[]AN ACCOUNT OF THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA. VOL. II.

CHAP. I.

THE French were amongſt the laſt nations who made ſettle⯑ments in the Weſt-Indies; but they made ample amends by the vigour with which they pur⯑ſued them, and by that chain of judicious and admirable meaſures which they uſed in drawing from them every ad⯑vantage, which the nature of the climate would yield; and in contending againſt the difficulties which it threw in their way. The civil wars, which divided and harraſſed that kingdom, from the death of Henry the ſecond, with very little interruption, until the majority of Lewis the fourteenth, withdrew the attention of both prince and people from [4] their commercial intereſts to thoſe of parties in religion and government. The politicks of the houſe of Valois, though France per⯑haps was never governed by princes of ſo in⯑genious and refined a turn, were wholly of the Machiavillian kind. They tended to diſtract, to unſettle, to try dangerous ſchemes, and to raiſe ſtorms only to diſplay a ſkill in pilotage. The parties then in France ſolely contended, what power could be given to or taken from the king, without con⯑ſidering what could make their country a great kingdom. Therefore, which way ſoever the ballance inclined, whether to the king or to the nobles; to the catholicks, or to the proteſtants, it was pretty indifferent to the real happineſs of that nation. The parties only gamed out of a common ſtock. Neither could be enriched. But their diſſentions made all of them poor and weak. The time of cardinal Richlieu muſt be conſidered as the true aera of French policy. This great man pacifying all at home, ex⯑alting the royal authority upon the ruins of the power of the nobility, and modelling that great ſyſtem of general policy in external affairs, which has raiſed France to ſuch a pitch of greatneſs; amongſt ſo many, and ſuch extenſive cares, did not forget thoſe of commerce, and what ſerves moſt effectually to ſupport commerce, colonies, and eſtabliſh⯑ments abroad. But the circumſtances of the time, and his genius that embraced ſo many [5] objects, did not leave him leiſure to perfect what he began. It was reſerved for that great, wiſe, and honeſt miniſter Colbert, one of the ableſt that ever ſerved any prince, to bring that plan to perfection, to carry it in a great meaſure into execution, and to leave things in ſuch order, that it was not difficult, when favourable circumſtances offered, to make France one of the firſt trading powers in Europe, and her colonies the moſt powerful, their nature conſidered, of any in America.

So early as the reign of Francis I. the French attempted an eſtabliſhment in North-America; but it was not until the year 1625, that they made their firſt ſettlement in the Weſt-Indies. This was upon St. Chriſtopher, one of the Caribee iſlands. A remarkable circumſtance attended it; the Engliſh took poſſeſſion of the iſland the ſame day. But this ſettlement had no long life on either ſide. The Spaniards had reaſon to dread the eſta⯑bliſhment of ſuch powers in their neighbour⯑hood; and they envied the French and En⯑gliſh thoſe advantages it was foreſeen they would draw from countries from which they had themſelves no benefit, and which they claimed only to keep them deſarts.

They aſſaulted theſe new colonies, and drove them out of the iſland. The Engliſh colony ſoon returned, and poſſeſſed themſelves of the largeſt and beſt part, before the French [6] could collect themſelves; who, finding the Engliſh already ſettled in the beſt part, left a ſmall colony on the other part. But their chief, and the moſt adventurous of their inha⯑bitants, went in ſearch of other ſeats, when, after various fortune, and after combating the difficulties which a new country and their own imprudence had cauſed them, they made a conſiderable ſettlement in the iſlands of Martinico and Guardaloupe.

Cardinal Richlieu ſaw very early into the advantages which might ariſe from theſe ſettle⯑ments, if prudently managed; and he thought the moſt prudent management both for ſe⯑curing and extending them, conſiſted in but one article; which was, to put the govern⯑ment into proper hands. With that view he made choice of Monſieur de Poincy, a knight of Malta; who was ſent thither with the title of governor and lieutenant-general of the iſles of America, and a very ample commiſſion. No perſon could be better fitted to rectify the diſorders that naturally muſt ariſe in every new ſettlement, and to put things in a right channel for the time to come. Of a good family; of an unblemiſhed reputation for probity; of great reading; of much and various knowledge of life; and of a genius as variouſly exerciſed. He was a maſter in me⯑chanical learning; in which he excelled not more to his own honour, than to the benefit [7] of the colonies which had the happineſs to be committed to his care. He it was that firſt taught them the method of cultivating the ſugar cane, and preparing the ſugar. He improved the methods which were uſed in the Brazils for this purpoſe, both with regard to the mills and the furnaces; and having given a direction to their induſtry, he gave it all the encouragement he could, by ſupport⯑ing thoſe who raiſed their own ſubſtance, by the means which advanced the colony; whilſt he kept a watchful eye, and a ſevere hand upon all, who were for making haſty fortunes, without adding to the publick ſtock. He made admirable regulations for the ſpeedy and impartial adminiſtration of juſtice; and knowing that all order muſt depend for it's bleſſing above, and it's effect here upon an at⯑tention to religion, he ordered a proper number of churches to be built in all the iſlands under his care, and ſettled prieſts in them, with a competent, but not a ſuper⯑fluous proviſion; but he did not think monaſ⯑teries and monks ſo compatible with a new colony.

Under the inſpection of this governor, Martinico, Guardaloupe, part of St. Chriſto⯑pher's, St. Bartholomew, and St. Martin, were ſettled, and began to flouriſh, and that with very little help from home. A plain proof that almoſt every thing depends in [8] affairs of this nature, on chuſing proper men to command, and giving them a proper au⯑thority.

Theſe iſlands, however, were unhappily under the ſuperintendance of an excluſive company, which, in ſpite of all that could otherwiſe be done, eſpecially after the death of Richlieu, ſo neglected, or miſmanaged their affairs, that they were obliged to ſell a part of the ſettlements; and they left the reſt hardly worth purchaſing. But the govern⯑ment at length bought up the iſlands which they had alienated, and reſcued the others out of their hands. The trade under proper re⯑gulations was laid open, yet protected under the wings of their great India company. Theſe regulations took place about 1680, and the benefits of this arrangement were great, and ſoon apparent. Excluſive companies may probably be uſeful to nouriſh an infant trade. They may be uſeful too for a very diſtant one, where the market is to be nicely managed, and where it is under the dominion of foreign and barbarous princes. But where the trade is between different parts of the dominions of the ſame prince, under the protection of his laws, carried on by his own ſubjects, and with goods wrought in his own country, ſuch companies muſt be equally abſurd in their nature, and ruinous in their conſequences to the trade.

CHAP. II.

AFTER the Spaniards had ruined the firſt colony at St. Chriſtopher's, they brought upon themſelves by this act, a very heavy revenge for the injuſtice of it. Their example at the ſame time made it apparent, how much better it is to let a bold and adventurous people ſettle in ſome place where they can do but little miſchief, and to ſuffer their ſpirit to evaporate in peaceful occupa⯑tions, rather than to keep it up by difficulties, unable to quell it, but which may force it to take another and more dangerous turn.

Several of the French inhabitants, who were expelled from St. Chriſtopher's, being reduced to great indigence, began to think of deſperate courſes. They betook themſelves to piracy; and uniting with ſome vagrant Engliſh, Dutch, and other outcaſts of all nations, but reſolute fellows, and not deſtitute of men of capacity amongſt them, they began a piratical war upon the Spaniards. At firſt they ſatisfied themſelves with taking their ſhips and de⯑ſtroying their trade; which they did effectu⯑ally; but ſoon encouraged and ſtrengthened by this ſucceſs, they landed upon the conti⯑nent of New-Spain and Terra Firma, burning and plundering the open country. Their boldneſs and number increaſing with their [10] ſucceſs, they aſſaulted and took ſome of their ſtrongeſt fortreſſes and moſt opulent towns. They took Portobello, Campeachy, Maracai⯑bo, Gibraltar, and the fortreſs of Chagra; they even took the city of Panama by ſtorm, and burned it, after defeating an army which came to beat them off. In all which places, and in the others which they had taken, they gained an incredible booty, and committed the moſt unheard of cruelties. Another party of theſe pirates paſſed the ſtreights of Magel⯑lan, and entering into the South-Sea, turned the whole coaſt of Peru, Chili, and the Eaſt of Mexico, into one ſcene of deſolation; every where attended with ſucceſs, becauſe every where acting with a bravery and con⯑duct, that in any other cauſe had merited the higheſt honours.

It is not a little ſurpriſing, at firſt view, that all the great things which were done in this new world, were either done by actual pirates, as theſe men were, or by private adventurers, but one degree better authorized, and nothing better ſupported; whoſe own courage and ſkill were to be at once their commiſſion, their magazines, and their treaſury; being ob⯑liged to find the reſources of the war, in the war itſelf. When the moſt numerous and the beſt provided armaments have ſhamefully failed, and failed in thoſe very places, where the adventurers had ſhewn them ſuch a [11] glorious example of ſucceſs. But the cauſe is not ſo hard to be aſſigned. None but men of great enterpriſe and bravery, conceive thoſe expeditions of themſelves. Unſupported, but at the ſame time unchecked by the higher pow⯑ers, they were under the neceſſity of turning to every ſide, and of exerting every faculty. But then they had nothing to hinder this exertion. Their firſt attempts were generally low, and therefore they were proſperous. They did not lead great armies to be ſubſiſted with great difficulty, and to be diſcouraged and waſted by the hardſhips of the climate; but they habituated themſelves to hardſhips by de⯑grees: they were encouraged by ſmaller ſuc⯑ceſſes; and having nothing to expect from their power and numbers, they made amends by their vigilance, their activity, and their courage. Theſe are cauſes adequate to the effect; indeed adequate to any effect, Where⯑as in the regular way, a general of the firſt note and reputation has rarely been ſent into America; the ſervice ſeemed beneath him; and they that were tolerably expert at ſecond and third parts, (worſe than the abſolutely in⯑experienced for the very firſt, where the ſcene is new,) were ſent by court favour and in⯑trigue. What armaments from England, Holland, and France, have been ſent in different times to America, whoſe remains returned without honour or advantage, is [12] too clear, and perhaps too invidious a topic to be greatly inſiſted upon.

The pirates, whom we called buccaneers improperly, the French denominated flibuſ⯑tiers, from the Dutch flyboats, in which they made their firſt expeditions. The buccaneers are no more than perſons who hunt wild cattle in America for their hides and tallow. Some of theſe joined the flibuſtiers in their firſt expeditions; and from them we named the whole body, buccaneers. Theſe people brought their prizes and plunder frequently into Jamaica, by which they enriched that iſland extremely. Others, finding that the Spaniards were very weak in Hiſpaniola, and that they had in a manner deſerted a conſide⯑rable part of the iſland, made it a place of rendezvous. They who hunted cattle ſaw the hideous deſarts left by the Spaniſh tyran⯑ny, a proper place for exerciſing their profeſ⯑ſion. To theſe two ſorts of people were ſoon added a third; who were ſome of the French in the leſſer Antilles, who finding how much might be made by ſupplying a ſort of people who expended largely, and were not very exact in their bargains, and perceiving that no part of America afforded a better ſoil, paſſed over to this iſland, and exerciſed here their buſineſs of planters and merchants. Theſe three ſorts of people, mutually in want of each other, lived in very good harmony. [13] The Spaniards diſlodged them ſeveral times; but they ſtill returned, and with new ſtrength; ſo that it was with difficulty, and after a long diſpute, that the Spaniards were able to re⯑tain one part of the iſland.

The court of France ſaw the progreſs of theſe people ſilently. Whenever complaints were made, they diſavowed their proceedings; reſolved not to break meaſures with Spain for the ſake of an object, which they were not ſure they could hold, and the advantages of which were yet doubtful; but when they found the French in Hiſpaniola numerous, ſtrong, and wealthy, they owned them as ſubjects, ſent them a governor and regular forces to keep them ſo, and to defend them in what they had done: the old method of piracy was ſtill connived at, whilſt the trade of ſkins increaſed, and the plantations extend⯑ed. At laſt the French obtained a legal right by the ceſſion, which the Spaniards made them of the North-Weſt part of the iſland by the treaty of Ryſwick, in 1697; the beſt and moſt fertile part of the beſt and moſt fertile iſland in the Weſt-Indies, and perhaps in the world; that which was the firſt ſettled, and the whole of which is upwards of four hundred miles long, and one hundred and forty broad. This is the principal ſettlement of the French in the Weſt-Indies, and indeed in all America. The country is mixed; [14] pretty mountainous in ſome parts, but many of theſe mountains are fertile, and covered with beautiful woods. Others, which are bar⯑ren and rocky, anciently had mines of gold; they are not worked now, though it is judged they not only contain thoſe of gold, but mines of ſilver, copper, and iron. But the French think, and I believe, with reaſon, that their labour is better beſtowed on the culture of the plains for theſe rich commodities, which vend ſo well in Europe, than in the purſuit of mines, really more precarious in their profits, and which yield a wealth after all, of a leſs uſeful kind.

This country has likewiſe prodigiouſly fine plains, of a vaſt extent, and extreme fertility; either covered with noble and beautiful foreſts of timber and fruit-trees, excellent in their kinds, or paſtured by vaſt numbers of horned cattle, ſheep, and hogs. The air in Hiſpaniola is of the moſt healthy in the Weſt-Indies. The country is admirably watered with rivulets as well as navigable rivers. It is no wonder therefore, that this active and induſ⯑trious nation, in poſſeſſion of ſo excellent and extenſive a country, has reaped from it pro⯑digious advantages. They were the better enabled to do this, from the great encourage⯑ment their ſettlements met with in France; and from the wiſe regulations which were made concerning them. Theſe we ſhall con⯑ſider in their place. But it is certain they [15] reckoned in the year 1726, that on this iſland they had no leſs than one hundred thouſand negroes, and thirty thouſand whites; that they made ſixty thouſand hogſheads of ſugar of five hundred weight each; that the indigo was half as much in value as the ſugar; that they exported large quantities of cotton, and that they had ſent beſides to France cacao and ginger in tolerable plenty. Since that time they raiſe coffee here to a very great amount. Now ſuppoſing ſince that time they have not improved, and that they raiſe no more of theſe ſeveral commodities than they did in 1726, which is far from the truth, and ſuppoſe that the ſugar ſells but at twenty ſhillings the hundred, yet at that rate the ſixty thouſand hogſheads muſt yield three hundred thouſand pounds ſterling. The indigo is ſomewhat fallen in its prince ſince this calculation was made; but as it certainly has increaſed largely in its quantity, it is not too much to value it at the old rate, at one hundred thouſand pound. If to theſe we add the produce of the cotton, cacao, ginger, and hides, it will not be too much to allow one hundred thouſand more. This is ſup⯑poſing things no better than they were in the year 1726, and at this rate her ſhare of the iſland is worth to France five hundred and fifty thouſand pounds ſterling a year. But if we conſider that they are greatly increaſed ſince [16] that time, that the ſugars are in a higher de⯑mand; that without leſſening any of the old articles, that of coffee is in a manner in⯑troduced there ſince that period, and now makes a great return; it will not be exceſſive to rate the value of this colony at ſeven hun⯑dred and fifty thouſand pounds ſterling a year. It is true, that this part of the French trade ſuffered greatly in the laſt war, and that the progreſs of the colony muſt be ſomewhat re⯑tarded by it. Yet, allowing all this, Hiſ⯑paniola has certainly increaſed at leaſt in the meaſure I allow it.

Nations like France and England, full of people of ſpirit, and of induſtry, eaſily recover all the loſſes of war. The trade of France was in a deplorable condition at the treaty of Utrecht. She had not then five hundred veſſels of all ſorts in the world. At the beginning of the laſt war, but thirty years after, they had eighteen hundred. Their loſſes in that war were very great and yet their loſſes in this ſhew, that in a very little time they have more than repaired them. Wherever the vital principle ſubſiſts in full vigour, wounds are ſoon healed. Diſorders themſelves are a ſpecies of remedies; and every new loſs not only ſhews how it may be repaired, but by the vigour it inſpires, makes new advantages known. Such loſſes renew the ſpirit of in⯑duſtry and enterpriſe; they reduce things to [17] their firſt principles; they keep alive motion, and make the appetites of traders ſharp and keen. This is the reaſon that amidſt their con⯑tinual wars, and the loſſes all the nations of Europe ſuffer from each other, they are al⯑moſt all thriving. And if I may indulge a conjecture, it may be one amongſt ſeveral of the cauſes that have reduced the trade of Holland, that ſince the treaty of Utrecht, now above forty years, they have had no war. They may, during the quarrels of other powers, appear to have derived great ad⯑vantages from their neutrality. But are they not with all this declining faſt? And is not this country, which grew to be a nation, and to be a powerful trading and rich nation, in the midſt of the moſt bloody and expenſive wars, now loſing it's trade, it's riches, and it's power, and almoſt ceaſing to be a nation, in the midſt of a profound peace of upwards of forty years. We muſt not place our depen⯑dance for keeping ourſelves on a par of power with France, upon the prejudice which we can do it's trade in time of war, but upon the vigour, oeconomy, and wiſdom of the of mea⯑ſures which we take to ſecure and advance our own, both in war and in peace.

The largeſt town in the French part of Hiſpaniola is Cape Francoiſe, which is ſitu⯑ated on the Northern part of the iſland upon a very fine harbour. It is well built, and [18] contains about eight thouſand inhabitants, blacks and whites. But though this be largeſt town, Leogane on the Weſtern ſide, a good port too, and a place of conſiderable trade, is the ſeat of government, which here reſides in the hands of a governor and the inten⯑dant, who are mutually a check upon each other. There are beſides two other towns, conſiderable for their trade. Petit Guaves on the Weſt end of the iſland, and port Loüis on the South-Weſt part.

CHAP. III.

MArtinico is the next iſland in impor⯑tance, which the French poſſeſs in America. It is one of the Caribbees or Wind⯑ward iſlands, and the principal of them; about ſixty miles in length, and at a medium about half as much in breadth. It is forty leagues to the North-Weſt of Barbadoes. It has pretty high hills, eſpecially in the inland part. From thoſe hills are poured out upon every ſide a number of agreeable and uſeful rivulets, which adorn and fructify this iſland in a high degree. The bays and harbours are numerous, ſafe and commodious; and ſo well fortified, that we have always failed in our attempts upon this place. The ſoil is fruitful enough, abounding in the ſame things which our [19] iſlands in that part of the world produce, and upon which I ſhall the leſs inſiſt on that ac⯑count. Sugar is here, as it is in all the iſlands, the principal commodity, and great quantities are here made. Their export cannot be leſs than ſixty or ſeventy thouſand hogſheads, of five or ſix hundred weight annually, and this certainly is no extravagant eſtimation. Indigo, cotton, piemento or allſpice, ginger, and aloes, are raiſed here; and coffee in great abund⯑ance; but to what value I cannot exactly ſay. Martinico is the reſidence of the governor of the French iſlands in theſe ſeas.

Guardaloupe is the largeſt of all the Carib⯑bees, and in that diviſion called the Leeward iſlands. It is almoſt cut in two by a deep gulph that cloſes the ſides of a narrow iſthmus, which connects the two peninſulas that compoſe this iſland. It is upwards of ſixty miles long, and about the ſame breadth. It's ſoil is not inferior to that of Martinico; it is equally cultivated; and it is fortified with equal ſtrength; it's produce is the ſame with that of Martinico; its export of ſugar is as great, beſides indigo, cotton, and thoſe other com⯑modities, which are produced in all the iſlands of that part of America called the Weſt-Indies.

The reſt of the French iſlands in thoſe ſeas are Deſiada, St. Bartholomew, and Mari⯑galante; all of them inconſiderable in com⯑pariſon [20] of thoſe which we have mentioned. They do not all together produce above ſeven or eight thouſand hogſheads of ſugar. As for the iſland of St. Vincent, it is in the poſſeſſion of the native Americans, and of runaway negroes from the reſt of the Caribbees. The French maintain them in this poſſeſſion. Santa Lucia, or as it is often called, Sant Alouzie, of which the French are themſelves in poſſeſ⯑ſion, and have ſettled, contrary to the faith of treaties, it is impoſſible to ſay any thing of it's produce; it has been ſo newly planted, that it cannot as yet yield a great deal, and it is, even in our preſent circumſtances, much our fault if it ever yields a great deal to France. Theſe iſlands, beſides their ſtaple commodi⯑ties, ſend home rocou, and brazil wood, in conſiderable quantities for the uſe of dyers, caſſia for the druggiſts, and roſewood for joiners. The French have a ſettlement upon an iſland on the coaſt of Terra Firma in the province of Guiana, which they call Caen; and they claim beſides a conſiderable part of the adjacent continent, but they have not much extended their ſettlements that way. The iſland is exceſſively unhealthy, though not ſo bad as formerly. The French here raiſe the ſame commodities which they have from the Caribbee iſlands, and in no incon⯑ſiderable quantity.

[21]In eſtimating the produce of theſe iſlands, it is not in my power to be very exact. I have made the beſt enquiries I could, and principally took care not to exaggerate. I have, indeed, make the produce of the Carib⯑bee iſlands very much greater than the inge⯑nious collector of Harris's voyages; but then I am the leſs fearful of differing from him, as he ſeems a little to differ from himſelf, and not to have conſidered this point with his uſual attention; for of Martinico he ſays, ‘"That as it is larger, ſo it has many more inhabitants than Barbadoes, and produces more ſugars, &c."’ And ſpeaking of Guardaloupe a little lower, he obſerves, ‘"That it produces more ſugars than any of the Britiſh iſlands, except Jamaica;"’ and yet afterwards coming to ſum up the products of all theſe iſlands, he allows but fifteen thouſand hogſheads of ſugar, of about ſix hundred weight each, for the whole; when he makes the ſingle iſland of Barbadoes to yield double the quantity of ſugars which Martinico, Guardaloupe, and all the French Caribbees put together pro⯑duce. For he rates it in the year 1730, at twenty-two thouſand hogſheads, and upwards of thirteen hundred weight. He muſt there⯑fore certainly have made ſome miſtake, ex⯑cuſable enough in ſo vaſt a work, which is executed in general in a very maſterly manner.

[22]On the whole, from the beſt informations I can get, if the French do not greatly exceed, they certainly do not fall ſhort of our iſlands in the quantity or goodneſs of their ſugars; and it is as certain, that they are leſs on the decline in that trade than we are; that they cultivate great quantities of indigo; a trade which our colonies in the Weſt Indies have entirely loſt; that within theſe few years they have ſent to France abundance of coffee, which our iſlands have not ſufficient encouragement to raiſe; and that upon the whole, we have the greateſt reaſon to be jealous of France in that part of the world. What advantages they derive from the noble iſland of Hiſpaniola we have ſeen. What muſt they do, if they come to poſſeſs the whole of that iſland, which in the cutting and ſhuffling of a treaty of peace is no way im⯑poſſible? We ſhall then change the indolent Spaniard for the neighbourhood of the lively, vigilant, and enterpriſing French. And what a rivalry in peace, and what a danger in war that neighbourhood is even now, and much more will probably be, is but too apparent. Jamaica is near it; and for ſo valuable a poſſeſ⯑ſion in ſo dangerous a ſituation, perhaps not ſo well defended. If beſides this, the French ſhould retain the iſlands of St. Vincent, St. Lucia, and Tobago, though they ſhould only turn them into plantations for fire wood, lumber, and proviſions, as in ſuch a caſe it [23] would ſeem moſt adviſeable to do with ſome of them at leaſt, what an advantage to their colonies! what an annoyance to ours! which they in a manner ſurround, and can in a ſort hold beſieged by the private armaments they may from thence fit out.

Theſe laſt mentioned iſlands were left neutral at the laſt peace; or in other words, they were left at the extinction of the old, in juſt the order proper for kindling a new flame (though ſuch a deſign, I am convinced, was far from the in⯑tentions of one of the parties) and in all reſpects as if things were expreſſly ordered for that very purpoſe. Indeed nothing can be attend⯑ed with worſe conſequences than theſe poli⯑tical after-reckonings, which the party who has the advantage at making the peace, never finds it his account to ſettle or adjuſt; but there they lie, full of matter of litigation; full of idle occaſions for formal buſineſs; full of ſtrife, and of ill blood; and when a proper time occurs of bloody and expenſive wars. It were better, at any rate, all at once to know what we are to depend upon; the beſt or the worſt we have to expect. If on the concluſion of a peace, things ſhould take for us ſuch an unfortunate turn, we have ſtill great reſources in the territories we poſſeſs. Jamaica is no⯑thing like fully cultivated. The Bahamas, our undiſputed right, where it is highly probable ſugars might be cultivated to advantage, re⯑main [24] at preſent utterly neglected, as if un⯑worthy of all notice, though they are many in number, large in extent, fruitful in their ſoil, ſituated in a very happy climate, and are in a manner the keys of the Weſt-India navi⯑gation. But we ſhall paſs by all reflections on this ſubject for the preſent, to look at the poſſeſſions and claims of France upon the continent, which, if they were as well cultivated as they are fruitful and extenſive, or as convenient objects of the French in⯑duſtry as their iſlands, they would, I make no doubt, be at leaſt as advantageous to the trade, and add as much to the wealth and power of that flouriſhing kingdom.

CHAP. IV.

THE French poſſeſſions and claims in North-America conſiſt of an immenſe inland country, communicating with the ſea by the mouths of two great rivers; both of difficult and dangerous navigation at the en⯑trance; and one of which is quite frozen for almoſt half the year, and covered with thick exhalations and fogs for the greater part of the reſt. They divide this vaſt country, which has our colonies on the Eaſt and North-Eaſt; the Spaniſh on the South-Weſt and South-Eaſt; and to the Weſtward that un⯑known tract of land which ſtretches to the South-Sea; into two great provinces; the Northern of which they call Canada, and the Southern Louiſiana. But how far the bounds of theſe countries, extended to dimenſions al⯑moſt as great as all Europe, by the ambition of France, ought to be contracted by the rights of other powers, I ſhall not undertake to determine; as after all, ſuch queſtions muſt be decided in a manner altogether different from any thing that can be ſaid here.

Canada, which borders upon our provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-England, and New-York, is of a climate not altogether diffe⯑rent from theirs; but as it is much further from the ſea, and more Northerly than a great part of thoſe provinces, it has a much [29] ſeverer winter; though the air is generally clear. The ſoil is various; moſtly barren; but the French have ſettlements where the land is equal in goodneſs to that in any of our colo⯑nies, and wants nothing but a better conve⯑nience of market to make it equally advan⯑tageous to the proprietors. It yields Indian corn very well in moſt parts, and very fine wheat in ſome. All ſorts of garden ſtuff which grows in Europe flouriſhes here. But they raiſe no ſtaple commodity to anſwer their demands upon Old France; their trade with the Indians produces all their returns for that market. They are the furrs of the beaver prin⯑cipally, and thoſe of foxes and racoons, with deer-ſkins, and all the branches of the Peltry. Theſe, with what corn and lumber they ſend to the Weſt-Indies, to a people not very luxu⯑rious, nor extremely numerous, furniſh though very little money, yet wherewithal in a plen⯑tiful country, to render life eaſy and agreeable.

The nature of the climate ſeverely cold for the moſt part, and the people ma⯑nufacturing nothing, ſhews what the coun⯑try wants from Europe; wine, brandy, cloths, chiefly coarſe, linen, and wrought iron. The Indian trade requires brandy, to⯑bacco, a ſort of duffil blankets, guns, powder and ball, kettles, hatchets, and tomahawks, with ſeveral toys and trinkets. The Indians ſupply the Peltry, and the French have traders, [27] whom they call coureurs de bois, who, in the manner of the original inhabitants, traverſing the vaſt lakes and rivers that divide this country, in canoes of bark, with incredible in⯑duſtry and patience, carry their goods into the remoteſt parts of America, and amongſt na⯑tions entirely unknown to us. This again brings the market home to them, as the Indians are hereby habituated to trade with them. For this purpoſe, people from all parts, even from the diſtance of a thouſand miles, come to the French fair of Mont-Real, which is held in June. On this occaſion many ſolem⯑nities are obſerved; guards are placed, and the governor aſſiſts to preſerve order in ſuch a concourſe of ſuch a variety of ſavage nations. The trade is now in that channel, for though many, if not moſt of theſe nations, actually paſs by our ſettlement of Albany in New-York, where they may have the goods they want cheaper conſiderably than at Mont-Real, they travel on above two hundred miles further, to buy the ſame commodities at the ſe⯑cond hand, and enhanced by the expence of ſo long a land carriage, at the French fair. For the French find it cheaper to buy our goods from the New-York merchants than to have them from their own, after ſo bad and ſo tedious a paſſage as it is from the mouth of the river St. Laurence to Mont-Real. So much do the French exceed us in induſtry, oeconomy, and [28] the arts of conciliating the affections of man⯑kind; things that even ballance all the diſad⯑vantages they naturally labour under in this country. Our fort of Oſwego was well planned for ſecuring the Indian trade, and actually brought us a great part of it. But it is now no longer an interruption to the French commerce.

Having mentioned Mont-Real, I have only to obſerve, that this town is ſituated in an iſland in the river of St. Laurence, in the country of the Iroquois. The river is only navigable hither by canoes, or ſmall craft, having ſeveral falls between this town and Quebec. Yet this Indian fair, and the trade of the ſame kind, which they drive more or leſs for the whole year, make it no inconſide⯑rable place. It contains about three thouſand inhabitants.

Quebec, the capital, lies many leagues nearer the ſea; from which, however, it is one hundred and fifty leagues diſtant. The river, which from the ſea hither is ten or twelve miles broad, narrows all of a ſudden to about a mile wide. The town is divided into an upper and a lower. In both the fortifica⯑tions are ſtrong, and the houſes well built. They have a grand cathedral and epiſcopal palace, a handſome college of jeſuits; three monaſteries of men, and as many of women; and the town is covered by a regular and [29] beautiful citadel, in which the governor reſides. This city, though the capital of Canada, is however not very large. It contains about ſeven or eight thouſand inhabitants at the utmoſt. Ships of any burthen load and un⯑load here, and a good many are built.

From Quebec to Mont-Real, which is about one hundred and fifty miles diſtance, the country on both ſides the river is very well ſettled, and has an agreeable effect upon the eye. The farms lie pretty cloſe all the way; ſeveral gentlemen's houſes, neatly built, ſhew themſelves at intervals; and there is all the appearance of a flouriſhing colony; but there are no towns or villages. It is pretty much like the well-ſettled parts of our colonies of Virginia and Maryland, where the planters are wholly within themſelves.

With all the attention of the court of France to the trade and peopling of this, as well as their other colonies on the continent, they have not been yet able thoroughly to over⯑come the conſequences of thoſe difficulties which the climate, whilſt the place was un⯑ſettled, threw in their way; their loſſes in the wars with that brave and fierce nation the Iro⯑quois, who more than once reduced their colo⯑ny to the laſt extremity, and the bad navigation of the river St. Laurence, which is an evil in⯑curable, have kept back the colony. Therefore, though it is the oldeſt of all the French eſta⯑bliſhments, [30] and prior to our ſettlement of New-England, the inhabitants are not above one hundred thouſand ſouls. Some indeed of late reckon them but at forty thouſand. An error this very prejudicial to our affairs, whilſt we overvalued our own ſtrength, and under⯑rated the force of the enemy, and acted in a good meaſure in conformity to ſuch ideas; but even this number, as I eſtimate it, which I believe is not far from the reality, might be no juſt cauſe of dread to our colonies, if they managed the ſtrength they have, and which is certainly much ſuperior, with ſkill and effect. The French from theirs, though inferior, have ſeven or eight thouſand militia hardy and well diſciplined, always in readineſs to co⯑operate with their regular troops; and there is nothing which may hinder or retard their operations from within themſelves. It is there⯑fore not more the French intrigues and their intermarriages with the Indians, which fix that people in the French intereſt, than the ſuccours which they are always ſure to have from ſuch a force, ever in readineſs to pro⯑tect them whilſt they remain their friends, or to puniſh them whenever they dare to appear as enemies. With us the caſe is quite other⯑wiſe. This ſavage people commence hoſtili⯑ties againſt us without any previous notice, and often without any provocation, they com⯑mit the moſt horrid ravages for a long time [31] with impunity. But when at laſt their barba⯑rities have rouſed the ſleeping ſtrength of our people, at the ſame time too that they have conſiderably leſſened it, they are not aſhamed to beg a peace; they know we always grant it readily; they promiſe it ſhall endure as long as the ſun and moon; and then all is quiet, till the French intrigues, co-operating with our indo⯑lence, give them once more an opportunity of ravaging our colonies, and of once more re⯑newing a peace to be broken like all the former.

The great river St. Laurence is that only upon which the French have ſettlements of any note; but if we look forward into futu⯑rity, it is nothing improbable that this vaſt country, whoever then ſhall be the poſſeſſors of it, will be enabled of itſelf to carry on a vaſt trade upon theſe great ſeas of freſh water which it environs. Here are five lakes, the ſmalleſt of which is a piece of ſweet water greater than any in the other parts of the world; this is the lake Ontario, which is not leſs than two hundred leagues in circum⯑ference; Erie longer, but not ſo broad, is about the ſame extent. That of the Hurons ſpreads greatly in width, and is in circum⯑ference not leſs than three hundred; as is that of Michigan, though like lake Erie, it is rather long and comparatively narrow. But [32] the lake Superior, which contains ſeveral large iſlands, is five hundred leagues in the circuit. All of theſe are navigable by any veſſels, and they all communicate with one another, ex⯑cept that the paſſage between Erie and Ontario is interrupted by the ſtupendous cataract of Niagara, where the water tumbles down a pre⯑cipice of twenty-ſix fathom high, and makes in this fall a thundering noiſe, which is heard all round the country at the diſtance of ſeveral miles. The river St. Laurence is the outlet of theſe lakes; by this they diſcharge them⯑ſelves into the ocean. The French have built forts at the ſeveral ſtraits, by which theſe lakes communicate with each other, as well as where the laſt of them communicates with the river St. Laurence. By theſe they effectually ſecure to themſelves the trade of the lakes, and an influence upon all the nations of Americans which confine upon them.

They have but one ſettlement more in the Northern part of their territories in America, which deſerves conſideration; but that ſettle⯑ment, though a ſmall one, is perhaps of more conſequence than all the reſt. It is the iſland of Cape Breton. This iſland properly be⯑longs to the diviſion of Acadia or Nova-Scotia, and it is the only part of it which has not been ceded by treaty to Great-Britain. It is about one hundred and forty miles in length, [33] full of mountains and lakes, and interſected by a vaſt number of creeks and bays, almoſt meeting each other upon every ſide; which ſeems in general both for the coaſt and in⯑land, very much to reſemble the coaſt and inland parts of moſt Northern countries. Scot⯑land is ſo; ſo is Iceland; and Denmark and Sweden have ſuch ſhores, ſuch mountains, and ſuch lakes. However, the ſoil is in many places ſufficiently fruitful; and in every part abounds with timber fit for all uſes. In the earth are coal-pits; and on the ſhores one of the moſt valuable fiſheries in the world. The only town in this iſland is Louiſbourg. It ſtands upon one of the fineſt harbours in all America. This harbour is four leagues in circumference, landlocked every way but at the mouth, which is narrow; and within there is fine anchorage every where in ſeven fathom water. The town itſelf is of a tole⯑rable ſize, and well built and fortified. The harbour is defended by batteries of cannon and forts, which ſecure it at this day, perhaps too effectually. This harbour is open the whole year. The French ſhips that carry goods to Quebec can very ſeldom get their full loading there, therefore on their return they put into Louiſbourg, and there take in a quantity of fiſh, coal, and ſome lumber, and then ſail away to the French iſlands in the Weſt-Indies, where they vend theſe, and ſoon [34] complete their cargo with ſugars. It is need⯑leſs to obſerve that this iſland was taken by us in the late war, but reſtored by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in which we certainly were not in ſuch a condition as to intitle us to preſcribe the terms.

CHAP. V.

THE French have called the South part of the vaſt tract which they claim in America, Louiſiana. It was heretofore a part of Florida. It is bounded by the gulph of Mexico upon the South. But what bounds it is to have to the Eaſt and to the Weſt, it is to be wiſhed the next treaty of peace may ſettle definitively. This is in all reſpects a much finer country than Canada; in a delicious cli⯑mate, capable of bearing almoſt any thing from the temper of the ſky, and the goodneſs of the ſoil, and from the multitude of long, deep, and beautiful rivers, with which it is every where enriched and adorned; theſe are moſt of them navigable for hundreds of miles into the country. They are princi⯑pally the Miſſiſippi, whoſe head is unknown, but it almoſt goes quite through North Ame⯑rica, and at certain ſeaſons overflows it's banks for a vaſt way on both ſides. The Ohio, a river almoſt equal to the Danube, which falls [35] into the Miſſiſippi; the Ouabache, ſcarce in⯑ferior to the Ohio; the great rivers, Alibama, Mobile, and ſeveral others. The face of the country is almoſt wholly plain, covered with ſtately woods, or ſpread into very fine mea⯑dows. In ſhort, Louiſiana, particularly the Northern part, (for the mouth of the Miſſi⯑ſippi is barren) without any of theſe height⯑enings which it received, when it was made the inſtrument to captivate ſo many to their ruin, is in all reſpects a moſt deſirable place, though there be no ſufficient reaſons to believe that it contains any rich metals, which gave it the greateſt influence in that remarkable de⯑luſion in 1720.

I know not how it has happened, but it has been the fate of this country to create romantic ideas at all times. Very ſurpriſing ſtories were told of it when firſt the Spaniards diſ⯑covered the Weſt-India iſlands. Amongſt others, a notion was generally current, that there was a fountain here which perpetually renewed the youth of thoſe who drank it. This was ſo uniformly and confidently affirm⯑ed, that Juan Pontio de Leon, a conſiderable man amongſt the Spaniſh adventurers, gave credit to it, and made a particular expedition for the diſcovery of that fairy land, and that fountain of youth. He was the firſt of the Europeans who landed in Florida. But what ſucceſs ſoever he met in his ſearch for that [36] celebrated ſpring, it is certain he died not long after, having ſearched every part of the country, and drank of almoſt every water it contained. Nor do I find that ſo invaluable a ſpring is yet diſcovered there; if it were, it would undoubtedly be the beſt commodity the country could yield, both for domeſtic conſumption, and for the foreign markets, and would be a far better baſis for ſtocks and funds than the richeſt mines of gold or ſilver. Yet, without this, an idea, altogether as ro⯑mantic, of a trade hither operated ſo ſtrongly upon a very wiſe nation, as to ſerve for the inſtrument of one of thoſe dangerous maſter-ſtrokes in politics, by which nations are ſometimes ſaved, individuals undone, and an entire change and reverſement brought about, not only in the common ways of thinking of mankind, but of all that ſeemed moſt fixed and permanent in a ſtate. The famous Miſſi⯑ſippi ſcheme in France was of this nature, and built upon ſuch a romantic foundation. It is well known to all the world, both on it's own account, and upon account of a ſimilar mad⯑neſs that prevailed here, without perhaps being attended with ſuch advantageous conſequen⯑ces.

The French ſettled in Louiſiana raiſe ſome indigo, a good deal of cotton, ſome corn and rice, with lumber for their iſlands; but the colony is not very vigorous, on account of the [37] ſhoals and ſands with which the mouth of the river Miſſiſippi is in a manner choaked up, and which deny acceſs to veſſels of any conſiderable burthen. This keeps the inha⯑bitants low; but the cauſe which keeps them from growing rich contributes too to their ſe⯑curity; for it is not eaſy to act with any great force upon that ſide. But the French have not relied upon this advantage; but according to their uſual cautious and wiſe cuſtom, have erected ſeveral forts in the moſt material places, and fortified New Orleans their capital, and indeed only city in Louiſiana, in a regular manner. This city is not remarkably fair, large, or rich. The whole colony is ſaid not to contain above ten thouſand ſouls, whites and negroes. Yet with all it's diſadvantages, this colony is not declining; and if ever they ſhould make the mouth of the Miſſiſippi more tract⯑able; and what is impoſſible to ambition and induſtry? if they ſhould come to fully poſſeſs and ſettle the Ohio, which at one ſeaſon over⯑flows, and makes ſuch flood as to level all the falls almoſt from it's very ſource to the mouth of the Miſſiſippi, and gives a paſſage all that way to very conſiderable veſſels, (though they have not quite the ſame eaſy return); and if by this and other means they ſhould contrive a communication between Canada and the ſettlement at Louiſiana, whilſt they entirely confine us between our mountains and the ſea, [38] Louiſiana in a few years will wear quite ano⯑ther face. It will ſupply their Weſt-Indies with boards, ſtaves, horſes, mules, and provi⯑ſions. It will ſend tobacco into France; and increaſing the conveniencies of it's mother country, and ſiſter colonies, it will increaſe it's own traffic, it's inhabitants, and it's power. We have ſeen how the French Weſt-Indies in leſs than forty years, from a condition which could excite no other ſentiments than thoſe of compaſſion, are riſen to ſuch a pitch as to be an object of great and juſt terror to her neighbours; and we now feel too, that the French ſettlements in North America, even ſuch as they are, are not an undermatch for the whole force of our's, in the manner at leaſt in which that force is exerted.

