HISTORY OF EUROPE. [s89

it was then enquired of admini- ofiice, with fome others, were ex-

llration, whether they had received any late accounts from that ifland ;

-when, to the furprife of every body,

it appeared that their latel‘: intelli- gence from thence was above a month prior in date to the letter which had been read by the gene- ral. A gentleman, who had been

lieutenant-governor of the New

Illands, was examined as to the

_ temper, behaviour, and difpofi-

tion of the Caribbs, of all which he gave a very favourable account, and reprefented them as aquiet, in- oifenfive people; he was farther alked, if he had heard that the planters were envious of them for their lands, to which he anfwered in the affirmative ; and being pref- fed as to particular names, men- tioned one, of confiderable rank and confequence in the ifland, and who had a principal {hare in all the tneafures that had been purfued for liripping them of their pol- fellions.

Some ofiicers were examined, who had ferved, or borne command at different times in St. Vincent’s; thefe gentlemen, in general, gave favourable accounts of the Caribbs, and attributed entirely, their late turbulent and fufpicious temper, to the attempts that had been made to deprive them of their lands; they all concurred in their accounts of the unhealthinefs of the illand, and particularly in the rainy fea- fnn, when they declared it muft prove fatal to any troops that were under a neceflity of aéling in it, and that the confiitutions of fuch as efcaped with life, would be totally ruined.

On the other fide, one of the principal planters in the ifland,

1nd of confiderable rank by his

amir-ed. They, in general, de- fcribed the Caribbs as a faithlefs, cruel, and treacherous race, who were abandoned to all manner of cxcelies, particularly with refpeEt to liquor, in which llate they were capable of the molt barbarous actions. That while they conti- nued on the ifland, there could be no fecurity for the perfons or property of the inhabitants; they were charged with murders, rob- beries, with enticing the negro Haves from their matters, and de- firoying others whom they caught in the fields; no particular proofs were, however, brought in fupport of thefe charges. The connexion; and intelligence which the Caribhs held with the French, and their application to the Governor of Martinique for protection and af- filtance, were lhewn in a very dan- gerous light; and no care was neglefled to defcribe the fatal con- fequences that mull attend the ifland, whenever a war broke out with France, with fuch a deadly enemy lying in its bofom. Their mortal enmity to our government and people was alfo much inlilled On; and it was concluded upon the whole, that there was no other al- ternative, but that either his Ma- jelly’s,natural fubjccts, or the Ca- ribbs, mull quit the illand, if the latter are permitted to continue in their prefent ltate of indepen- dence.

After feveral ilriflures upon the nature of this evidence, and on the interefied views by which it was faid to be apparently directed, the

expedition againlt the Caribbs in the illand of St. Vinfitifll, “as WP dcrtakcl