THE HATASNAH TAKEN BT THE ENGLISH. 253 
kilogrammes of coarse sugar, tliat is, a fifty-eiglitli part 
of the actual consumption of sugar in France. Those two 
hundred factories are now reduced to fifteen or twenty, which 
.vield a produce of 300,000 kilog.* The inhabitants of the 
West Indies, well Informed of the affairs of Siu'ope, no 
longer fear beet-root, grapes, cheanuts, and mushrooms, the 
coffee of Naples, nor tlie indigo of the south of I'rance. 
Fortunately, the improvement of the condition of tlie "West 
India slaves does not depend on the success of these 
branches of European cultivation. 
Previously to the year 17()2 the island of Cuba did not 
-urnish more commercial produce, than thcthi’ce least iudus- 
Wous and most neglected provinces with respect to culti- 
vation, Veragua, the isthmus of Panama, and Darien, do at 
present. A political event which appeared extremely un- 
fortunate, the taking of the Havannali by the English, 
reused the public mind. The town was evacuated in 1784, 
Sind its subsequent efforts of industry date from that memo- 
rable period. The construction of new fortifications on a 
gigantic plant threw a groat deal of money suddenly into 
circulation; later, the slave-trade became free, and fur- 
nished liands for the sugar factories. Free trade -with all 
fbe ports of Spain, and occasionally with neutral states, 
fbe able administration of Don Luis de Las Casas, the 
establishment of the Consvlado and the Patriotic Society, 
tbe destruction of the French colony of Saint Domingo, J 
* Although the actual price of cane-sugar not refined, is 1 fr. 50 cent, 
rile kilogramme, in the ports, the production of beetroot-sugar offers a still 
S'eater advantage in certain localities, for instance, in the vicinity of Arras. 
These establishments would be introduced in many other parts of France, 
if the price of the sugar of the West Indies rose to 2 francs, or 2 franca 
25 cents the kilogramme, and if the government laid no tax on the beet- 
'■not-sugar, to compensate the loss on the consumption of colonial sugar. 
The making of beetroot-sugar is especially profitable when combined with 
® general system of rural economy, with the improvement of the soil, and 
rile nourishment of cattle : it is not a cultivation independent of local 
rircumstances, like that of the sugar-cane in the tropics. 
+ It is affirmed, that the construction of the fort of Cabafla alone, cost 
fourteen millions of piastres. 
» In three successive attempts, in August 1791, .Tune 1793, and October 
f803. Above all, the unfortunate and sanguinary expedition of Generals 
Teclerc and Rochambeau, completed the destruction of the sugar factori-s 
of Saint Domingo. 