CHAP VI.

THAT we may not ſit down in a ſenſe⯑leſs admiration of this progreſs of the French colonies, as if it were the work of fortune, it will not be amiſs to open ſome⯑thing of the wiſe plan of conduct which France has purſued with regard to this inte⯑reſting object. Senſible that as the mother country is to receive ultimately all the bene⯑fits of their labours and acquiſitions, ſo all the proſperity of their plantations muſt be derived [39] from the attention with which they are re⯑garded at home. For which reaſon the plan⯑tations are particularly under the care and in⯑ſpection of the council of commerce; a board very judiciouſly conſtituted to anſwer the purpoſes for which it is deſigned. For to give it a proper reſpect and authority, it is compoſ⯑ed of twelve of the moſt conſiderable officers of the crown; and then to enable it to judge perfectly of the matters which come before it, theſe twelve are aſſiſted by the deputies of all the conſiderable trading towns and cities in France, who are choſen out of the richeſt and moſt intelligent of their traders, and paid an handſome ſalary for their attendance at Paris, from the funds of their reſpective cities. This council ſits once a week. The deputies pro⯑poſe plans for redreſſing every grievance in trade; for raiſing the branches that are fallen; for extending new ones; for ſupporting the old; and in fine for every thing that may improve the working, or promote the vent of their manufactures, according to their own lights, or to the inſtructions of their conſti⯑tuents. They have a watchful eye upon every article of commerce; and they not only pro⯑poſe helps and improvements to it themſelves, but they hear the propoſals of others, which are not diſdainfully rejected, nor raſhly re⯑ceived. They do not render the acceſs to them difficult, by ſwelling themſelves into a [40] ſtiff and unwieldy ſtate. They do not diſ⯑courage thoſe who apply, by admitting the vexatious practice of fees, perquiſites, and ex⯑actions, in their inferior officers. They do not ſuffer form and methods to load and encumber that buſineſs, they were ſolely intended to ad⯑vance. They ſummon and examine thoſe who are ſuppoſed the moſt competent judges of the matter before them, and of every part of it, even the loweſt artizans: but though they examine thoſe men, they are inſtructed by their experience, not determined by their opinion. When they are ſatisfied of the uſe⯑fulneſs of any regulation, they propoſe it to the royal council, where their report is al⯑ways received with particular attention. An edict to enforce it iſſues accordingly; and it is executed with a punctuality which diſtin⯑guiſhes their government, and which alone can make the wiſeſt regulations any thing better than ſerious mockeries. To the care of this excellent body the plantations are par⯑ticularly entruſted.

The government of the ſeveral diviſions of their colonies is in a governor, an intendant, and a royal council. The governor is in⯑veſted with a great deal of power; which however, on the ſide of the crown, is checked by the intendant, who has the care of the king's rights, and whatever relates to the re⯑venue; and on the ſide of the people, it is [41] checked by the royal council, whoſe office it is, to ſee that the people are not oppreſſed by the one, nor defrauded by the other; and they are all checked by the conſtant and jealous eye which the government at home keeps over them. For the officers at all the ports of France are charged under the ſeveral penalties, to in⯑terrogate all captains of ſhips coming from the colonies concerning the reception they met at the ports they were bound to; how juſtice was adminiſtred to them? what charges they were made liable to, and of what kinds? The paſſengers, and even the ſailors are exa⯑mined upon theſe heads, and a verbal proceſs of the whole is formed and tranſmitted with all ſpeed to the admiralty. Complaints are encouraged; but a difference is made between hearing an accuſation and condemning upon it.

That the colonies may have as little load as poſſible, and that the governor may have leſs temptation to ſtir up troubleſome in⯑trigues, or favour factions in his government, his ſalary is paid by the crown. His per⯑quiſites are none; and he is ſtrictly forbidden to carry on any trade, or to have any planta⯑tions in the iſlands, or on the continent, or any intereſt whatſoever in goods or lands within his government, except the houſe he lives in, and a garden for his convenience and recreation. All the other officers are [42] paid by the crown, and out of the revenues of Old France; the fortification are built and repaired, and the ſoldiers are paid out of the ſame funds.

In general the colonies pay no taxes; but when upon an extraordinary emergency taxes have been raiſed, they were very moderate. And, that even the taxes might operate for the advancement of the colony, they who began new plantations, were exempted from them. The duties upon the export of their produce at the iſlands, or at it's import into France, is next to nothing; in both places hardly mak⯑ing two per cent. What commodities go to them, pay no duties at all.

Beſides theſe advantages, a conſiderable be⯑nefit accrues to ſuch of the colonies as are poor, as Canada, by the money which comes from France to ſupport the eſtabliſhment. This brings into Canada about 120,000 crowns a year, which finds them circulating caſh; pre⯑ſerves them from the dangerous expedient of a paper currency; enables them to keep up their intercourſe with ſome credit, with their mother country; and at the ſame time is in fact no loſs at all to it, ſince the money re⯑turns home almoſt as ſoon as it can poſſibly be tranſported back again.

In all their iſlands, judges of the admiralty are appointed to decide in a ſummary manner all diſputes between merchants, and whatſo⯑ever [43] elſe has any relation to trade. Theſe judges are ſtrictly examined before they are appointed, particularly as to their ſkill in the marine laws, which have been improv⯑ed and digeſted in France with ſo much care and good ſenſe, that all law ſuits are quick⯑ly over; though in other reſpects the practice of law admits of as much chicanery, and has as many, if not more delays, than with us.

After having taken ſuch precautions to ſe⯑cure the good government of the colony with⯑in itſelf, and to make it's communication with the mother country eaſy and beneficial to both ſides, all would be to very little pur⯑poſe, if they had not provided with equal care to have the country repleniſhed with people. To anſwer this end, they oblige every ſhip which departs from France for America, to carry a certain number of indent⯑ed ſervants. All veſſels of ſixty tuns or un⯑der are to carry three; from ſixty to a hund⯑red, four; and from a hundred upwards, ſix ſervants; ſound ſtrong bodies, between the ages of eighteen and forty. Before their de⯑parture, the ſervants are examined by the offi⯑cers of the admiralty, to ſee whether they are the perſons required by law; an examina⯑tion to the ſame purpoſe is made by the com⯑miſſary on their landing in America. They are to ſerve three years. The avarice of the planters makes them always prefer negroe [44] ſlaves, becauſe they are more obedient than the Europeans, may be more worked, are ſubſiſted with leſs difficulty, and are beſides the entire property of their maſter. This diſ⯑poſition, in time, would render the ſafety of the colony extremely precarious, whilſt it made the colony itſelf of leſs value to the mo⯑ther country. Therefore the planters are by law obliged to keep a certain number of white ſervants in proportion to their blacks; and the execution of this law is inforced by the commiſſary, who adjuſts the price, and forces the planters to take the number of ſervants required by the ordinance, who would other⯑wiſe be a burthen upon the hands of the maſ⯑ters of ſhips who brought them over.

They conſider the planter, as a Frenchman venturing his life, enduring a ſpecies of ba⯑niſhment, and undergoing great hardſhips for the benefit of his country. For which reaſons, he has great indulgence ſhewn him. When⯑ever by hurricanes, earthquakes, or bad ſeaſons, the planters ſuffer, a ſtop is put to the rigour of exacting creditors; the few taxes which are levied, are remitted; and even money is advanced to repair their loſſes and ſet them forward. To thoſe who are poor, but ſhew a diſpoſition to induſtry, neceſſaries and ſmall ſums are lent, to make a beginning; and this money is taken in gradually, and by very ſmall payments. On the other hand, as it [45] can be of no advantage to the planter to run fraudulently into debt, but that it is of the greateſt prejudice to the French merchant, all debts, though contracted by the planters in France, are levied with great eaſe. The proceſs, properly authenticated, is tranſmit⯑ted to America, and admitted as proved there, and levied on the planter's eſtate, of whatſo⯑ever kind it may be. However, care is taken, that whilſt compulſory methods are uſed to make the planter do juſtice, the ſtate ſhall not loſe the induſtry of an uſeful member of the community; the debt is always levied ac⯑cording to the ſubſtance of the debtor, and by inſtallments; ſo that (what ought indeed to be the caſe in every well-regulated government) one of the parties is not ſacrificed to the other. Both ſubſiſt; the creditor is ſatiſfied; the debtor is not ruined; and the credit of the colonies is kept in health and vigour at home, by the ſure methods which are in uſe for re⯑covering all demands in the plantations.

As to the negroes, they are not left as they are with us, wholly, body and ſoul to the diſcretion of the planter. Their maſters are obliged to have them inſtructed in the princi⯑ples of religion. There are methods taken at once to protect the ſlaves from the cruelty of their owners, and to preſerve the colony from the ill effects, that might ariſe from treat⯑ing them with a lenity not conſiſtent with [46] their condition. In ſhort, the Code Noir, and other ordinances relative to theſe poor creatures, ſhew a very juſt and ſenſible mix⯑ture of humanity and ſteadineſs. There is however one error, their planters commit in common with ours; which is, that they over⯑work theſe unhappy men in a manner not ſuitable to the nature of the climate, or to their conſtitutions.

I have dwelt the longer upon the French policy as it regards their colonies, becauſe it is juſt to give due honour to all thoſe, who ad⯑vance the intercourſe of mankind, the peo⯑pling of the earth, and the advantage of their country by wiſe and effectual regulations. But I principally inſiſt upon it, that it may, if poſ⯑ſible, ſerve for an example to ourſelves; that it may excite an emulation in us; that it may help to rouſe us out of that languor into which we ſeem to be fallen. The war we now car⯑ry on, principally regards our colonies, and is a ſufficient proof that we are come at laſt to know their value. But if we are not to hope for better ſucceſs than has hitherto attended a very juſt cauſe, the next peace will probably contract the field we hoped to lay open to our induſtry in America. But then, we ought there⯑fore to cultivate what ſtill remains of it, with tenfold induſtry; we ought to guard with the moſt unremitting vigilance that encloſed ſpring, that ſealed fountain, the waters of [47] which we reſerve to ourſelves, and direct into ſuch channels, and make to purſue ſuch wind⯑ings and turnings as beſt ſerve our purpoſes. We have, I believe, pretty well diſcovered moſt of our errors, and the advantage our enemy and rival has taken, not only of our ſu⯑pineneſs, but of a contrary genius in his own councils. We ought to rouſe ourſelves from the former, and prepare to imitate the latter. Our buſineſs is to fight againſt Alexander, not to rail at him. And truly, I do not know any thing, that for this long time paſt has contributed more to degrade our character for humanity in the eyes of foreigners, or to inſtil into ourſelves a low and illiberal way of thinking, than that vein of licentious ſcurrility and abuſe, by which, in all ſorts of writings, we are apt to vilify and traduce the French na⯑tion. There is nothing, which hinders peo⯑ple from acting properly, more than indulg⯑ing themſelves in a vain and effeminate licence of tongue. A man who loves his country, and can at once oppoſe, and eſteem an ene⯑my, would view our preſent circumſtances in a light, I conceive, ſomewhat like the fol⯑lowing. We have been engaged for above a century with France in a noble contention for the ſuperiority in arms, in politics, in learn⯑ing, and in commerce; and there never was a time, perhaps, when this ſtruggle was more critical. If we ſucceed in the war; even our [48] ſucceſs, unleſs managed with prudence, will be like ſome former ſucceſſes, of little benefit to us; if we ſhould fail, which God forbid, even then, prudence may make our miſfortunes of more uſe to us, than an ill-managed ſuc⯑ceſs; if they teach us to avoid our former errors; if they make us leſs careleſs; if they make us cultivate the advantages we have with care and judgment. This, and not our opinion of the ene⯑my, muſt decide the long conteſt between us.

CHAP. VII. The Dutch Settlements.

AFTER the Portugueſe had diſpoſſeſſed the Dutch of Brazil in the manner we have ſeen; and after the treaty of Nimeguen had entirely removed them out of North America, they were obliged to conſole them⯑ſelves with their rich poſſeſſions in the Eaſt-Indies, and to ſit down content in the Weſt with Surinam; a country on the North-Eaſt part of South-America, and of no great value whilſt we had it, and which we ceded to them in exchange for New-York; and with two or three ſmall and barren iſlands in the North-ſea not far from the Spaniſh main. The former of theſe, they are far from neglecting; they raiſe ſome ſugar in Surinam; a great deal of cotton; coffee of an excellent kind, and [49] ſome valuable dying drugs. They trade with our North American colonies, who bring hither horſes, live cattle and proviſions, and take home a large quantity of molaſſes; but their negroes are only the refuſe of thoſe they have for the Spaniſh market; and the Indians in their neighbourhood are their mortal ene⯑mies. On the ſame continent they have three other ſettlements at no conſiderable diſtance from each other. Boron, Berbice, and Ap⯑prowack; none very great, but producing the ſame commodities with Surinam.

The iſlands which they poſſeſs, are four, Curaſſou, St. Euſtatia, Aruba and Bonaire; none of them large or fertile, but turned to the beſt advantage poſſible by that ſpirit of induſtry for which the Dutch are ſo juſtly fa⯑mous. Curaccao, or Curaſſou, as it is generally called, is about thirty miles long and ten in breath. Though it is naturally barren it pro⯑duces a conſiderable quantity both of ſugar and tobacco, and here are beſides very great ſalt-works, which furniſh a good deal to the Engliſh iſlands, and for which there is a conſi⯑derable demand from our colonies on the con⯑tinent; but the trade for which this iſland is chiefly valuable, is that which in time of war is carried on between them, the Engliſh, and the French; and the counterband which is carried on between them and the Spaniards at all times.

[50]The Dutch veſſels from Europe touch at this iſland for intelligence or proper pilots, and then proceed to the Spaniſh coaſt upon a trade which they force with a ſtrong hand. It is very difficult for the Spaniſh guarda coſtas to take theſe veſſels; for they are not only ſtout ſhips with a number of guns; but by a very wiſe policy manned with a large crew of choſen ſeamen, who are all deeply intereſted in the ſafety of the veſſel and the ſucceſs of the voyage. They have each a ſhare in the cargo of a value proportioned to the owner's ſtation, ſupplied by the merchants upon cre⯑dit, and at prime coſt. This animates them with an uncommon courage; they fight brave⯑ly, becauſe every man fights in defence of his own property. But there is beſides this, a conſtant intercourſe between the Spaniſh con⯑tinent and this iſland.

The iſland of Curaſſou has it's numerous warehouſes always full of the commodities of Europe, and the Eaſt-Indies. Here are all ſorts of woollen and linen cloths, laces, ſilks, ribbands, utenſils of iron, naval and military ſtores, brandy, the ſpices of the Moluccas, and the callicoes of India, white and painted. Hither the Weſt-India, which is likewiſe their African company, bring three or four cargoes of ſlaves annually. To this mart, the Spaniards come themſelves in ſmall veſſels, and carry off not only the beſt of their ne⯑groes, [51] and at the beſt price, but very great quantities of all the ſorts of goods I have men⯑tioned; with this advantage to the ſeller, that the refuſe of warehouſes and mercers ſhops, things grown utterly unfaſhionable and unſale⯑able in Europe, go off extremely well, where every thing is ſufficiently recommended by be⯑ing European. They leave here their gold and ſilver in bars or coined, cacao, vanilla, cochineal, jeſuit's bark, hides, and other va⯑luable commodities. The ſhips that trade di⯑rectly from Holland to the Spaniſh continent, as they touch here on their outward paſſage to gain intelligence or aſſiſtance, on their return put in here likewiſe to compleat what is wan⯑ting of their cargo, with the ſugar, the tobac⯑co, the ginger, and other produce of the iſland itſelf. The trade of this iſland, even in times of peace, is reputed to be worth to the Dutch no leſs than 500,000 l. ſterl. annually, but in time of war the profit is far greater, for then it is in a manner the common emporium of the Weſt-Indies; it affords a retreat to the ſhips of all nations, and at the ſame time re⯑fuſes to none of them arms and ammunition to annoy one another. The intercourſe with Spain being interrupted, the Spaniſh colonies have ſcarce any other market, from whence they can be well ſupplied either with ſlaves or goods; the French come hither to buy the beef, pork, corn, flour and lumber, which [52] the Engliſh bring from the continent of North America, or which is tranſported from Ireland; ſo that whether in peace, or in war, the trade of this iſland flouriſhes extremely. Nor is this owing to any natural advantage whatſoever. It ſeems as if it were fated, that the ingenuity and patience of the Hollanders ſhould every where, both in Europe and America, be em⯑ployed in fighting againſt an unfriendly nature: for the iſland is not only barren, and dependent upon the rains for it's water, but the harbour is naturally one of the worſt in America; but the Dutch have entirely remedied that defect; they have upon this harbour one of the largeſt, and by far the moſt elegant and cleanly towns in the American iſlands. The public build⯑ings are numerous and handſome; the private houſes commodious; and the magazines large, convenient, and well filled. All kind of labour is here performed by engines; ſome of them ſo dextrouſly contrived, that ſhips are at once lifted into the dock, where they are compleat⯑ly careened; and then furniſhed with naval ſtores, proviſions, cannon, and every thing re⯑quiſite either for trade or war.

Euſtatia is but one mountain of about twen⯑ty miles in compaſs; it is amongſt the Lee⯑ward iſlands; but though ſo ſmall and inconve⯑niently laid out by nature, the induſtry of the Dutch have made it turn out to very good ac⯑count, and it is fully peopled; the ſides of the [53] mountain are divided and laid out in very pretty ſettlements; and though they have neither ſprings nor rivers, they are ſo careful that they never want proper ſupplies of water from their ponds and ciſterns. They raiſe here ſugar and tobacco; and this iſland, as well as Curaſſou, is engaged in the Spaniſh counterband trade, for which, however, it is not ſo well ſituated; and it draws the ſame advantages from it's conſtant neutrality.

As for Aruba and Bonaire; they lie near Curaſſou, and have no trade of conſequence; they are chiefly employed in raiſing freſh proviſions for the principal iſland, and for the refreſhment of ſuch ſhips as uſe theſe ſeas.

The trade of all the Dutch American ſettle⯑ments was originally carried on by the Weſt-India company only. At preſent ſuch ſhips as go upon that trade pay two and a half per cent. For their licences; the company however reſerves to itſelf, the whole of what is carried on between Africa and the American iſlands.

The Danes had likewiſe a Weſt-India com⯑pany, though it's object was far from extenſive. It was little more than the iſland of St. Tho⯑mas, an inconſiderable member of the Carib⯑bees; lately they have added to their poſſeſſi⯑ons the iſland of Santa Cruz in the ſame cluſter. Theſe iſlands, ſo long as they remain⯑ed in the hands of the company, were ill managed, and nothing like the proper advan⯑tage [54] was made of them; but the preſent king of Denmark, inferior to none who ever ſat up⯑on that or any other throne, in love to his ſubjects, and a judicious zeal for promoting their welfare, has bought up that company's ſtock, and laid the trade open. Since then, the old ſettlement at St. Thomas is very much improved; it produces upwards of three thouſand hogſheads of ſugar at a thou⯑ſand weight each, and others of the Weſt-In⯑dian commodities in tolerable plenty; and as for Santa Cruz, from a perfect deſart a few years ſince, it is beginning to ſettle faſt; ſeve⯑ral perſons from the Engliſh iſlands, and amongſt them ſome of great wealth, have gone to ſettle there, and have received very great encouragement to do ſo. The air of the place is extremely unhealthful, but this ill diſpoſition will probably continue no longer than the woods with which the iſland at preſent is almoſt wholly covered. Theſe two nations, the Dutch and Danes, hardly deſerve to be mentioned amongſt the proprietors of America; their poſſeſſions there are compara⯑tively nothing. But as they appear extreme⯑ly worthy of the attention of theſe powers, and as the ſhare of the Dutch is worth to them at leaſt ſix hundred thouſand pounds ſterling a year, what muſt we think of our poſſeſſions? What attention do they not deſerve from us? and what may not be made of them by that attention?

[55]There ſeems to be a remarkable providence in the caſting the parts, if I may uſe that expreſſion, of the ſeveral European nations who act upon the ſtage of America. The Spaniards, proud, lazy and magnificent, has an ample walk in which to expatiate; a ſoft climate to indulge his love of eaſe; and a profuſion of gold and ſilver to procure him all theſe luxuries his pride demands, but which his lazineſs would refuſe him.

The Portugueſe, naturally indigent at home, and enterpriſing rather than induſtrious abroad, has gold and diamonds as the Spaniard has, wants them as he does, but poſſeſſes them in a more uſeful, though a leſs oſtentatious manner.

The Engliſh, of a reaſoning diſpoſition, thoughtful and cool, and men of buſineſs rather than of great induſtry, impatient of much fruitleſs labour, abhorrent of conſtraint, and lovers of a country life, have a lot which indeed produces neither gold nor ſilver; but they have a large tract of a fine continent; a noble field for the exerciſe of agriculture, and ſufficient to furniſh their trade, without laying them under great difficulties. Intolerant as they are of the moſt uſeful reſtraints, their commerce flouriſhes from the freedom every man has of purſuing it according to his own ideas, and directing his life after his own faſhion.

[56]The French, active, lively, enterprizing, pliable and politic, and though changing their purſuits, always purſuing the preſent object with eagerneſs, are notwithſtanding tractable and obedient to rules and laws which bridle theſe diſpoſitions, and wind and turn them to proper courſes. This people have a country, where more is to be effected by managing the people than by cultivating the ground; where a pedling commerce, that requires conſtant motion, flouriſhes more than agriculture or a regular traffic; where they have difficulties which keep them alert by ſtruggling with them, and where their obedience to a wiſe government ſerves them for perſonal wiſdom. In the iſlands the whole is the work of their policy, and a right turn their government has taken.

The Dutch have got a rock or two on which to diſplay the miracles of frugality and diligence, (which are their virtues,) and on which they have exerted theſe virtues, and ſhewn thoſe miracles.

CHAP. I.

THE Engliſh colonies are the faireſt objects of our attention in Ame⯑rica, not only as they comprehend a vaſt and delightful variety of climates, ſitua⯑tions, natural products and effects of art; but as they contain, though the dominions of one potentate, and their inhabitants formed out of the people of one nation, an almoſt equal variety of manners, religions and ways of living. They have a moſt flouriſhing trade with their mother country, and they commu⯑nicate widely with many foreign nations; for beſides the conſtant and uſeful intercourſe they hold with Africa, their ſhips are ſeen in the ports of Spain, Portugal, Italy, and even in the Levant; nor are they excluded the American ſettlements of France, Spain, Portugal and [58] Holland. This, with their conſtant correſpon⯑dence with each other, and with their mo⯑ther country, hurries about a lively circula⯑tion of trade, of which Great Britain is the heart and ſpring, from whence it takes it's riſe, and to which it all returns in the end.

In ſome of the European ſettlements we have ſeen the effects of a vaſt ambition ſup⯑ported by ſurprizing feats of a romantic cou⯑rage mixed with an inſatiable thirſt of gold. In others, the regular product of a ſyſtematic policy tempering and guiding an active induſ⯑try; but in our own colonies we are to diſplay the effects of liberty; the work of a people guided by their own genius, and following the directions of their own natural temper in a proper path.

I intend to conſider the Engliſh colonies un⯑der two principal diviſions; the firſt I allot to thoſe iſlands which lie under the torrid zone between the tropic of Cancer and the Equinoc⯑tial line, in that part generally called the Weſt-Indies. The ſecond is to comprehend ou [...] poſſeſſions in the temperate zone on the con⯑tinent of North America. The Weſt-Indi [...] iſlands ſhall be conſidered, as they are amongſ [...] the greater Antilles; the Windward, or th [...] Leeward iſlands. Amongſt the firſt we poſ⯑ſeſs the large and noble iſland of Jamai⯑ca; amongſt the ſecond we have Barba⯑does; and in the third diviſion St. Chriſto⯑pher's, [59] Antegua, Nevis, Montſerrat, and Bar⯑buda. As all theſe iſlands lie between the tropics, whatever is to be ſaid of the air, winds, meteors, and natural produce, ſhall fall under one head, as they are the ſame or near⯑ly the ſame in all of them; their produce for the market is nearly the ſame too; and there⯑fore whatever is to be ſaid of the manufactur⯑ing of thoſe, ſhall come together, after we have given a conciſe deſcription of the ſtate of each iſland ſeparately.

Jamaica lies between the 75th and 79th degree of Weſt longitude from London, and is between ſeventeen and nineteen degrees diſtant from the Equinoctial. It is in length, from Eaſt to Weſt, a hundred and forty Engliſh miles; and in breadth about ſixty; and of an oval form. This country is in a manner interſected with a ridge of lofty mountains, rugged and rocky, that are called the blue mountains. On each ſide of the blue moun⯑tains are chains of leſſer mountains gradually lower. The greater mountains are little better than ſo many rocks; where there is any earth, it is only a ſtubborn clay fit for no ſort of huſ⯑bandry. The mountains are very ſteep, and the rocks tumbled upon one another in a man⯑ner altogether ſtupendous, the effect of the frequent earthquakes which have ſhaken this iſland in all times. Yet barren as theſe moun⯑tains are, they are all covered to the very top [60] with a great variety of beautiful trees, flouriſh⯑ing in a perpetual ſpring; their roots pene⯑trate the crannies of the rocks, and ſearch out the moiſture which is lodged there by the rains that fall ſo frequently on theſe moun⯑tains, and the miſts that almoſt perpetually brood upon them. Theſe rocks too are the parents of a vaſt number of fine rivulets, which tumble down their ſides in cataracts, that form amongſt the rudeneſs of the rocks and pre⯑cipices, and the ſhining verdure of the trees, the moſt wildly pleaſing imagery imaginable. The face of this country is a good deal diffe⯑rent from what is generally obſerved in other places. For as on one hand the mountains are very ſteep; ſo the plains between them are perfectly ſmooth and level. In theſe plains, the ſoil augmented by the waſh of the mountains for ſo many ages, is prodigiouſly fertile. None of our iſlands produce ſo fine ſugars. They formerly had here cacao in great perfection, which delights in a rich ground. Their paſtures after the rains, are of a moſt beautiful verdure, and extraordinary fatneſs. They are called Savannas. On the whole, if this iſland were not troubled with great thunders and lightnings, hurricanes, and earthquakes; and if the air was not at once violently hot, damp, and extremely unwhol⯑ſome in moſt parts, the fertility and beauty of this country would make it as deſirable a [61] ſituation for pleaſure, as it is for the profits, which in ſpite of theſe diſadvantages draw hither ſuch a number of people.

The river waters are many of them un⯑wholſome, and taſte of copper; but ſome ſprings there are of a better kind. In the plains are found ſeveral ſalt fountains, and in the mountains, not far from Spaniſh-town, is a hot bath, of extraordinary medicinal virtues. It relieves in the dry belly-ach, one of the moſt terrible endemial diſtempers of Jamaica, and in various other complaints.

This iſland came into our poſſeſſion during the uſurpation of Cromwell, and by means of an armament which had another deſtination. Cromwell, notwithſtanding the great abilities which enabled him to overturn the conſti⯑tution, and to trample upon the liberties of his country, was not ſufficiently acquainted with foreign politics. This ignorance made him connect himſelf cloſely with France, then riſing into a dangerous grandeur, and to fight with great animoſity, the ſhadow which re⯑mained of the Spaniſh power. On ſuch ideas he fitted out a formidable fleet, with a view to reduce the iſland of Hiſpaniola; and though he failed in this deſign, Jamaica made amends not only for this failure, but al⯑moſt for the ill policy which firſt drew him into hoſtilities with the Spaniards; by which, [62] however, he added this excellent country to the Britiſh dominions.

There was nothing of the genius of Crom⯑well to be ſeen in the planning of this expedi⯑tion. From the firſt to the laſt all was wrong; all was a chain of little intereſted miſmanagement, and had no air of the reſult of abſolute power lodged in great hands. The fleet was ill victualled; the troops ill provided with neceſſaries to ſupport and encourage men badly choſen, and worſe armed. They em⯑barked in great diſcontent. The generals were but little better ſatisfied, and had little more hopes than the ſoldiers. But the gene⯑rals, (for there were two in the command, Pen and Venables, one for the marine, the other for the land ſervice,) were men of no ex⯑traordinary talents. And if they had been men of the beſt capacity, little was to be expected from two commanders not ſubordinate, and ſo differing in their ideas, and ſo envious of each other as land and ſea-officers generally are. But to make this arrangement perfect in all reſpects, and to improve the advantages ariſing from a divided command, they added a number of commiſſioners as a check upon both. This tripartite generalſhip, in the tru⯑eſt Dutch taſte, produced the effects that might be expected from it. The ſoldiers dif⯑fered with the generals, the generals diſa⯑greed with one another, and all quarrelled [63] with the commiſſioners. The place of their landing in Hiſpaniola was ill choſen, and the manner of it wretchedly contrived. The ar⯑my had forty miles to march before it could act; and the ſoldiers, without order, without heart, fainting and dying by the exceſſive heat of the climate and the want of neceſſary pro⯑viſions, and diſheartened yet more by the cowar⯑dice and diſcontent of their officers, yielded an eaſy victory to an handful of Spaniards. They retired ignominiouſly and with great loſs.

But the principal commanders, a little recon⯑ciled by their misfortunes, and fearing to re⯑turn to England without effect, very wiſely turned their thoughts another way. They reſolved to attempt Jamaica, before the inha⯑bitants of that iſland could receive encourage⯑ment by the news of their defeat in Hiſpaniola. They knew that this iſland was in no good poſture of defence; and they ſet themſelves vigorouſly to avoid the miſtakes, which prov⯑ed ſo fatal in the former expedition. They ſeverely puniſhed the officers who had ſhewn an ill example by their cowardice; and they ordered with reſpect to the ſoldiers, that if any attempted to run away, the man neareſt to him ſhould ſhoot him.

Fortified with theſe regulations they landed in Jamaica, and laid ſiege to St. Jago de la Vega now called Spaniſh-town, the capital of the iſland. The people, who were in no [64] condition to oppoſe an army of ten thouſand men, and a ſtrong naval force, would have ſurrendered immediately, if they had not been encouraged by the ſtrange delays of our gene⯑rals and their commiſſioners. However at laſt the town with the whole iſland ſurren⯑dered, but not until the inhabitants had ſecreted their moſt valuable effects in the mountains.

CHAP. II.

AFTER the reſtoration, the Spaniards ceded the iſland to our court. Crom⯑well had ſettled there ſome of the troops em⯑ployed in it's reduction; ſome royaliſts uneaſy at home ſought an aſylum in this iſland; not a few planters from Barbadoes were invited to Jamaica by the extraordinary fertility of the ſoil, and the other various advantages which it offered. Theſe latter taught the for⯑mer ſettlers the manner of raiſing the ſugar cane, and making ſugar. For at firſt they had wholly applied themſelves to the raiſing of cacao, as the Spaniards had done before them. It was happy for them that they fell into this new practice; for the cacao groves planted by the Spaniards began to fail, and the new plantations did not anſwer, as the negroes foretold they would not, becauſe of the want of certain religious ceremonies [65] always uſed by the Spaniards in planting them, at which none of the ſlaves were ſuffered to be preſent, and to the uſe of which they at⯑tributed the proſperity of theſe plantations. Probably there were methods taken at that time, that were covered by the veil of theſe religious ceremonies, which are neceſſary to the well-being of that plant. However that be, the cacao has never ſince equalled the reputation of the Spaniſh, but gave way to the more profitable cultivation of indigo and ſugar.

But what gave the greateſt life to this new ſettlement, and raiſed it at once to a ſurprizing pitch of opulence, which it hardly equals even in our days, was the reſort thither of thoſe pirates called the Buccaneers. That people who fought with the moſt deſperate bravery, and ſpent their plunder with the moſt ſtupid extravagance, were very welcome gueſts in Jamaica. They often brought two, three, and four hundred thouſand pieces of eight at a time, which were immediately ſquandered a⯑way in all the ways of exceſſive gaming, wine and women. Vaſt fortunes were made, and the returns of treaſure to England were prodi⯑giouſly great. In the iſland they had by this means raiſed ſuch funds, that when the ſource of this wealth was ſtopped up by the [66] ſuppreſſion of the pirates, they were enabled to turn their induſtry into better channels. They increaſed ſo faſt, that it was computed that in the beginning of this century, they had ſixty thouſand whites and a hundred and twenty thouſand negroes in this iſland. This calcu⯑lation is certainly too large. However, the Jamaicans were undoubtedly very numerous until reduced by earthquakes, (one of which intirely ruined Port-Royal, and killed a vaſt number of perſons in all parts of the country) and by very terrible epidemical diſeaſes, which treading on the heels of the former calamities ſwept away vaſt multitudes. Loſſes which have not been ſince ſufficiently repaired. Now the white inhabitants ſcarcely exceed twenty thouſand ſouls, and the blacks are about ninety thouſand; both much fewer than was computed formerly, and with a diſ⯑proportion much greater on the ſide of the whites. It appears at preſent, that Jamaica is rather upon the decline; a point this that deſerves the moſt attentive conſideration. A country which contains at leaſt four millions of acres, has a fertile ſoil, an extenſive ſea coaſt, and many very fine harbours, for an iſland ſo circumſtanced, and at a time when the value of all it's products at market is conſiderably riſen, for ſuch a country to fall ſhort of it's [67] former numbers, and not to have above three or four hundred thouſand acres employed in any ſort of culture, ſhews clearly that ſome⯑thing muſt be very wrong in the management of its affairs; and what ſhews it even yet more clearly, land is ſo extravagantly dear in many of the other iſlands, as to ſell ſometimes for one hundred pounds an acre and upwards; a price that undoubtedly never would be paid, if convenient land was to be had, and proper encouragement given in Jamaica. Whether this be owing to public or private faults, I know not; but certain it is, that wherever they are, they deſerve a ſpeedy and effectual remedy from thoſe, in whoſe power it is to apply it.

CHAP. III.

THE natural products of Jamaica, beſides ſugar, cacao, and ginger, are principally piemento, or, as it is called, allſpice, or Ja⯑maica pepper. The tree which bears the piemento riſes to the height of above thirty feet. It is ſtraight, of a moderate thickneſs, and covered with a grey bark extremely ſmooth and ſhining. It ſhoots out a vaſt num⯑ber of branches upon all ſides, that bear a plentiful foliage of very large and beautiful leaves of a ſhining green, in all things reſem⯑bling [68] the leaf of the bay tree. At the very end of the twigs are formed bunches of flowers; each ſtalk bearing a flower which bends back, and within which bend are to be diſcerned ſome ſtamina of a pale green co⯑lour; to theſe ſucceeds a bunch of ſmall crowned berries, larger when ripe than juniper berries; at that ſeaſon they change from their former green, and become black, ſmooth, and ſhining; they are taken unripe from the tree, and dried in the ſun; in this caſe they aſſume a brown colour, and have a mixed flavour of many kinds of ſpice, whence it is called allſpice. But it is milder than the other ſpices, and is judged to be inferior to none of them for the ſervice which it does to cold, watery, and lan⯑guid ſtomachs. The tree grows moſtly upon the mountains.

Beſides this, they have the wild cinamon tree, whoſe bark is ſo ſerviceable in medicine; the manchineel, a moſt beautiful tree to the eye, with the faireſt apple in the world, and when cut down affording a very fine ornamen⯑tal wood for the joiners, but the apple, and the juice in every part of the tree, contain one of the worſt poiſons in nature. Here is the maho⯑gany too, in ſuch general uſe with us; the cabbage tree, a tall plant, famous for a ſubſtance looking and taſting like cabbage, which grows on the very top, and which produces but one a year, and for the extreme hardneſs of it's [69] wood, which when dry is incorruptible, and hardly yields to any tool; the palma, from which is drawn a great deal of oil, much eſteemed by the negroes both in food and medicine; the white wood, which never breeds the worm in ſhips; the ſoap tree, whoſe berries anſwer all the purpoſes of waſhing; the mangrove and olive bark, uſeful to tan⯑ners; the fuſtic and redwood to the dyers, and lately the logwood; and their foreſts ſupply the apothecary with guaicum, ſalſaparilla, china, caſſia, and tamarinds; they have aloes too; and do not want the cochineal plant, though they know nothing of the art of ma⯑naging it; nor perhaps is the climate ſuitable. The indigo plant was formerly much cultiva⯑ted, and the cotton tree is ſtill ſo, and they ſend home more of it's wool than all the reſt of our iſlands together.

The whole product therefore of the iſland may be reduced to theſe heads. Firſt, ſugars, of which they exported in 1753 twenty thou⯑ſand three hundred and fifteen hogſheads, ſome vaſtly great even to a tun weight, which cannot be worth leſs in England than 424,725 pounds ſterling. Moſt of this goes to London and Briſtol, and ſome part of it to North America, in return for the beef, pork, cheeſe, corn, peaſe, ſtaves, plank, pitch and tar, which they have from thence. 2. Rum, of which they export about 4000 pun⯑cheons. [70] The rum of this iſland eſteemed the beſt, and is the moſt generally uſed in England. 3. Molaſſes, in which they make a great part of their returns for New England, where there are vaſt diſtilleries. All theſe are the produce of their grand ſtaple the ſugar cane. 4. Cotton, of which they ſend out 2000 bags. The indigo, formerly much cultivated, is now inconſiderable, but ſome cacoa and coffee are exported, which latter is in no great eſteem; though it is ſaid to be little inferior to that of Mocha, provided it be kept for two or three years. With theſe they ſend home a con⯑ſiderable quantity of piemento, ginger, drugs for dyers, and apothecaries, ſweetmeats, and mahogany and manchineel plank. But ſome of the moſt conſiderable articles of their trade are with the Spaniſh continent of New Spain and Terra Firma; for in the former they cut great quantities of logwood, and both in the former and latter they drive a vaſt and profit⯑able trade in negroes, and all kinds of the ſame European goods which are carried thi⯑ther from Old Spain by the flota.

Both the logwood trade and this counter⯑band have been the ſubjects of much conten⯑tion and the cauſe of a war between our's and the Spaniſh nation. The former we avow, and we claim it as our right; though in the laſt treaty of peace, that point was far from being well ſettled. The latter we permit; [71] becauſe we think, and very juſtly, that if the Spaniards find themſelves aggrieved by any counterband trade, it lies upon them, and not upon us, to put a ſtop to it.

Formerly we cut logwood in the bay of Campeachy on the northern ſide of the penin⯑ſula of Jucatan. But the Spaniards have driven our people entirely from thence, and built forts and made ſettlements to prevent them from returning. Expelled from thence, the logwood cutters ſettled upon the gulph of Honduras on the ſouthern ſide of the ſame peninſula, where they are in ſome ſort eſta⯑bliſhed, and have a ſort to protect them. They are an odd kind of people, compoſed moſtly of vagabonds and fugitives from all parts of North America, and their way of life is ſuit⯑able. They live pretty much in a lawleſs manner, though they elect one amongſt them whom they call their king; and to him they pay as much obedience as they think fit. The country they are in is low, and extreme⯑ly marſhy; the air is prodigiouſly moleſted with muſkettoes; and the water dangerous with alligators; yet a life of licentiouſneſs, a plenty of brandy, large gains, and a want of thought, have perfectly reconciled them to the hardſhips of their employment, and the unwholſomeneſs of the climate. They go always well armed, and are about one thou⯑ſand five hundred men.

[72]In the dry ſeaſon, when they cut the log⯑wood, they advance a conſiderable way into the country, following the logwood, which runs amongſt the other trees of the foreſt, like the vein of a mineral in the earth. When the rains have overflowed the whole country, they have marks by which they know where the logwood is depoſited. This is an heavy wood, and ſinks in the water. However, it is eaſily buoyed up, and one diver can lift very large beams. Theſe they carry by the favour of the land-floods into the river, to a place which is called the Barcaderas or Port, where they meet the ſhips that come upon this trade.

In the year 1716, when the debate concern⯑ing this matter was revived; the lords of trade reported, that before the year 1676 we had a number of people ſettled and carrying on this trade on the peninſula of Jucatan; that we always conſidered this as our right, and were ſupported in it by our kings; and that this right was confirmed, if it had want⯑ed any confirmation, by a clauſe of uti poſſi⯑detis, in the treaty of peace which was con⯑cluded with Spain and the court of London in 1676, and that we certainly were in full poſſeſ⯑ſion of thoſe ſettlements and that trade, long before the time of that treaty; and further, that the Spaniards themſelves have incidentally drawn a great advantage from it; ſince the pirates, who were formerly the moſt reſolved [73] and effectual enemies they ever had, were the more eaſily reſtrained from their enter⯑priſes, by having their minds diverted to this employment. Upon the whole, they conclud⯑ed it an affair very well worth the attention of the government, as in ſome years it em⯑ployed near ſix thouſand tuns of ſhipping; found employment for a number of ſeamen proportionable; conſumed a good deal of our manufactures, and was of conſiderable uſe in fabricating many others; and that the whole value of the returns were not leſs than ſixty thouſand pounds ſterling a year. Notwith⯑ſtanding this, our claim ſeems dropped, nor is it very clear how far it can be maintained, to carry on a trade by violence in a country, in which we can hardly claim, according to the common ideas of right in America, any property. However this may be, the trade, though with many difficulties and diſcourage⯑ments, ſtill continues, and will probably con⯑tinue whilſt the Spaniards are ſo weak upon that ſide of Mexico, and while the coaſt continues ſo diſagreeable, that none but deſpe⯑rate perſons will venture to reſide there. The logwood trade is generally carried on by New England veſſels, who take the goods they want in Jamaica.

