1 92 HISTORY OF THE [book uu 
planters in the other islands, and have been de¬ 
pressed still more by the rapid growth and exten¬ 
sive opulence of the French colonies in their neigh¬ 
bourhood. Thus a check has been given to the 
spirit of improvement, and much of that land, 
which though somewhat impoverished by long 
cultivation, would still, with the aid of manure, 
contribute greatly to the general returns, is aban¬ 
doned, because the produce of the poorest soil is 
taxed as high as that of the most fertile. 
To the loss arising from a decrease of produce, 
accompanied with an increase of contingent ex¬ 
penses, must be added the ruinous effects of cap¬ 
ture in the late American war. The damages 
sustained in St. Christopher’s alone, by De Grasse s 
invasion in 1782, from the destruction of negroes 
and cattle, and the burning of the canes, were 
estimated at £. 160,000 sterling, which sum was 
made up to the sufferers by a poll-tax on the slaves, 
of no less than forty shillings. The annual taxes 
for defraying the current charges of their inter¬ 
nal governments, in all the islands, are also ex¬ 
ceedingly burthensome ; besides parish taxes for 
the repair of the roads, the maintenance of the 
clergy," and the relief of the poor. 
But under all these and the other discourage¬ 
ments which are felt by the proprietors, the wealth 
which still flows from these little dependencies 
into the mother-country, must fill every reflecting 
mind with surprise and admiration. An extent of 
