4 3 HISTORY OF THE [book. iii. 
possessions in this island and its dependencies. In 
1656 such a purchaser offered in the count de Ce¬ 
rillac, to whom the whole was conveyed for 30,OCX) 
crowns. 
The conduct of Cerillac towards the inhabitants 
of his newly acquired dominion was highly injudi¬ 
cious and oppressive. He appointed a governor of 
so arrogant and rapacious a disposition, and sup¬ 
ported him in his extortions with such obstinacy, 
as to compel the most respectable of the settlers to 
quit the country and seek for safety under a milder 
government. At length the people that remained 
took the administration of justice into their own 
hands; by seizing on the person of the governor, 
and bringing him to a public trial. The criminal 
was condemned to be hanged: but he pleaded no¬ 
ble birth, and demanded the honour of decollation. 
His request would have been granted, but unluck¬ 
ily an expert executioner in the business of behead¬ 
ing could not readily be found; the judges there¬ 
fore compounded the matter with his excellency, 
by consenting that he should be shot, and he suffer¬ 
ed in that mode with great composure. 
Some years after this, Monsieur de Cerillac, the 
proprietor, receiving, as it may be supposed, but 
little profit from his capital, conveyed all his rights 
and interests in Grenada, &c. to the French West 
Indian company; whose charter being abolished in 
1674, the island from thenceforward became vested 
in the crown of France. 