But there is a trade yet more profitable carried on between this iſland and the Spaniſh continent, eſpecially in time of war. This too [74] has been the cauſe of much bickering between us and the court of Spain, and it will yet be more difficult for them to put a ſtop to this trade than to the former, whilſt the Spaniards are ſo eager for it, whilſt it is ſo profitable to the Britiſh merchant, and whilſt the Spaniſh officers from the higheſt to the loweſt ſhew ſo great a reſpect to preſents pro⯑perly made. The trade is carried on in this manner. The ſhip from Jamaica having taken in negroes, and a proper ſortment of goods there, proceeds in time of peace to a harbour called the Grout within Monkey-key, about four miles from Portobello. A perſon who underſtands Spaniſh, is directly ſent aſhore to give the merchants of the town no⯑tice of the arrival of the veſſel; the ſame news is carried likewiſe with great ſpeed to Panama; from whence the merchants ſet out diſguiſed like peaſants with their ſilver in jars covered with meal, to deceive the officers of the revenue. Here the ſhip remains trading frequently for five or ſix weeks together. The Spaniards uſually come on board, leave their money, and take their negroes, and their goods packed up in parcels fit for one man to carry, after having been handſomely entertained on board, and receiving proviſions ſufficient for their journey homeward. If the whole cargo is not diſpoſed of here, they bear off eaſtward to the Brew, a harbour about five miles diſtant [75] from Carthagena, where they ſoon find a vent for the reſt. There is no trade more profitable than this; for your payments are made in ready money; and the goods ſell higher than they would at any other market. It is not on this coaſt only, but every where upon the Spaniſh main, that this trade is carried on; nor is it by the Engliſh only, but the French from Hiſpaniola, the Dutch from Curaſſou, and even the Danes have ſome ſhare in it. When the Spaniſh guarda coſtas ſeize upon one of theſe veſſels, they make no ſcruple of confiſ⯑cating the cargo, and of treating the crew in a manner little better than pirates.

This commerce in time of peace, and this with the prizes that are made in time of war, pour into Jamaica an aſtoniſhing quantity of treaſure; great fortunes are made in a manner inſtantly, whilſt the people appear to live in ſuch a ſtate of luxury as in all other places leads to beggary. Their equipages, their cloaths, their furniture, their tables, all bear the tokens of the greateſt wealth and profuſion imaginable; this obliges all the treaſure they receive, to make but a very ſhort ſtay, as all this treaſure added to all the products of the iſland itſelf, is hardly more than ſufficient to anſwer the calls of their neceſſity and luxury on Europe and North America, and their demand for ſlaves, of which this iſland is under the neceſ⯑ſity of an annual recruit for it's own uſe and [76] that of the Spaniſh trade, of upwards of ſix thouſand head, and which ſtand them one with another in thirty pounds apiece, and often more.

CHAP. IV.

THE whole iſland is divided into nine⯑teen diſtricts or pariſhes, which ſend each of them two members to the aſſembly, and allow a competent maintenance to a mi⯑niſter. Port-Royal was anciently the capital of the iſland; it ſtood upon the very point of a long narrow neck of land, which towards the ſea formed part of the border of a very noble harbour of it's own name. In this har⯑bour above a thouſand ſail of the largeſt ſhips could anchor with the greateſt convenience and ſafety; and the water was ſo deep at the key of Port-Royal, that veſſels of the greateſt burthen could lay their broadſides to the wharfs, and load and unload at little expence or trouble. This conveniency weighed ſo much with the inhabitants, that they choſe in this ſpot to build their capital, though the place was an hot dry ſand, which produced not one of the neceſſaries of life, no not even freſh water. However, this advantageous ſituation, and the reſort of the pirates, ſoon made it a very conſiderable place. It contained two thouſand houſes, very handſomely built, and [77] which rented as high as thoſe in London. It had a reſort like a conſtant fair, by the great concourſe of people of buſineſs, and grew to all this in about thirty years time; for before that there was ſcarcely an houſe upon the place. In ſhort, there were very few parts of the world, which for the ſize could be compared to this town for trade, wealth, and an entire corruption of manners.

It continued thus until the 9th of June 1692, when an earthquake, which ſhook the whole iſland to it's foundations, overwhelmed this city, and buried nine tenths of it eight fathom under water. This earthquake not only de⯑moliſhed this city, but made a terrible devaſ⯑tation all over the iſland, and was followed by a contagious diſtemper, which was near giving the laſt hand to it's ruin. Ever ſince, it is re⯑marked, that the air is far more unwholſome than formerly. This earthquake, one of the moſt dreadful that I think ever was known, is deſcribed in ſuch lively colours in the Phi⯑loſophical tranſactions, and by perſons who ſaw and had a large part in the terrors and loſſes of this calamity, that I ſhall ſay nothing of it, but refer thither; as I am certain no man from his fancy, could aſſemble a greater number of images of horror, than the nature of things, taught the perſons who ſaw them, to bring to⯑gether, and which are there related very na⯑turally and pathetically.

[78]They rebuilt this city after the earthquake, but it was again deſtroyed. A terrible fire laid it in aſhes about ten years after. Not⯑withſtanding this, the extraordinary conve⯑nience of the harbour tempted them to re⯑build it again. But in the year 1722 a hur⯑ricane, one of the moſt terrible on record, reduced it a third time to a heap of rub⯑biſh. Warned by theſe extraordinary cala⯑mities, that ſeemed to mark out this place as a devoted ſpot, an act of aſſembly removed the cuſtom-houſe and publick offices from thence, and forbid that any market ſhould be held there for the future. The principal inha⯑bitants came to reſide at the oppoſite ſide of the bay, at a place which is called King⯑ſton. This town is commodiouſly ſituated for freſh water, and all manner of accommoda⯑tions. The ſtreets are of a commodious wideneſs, regularly drawn, and cutting each other at equal diſtances and right angles. It conſiſts of upwards of one thouſand houſes, many of them handſomely built, though low, with porticoes, and every conveniency for a comfortable habitation in that climate. The harbour was formerly in no good poſture of defence, but by the care of the late governor Mr. Knowles, it is now ſtrongly fortified.

The river Cobre, a conſiderable, but not navi⯑gable ſtream, falls into the ſea not far from Kingſton. Upon the banks of this river ſtands [79] St. Jago de la Vega, or Spaniſh-town; the ſeat of government, and the place where the courts of juſtice are held, and conſequently the capital of Jamaica, though inferior in ſize and reſort to Kingſton. However, this, tho' a town of leſs buſineſs, has more gaiety. Here reſide many perſons of large fortunes, and who make a figure proportionable; the num⯑ber of coaches kept here is very great; here is a regular aſſembly; and the reſidence of the governor and the principal officers of the go⯑vernment, who have all very profitable places, conſpire with the genius of the inhabitants, oſtentatious and expenſive, to make it a very ſplendid and agreeable place. Mr. Knowles, the late governor, made an attempt to remove the ſeat of government from hence to Kingſton, for reaſons which, it muſt be owned, have a very plauſible appearance; for it would cer⯑tainly facilitate the carrying on of buſineſs, to have the courts of juſtice and the ſeat of government as near as poſſible to the center of commercial affairs. But whether the con⯑ſideration of a more healthful ſituation; the diviſion of the advantages of great towns with the ſeveral parts of the country, and the miſ⯑chiefs that might ariſe from ſhaking the ſettled order of things, and prejudicing the property of a great many private people, can weigh againſt the advantages propoſed by this re⯑moval, I will not undertake to determine. [80] One thing appears I think very plainly in the conteſt which this regulation produced; that the oppoſition was at leaſt as much to the governor as to the meaſure; and that great natural warmth of temper upon all ſides, en⯑flamed and envenomed by a ſpirit of party which reigns in all our plantations, kindled a flame about this, which, if it had not hap⯑pened, muſt have riſen to the ſame height upon ſome other occaſion, ſince there was a plenty of combuſtible materials ready upon all ſides.

The government of this iſland is, next to that of Ireland, the beſt in the king's gift. The ſtanding ſalary is two thouſand five hundred pounds a year. The aſſembly vote the governor as much more; and this, with the other great profits of his office, make it in the whole little inferior to ten thouſand pounds a year. But of the government I ſhall ſay little, until I ſpeak of the government of the reſt of the plantations, to which this is in all reſpects alike.

CHAP. V.

THE next iſland, in point of impor⯑tance, which we poſſeſs in the Weſt-Indies, but the oldeſt in point of ſettlement, is Barbadoes. This is one, and by no means the moſt contemptible one amongſt the Wind⯑ward diviſion of the Caribbee iſlands. It is not diſtinctly known when this iſland was firſt diſcovered or ſettled; but it was probably ſome time about the year 1625.

When the Engliſh firſt landed here, they found the place the moſt ſavage and deſtitute that can be well imagined. It had not the leaſt appearance of ever having been peopled even by ſavages. There was no kind of beaſt of paſture or of prey, no fruit, nor herb, nor root fit for ſupporting the life of man. Yet as the climate was good, and the ſoil appeared fertile, ſome gentlemen of ſmall fortunes in England reſolved to become adventurers thither. But the firſt planters had not only the utter deſolateneſs of the place, and the ex⯑treme want of proviſions to ſtruggle with, but the trees were ſo large, of a wood ſo hard and ſtubborn, and full of ſuch great branches, that they proceeded in the clearing of the ground with a difficulty that muſt have worn down [82] any ordinary patience. And even when they had tolerably cleared ſome little ſpot, the firſt produce it yielded for their ſubſiſtence was ſo ſmall and ordinary, at the ſame time that their ſupplies from England were ſo ſlow and precarious, that nothing but the nobleſt cou⯑rage, and a firmneſs which cannot receive too many praiſes, could have carried them through the diſcouragements which they met in the nobleſt work in the world, the cultivating and peopling a deſerted part of the globe. But by degrees things were mollified; ſome of the trees yielded fuſtic for the dyers, cotton and indigo agreed well with the ſoil; to⯑bacco then becoming faſhionable in England anſwered tolerably; and the country began gradually to lay aſide all it's ſavage diſpoſition, and to ſubmit to culture.

Theſe good appearances in America, and the ſtorm which ſome time after began to gather in England, encouraged many to go over; but ſtill the colony received no ſort of encouragement from the government, which at that time underſtood the advantages of co⯑lonies but little; and which was beſides much worſe occupied in ſowing thoſe ſeeds of bitter⯑neſs, which came afterwards ſo terribly to their own lips. The court took no other notice of this iſland than to grant it to a very unworthy and unfaithful favourite, the earl of Carliſle; [83] which, as may be judged, proved of no ad⯑vantage to the ſettlement.

However, as this colony had the hardieſt breeding, and the moſt laborious infancy of any of our ſettlements, ſo it was far ſtronger in it's ſtamina, and grew with greater ſpeed; and that to an height, which if it were not proved beyond any reaſonable doubt, could ſcarcely be believed. For in this ſmall iſland, which is but twenty-five miles in length, and in breadth but fourteen, in little more than twenty years after it's firſt ſettlement, that is, in 1650, it contained upwards of fifty thouſand whites of all ſexes and ages, and a much greater number of blacks and Indian ſlaves. The former of which ſlaves they bought; the latter they ac⯑quired by means not at all to their honour; for they ſeized upon thoſe unhappy men without any pretence, in the neighbouring iſlands, and carried them into ſlavery. A practice which has rendered the Caribbee Indians irrecon⯑cileable to us ever ſince.

This ſmall iſland, peopled by upwards of one hundred thouſand ſouls, was not yet above half of it cultivated, nor was the induſtry of the inhabitants at a ſtand. A little before the period I have mentioned, they learned the method of making ſugar; and this enlarging the ſphere of their trade, they grew prodigiouſly rich and numerous.

[84]About this time the government in Eng⯑land, which was then in the hands of Crom⯑well, confined the trade of Barbadoes to the mother country, that before was managed al⯑together by the Dutch; at the ſame time that by the rigour which was exerciſed to⯑wards the royal party, a great many gentlemen of very good families ſettled in this iſland, which was far from being peopled like ſome other colonies, by fugitives and men deſperate at home. After the reſtoration it continued ſtill to advance by very haſty ſtrides. At that time king Charles created thirteen baronets from the gentlemen of this iſland, ſome of whom were worth ten thouſand pounds a year, and none ſo little as one thouſand.

In 1676, which was the meridian of this ſettlement, their whites were computed to be ſtill much about fifty thouſand, but their ne⯑groe ſlaves were increaſed ſo as to be upwards of one hundred thouſand of all kinds. They employed four hundred ſail of ſhips, one with another of an hundred and fifty tuns, in their trade, and their annual exported produce in ſu⯑gar, indigo, ginger, cotton, &c. amounted to up⯑wards of three hundred and fifty thouſand pounds, and their circulating caſh at home was two hundred thouſand pounds It is pro⯑bable that Holland itſelf, or perhaps even the beſt inhabited parts of China were never peopled to the ſame proportion, nor have they land of the ſame dimenſions, which pro⯑duces [85] any thing like the ſame profits, except⯑ing the land upon which great cities are built. But ſince that time the iſland has been much upon the decline. The growth of the French ſugar iſlands, and the ſettlement of Antegua, St. Chriſtopher's, Nevis, and Mont⯑ſerrat, as well as the greater eſtabliſhment in Jamaica, have drawn away from time to time a vaſt number of their people. A terrible contagion, ſaid to be brought over by the troops from England, but more probably de⯑rived from the coaſt of Africa, attacked the iſland in the year 1692; it raged like a peſti⯑lence; twenty have died in a day in their principal town; and all parts of the iſland ſuf⯑fered in proportion. This ſickneſs continued, with ſome abatements, for ſeveral years, and left an ill diſpoſition in the climate ever after⯑wards. War raged at the ſame time with this diſtemper; and the Barbadians who raiſed a good number of men, loſt many of them in fruitleſs expeditions againſt the French iſlands. The land too began not to yield quite ſo kindly as it formerly had done, and in ſome places they were obliged to manure it. All theſe cauſes contributed to reduce the numbers and opulence of this celebrated iſland. But it is only in compariſon of itſelf, that it may be conſidered in any other than the moſt flouriſh⯑ing condition even at this day; for at this day it contains twenty-five thouſand whites, very near [86] eighty thouſand negroes, and it ſhips above twenty-five thouſand hogſheads of ſugar, to the value of three hundred thouſand pounds, beſides rum, molaſſes, cotton, ginger, and aloes; an immenſe peopling and produce for a country not containing more than one hundred acres thouſand of land; ſo that by the riſe of ſu⯑gars, the returns of this iſland are little leſs than they were in it's moſt flouriſhing times.

This iſland can raiſe near five thouſand men of it's own militia, and it has generally a regiment of regular troops, though not very compleat. It is fortified by nature all along the windward ſhore by the rocks and ſhoals, ſo as to be near two thirds utterly inacceſſible. On the leeward ſide it has good harbours; but the whole coaſt is protected by a good line of ſeveral miles in length, and ſeveral forts to defend it at the moſt material places.

They ſupport their own eſtabliſhment, which is very conſiderable, with great credit. The governor's place is worth at leaſt five thou⯑ſand pounds a year, and the reſt of their officers have very valuable places. They provide very handſomely for their clergy, who are of the church of England, which is the religion eſtabliſhed here, as it is in the other iſlands. But here are very few diſſenters. There is in general an appearance of ſomething more of order and decency, and of a ſettled people, than in any other colony in the Weſt-Indies. [87] They have here a college, founded and well endowed by the virtue and liberality of that great man colonel Chriſtopher Cod⯑rington, who was a native of this iſland, and who for a great number of amiable and uſe⯑ful qualities both in public and private life, for his courage, and his zeal for the good of his country, his humanity, his knowledge and love of literature, was far the richeſt producti⯑on and moſt ſhining ornament this iſland ever had.

This college does not ſo fully anſwer the intentions of the excellent founder, as it might do. If the fund was applied to the educa⯑tion of a number of catechiſts for the inſtructi⯑on of the negroes, ſome of them of their own colour, it would be a vaſt public advantage, beſides the charity, or perhaps the indiſpenſible duty of ſome ſuch work.

This college is in Bridge-town, the capi⯑tal of the iſland, which before the late fire contained about twelve hundred houſes, very handſomely built, and inhabited by a numer⯑ous and wealthy people. The country of Barbadoes has a moſt beautiful appearance, ſwelling here and there into gentle hills; ſhin⯑ning by the cultivation of every part, by the verdure of the ſugar canes, the bloom and fra⯑grance of the number of orange, lemon, lime, and citron trees, the guavas, papas, aloes, and a vaſt multitude of other elegant and uſeful [88] plants, which riſe intermix'd with the houſes of the planters which are ſown thickly on every part of the iſland. Even the negroe huts, though mean, contribute to the beauty of the country, for they ſhade them with plantain trees, which give their villages the appearance of ſo many beautiful groves. In ſhort, there is no place in the Weſt-Indies comparable to Barbadoes, in point of numbers of people, cultivation of the ſoil, and thoſe elegancies and conveniencies which reſult from both.

CHAP. VI.

THE iſland of St. Chriſtopher's is the chief of thoſe which we poſſeſs amongſt the Leeward iſlands. It was firſt ſettled by the French and Engliſh in the year 1626, but after various fortunes it was entirely ceded to us by the treaty of Utrecht. This iſland is about ſeventy-five miles in compaſs. The circuit of Antegua is but little inferior. Nevis and Montſerrat are the ſmalleſt of the four, not exceeding for either of them, about eighteen or twenty miles in circumference. The ſoil in all theſe iſlands is pretty much alike; light and ſandy, but notwithſtanding fertile in an high degree. Antegua has no ri⯑vulets [89] of freſh water, and but very few ſprings; this made it be deemed uninhabitable for a long time; but now they ſave the rains in ponds and ciſterns with great care, and they are rarely in great diſtreſs for water. The iſland of St. Chriſtopher's makes the beſt and moſt ſugars of any; but neither that, nor any of the Leeward iſlands, yields any other commodity of conſequence but what is derived from the cane, except Montſerrat, which exports ſome indigo, but of a very inferior kind. It is judged that the iſland of St. Chriſtopher's contains about nine thouſand whites, and twenty-five thouſand negroes; that Antegua has about ſeven thou⯑ſand of the former colour, and twenty thouſand blacks; and that Nevis and Montſerrat may have each about five thouſand Europeans, who are the maſters of ten or twelve thouſand Afri⯑can ſlaves. So that the whole of the Leeward iſlands may be reckoned without exaggeration to maintain about twenty-ſix thouſand Engliſh, of whom every ſingle man gives bread to ſe⯑veral in England, which is effected by the labour of near ſeventy thouſand negroes. Their ſugar is proportionable, certainly not leſs than twenty-five thouſand hogſheads annually. Of the iſland of Barbuda, I ſay little, becauſe it has no direct trade with England. It is em⯑ployed in huſbandry, and raiſing freſh provi⯑ſions for the uſe of the neighbouring colonies. It is the property of the Codrington family.

[90]Theſe iſlands are under the management of one governor, who has the title of captain general and governor in chief of all the Carib⯑bee iſlands from Guardaloupe to Porto Rico. His poſt is worth about three thouſand five hundred pounds a year. Under him each iſland has it's particular deputy governor at a ſalary of two hundred pounds a year, and it's ſeparate, independent legiſlative of a council, and an aſſembly of the repreſentatives.

CHAP. VII.

THE climate in all our Weſt-India iſlands is nearly the ſame, allowing for thoſe accidental differences, which the ſeveral ſituations, and qualities of the lands themſelves produce. As they lie within the tropic, and that the ſun goes quite over their heads, and paſſes beyond them to the North, and never retires further from any of them than about 30 degrees to the South, they are continually ſub⯑jected to the extreme of an heat, which would be intolerable, if the trade wind riſing gra⯑dually as the ſun gathers ſtrength, did not blow in upon them from the ſea, and refreſh the air in ſuch a manner as to enable them to attend their concerns even under the meridian ſun. On the other hand, as the night advan⯑ces, a breeze begins to be perceived, which blows ſmartly from the land, as if it were [91] from it's center, towards the ſea, to all points of the compaſs at once.

By the ſame remarkable providence in the diſpoſing of things it is, that when the ſun has made a great progreſs towards the tropic of Cancer, and becomes in a manner vertical, he draws after him ſuch a vaſt body of clouds, as ſhield them from his direct beams, and diſſolving into rain cool the air, and refreſh the country, thirſty with the long drought, which commonly reigns from the beginning of Janu⯑ary to the latter end of May.

The rains in the Weſt-Indies are by no means the things they are with us. Our heavieſt rains are but dews comparatively. They are rather floods of water poured from the clouds, with a prodigious impetuoſity; the rivers riſe in a moment; new rivers and lakes are formed, and in a ſhort time all the low country is under water. Hence it is, that the rivers which have their ſources within the tropics, ſwell and overflow their banks at a certain ſeaſon; and ſo miſtaken were the an⯑cients in their idea of the torrid zone, which they imagined to be dried and ſcorched up with a continual and fervent heat, and for that reaſon uninhabitable, when in reality ſome of the largeſt rivers in the world have their courſe within it's limits, and the moiſture is one of the greateſt inconveniences of the cli⯑mate in ſeveral places.

[92]The rains make the only diſtinction of ſea⯑ſons in the Weſt-Indies; the trees are green the whole year round; they have no cold, no froſts, no ſnows, and but rarely ſome hail; the ſtorms of which are however very violent when they happen, and the hailſtones very great and heavy. Whether it be owing to this moiſture alone, which alone does not ſeem to be a ſufficient cauſe, or to a greater quantity of a ſulphurous acid, which predo⯑minates in the air in this country, metals of all kinds that are ſubject to the action of ſuch cauſes, ruſt and canker in a very ſhort time; and this cauſe, perhaps, as much as the heat itſelf, contributes to make the climate of the Weſt-Indies unfriendly and unpleaſant to an European conſtitution.

It is in the rainy ſeaſon (principally in the month of Auguſt, more rarely in July and September,) that they are aſſaulted by hurri⯑canes; the moſt terrible calamity to which they are ſubject from the climate; this de⯑ſtroys at a ſtroke the labours of many years, and proſtrates the moſt exalted hopes of the planter, and often juſt at the moment when he thinks himſelf out of the reach of fortune. It is a ſudden and violent ſtorm of wind, rain, thunder and lightning, attended with a furious ſwelling of the ſeas, and ſometimes with an earthquake; in ſhort, with every circumſtance which the elements can aſſemble, that is ter⯑rible [93] and deſtructive. Firſt, they ſee, as the prelude to the enſuing havock, whole fields of ſugar canes whirled into the air, and ſcat⯑tered over the face of the country. The ſtrongeſt trees of the foreſt are torn up by the roots, and driven about like ſtubble; their windmills are ſwept away in a moment; their works, the fixtures, the ponderous copper boilers, and ſtills of ſeveral hundred weight, are wrenched from the ground, and battered to pieces: their houſes are no protection, the roofs are torn off at one blaſt; whilſt the rain, which in an hour riſes five feet, ruſhes in upon them with an irreſiſtible violence.

There are ſigns, which the Indians of theſe iſlands taught our planters, by which they can prognoſticate the approach of an hurricane. The hurricane comes on either in the quar⯑ters, or at the full change of the moon. If it comes at the full moon, when you are at the change obſerve theſe ſigns. That day you will ſee the ſky very turbulent; you will ob⯑ſerve the ſun more red than at other times; you will perceive a dead calm, and the hills clear of all thoſe clouds and miſts which uſually hover about them. In the clefts of the earth, and in the wells, you hear a hollow rumbling ſound like the ruſhing of a great wind. At night the ſtars ſeem much larger than uſual, and ſurrounded with a ſort of burs; the North-Weſt ſky has a black and [94] menacing look; the ſea emits a ſtrong ſmell, and riſes into vaſt waves, often without any wind; the wind itſelf now forſakes it's uſual ſteady Eaſterly ſtream, and ſhifts about to the Weſt; from whence it ſometimes blows with intermiſſions violently and irregularly for about two hours at a time. You have the ſame ſigns at the full of the moon; the moon herſelf is ſurrounded with a great bur, and ſometimes the ſun has the ſame appearance. Theſe prognoſtics were taught by the Indians; and in general one may obſerve, that ignorant country people and barbarous nations, are better obſervers of times and ſeaſons, and draw better rules from them, than more civilized and reaſoning people, for they rely more upon experience than theories, they are more care⯑ful of traditionary obſervations, and living more in the open air at all times, and not ſo occupied but they have leiſure to obſerve every change, though minute, in that element, they come to have great treaſures of uſeful matter, though, as it might be expected, mixed with many ſuperſtitious and idle notions as to the cauſes. Theſe make their obſervations to be rejected as chimerical in the groſs by many lite⯑rati, who are not near ſo nice and circumſpect as they ought to be in diſtinguiſhing what this ſort of people may be very competent judges of, and what not.

[95]The grand ſtaple commodity of the Weſt-Indies is ſugar; this commodity was not at all known to the Greeks and Romans, though it was made in China in very early times, from whence we had the firſt knowledge of it; but the Portugueſe were the firſt who cultivated it in America, and brought it into requeſt as one of the materials of a very univerſal luxury in Europe. It is not ſettled whether the cane from which this ſubſtance is extracted, be a native of America or brought thither by the Portugueſe from India, and the coaſt of Afri⯑ca; but however the matter may be, in the beginning they made the moſt as they ſtill do the beſt ſugars, which come to market in this part of the world. The ſugar cane grows to the height of between ſix and eight feet, full of joints, about four or five inches aſunder; the colour of the body of the cane is yellowiſh, and the top, where it ſhoots into leaves of a vivid green; the coat is pretty hard, and within contains a ſpungy ſubſtance full of a juice, the moſt lively, elegant, and leaſt cloying ſweet in nature; and which ſucked raw, has proved extremely nutritive and wholſome.

They are cultivated in this manner. In the month of Auguſt, that is, in the rainy part of the year, after the ground is cleared and well hoed, they lay a piece of ſix or ſeven joints of the cane, flat in a channel made for it, above half a foot deep; this they cover with the [96] earth, and ſo plant the whole field in lines re⯑gularly diſpoſed and at proper diſtances. In a ſhort time a young cane ſhoots out from every joint of the ſtock which was interred, and grows in ten or twelve days to be a pret⯑ty tall and vigorous plant; but it is not until after ſixteen months, or thereabouts, that the canes are fit to anſwer the purpoſes of the planter, though they may remain a few months after without any conſiderable preju⯑dice to him. The longer they remain in the the ground after they are come to maturity, the leſs juice they afford; but this is ſome⯑what compenſated by the ſuperior richneſs of the juice. That no time may be loſt, they generally divide their cane grounds into three parts. One is of ſtanding canes, and to be cut that ſeaſon; the ſecond is of new plant⯑ed canes; and the third is fallow, ready to receive a freſh ſupply. In ſome places they make ſecond and third cuttings from the ſame root. The tops of the canes, and the leaves, which grow upon the joints, make very good provender for their cattle, and the refuſe of the cane after grinding, ſerves for fire; ſo that no part of this excellent plant is without it's uſe.

The canes are cut with a billet, and carried in bundles to the mill, which is now gene⯑rally a windmill; it turns three great cylinders or rollers plated with iron, ſet perpendicular⯑ly [97] and cogged ſo as to be all moved by the middle roller. Between theſe, the canes are bruiſed to pieces, and the juice runs through an hole into a vat which is placed under the rollers to receive it; from hence it is carried through a pipe into a great reſervoir, in which however, for fear of turning ſour, it is not ſuffered to reſt long, but is conveyed out of that by other pipes into the boiling houſe, where it is received by a large cauldron: here it remains, until the ſcum, which conſtantly ariſes during the boiling, is all taken off; from this, it is paſſed ſucceſſively into five or ſix more boilers, gradually diminiſhing in their ſize, and treated in the ſame manner. In the laſt of theſe it becomes of a very thick clammy conſiſtence; but mere boiling is incapable of carrying it farther: to advance the operation, they pour in a ſmall quantity of lime-water; the immediate effect of this alien mixture, is to raiſe up the liquor in a very vehement fermentation; but to prevent it from running over, a bit of butter no larger than a nut is thrown in, upon which the fury of the fer⯑mentation immediately ſubſides; a veſſel of two or three hundred gallons requires no greater force to quiet it. It is now taken out and placed in a cooler, where it dries, granulates, and be⯑comes fit to be put into the pots, which is the laſt part of the operation.

[98]The pots are conical, or of a ſugar-loaf faſhi⯑on; open at the point, which muſt be conſider⯑ed as their bottom; here a ſtrainer is put acroſs. In theſe pots the ſugar purges itſelf of it's re⯑maining impurity; the molaſſes or treacly part diſentangles itſelf from the reſt, precipi⯑tates and runs out of the aperture at the bot⯑tom; it is now in the condition called muſ⯑cavado ſugar, of a yellowiſh brown colour, and thus it is generally put into the hogſhead and ſhipped off.

But when they have a mind to refine it yet further, and leave no remains at all of the molaſſes, they cover the pots I have juſt mentioned with a ſort of white clay, like that uſed for tobacco pipes, diluted with wa⯑ter; this penetrates the ſugar, unites with the molaſſes, and with them runs off; leaving the ſugar of a whitiſh colour, but whiteſt at top. This is called clayed ſugar; the operation is ſometimes repeated once or twice more, and the ſugar every time diminiſhing in quantity gains conſiderably in value; but ſtill is called clayed ſugar. Further than this they do not go in the plantations, becauſe an heavy duty of ſixteen ſhillings per hundred weight is laid upon all ſugars refined there; it is therefore not to my purpoſe to carry the account any further.

Of the molaſſes rum is made, in a manne [...] that needs no deſcription, ſince it differs in [99] nothing from the manner of diſtilling any other ſpirit. From the ſcummings of the ſugar, a meaner ſpirit is procured. Rum finds its market in North America, (where it is conſumed by the Engliſh inhabitants, or em⯑ployed in the Indian trade, or diſtributed from thence to the fiſhery of Newfoundland, and the African commerce;) beſides what comes to England and Ireland. However, a very great quantity of molaſſes is taken off raw and carried to New England to be diſtilled there.

They compute that when things are well managed, the rum and molaſſes pay the char⯑ges of the plantation, and that the ſugars are clear gain. However, by the particulars we have ſeen, and by others which we may eaſily imagine, the expences of a plantation in the Weſt-Indies are very great, and the profits at the firſt view precarious; for the chargeable articles of the windmills, the boiling, cooling and diſtilling houſes, and the buying and ſub⯑ſiſting a ſuitable number of ſlaves and cattle, will not ſuffer any man to begin a ſugar plan⯑tation of any conſequence, not to mention the purchaſe of the land, which is very high, under a capital of at leaſt five thouſand pounds. Neither is the life of a planter, a life of idle⯑neſs and luxury; at all times he muſt keep a watchful eye upon his overſeers, and even overſee himſelf occaſionally. But at the boil⯑ing ſeaſon, if he is properly attentive to his [100] affairs, no way of life can be more laborious, and more dangerous to the health; from a conſtant attendance day and night in the ex⯑treme united heats of the climate and ſo many fierce furnaces; add to this the loſſes by hurricanes, earthquakes, and bad ſeaſons; and then conſider, when the ſugars are in the caſk, that he quits the hazard of a planter, to en⯑gage in the hazards of a merchant, and ſhips his produce at his own riſk. The ſum of all might make one believe, that it could never anſwer to engage in this buſineſs; but notwithſtanding all this, there are no parts of the world, in which great eſtates are made in ſo ſhort a time as in the Weſt-Indies. The produce of a few good ſeaſons will provide againſt the ill effects of the worſt; as the planter is ſure of a ſpeedy and profitable mar⯑ket for his produce, which has a readier ſale than perhaps any other commodity in the world.

Large plantations are generally under the care of a manager or chief overſeer, who has commonly a ſalary of a hundred and fifty pounds a year, with overſeers under him in proportion to the greatneſs of the plantation, one to about thirty negroes, and at the rate of a⯑bout forty pounds. Such plantations too have a ſurgeon at a fixed ſalary, employed to take care of the negroes which belong to it. But the courſe, which is the leaſt troubleſome to the [101] owner of the eſtate, is to let the land with all the works, and the ſtock of cattle and ſlaves, to a tenant, who gives ſecurity for the payment of the rent, and the keeping up repairs and the ſtock. The eſtate is generally eſtimated to ſuch a tenant at half the neat produce of the beſt years. Such tenants, if induſtrious and frugal men, ſoon make good eſtates for themſelves.

The negroes in the plantations are ſubſiſted at a very eaſy rate. This is generally by al⯑lotting to each family of them a ſmall portion of land, and allowing them two days in the week, Saturday and Sunday, to cultivate it; ſome are ſubſiſted in this manner, but others find their negroes themſelves with a certain portion of Guinea or Indian corn, and to ſome a ſalt herring, or a ſmall quantity of bacon or ſalt pork a day. All the reſt of the charge conſiſts in a cap, a ſhirt, a pair of breeches, ſtockings and ſhoes; the whole not exceeding forty ſhillings a year.

To particulariſe the commodities proper for the Weſt-India market, would be to enu⯑merate all the neceſſaries, conveniencies, and luxuries of life; for they have nothing of their own but the commodities I have already mentioned. Traders there make a very large profit upon all they ſell; and all kind of han⯑dicraftſmen, eſpecially carpenters, bricklayers and braſiers, get very great encouragement.

CHAP. VIII.

THE diſpoſition to induſtry has a varie⯑ty of characters, and is by no means conſtantly of the ſame colour. Some acquieſce in a moderate labour through the whole of their lives, attended with no riſk either to their perſons or their gains; ſuch ſort of peo⯑ple, who form the beſt citizens in general, are fit to ſtay at home. Others full as remote from an indolent diſpoſition, are of quite a different character. Theſe are fiery, reſtleſs tempers, willing to undertake the ſevereſt la⯑bour, provided it promiſes but a ſhort conti⯑nuance, who love riſk and hazard, whoſe ſchemes are always vaſt, and who put no medium between being great and being un⯑done. Characters of this ſort, eſpecially when they happen in low and middling life, are often dangerous members in a regular and ſet⯑tled community. But the Weſt-Indies opens a fair and ample field to encourage perſons of ſuch a diſpoſition; and it may be reckoned one very great benefit of our poſſeſſions in that part of the world, that beſides the vaſt quan⯑tities of our fabrics which they conſume, our ſeamen that they employ, and our revenues that they ſupport, that they are a vent to carry off ſuch ſpirits, whom they keep occu⯑pied greatly to the public benefit. Our domi⯑nions [103] are to circumſtanced, and afford ſuch a variety, that all diſpoſitions to buſineſs, of what kind ſoever, may have exerciſe without preſ⯑ſing upon one another. It is beſides a great happineſs, that unfortunate men, whom un⯑avoidable accident, the frowns of the world, or the cruelty of creditors, would have render⯑ed miſerable to themſelves, and uſeleſs to the public, may find a ſort of aſylum, where at laſt they often ſucceed ſo well, as to have rea⯑ſon to bleſs thoſe accidents, which drove them from their country poor, deſerted and deſpiſ⯑ed, to return them to it in opulence and cre⯑dit. Of ſuch a change every one can produce many inſtances of his own knowledge; as whoever looks about him cannot fail to ſee a great number of perſons, who having taken wrong ſteps in the beginning of their lives, have eſtabliſhed ſuch a character of weakneſs and imprudence, as prevents them ever after from being truſted or employed, wherever they are at all known, although their charac⯑ters ſhould be altogether chang'd, and the paſſions quite ſubſided which gave occaſion to their errors. Such perſons become, firſt, indigent, then deſperate, and at laſt, abandon⯑ed; but when they have an opportunity of going where this prejudice does not operate againſt them, they ſet up as new men. With the advan⯑tage of an experience acquired by their miſtakes [104] they are free from the ill reputation which attended them; and they prove of vaſt ſervice to their country, to which they could be of no advantage whilſt they remained in it. There are perſons too, far more blameable than either of the former ſorts, who having erred without proper caution in points of mo⯑rality, are deſervedly regarded with diſtruſt and abhorrence, though they may be at bot⯑tom far from being utterly abandoned; and are ſtill, excepting their character, the ſtuff proper for making very good men of the world.

Theſe are the ſeveral ſorts of people, who with very few exceptions, have ſettled the Weſt-Indies, and North America in a good meaſure. And thus have we drawn from the raſhneſs of hot and viſionary men; the im⯑prudence of youth; the corruption of bad morals; and even from the wretchedneſs and miſery of perſons deſtitute and undone, the great ſource of our wealth, our ſtrength and our power. And though this was neither the effect of our wiſdom, nor the conſequence of our foreſight; yet having happened, it may tend to give us more wiſdom and a bet⯑ter foreſight; for it will undoubtedly be a ſtanding monitor to us, how much we ought to cheriſh the colonies we have already eſta⯑bliſhed, by every encouragement in our pow⯑er, and by every reaſonable indulgence; and it will be an additional ſpur to make us active [105] in the acquiſition of new ones. Since expe⯑rience has taught us, that as there is no ſoil or climate which will not ſhew itſelf grate⯑ful to culture, ſo that there is no diſpoſition, no character in mankind, which may not be turned with dextrous management to the public advantage. Theſe rulers, who make complaints of the temper of their people in almoſt any reſpect, ought rather to lament their own want of genius, which blinds them to the uſe of an inſtrument purpoſely put in⯑to their hands by providence, for effecting perhaps the greateſt things. There are humours in the body, which contained may be noxious to it, yet which ſent abroad are the pro⯑per materials for generating new bodies. Pro⯑vidence, and a great miniſter who ſhould imitate providence, often gain their ends by means, that ſeem moſt contrary to them; for earthquakes, and hurricanes, and floods, are as neceſſary to the well-being of things, as calms and ſun-ſhine; life and beauty are drawn from death and corruption; and the moſt ef⯑ficacious medicines are often found united with the moſt deadly poiſons. This, as it is well known, is the order of nature, and perhaps it might not unwiſely be conſidered, as an ex⯑ample for government.

CHAP. IX.

THOUGH we have drawn ſuch great advantages from our poſſeſſions in the Weſt-Indies, and are, even in our preſent way of acting, likely to continue to draw ſtill more; and though we have not wholly neglected the culture of that uſeful province; yet ſome will think, that there are ſome things yet left undone, ſome things in which our neighbours have ſet us a laudable example, and ſome others, which the inconveniencies we have felt from the want of them demonſtrate to be neceſſary to ourſelves. But it is not my purpoſe to handle this ſubject in its full ex⯑tent, ſince it is the wiſdom and power of the legiſlature, and not the unauthorized ſpecula⯑tions of a private man, which can effect any thing uſeful in this way. A Weſt-Indian who is naturally warm in his temper, and not too ſervilely obedient to the rules of the bienſeance, might find ſome faults in our proceedings here, and would perhaps reaſon in a manner not unlike the following.

CHAP. X.

IN the foregoing manner the Weſt-Indian would ſtate ſome part of what he con⯑ceives to be his grievances, and thoſe I believe he would be earneſt enough to have remedied. But there are other regulations, which a perſon not concerned in their affairs might think very proper too, but which the Weſt-Indian would enter into with a much greater degree of phlegm.

There are now allowed to be in our Weſt-Indies at leaſt two hundred and thirty thouſand negroe ſlaves; and it is allowed too, that upon the higheſt calculation the whites there, in all, [113] do not amount to ninety thouſand ſouls. This diſproportion ſhews ſo clearly at the firſt glance how much the colonies are endangered, both from within and without; how much expoſed to the aſſaults of a foreign enemy, and to the inſurrection of their own ſlaves, (which latter circumſtance in all our iſlands keeps the people in perpetual apprehenſions) that it may be a juſt cauſe of ſurpriſe, that no meaſures whatſoever are taken to correct this dangerous irregularity.

This diſproportion between the freemen and negroes grows more viſible every day. That enterpriſing ſpirit which the novelty of the object, and various concurrent cauſes had produced in the laſt century, has decay⯑ed very much. We have as many men indigent and unemployed at home as we had then; but they have not the ſame ſpirit and activity they had at that time. The diſpo⯑ſition of the people in the Weſt-Indies concurs with that of our people at home, to increaſe and to perpetuate the evil of which I com⯑plain; for they chuſe to do every thing by negroes, which can poſſibly be done by them; and though they have laws and ordinances to oblige them to keep a certain number of white ſervants in ſome proportion to their blacks, in moſt places theſe laws are but a dead letter. They find it more eaſy to pay the penalty when ſeldom it is exacted, than [114] to comply with the law. Their avarice in the particulars makes them blind to the hazards to which they expoſe the ſum total of their affairs. This diſpoſition in the planters is now almoſt grown inveterate, and to ſuch a degree, that the remedy will probably never be adminiſtred by themſelves; and if this diſpoſition continues, in a little time, (which is indeed nearly the caſe already,) all the Engliſh in our colonies there will conſiſt of little more than a few planters and merchants; and the reſt will be a deſpicable, though a dangerous, becauſe a numerous and diſaffected herd of African ſlaves.

