negroes under his cart, who all faitlifully enemies. As they derived a great part of their 



iluck by him in his marches through the woods, fuVifif^ence from plundering the plantations of their 



wherein it would have been Impoflible to prevent enemies, the fcttlement of a new plantation at fome 



them from dtferting to the invaders, if any of them little diilance from others was a defpeiate undtr- 



had been inclir.ed to do fo. taking ; and cultivation was confined to a nairow 



t To fome readers it may not be fuperflnous to border of a part of the cbail. The number of the 



inform them, that the Maroons were the defcend- Maroons was, however, falling off, tliough they 



tnls of the negroes, who belonged to the Spanilh ufed evciy means to recruit their forces by enticing 



inhabitants, when the ifland was taken by the Eng- the flaves to join them ; but thofe recruits being 



rOi forces under Peim and Vetiables in the year generally men, there were very few children born 



in 



