GRENADA. 



eeiifcicncc, after he Irad licen liofpitably entertained by the 

 .natives, he pretended to open a treaty with the chief of 

 the Charaibes for the purchafe of the country. Accoid- 

 'inx-lT he gavt; tlie natives " feme itnives andhatcliets, and a 

 iarn-i" quantity of glafs beads, befidcs two bottles of bran- 

 dy'for the chief hinifelf,'' and tiuis, fays Du Tcrtre, was the 

 ;inand fairly ceded to the French nation by the natives them- 

 felves in lawful purchafe ! And their future refiftance was 

 confidered as contumacy and rebellion. Du Parquet, having 

 f ilablinicd a colony in Grenada, and built a fort for its 

 protetlion, committed the government of the ifland to 

 a kinfnian, named Le Compte, who engaged in a cruel 

 and .bloody war with the Charaibes, and being reinforced 

 with 300 men from Martinico, he pi-oceeded to eilablirti 

 and maintain his authority by maflacres and murders, the 

 relation of which makes even the reader to tremble. By 

 ji feries of fnch enormities, the whole race of Charaibes 

 that poirefFcd Grenada in 1650 was fpeedily exterminated ; 

 and the French, having deftroyed all the natives, proceeded in 

 the next place to maffacre each other. Du Parquet, in the 

 conduct and execution of thole meafures by which he had 

 gained poffeffion of Grenada, had fo far impaired liis for- 

 tune, that in 1656 he was under the neceffity of transferring 

 it to Count de Cerillac for the fum of 30,000 crowns. This 

 new proprietor appointed a governor, whofc tyrannical and ra- 

 pacious difpofition compelled the moil refpetlable of the fet- 

 tleis to quit the country ; and thofe who remained, aduming 

 the adminillration of jullice, brought the governor to a public 

 ti-ial, and ordered him for execution. Cerillac, deriving 

 little advantage from his purchafe, conveyed all his rights 

 and interefts in Grenada, &c. to the French Weft Indian com- 

 pany ; whofe charter being aboliflied iu 1674, the ifland 

 from that lime became veiled in the crown of France. The 

 ifland, as we may naturally fuppofe, was very imperfectly 

 cultivated during the progrefs of tliefe revohitions and cala- 

 mities ; and even fo late as the year 1700, if Raynal lias been 

 rightly informed, it contained no more than 251 whites and 525 

 blacks, who were employed in three plantations of fugar, 

 and 52 of indigo. By fublequent intercourle of a fniug- 

 gling nature with the Dutch, the circumilances of the plant- 

 ers were fomewliat improved, infomuch that when, in the 

 year 1762, the fortune of war made the Englifh mailers of 

 this and ihe other Ch;u-aibjan iP.ands, Grenada and the Gre- 

 nadines are faid to have ydclded annually, in clayed and muf- 

 covado fugar, a quantity equal to about 11,000 hogfheads 

 of miifcovado of 15 cwt. each, and about 27,&oolbs. of in- 

 digo. Grenada, having furrendered on capitulation in 

 February 1762, was finaUy ceded, together with its depen- 

 dencies, to Great Britain by the definitive treaty of 

 peace at Paris on the loth of February 1763. The chief 

 IHpulations of this treaty were as follow ; i II. That as they 

 would become by their furrender fubjefts of Great Britain, 

 they (hould enjoy their property and privileges, and pay 

 taxes, in like manner as thofe of hismajefty's fubjects of the 

 oth.-r Britiih Leeward iflands. 2dly. With refpett to reh- 

 gion, they were put on the fame- footing as the inhabit- 

 ants of Canada, ;. e. hberty was given them to exercife it 

 accordir,g to the rites of the Romifh church, as far as the 

 lav.'S of Great Britain permitted. 3dly. Such of the inha- 

 bitants of Grenada as chofe to quit the ifland, fliould have 

 liberty fo to do, and 18 months fhould be showed them to 

 difpofe of their effetts. The ifland and its dependencies be- 

 ing thus become a Britifh colony, two proclamations were 

 iilucd, and general Melvilie was appointed governor. The 

 crown, conceiving itfcif entitled by the terms of the ca- 

 pitulation to the duty of 4i .per cent, upon all produce ex- 

 ported from the newly ceded uiands, ordered fuch duty to 



be levied in Grenada, in lieu of all cuftoms and dutias 

 formerly paid to the Ftench king. Tliis order occafioned a 

 great conllitutional queflion, which after much agitation was 

 referred to a folemn adjudication before the judges of the 

 court of king's bench in England. The cafe was elaborate- 

 ly argued in Wellrainfter hall, and lord chief jullice Mans- 

 field, in 1774, pronounced judgment againll-the crown : and 

 therefore the duty in queftion was abolilhed, not only in 

 Grenada, but alfo in the ceded iflands of Dominica, St. 