Indubitably the ſecurity, as well as the ſolid wealth of every nation, conſiſts princi⯑pally in the number of low and middling men of a free condition, and that beautiful grada⯑tion from the higheſt to the loweſt, where the tranſitions all the way are almoſt im⯑perceptible. To produce this ought to be the aim and mark of every well regulated commonwealth, and none has ever flouriſhed upon other principles. But when we con⯑ſider the colony out of that independent light, and as it is related to Great Britain, it is clear that this neglect is of great detriment to the mother country; becauſe it is certain, that the conſumption of our commodities there would be in a great meaſure in proportion to the number of white men; and there is nobody at [115] all acquainted with the plantations, who will not readily allow, that when I ſay one white man takes off as much of our manufactures as three negroes, that I eſtimate his value to us at a very low rate.

But the neceſſity of having there a proper number of whites is not only ſtrongly enforced by the conſideration of the great gain which would from thence accrue to us, but from the vaſt ſavings which ſuch an arrangement would produce. The militia of the Weſt-Indies is exceedingly well trained, ſo as to be in diſci⯑pline not very much inferior, but in courage and ſpirit beyond moſt regular troops; and they really want nothing but ſufficient num⯑bers to be able fully to defend themſelves, and occaſionally to annoy the enemy; for both which purpoſes they are infinitely more fit by being habituated to the climate, than raw troops, which in this part of the world can never meet the enemy in the field with much more than half their complement. A leſs number of troops would do there in all times, if this point was well ſtudied; and I may ven⯑ture to ſay, that the tranſporting and comfort⯑ably providing for a proper number of men effectually to ſecure our colonies, and even to make any attempt upon them deſperate, would not have coſt the government one third part of the money, which for theſe twenty years paſt has been expended in the tranſporting and [116] maintaining of troops there, who die and waſte away without any benefit to themſelves or their country; whereas theſe ſettlers, who would ſo effectually intimidate a foreign enemy, and take away all hope of liberty from the negroes, would all the while be enriching their mother country, and paying a large intereſt for the ſums ſhe expended in their eſtabliſhment.

I am conſcious that many objections will be made againſt the very propoſal, and that many more would be ſtarted againſt any effec⯑tual ſcheme for increaſing the number of white ſervants in the Weſt-Indies. They are repreſented, as of very little uſe, diſorderly, idle, drunken, and fitter to pervert the negroes, than to be any aſſiſtance to them in their buſi⯑neſs. This I believe to be in general true; but this is no ſort of objection to having them; though it is an excellent argument for putting them, their maſters, and the whole colony under a better regulation. If we labour un⯑der great inconveniencies from the want of a police at home, this want is infinitely more viſible in the Weſt-Indies, where for the moſt part they all live without the leaſt ſenſe of re⯑ligion, in a ſtate of vice and debauchery, which is really deplorable to conſider them as men and chriſtians, and of a very bad aſpect in a political light. If therefore it ſhould be thought convenient by the wiſdom of our government, at any time to enter into a ſcheme [117] for peopling theſe countries fully and proper⯑ly, it will be equally convenient at the ſame time to take ſuch ſtrict meaſures as may pre⯑ſerve them from vice and idleneſs; a thing far enough from impracticable. Whenever ſuch regulations ſhall take place, they will in a good meaſure anſwer another end too, the preſerv⯑ing the health and lives of the people; a point which in all places every wiſe government will have very much at heart; but which is above all neceſſary in a colony, where the people are an ineſtimable treaſure, and where the climate itſelf is ſufficiently fatal.

Theſe obſervations principally regard Jamai⯑ca, the largeſt and beſt of our iſlands, where there are prodigious tracts of uncultivated land. As the rivers there are not navigable, and as ſugar is a bulky commodity, which cannot afford to pay for a very long land carriage, the coaſts, or only the land very near the coaſts, can be turned to that commodity. But if poor people were ſufficiently encouraged to ſettle in the inland parts, neceſſity would oblige them to raiſe cotton, cacao, coffee, ginger, aloes, allſpice, the dying woods, and other things which require no vaſt labour, are not ſo burthenſome in carriage, and which have all a ſufficient demand at home to en⯑courage people who do not look to great and ſudden fortunes. And as we bring all theſe, eſpecially the cotton, which is of great uſe in [118] our manufactures, from abroad, we might en⯑courage the raiſing more of it by ſome mode⯑rate premium. The ſame neceſſity too would oblige them to try experiments on cochineal, and various other things which we don't now think of, and which the climate would not refuſe. By degrees, and with good manage⯑ment, they would improve in the culture of many of theſe articles in which they are now defective; the careful would grow tolerably rich; and conſiderable works of many valuable commodities, as cocoa, cochineal, and even indigo, may be attempted with ſmall capitals. Excepting the labour, I don't know that any of theſe require above two or three hun⯑dred pounds to begin with. So that whilſt the great ſtocks, and the lands convenient to navigation are employed in ſugars, the ſmall capitals and the inland might be employed in the leſs expenſive, though not leſs uſeful articles I have mentioned; every part would flouriſh, and agriculture would have it's ſhare with the other improvements; ſo that the great number might be ſubſiſted at leſs expence than the few are now main⯑tained. All this, I am confident, could be effected for twenty thouſand pounds, or leſs, properly laid out; and the iſland by this means be rendered in a few years three times more beneficial to us than it is at preſent. By the neglect of ſome encouragement of this [119] kind, the great ſtocks, and the running into a ſtaple which required them, have by degrees devoured the iſland. It is the nature of vaſt ſtocks to create a ſort of monopoly; and it is the nature of monopoly to aim at great profits from a comparatively little produce; but dif⯑fuſe buſineſs, and by bringing it within the com⯑paſs of ſeveral, you will make them ſit down each with a ſmall profit, for all cannot hope a fortune, but the joint produce of all will be very conſiderable. Indigo was once very greatly produced in Jamaica, and it enriched the iſland to ſo great a degree, that in the pariſh of Vere, where this drug was cultivated, they are ſaid to have had no leſs than three hundred gentlemen's coaches; a number I do not ima⯑gine even the whole iſland exceeds at this day; and there is great reaſon to believe, that there were many more perſons of property in Jamaica formerly than are there now, though perhaps they had not thoſe vaſt fortunes, which dazzle us in ſuch a manner at pre⯑ſent.

CHAP. XI.

SINCE I have indulged myſelf ſo long in a ſpeculation, which appears to me very material to the welfare of theſe colonies, I ſhall venture to ſay ſomething farther con⯑cerning another part of the inhabitants, tho' it may perhaps meet no warm reception from thoſe who are the moſt nearly concerned.

The negroes in our colonies endure a ſlavery more compleat, and attended with far worſe circumſtances, than what any people in their condition ſuffer in any other part of the world, or have ſuffered in any other period of time. Proofs of this are not wanting. The prodigious waſte which we experience in this unhappy part of our ſpecies, is a full and melancholy evidence of this truth. The iſland of Barbadoes, (the negroes upon which do not amount to eighty thouſand) notwith⯑ſtanding all the means which they uſe to increaſe them by propagation, notwithſtand⯑ing that the climate is in every reſpect, except that of being more wholſome, exactly reſembling the climate from whence they come; notwithſtanding all this, Barbadoes lies under a neceſſity of an annual recruit of five thouſand ſlaves to keep up the ſtock at the number I have mentioned. This prodigiou [...] [121] failure, which is at leaſt in the ſame propor⯑tion in all our iſlands, ſhews demonſtratively that ſome uncommon and inſupportable hard⯑ſhip lies upon the negroes, which wears them down in ſuch a ſurpriſing manner; and this, I imagine, is principally the exceſſive labour which they undergo. For previouſly, I ſuppoſe, that none of the inhabitants of the countries between the tropics are capable, even in their own climates, of near ſo much labour without great prejudice to them, as our people are in ours. But in our plan⯑tations the blacks work ſeverely for five days, without any relaxation or intermiſſion, for the benefit of the maſter, and the other two days they are obliged to labour for their own ſub⯑ſiſtence during the reſt of the week; and this, I imagine, with the other circumſtances of great ſeverity which depreſs their ſpirits, na⯑turally cuts off great numbers, as well as diſ⯑qualifies thoſe who remain from ſupplying this waſte by natural propagation.

The planter will ſay, that if he is to allow his negroes more recreation, and to indulge them in more hours of abſence from their work, he can never reimburſe himſelf for the charge he has been at in the purchaſe of the ſlave, nor make the profits which induced him to go to that expence. But this, though it appears plauſible enough at firſt, becauſe the ſlaves are very dear, and becauſe they [122] do not yield above ten or twelve pounds a head annually clear profit by their labour, is not⯑withſtanding very fallacious. For let it be conſidered, that out of their ſtock of eighty thouſand in Barbadoes, there die every year five thouſand negroes more than are born in that iſland: in effect this people is under a neceſſity of being entirely renewed every ſixteen years; and what muſt we think of the management of a people, who far from increaſing greatly, as thoſe who have no loſs by wars ought to do, muſt in ſo ſhort a ſpace of time as ſixteen years, without foreign recruits, be entirely conſumed to a man? Let us ſuppoſe that theſe ſlaves ſtand the Barbadians in no more than twenty pounds a head out of the ſhip; whereas, in reality, they coſt a great deal more; this makes one hundred thouſand pounds every year, and in ſixteen years one million ſix hundred thouſand pounds. A ſum really aſtoniſhing, and amount⯑ing to a fourth of the value of every thing they export.

Now ſuppoſe, that by allowing a more moderate labour, and ſome other indulgen⯑ces, a great number of theſe deaths might be prevented, (and many I think it is probable would ſo be prevented,) and that they could keep up within a thouſand of their ſtock, (and why they could not entirely keep it up by ſuch means, I cannot poſſibly gueſs) they would ſave in this way eighty thouſand pounds [123] every year. But from thence we muſt de⯑duct the time in which theſe ſlaves have been unemployed. I ſuppoſe that all reaſonable indulgences might be given of every ſort for the difference of forty thouſand pounds, which is the labour of four thouſand ſlaves. This will be far from a ſmall allowance, eſpecially as in this way leſs time will be loſt by ſickneſs, and the ſurgeon will have leſs employment. Then, after all deductions, by behaving like good men, good maſters, and good chriſtians, the inhabitants of this one iſland would ſave forty thouſand pounds a year; which if in⯑ſtead of being ſaved, it were loſt by ſuch a proceeding, it ought to be conſidered as a neceſſary loſs, and borne accordingly.

This matter, though not I think before ſhewn in this ſame light, ſeems in itſelf ex⯑tremely clear; but if it were yet clearer, there are ſeveral gentlemen of the Weſt-Indies who could not comprehend it; though a waggoner in England will comprehend very clearly, that if he works his horſe but mode⯑rately, and feeds him well, he will draw more profit from him in the end, than if he never gave him an hour's reſpite in the day from his work, and at night turned him upon the common for his ſubſiſtence. I am far from contending in favour of an effeminate indul⯑gence to theſe people. I know that they are ſtubborn and intractable for the moſt part, [124] and that they muſt be ruled with a rod of iron. I would have them ruled, but not cruſhed with it. I would have a humanity exerciſed which is conſiſtent with ſteadineſs. And I think it clear from the whole courſe of hiſto⯑ry, that thoſe nations which have behaved with the greateſt humanity to their ſlaves, were always beſt ſerved, and ran the leaſt hazard from their rebellions. And I am the more con⯑vinced of the neceſſity of theſe indulgences, as ſlaves certainly cannot go through ſo much work as freemen. The mind goes a great way in every thing; and when a man knows that this labour is for himſelf; and that the more he labours, the more he is to acquire, this conſciouſneſs carries him through, and ſupports him beneath fatigues, under which he otherwiſe would have ſunk.

The prejudice this ſaving would be to the African trade, is I know an objection which to ſome would appear very plauſible. But ſurely, one cannot hear without horror of a trade which muſt depend for it's ſupport upon the annual murder of ſeveral thouſands of innocent men; and indeed nothing could excuſe the ſlave trade at all, but the neceſſity we are under of peopling our colonies, and the conſideration that the ſlaves we buy were in the ſame condition in Africa, either heredi⯑tary, or taken in war. But in fact, if the waſte of theſe men ſhould become leſs, the price [125] would fall; then if a due order were taken the ſame demand might be kept, by the ex⯑tending our colonies, which is now produced by the havock made of the people. This is the caſe on the continent, where though the ſlaves increaſe, there is an annual call for ſeven thouſand at leaſt.

The principal time I would have reſerved for the indulgence I propoſe to be granted to the ſlaves, is Sunday, or the Lord's day; a day which is profaned in a manner altogether ſcandalous in our colonies. On this day, I would have them regularly attend at church; I would have them, particularly the children, carefully (full as carefully as any others) in⯑ſtructed in the principles of religion and virtue, and eſpecially in the humility, ſubmiſſion and honeſty which become their condition. The reſt of the day might be devoted to innocent recreation; to theſe days of relaxation, and with the ſame exerciſes, ſhould be added ſome days in the grand feſtivals of Chriſtmaſs, Eaſter and Whitſuntide, and perhaps, four or five days in the year beſides. Such methods would by degrees habituate their maſters, not to think them a ſort of beaſts, and without ſouls, as ſome of them do at preſent, who treat them accordingly; and the ſlaves would of courſe grow more honeſt, tractable, and leſs of eye-ſervants; unleſs the ſanctions of religi⯑on, the precepts of morality, and all the habits [126] of an early inſtitution, be of no advantage to mankind. Indeed I have before me an ^* au⯑thor, if he may be ſo called, who treats the notion of bringing the negroes to chriſtianity with contempt, and talks of it at the beſt, as a thing of indifference. But beſides that he appears to me a writer of every little judg⯑ment, I cannot conceive with what face any body, who pretends to inform the public, can ſet up as an advocate for irreligion, barbariſm, and groſs ignorance.

CHAP. XII.

IT is ſaid, that the law of England is favour⯑able to liberty; and ſo far this obſervation is juſt, that when we had men in a ſervile condition amongſt us, the law took advantage even of neglects of the maſter to enfranchiſe the villain; and ſeemed for that purpoſe even to ſubtilize a little; becauſe our anceſtors judged, that freemen were the real ſupport of the kingdom. What if in our colonies we ſhould go ſo far, as to find out ſome medium between liberty and abſolute ſlavery, in which we might place all mulattoes after a certain limited ſervitude to the owner of the mother; and ſuch blacks, who being born in the iſlands, their maſters for their good ſervices ſhould think proper in ſome degree to enfran⯑chiſe? [127] Theſe might have land allotted them, or where that could not be ſpared, ſome ſort of fixed employment, from either of which they ſhould be obliged to pay a certain mode⯑rate rent to the public. Whatever they ſhould acquire above this, to be the reward of their induſtry. The neceſſity of paying the rent would keep them from idleneſs; and when men are once ſet to work through ne⯑ceſſity, they will not ſtop there; but they will gradually ſtrive for conveniencies, and ſome even for ſuperfluities. All this will add to the demand for our goods, and the colony will be ſtrengthened by the addition of ſo many men, who will have an intereſt of their own to fight for.

There is, amongſt others, a very bad cuſtom in our colonies of multipyling their houſhold ſlaves far beyond reaſon and neceſſity. It is not uncommon for families of no very great fortunes, to have twenty-five or thirty in the capacity of menial ſervants only. Theſe are ſo many hands taken from planting, to be of no manner of uſe to the public; but they are infinitely the moſt dangerous of the ſlaves; for being at all times about our people, they come to abate of that great reverence, which the field negroes have for the whites, without loſing any thing of the reſentment of their condition, which is common to both. And beſides, in any inſurrection they have it more [128] in their power to ſtrike a ſudden and fatal blow. Surely a ſumptuary law might be contrived to reſtrain the number of theſe me⯑nial ſlaves, as there might and ought to be one ſtrictly enjoining all who keep five ſervants, to have one white man and one white woman amongſt them, without any power of being indulged in a contrary practice; as it ought to be a rule never to be broken through, to have not only the overſeers, but even all the drivers, white men.

The alarms we are under at the news of any petty armament in the Weſt-Indies, is a demonſtrative proof of the weakneſs of our condition there; which is, however, ſo far from rouſing us to ſeek any proper remedy, that there are not wanting of the people of that country, many who would uſe a thouſand pretences to prevent our taking the only poſ⯑ſible means of ſecuring their own poſſeſſions from danger; as the majority of men will always be found ready to prefer ſome pre⯑ſent gain to their future and more permanent intereſts. But the apparent and dangerous progreſs of the French ought, methinks, to rouſe us from our long inaction, and to animate us to enterpriſe ſome regulations, in a ſtrain of policy far ſuperior to any thing I have ventured to hint, for the intereſt of the commerce, and the honour of the counſels of the Britiſh nation.

CHAP. I.

IT is ſomewhat difficult to aſcertain the bounds of the Engliſh property in North America, to the northern and Weſtern ſides; for to the Northward, it ſhould ſeem, that we might extend our claims quite to the pole itſelf, nor does any nation ſeem inclined to diſpute the property of this Northermoſt country with us. France has by the treaty of Utrecht, ceded to us Hudſon's bay, the ſtreights of Hudſon, and all the country bor⯑dering upon that bay and thoſe ſtreights. If we ſhould chuſe to take our ſtand upon the Northern extremity of New Britain, or Terra de Labrador, and look to the South, we have a territory extending in that aſpect from the 60th to the 31ſt degree of North latitude, and conſequently more than ſeventeen hun⯑dred [130] miles long in a direct line. This country is, all the way, waſhed by the Atlantic ocean on the Eaſt; to the South it has the ſmall re⯑mains of the Spaniſh Florida; but to the Weſtward, our bounds are diſputed by our enemies, and do not ſeem well agreed upon amongſt ourſelves. They who govern them⯑ſelves by the charters to our colonies, run their juriſdiction quite acroſs the continent to the South-Sea; others contract our rights to the hither ranks of the Miſſiſippi, and take four of the great lakes into our dominions. But upon what grounds they have fixed upon that river as a barrier, other than that rivers or mountains ſeem to be a ſpecies of natural boundaries, I cannot determine. Others (upon the ſame grounds, I ſuppoſe,) have contract⯑ed us within limits yet narrower; they make the Apalachian mountains, the lake Ontario, and the river St. Laurence, the moſt Weſterly frontier of our rights in America. The French agreeing, in ſome reſpects, with theſe latter, (or the latter rather agreeing with the French, whoſe maps they have for a long time ſervilely and ſhamefully copied,) have made the moun⯑tains hem us in from their Southern com⯑mencement, to about the 44th degree of North latitude, or thereabouts, where this long chain terminates; then they draw a line ſlanting to the North-Eaſt, by which they cut off a great part of the provinces of New-York, [131] New England, and Nova Scotia, and leave our bounds at ſuch a diſtance from the river St. Laurence, as they judge convenient.

This diſtribution, and the military diſpoſi⯑tions which the French have made to ſupport it, form the principal cauſe of the quarrel which now ſubſiſts between the two king⯑doms; and it is the iſſue of this quarrel, which muſt inſtruct future geographers in adjuſting the boundaries of the two nations. For the preſent, I ſhall only mention what we have ſettled, without offering any opinion of my own concerning our bounds. Our rights in Nova Scotia have been already aſcertained and eſtabliſhed in a clear and cogent man⯑ner; but with regard to our claims in the Ohio and Miſſiſippi, the raſhneſs of ſome writers in a matter which is a public concern, ſeems to me very blameable. Some of them timidly or ignorantly drawing our territories into a very inconvenient narrowneſs; whilſt others have madly claimed all North America from ſea to ſea; ſome would give us very narrow bounds, whilſt others will hear of no bounds at all.

Poſterity will perhaps think it unaccount⯑able, that in a matter of ſuch importance we could have been ſo thoughtleſs as to leave on our back ſuch a nation as France, without determining, in any manner, even ſufficiently clear to ſettle our own demands, what part of [132] the country was our own right, or what we determined to leave to the diſcretion of our neighbours; or that wholly intent upon ſet⯑tling the ſea coaſt, we have never caſt an eye into the country, to diſcover the neceſſity of mak⯑ing a barrier againſt them, with a proper force; which formerly did not need to have been a very great one, nor to be maintained at any great expence. That cheap and timely cauti⯑on would have ſaved us thouſands of lives and millions of money; but the hour is now paſſed.

In the enſuing diſcourſe, I think it better neither to conſider our ſettlements directly in the order of the time of their eſtabliſhment, nor of their advantage to the mother country, but as they lie near one another, North and South from New England to Carolina; reſer⯑ving for the end the new ſettlements on the Northern and Southern extremities, thoſe of Nova Scotia and Georgia, and the unſet⯑tled countries about Hudſon's bay.

CHAP. II.

WE derive our rights in America from the diſcovery of Sebaſtian Cabot, who firſt made the Northern continent in 1497. The fact is ſufficiently certain to eſtabliſh a right to our ſettlements in North America: but the particulars are not known diſtinctly enough to encourage me to enter into a detail of his voyage. The country was in general called Newfoundland, a name which is now appropriated ſolely to an iſland upon it's coaſt. It was a long time before we made any at⯑tempt to ſettle this country; though in this point we were no more backward than our neighbours, who probably did not abſtain ſo long out of reſpect to our prior diſcovery. Sir Walter Raleigh ſhewed the way, by planting a colony in the Southern part, which he called Virginia. However, the ſpirit of colonization was not yet fully raiſed. Men lived at eaſe in their own country, and the new ſettlement of Virginia, though dreſſed up in all the ſhowy colours which eloquence could beſtow upon it, gave adventurers but little encouragement. The affairs of North America were in the hands of an excluſive company, and they proſpered accordingly.

[134]Things remained in this condition until the latter end of the reign of James the firſt. From the commencement of the reformation in England, two parties of proteſtants ſubſiſt⯑ed amongſt us; the firſt had choſen gradually and almoſt imperceptibly to recede from the church of Rome; ſoftening the lines, rather than eraſing the figure, they made but very little alteration in the appearances of things. And the people ſeeing the exterior ſo little altered, hardly perceived the great changes they had made in the doctrines of their religion. The other party of a warmer temper, had more zeal and leſs policy. Several of them had fled from the perſe⯑cution in queen Mary's days; and they re⯑turned in thoſe of queen Elizabeth with minds ſufficiently heated by reſentment of their ſufferings, and by the perpetual diſputations which had exerciſed them all the while they were abroad. Abroad they learned an aver⯑ſion to the epiſcopal order, and to religious ce⯑remonies of every ſort; they were impregnated with an high ſpirit of liberty, and had a ſtrong tendency to the republican form of govern⯑ment. Queen Elizabeth had enough of the blood of Harry the eighth, to make her impati⯑ent of an oppoſition to her will, eſpecially in matters of religion, in which ſhe had an high opinion of her own knowledge. She adviſed with this party but very little in the alterations [135] which ſhe thought proper to make; and diſ⯑liking the notions, which they ſeemed to en⯑tertain in politics, ſhe kept them down during the whole courſe of her reign with an uniform and inflexible ſeverity.

However, the party was far enough from being deſtroyed. The merit of their ſufferings, the affected plainneſs of their dreſs, the gra⯑vity of their deportment, the uſe of ſcripture phraſes upon the moſt ordinary occaſions, and even their names, which had ſomething ſtrik⯑ing and venerable, as being borrowed from the old teſtament, or having a ſort of affected relation to religious matters, gained them a general eſteem amongſt ſober people of ordi⯑nary underſtandings. This party was very nu⯑merous; and their zeal made them yet more conſiderable than their numbers. They were commonly called puritans.

When king James came to the throne, he had a very fair opportunity of pacifying mat⯑ters; or at worſt he might have left them in the condition he found them; but it happen⯑ed quite otherwiſe. The unkingly diſputation at Hampton-court did more to encourage the puritans to perſevere in their opinions, by the notice which was taken of them, than all king James's logic, as a ſcholar, backed with all his power as a king, could do to ſuppreſs that party. They were perſecuted, but not deſtroyed; they were exaſperated, and yet left powerful: and a ſeverity was exerciſed [136] towards them, which at once expoſed the weakneſs and the ill intentions of the govern⯑ment.

In this ſtate things continued until the ac⯑ceſſion of Charles, when they were far from mending. This prince, endowed with many great virtues, had very few amiable qualities. As grave as the puritans themſelves, he could never engage the licentious part of the world in his favour; and that gravity being turned againſt the puritans, made him but the more odious to them. He gave himſelf up entirely to the church and churchmen; and he finiſh⯑ed his ill conduct in this reſpect, by conferring the firſt eccleſiaſtical dignity of the kingdom, and a great ſway in temporal affairs, upon doctor Laud. Hardly fit to direct a college, he was called to govern a kingdom. He was one of thoſe indiſcreet men of good inten⯑tions, who are the people in the world that make the worſt figure in politics. This man thought he did good ſervice to religion by a ſcrupulous enquiry into the manner in which the miniſters every where conformed to the regulations of the former reigns. He depriv⯑ed great numbers for nonconformity. Not ſatisfied with this, in which perhaps he was juſtifiable enough, if he had managed pru⯑dently, he made new regulations, and intro⯑duced on a people already abhorrent of the moſt neceſſary ceremonies, ceremonies of a new kind, of a moſt uſeleſs nature, and ſuch as [137] were even ridiculous, if the ſerious conſequen⯑ces which attended them may not intitle them to be conſidered as matters of importance.

Several great men, diſguſted at the proceed⯑ings of the court, and entertaining very rear⯑ſonable apprehenſions for the public liberty, to make themſelves popular, attached them⯑ſelves to the popular notions of religion, and affected to maintain them with great zeal. Others became puritans through principle. And now their affairs put on a reſpectable appear⯑ance; in proportion as they became of conſe⯑quence their ſufferings ſeemed to be more and more grievous; the ſeverities of Laud had raiſ⯑ed not terror as formerly, but a ſort of indig⯑nant hatred; and they became every day further and further from liſtening to the leaſt terms of agreement with ſurplices, organs, common-prayer, or table at the Weſt end of the church. As they who are ſerious about trifles, are ſerious indeed, their lives began to grow mi⯑ſerable to ſeveral on account of theſe ceremo⯑nies; and rather than be obliged to ſubmit to them, there was no part of the world to which they would not have fled with chearfulneſs.

Early in the reign of king James a number of perſons of this perſuaſion had ſought refuge in Holland; in which, though a country of the greateſt religious freedom in the world, they did not find themſelves better ſatisfied than they had been in England. There they [138] were tolerated indeed, but watched; their zeal began to have dangerous languors for want of oppoſition; and being without power or conſequence, they grew tired of the indo⯑lent ſecurity of their ſanctuary; they choſe to remove to a place where they ſhould ſee no ſuperior; and therefore they ſent an agent to England, who agreed with the council of Plymouth for a tract of land in America, within their juriſdiction, to ſettle in, after they had obtained from the king a privilege to do ſo. The Plymouth council was a com⯑pany, who by their charter had not only all the coaſt of North America from Nova Scotia to the Southern parts of Carolina, (the whole country being then diſtinguiſhed by the names of South and North Virginia) as a ſcene for their excluſive trade; but they had the entire property of the ſoil beſides.

This colony eſtabliſhed itſelf at a place which they called New Plymouth. They were but few in number; they landed in a bad ſeaſon; and they were not at all ſupported but from their private funds. The winter was premature, and terribly cold. The coun⯑try was all covered with wood, and afforded very little for the refreſhment, of perſons ſickly with ſuch a voyage, or for ſuſtenance of an infant people. Near half of them periſhed by the ſcurvy, by want, and the ſeverity of the climate; but they who ſurvived, not diſpirited [139] with their loſſes, nor with the hardſhips they were ſtill to endure, ſupported by the vigour which was then the character of Engliſh⯑men, and by the ſatisfaction of finding them⯑ſelves out of the reach of the ſpiritual arm, they reduced this ſavage country to yield them a tolerable livelihood, and by degrees a comfort⯑able ſubſiſtence.

This little eſtabliſhment was made in the year 1621. Several of their brethren in England labouring under the ſame difficulties, took the ſame methods of eſcaping from them. The colony of puritans inſenſibly increaſed; but as yet they had not extended themſelves much beyond New Plymouth. It was in the year 1629, that the colony began to flouriſh in ſuch a manner, that they ſoon became a conſiderable people. By the cloſe of the enſuing year they had built four towns, Salem, Dorcheſter, Charles-town, and Boſ⯑ton which has ſince become the capital of New-England. That enthuſiaſm which was reverſing every thing at home, and which is ſo dangerous in every ſettled community, proved of admirable ſervice here. It became a principle of life and vigour, that enabled them to conquer all the difficulties of a ſavage country. Their exact and ſober manners proved a ſubſtitute for a proper ſubordination, and regular form of government, which they had for ſome time wanted, and the want of which [140] in ſuch a country had otherwiſe been felt very ſeverely.

And now, not only they who found them⯑ſelves uneaſy at home upon a religious account, but ſeveral on account of the then profitable trade of furs and ſkins, and for the ſake of the fiſhery, were invited to ſettle in New Eng⯑land. But this colony received it's principal aſſiſtance from the diſcontent of ſeveral great men of the puritan party, who were it's pro⯑tectors, and who entertained a deſign of ſet⯑ling amongſt them in New England, if they ſhould fail in the meaſures they were purſuing for eſtabliſhing the liberty, and reforming the religion of their mother country. They ſollicit⯑ed grants in New England, and were at a great expence in ſettling them. Amongſt theſe paten⯑tees, we ſee the lords Brooke, Say and Seale, the Pelhams, the Hampdens, and the Pyms; the names which afterwards appeared with ſo much eclat upon a greater ſtage. It was ſaid that ſir Matthew Boynton, ſir William Conſtable, ſir Arthur Haſlerig, and Oliver Cromwell were actually upon the point of embarking for New England; when archbiſhop Laud, unwilling that ſo many objects of his hatred ſhould be removed out of the reach of his power, applied for, and obtained an order from the court to put a ſtop to theſe tranſpor⯑tations; and thus he kept forcibly from vent⯑ing itſelf that virulent humour which he lived [141] to ſee the deſtruction of himſelf, his order, his religion, his maſter, and the conſtitution of his country. However, he was not able to prevail ſo far as to hinder New England from receiving vaſt reinforcements, as well of the clergy who were deprived of their livings, or not admitted to them for nonconformity, as of ſuch of the laity who adhered to their opinions.

CHAP. III.

THE part of New England called Maſſa⯑chuſet's Bay, had now ſettlements very thick all along the ſea ſhore. Some ſlips from theſe were planted in the province of Main and New Hampſhire, being torn from the ori⯑ginal ſtock by the religious violence, which was the chief characteriſtic of the firſt ſettlers in New England. The patentees we laſt mentioned, principally ſettled upon the river Connecticut, and eſtabliſhed a ſeparate and in⯑dependent government there: ſome perſons having before that fixed themſelves upon the borders of this river, who fled from the ty⯑ranny ariſing from the religious differences which were moulded into the firſt principles of the Plymouth and Maſſachuſet's colonies.

For a conſiderable time the people of New England had hardly any that deſerved the name of a regular form of government. The [142] court took very little care of them. By their charter they were empowered to eſtabliſh ſuch an order, and to make ſuch laws as they pleaſed, provided they were not contrary to the laws of England. A point not eaſily ſettled, neither was there any means appointed for ſettling it. As they who compoſed the new colonies were generally perſons of a con⯑tracted way of thinking, and moſt violent enthuſiaſts, they imitated the Jewiſh polity in almoſt all reſpects; and adopted the books of Moſes as the law of the land. The firſt laws which they made were grounded upon them, and were therefore very ill ſuited to the cuſtoms, genius, or circumſtances of that country, and of thoſe times; for which reaſon they have ſince fallen into difuſe.

As to religion, it was, as I have ſaid, the puritan. In England this could hardly be conſidered as a formed ſect at the time of their emigration, ſince ſeveral who had re⯑ceived epiſcopal ordination were reckoned to belong to it. But as ſoon as they found them⯑ſelves at liberty in America, they fell into a way very little different from the independent mode. Every pariſh was ſovereign with⯑in itſelf. Synods indeed were occaſionally called, but they ſerved only to prepare and digeſt matters, which were to receive their ſanction from the approbation of the ſeveral churches. The ſynods could exerciſe no [143] branch of eccleſiaſtical juriſdiction, either as to doctrine or to diſcipline. They had no power of excommunication. They could only refuſe to hold communion with thoſe whoſe principles and practices they diſliked. The magiſtrates aſſiſted in thoſe ſynods, not only to hear, but to deliberate and determine. From ſuch a form as this, great religious freedom might, one would have imagined, be well expected. But the truth is, they had no idea at all of ſuch a freedom. The very doctrine of any ſort of toleration was ſo odious to the greater part, that one of the firſt perſecutions ſet up here was againſt a ſmall party which aroſe amongſt themſelves, who were hardy enough to maintain, that the civil magiſtrate had no lawful power to uſe com⯑pulſory meaſures in affairs of religion. After harraſſing theſe people by all the vexatious ways imaginable, they obliged them to fly out of their juriſdiction. Theſe emigrants ſet⯑tled themſelves to the Southward, near Cape Cod, where they formed a new government upon their own principles, and built a town, which they called Providence. This has ſince made the fourth and ſmalleſt, but not the worſt inhabited of the New England govern⯑ments, called Rhode Iſland, from an iſland of that name which forms a part of it. As a perſecution gave riſe to the firſt ſettlement of New England, ſo a ſubſequent perſecution in this [144] colony gave riſe to new colonies, and this facilitated the ſpreading of the people over the country.

If men, merely for the moderation of their ſentiments, were expoſed to ſuch ſevere treat⯑ment, it was not to be expected that others ſhould eſcape unpuniſhed. The very firſt colony had hardly ſet it's foot on ſhore in America, when finding that ſome amongſt them were falſe brethren, and ventured to make uſe of the common prayer, they found means of making the country ſo uneaſy to them, that they were glad to fly back to England.

As ſoon as they began to think of making laws, I find no leſs than five about matters of religion; all contrived, and not only con⯑trived, but executed in ſome reſpects with ſo much rigour, that the perſecution which drove the puritans out of England, might be conſidered as great lenity and indulgence in the compariſon. For in the firſt of theſe laws, they deprive every one who does not communicate with their eſtabliſhed church, of the right to his freedom, or a vote in the election of any of their magiſtrates. In the ſecond, they ſentence to baniſhment any who ſhould oppoſe the fourth commandment, or deny the validity of infant baptiſm, or the authority of magiſtrates. In the third, they condemn quakers to baniſhment, and make it [145] capital for them to return. And not ſtopping at the offenders, they lay heavy fines upon all who ſhould bring them into the province, or even harbour them for an hour. In the fourth they provide baniſhment, and death in caſe of return, for jeſuits and Popiſh prieſts of every denomination. In the fifth they de⯑cree death to any who ſhall worſhip images. After they had provided ſuch a complete code of perſecution, they were not long without op⯑portunities of reading bloody lectures upon it. The quakers, warmed with that ſpirit which animates the beginning of moſt ſects, had ſpread their doctrines all over the Britiſh do⯑minions in Europe, and began at laſt to ſpread them with equal zeal in America. The clergy and the magiſtrates in New-England took the alarm; they ſeized upon ſome of thoſe people, they ſet them in the ſtocks and in the pillory without effect; they ſcourged, they impriſoned, they baniſhed them; they treated all thoſe who ſeemed to commiſerate their ſufferings with great rigour; but their perſecution had no other effect than to in⯑flame their own cruelty and the zeal of the ſufferers. The conſtancy of the quakers under their ſufferings begot a pity and eſteem for their perſons, and an approbation of their doctrines; their proſelytes increaſed; the quakers returned as faſt as they were baniſhed; and the fury of the ruling party was raiſed to [146] ſuch a height, that they proceeded to the moſt ſanguinary extremities. Upon the law they had made, they ſeized at different times upon five of thoſe who had returned from baniſh⯑ment, condemned and hanged them. It is unknown how far their madneſs had extend⯑ed, if an order from the king and council in England about the year 1661 had not inter⯑poſed to reſtrain them.

It is a taſk not very agreeable to inſiſt upon ſuch matters; but in reality, things of this nature form the greateſt part of the hiſtory of New England, for along time. They perſecuted the anabaptiſts, who were no inconſiderable body amongſt them, with almoſt an equal ſe⯑verity. In ſhort, this people, who in England could not bear being chaſtiſed with rods, had no ſooner got free from their fetters than they ſcourged their fellow refugees with ſcor⯑pions; though the abſurdity, as well as the injuſtice of ſuch a proceeding in them, might ſtare them in the face!

One may obſerve, that men of all perſuaſions confine the word perſecution, and all the ill ideas of injuſtice and violence which belong to it, ſolely to thoſe ſeverities which are exer⯑ciſed upon themſelves, or upon the party they are inclined to favour. Whatever is inflicted upon others, is a juſt puniſhment upon obſti⯑nate impiety, and not a reſtraint upon con⯑ſcientious differences. The perſecution we [147] have ourſelves ſuffered, is a good ground for retaliation againſt an old enemy; and if one of our friends and fellow ſufferers ſhould prove ſo wicked as to quit our cauſe, and weaken it by his diſſention, he deſerves to be puniſhed yet more than the old enemy him⯑ſelf. Beſides this, the zealous never fail to draw political inferences from religious tenets, by which they intereſt the magiſtrate in the diſpute; and then to the heat of a religious fervour is added the fury of a party zeal. All intercourſe is cut off between the parties. They loſe all knowledge of each other, tho' countrymen and neighbours, and are there⯑fore eaſily impoſed upon with the moſt ab⯑ſurd ſtories concerning each others opinions and practices. They judge of the hatred of the adverſe ſide by their own. Then fear is added to their hatred; and preventive injuries ariſe from their fear. The remembrance of the paſt, the dread of the future the preſent ill, will join together to urge them forward to the moſt violent courſes.

Such is the manner of proceeding of re⯑ligious parties towards each other; and in this reſpect the New England people are not worſe than the reſt of mankind, nor was their ſeve⯑rity any juſt matter of reflection upon that mode of religion which they profeſs. No religion whatſoever, true or falſe, can excuſe it's own members, or accuſe thoſe of any other [148] upon the ſcore of perſecution. The principles which give riſe to it are common to all man⯑kind, and they influence them as they are men, and not as they belong to this or that perſuaſion. In all perſuaſions the bigots are perſecutors; the men of a cool and reaſonable piety are favourers of toleration; becauſe the former ſort of men not taking the pains to be acquainted with the grounds of their adver⯑ſaries tenets, conceive them to be ſo abſurd and monſtrous, that no man of ſenſe can give into them in good earneſt. For which reaſon they are convinced that ſome oblique bad motive induces them to pretend to the belief of ſuch doctrines, and to the maintain⯑ing of them with obſtinacy. This is a very general principle in all religious differences, and it is the corner ſtone of all perſecution.

Beſides the diſputes with thoſe of another denomination, the independents were for a long time harraſſed with one in the bowels of their own churches. The ſtale diſpute about grace and works produced diſſentions, riots, and almoſt a civil war in the colony. The famous ſir Henry Vane the younger, an en⯑thuſiaſtic, giddy, turbulent man, of a no very good diſpoſition, came hither with ſome of the adventurers; and rather than remain idle, plaid at ſmall games in New England, where the people had choſen him governor. It is not hard to conceive, how ſuch a man, at the [149] head of ſuch a people, and engaged in ſuch controverſy, could throw every thing into con⯑fuſion. In the very height of this hopeful diſpute they had a war upon their hands with ſome of the Indian nations. Their country was terribly harraſſed, and numbers were every day murdered by the incurſions of the enemy. All this time they had an army in readineſs for action, which they would not ſuffer to march even to defend their own lives and poſſeſſions, becauſe ‘"many of the officers and ſoldiers were under a covenant of works."’

CHAP. IV.

WHEN the New England puritans be⯑gan to breathe a little from theſe diſ⯑ſentions, and had their hands tied up from perſecuting the quakers and anabaptiſts, they fell not long after into another madneſs of a yet more extraordinary and dangerous kind, which, like ſome epidemical diſeaſe, ran through the whole country, and which is perhaps one of the moſt extraordinary delu⯑ſions recorded in hiſtory. This tragedy began in the year 1692.

There is a town in New England, which they fanatically called Salem. One Paris was the miniſter there. He had two daughters [150] troubled with convulſions; which being at⯑tended with ſome of thoſe extraordinary ap⯑pearances, not unfrequent in ſuch diſorders, he imagined they were bewitched. As ſoon as he concluded upon witchcraft as the cauſe of the diſtemper, the next enquiry was how to find out the perſon who had bewitched them. He caſt his eyes upon an Indian ſervant woman of his own, whom he frequently beat, and uſed her with ſuch ſeverity, that ſhe at laſt confeſſed herſelf the witch, and was commit⯑ted to gaol, where ſhe lay for a long time.

The imaginations of the people were not yet ſufficiently heated to make a very formal buſineſs of this; therefore they were content to diſcharge her from priſon after a long con⯑finement, and to ſell her as a ſlave for her fees.

