chap, iv.] WEST INDIES. 155 
The present number of white inhabitants is sta¬ 
ted to me not to exceed six hundred, while the ne¬ 
groes amount to about ten thousand; a dispropor¬ 
tion which necessarily converts all such white men 
as are not exempted by age or decrepitude, into a 
well regulated militia, among which there is a 
troop consisting of fifty horse, well mounted and 
accoutred. English forces, on the British establish¬ 
ment, they have none. 
The English first established themselves in this 
island in the year 1628, under the protection and 
encouragement of Sir Thomas Warner. Among 
the different classes of men, who sought to improve 
their fortunes in St. Christopher’s by the patronage 
of that enterprising leader, it can hardly be pre¬ 
sumed, that every individual experienced the full 
gratification of his hopes and expectations. In all 
societies, there are many who will consider them¬ 
selves unjusty overlooked and forgotten. Of the 
companions of Warner’s earliest voyages, it is pro¬ 
bable that some would set too high a value on their 
services, and of those who ventured afterwards, 
many would complain, on their arrival, that the 
best lands were pre-occupied. To soften and tem¬ 
per such discordancy and disquiet, by giving full 
employment to the turbulent and seditious, seems 
to have been one of the most important objects of 
Warner’s policy. Motives of this nature induced 
him, without doubt, to plant a colony in Nevis at 
so early a period; and the wisdom and propriety of 
his first regulations gave strength and stability to 
the settlement, 