 Vincent, and Tobago. 



The firll alTembly of Grenada met in 1765 ; and in 176? 

 the governor received inftruftions from the crown to admit 

 two of the Roman Catholic inhabitants into the council, and 

 to declare others to be ehgible into the affembly on taking 

 the oaths of allegiance and fupremacy. Thefe inllruClions, 

 and the meafures which followed them, were productive of 

 great commotions and party divifions in the colony. The 

 king, however, refufed to revoke his inftrufiions ; upon 

 whicli the moft zealous of the Protellant members of the 

 affembly declined attendance, fo that it was but feidom that 

 a houfe could be formed. In this Hate of fadlion and 

 perplexity tlie ifland continued until its recapture by the 

 Frencli under the count D'EHaing, in 1779. By the 

 general pacification which took place in January 1783, 

 Grenada and the Grenadines were reftored to Great 

 Britain. 



Grenada contains about 80,000 acres of land ; of which 

 the quantity adlually cultivated has never exceeded 50,000 

 acres. The face of the country is moutr.inous, but not 

 inacoeflible in any part, and it abounds witli fprings and 

 rivulets. To the north and the ea't the foil is a brick mould ; 

 on the weft fide it is a rich black mould on a fub-llratum of 

 yellow clay. To the louth the land is in general poor, and 

 of a reddilh hue, which extends over a confidcrable part of 

 the interior country. On the whole, however, Grenada 

 appears to be in a high degree fertile, and by the variety, as 

 well as excellence of its returns, feems adapted to every tro- 

 pical production. The exports of the year 1776, from 

 Grenada and its dependencies, were 14,012,157 pound's 

 of mufcovado, and 9,273,607 pounds of clayed fugar; 

 818,700 gallons of rum; 1,827,166 pounds of coftee ; 

 457,719 pounds of cacao ; 91.943 pounds of cotton j 27,638 

 poimds of indigo, and fome fmaller articles : the whole of 

 which, on a moderate computation, could not be worth lef?, 

 at th.e ports of fnipping, than 600,000/ tterling, excluding 

 fcight, duties, infuranee, and other charges. The fugar 

 ivas the produce of 106 plantations, wrou.ght by 18,293 

 negroes, which is rather more than one hogfhead of mufco- 

 vado fugar, of 16 cwt from the labour of each negro ; a 

 return, fays Mr B.Edwards, equalled by no other Britifli 

 ifland in the Weft Indies, St. Chriftopher's excepted. 

 The exports of 1787 were 175,548 cwt. gibs, of fugar ; 

 670,390 gallons of rum ; 4,300 gallons of n-.clalTes ; 8,812 

 cwt. 2 qrs. 4 lbs. of coffte ; 2,716 cwt. 3 qrs. iSlbs. of 

 cacao ; 2,062,427 lbs. of cotton ; 2,810 lbs. of indigo, and 

 mifcellaneous articles; fuch as hides, dyeing wood, 5<c. to 

 the amount in value of 64,545/. ^^- ^'^- > '"''^ ^^^ total 

 value of all, according to the current prices in London, 

 614,908/. 9/. 3^/. 



This ifland is divided into fix parifhes, vi-z. St, George, 

 St. David, St. Andrew, St. Patrick, St. Mark, and St. 

 John ; and its chief dependence, Cariacou, forms a fevcnth 

 parifli. Since the retloration of Grenada to Great Britain 

 in 17S3, an ifland law has been obtained for the eUablilh- 

 ment of a Proteftant clergy. This aft, which paffed in 1 784, 

 provided llipends of 330/. currency, and 60/. for houlc- 

 rcnt J>er annum: for five clergymen, viz. one for the town 



and 