However, as this example ſet the diſcourſe about witchcraft afloat, ſome people, troubled with a ſimilar complaint, began to fancy them⯑ſelves bewitched too. Perſons in an ill ſtate of health are naturally fond of finding out cauſes for their diſtempers; eſpecially ſuch as are extraordinary, and call the eyes of the public upon them. There was perhaps ſome⯑thing of malice in the affair beſides. For one of the firſt objects whom they fixed upon was Mr. Burroughs, a gentleman who had former⯑ly been miniſter of Salem; but upon ſome of the religious diſputes which divided the coun⯑try, [151] he differed with his flock, and left them. This man was tried with two others for witchcraft by a ſpecial commiſſion of oyer and terminer, directed to ſome of the gentle⯑men of the beſt fortunes, and reputed to be of the beſt underſtandings in the country. Before theſe judges, a piece of evidence was delivered, the moſt weak and childiſh, the moſt repug⯑nant to itſelf, and to common ſenſe, that per⯑haps ever was known upon any ſerious occa⯑ſion. Yet by thoſe judges, upon that evidence, and the verdict founded upon it, this miniſter, a man of a moſt unexceptionable character, and two others, men irreproachable in their lives, were ſentenced to die, and accord⯑ingly hanged. Then theſe victims of the popular madneſs were ſtript naked, and their bodies thrown into a pit, half covered with earth, and left to the diſcretion of birds and wild beaſts. Upon the ſame evidence in a little time after ſixteen more ſuffered death, the greateſt part of them dying in the moſt exemplary ſentiments of piety, and with the ſtrongeſt profeſſions of their innocence. One man refuſing to plead, ſuffered in the cruel manner the law directs on that occaſion, by a ſlow preſſure to death.

The imaginations of the people, powerfully affected by theſe ſhocking examples, turned upon nothing but the moſt gloomy and horrid ideas. The moſt ordinary and innocent [152] actions were metamorphoſed into magical ceremonies, and the fury of the people aug⯑mented in proportion as this gloom of imagi⯑nation increaſed. The flame ſpread with rage and rapidity into every part of country. Neither the tenderneſs of youth, nor the infirmity of age, nor the honour of the ſex, nor the ſacredneſs of the miniſtry, nor the re⯑ſpectable condition of fortune or character, was the leaſt protection. Children of eleven years old were taken up for ſorceries. The women were ſtripped in the moſt ſhame⯑ful manner to ſearch them for magical teats. The ſcorbutic ſtains common on the ſkins of old perſons, were called the devil's pinches. This was indiſputable evidence againſt them. As ſuch they admitted every idle flying re⯑port, and even ſtories of ghoſts, which they honoured with a name, not found in our law books. They called them Spectral Evidence.

What theſe extraordinary teſtimonies want⯑ed was compleated by the torture; by which a number of theſe unhappy victims were driven to confeſs whatever their tormentors thought proper to dilate to them. Some women owned they had been lain with by the devil, and other things equally ridiculous and abominable.

It is not difficult to imagine the deplorable ſtate of this province, when all mens lives de⯑pended upon the caprice and folly of diſeaſed [153] and diſtracted minds; when revenge and malice had a full opportunity of wreaking themſelves in the moſt dreadful and bloody manner, by an inſtrument that was always in readineſs, and to which the public phren⯑zy gave a certain and dangerous effect. What was a yet worſe circumſtance, the wretches who ſuffered the torture, being not more preſ⯑ſed to own themſelves guilty than to diſco⯑ver their aſſociates and accomplices, unable to give any real account, named people at random, who were immediately taken up, and treated in the ſame cruel manner upon this extorted evidence. An univerſal terror and conſternation ſeized upon all. Some prevent⯑ed accuſation, and charged themſelves with witchcraft, and ſo eſcaped death. Others fled the province; and many more were pre⯑paring to fly. The priſons were crouded; people were executed daily; yet the rage of the accuſers was as freſh as ever, and the number of the witches and the bewitch⯑ed increaſed every hour. A magiſtrate who had committed forty perſons for this crime, fatigued with ſo diſagreeable an em⯑ployment, and aſhamed of the ſhare he had in it, refuſed to grant any more warrants. He was himſelf immediately accuſed of ſorcery; and thought himſelf happy in leaving his fa⯑mily and fortune, and eſcaping with life out of the province. A jury ſtruck with the af⯑fecting [154] manner, and the ſolemn aſſurances of innocence of a woman brought before them, ventured to acquit her, but the judges ſent them in again; and in an imperious manner forced them to find the woman guilty, and ſhe was hanged immediately.

The magiſtrates and miniſters, whoſe pru⯑dence ought to have been employed in heal⯑ing this diſtemper, and aſſuaging it's fury, threw in new combuſtible matter. They encouraged the accuſers; they aſſiſted at the examinations, and they extorted the confeſſi⯑ons of witches. None ſignalized their zeal more upon this occaſion than Sir William Phips the governor, a New England man, of the loweſt birth, and yet meaner education; who having raiſed a ſudden fortune by a lucky accident, was knighted, and afterwards made governor of this province. Doctor Encreaſe Mather, and Doctor Cotton Mather, the pillars of the New England church, were equally ſanguine. Several of the moſt popu⯑lar miniſters after twenty executions had been made, addreſſed Sir William Phips with thanks for what he had done and with ex⯑hortations to proceed in ſo laudable a work.

The accuſers encouraged in this manner did not know where to ſtop, nor how to proceed. They were at a loſs for objects. They began at laſt to accuſs the judges themſelves. What was worſe, the neareſt relations of Mr. En⯑creaſe [155] Mather were involved, and witchcraft began even to approach the governor's own family. It was now high time to give things another turn. The accuſers were diſcou⯑raged by authority. One hundred and fifty who lay in priſon, were diſcharged. Two hun⯑dred more were under accuſation; they were paſſed over; and thoſe who had receiv⯑ed ſentence of death, were reprieved, and in due time pardoned. A few cool moments ſhewed them the groſs and ſtupid error that had carried them away, and which was utterly inviſible to them all the while they were engaged in this ſtrange proſecution. They grew heartily aſhamed of what they had done. But what was infinitely mortifying, the quakers took occaſion to attribute all this miſchief to a judgment on them for their perſecution. A general faſt was appointed; praying God to pardon all the errors of his ſervants and people in a late tragedy, raiſed amongſt them by Satan and his inſtruments.

This was the laſt paroxiſm of the puritanic enthuſiaſm in New England. This violent fit carried off ſo much of that humour, that the people there are now grown ſomewhat like the reſt of mankind in their manners, and have much abated of their perſecuting ſpirit.

It is not an incurious ſpeculation to conſi⯑der theſe remarkable ſallies of the human mind, out of it's ordinary courſe. Whole na⯑tions [156] are often carried away by what would never influence one man of ſenſe. The cauſe is originally weak, and to be ſuppreſſed with⯑out great difficulty; but then it's weakneſs prevents any ſuſpicion of the miſchief, until it is too late to think of ſuppreſſing it at all. In ſuch caſes the more weak, improbable, and inconſiſtent any ſtory is, the more powerful and general is it's effect, being helped on by deſign in ſome, by folly in others, and kept up by contagion in all. The more extraordinary the deſign, the more dreadful the crime, the leſs we examine into the proofs. The charge and the evidence of ſome things is the ſame. However, in ſome time the minds of people cool, and they are aſtoniſhed how they ever came to be ſo affected.

CHAP. V.

THE events in the hiſtory of New England, their diſputes with their go⯑vernors, the variations in their charters, and their wars with the Indians, afford very little uſeful or agreeable matter. In their wars there was very little conduct ſhewn; and though they prevailed in the end, in a man⯑ner to the extirpation of that race of people, [157] yet the Indians had always great advantages in the beginning; and the meaſures of the Engliſh to oppoſe them, were generally injudiciouſly taken. Their manner too of treating them in the beginning was ſo indiſcreet (for it was in general no worſe) as to provoke them as much to thoſe wars, as the French influence has done ſince that time.

The country which we call New England, is in length ſomething leſs than three hundred miles; at the broadeſt part it is about two hun⯑dred, if we carry it on to thoſe tracts which are poſſeſſed by the French; but if we regard the part we have ſettled, in general, it does not extend any where very much above ſixty miles from the ſea coaſt.

This country lies between the 41ſt and 45th degrees of North latitude. Though it is ſituated almoſt ten degrees nearer the ſun than we are in England, yet the winter begins earlier, laſts longer, and is incom⯑parably more ſevere than it is with us. The ſummer again is extremely hot, and more fer⯑vently ſo than in places which lie under the ſame parallels in Europe. However, both the heat and the cold are now far more mo⯑derate, and the conſtitution of the air in all reſpects far better than our people found it at their firſt ſettlement. The clearing away the woods, and the opening the ground every [158] where, has, by giving a free paſſage to the air, carried off thoſe noxious vapours which were ſo prejudicial to the health of the firſt inhabi⯑tants. The temper of the ſky is generally both in ſummer and in winter very ſteddy and ſerene. Two months frequently paſs without the appearance of a cloud. Their rains are heavy and ſoon over.

The ſoil of New England is various, but beſt as you approach the Southward. It affords excellent meadows in the low grounds, and very good paſture almoſt every where. They commonly allot at the rate of two acres to the maintenance of a cow. The meadows which they reckon the beſt, yield about a ton of hay by the acre. Some produce two tons, but the hay is rank and ſour. This country is not very favourable to any of the European kinds of grain. The wheat is ſub⯑ject to be blaſted; the barley is an hungry grain, and the oats are lean and chaffy. But the Indian corn, which makes the general food of the loweſt ſort of people, flouriſhes here. This, as it is a ſpecies of grain not ſo univerſally known in England, and as it is that of all others which yields the greateſt increaſe, I ſhall give a ſhort deſcription of it.

This plant, which the native Americans call weachin, is known in ſome of the South⯑ern parts of America by the name of maize. [159] The ear is about a ſpan in length, conſiſting of eight rows of the corn, or more, according to the goodneſs of the ground, with about thirty grains in each row. On the top of the grain hangs a ſort of flower, not unlike a taſſel of ſilk, of various colours, white, blue, greeniſh, black, ſpeckled, ſtriped, which gives this corn as it grows a very beautiful appearance. The grain is of all the colours which prevail in the flower, but moſt frequently yellow and white. The ſtalks grow ſix or eight feet high, and are of a conſiderable thickneſs. They are leſs high in New England, and other Northern countries, than in Virginia, and thoſe which lie more to the Southward. They are jointed like a cane, and at each of theſe joints ſhoot out a number of leaves like flags, that make very good fodder for the cattle. The ſtalk is full of a juice, of which a ſyrup as ſweet as ſugar has been frequently made.

This grain is generally ſowed in little ſquares, and requires a very attentive cultiva⯑tion. The ground in which it flouriſhes moſt is light and ſandy, with a ſmall intermixture of loam. About a peck of ſeed is ſufficient for an acre, which at a medium produces about twenty-five buſhels. The New England peo⯑ple not only make bread of this grain, but they malt and brew it into a beer, which is not contemptible. However, the greater part of their beer is made of molaſſes, hopped; with [160] the addition ſometimes of the tops of the ſpruce fir infuſed.

They raiſe in New England, beſides this and other ſpecies of grain, a large quantity of flax, and have made eſſays upon hemp, that have been far from unſucceſsful. An acre of their Cow-pen land produces about a ton of this commodity; but the land is pretty ſoon exhauſ⯑ted. This plant probably requires a climate more uniformly warm than New England; for though the greater part of our hemp is brought to us from Northern ports, yet it is in the more Southerly provinces of Ruſſia, that the beſt which comes to our market is produced.

Their horned cattle are very numerous in New England, and ſome of them very large. Oxen have been killed there of eighteen hun⯑dred weight. Hogs likewiſe are numerous, and particularly excellent; and ſome ſo large as to weigh twenty-five ſcore. They have beſides, a breed of ſmall horſes, which are ex⯑tremely hardy. They pace naturally, though in no very graceful or eaſy manner, but with ſuch ſwiftneſs, and for ſo long a continuance, as muſt appear almoſt incredible to thoſe who have not experienced it. They have a great number of ſheep too, and of a good kind. The wool is of a ſtaple ſufficiently long, but it is not near ſo fine as that of England. How⯑ever, they manufacture a great deal of it very ſucceſsfully. I have ſeen cloths made there, [161] which were of as cloſe and firm a contexture, tho' not ſo fine, as our beſt drabs; they were thick, and, as far as I could judge, ſuperior for the ordinary wear of country people, to any thing we make in England.

CHAP. VI.

THERE are in this country many gen⯑tlemen of conſiderable landed eſtates, which they let to farmers, or manage by their ſtewards or overſeers; but the greater part of the people is compoſed of a ſubſtantial yeo⯑manry who cultivate their own freeholds, without a dependence upon any but provi⯑dence and their own induſtry. Theſe free⯑holds generally paſs to their children in the way of gavelkind; which keeps them from being almoſt ever able to emerge out of their original happy mediocrity. This manner of inheriting has here an additional good effect. It makes the people the more ready to go backward into the uncultivated parts of the country, where land is to be had at an eaſy rate and in larger portions. The people by their being generally freeholders, and by their form of go⯑vernment, have a very free, bold, and republican ſpirit. In no part of the world are the ordinary ſort ſo independent, or poſſeſs ſo many of the conveniencies of life; they are uſed from [162] their infancy to the exerciſe of arms; and they have a militia, which for a militia is by no means contemptible; and certainly if theſe men were ſomewhat more regularly trained, and in better ſubordination, it would be im⯑poſſible to find in any country, or in any time ancient or modern, an army better conſtituted than that which New England can furniſh. This too is much the beſt peopled of any of our colonies upon the continent. It is judged that the four provinces which it compriſes, contain about three hundred and fifty thou⯑ſand ſouls, including a very ſmall number of blacks and Indians; the reſt are whites. Douglaſs, who ſeems to be well informed in this point, proportions them as follows,

Theſe four governments are confederated for their common defence. We have ſhewn how theſe ſeveral governments have ariſen. The moſt conſiderable of them for riches and number of people, though not for extent of territorry, is Maſſachuſets bay. This pro⯑vince like the others had originally a power of [163] chuſing every one of their own magiſtrates; the governor, the council, the aſſembly,—all; and of making ſuch laws as they thought pro⯑per, without ſending them home for the ap⯑probation of the crown. But being accuſed of having abuſed this freedom, in the latter end of the reign of Charles the ſecond, they were deprived of it by a judgment in a quo warranto in the king's bench in England. They remained from that time to the revolu⯑tion without any charter. Some time after the revolution they received a new one, which though very favourable, was much inferior to the extenſive privileges of the former charter, which indeed were too extenſive for a colo⯑ny, and what left little more than a nominal dependence on the mother country, and the crown itſelf. But now, the governor, lieu⯑tenant governor, and the chief places of the law and in the revenue, are in the diſpoſal of the crown; ſo is the militia; and tho' the coun⯑cil is choſen by the repreſentatives of the people, yet the governor has a negative which gives him an influence, ſufficient to preſerve the prerogative entire. Appeals for ſums above three hundred pounds are admitted to the king and council, and all laws paſſed here muſt be remitted to England; where if they do not receive a negative from the crown in three years, they are to be conſidered as valid, and are to have the effect of laws; which they [164] are to have likewiſe until the time that the king's reſolution is known. But one point has been long and reſolutely diſputed in this colony; the grant of a certain ſalary to their governor. Many attempts have been made to induce them to this meaſure; but to no effect. They think a dependence on the people for his ſalary the moſt effectual method of re⯑ſtraining the governor from any unpopular acts. To the Maſſachuſets government is united the ancient colony of Plymouth, and the territory which is called Main.

The colony of Connecticut, which lies upon a river of the ſame name to the South of this province, has preſerved it's ancient privileges, which are now as conſiderable as thoſe of Maſſachuſets were formerly. At the time that the charter of the former was attack⯑ed, that of this government was threatened with the ſame fate. But they agreed to ſub⯑mit to the king's pleaſure; therefore, no judgment was given againſt them; and being found in this condition at the revolution, it was judged that they were in full poſſeſſion of their old charter, and have ſo continued ever ſince.

The third and ſmalleſt of the provinces which compoſe New England, is Rhode Iſland. This conſiſts of a ſmall iſland of that name, and the old plantation of Providence. Theſe united plantations had a charter the ſame with that of Connecticut, and they have [165] preſerved it by the ſame method. In this province is an unlimited freedom of religion, agreeable to the firſt principles of it's founda⯑tion; and though very ſmall, it is from thence extremely well peopled.

New Hampſhire, the fourth province, is much the largeſt of them all; but not inha⯑bited in proportion. This is more Northerly for the greater part than any of the reſt. It is a royal government; that is, the crown has the nomination of all the officers of juſtice and of the militia, and the appointment of the council.

CHAP. VII.

THERE is not one of our ſettlements which can be compared in the abun⯑dance of people, the number of conſiderable and trading towns, and the manufactures that are carried on in them, to New England. The moſt populous and flouriſhing parts of the mother country hardly make a better ap⯑pearance. Our provinces to the Southward on this continent are recommendable for the generous warmth of the climate, and a luxu⯑riance of ſoil which naturally throws up a vaſt variety of beautiful and rich vegetable produc⯑tions; but New England is the firſt in Ame⯑rica, for cultivation, for the number of people, and for the order which reſults from both.

[166]Though there are in all the provinces of New England large towns which drive a con⯑ſiderable trade, the only one which can deſerve to be much inſiſted upon in a deſign like ours, is Boſton; the capital of Maſſachu⯑ſet's bay, the firſt city of New England, and of all North America. This city is ſituated on a peninſula, at the bottom of a fine capaci⯑ous and ſafe harbour, which is defended from the outrages of the ſea, by a number of iſlands, and rocks which appear above water. It is entered but by one ſafe paſſage; and that is narrow, and covered by the cannon of a regu⯑lar and very ſtrong fortreſs. The harbour is more than ſufficient for the great number of veſſels, which carry on the extenſive trade of Boſton. At the bottom of the bay is a noble pier, near two thouſand feet in length, along which on the North ſide extends a row of warehouſes. The head of this pier joins the principal ſtreet of the town, which is, like moſt of the others, ſpacious and well built. The town lies at the bottom of the harbour, and forms a very agreeable view. It has a town houſe, where the courts meet, and the exchange is kept, large, and of a very tolerable taſte of architecture. Round the exchange, are a great number of well furniſhed bookſel⯑lers ſhops, which find employment for five printing preſſes. There are ten churches within this town; and it contains at leaſt twenty thouſand inhabitants.

[167]That we may be enabled to form ſome judgment of the wealth of this city, we muſt obſerve that from Chriſtmas 1747, to Chriſt⯑mas 1748, five hundred veſſels cleared out, from this port only, for a foreign trade; and four hundred and thirty were entered inwards; to ſay nothing of coaſting and fiſhing veſſels, both of which are extremely numerous, and ſaid to be equal in number to the others. In⯑deed the trade of New England is great, as it ſupplies a large quantity of goods from within itſelf; but it is yet greater, as the people of this country are in a manner the carriers for all the colonies of North America and the Weſt-Indies, and even for ſome parts of Europe. They may be conſidered in this reſpect as the Dutch of America.

The commodities which the country yields are principally maſts and yards, for which they contract largely with the royal navy; pitch, tar and turpentine; ſtaves, lumber, boards, all ſorts of proviſions, beef, pork, butter and cheeſe, in large quantities; horſes and live cattle; Indian corn and peaſe; cyder, apples, hemp and flax. Their peltry trade is not very conſiderable. The have a very noble cod fiſhery upon their coaſt, which employs a vaſt number of their people; they are ena⯑bled by this to export annually above thirty-two thouſand quintals of choice cod fiſh, to Spain, Italy, and the Mediterranean, and [168] about nineteen thouſand quintals of the refuſe ſort to the Weſt-Indies, as food for the negroes. The quantity of ſpirits, which they diſtil in Boſton from the molaſſes they bring in from all parts of the Weſt-Indies, is as ſurpriſing as the cheap rare at which they vend it, which is under two ſhillings a gallon. With this they ſupply almoſt all the conſumption of our colonies in North America, the In⯑dian trade there, the vaſt demands of their own and the Newfoundland fiſhery, and in great meaſure thoſe of the African trade; but they are more famous for the quantity and cheapneſs, than for the excellency of their rum.

They are almoſt the only one of our colo⯑nies which have much of the woollen and linen manufactures. Of the former they have nearly as much as ſuffices for their own cloath⯑ings. It is a cloſe and ſtrong, but a coarſe ſtubborn ſort of cloth. A number of preſ⯑byterians from the North of Ireland, driven thence, as it is ſaid, by the ſeverity of their landlords, from an affinity in religious ſenti⯑ments choſe New England as their place of refuge. Thoſe people brought with them their ſkill in the linen manufactures, and meet⯑ing very large encouragement, they exerciſed it to the great advantage of this colony. At preſent they make large quantities, and of a very good kind; their principal ſettlement is [169] in a town, which in compliment to them is called Londonderry. Hats are made in New England which in a clandeſtine way find a good vent in all the other colonies. The ſetting up theſe manufactures has been in a great mea⯑ſure a matter neceſſary to them; for as they have not been properly encouraged in ſome ſtaple commodity, by which they might com⯑municate with their mother country, while they were cut off from all other reſources, they muſt either have abandoned the country, or have found means of employing their own ſkill and induſtry to draw out of it the neceſ⯑ſaries of life. The ſame neceſſity, together with their convenience for building and man⯑ning ſhips, has made them the carriers for the other colonies.

The buſineſs of ſhip-building is one of the moſt conſiderable which Boſton or the other ſea-port towns in New England carry on. Ships are ſometimes built here upon commiſ⯑ſion; but frequently, the merchants of New England have them conſtructed upon their own account; and loading them with the pro⯑duce of the colony, naval ſtores, fiſh, and fiſh-oil principally, they ſend them out upon a tra⯑ding voyage to Spain, Portugal, or the Mediter⯑ranean, where having diſpoſed of their cargo, they make what advantage they can by freight, until ſuch time as they can ſell the veſſel herſelf to advantage; which they ſeldom fail [170] to do in a reaſonable time. They receive the value of the veſſel, as well as of the freight of the goods, which from time to time they car⯑ried, and of the cargo with which they ſailed originally, in bills of exchange upon London; for as the people of New England have no commodity to return for the value of above a hundred thouſand pounds, which they take in various ſorts of goods from England, but ſome naval ſtores, and thoſe in no great quan⯑tities, they are obliged to keep the ballance ſomewhat even by this circuitous commerce, which though not carried on with Great Britain, nor with Britiſh veſſels, yet centers init's pro⯑fits, where all the money which the colonies can make in any manner, muſt center at laſt.

I know that complaints have been made of this trade, principally becauſe the people of New England, not ſatisfied with carrying out their own produce, become carriers for the other colonies, particularly for Virginia and Maryland, from whom they take tobacco, which, in contempt of the act of navigation, they carry directly to the foreign market. Where, not having the duty and accumulated charges to which the Britiſh merchant is liable to pay, they in a manner wholly out him of the trade. Again, our ſugar colonies com⯑plain as loudly, that the vaſt trade which New England drives in lumber, live ſtock and proviſions with the French and Dutch [171] ſugar iſlands, particularly with the former, enables theſe iſlands, together with the inter⯑nal advantages they poſſeſs, greatly to under⯑ſell the Engliſh plantations. That the returns which the people of New England make from theſe iſlands being in ſugar, or the pro⯑ductions of ſugar, ſyrups and molaſſes, the rum which is thence diſtilled prevents the ſale of our Weſt-India rum. That this trade proves doubly diſadvantageous to our ſugar iſlands; firſt, as it enables the French to ſell their ſugars cheaper than they could other⯑wiſe afford to do; and then, as it finds them a market for their molaſſes, and other refuſe of ſugars, for which otherwiſe they could find no market at all; becauſe rum interferes with brandy, a conſiderable manufacture of Old France.

Theſe conſiderations were the ground of a complaint made by the iſlands to the legiſla⯑ture in England ſome years ago. They deſired that the exportation of lumber, &c. to the French colonies, and the importation of ſu⯑gars and molaſſes from thence, might be entirely prohibited. This was undoubtedly a very nice point to ſettle. On one hand, the growth of the French Weſt-Indies was mani⯑feſt and alarming, and it was not to be thought that the French would ever wink at this trade, if it had not been of the greateſt ad⯑vantage to them. On the other hand, the [172] Northern colonies declared, that if they were deprived of ſo great a branch of their trade, it muſt neceſſitate them to the eſtabliſh⯑ment of manufactures. For if they were cut off from their foreign trade, they never could purchaſe in England the many things for the uſe or the ornament of life, which they have from thence. Beſides this, the French deprived of the proviſion and lumber of New England, muſt of neceſſity take every meaſure to be ſupplied from their own colonies, which would anſwer their purpoſes better, if they could accompliſh it, at the ſame time that it would deprive the New England people of a large and profitable branch of their trade.

Theſe points, and many more, were fully diſcuſſed upon both ſides. The legiſlature took a middle courſe. They did not entirely pro⯑hibit the carrying of lumber to the French iſlands, but they laid a conſiderable duty upon whatever rum, ſugars, or molaſſes they ſhould import from thence, to enhance by this means the price of lumber, and other neceſſaries to the French, and by laying them under diffi⯑culties, to ſet the Engliſh ſugar plantations in ſome meaſure upon an equal footing with theirs.

This was undoubtedly a very prudent regu⯑lation. For though it was urged, that the Miſſiſippi navigation was ſo bad, that there was no proſpect that the French could ever [173] be ſupplied with lumber and proviſions from thence; and that there were no ſnows in Louiſiana, the melting of which might facili⯑tate the tranſportation of lumber into that river, yet it was by no means ſafe to truſt to that, ſo as utterly to deſtroy a trade of our own, which employed ſo much ſhipping, and ſo many ſailors. Becauſe we have a thouſand inſtances, wherein the driving people to the laſt ſtreights, and putting them under the tuition of ſuch a maſter as abſolute neceſ⯑ſity, has taught them inventions, and excited them to an induſtry, which have compaſſed things as much regretted at laſt, as they were unforeſeen at firſt.

Though no great ſnows fall in the South⯑ern parts of Louiſiana, yet to the Northward a great deal falls, and not only the Miſſiſippi, but the number of other great rivers which it receives overflow annually, and they can be in no want of timber convenient enough to navigation. And though the paſſage to the French iſlands be for ſuch a great way to the windward, as to bring them theſe commodi⯑ties in a more tedious manner, and at a dearer rate, is it not much better that they ſhould have them cheap from us than dear from themſelves? Nor perhaps would even this difficulty, which is indeed much leſs than it is repreſented, bring down the French to the par of our ſugar colonies, loaded as they are [174] with taxes, groaning under the preſſure of many grievances, and deformed by an infinite multitude of abuſes and enormities; nor can they with reaſon or juſtice hope for a cure of the evils which they ſuffer, partly from errors of their own, and partly from miſtakes in England, at the expence of the trade of their ſiſter colonies on the continent of America, who are entirely guiltleſs of their ſufferings; nor is it by reſtraints on their trade, but by an effectual and judicious encouragement of their own, that they can hope to remedy theſe evils, and rival the French eſtabliſhments.

The French, in permitting us to ſupply them, it is true, give us a proof that they have advantages from this trade; but this is no proof at all that we derive none from it; for on that ſuppoſition no trade could be mutually beneficial. Nor is it at all certain, as it has been ſuggeſted, that if we left their refuſe of ſu⯑gars upon their hands, that they could turn them to no profit. If the council of com⯑merce could be made to ſee diſtinctly that this trade could not prejudice the ſale of their brandy, and would only make the trade of rum change hands, as the caſe probably would be; and if they could ſhew, as they might, what a loſs it muſt be to them entirely to throw away a conſiderable part of the produce of their lands, and which was formerly ſo valu⯑able [175] to them, there is no doubt but the court would give ſufficient encouragement to their own plantations to diſtil rum, and to vend it in ſuch a manner as might the leaſt preju⯑dice the brandies of France; and then, in⯑ſtead of ſending us molaſſes, as they could di⯑ſtil the ſpirit far cheaper than our iſlands, they would ſend us the ſpirit itſelf; and we may know by experience, eſpecially in that part of the world, how inſufficient all regulations are to prevent a counterband, which would be ſo gainful to particulars.

After all, are we certain, that the French would truſt for the ſupply of their iſlands to Louiſiana, or to the precarious ſupplies from Canada? would they not redouble their appli⯑cation, now made neceſſary, to Cape Breton? what experiments would they not make in Cayenne for the timber trade? they would certainly try every method, and probably would ſucceed in ſome of their trials. Re⯑ſtraints upon trade are nice things; and ought to be well conſidered. Great care ought to be taken in all ſuch, how we ſacrifice the in⯑tereſts of one part of our territories to thoſe of another; and it would be a miſtake of the moſt fatal conſequence, if we came to think that the ſhipping, ſeamen, commodities, or wealth of the Britiſh colonies were not effec⯑tually the ſhipping, ſeamen, and wealth of Great Britain herſelf. Sentiments of another kind have frequently done us miſchief.

[176]The general plan of our management with regard to the trade of our colonies, methinks, ought to be, to encourage in every one of them ſome ſeparate and diſtinct articles, ſuch as not interfering, might enable them to trade with each other, and all to trade to advantage with their mother country. And then, where we have rivals in any branch of the trade carried on by our colonies, to enable them to ſend their goods to the foreign market directly; uſing at the ſame time the wiſe precaution which the French put in practice, to make the ſhips ſo employed take the Engliſh ports in their way home; for our great danger is, that they ſhould in that caſe make their returns in foreign manufactures, againſt which we can⯑not guard too carefully. This, and that they ſhould not go largely into manufactures inter⯑fering with ours, ought to be the only points at which our reſtrictions ſhould aim. Theſe purpoſes ought not to be compaſſed by abſo⯑lute prohibitions and penalties, which would be unpolitical and unjuſt, but by the way of diverſion, by encouraging them to fall into ſuch things as find a demand with ourſelves at home. By this means Great Britain and all it's dependencies will have a common intereſt, they will mutually play into each other's hands, and the trade ſo diſperſed, will be of infinitely more advantage to us, than if all it's ſeveral articles were produced and manu⯑factured within ourſelves.

[177]I venture on theſe hints concerning re⯑ſtraints on trade, becauſe in fact that of New England rather wants to be ſupported than to be checked by ſuch reſtraints. It's trade in many of it's branches is clearly on the decline; and this circumſtance ought to intereſt us deeply; for very valuable is this colony, if it never ſent us any thing, nor took any thing from us, as it is the grand barrier of all the reſt; and as it is the principal magazine which ſupplies our Weſt-Indies, from whence we draw ſuch vaſt advantages. That this valu⯑able colony is far from advancing, will appear clearly from the ſtate of one of the principal branches of it's trade, that of ſhip-building, for four years. In the year 1738 they built at [...]oſton forty-one topſail veſſels, burthen in all 6324 tons; in 1743 only thirty; in 46 but twenty; in 49 they were reduced to fifteen, making in the whole but 2450 tons of ſhip⯑ping; in ſuch a time an aſtoniſhing declenſion! How it has been ſince I have not ſufficient information; but allowing that the decline has ceaſed here, yet this is ſurely ſufficient to ſet us upon the niceſt enquiry into the cauſe of that decay, and the moſt effectual mea⯑ſures to retrieve the affairs of ſo valuable a province; particularly, if by any ill-judged or ill-intended ſchemes, or by any miſgovernment this miſchief has happened them.

CHAP. VIII. New York, New Jerſey, and Penſylvania.

IT is not certainly known at what time the Swedes and Dutch made their firſt eſta⯑bliſhment in North America; but it was cer⯑tainly poſterior to our ſettlement of Virginia, and prior to that of New England. The Swedes, who were no conſiderable naval pow⯑er, had hardly fixt the rudiments of a colony there than they deſerted it. The inhabitants, without protection or aſſiſtance, were glad to enter into a coalition with the Dutch that had ſettled there upon a better plan, and to ſubmit to the government of the States. The wh [...] tract poſſeſſed or claimed by the two nations, whoſe two colonies were now grown into one, extended from the 38th to the 41ſt degree of latitude, all along the ſea coaſt. They called it Nova Belgia, or New Netherlands. It con⯑tinued in their hands until the reign of Charles the ſecond. The Dutch war then breaking out, in the year 1664 Sir Robert Car with three thouſand men was ſent to reduce it, which he did with ſo little reſiſtance, as not to gain him any great honour by the conqueſt. A little after, the Dutch by way of repriſal fell upon our colony of Surinam in South [179] America, and conquered it after much the ſame oppoſition that we met in the New Netherlands. By the treaty of peace which was ſigned at Breda, in 1667, it was agreed that things ſhould remain in the ſtate they were at that time; Surinam to the Dutch, the New Netherlands to the Engliſh. At that time, this was looked upon by many as a bad exchange; but it now appears, that we have made an excellent bargain; for to ſay nothing of the great diſadvantage of having our colo⯑nies, as it were, cut-in two by the intervention of a foreign territory; this is now one of the beſt peopled and richeſt parts of our planta⯑tions, extremely uſeful to the others, and mak⯑ing very valuable returns to the mother coun⯑ [...], whereas Surinam is comparatively a place of very ſmall conſequence, very unheal⯑thy, and by no art to be made otherwiſe.

The New Netherlands were not long in our poſſeſſion, before they were divided into diſtinct provinces, and laid aſide their former appellation. The North-Eaſt part which joined New England, was called New York, in compliment to the duke of York, who had at firſt the grant of the whole territory. This province runs up to the Northward on both ſides of the river Hudſon, for about two hun⯑dred miles into the country of the Five na⯑tions or Iroquois; but it is not in any part [180] above forty or fifty miles wide. It compre⯑hends within it's limits Long Iſland, which lies to the South of Connecticut, and is an iſland inferior to no part of America in excellent ground for the paſturage of horſes, oxen, and ſheep, or the plentiful produce of every ſort of grain.

The part of Nova Belgia, which lay along the ocean, between that and the river Dela⯑war, from the Southern part of New York quite down to Maryland, was granted to Sir George Carteret and others, and called New Jerſey from him, becauſe he had, as the fami⯑ly ſtill has, eſtates in the iſland of that name. This province is bounded upon the Weſt by the river Delawar, which divides it from Penſylvania. It is in length about one hun⯑dred and fifty miles, or thereabouts, and about fifty in breadth.

Penſylvania, which lies between New York, New Jerſey, and Maryland, and only commu⯑nicates with the ſea by the mouth of the river Delawar, is in length about two hundred and fifty miles; and in breadth two hundred. This territory was granted to the famous Mr. William Pen, the ſon of Sir William Pen the admiral, in the year 1680.

The climate and ſoil in the three provinces of New York, New Jerſey, and Penſylvania, admits of no very remarkable difference. [181] In all theſe, and indeed in all our North American colonies, the land near the ſea is in general low, flat, and marſhy; at a conſiderable diſtance from the ſea it ſwells into little hills, and then into great even ridges of mountains, which hold their courſe for the moſt part, North-Eaſt, and South-Weſt. The ſoil throughout theſe three provinces is in general extremely fruitful; abounding not only in it's native grain the Indian corn, but in all ſuch as have been naturalized there from Europe. Wheat in ſuch abundance, and of ſo excellent a quality, that few parts of the world, for the tract which is cultivated, exceed it in the one or the other of theſe particu⯑lars, nor in barley, oats, rye, buck-wheat, and every ſort of grain which we have here. They have a great number of horned cattle, horſes, ſheep, and hogs. All our European poultry abound there; game of all kinds is wonder⯑fully plenty; deer of ſeveral ſpecies; hares of a kind peculiar to America, but inferior in reliſh to ours; wild turkies of a vaſt ſize, and equal goodneſs; a beautiful ſpecies of pheaſants only found in this country. Every ſpecies of herbs or roots which we force in our gardens, grow here with great eaſe; and every ſpecies of fruit; but ſome, as thoſe of peaches and melons, in far greater perfection.

Their foreſts abound in excellent timber, the oak, the aſh, the beech, the cheſnut, the [182] cedar, the walnut, the cypreſs, the hic kory, the ſaſſafras, and the pine. In all parts of our plantations, comprehending New York to the Northward, quite to the Southern extre⯑mity, the woods are full of wild vines of three or four ſpecies, all different from thoſe we have in Europe. But whether from ſome fault in their nature, or in the climate, or the ſoil where they grow, or, what is much more probable, from a fault in the planters, they have yet produced no wine that de⯑ſerves to be mentioned. It may be re⯑marked in general of the timber of theſe pro⯑vinces, that it is not ſo good for ſhipping as that of New England and Nova Scotia. The further Southward you go, the timber becomes leſs compact, and rives eaſily; which proper⯑ty, as it makes it more uſeful for ſtaves, ren⯑ders it leſs ſerviceable for ſhips.

They raiſe in all theſe provinces, but much the moſt largely in Penſylvania, great quan⯑tities of flax; and hemp is a promiſing article. Nor are they deficient in minerals. In New York a good deal of iron is found. In New Jerſey a very rich copper mine has been opened. There is no manner of doubt but in time, when the people come to multiply ſuf⯑ficiently, and experience and want have made them ingenious in opening reſources for trade, theſe colonies will become as remarkable for uſeful metals as they now are for grain. Theſe three provinces, as are all thoſe we have in [183] North America, are extremely well watered. They have however obſerved in New Eng⯑land, that as they clear the country, a vaſt number of little brooks are quite loſt, and the mills upon them by this loſs rendered uſeleſs. They even obſerve, that this cutting down the woods has affected the river Connecticut itſelf, the largeſt in New England, and that it has grown diſtinguiſhably ſhallower. I do not know whether the ſame remark has been made in Penſylvania and New York. But whatever they have loſt in water, which, where there is ſuch a plenty, is no great loſs, has been amply compenſated by the great ſalubrity of the air, which has ariſen from the cultivation of the country. At preſent thoſe I deſcribe are for the greater part as healthv as can be wiſhed.

As the climate and ſoil of the provinces of New York, New Jerſey, and Penſylvania, are with a very little difference the ſame, ſo there is no difference in the commodities in which they trade, which are wheat, flour, barley, oats, Indian corn, peas, beef, pork, cheeſe, butter, cyder, beer, flax, hemp and flax-ſeed, linſeed oil, furs and deer-ſkins, ſtaves, lumber, and iron. Their markets are the ſame with thoſe which the people of New England uſe; and theſe colonies have a ſhare in the logwood trade, and that which is carried on with the Spaniſh and French plantations.

CHAP. IX.

THE province of New York has two cities; the firſt is called by the name of the province itſelf. It was denominated New Amſterdam when the Dutch poſſeſſed it, but it has changed it's name along with it's maſters. This city is moſt commodiouſly ſituated for trade, upon an excellent harbour, in an iſland called Manahatton, about four⯑teen miles long, and four or five broad. This iſland lies juſt in the mouth of the river Hudſon, which diſcharges itſelf here after a long courſe. This is one of the nobleſt rivers in America. It is navigable upwards of two hundred miles. The tide flows one hun⯑dred and fifty.

The city of New York contains near twelve hundred houſes, and between ſeven and eight thouſand inhabitants, the deſcen⯑dants of Dutch and Engliſh. It is well and commodiouſly built, and has a very good aſpect from the ſea; but is by no means properly fortified. There is no houſe in New York worth leſs than one hundred pounds ſterling, ſo that there is in no part the leaſt appearance of poverty or meanneſs. There is one large church built for the church of England worſhip; and three others, a Dutch, [185] a French, and a Lutheran. The town has a very flouriſhing trade, and in which great profits are made. The merchants are wealthy, and the people in general moſt comfortably provided for, and with a moderate labour. From the year 1749 to 1750 two hundred and thirty-two veſſels have been entered in this port, and two hundred and eighty-ſix cleared outwards. In theſe veſſels were ſhipped ſix thouſand ſeven hundred and thirty one tons of proviſions, chiefly flour, and a vaſt quan⯑tity of grain; of which I have no particular account. The inhabitants of this colony are about eighty thouſand. They are an hoſpitable people, and fond of ſtrangers. There is here a general toleration of all religious perſua⯑ſions.

Upon the ſame river Hudſon, about one hundred and fifty miles from New York is Albany; a town of not ſo much note for it's number of houſes or inhabitants, as for the great trade which is carried on with the In⯑dians, and indeed by connivance with the French for the uſe of the ſame people. This trade takes off a great quantity of coarſe woollen goods, ſuch as ſtrouds and duffils; and with theſe, guns, hatchets, knives, hoes, kettles, powder and ſhot; beſides ſhirts and cloaths ready made, and ſeveral other articles. Here it is that the treaties and other tranſac⯑tions [186] between us and the Iroquois Indians are negotiated.

