REUNION 
187 
a presentiment of what was coming. England, who 
needed a point of vantage on the way to India, renewed 
her hostile attitude. Natural occurrences came to her 
help. In 1807 there fell such a violent storm of rain 
that almost all the plantations were destroyed and the 
fertile earth was washed away; a hurricane lasting four 
days completed the picture of destruction. The famine 
that followed swept away a great number of the inhabi¬ 
tants; for three months the police had nothing to do 
but to draw up lists of the dead. The colony, thus 
weakened, had ultimately to surrender to the repeated 
attacks of the English, who had been at first beaten 
off, as the means of further resistance were insufficient. 
On the 6th July, 1810, 20 English ships with 5000 men 
made their appearance. The troops, under the command 
of Col. Keating, landed at several points. There was 
a bloody contest at the Butor river, in which the Bour¬ 
bon Creoles were defeated. The capital, St. Denis, was 
occupied by English troops, and an honourable capitulation 
was signed on the loth of July. England only held the 
island of Reunion for a few years. On the 6th April, 
1815, it was restored to Erance by treaty. Very soon, 
the introduction of new objects of cultivation as well 
as the improvement in the education of the people, laid 
the foundation of renewed prosperity. The new sugar 
industry and the cultivation of vanilla turned out profitable ; 
in 1819 St. Denis acquired a well-managed Lycee. Since 
that time the colony has developed itself without any 
great vicissitudes. The year 1848 brought the emancipa¬ 
tion of 60,000 slaves. This measure, prepared fory ears 
beforehand, produced great excitement, and risings of a 
serious kind were anticipated. When, on the 20th 
December, the emancipation was officially explained to 
the blacks, they expressed their gratitude, after which 
they made merry with dancing, returned to their homes 
at sunset, and next day worked as usual on the plantations. 
