64 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



manner indicated, it was not truly a Spanish colony, 

 the large majority of its inhabitants being of other 

 nationalities, and these not of the best sort, with the 

 result that the population of the island which in 

 1783 was under 3,000 in 1797 numbered nearly 

 18,000. A free grant of land of 32 acres was given 

 to each white man, and half that quantity to each 

 free black man, with half as much again in either 

 case for every slave possessed or brought into the 

 colony. The colonists were to be free of taxation 

 for ten years ; and while they were required to take 

 the oath of allegiance to the King of Spain, they 

 were given the benefit of naturalization after five 

 years' residence." 



Before this period the government of the 

 island had long been in a state of confusion 

 amounting almost to chaos, when it was thought ex- 

 pedient to appoint Don Jose Maria Chacon, a liberal- 

 minded governor, to govern the island and carry the 

 decree or " Cedula " into effect. He arrived on the 

 1st September, 1783 — fourteen years before it became 

 a British colony — and on his arrival the ' 1 Cedula 1 9 

 was translated into English and French and acted 

 upon. One of the articles limited its benefits to per- 

 sons professing the Catholic religion ; but the liber- 

 ality and toleration of Chacon often made this article 

 a dead letter. 



The land granted under this law was to be held 

 in perpetuity,* and even down to the present day this 



* Known now-a-days as an Old Spanish Grant. 