This nation, or combination of Five nations, united by an ancient and inviolable league amongſt themſelves, were the oldeſt, the moſt ſteddy, and moſt effectual ally we have found amongſt the Indians. This people, by their unanimity, firmneſs, military ſkill, and policy, have raiſed themſelves to be the greateſt and moſt formidable power in all America; they have reduced a vaſt number of nations, and brought under their power a territory twice as large as the kingdom of France; but they have not increaſed their ſubjects in proportion. As their manner of warring is implacable and barbarous, they reign the lords of a prodigious deſart, inhabited only by a few ſcattered in⯑ſignificant tribes, whom they have permitted to live out of a contempt of their power, and who are all in the loweſt ſtate of ſubjection. And yet this once mighty and victorious nation, though it has always uſed the policy of incor⯑porating with itſelf a great many of the pri⯑ſoners they make in war, is in a very declining condition. About ſixty years ago it was computed, that they had ten thouſand fighting men; at this day they cannot raiſe upwards of fifteen hundred. So much have wars, epi⯑demical diſeaſes, and the unnatural union of the vices of civilized nations with the manners [187] of ſavages, reduced this numerous people. But they are not only much leſſened at this day in their numbers, but in their diſpoſition to employ what numbers they have left in our ſervice. Amongſt other neglects, which I have no pleaſure in mentioning, and no hopes of ſeeing amended, this of inattention, or worſe treatment of the Indians, is one, and a capital one. The Iroquois have lately had a ſixth nation added to their confederacy, that of the Tuſcaroras, who fled from our pro⯑vince of Carolina, being chaced from thence in a war with the Engliſh. Theſe they have received into the league, and the whole con⯑federacy ſeems more inclined to the French intereſt than ours.

CHAP. X.

NEW Jerſey, by the perpetual diſputes which ſubſiſted between the people and the proprietaries, whilſt it continued a pro⯑prietary government, was kept for a long time in a very feeble ſtate; but within a few years it has begun to reap ſome of the advan⯑tages which it might have had earlier from the proper management of ſo fine a province and ſo advantageous a ſituation. They raiſe very great quantities of grain at preſent, and are increaſed to near ſixty thouſand ſouls; but [188] they have yet no town of any conſequence. Perth Amboy, which is their capital, has not upwards of two hundred houſes; and though this town has a very fine harbour, capable of receiving and ſecuring ſhips of great burthen, yet as the people of New Jerſey have been uſed to ſend their produce to the markets of New York and Philadelphia, to which they are contiguous, they find it hard, as it always is in ſuch caſes, to draw the trade out of the old channel; for there the correſpondences are fixed, the method of dealing eſtabliſhed, cre⯑dits given, and a ready market for needy deal⯑ers, who in all countries are ſufficiently nu⯑merous; ſo that the trade of this town, which is the only town of any trade worth notice in New Jerſey, is ſtill inconſiderable; in the year 1751, only forty-one veſſels have entered in⯑wards, and only thirty-eight cleared out, in which were exported ſix thouſand four hun⯑dred and twenty-four barrels of flour; one hundred and ſixty-eight thouſand weight of bread; three hundred and fourteen barrels of beef and pork; ſeventeen thouſand nine hun⯑dred and forty-one buſhels of grain, fourteen thouſand weight of hemp, with ſome butter, hams, beer, flax-ſeed, bar-iron, and lumber.

CHAP. XI.

I Find it of late a notion pretty current, that proprietary governments are a ſort of check to the growth of the colonies which they ſuperintend. It is certain, that abuſes have been, and ſtill do ſubſiſt in that ſpecies of government; and abuſes of as bad a kind may, I believe, be found by perſons of no great penetration in all our governments; but if there were any truth in this obſervation, the province of Penſylvania would prove an illuſtrious exception to it.

William Pen in his capacity of a divine, and of a moral writer, is certainly not of the firſt rank; and his works are of no great eſtima⯑tion, except amongſt his own people; but in his capacity of a legiſlator, and the founder of ſo flouriſhing a commonwealth, he deſerves great honour amongſt all mankind; a com⯑monwealth, which in the ſpace of about ſe⯑venty years, from a beginning of a few hun⯑dreds of refugees and indigent men, has grown to be a numerous and flouriſhing peo⯑ple; a people who from a perfect wilderneſs have brought their territory to a ſtate of great cultivation, and filled it with wealthy and po⯑pulous towns; and who in the midſt of a fierce and lawleſs race of men, have preſerved them⯑ſelves with unarmed hands and paſſive princi⯑ples, [190] by the rules of moderation and juſtice, better than any other people has done by po⯑licy and arms. For Mr. Pen, when for his father's ſervices, and by his own intereſt at court, he obtained the inheritance of this country and it's government, ſaw that he could make the grant of value to him only by mak⯑ing the country as agreeable to all people, as eaſe and good government could make it. To this purpoſe he began by purchaſing the ſoil, at a very low rate indeed, from the original poſſeſſors, to whom it was of little uſe. By this cheap act of juſtice at the beginning, he made all his dealings for the future the more eaſy, by prepoſſeſſing the Indians with a favou⯑rable opinion of him and his deſigns. The other part of his plan, which was to people this country, after he had ſecured the poſſeſſi⯑on of it, he ſaw much facilitated by the un⯑eaſineſs of his brethren the quakers in Eng⯑land, who refuſing to pay tythes and other church dues, ſuffered a great deal from the ſpiritual courts. Their high opinion of and re⯑gard for the man who was an honour to their new church, made them the more ready to follow him over the vaſt ocean into an untried climate and country. Neither was he him⯑ſelf wanting in any thing which could encou⯑rage them. For he expended large ſums in tranſporting and finding them in all neceſſaries and not aiming at a hidden profit, he diſpoſ⯑ed [191] of his land at a very light purchaſe. But what crowned all, was that noble charter of privileges, by which he made them as free as any people in the world; and which has ſince drawn ſuch vaſt numbers of ſo many diffe⯑rent perſuaſions, and ſuch various countries, to put themſelves under the protection of his laws. He made the moſt perfect freedom, both religious and civil, the baſis of this eſta⯑bliſhment; and this has done more towards the ſettling of the province, and towards the ſet⯑tling of it in a ſtrong and permanent manner, than the wiſeſt regulations could have done upon any other plan. All perſons who pro⯑feſs to believe one God, are freely tolerated; thoſe who believe in Jeſus Chriſt, of whatever denomination, are not excluded from employ⯑ments and poſts.

This great man lived to ſee an extenſive country called after his own name; he lived to ſee it peopled by his own wiſdom, the people free and flouriſhing, and the moſt flou⯑riſhing people in it of his own perſuaſion; he lived to lay the foundations of a ſplendid and wealthy city; he lived to ſee it promiſe every thing from the ſituation which he him⯑ſelf had choſen, and the encouragement which he himſelf had given it; he lived to ſee all this, but he died in the Fleet priſon.

It is but juſt, that in ſuch a ſubject we ſhould allot a little room, to do honour to [192] thoſe great men, whoſe virtue and generoſity have contributed to the peopling of the earth, and to the freedom and happineſs of mankind; who have preferred the intereſt of a remote poſterity, and times unknown, to their own fortunes, and to the quiet and ſecurity of their own lives. Now Great Britain, and all Ame⯑rica, reap great benefits from his labours and his loſſes; and his poſterity have a vaſt eſtate out of the quit-rents of that province, whoſe eſtabliſhment was the ruin of their prede⯑ceſſor's moderate fortune.

CHAP. XII.

PENSYLVANIA is inhabited by up⯑wards of two hundred and fifty thou⯑ſand people, half of whom are Germans, Swedes or Dutch. Here you ſee the quakers, churchmen, calviniſts, lutherans, catholics, methodiſts, meniſts, moravians, indepen⯑dents, the anabaptiſts, and the dumplers, a ſort of German ſect that live in ſomething like a religious ſociety, wear long beards, and a habit reſembling that of friars; in ſhort, the diverſity of people, religions, nations, and languages here, is prodigious, and the har⯑mony in which they live together, no leſs edifying. For though every man who wiſhes well to religion, is ſorry to ſee the diverſity [193] which prevails, and would by all humane and honeſt methods endeavour to prevent it; yet when once the evil has happened, when there is no longer an union of ſentiments, it is glo⯑rious to preſerve at leaſt an union of affecti⯑ons; it is a beautiful proſpect, to ſee men take and give an equal liberty; to ſee them live, if not as belonging to the ſame church, yet to the ſame chriſtian religion; and if not to the ſame religion, yet to the ſame great fraterni⯑ty of mankind. I do not obſerve, that the quakers who had, and who ſtill have in a great meaſure, the power in their hands, have made uſe of it in any ſort to perſecute; except in the ſingle caſe of George Keith, whom they firſt impriſoned, and then baniſh⯑ed out of the province. This Keith was ori⯑ginally a miniſter of the church of England, then a quaker, and afterwards returned to his former miniſtry. But whilſt he remained with the friends, he was a moſt troubleſome and litigious man; was for puſhing the parti⯑cularities of quakeriſm to yet more extravagant lengths, and for making new refinements, even where the moſt enthuſiaſtic thought they had gone far enough; which raiſed ſuch a ſtorm, as ſhook the church, he then adhered to, to the very foundations.

This little ſally into intolerance, as it is a ſingle inſtance, and with great provocation, ought by no means to be imputed to the prin⯑ciples [194] of the quakers, conſidering the ample and humane latitude they have allowed in all other reſpects. It was certainly a very right policy to encourage the importation of fo⯑reigners into Penſylvania, as well as into our other colonies. By this we are great gainers without any diminution of the inhabitants of Great Britain. But it has been frequently ob⯑ſerved, and as it ſhould ſeem, very juſtly com⯑plained of, that they are left ſtill foreigners, and likely to continue ſo for many genera⯑tions; as they have ſchools taught, books printed, and even the common news paper in their own language; by which means, and that they poſſeſs large tracts of the country, without any intermixture of Engliſh, there is no appearance of their blending and becoming one people with us. This certainly is a great irregularity, and the greater, as theſe foreign⯑ers by their induſtry, frugality, and a hard way of living, in which they greatly exceed our people, have in a manner thruſt them out in ſeveral places; ſo as to threaten the colony with the danger of being wholly fo⯑reign in language, manners, and perhaps even inclinations. In the year 1750, were import⯑ed into Penſylvania and it's dependencies four thouſand three hundred and ſeventeen Ger⯑mans, whereas of Britiſh and Iriſh, but one thouſand arrived; a conſiderable number, if [195] it was not ſo vaſtly overballanced by that of the foreigners.

I do by no means think that this ſort of tranſplantations ought to be diſcouraged; I only obſerve along with others, that the man⯑ner of their ſettlement ought to be regulated, and means ſought to have them naturalized in reality.

The preſent troubles have very unhappily re⯑verſed the ſyſtem ſo long purſued, and with ſuch great ſucceſs in this part of the world. The Penſylvanians have ſuffered ſeverely by the in⯑curſions of the ſavage Americans as well as their neighbours; but the quakers could not be pre⯑vailed upon, by what did not directly affect thoſe of their own communion, (for they were out of the way of miſchief in the more ſettled parts,) to relinquiſh their pacific principles; for which reaſon a conſiderable oppoſition, in which, however, we muſt do the quakers the juſtice to obſerve they were not unanimous, was made both within their aſſembly, as well as without doors, againſt granting any money to carry on the war; and the ſame, or a more vigorous oppoſition, was made againſt paſſing a militia bill. A bill of this kind has at length paſſed, but ſcarcely ſuch as the cir⯑cumſtances of the country, and the exigencies of the times required. It may perhaps ap⯑pear an error, to have placed ſo great a part of the government in the hands of men, who [196] hold principles directly oppoſite to it's end and deſign. As a peaceable, induſtrious, ho⯑neſt people, the quakers cannot be too much cheriſhed; but ſurely they cannot themſelves complain, that when by their opinions they make themſelves ſheep, they ſhould not be entruſted with the office, ſince they have not the nature of dogs.

CHAP. XIII.

THERE are ſo many good towns in the province of Penſylvania, even ex⯑ceeding the capitals of ſome other provinces, that nothing could excuſe our paſſing them by, had not Philadelphia drawn our attention wholly to itſelf. This city ſtands upon a tongue of land, immediately at the confluence of two fine rivers, the Delawar and the Schul⯑kil. It is diſpoſed in the form of an oblong, deſigned to extend two miles, from river to river; this longeſt ſtretch is laid out upon the original plan, to compoſe eight parallel ſtreets, all of two miles in length; theſe were to have been interſected by ſixteen others, each in length a mile, broad, ſpacious, and even; with proper ſpaces left for the public buildings, churches, and market-places. In the center is a ſquare of ten acres, round which moſt of the public buildings are diſpoſed. The two [197] principal ſtreets of the city are each one hun⯑dred feet wide, and moſt of the houſes have a ſmall garden and orchard; from the rivers are cut ſeveral canals, equally agreeable and beneficial. The kays are ſpacious and fine; the principal kay is two hundred feet wide, and to this a veſſel of five hundred tons may lay her broadſide; the warehouſes are large, numerous and commodious, and the docks for ſhip-building every way well adapted to their purpoſes. A great number of veſſels have been built here; twenty have been upon the ſtocks at a time. This city contains, ex⯑cluſive of warehouſes and outhouſes, about two thouſand houſes; moſt of them of brick, and well built; it is ſaid there are ſeveral of them worth four or five thouſand pounds. The inhabitants are now about thirteen thou⯑ſand.

There are in this city a great number of very wealthy merchants, which is no way ſurpriſing, when one conſiders the great trade which it carries on with the Engliſh, French, Spaniſh and Dutch colonies in America; with the Azores, the Canaries, and the Ma⯑deira iſlands; with Great Britain and Ireland; with Spain, Portugal and Holland, and the great profits which are made in many branch⯑es of this commerce. Beſides the quan⯑tity of all kinds of the produce of this pro⯑vince which is brought down the rivers De⯑lawar [198] and Schulkil (the former of which is navigable for veſſels of one ſort or other more than two hundred miles above Phila⯑delphia, and the other for very near an hun⯑dred) the Dutch employ between eight and nine thouſand waggons, drawn each by four horſes, in bringing the product of their farms to this market. In the year 1749, three hun⯑dred and three veſſels entered inwards at this port, and two hundred and ninety-one clear⯑ed outwards. There are at the other ports of this province cuſtom-houſe officers, but the foreign trade in theſe places is not worth notice.

The city of Philadelphia, though, as it may be judged, far from compleating the original plan; yet ſo far as it is built, it is carried on conformably to it, and increaſes in the number and beauty of it's buildings every day. And as for the province, of which this city is the capital, there is no part of Bri⯑tiſh America in a more growing condition. In ſome years more people have tranſported themſelves into Penſylvania, than into all the other ſettlements together. In 1729, ſix thouſand two hundred and eight perſons came to ſettle here as paſſengers or ſervants, four fifths of whom at leaſt were from Ireland. In ſhort, this province has increaſed ſo great⯑ly from the time of it's firſt eſtabliſhment, that lands were given by Mr. Pen at firſt at [199] the rate of twenty pounds for a thouſand acres, reſerving only a ſhilling, every hundred acres for quit-rent, and this in ſome of the beſt ſituated parts of the province; but now at a great diſtance from navigation, land is granted at twelve pounds the hundred acres, and a quit-rent of four ſhillings reſerved; and the land which is near Philadelphia, rents for twenty ſhillings the acre. In many places, and at the diſtance of ſeveral miles from that city, land ſells for twenty years pur⯑chaſe.

The Penſylvanians are an induſtrious and hardy people; they are moſt of them ſub⯑ſtantial, though but a few of the landed peo⯑ple can be conſidered as rich; but they are all well lodged, well fed, and, for their condition, well clad too; and this at the more eaſy rate, as the inferior people manufacture moſt of all their own wear both linens and woollens. There are but few blacks, not in all the fortieth part of the people of the pro⯑vince.

CHAP. XIV. VIRGINIA.

THE whole country which the Engliſh now poſſeſs in North America, was at firſt called Virginia; but by parcelling of ſeveral portions of it into diſtinct grants and governments, the country which ſtill bears the name, is now reduced to that tract which has the river Potowmack upon the North; the bay of Cheſapeak upon the Eaſt; and Carolina upon the South. To the Weſt⯑ward the grants extend it to the South-Sea; but their planting goes no farther than the great Allegany mountains, which boundaries leave this province in length two hundred and forty miles, and in breadth about two hun⯑dred, lying between the fifty-fiſth and fortieth degrees of North latitude.

The whole face of this country is ſo ex⯑tremely low towards the ſea, that when you are come even within fifteen fathom ſound⯑ings you can hardly diſtinguiſh land from the maſt head. However, all this coaſt of Ame⯑rica has one uſeful particularity, that you know your diſtance exactly by the ſoundings, which uniformly and gradually diminiſh as [201] you approach the land. The trees appear as if they roſe out of the water, and afford the ſtranger a very uncommon, and not a diſagree⯑able view. In ſailing to Virginia or Mary⯑land, you paſs a ſtreight between two points of land, called the Capes of Virginia, which opens a paſſage into the bay of Cheſapeak, one of the largeſt and ſafeſt bays perhaps in the world; for it enters the country near three hundred miles from the South to the North, having the Eaſtern ſide of Maryland, and a ſmall portion of Virginia on the ſame peninſula, to cover it from the Atlantic ocean. This bay is about eighteen miles broad for a conſiderable way, and ſeven where it is nar⯑roweſt, the waters in moſt places being nine fathom deep. Through it's whole extent it receives both on the Eaſtern and Weſtern ſide a vaſt number of fine navigable rivers. Not to mention thoſe of Maryland, from the ſide of Virginia it receives James River, York River, the Rappahannock, and the Potow⯑mack.

All theſe great rivers, in the order they are here ſet down from South to North, diſcharge themſelves with ſeveral ſmaller ones into the bay of Cheſapeak; and they are all not only navigable themſelves for very large veſſels a prodigious way into the country, but have ſo many creeks, and receive ſuch a number of ſmaller navigable rivers, as renders the com⯑munication [202] of all parts of this country in⯑finitely more eaſy than that of any country, without exception, in the world. The Potow⯑mack is navigable for near two hundred miles, being nine miles broad at it's mouth, and for a vaſt way not leſs than ſeven. The other three are navigable upwards of eighty, and in the windings of their ſeveral courſes approach one another ſo nearly, that the diſtance be⯑tween one and the other is in ſome parts not more than ten, ſometimes not above five miles; whereas in others there is fifty miles ſpace between each of theſe rivers. The planters load and unload veſſels of great bur⯑then each at his own door; which, as their commodities are bulky, and of ſmall value in proportion to their bulk, is a very fortunate circumſtance, elſe they could never afford to ſend their tobacco to market low as they ſell it, and charged as it is in England, with a duty of ſix times it's original value.

The climate and ſoil of Virginia was un⯑doubtedly much heightened in the firſt deſcrip⯑tions for political reaſons; but after making all the neceſſary abatements which experience ſince taught us, we ſtill find it a moſt excellent country. The heats in ſummer are exceſſive⯑ly great, but not without the allay of refreſh⯑ing ſea breezes. The weather is changeable, and the changes ſudden and violent. Their winter froſts come on without the leaſt warn⯑ing. [203] After a warm day, towards the ſetting in of winter, ſo intenſe a cold often ſuc⯑ceeds as to freeze over the broadeſt and deep⯑eſt of their great rivers in one night, but theſe froſts, as well as their rains, are rather violent than of long continuance. They have frequent and violent thunder and lightning, but it does rarely any miſchief. In general the ſky is clear, and the air thin, pure, and penetrating.

The ſoil in the low grounds of Virginia is a dark fat mould, which for many years with⯑out any manure, yields plentifully whatever is committed to it. The ſoil as you leave the rivers becomes light and ſandy, is ſooner ex⯑hauſted than the low country, but is yet of a warm and generous nature, which helped by a kindly ſun, yields tobacco and corn extremely well. There is no better wheat than what is produced in this province and Maryland; but the culture of tobacco employs all their attention, and almoſt all their hands; ſo that they ſcarcely cultivate wheat enough for their own uſe.

It may be judged from the climate and the ſoil I have deſcribed, in what excellence and plenty every ſort of fruit is found in Virginia. Their foreſts are full of timber trees of all kinds; and their plains are covered for almoſt the whole year with a prodigious number of flowers, and flowering ſhrubs, of colours ſo [204] rich, and of a ſcent ſo fragrant, that they oc⯑caſioned the name of Florida to be originally given to this country. This country produces ſeveral medicinal herbs and roots, particular⯑ly the ſnake root; and of late the celebrated ginſeng of the Chineſe has been diſcovered there.

Horned cattle and hogs have multiplied al⯑moſt beyond belief; though at the firſt ſettle⯑ment the country was utterly deſtitute of theſe animals. The meat of the former is as much below the fleſh of our oxen, as that of the latter exceeds that of our hogs. The ani⯑mals natural to the country are deer, of which there are great numbers; a ſort of panther or tyger; bears, wolves, foxes, racoons, ſquirrels, wild cats, and one very uncommon animal called the opoſſum. This creature is about the ſize of a cat, and beſides the belly which it has in common with all others, has a falſe one beneath it, with a pretty large aperture at the end towards the hinder legs. Within this bag, or belly, on the uſual parts of the com⯑mon belly, are a number of teats; upon theſe, when the female of this creature conceives, the young are formed, and there they hang like fruit upon the ſtalk, until they grow in bulk and weight to their appointed ſize; then they drop off, and are received in the falſe belly, from which they go out at pleaſure, and in which they take refuge when any danger threatens them.

[205]They have all our ſorts of tame and wild fowl in equal perfection, and ſome which we have not; and a vaſt number of birds of various kinds, valuable for their beauty or their note. The white owl of Virginia is far larger than the ſpecies which we have, and is all over of a bright ſilver coloured plumage, except one black ſpot upon his breaſt; they have the nightingale called from the country, a moſt beautiful one, whoſe feathers are crimſon and blue; the mocking bird, thought to excel all others in his own note, and he imitates the notes of all others; the rock bird, very ſociable, and his ſociety very agreeable by the ſweetneſs of his muſic; the humming bird, the ſmalleſt of all the winged creation, and the moſt beautiful, all arrayed in ſcarlet, green and gold. This bird is ſaid to live by licking off the dew that adheres to the flowers; he is too delicate to be brought alive into England. The ſea-coaſts and rivers of Virginia abound not only in ſeveral of the ſpecies of fiſh known in Europe, but in moſt of thoſe kinds which are peculiar to America. The rep⯑tiles are many; it were tedious to enumerate all the kinds of ſerpents bred here; the rattle ſnake is the principal, and too well known in general to need any deſcription.

CHAP. XV.

THE great commodiouſneſs of naviga⯑tion, and the ſcarcity of handicrafts⯑men, have rendered all the attempts of the government to eſtabliſh towns in Virginia ineffectual. James's-town, which was an⯑ciently the capital, is dwindled into an inſig⯑nificant village; and Williamſburg, though the capital at preſent, the ſeat of the governor, the place of holding the aſſembly and courts of juſtice, and a college for the ſtudy of arts and ſciences, is yet but a ſmall town. However, in this town are the beſt public buildings in Britiſh America. The college one hundred and thirty-five feet long in front, reſembling Chelſea hoſpital; the capital directly facing it at the other end of the deſign of a noble ſtreet, not unlike the college in the faſhion and the ſize of the building, where the aſ⯑ſembly and courts of juſtice are held, and the public offices kept; and the church, in the form of a croſs, large and well ornamented.

The great ſtaple commodity of this country, as well as Maryland, is tobacco. This plant is aboriginal in America, and of very ancient uſe, though neither ſo generally cultivated, nor ſo well manufactured as it has been ſince the coming of the Europeans. When at it's [207] juſt height, it is as tall as an ordinary ſized man; the ſtalk is ſtraight, hairy, and clam⯑my; the leaves alternate, of a faded yellowiſh green, and towards the lower part of the plant of a great ſize. The ſeeds of tobacco are firſt ſown in beds, from whence they are tranſplanted the firſt rainy weather, into a ground diſpoſed into little hillocks like an hop garden. In a month's time from their tranſplantation they become a foot high; they then top them, and prune off the lower leaves, and with great attention clean them from weeds and worms twice a week; in about ſix weeks after, they attain to their full growth, and they begin then to turn browniſh. By theſe marks they judge the tobacco to be ripe. They cut down the plants as faſt as they ripen, heap them up, and let them lie a night to ſweat; the next day they carry them to the tobacco houſe, which is built to admit as much air as is conſiſtent with keeping out rain, where they are hung ſeparately to dry for four or five weeks, then they take them down in moiſt weather, for elſe they will crumble to duſt. After this they are laid upon ſticks, and covered up cloſe to ſweat for a week or two longer; the ſervants ſtrip and ſort them, the top being the beſt, the bottom the worſt tobacco; then they make them up in hogſheads, or form them into rolls. Wet ſeaſons muſt be carefully laid hold on for all [208] this work, elſe the tobacco will not be ſuffi⯑ciently pliable.

In trade they diſtinguiſh two ſorts of to⯑bacco, the firſt is called Aranokoe, from Maryland and the Northern parts of Virginia; this is ſtrong and hot in the mouth, but it ſells very well in the markets of Holland, Germany, and the North. The other ſort is called ſweet ſcented, the beſt of which is from James's and York rivers in the South⯑ern parts of Virginia. There is no commo⯑dity to which the revenue is ſo much obliged as to this. It produces a vaſt ſum, and yet appears to lay but a very inconſiderable burthen upon the people in England; all the weight in reality falls upon the planter, who is kept down by the lowneſs of the original price; and as we have two provinces which deal in the ſame commodity, if the people of Vir⯑ginia were to take meaſures to ſtraiten the market, and raiſe the price, thoſe of Mary⯑land would certainly take the advantage of it; the people of Virginia would take the ſame advantage of thoſe of Maryland in a like caſe. They have no proſpect of ever bettering their condition; and they are the leſs able to en⯑dure it as they live in general luxuriouſly, and to the full extent of their fortunes. There⯑fore any failure in the ſale of their goods, brings them heavily in debt to the merchants in London, who get mortgages on their eſtates, [209] which are conſumed to the bone, with the canker of an eight per cent uſury. But how⯑ever the planters may complain of the tobacco trade, the revenue flouriſhes by it, for it draws near three hundred thouſand a year from this one article only; and the exported tobacco, the far greater part of the profits of which come to the Engliſh merchant, brings almoſt as great a ſum annually into the kingdom. To ſay nothing of the great advantage we derive from being ſupplied from our own colonies with that for which the reſt of Europe pays ready money, beſides the employment of two hundred large veſſels, and a proportionable number of ſeamen, which are occupied in this trade. From us the Virginians take every article for convenience or ornament which they uſe; their own manufacture does not de⯑ſerve to be mentioned. The two colonies export about eighty thouſand hogſheads of tobacco of eight hundred weight. They like⯑wiſe trade largely with the Weſt-Indies in lumber, pitch, tar, corn, and proviſions. They ſend home flax, hemp, iron, ſtaves, and walnut and cedar plank.

The number of white people in Virginia, is between ſixty and ſeventy thouſand; and they are growing every day more numerous, by the migration of the Iriſh, who not ſucceed⯑ing ſo well in Penſylvania, as the more frugal and induſtrious Germans, ſell their lands in [210] that province to the latter, and take up new ground in the remote counties in Vir⯑ginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. Theſe are chiefly preſbyterians from the Northern part of Ireland, who in America are general⯑ly called Scotch Iriſh. In Virginia there are likewiſe ſettled a conſiderable number of French refugees; but much the larger part of the inhabitants are the negro ſlaves, who cannot be much fewer than a hundred thou⯑ſand ſouls; they annually import into the two tobacco colonies between three and four thouſand of theſe ſlaves. The negroes here do not ſtand in need of ſuch vaſt recruits as the Weſt-India ſtock; they rather increaſe than diminiſh; a bleſſing derived from a more moderate labour, better food and a more healthy climate. The inhabitants of Virginia are a chearful, hoſpitable, and many of them a genteel though ſomewhat vain and oſtenta⯑tious people; they are for the greater part of the eſtabliſhed church of England; nor until lately did they tolerate any other. Now they have ſome few meeting-houſes of preſbyteri⯑ans and quakers.

CHAP. XVI.

THIS of Virginia is the moſt ancient of our colonies. Tho' ſtrictly ſpeaking the firſt attempts to ſettle a colony were not made in Virginia, but in that part of North Carolina which immediately borders upon it. Sir Walter Raleigh, the moſt extraordinary genius of his own or perhaps any other time, a penetrating ſtateſman, an accompliſhed courtier, a deep ſcholar, a fine writer, a great ſoldier, and one of the ableſt ſeamen in the world; this vaſt genius, that pierced ſo far and ran through ſo many things, was of a fiery excentric kind, which led him into dar⯑ing expeditions, and uncommon projects, which not being underſtood by a timid prince, and envied and hated by the rivals he had in ſo many ways of life, ruined him at laſt. In perſon he ran infinite riſques in Guiana in ſearch of gold mines; and when this country was firſt diſcovered, he looked through the work of an age, at one glance, and ſaw how advantageous it might be made to the trade of England. He was the firſt man in England who had a right conception of the advantages of ſettlements abroad; he was then the only perſon who had a thorough inſight into trade, and who ſaw clearly the [212] proper methods of promoting it. He applied to court, and got together a company, which was compoſed of ſeveral perſons of diſtinction, and ſeveral eminent merchants, who agreed to open a trade and ſettle a colony in that part of the world, which in honour of queen Eli⯑zabeth he called Virginia.

Raleigh had too much buſineſs upon his hands at court, and found too few to ſecond him in his deſigns, to enable him to ſupport the eſtabliſhment with the ſpirit in which he began it. If ever any deſign had an ominous beginning, and ſeemed to forbid any attempts for carrying it on, it was that of the firſt ſettle⯑ment of Virginia. Near half of the firſt co⯑lony was deſtroyed by the ſavages, and the reſt conſumed and worn down by fatigue and famine, deſerted the country, and returned home in deſpair. The ſecond colony was cut off, to a man, in a manner unknown; but they were ſuppoſed to be deſtroyed by the Indians. The third had the ſame diſmal fate; and the fourth quarrelling amongſt them⯑ſelves, neglecting their agriculture to hunt for gold, and provoking the Indians by their inſolent and unguarded behaviour, loſt ſeveral of their people, and were returning, the poor remains of them, in a famiſhing and deſperate condition to England, when juſt in the mouth of Cheſapeak bay they met the lord Delawar with a ſquadron, loaded with proviſion, and [213] every thing for their relief and defence, who perſuaded them to return.

This nobleman travelled with as much zeal and aſſiduity to cheriſh and ſupport the froward infancy of this unpromiſing colony, as ſome have uſed in it's better times for purpoſes of another kind. Regardleſs of his life, and inattentive to his fortune, he entered upon this long and dangerous voyage, and accepted this barren province, which had nothing of a government but it's anxieties and it's cares, merely for the ſervice of his coun⯑try; and he had no other reward than that retired and inward ſatisfaction, which a good mind feels in indulging it's own propenſity to virtue, and the proſpect of thoſe juſt honours which the lateſt poſterity will take a pleaſure in beſtowing upon thoſe, who prefer the intereſt of poſterity to their own. After he had pre⯑vailed upon the people to return, he comfort⯑ed them under their misfortunes, he pointed out their cauſes, and uniting the tenderneſs of a father with the ſteady ſeverity of a magiſtrate, he healed their diviſions, and reconciled them to authority and govern⯑ment, by making them feel by his conduct what a bleſſing it could be made.

When he had ſettled the colony within it⯑ſelf, his next care was to put them upon a proper footing with regard to the Indians, whom he found very haughty and aſſuming [214] on account of the late miſerable ſtate of the Engliſh; but by ſome well-timed and vigo⯑rous ſteps he humbled them, ſhewed he had power to chaſtiſe them, and courage to exert that power; and after having awed them into very peaceable diſpoſitions, and ſettled his colony in a very growing condition, he retired home for the benefit of his health, which by his conſtant attention to buſineſs, and the air of an uncultivated country, had been impaired; but he left his ſon, with the ſpirit of his fa⯑ther, his deputy; and Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers, the honourable George Piercy, Sir Ferdinand Wenman, and Mr. Newport, for his council. Theſe, with other perſons of rank and fortune, attended him on this expedition, which gave a credit to the colony. Though there are in England many young gentlemen of fortunes, diſproportioned to their rank, I fear we ſhould not ſee the names of ſo many of them engaged in an expe⯑dition, which had no better appearance than this had at that time.

Lord Delawar did not forget the colony on his return to England; but conſidering him⯑ſelf as nearer the fountain head, thought it his duty to turn the ſpring of the royal favour more copiouſly upon the province which he ſuperintended. For eight years together he was indefatigable in doing every thing that could tend to the peopling, the ſupport, and [215] the good government of this ſettlement, and he died in the purſuit of the ſame object in his voyage to Virginia, with a large ſupply of people, cloathing and goods.

It is one of the moſt neceſſary, and I am ſure it is one of the moſt pleaſing parts of this deſign, to do juſtice to the names of thoſe men who by their greatneſs of mind, their wiſdom and their goodneſs, have brought into the pale of civility and religion, theſe rude and un⯑cultivated parts of the globe; who could diſ⯑cern the rudiments of a future people, want⯑ing only time to be unfolded, in the ſeed; who could perceive amidſt the loſſes and diſ⯑appointments and expences of a beginning co⯑lony, the great advantages to be derived to their country from ſuch undertakings; and who could purſue them in ſpite of the malig⯑nity and narrow wiſdom of the world. The ancient world had it's Oſyris and Erichtho⯑nius, who taught them the uſe of grain; their Bacchus, who inſtructed them in the culture of the vine; and their Orpheus and Linus, who firſt built towns and formed civil ſocieties. The people of America will not fail, when time has made things venerable, and when an intermixture of fable has moulded uſeful truths into popular opinions, to mention with equal gratitude, and perhaps ſimilar heighten⯑ing circumſtances, her Columbus, her Caſtro, [216] her Gaſca, her De Poincy, her Delawar, her Baltimore, and her Pen.

CHAP. XVII.

THE colony of Virginia was ſo faſt rooted by the care of lord Delawar, that it was enabled to ſtand two terrible ſtorms; two maſſacres made by the Indians, in which the whole colony was nearly cut off; and to ſubdue that people, ſo as to put it utterly out of their power for many years paſt to give them the leaſt diſturbance.

In the fatal troubles which brought Charles the firſt to the block, and overturned the con⯑ſtitution of England, many of the cavaliers fled for refuge to this colony, which by the general diſpoſition of the inhabitants, and the virtue of Sir William Berkley, held out for the crown, until the parliament, rather by ſtratagem than force, reduced them. And what is remarkable, if it may be depended upon with any certainty, they depoſed Crom⯑well's governor, ſet up Sir William Berk⯑ley again, and declared for king Charles the ſecond, a good while even before the news of Oliver's death could arrive in Ame⯑rica.

After the reſtoration, there is nothing very intereſting in their hiſtory; except that ſoon after, a ſort of rebellion which aroſe in the [217] province from miſmanagements in the govern⯑ment, from the decay of their trade, and from exorbitant grants inconſiderately made, which included the ſettled property of many people; this raiſed a general diſcontent a⯑mongſt the planters, which was fomented and brought to blaze out into an actual war, by a young gentleman whoſe name was Bacon. He was an agreeable man, of a graceful pre⯑ſence, and winning carriage. He had been bred to the law, had a lively and fluent ex⯑preſſion, fit to ſet off a popular cauſe, and to influence men who were ready to hear what⯑ever could be ſaid to colour in a proper manner what was already ſtrongly drawn by their own feelings. This man by a ſpecious, or perhaps a real tho' ill-judged regard for the public good, finding the governor ſlow in his preparations againſt the Indians, who were ravaging the frontiers of the province, took up arms with⯑out any commiſſion, to act againſt the ene⯑my. When he had ſufficient force for this purpoſe, he found himſelf in a condition not only to act againſt the enemy, but to give law to the governor, and to force him to give a ſanction by his authority, to thoſe proceedings which were meant to deſtroy it.

Bacon armed with the commiſſion of a ge⯑neral, and followed by the whole force of the colony, prepared to march againſt the Indians; when Sir William Berkley, the governor, [218] freed from the immediate terror of his forces, recalled him, proclaimed him a traitor, and iſſued a reward for apprehending him as ſuch. This brought matters to extremities; the people were univerſally inflamed; Bacon ad⯑hered to what he had done, the people adhe⯑red to Bacon; and the governor, who ſeemed no ways inclined to temporize or yield to the ſtorm, fled over the river Potowmack, and proclaimed all Bacon's adherents traitors. He put himſelf at the head of a ſmall body of troops which he had raiſed in Maryland, and of ſuch of the Virginians as were faithful to him, and wrote to England for ſupplies. On the other hand, Bacon marched to the capital, called an aſſembly, and for ſix months toge⯑ther diſpoſed all things according to his own pleaſure. Every thing was now haſtening to a civil war, when all was quieted in as ſudden a manner as it had begun, by the natural death of Bacon, in the very height of the confuſion. The people unable to act without a head, pro⯑poſed terms of accommodation; the terms were liſtened to, and peace was reſtored and kept without any diſturbance, not ſo much by the removal of the grievances complained of, as by the arrival of a regiment from Eng⯑land, which remained a long time in the country. It muſt be remarked in honour of the moderation of the government, that no perſon ſuffered in his life, or his eſtate, for this [219] rebellion, which was the more extraordinary, as many people at that time were very earneſt in ſolliciting grants of land in Virginia.

The events in all countries which are not the reſidence of the ſupreme power, and have no concern in the great buſineſs of tranſact⯑ing war and peace, have generally but little to engage the attention of the reader. I have therefore intirely omitted the tedious detail of the governors and their ſeveral tranſactions, with which my materials ſo plentifully ſupply me; and for the ſame reaſon I ſhall be very conciſe in my account of Maryland, which agreeing altogether with Virginia in it's cli⯑mate, ſoil, products, trade, and genius of the inhabitants, and having few or no remarkable events to recommend it, will ſave much trouble in that article.

CHAP. XVIII. MARYLAND.

IT was in the reign of Charles the firſt, that the Lord Baltimore applied for a patent for a part of Virginia, and obtained in 1632, a grant of a tract of land upon Cheſa⯑peak bay, of about an hundred and forty miles long, and an hundred and thirty broad, hav⯑ing Penſylvania, then in the hands of the [220] Dutch, upon the North, the Atlantic ocean upon the Eaſt, and the river Potowmack up⯑on the South; in honour of the queen he called this province Maryland.

Lord Baltimore was a Roman catholic, and was induced to attempt this ſettlement in America, in hopes of enjoying liberty of con⯑ſcience for himſelf, and for ſuch of his friends to whom the ſeverity of the laws might looſen their ties to their country, and make them prefer an eaſy baniſhment with freedom, to the conveniencies of England, embittered as they were by the ſharpneſs of the laws, and the popular odium which hung over them. The court at that time was certainly very little inclined to treat the Roman catholics in a harſh manner, neither had they in reality the leaſt appearance of reaſon to do ſo; but the laws themſelves were of a rigorous conſti⯑tution; and however the court might be in⯑clined to relax them, they could not in policy do it, but with great reſerve. The puritan party perpetually accuſed the court, and indeed the epiſcopal church, of a deſire of returning to popery; and this accuſation was ſo popu⯑lar, that it was not in the power of the court to ſhew the papiſts that indulgence which they deſired. The laws were ſtill executed with very little mitigation; and they were in themſelves of a much keener temper, than thoſe which had driven the puritans about [221] the ſame time to ſeek a refuge in the ſame part of the world. Theſe reaſons made lord Baltimore deſirous to have, and the court willing to give him, a place of retreat in America.

The ſettlement of the colony coſt the lord Baltimore a large ſum. It was made under his auſpices by his brother, and about two hundred perſons, Roman catholics, and moſt of them of good families. This ſettlement at the beginning did not meet with the ſame dif⯑ficulties, which embarraſſed and retarded moſt of the others we had made. The people were generally of the better ſort, a proper ſubordination was obſerved amongſt them, and the Indians gave and took ſo little offence, that they ceded one half of their principal town, and ſome time after the whole of it, to theſe ſtrangers. The Indian women taught ours how to make bread of their corn; their men went out to hunt and fiſh with the Eng⯑liſh; they aſſiſted them in the chace, and ſold them the game they took themſelves for a trifling conſideration; ſo that the new ſettlers had a ſort of town ready built, ground ready cleared for their ſubſiſtence, and no enemy to harraſs them.

They lived thus, without much trouble or fear, until ſome ill-diſpoſed perſons in Virgi⯑nia inſinuated to the Indians, that the Balti⯑more colony had deſigns upon them; that [222] they were Spaniards and not Engliſhmen, and ſuch other ſtories as they judged proper to ſow the ſeeds of ſuſpicion and enmity in the minds of theſe people. Upon the firſt appearance, that the malice of the Virgini⯑ans had taken effect, the new planters were not wanting to themſelves. They built a good fort with all expedition, and took every other neceſſary meaſure for their defence; but they continued ſtill to treat the Indians with ſo much kindneſs, that partly by that, and partly by the awe of their arms, the ill deſigns of their enemies were defeated.

As the colony met with ſo few obſtructions, and as the Roman catholics in England were yet more ſeverely treated in proportion as the court party declined, numbers conſtantly ar⯑rived to repleniſh the ſettlement; which the lord proprietor omitted no care, and witheld no expence to ſupport and encourage; until the uſurpation overturned the government at home, and deprived him of his rights abroad. Maryland remained under the governors ap⯑pointed by the parliament and by Cromwell until the reſtoration, when lord Baltimore was reinſtated in his former poſſeſſions, which he cultivated with his former wiſdom, care and moderation. No people could live in greater eaſe and ſecurity; and his lordſhip, willing that as many as poſſible ſhould en⯑joy the benefits of his mild and equitable ad⯑miniſtration, [223] gave his conſent to an act of aſſembly, which he had before promoted in his province, for allowing a free and unlimit⯑ed toleration for all who profeſſed the chriſti⯑an religion of whatever denomination. This liberty, which was never in the leaſt inſtance violated, encouraged a great number, not only of the church of England, but of preſbyterians, quakers, and all kinds of diſſenters, to ſettle in Maryland, which before that was almoſt wholly in the hands of Roman catholics.

This lord, though guilty of no maleadmini⯑ſtration in his government, though a zealous Roman catholic, and firmly attached to the cauſe of king James the ſecond, could not prevent his charter from being queſtioned in that arbitrary reign, and a ſuit from being commenced to deprive him of the property and juriſdiction of a province granted by the royal favour, and peopled at ſuch a vaſt ex⯑pence of his own. But it was the error of that weak and unfortunate reign, neither to know it's friends, nor it's enemies; but by a blind precipitate conduct to hurry on every thing of whatever conſequence with almoſt equal heat, and to imagine that the ſound of the royal authority was ſufficient to juſtify every ſort of conduct to every ſort of people. But theſe injuries could not ſhake the honour and conſtancy of lord Baltimore, nor tempt him to deſert the cauſe of his maſter. Upon [224] the revolution he had no reaſon to expect any favour; yet he met with more than king James had intended him; he was deprived indeed of all his juriſdiction, but he was left the profits of his province, which were by no means inconſiderable; and when his deſcen⯑dants had conformed to the church of Eng⯑land, they were reſtored to all their rights as fully as the legiſlature has thought fit that any proprietor ſhould enjoy them.

When upon the revolution power changed hands in that province, the new men made but an indifferent requital for the liberties and indulgences they had enjoyed under the old adminiſtration. They not only deprived the Roman catholics of all ſhare in the govern⯑ment, but of all the rights of freemen; they have even adopted the whole body of the penal laws of England againſt them; they are at this day meditating new laws in the ſame ſpirit, and they would undoubtedly go to the greateſt lengths in this reſpect, if the modera⯑tion and good ſenſe of the government in Eng⯑land did not ſet ſome bounds to their bigotry; thinking very prudently that it were highly unjuſt, and equally impolitic, to allow an aſylum abroad to any religious perſuaſions which they judged it improper to tolerate at home, and then to deprive them of it's protection, recol⯑lecting at the ſame time in the various changes which our religion and government has un⯑dergone, [225] which have in their turns rendered every ſort of party and religion obnoxious to the reigning powers, that this American aſy⯑lum which has been admitted in the hotteſt times of perſecution at home, has proved of infinite ſervice, not only to the preſent peace of England, but to the proſperity of it's com⯑merce, and the eſtabliſhment of it's power. There are a ſort of men, who will not ſee ſo plain a truth; and they are the perſons who would appear to contend moſt warmly for liberty; but it is only a party liberty for which they contend; a liberty, which they would ſtretch out one way only to narrow it in another; they are not aſhamed of uſing the very ſame pretences for perſecuting others, that their enemies uſe for perſecuting them.

This colony, as for a long time it had with Penſylvania the honour of being unſtained with any religious perſecution, ſo neither they nor the Penſylvanians have ever until very lately been harraſſed by the calamity of any war, offen⯑ſive or defenſive, with their Indian neighbours, with whom they always lived in the moſt ex⯑emplary harmony. Indeed, in a war which the Indians made upon the colony of Virginia, by miſtake they made an incurſion into the bounds of Maryland; but they were ſoon ſenſible of their miſtake, and attoned for it. This preſent war indeed has changed every [226] thing, and the Indians have been taught to laugh at all their ancient alliances.

Maryland, like Virginia, has no conſider⯑able town, and for the ſame reaſon; the number of navigable creeks and rivers. An⯑napolis is the ſeat of government. It is a ſmall but beautifully ſituated town upon the river Patuxent.

Here is the ſeat of the governor, and the principal cuſtom-houſe collection. The peo⯑ple of Maryland have the ſame eſtabliſhed re⯑ligion with thoſe of Virginia, that of the church of England but here the clergy are provided for in a much more liberal manner, and they are the moſt decent, and the beſt of the clergy in North America. They export from Maryland the ſame things in all reſpects that they do from Virginia. Their tobacco is about forty thouſand hogſheads. The white inhabitants are about forty thou⯑ſand; the negroes upwards of ſixty thou⯑ſand.

CHAP. XIX. CAROLINA.

IT muſt not be forgot, that we formerly called all the coaſt of North America by the name of Virginia. The province properly ſo called, with Maryland and the Carolinas, was known by the name of South Virginia. By the Spaniards it was conſidered as part of Florida, which country they made to extend from New Mexico to the Atlantic ocean. By them it was firſt diſcovered; but they treated the natives with an inhumanity, which filled them with ſo violent an hatred to the Spaniſh name, as rendered their ſettlement there very difficult; nor did they puſh it vigorouſly, as the country ſhewed no marks of producing gold or ſilver, the only things for which the Spaniards then valued any country. Florida therefore remained under an entire neglect in Europe, until the reign of Charles the ninth, king of France.

The celebrated leader of the proteſtants in that kingdom, the admiral Chaſtillon, who was not only a great commander but an able ſtateſman, was a man of too comprehenſive views not to ſee the advantages of a ſettle⯑ment in America; he procured two veſſels [228] to be fitted out for diſcoveries upon that coaſt. He had it probably in his thoughts to retire thither with thoſe of his perſuaſion, if the ſucceſs which hitherto ſuited ſo ill with his great courage and conduct, ſhould at laſt en⯑tirely deſtroy his cauſe in France. Theſe ſhips in two months arrived upon the coaſt of America, near the river now called Albe⯑marle in the province of North Carolina. The French gave the Indians to underſtand in the beſt manner they were able, that they were enemies to the Spaniards, which ſecured them a friendly reception, and the good offices of the inhabitants. They were, however, in no condition to make any ſettlement.

On their return to France, the admiral, at this time by the abominable policy of the court apparently in great favour, was ſo well ſatisfied with the account they had given of the country, that in 1564 he fitted out five or ſix ſhips with as many hundred men aboard, to begin a colony there. This was according⯑ly done at the place of their landing in the firſt expedition. They built a fort here, which they called Fort Charles, as they called the whole country Carolana in honour of their king then reigning. The Spaniards, who had intelligence of their proceedings, diſpatched a conſiderable force to attack this colony, who not ſatisfied with reducing it, put all the people to the ſword after quarter given; and [229] committing great outrages upon the natives, they paved the way for the vengeance which ſoon after fell upon them for ſuch an unneceſ⯑ſary and unprovoked act of cruelty. For though the admiral and his party were by this time deſtroyed in the infamous maſſacre of St. Bartholomew, and though the deſign of a colony died with him, one M. de Gorgues, a private gentleman, fitted out ſome ſhips, which ſailed to that coaſt purely to revenge the murder of his countrymen, and his friends. The Indians greedily embraced the oppor⯑tunity of becoming aſſociates in the puniſh⯑ment of the common enemy. They joined in the ſiege of two or three forts the Spaniards had built there; they took them, and in all of them put the garriſon to the ſword without mercy.

Satisfied with this action the adventurers returned, and happily for us, the French court did not underſtand, blinded as they were by their bigotry, the advantages which might have been derived from giving Ameri⯑ca to the proteſtants, as we afterwards did to the diſſenters, as a place of refuge; if they had taken this ſtep, moſt certainly we ſhould have either had no ſettlements in America at all, or they muſt have been ſmall in extent, and precarious in their tenure, to what they are at this day.

CHAP. XX.

AFTER the French expedition, the country of Carolina remained without any attention from Spaniards, French or En⯑liſh, until, as we obſerved in the article of Virginia, Sir Walter Raleigh projected an eſtabliſhment there. It was not in the part now called Virginia, but in North Carolina, that our firſt unhappy ſettlements were made and deſtroyed. Afterwards the adventurers entered the bay of Cheſapeak, and fixed a permanent colony to the Northward; ſo that although Carolina was the firſt part of the Atlantic coaſt of America, which had an European colony, yet by an odd caprice it was for a long time deſerted by both England and France, who ſettled with infinitely more difficulty in climates much leſs advantageous or agreeable.

It was not until the year 1663, in the reign of Charles the ſecond, that we had any notion of formally ſettling that country. In that year the earl of Clarendon lord chancel⯑lor, the duke of Albemarle, the lord Craven, lord Berkley, lord Aſhley, afterwards earl of Shafteſbury, Sir George Carteret, Sir William Berkley, and Sir George Colleton, obtained a charter for the property and juriſdiction of [231] that country, from the 31ſt degree of North latitude to the 36th; and being inverted with full power to ſettle and govern the country, they had the model of a conſtitution framed, and a body of fundamental laws compiled by the famous philoſopher Mr. Locke. On this plan the lords proprietors themſelves ſtood in the place of the king, gave their aſſent or diſ⯑ſent as they thought proper to all laws, ap⯑pointed all officers, and beſtowed all titles of dignity. In his turn one of theſe lords acted for the reſt. In the province they appointed two other branches, in a good meaſure ana⯑logous to the legiſlature in England. They made three ranks, or rather claſſes of nobility. The loweſt was compoſed of thoſe to whom they had made grants of twelve thouſand acres of land, whom they called barons; the next order had twenty-four thouſand acres, or two baronies, with the title of caſſiques; theſe were to anſwer our earls; the third had two caſſiqueſhips, or forty-eight thouſand acres, and were called landgraves, a title in that province analogous to duke. This body formed the upper houſe; their lands were not alienable by parcels. The lower houſe was formed, as it is in the other colonies, of re⯑preſentatives from the ſeveral towns or coun⯑ties. But the whole was not called, as in the reſt of the plantations, an aſſembly, but a parliament.

[232]They began their firſt ſettlement at a point of land towards the Southward of their diſtrict, between two navigable rivers, though of no long courſe, called Aſhley and Cowper rivers, and there laid the foundation of a city, called Charles town, which was deſigned to be, what it now is, the capital of the province. They expended about twelve thouſand pounds in the firſt ſettlement. But it was not chief⯑ly to the funds of the lords proprietors, that this province owed it's eſtabliſhment. They obſerved what advantages the other colonies derived from opening an harbour for refugees; and not only from this conſideration, but from the humane diſpoſition of that excellent man who formed the model of their govern⯑ment, they gave an unlimited toleration to people of all religious perſuaſions. This induc⯑ed a great number of diſſenters, over whom the then government held a more ſevere hand than was conſiſtent with juſtice or policy, to tranſ⯑port themſelves with their fortunes and fami⯑lies into Carolina. They became ſoon at leaſt as numerous as the churchmen; and though they diſplayed none of that frantic bigotry which diſgraced the New England refugees, they could not preſerve themſelves from the jealouſy and hatred of thoſe of the church of England, who having a majority in one of the aſſemblies, attempted to exclude all diſ⯑ſenters from a right of ſitting there. This [233] produced diſſentions, tumults, and riots every day, which tore the colony to pieces, and hindered it for many years from making that progreſs which might be expected from it's great natural advantages. The people fell into diſputes of no leſs violent a nature with the lords proprietors, and provoking the Indians by a ſeries of unjuſt and violent actions, they gave occaſion to two wars, in which how⯑ever they were victorious, and ſubdued almoſt all the Indian nations within their own bounds at this ſide of the Apalachian mountains.

Their inteſtine diſtractions, and their fo⯑reign wars, kept the colony ſo low, that an act of parliament, if poſſible to prevent the laſt ruinous conſequences of theſe diviſions, put the province under the immediate care and inſpection of the crown. The lords pro⯑prietors making a virtue of neceſſity, accepted a recompence of about twenty-four thouſand pounds, both for the property and juriſdiction; except the earl Granville, who kept his eighth part of the property, which comprehends very near half of North Carolina, on that part which immediately borders upon the pro⯑vince of Virginia. Their conſtitution in thoſe points wherein it differed from that of the other colonies, was altered; and the country, for the more commodious adminiſtration of affairs, was divided into two diſtinct indepen⯑dent governments, called North Carolina and [234] South Carolina. This was in the year 1728. In a little time a firm peace was eſtabliſhed with all the neighbouring Indian nations, the Cherokees, the Creeks, and the Cataubas; the province began to breathe from it's inter⯑nal quarrels, and it's trade has advanced every year ſince that time with an aſtoniſhing rapi⯑dity.

CHAP. XXI.

THESE two provinces lying between the 31ſt and 46th degrees of latitude, are upwards of four hundred miles in length, and in breadth to the Indian nations, near three hundred. The climate and ſoil in theſe countries, do not conſiderably differ from thoſe of Virginia; but where they differ, it is much to the advantage of Carolina, which is one of the fineſt climates in the world. The heat in ſummer is very little greater than in Virginia, but the winters are milder and ſhorter, and the year in all reſpects does not come to the ſame violent extremities. How⯑ever the weather, though in general ſerene as the air is healthy, yet like all American wea⯑ther, it makes ſuch quick changes, and thoſe ſo ſharp, as to oblige the inhabitants to ra⯑ther more caution in their dreſs and diet, than we are obliged to uſe in Europe. Thunder and lightning is here frequent; and it is the [235] only one of our colonies upon the continent which is ſubject to hurricanes; but they are very rare, and not near ſo violent as thoſe of the Weſt-Indies. Part of the month of March, and all April, May, and the greateſt part of June, are here inexpreſſibly temperate and agreeable, but in July, Auguſt, and for almoſt the whole of September, the heat is very intenſe; and though the winters are ſharp, eſpecially when the North-Weſt wind prevails, yet they are ſeldom ſevere enough to freeze any conſiderable water; affecting only the mornings and evenings, the froſts have never ſufficient ſtrength to reſiſt the noon-day ſun; ſo that many tender plants which do not ſtand the winter of Virginia, flouriſh in Caro⯑lina; for they have oranges in great plenty near Charles-town, and excellent in their kinds, both ſweet and ſour. Olives are rather neglected by the planter, than denied by the climate. The vegetation of every kind of plant is here almoſt incredibly quick; for there is ſomething ſo kindly in the air and ſoil, that where the latter has the moſt barren and unpromiſing appearance, if neglected for a while, of itſelf it ſhoots out an immenſe quantity of thoſe various plants and beautiful flowering ſhrubs and flowers, for which this country is ſo famous, and of which Mr. Ca⯑teſby is his Natural Hiſtory of Carolina has made ſuch fine drawings.

[236]The whole country is in a manner one foreſt, where our planters have not cleared it. The trees are almoſt the ſame in every reſpect with thoſe produced in Virginia; and by the different ſpecies of theſe, the quality of the ſoil is eaſily known; for thoſe grounds which bear the oak, the walnut, and the hickory, are extremely fertile; they are of a dark ſand, intermixed with loam, and as all their land abounds with nitre, it is a long time before it is exhauſted; for here they never uſe any manure. The pine barren is the worſt of all; this is an almoſt perfectly white ſand, yet it bears the pine tree and ſome other uſeful plants naturally, and yields good profit in pitch, tar, and turpentine from thence; and when it is cleared, for two or three years together it produces very tolerable crops of Indian corn and peaſe; and when it lies low and is flooded, it even anſwers well for rice. But what is the beſt of all for this province, this worſt ſpecies of it's land is favourable to a ſpecies of the moſt valuable of all it's pro⯑ducts, to a ſpecies of indigo. There is another kind of ground, which lies low and wet upon the banks of ſome of their rivers; this is called ſwamp, which in ſome places is in a man⯑ner uſeleſs; in others it is far the richeſt of all their grounds; it is a black fat earth, and bears their great ſtaple rice, which muſt have in general a rich moiſt ſoil, in the greateſt [337] plenty and perfection. The country near the ſea, and at the mouths of the navigable rivers, is much the worſt; for moſt of the land there is of the ſpecies of the pale, light, ſandy-coloured ground; and what is otherwiſe in thoſe parts, is little better than an unhealthy and unprofitable ſalt marſh; but the country, as you advance in it, improves continually; and at an hundred miles diſtance from Charles-town, where it begins to grow hilly, the ſoil is of a prodigious fertility, fitted for every purpoſe of human life. The air is pure and wholſome, and the ſummer heats much more temperate than in the flat country; for Carolina is all an even plain for eighty miles from the ſea; no hill, no rock, ſcarce even a pebble to be met with: ſo that even the beſt parts of the maritime country, from this ſameneſs, muſt want ſomething of the fine effect which it's various and beautiful products would have by a more variegated and advantageous diſpoſi⯑tion; but nothing can be imagined more plea⯑ſant to the eye than the back country, and it's fruitfulneſs is almoſt incredible. Wheat grows extremely well there, and yields a pro⯑digious increaſe. In the other parts of Carolina they raiſe but little, where it is apt to mildew and ſpend itſelf in ſtraw; and theſe evils the planters take very little care to redreſs, as they turn their whole attention to the culture of rice, which is more profitable, and in which they are unrivalled; being ſupplied with what [238] wheat they want in exchange for this grain, from New York and Penſylvania.

The land in Carolina is very eaſily cleared every where, as there is little or no under⯑wood. Their foreſts conſiſt moſtly of great trees at a conſiderable diſtance aſunder; ſo that they can clear in Carolina more land in a week, than in the foreſts of Europe they can do in a month. Their method is to cut them at about a foot from the ground, and then ſaw the trees into boards, or convert them into ſtaves, heading, or other ſpecies of lum⯑ber, according to the nature of the wood, or the demands at the market. If they are too far from navigation, they heap them together, and leave them to rot. The roots ſoon decay; and before that they find no inconvenience from them, where land is ſo plenty.

The aboriginal animals of this country are in general the ſame with thoſe of Virginia, but there is yet a greater number and variety of beautiful fowls. All the animals of Europe are here in plenty; black cattle are multi⯑plied prodigiouſly. About fifty years ago, it was a thing extraordinary to have above three or four cows, now ſome have a thouſand; ſome in North Carolina a great many more; but to have two or three hundred is very common. Theſe ramble all day at pleaſure in the foreſts; but their calves being ſeparated, and kept in fenced paſtures, the cows return [239] every evening to them; they are then milked, detained all night, milked in the morning, and then let looſe again. The hogs range in the ſame manner, and return like the cows, by having ſhelter and ſome victuals provided for them at the plantation; theſe are vaſtly nume⯑rous, and many quite wild; many horned cattle and horſes too run wild in their woods; though at the firſt ſettlement there was not one of theſe animals in the country. They drive a great many cattle from North Carolina every year into Virginia, to be ſlaughtered there; and they kill and ſalt ſome beef, and a good deal of pork, for the Weſt-Indies, within themſelves; but the beef is neither ſo good, nor does it keep near ſo long as what is ſent to the ſame market from Ireland. They export a con⯑ſiderable number of live cattle to Penſylvania and the Weſt-Indies. Sheep are not ſo plenty as the black cattle or hogs, neither is their fleſh ſo good; their wool is very ordinary.

CHAP. XXII.

THE trade of Carolina, beſides the lum⯑ber, proviſions, and the like, which it yields in common with the reſt of America, has three great ſtaple commodities, indigo, rice, and the produce of the pine, turpentine, tar, and pitch. The two former commodities South Carolina has intirely to itſelf; and taking in North Carolina, this part of Ame⯑rica [240] yields more pitch and tar than all the reſt of our colonies.

Rice anciently formed by itſelf the ſtaple of this province; this wholſome grain makes a great part of the food of all ranks of peo⯑ple in the Southern parts of the world; in the Northern it is not ſo much in requeſt. Whilſt the rigour of the act of navigation obliged them to ſend all their rice directly to England, to be re-ſhipped for the markets of Spain and Portugal; the charges incident to this regula⯑tion lay ſo heavy upon the trade, that the cul⯑tivation of rice, eſpecially in time of war, when theſe charges were greatly aggravated by the riſe of the freight and inſurance, hardly anſwer⯑ed the charges of the planter; but now the legiſlature has relaxed the law in this reſpect, and permits the Carolinians to ſend their rice directly to any place to the Southward of Cape Finiſterre. This prudent indulgence has again revived the rice trade; and though they have gone largely, and with great ſpirit into the profitable article of indigo, it has not diverted their attention from the cultivation of rice; they raiſe now above double the quantity of what they raiſed ſome years ago; and this branch alone of their commerce is, at the low⯑eſt eſtimation, worth one hundred and fifty thouſand pounds ſterling annually.

Indigo is a dye made from a plant of the ſame name, which probably was ſo called [241] from India, where it was firſt cultivated, and from whence we had for a conſiderable time the whole of what we conſumed in Europe. This plant is very like the fern when grown, and when young hardly diſtinguiſhable from lucern-graſs; its leaves in general are pennated, and terminated by a ſingle lobe; the flowers conſiſt of five leaves, and are of the papi⯑lionaceous kind, the uppermoſt petal being larger and rounder than the reſt, and lightly furrowed on the ſide; the lower ones are ſhort and end in a point; in the middle of the flower is ſituated the ſtile, which after⯑wards becomes a pod, containing the ſeeds.

They cultivate three ſorts of indigo in Ca⯑rolina, which demand the ſame variety of ſoils. Firſt, the French or Hiſpaniola indigo, which ſtriking a long tap root, will only flouriſh in a deep rich ſoil; and therefore though an ex⯑cellent ſort, it is not ſo much cultivated in the maritime parts of Carolina, which are generally ſandy; but no part of the world is more fit to produce it in perfection than the ſame country, an hundred miles backwards; it is neglected too on another account, for it hardly bears a winter ſo ſharp as that of Ca⯑rolina.

The ſecond ſort, which is the falſe guate⯑mala, or true bahama, bears the winter better, is a more tall and vigorous plant, is raiſed in greater quantities from the ſame compaſs of [242] ground; is content with the worſt ſoils in the country, and is therefore more cultivated than the firſt ſort, though inferior in the quality of it's dye.

The third ſort is the wild indigo, which is indigenous here; this, as it is a native of the country, anſwers the purpoſes of the planter the beſt of all, with regard to the hardineſs of the plant, the eaſineſs of the culture, and the quantity of the produce; of the quality there is ſome diſpute, not yet ſettled amongſt the planters themſelves; nor can they as yet diſ⯑tinctly tell when they are to attribute the faults of their indigo to the nature of the plant, to the ſeaſons, which have much in⯑fluence upon it, or to ſome defect in the manufacture.

The time of planting the indigo, is gene⯑rally after the firſt rains ſucceeding, the vernal equinox; the ſeed is ſowed in ſmall ſtraight trenches, about eighteen or twenty inches aſunder; when it is at it's height, it is gene⯑rally eighteen inches tall. It is fit for cutting, if all things anſwer, well, in the beginning of July. Towards the end of Auguſt a ſecond cutting is obtained; and if they have a mild autumn, there is a third cutting at Michael⯑mas; the indigo land muſt be weeded every day, and the plants cleanſed from worms, and the plantation attended with the greateſt care and diligence; about twenty-five negroes may [243] manage a plantation of fifty acres, and com⯑pleat the manufacture of the drug, beſides providing their own neceſſary ſubſiſtence, and that of the planter's family. Each acre yields, if the land be very good, ſixty or ſeventy pounds weight of indigo; at a medium the produce is fifty pounds. When the plant is beginning to bloſſom it is fit for cutting; and when cut, great care ought to be taken to bring it to the ſteeper, without preſſing or ſhaking it, as a great part of the beauty of the indigo depends upon the fine farina which adheres to the leaves of this plant.

The apparatus for making indigo is pretty conſiderable, though not very expenſive; for beſides a pump, the whole conſiſts only of vats and tubs of cypreſs wood, common and cheap in this country. The indigo when cut is firſt laid in a vat about twelve or fourteen feet long, and four deep, to the height of about fourteen inches, to macerate and digeſt. Then this veſſel, which is called the ſteeper, is filled with water; the whole having lain from about twelve to ſixteen hours, according to the weather, begins to ferment, ſwell, riſe, and grow ſenſibly warm; at this time ſpars of wood are run acroſs to prevent it's riſing too much, and a pin is then ſet to mark the higheſt point of it's aſcent; when it falls be⯑low this mark, they judge that the fermen⯑tation has attained it's due pitch, and begins to [244] abate; this directs the manager to open a cock, and let off the water into another vat, which is called the beater; the groſs matter that remains in the firſt vat, is carried off to manure the ground, for which purpoſe it is excellent, and new cuttings are put in as long as the harveſt of this weed continues.

When the water, ſtrongly impregnated with the particles of the indigo, has run into the ſecond vat or beater, they attend with a ſort of bottomleſs buckets, with long handles, to work and agitate it; which they do inceſſantly until it heats, froths, ferments, and riſes above the rim of the veſſel which contains it; to al⯑lay this violent fermentation, oil is thrown in as the froth riſes, which inſtantly ſinks it. When this beating has continued for twenty, thirty, or thirty-five minutes, according to the ſtate of the weather, (for in cool weather it requires the longeſt continued beating) a ſmall muddy grain begins to be formed, the ſalts and other particles of the plant united and diſſolved before with the water, are now reunited, and begin to granulate.

To diſcover theſe particles the better, and to find when the liquor is ſufficiently beaten, they take up ſome of it from time to time on a plate or in a glaſs; when it appears in an hopeful condition, they let looſe ſome lime water from an adjacent veſſel, gently ſtirring the whole, which wonderfully facilitates the [245] operation; the indigo granulates more fully, the liquor aſſumes a purpliſh colour, and the whole is troubled and muddy; it is now ſuf⯑fered to ſettle; then the clearer part is let to run off into another ſucceſſion of veſſels, from whence the water is conveyed away as faſt as it clears at the top, until nothing remains but a thick mud, which is put into bags of coarſe linen. Theſe are hung up and left for ſome time, until the moiſture is entirely drained off. To finiſh the drying this mud is turned out of the bags, and worked upon boards of ſome porous timber with a wooden ſpatula; it is frequently expoſed to the morning and even⯑ing ſun, but for a ſhort time only; and then it is put into boxes or frames, which is called the curing, expoſed again to the ſun in the ſame cautious manner, until with great labour and attention the operation is finiſhed, and that valuable drug called indigo, fitted for the mar⯑ket. The greateſt ſkill and care is required in every part of the proceſs, or there may be great danger of ruining the whole; the water muſt not be ſuffered to remain too ſhort or too long a time, either in the ſteeper or beater, the beating itſelf muſt be nicely managed, ſo as not to exceed or fall ſhort; and in the curing, the exact medium between too much or too little drying is not eaſily attained. Nothing but experience can make the overſeer ſkilful in theſe matters.

[246]There are two methods of trying the good⯑neſs of indigo; by fire and by water; if it ſwims it is good, if it ſinks it is naught, the heavier the worſe; ſo if it wholly diſſolves in water it is good. Another way of proving is, by the fire ordeal; if it intirely burns away it is good, the adulterations remain untouched.

There is perhaps no branch of manufacture, in which ſo large profits may be made upon ſo moderate a fund, as that of indigo; and there is no country in which this manufac⯑ture can be carried on to ſuch advantage as in Carolina, where the climate is healthy, pro⯑viſion plentiful and cheap, and every thing neceſſary for that buſineſs had with the great⯑eſt eaſe. To do juſtice to the Carolinians, they have not neglected theſe advantages; and if they continue to improve them with the ſame ſpirit in which they have begun, and attend diligently to the quality of their goods, they muſt naturally and neceſſarily come to ſup⯑ply the whole conſumption of the world with this commodity; and conſequently make their country the richeſt, as it is the pleaſanteſt and moſt fertile part of the Britiſh domi⯑nions.

In all parts of Carolina, but eſpecially in North Carolina, they make great quantities of turpentine, tar and pitch. They are all the produce of the pine The turpentine is drawn ſimply from inciſions made in the tree; they [247] are made from as great an height as a man can reach with an hatchet; theſe inciſions meet at the bottom of the tree in a point, where they pour their contents into a veſſel placed to re⯑ceive them. There is nothing further in this proceſs. But tar requires a more conſiderable apparatus and greater trouble. They prepare a circular floor of clay, declining a little towards the center; from this is laid a pipe of wood, the upper part of which is even with the floor, and reaches ten feet without the circumference; under the end the earth is dug away, and barrels placed to receive the tar as it runs. Upon the floor is built up a large pile of pine wood ſplit in pieces, and ſurrounded with a wall of earth, leaving only a ſmall aperture at the top where the fire is firſt kindled. When the fire begins to burn, they cover this open⯑ing likewiſe to confine the fire from flaming out, and to leave only ſufficient heat to force the tar downwards to the floor. They tem⯑per the heat as they pleaſe, by running a ſtick into the wall of clay, and giving it air. Pitch is made by boiling tar in large iron kettles ſet in furnaces, or burning it in round clay holes made in the earth. The greateſt quan⯑tity of pitch and tar is made in North Ca⯑rolina.

CHAP. XXIII.

THERE are in the two provinces which compoſe Carolina, ten naviga⯑ble rivers of a very long courſe, and innu⯑merable ſmaller ones, which fall into them, all abounding in fiſh. About fifty or ſixty miles from the ſea, there are falls in moſt of the great rivers, which as you approach their ſources, become more frequent. This is the caſe of almoſt all the American rivers; at theſe falls, thoſe who navigate theſe rivers land their goods, carry them beyond the cata⯑ract on horſes or waggons, and then reſhip them below or above it.

The mouths of the rivers in North Carolina form but ordinary harbours, and do not admit, except one at Cape Fear, veſſels of above ſeventy or eighty tons; ſo that larger ſhips are obliged to lie off in a ſound called Oca⯑cock, which is formed between ſome iſlands and the continent. This lays a weight upon their trade by the expence of lighterage. North Carolina, partly upon that occaſion, but principally that the firſt ſettlements were made as near as poſſible to the capital, which lies conſiderably to the Southward, was greatly neglected. For a long time it was but ill in⯑habited, and by an indigent and diſorderly [249] people, who had little property, and hardly any law or government to protect them in what they had. As commodious land grew ſcarce in the other colonies, people in low circumſtances obſerving that a great deal of excellent and convenient land was yet to be patented in North Carolina, were induced by that circumſtance to plant to themſelves there. Others who ſaw how they proſpered, followed their example. The government became more attentive to the place as it became more valuable; by degrees ſomething of a better order was introduced. The effect of which is, that though by no means as wealthy as South Carolina, North Carolina has many more white people; things begin to wear a face of ſettlement; and the difficulties they have lain under are not ſo many nor ſo great as to make us neglect all future efforts, or hinder us from forming very reaſonable ex⯑pectations of ſeeing the trade of this country, with proper management, become a flouriſh⯑ing and fruitful branch of the Britiſh American commerce. That even now it is far from con⯑temptible, may appear by a liſt of their ex⯑ported commodities, which I ſhall ſubjoin.

Edenton was formerly the capital of North Carolina, if a trifling village can deſerve that denomination; but the preſent governor Mr. Dobbs has projected one further South upon the river Neus; which, though it has the [250] advantage of being ſomething more central, is by no means equally well ſituated for trade, which ought always to be of the firſt conſide⯑ration in whatever regards any of the colonies. However, none of their towns are worth mentioning; the conveniency of inland navi⯑gation in all our Southern colonies, and the want of handicraftſmen, is a great and almoſt inſuperable obſtacle to their ever having any conſiderable.

CHAP. XXIV.

THE only town in either of the Caro⯑linas which can draw our attention is Charles-town; and this is one of the firſt in North America for ſize, beauty, and traffic. It's ſituation I have already mentioned, ſo admi⯑rably choſen at the confluence of two navigable rivers. It's harbour is good in every reſpect, but that of a bar, which hinders veſſels of more than two hundred tons burthen from entering. The town is regularly and pretty ſtrongly fortified, both by nature and art; the ſtreets are well cut; the houſes are large and well built, and rent extremely high. The church is ſpacious, and executed in a very handſome taſte, ex⯑ceeding every thing of that kind which we have in America. Here beſides the ſeveral denominations of diſſenters have their meet⯑ing houſes. It contains about eight hundred houſes, and is the ſeat of the governor, and the [251] place of meeting of the aſſembly. Several handſome equipages are kept here. The planters and merchants are rich, and well bred; the people are ſhewy and expenſive in their dreſs and way of living; ſo that every thing conſpires to make this by much the livelieſt and politeſt place, as it is one of the richeſt too in all America.

The beſt harbour in this province is far to the Southward, on the borders of Georgia, called Port Royal. This might give a capacious and ſafe reception to the largeſt fleets of the greateſt bulk and burthen; yet the town, which is called Beaufort, built upon an iſland of the ſame name with the harbour, is not as yet conſiderable, but it bids fair in time for becoming the firſt trading town in this part of America.

The import trade of South Carolina from Great-Britain and the Weſt-Indies, is the ſame in all reſpects with that of the reſt of the colonies, and it is very large. Their trade with the Indians is likewiſe in a very flouriſh⯑ing condition. As for it's export, both the nature of that, and it's prodigious increaſe, may be diſcerned from the following comparative tables, which let us ſee how much this colony has really advanced in a few years; as an at⯑tentive conſideration of it's natural advantages muſt ſhew us how much it muſt advance, if properly managed, as there is ſcarce any im⯑provement [252] of which this excellent country is not capable.

Exported from Charles-town.

• In the year 1731.
  • Rice, 41,957 barrels
  • Indigo, 00,000 pounds
  • Deer ſkins, 300 hds.
  • Pitch, 10,750 barrels
  • Tar, 2063 ditto
  • Turpent. 759 ditto
  • Beef, pork, &c. not particularized.
• In the year 1754.
  • Rice, 104,682 barrels
  • Indigo, 216,924 pds.
  • Deer ſkins, 460 hogſheads.
    • 114 bund.
    • 508 looſe
  • Pitch, 5,869 barrels
  • Tar, 2,943 ditto
  • Turpentine, 759 ditto
  • Beef, 416 ditto
  • Pork, 1560 ditto.
  • Ind. corn, 16428 buſh.
  • Peas, 9,162 ditto
  • Taned lea. 4,196 hides
  • Hides in the hair 1,200
  • Shing. 1,114,000
  • Staves, 206,000
  • Lumb. 395,000 feet

Beſides a great deal of live cattle, horſes, cedar, cypreſs, and walnut plank; bees wax, myrtle, and ſome raw ſilk and cotton.

North Carolina, which is reputed one of the leaſt flouriſhing of our ſettlements, and which certainly lay under great difficulties, yet is with⯑in a few years greatly improved. The conſe⯑quence of this inferior province may appear by [253] the following view of it's trade, which I can take upon me to ſay is not very far from being exact; it is at leaſt ſufficiently ſo to enable us to form a proper idea of this province, and it's commerce.

Exported from all the ports of North-Carolina in 1753.

• Tar, 61,528 barrels.
• Pitch, 12,055 ditto.
• Turpetine, 10,429 ditto.
• Staves, 762,330 no.
• Shingles, 2,500,000 no.
• Lumber, 2,000,647 feet.
• Corn, 61,580 buſhels.
• Peas, about 10,000 ditto.
• Pork & beef, 3,300 barrels.
• Tobacco, abt. 100 hogſheads.
• Tanned lea. about 1000 hundred weight.
• Deerſkins in all ways, about 30,000.

Beſides a very conſiderable quantity of wheat, rice, bread, potatoes, bees wax, tallow, candles, bacon, hog's lard, ſome cotton, and a vaſt deal of ſquared timber of walnut and cedar, and hoops and heading of all ſorts. Of late they raiſe indigo, but in what quantity I cannot determine, for it is all exported from South Carolina. They raiſe likewiſe much more tobacco than I have mentioned, but this, as it is produced on the frontiers of Vir⯑ginia, ſo it is exported from thence. They [254] export too no inconſiderable quantity of bea⯑ver, racoon, otter, fox, minx, and wild cats ſkins, and in every ſhip a good deal of live cattle, beſides what they vend in Virginia. Both in North and South Carolina they have made frequent, but I think not vigorous nor ſufficiently continued efforts in the culti⯑vation of cotton and ſilk. What they have ſent home of theſe commodities is of ſo ex⯑cellent a kind, as to give us great encourage⯑ment to proceed in a buſineſs which we have not taken to heart with all that warmth that it's importance in trade, and the fitneſs of the climate for theſe moſt valuable articles certain⯑ly deſerves. It was a long time before this province went into the profitable trade of indigo, notwithſtanding a premium ſubſiſt⯑ed a good many years for all that ſhould be raiſed in our plantations; the thing was at firſt deſpaired of, and it was never judged that Carolina could produce this drug; but no ſooner had a few ſhewn a ſpirited and ſucceſs⯑ful example, than all went into it ſo heartily, that though it is but about ſix years ſince they began, I am informed that five hundred thouſand weight was made laſt year; and as they go on, in a very little time they will ſupply the market with a commodity, which before we purchaſed every ounce from the French and Spaniards. Silk requires ſtill more trouble, and a cloſer attention; as yet it proceeds with [255] languor, nor will a premium alone ever ſuffice to ſet on foot in a vigorous manner a manu⯑facture, which will find great difficulties in any country, which does not abound in hands that can work for very trifling wages. The want of this advantage in Carolina, though no part of the world is fitter for this buſineſs, and no buſineſs could be ſo advantageous to Eng⯑land, will for a very long time be an impedi⯑ment to the manufacture of raw ſilk, un⯑leſs ſome proper, well ſtudied, and vigorouſly executed ſcheme be ſet on foot for that pur⯑poſe; and ſurely it is a matter worthy of a very ſerious conſideration. America is our great reſource; this will remain to us when other branches of our trade are decayed, or exiſt no more; and therefore we ought to grudge no expence that may enable them to anſwer this end ſo effectually, as one day to ſupply the many loſſes we have already had, and the many more we have but too much reaſon to apprehend in our commerce. Theſe expences are not like the expences of war, heavy in their nature, and precarious in their effects; but when judiciouſly ordered, the certain and infallible means of rich and ſucceſſive harveſts of gain to the lateſt poſterity, at the momen⯑tary charge of a comparatively ſmall quantity of ſeed, and of a moderate huſbandry to the preſent generation.

CHAP. XXV. GEORGIA.

IN the year 1732, the government obſerving that a great tract of land in Carolina upon the borders of the Spaniſh Florida lay waſte and unſettled, reſolved to erect it into a ſepa⯑rate province, and to ſend a colony thither. This they were the rather induced to do, becauſe it lay on the frontier of all our pro⯑vinces naked and defenceleſs; whereas if it could be properly ſettled, it would be a ſtrong barrier to them all upon that ſide, or at leaſt would be ſufficient to protect Carolina from the incurſions which the Indians, inſtigated by the French or Spaniards, might make upon that province. They had it likewiſe in their view to raiſe wine, oyl, and ſilk, and to turn the induſtry of this new people from the timber and proviſion trade, which the other colonies had gone into too largely, into chan⯑nels more advantageous to the public. Laud⯑able deſigns in every reſpect; though perhaps the means which were taken to put them in execution, were not altogether anſwerable.

That whole country which lies between the rivers Savannah and Alatamaha North and South, and from the Atlantic ocean on [257] the Eaſt, to the great South-Sea upon the Weſt, was veſted in truſtees; at the end of that period the property in chief was to revert to the crown. This country extends about ſixty miles from North and South near the ſea, but widens in the more remote parts to above one hundred and fifty. From the ſea to the Apalachian mountains it is not much ſhort of three hundred.

In purſuance of the original deſign, the truſtees reſolved to encourage poor people to ſettle in the province, which had been com⯑mitted to their care; and to this purpoſe found them in neceſſaries to tranſport them into a country, of which they had previouſly publiſhed a moſt exaggerated and flattering deſcription. In reality the country differs little from South Carolina, but that the ſum⯑mers are yet hotter, and the ſoil in the gene⯑ral of a poorer kind. The colony was ſent over under the care of Mr. Oglethorpe, who very generouſly beſtowed his own time and pains, without any reward, for the advance⯑ment of the ſettlement.

The truſtees had very well obſerved, that many of our colonies, eſpecially that of South Carolina, had been very much endangered both internally and externally, by ſuffering the negroes to grow ſo much more numerous than the whites. An error of this kind, they judged, in a colony which was not only to [258] defend itſelf, but to be in ſome ſort a pro⯑tection to the others, would have been inex⯑cuſable; they for that reaſon forbid the im⯑portation of negroes into Georgia. In the next place, they obſerved that great miſchiefs happened in the other ſettlements from making vaſt grants of land, which the grantees jobbed out again to the diſcouragement of the ſet⯑tlers; or what was worſe, ſuffered to lie idle and uncultivated. To avoid this miſchief, and to prevent the people from becoming wealty and luxurious, which they thought in⯑conſiſtent with the military plan upon which this colony was founded, they allowed in the common courſe to each family but twenty-five acres; and none could, according to the original ſcheme, by any means come to poſſeſs more than five hundred. Neither did they give an inheritance in fee ſimple, or to the heirs general of the ſettlers, but granted them their lands inheritable only by their male iſſue. They likewiſe forbid the importation of rum into the province, to prevent the great diſorders which they obſerved to ariſe in the other parts of North America, from the abuſe of ſpirituous liquors.

Theſe regulations, though well intended, and meant to bring about very excellent purpoſes, yet it might at firſt, as it did afterwards ap⯑pear, that they were made without ſufficient⯑ly conſulting the nature of the country, or the [259] diſpoſition of the people which they regarded. For in the firſt place, as the climate is exceſ⯑ſively hot, and field work very laborious in a new colony, as the ground muſt be cleared, tilled and ſowed, all with great and inceſſant toil, for their bare ſubſiſtence, the load was too heavy for the white men, eſpecially men who had not been ſeaſoned to the country. The conſequence of which was, that the greateſt part of their time, all the heat of the day, was ſpent in idleneſs, which brought certain want along with it. It is true that all our colonies on the continent, even Virginia and Carolina, were originally ſettled without the help of negroes. The white men were obliged to the labour, and they underwent it, becauſe they then ſaw no other way; but it is the na⯑ture of man, not to ſubmit to extraordinary hardſhips, in one ſpot, when they ſee their neighbours on another, without any differ⯑ence in the circumſtances of things, in a much more eaſy condition. Beſides, there were no methods taken to animate them un⯑der the hardſhips they endured. All things contributed to diſpirit them.

A levelling ſcheme in a new colony is a thing extremely unadviſeable. Men are ſeldom induced to leave their country, but upon ſome extraordinary proſpects; there ought always to be ſomething of a vaſt⯑neſs in the view that is preſented to them, to [260] ſtrike powerfully upon their imagination; and this will operate, becauſe men will never rea⯑ſon well enough to ſee, that the majority of mankind are not endued with diſpoſitions proper to make a fortune any where, let the propoſed advantages be what they will. The majority of mankind muſt always be indigent; but in a new ſettlement they muſt be all ſo, unleſs ſome perſons there are on ſuch a com⯑fortable and ſubſtantial footing, as to give di⯑rection and vigour to the induſtry of the reſt; for in every well contrived building there muſt be ſtrong beams and joiſts, as well as ſmaller bricks, tiles and laths. Perſons of ſub⯑ſtance found themſelves diſcouraged from at⯑tempting a ſettlement, by the narrow bounds which no induſtry could enable them to paſs; and the deſign of confirming the in⯑heritance to the male line was an addition⯑al diſcouragement. The ſettlers found them⯑ſelves not upon a par with the other colonies. There was an obvious inconvenience in leav⯑ing no proviſion at all for females, as in a new colony the land muſt be, for ſome time at leaſt, the only wealth of the family. The quantity of twenty-five acres was undoubtedly too ſmall a portion, as it was given without any conſideration of the quality of the land, and was therefore in many places of very little value. Add to this, that it was clogged after a ſhort free tenure, with a much greater [261] quit-rent than is paid in our beſt and longeſt ſettled colonies. Indeed through the whole manner of granting land, there appeared, I know not what low attention to the trifling profits that might be derived to the truſtees or the crown by rents and eſcheats, which clogged the liberal ſcheme that was firſt laid down, and was in itſelf extremely injudicious. When you have a flouriſhing colony, with ex⯑tenſive ſettlements, from the ſmalleſt quit-rents the crown receives a large revenue; but in an ill-ſettled province, the greateſt rents make but a poor return, and yet are ſufficient to burthen and impoveriſh the people.

The tail male grants were ſo grievous, that the truſtees themſelves corrected that error in a ſhort time. The prohibition of rum, though ſpecious in appearance, had a very bad effect. The waters in this unſettled country running through ſuch an extent of foreſt, were not wholſome drinking, and wanted the correc⯑tive of a little ſpirit, as the ſettlers themſelves wanted ſomething to ſupport their ſtrength in the extraordinary and unuſual heat of the cli⯑mate, and the dampneſs of it in ſeveral places diſpoſing them to agues and fevers. But what was worſe, this prohibition in a manner depri⯑ved them of the only vent they had for the on⯑ly commodities they could ſend to market, lumber and corn, which could ſell no where but in the ſugar iſlands, and with this reſtric⯑tion [262] of negroes and rum, they could take very little from them in return.

CHAP. XXVI.

ALL theſe, and ſeveral other inconveni⯑encies in the plan of the ſettlement, raiſed a general diſcontent in the inhabitants; they quarrelled with one another, and with their magiſtrates; they complained; they re⯑monſtrated; and finding no ſatisfaction, many of them fled out of Georgia, and diſperſed themſelves where they deemed the encourage⯑ment better, to all the other colonies. So that of above two thouſand people, who had tranſported themſelves from Europe, in a little time not above ſix or ſeven hundred were to be found in Georgia; ſo far were they from increaſing. The miſchief grew worſe and worſe every day, until the government revok⯑ed the grant to the truſtees, took the province into their own hands, and annulled all the par⯑ticular regulations that were made. It was then left exactly on the ſame footing with Ca⯑rolina.

Though this ſtep has probably ſaved the colony from entire ruin, yet it was not per⯑haps ſo well done to neglect entirely the firſt views upon which it was ſettled. Theſe were undoubtedly judicious; and if the methods taken to compaſs them were not ſo well direct⯑ed, [263] it was no argument againſt the deſigns themſelves, but a reaſon for ſome change in the inſtruments deſigned to put them in execution. Certainly nothing wants a regulation more, than the dangerous inequality in the num⯑ber of negroes and whites in ſuch of our pro⯑vinces where the former are uſed. South Ca⯑rolina, in ſpite of it's great wealth, is really in a more defenceleſs condition, than a knot of poor townſhips on the frontiers of New England. In Georgia, the firſt error of abſolutely prohi⯑biting the uſe of negroes, might be turned to very good account; for they would have re⯑ceived the permiſſion to employ them under what qualifications ſoever, not as a reſtriction, but as a favour and indulgence; and by execu⯑ting whatever regulations we ſhould make in this point with ſtrictneſs, by degrees we might ſee a province fit to anſwer all the ends of de⯑fence and traffic too; whereas we have let them uſe ſuch a latitude in that affair, which we were ſo earneſt to prevent, that Georgia inſtead of being any defence to Carolina, does actually ſtand in need of a conſiderable force to defend itſelf.

As for the ſcheme of vines and ſilk, we were extremely eager in this reſpect in the beginning; and very ſupine ever ſince. At that time ſuch a deſign was clearly impracti⯑cable; becauſe a few people ſeated in a wild country muſt firſt provide every thing for the [264] ſupport of life, by raiſing of corn and breed⯑ing of cattle, before they can think of manu⯑factures of any kind; and they muſt grow numerous enough to ſpare a number of hands from that moſt neceſſary employment, before they can lend ſuch things in any degree of cheapneſs or plenty to a good market. But now there is little ſaid of either of theſe ar⯑ticles, though the province is longer ſettled, and grown more populous. But the misfor⯑tune is, that though no people upon earth ori⯑ginally conceive things better than the Engliſh do, they want the unremitting perſeverance which is neceſſary to bring deſigns of conſe⯑quence to perfection. We are apt ſuddenly to change our meaſures upon any failure; without ſufficiently conſidering whether the failure has been owing to a fault in the ſcheme itſelf; this does not ariſe from any defect pe⯑culiar to our people, for it is the fault of mankind in general, if left to themſelves. What is done by us is generally done by the ſpirit of the people; as far as that can go we advance, but no farther. We want political regulations, and a ſteady plan in government, to remedy the defects that muſt be in all things, which depend merely on the character and diſpoſition of the people.

At preſent Georgia is beginning to emerge, though ſlowly, out of the difficulties that at⯑tended it's firſt eſtabliſhment. It is ſtill but in⯑differently [265] peopled, though it is now twenty-four years ſince it's firſt ſettlement. Not one of our colonies was of ſo ſlow a growth, though none had ſo much of the attention of the go⯑vernment, or of the people in general, or raiſed ſo great expectations in the beginning. They export ſome corn and lumber to the Weſt-Indies; they raiſe ſome rice, and of late are going with ſucceſs into indigo. It is not not to be doubted but in time, when their in⯑ternal diviſions are a little better compoſed, the remaining errors in the government cor⯑rected, and the people begin to multiply, that they will become a uſeful province.

Georgia has two towns already known in trade; Savannah the capital, which ſtands very well for buſineſs about ten miles from the ſea, upon a noble river of the ſame name, which is navigable two hundred miles further for large boats, to the ſecond town, called Auguſ⯑ta; this ſtands upon a ſpot of ground of the greateſt fertility, and is ſo commodiouſly ſitua⯑ted for the Indian trade, that from the firſt eſtabliſhment of the colony it has been in a very flouriſhing condition, and maintained very early ſix hundred whites in that trade alone. The Indian nations on their borders are the up⯑per and lower Creeks, the Chickeſaws, and the Cherokees; who are ſome of the moſt nume⯑rous and powerful tribes in America. The trade of ſkins with this people is the largeſt [266] we have, it takes in that of Georgia, the two Carolinas and Virginia. We deal with them ſomewhat in furs likewiſe, but they are of an inferior ſort. All ſpecies of animals, that bear the fur, by a wiſe providence have it more thick, and of a ſofter and finer kind as you go to the northward; the greater the cold, the better they are clad.

CHAP. XXVII. NOVA SCOTIA.

THE laſt province we have ſettled, or rather began to ſettle, upon the con⯑tinent of North America, is Nova Scotia. This vaſt province, called by the French Acadie, has New England and the Atlantic ocean to the South and South-Weſt, and the river and gulph of St. Laurence to the North and North-Eaſt. It lies between the 44th and 50th degrees of North latitude, and though in a very favourable part of the tem⯑perate zone, has a winter of an almoſt inſup⯑portable length and coldneſs, continuing at leaſt ſeven months in the year; to this im⯑mediately ſucceeds, without the intervention of any thing that may be called ſpring, a ſum⯑mer of an heat as violent as the cold, though of no long continuance; and they are wrapt in the gloom of a perpetual fog, even long af⯑ter [267] the ſummer ſeaſon has commenced. In moſt parts, the ſoil is thin and barren, the corn it produces of a ſhrivelled kind like rye, and the graſs intermixed with a cold ſpungy moſs. However it is not uniformly bad; there are tracts in Nova Scotia, which do not yield to the beſt land in New England.

Unpromiſing as this country is, yet neglect⯑ing all thoſe delightful tracts to the Southward, it was here that ſome of the firſt European ſettlements were made. The French ſeated themſelves here before they made any eſta⯑bliſhment in Canada; but whatever unaccoun⯑table ignorance influenced their choice, the induſtry and vigour of that time deſerves our applauſe; for though they had infinitely more difficulties to ſtruggle with than we have at this day, and not the hundreth part of the ſuccours from Europe, yet they ſubſiſted in a tolerable manner, and increaſed largely; when the colony which in our days we have fixed there, if the ſupport of the royal hand was withdrawn but for a moment, after all the immenſe ſums which have been expended in it's eſtabliſhment, would undoubtedly ſink into nothing. It is with difficulty it ſubſiſts, even encouraged and ſupported as it is. Yet the deſign of eſtabliſhing a colony here, with whatever difficulties it might have been at⯑tended, was a very prudent meaſure, for the French would undoubtedly have profited of [268] our neglects, and have by ſome means got this country into their hands, to the great an⯑noyance of all our colonies, and to the great benefit both of their fiſhery and their ſugar iſlands.

This country has frequently changed hands from one private proprietor to the other, and from the French to the Engliſh nation, back⯑ward and forward; until the treaty of Utrecht eſtabliſhed our right in it finally; as the treaty of Aix la Chapelle confirmed it. But both were deficient in not aſcertaining diſtinct⯑ly what bounds this province ought to have. This was left to be adjuſted by commiſſaries. Whilſt they were debating, the French built forts, and ſecured ſuch a part of the province as they were reſolved to hold. I have not throughout this work choſen to enter into ter⯑ritorial diſputes, becauſe they convey very little private inſtruction, and do nothing at all towards the eſtabliſhment of the public rights; yet it is difficult to avoid remarking, that the line which the French have drawn in Nova Scotia, is not only not drawn by any treaty, but that it is very apparently calculated to ſecure them theſe parts of the province which they value moſt, and at the ſame time to pay an apparent reſpect to the treaty of Utrecht by leaving us ſome part of Acadia.

The chief town we had formerly in this province, was called Annapolis Royal; but [269] though the capital, it was a ſmall place, wretch⯑edly fortified, and yet worſe built and inha⯑bited. Here were ſtationed the remains of a regiment, which continued there very little recruited ſince the reign of queen Anne; but though this place never flouriſhed, it ſtood upon the very beſt harbour, as it is ſaid, in North America; but it was not here, but on the South-Eaſt ſide of the peninſula, that the ſettlement which was reſolved and executed with ſo much ſpirit at the end of the laſt war, was planned. This too ſtands upon a fine harbour, very commodiouſly ſituated, and ra⯑ther better than Annapolis for the fiſhery. The town is called Halifax from the preſent earl, to whoſe wiſdom and care we owe this ſettlement. In 1743, three thouſand families, at an immenſe charge to the government, were tranſported into this country at once, and (I think) three regiments ſtationed there to pro⯑tect them from the Indians, who have al⯑ways ſhewed themſelves our moſt implacable enemies. The town is large, and for ſo new a ſettlement well built. It has a good intrench⯑ment of timber, ſtrengthened with forts of the ſame materials, ſo as to be in little danger at leaſt from an Indian enemy.

Though this town of Halifax has, all things conſidered, a very flouriſhing appearance, the adjacent country is not improved in propor⯑tion; the ground is very hard to be cleared; [270] when cleared does not produce a great deal, and labour is extravagantly dear. But this colony has ſuffered more from the incurſions of the Indians than from any thing elſe. Their incurſions have been ſo frequent, and attended with ſuch cruelties, that the people can hardly extend themſelves beyond the cannon of the fort, nor attend their works of agriculture even there without the greateſt danger. The conſequence of this is, that they do not raiſe the fifth part of what is ſufficient to maintain them. Moſt of their proviſion of every ſort comes from New England, and they muſt have ſtarved if it were not for the fiſhery, which it muſt be owned is not contemptible, and for ſome little naval ſtores, and the pay of the garriſon, the ſpending of which here is the principal uſe of the troops; againſt the Indian enemy they are of very little effect; though there are three regiments, and all the fighting men the Indians can raiſe in that pro⯑vince are not five hundred. The ſoldiers, in⯑active by their confinement in their barracks, diſeaſed for the moſt part with the ſcurvy, and debilitated by the uſe of ſpirituous liquors, are quite an undermatch for the activity, vigi⯑lance, patience, and addreſs of the American. A company of wood rangers kept conſtantly to ſcour the country near our ſettlements, and a ſmall body of Indians who might be brought at an eaſy rate from the friendly tribes who [271] inhabit our other ſettlements, and encouraged by a reward for what ſcalps they ſhould bring home, ſent to infeſt the enemy amongſt their own habitations, would have protected our colony, and long ago exterminated the Indians, or reduced them to an uſeful ſubjection, ſince unfortunately we have not the ſecret of gaining their affections. The eaſy plan I have men⯑tioned would not have had half the expence attending it, that the maintenance of a nume⯑rous and almoſt uſeleſs garriſon has had. A little experience will ſhew to the moſt ordinary underſtandings, what hardly any ſagacity could have without it unveiled to the moſt penetrat⯑ing ſtateſman. It was a want of this expe⯑rience that cauſed another miſtake of almoſt as bad a nature. Until the beginning of this war a number of the ancient French colony, ſome ſay ten or twelve thouſand ſouls, remained in the country, and were called and treated in a manner as a neutral people, though they ought to have been the king's ſubjects; but they yielded very little obedience to the crown of England, as in truth they had from us very little protection, and they were even accuſed of encouraging the Indian incurſions, and ſup⯑plying them with arms and ammunition to annoy our people. Had we erected in their country a little fort, and in it kept a ſmall garriſon, to be maintained by that people themſelves, appointed magiſtrates, and made [272] them know the benefit and excellency of the Britiſh laws, and at the ſame time impreſſed them with a dread of the Britiſh power, we might have ſaved many uſeful people to this colony, and prevented the neceſſity (if it was a neceſſity) of uſing meaſures, which, if they are not impolitic, are certainly ſuch as an humane and generous mind is never con⯑ſtrained to but with regret.

Beſides Annapolis and Halifax, we have another ſettlement a little to the South-Weſt of the latter, called Lunenburg. This is a branch of Germans from Halifax, who being diſcontented at the infertility of the ſoil there, deſired to go where there was better land to be had, undertaking their own defence; ac⯑cordingly they ſettled where they deſired, to the number of ſeven or eight hundred, and ſucceed tolerable well. Upon a tumult which aroſe amongſt them, the governor ſent a party of ſoldiers to protect them from their own diſcords, and from the enemy. This province is yet but in it's beginning, and therefore, ex⯑cept in proſpect, can afford us no great ſubject matter of ſpeculation.

CHAP. XXVIII. Newfoundland, the Bermudas, and the Ba⯑hamas.

TO the Eaſt of this province lies the great iſle of Newfoundland, above three hun⯑dred miles long, and two hundred broad, ex⯑tending quite up to New Britain, and forming the Eaſtern boundary of the gulph of St. Laurence. This iſland, after various diſputes about the property, was entirely ceded to England by the treaty of Utrecht. From the ſoil of this iſland we were far from reaping any ſudden or great advantage; for the cold is long continued and intenſe; and the ſum⯑mer heat, though violent, warms it not enough to produce any thing valuable; for the ſoil, at leaſt in thoſe parts of the iſland with which we are acquainted, (for we are far from know⯑ing the whole) is rocky and barren. How⯑ever, it hath many large and ſafe harbours; and ſeveral good rivers water it. This iſland, whenever the continent ſhall come to fail of timber convenient to navigation, (which per⯑haps is no very remote proſpect) will afford a copious ſupply for maſts, yards, and all ſorts of lumber for the Weſt-India trade. But what at preſent it is chiefly valuable for, is the great fiſhery of cod, which is carried on upon thoſe ſhoals which are called the banks [274] of Newfoundland. In that the French and Spaniards, eſpecially the former, have a large ſhare. Our ſhare of this fiſhery is computed to increaſe the national ſtock by three hun⯑dred thouſand a year, in gold and ſilver, remit⯑ted us for the cod we ſell in the North, in Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Levant. The plenty of cod, both on the great bank and the leſſer ones which lie to the Eaſt and South Eaſt of this iſland, is inconceivable; and not only cod, but ſeveral other ſpecies of fiſh are there in abundance; all theſe ſpecies are nearly in an equal plenty all along the ſhores of New England, Nova Scotia, and the iſle of Cape Breton; and conſequently ex⯑cellent fiſheries are carried on upon all their coaſts. Where our American colonies are ſo ill peopled, or ſo barren as not to produce any thing from their ſoil, their coaſts make us ample amends; and pour in upon us a wealth of another kind, and no way inferior to the former, from their fiſheries.

We have in North America, beſides this, two cluſters of iſlands; the Bermudas or Summer iſlands, at a vaſt diſtance from the continent in lat. 31. and the Bahama iſlands. The former were very early ſettled, and were much celebrated in the time of the civil wars, when ſeveral of the cavalier party being oblig⯑ed to retire into America, ſome of them, in particular Mr. Waller, the poet, ſpent ſome [275] time in this iſland. Waller was extremely en⯑amoured with the ſerenity of the air, and the beauty and richneſs of the vegetable producti⯑ons of theſe iſlands; he celebrated them in a poem, which is fine but unequal, which he wrote upon this ſubject.

The Bermudas are but ſmall; not contain⯑ing in all upwards of twenty thouſand acres. They are very difficult of acceſs, being, as Waller expreſſes it, walled with rocks. What has been ſaid of the clearneſs and ſerenity of the air, and of the healthineſs of the climate, was not exaggerated; but the ſoil could ne⯑ver boaſt of an extraordinary fertility. Their beſt production was cedar, which was ſupe⯑rior to any thing of the kind in America. It is ſtill ſo, though diminiſhed conſiderably in quantity, which has, as it is imagined, chang⯑ed the air much for the worſe; for now it is much more inconſtant than formerly; and ſeveral tender vegetables, which flouriſhed here at the firſt ſettlement, being deprived of their ſhelter, and expoſed to the bleak North⯑erly winds, are ſeen no more.

The chief, and indeed only buſineſs of theſe iſlanders is the building and navigating light ſloops, and brigantines built with their cedar, which they employ chiefly in the trade between North America and the Weſt-Indies; Theſe veſſels are as remarkable for their ſwift⯑neſs, as the wood of which they are built is [276] for it's hard and durable quality. They ex⯑port nothing from themſelves but ſome white ſtone to the Weſt Indies, and ſome of their garden productions. To England they ſend nothing. Formerly they made a good deal of money of a ſort of hats for womens wear of the leaves of their palmetto's, which whilſt the faſhion laſted were elegant; but the trade and the faſhion are gone together.

Their whites are computed to be about five thouſand, the blacks which they breed are the beſt in America, and as uſeful as the whites in their navigation. The people of the Bermu⯑das are poor, but healthy, contented, and re⯑markably cheerful. It is extremely ſurpriſing that they do not ſet themſelves heartily to the cultivation of vines in this iſland, to which their rocky ſoil ſeems admirably adapted; and their ſituation and the manner of trade they are already engaged in, would facilitate the diſtribution of their wine to every part of North America and the Weſt-Indies.

The Bahamas are ſituated to the South of Ca⯑rolina, from lat. 22 to 27, and they extend a⯑long the coaſt of Florida quite down to the iſle of Cuba; and are ſaid to be five hundred in num⯑ber; ſome of them only mere rocks; but a great many others large, fertile, and in nothing differing from the ſoil of Carolina. All are how⯑ever abſolutely uninhabited, except Providence, which is neither the largeſt nor the moſt fertile.

[277]This iſland was formerly a receptacle for thoſe pirates, who for a long time infeſted the American navigation. This obliged the go⯑vernment to erect a fort there, to ſtation an independent company in the iſland, and to ſend thither a governor. This iſland has at preſent not much trade, ſome oranges it ſends to North America excepted. However, in time of war it makes conſiderably by the prizes condemned here, and in time of peace by the wrecks, which are frequent in this labyrinth of innumerable rocks and ſhelves. This is all the benefit we derive from ſo many large and fertile iſlands, ſituated in ſuch a climate as will produce any thing, and which as it is never reached by any froſts, would yield in all probability even ſugars, of as good a ſort, and in as great abundance, as any iſlands in the Weſt-Indies. Nothing more fully ſhews the preſent want of that ſpirit of adventure and enterprize, which was ſo common in the two laſt centuries, and which is of ſuch infinite honour and advantage to any time or nation, than that theſe iſlands ſo ſituated can lie un⯑occupied, whilſt we complain of the want of land proper for ſugar, and whilſt an hun⯑dred pounds an acre is paid for ſuch in the Caribbees.

CHAP. XXIX. HUDSON's BAY.

THE countries about Hudſon's and Baffin's Bay make the laſt object of our ſpeculation in America. The knowledge of theſe ſeas was owing to a project for the diſcovery of a North-Weſt paſſage to China. So early as the year 1576 this noble deſign was conceived; ſince then it has been fre⯑quently dropped; it has often been revived; it is not yet compleated; but was never de⯑ſpaired of by thoſe whoſe knowledge and ſpirit make them competent judges and lovers of ſuch undertakings. Frobiſher only diſco⯑vered the main of New Britain, or Terra de Labrador, and thoſe ſtreights to which he has given his name. In 1585 John David ſailed from Dartmouth, and viewed that and the more Northerly coaſts; but he ſeems never to have entered the bay. Hudſon made three voyages on the ſame adventure, the firſt in 1607, the ſecond in 1608, and his third and laſt in 1610. This bold and judicious navigator entered the ſtreights that led into this new Mediterranean, coaſted a great part of it, and penetrated to eighty degrees twenty-three minutes into the heart of the frozen zone. His ardor for the diſcovery, not abated by the difficulties he ſtruggled with in this empire of [279] winter, and world of froſt and ſnow, he ſtaid here until the enſuing ſpring, and prepared in the beginning of 1611 to purſue his diſcove⯑ries; but his crew, who ſuffered equal hard⯑ſhips, without the ſame ſpirit to ſupport them, mutinied, ſeized upon him and ſeven of thoſe who were moſt faithful to him, and commit⯑ed them to the fury of the ſeas in an open boat. Hudſon and his companions were either ſwal⯑lowed up by the waves, or gaining the unhoſ⯑pitable coaſt which they water were deſtroyed by the ſavages; but his fate ſo calamitous can⯑not ſo much diſcourage a generous mind from ſuch undertakings, as the immortality of his name, which he has ſecured by having given it to ſo great a ſea, will be a ſpur to others to expect an equal honour, and perhaps with better ſucceſs.

From the firſt voyage of Frobiſher an hun⯑dred and eight years ago, to that of captain Ellis, notwithſtanding ſo many diſappoint⯑ments, the rational hopes of this grand diſcovery have grown greater by every at⯑tempt, and ſeem to ſpring even out of our very failures. The greater ſwell of the tides in the inner part of the bay than near the ſtreights, an appearance ſo unknown in any other in⯑land ſeas, and the increaſe of this ſwell with Weſterly winds, ſeems without any other arguments to evince the certain exiſtence of ſuch a paſſage as we have ſo long ſought [280] without ſucceſs. But though we have hither⯑to failed in the original purpoſe for which we navigated this bay, yet ſuch great deſigns even in their failures beſtow a ſufficient re⯑ward for whatever has been expended upon them. In 1670 the charter was granted to a company for the excluſive trade to this bay, and they have acted under it ever ſince with great benefit to the private men who compoſe the company, though comparatively with little advantage to Great Britain. It is true that their trade in beavers and other ſpecies of furs is not inconſiderable, and it is a trade in itſelf of the beſt kind; it's object enters largely into our manufactures, and carries nothing but our manufactures from us to procure it, and thus it has the qualities of the moſt ad⯑vantageous kinds of traffic. The company has beſides pretty large returns in deer ſkins. It is ſaid that the dividends of this company are prodigious; far exceeding what is gained in any of the other great trading bodies; yet their capital is ſmall, they ſeem little inclined to enlarge their bottom, and appear ſtrongly poſſeſſed with that ſpirit of jealouſy that pre⯑vails in ſome degree in all knots and ſocieties of men endued with peculiar privileges. The officers of the company have behaved to thoſe who wintered within their juriſdiction in ſearch of the North-Weſt paſſage one of the purpoſes for which the company itſelf was [281] originally inſtituted) in ſuch a manner as to give us the trueſt idea of this ſpirit. If I had been ſingular in this opinion, I ſhould have ex⯑preſſed my ſentiments with much greater diffi⯑dence; but this abuſe has been often and loudly complained of. It would appear a⯑ſtoniſhing that this trade has not hitherto been laid open, if in the perplexing multiplicity of affairs that engages our miniſtry, ſomething muſt not neceſſarily paſs unredreſſed.

The vaſt countries which ſurround this bay all abound with animals, whoſe fur is excel⯑lent, and ſome of kinds which are not yet brought into commerce; and the company is very far from any attempt to ſtretch this trade to it's full extent. If the trade were laid open, it ſeems of neceſſity that three capital advan⯑tages would enſue: firſt, that the trade going into a number of rival hands, with a more moderate profit to individuals, it would con⯑ſume a much greater quantity of our manu⯑factures, employ more of our ſhipping and ſeamen, and of courſe bring home more furs, and by lowering the price of that commodity at home, increaſe the demand of thoſe manu⯑factures into which they enter at the foreign markets; it might bring home other ſpecies of furs than thoſe we deal in at preſent, and thus open new channels of trade, which in com⯑merce is a matter of great conſideration. Secondly, this more general intercourſe would [282] make the country better known; it would habi⯑tuate great numbers of our people to it; it would diſcover the moſt tolerable parts for a ſettle⯑ment; and thus, inſtead of a miſerable fort or two, time might ſhew an Engliſh colony at Hudſon's Bay, which would open the fur trade yet more fully, and increaſe the vent of our manufactures yet further. Thirdly, this more general trade on the bay would naturally, without any new expence or trouble what⯑ſoever, in a very ſhort ſpace of time diſcover to us the ſo much deſired North-Weſt paſſage, or ſhew us clearly and definitively that we ought to expect no ſuch thing. Theſe advantages, and even yet more conſiderable ones, would be de⯑rived from laying open this trade under ſuch proper regulations, which the nature of the object would point out of itſelf.

No colony has been hitherto attempted at Hudſon's Bay. The company has two in⯑conſiderable forts there. The country is every where barren; to the Northward of the bay even the hardy pine tree is ſeen no longer, and the cold womb of the earth is incapable of any better production than ſome miſerable ſhrubs. The winter reigns with an incon⯑ceiveable rigour for near nine months of the year; the other three are violently hot, ex⯑cept when the North-Weſt wind renews the memory of the winter. Every kind of Eu⯑ropean ſeed, which we have committed to [283] the earth in this inhoſpitable climate, has hi⯑therto periſhed; but in all probability we have not tried the ſeed of corn from the Nor⯑thern parts of Sweden and Norway; in ſuch caſes the place from whence the ſeed comes is of great moment. All this ſeverity and long continuance of winter, and the barrenneſs of the earth, which ariſes from thence, is expe⯑rienced, in the latitude of 51; in the temperate latitude of Cambridge. However, it is far from increaſing uniformly as you go Northward. Captain James wintered in Charlton iſland, in latitude 51; he judged that the climate here was to be deemed utterly uninhabitable on account of the ſurpriſing hardſhips which he ſuffered; yet the company has a fort ſeveral degrees more to the Northward, where their ſervants make a ſhift to ſubſiſt tolerably. It is called Fort Nelſon, and is in the latitude

All the animals of theſe countries are cloath⯑ed with a cloſe, ſoft, warm fur. In ſummer there is here, as in other places, a variety in the colours of the ſeveral animals; when that is over they all aſſume the livery of winter, and every ſort of beaſts, and moſt of their fowls, are of the colour of the ſnow, every thing a⯑nimate and inanimate is white. This is a ſur⯑priſing phenomenon. But what is yet more ſurpriſing, and what is indeed one of theſe ſtriking things that draw the moſt inattentive to an admiration of the wiſdom and good⯑neſs [284] of Providence, is that the dogs and cats from England, that have been carried into Hudſon's bay, on the approach of winter have intirely changed their appearance, and acquired a much longer, ſofter, and thicker coat of hair than they had originally. As for the men of the country, Providence there, as as every where elſe, has given them no provi⯑ſion but their own art and ingenuity, and they ſhew a great deal in their manner of kindling fire, in cloathing themſelves, and in preſerving their eyes from the ill effects, of that glaring white that every where ſurrounds them for the greateſt part of the year; in other reſpects they are very ſavage. In their ſhapes and faces, they do not reſemble the Ameri⯑cans who live to the Southward; they are much more like the Laplanders and Samoeids of Europe, from whom they are probably de⯑ſcended. The other Americans ſeem to be of a Tartar original.

I have now finiſhed upon my plan the ſurvey of the Engliſh colonies in America. I flatter myſelf that ſo full an idea has not been given of them before in ſo narrow a compaſs. By this the reader will himſelf be enabled to judge, for it is not my deſign to preoccupy his judg⯑ment in theſe particulars, how our colonies have grown, what their vegetative principle has been, in what vigour it ſubſiſts, or what ſigns of corruption appear in any of them; how far [285] we have purſued the advantages which our ſitua⯑tion, and the nature of the country have given us; or where we have purſued them, whether we have gone to the ultimate point. He will ſee how far the colonies have ſerved the trade of the mother country, and how much the mother country has done or neglected to do to⯑wards their happineſs and proſperity. Certainly our colonies deſerve, and would fully reward an attention of a very different kind from any that was ever yet paid to them. Even as they are circumſtanced, I do not in the leaſt heſitate to ſay that we derive more advantage, and of a better kind, from our colonies, than the Spa⯑niards and Portugueſe have from theirs, a⯑bounding as they are with gold and ſilver and precious ſtones; whereas in ours there is no appearance at all of ſuch dazzling and deluſive wealth. But then I conceive it might be made very clear, that had they yielded us theſe ſplendid metals in lieu of what they now produce, the effect would be far leſs to our ad⯑vantage. Our preſent intercourſe with them is an emulation in induſtry; they have nothing that does not ariſe from theirs, and what we receive enters into our manufactures, excites our induſtry, and increaſes our commerce; whereas gold is the meaſure or account, but not the means of trade. And it is found in nations as it is in the fortunes of private men, that what does not ariſe from labour, but is [286] acquired by other means, is never laſting. Such acquiſitions extinguiſh induſtry, which is alone the parent of any ſolid riches.

The barbariſm of our anceſtors could not comprehend how a nation could grow more populous by ſending out a part of it's people. We have lived to ſee this paradox made out by experience, but we have not ſufficiently profited of this experience; ſince we begin, ſome of us at leaſt, to think that there is a danger of diſpeopling ourſelves by encourag⯑ing new colonies, or increaſing the old. If our colonies find, as hitherto they have con⯑ſtantly done, employment for a great number of hands, there is no danger but that hands will be found for the employment. That a rich, trading and manufacturing nation ſhould be long in want of people is a moſt abſurd ſuppoſition; for beſides that the people within themſelves multiply the moſt where the means of ſubſiſt⯑ence are moſt certain, it is as natural for people to flock into a buſy and wealthy country, that by any accident may be thin of people, as it is for the denſe air to ruſh into thoſe parts where it is rarified. He muſt be a great ſtranger to this country, who does not obſerve in it a vaſt number of people, whoſe removal from hence, if they could be of any uſe elſewhere, would prove of very little detriment to the pub⯑lic.

[287]I have already obſerved, that the trade of our colonies deſerves a more particular attention than any other, not only on account of the advantages I have juſt mentioned, but becauſe our attention is ſure of being ſufficiently re⯑warded. The object is in our own power; it is of a good kind; and of ſuch extent and variety, as to employ nobly the moſt inven⯑tive genius in thoſe matters. Foreign politics have ſomething more ſplendid and entertain⯑ing than domeſtic prudence; but this latter is ever attended, though with leſs glaring, yet with infinitely more ſolid, ſecure, and laſting advantages. The great point of our regard in America, ought therefore to be the effectu⯑al peopling, employment, and ſtrength of our poſſeſſions there; in a ſubordinate degree the management of our intereſts with regard to the French and Spaniards. The latter we have rea⯑ſon to reſpect, to indulge, and even perhaps to endure; and more, it is probable, may be had from them in that way, than by the violent me⯑thods which ſome have ſo warmly recommend⯑ed, and ſtill urge, tho' we have had ſome ex⯑perience to convince us of their inſufficiency. But the nature of the French, their ſituation, their deſigns, every thing has ſhewn that we ought to uſe every method to repreſs them, to prevent them from extending their territo⯑ries, their trade, or their influence, and above all to connive at not the leaſt encroachment; but [288] this in ſuch a manner as not to ſtrain our own ſtrength, or turn our eyes from ſerving our⯑ſelves by attempts to diſtreſs them. But as we are now in the midſt of a war, until that is decided, it will be impoſſible to ſay any thing ſatisfactory on our connections with French America, until we ſee what the next treaty of peace will do in the diſtribution of the territory of the two nations there.

CHAP. XXX. The Government of the Engliſh Colonies, and the Paper Currency.

THE ſettlement of our colonies was never purſued upon any regular plan; but they were formed, grew, and flouriſhed, as accidents, the nature of the climate, or the diſpoſitions of private men happened to ope⯑rate. We ought not therefore to be ſurpriſed to find in the ſeveral conſtitutions and govern⯑ments of our colonies, ſo little of any thing like uniformity. It has been ſaid that there is ſcarce any form of government known; that does not prevail in ſome of our plantations; the variety is certainly great and vicious; but the latitude of the obſervation muſt be ſome⯑what reſtrained; for ſome forms they are cer⯑tainly ſtrangers to. To paſs over ſeveral, nothing like [289] a pure hereditary ariſtocracy, has ever appear⯑ed in any of them.

The firſt colony which we ſettled, was that of Virginia. It was governed for ſome time by a preſident and a council, appointed by the crown; but when the people were increaſed to a conſiderable body, it was not thought reaſonable to leave them longer under a mode of government ſo averſe from that which they had enjoyed at home. They were therefore empowered to elect repreſentatives for the ſeveral counties into which this province is di⯑vided, with privileges reſembling thoſe of the repreſentatives of the commons in England. The perſons ſo elected form what is called the lower houſe of aſſembly. This was added to the council which ſtill ſubſiſted, and the members of which were, and to this day are nominated by the crown, as at the firſt, and they are not only nominated by the crown, but hold their ſeats during the king's pleaſure, as ſignified by his governor. They are ſtiled honourable, and are choſen from the perſons of the beſt fortunes and moſt conſiderable influence in the country. They form another branch of the legiſlature, and are ſometimes called the upper houſe of aſſembly. They anſwer in ſome meaſure to the houſe of peers in our conſtitu⯑tion. As the lower houſe of aſſembly is the guardian of the peoples privileges; the coun⯑cil is appointed chiefly to preſerve the prero⯑gative [290] of the crown, and to ſecure the de⯑pendence of the colony; it is the more ef⯑fectually to anſwer theſe ends, that the mem⯑bers of the council are only appointed during pleaſure.

When any bill has paſſed the two houſes, it comes before the governor, who repreſents the king, and gives his aſſent or negative, as he thinks proper. It now acquires the force of a law, but it muſt be afterwards tranſmit⯑ed to the king and council in England, where it may ſtill receive a negative that takes away all it's effect. The upper houſe of aſſembly not only forms a part of the legiſlature of the colony, but it acts as a privy council to the governor, without whoſe concurrence, he can do nothing of moment; it ſometimes acts as a court of chancery. This is the common form of government, and the beſt too that is in uſe in the plantations. This is the man⯑ner of government in all the iſlands of the Weſt-Indies; in Nova Scotia; in one province of New England, and with ſome reſtrictions in another; in New York, New Jerſey, Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia. This form is commonly called a royal government.

The ſecond form in uſe in our ſettlements in America, is called a proprietary govern⯑ment. At our firſt planting that part of the world, it was not difficult for a perſon who had intereſt at court, to obtain large tracts of [291] land, not inferior in extent to many kingdoms; and to be inveſted with a power very little leſs than regal over them; to govern by what laws, and to form what ſort of conſtitution he pleaſed. A dependence upon the crown of England was ſhewn only by the payment of an Indian arrow, a few ſkins, or ſome other trifling acknowledgment of the ſame nature. We had formerly many more governments of that ſort, than we have at preſent; in the Weſt-Indies, the iſland of Barbadoes was granted to the earl of Carliſle; and we have ſeen a like grant made of the iſland of St. Lucia to the duke of Montague in this age, which after an infinite charge to that benevo⯑lent nobleman came to nothing, by a ſort of tacit allowance of the French claim to it. This was in 1722, when our connection with France hindered us from exerting our rights with the neceſſary vigour. Carolina was for⯑merly a government of this kind, but it was lodged in eight proprietaries. How they part⯑ed with their rights we have ſeen already. New Jerſey was likewiſe a proprietary go⯑vernment; but this too failed like the others. The only governments in this form which remain at preſent, but conſiderably abridged of their privileges, are Penſylvania and Mary⯑land. In the latter the conſtitution exactly reſembles that of the royal governments; a governor, council, and aſſembly of the repre⯑ſentatives [292] of the people; but the governor is appointed by the proprietary, and approved by the crown. The cuſtoms are reſerved to the crown likewiſe; and the officers belonging to them are independent of the government of the province. In Penſylvania the proprietary is under the ſame reſtrictions that limit the proprietary of Maryland, on the ſide of the crown; on the ſide of the people he is yet more reſtrained; for their legiſlature has but two parts, the aſſembly of the people, and the go⯑vernor; ſo that the governor wanting the great influence which the council gives in other places, whenever his ſentiments differ from thoſe of the aſſembly he is engaged in a very unequal conteſt.

The third form is called a charter govern⯑ment; this originally prevailed in all the pro⯑vinces of New England; and ſtill remains in two of them, Connecticut and Rhode Iſland. By the charters to theſe colonies, the exorbi⯑tant power which was given in the proprieta⯑ry governments to ſingle men, was here veſt⯑ed, and I apprehend much more dangerouſly, in the whole body of the people. It is to all purpoſes a mere democracy. They elect every one of their own officers, from the higheſt to the loweſt; they diſplace them at pleaſure; and the laws which they enact, are valid without the royal approbation. This ſtate of unbounded freedom, I believe, contributed in [293] ſome degree to make thoſe ſettlements flouriſh, but it certainly contributed as much to render their value to their mother country far more precarious, than a better digeſted plan would have done that might have taken in the in⯑tereſts both of Great Britain and of the new ſettlement. The truth is, nothing of an en⯑larged and legiſlative ſpirit appears in the plan⯑ning of our colonies; the charter govern⯑ments were evidently copied from ſome of our corporations at home, which if they are good inſtitutions themſelves, yet are by no means fit to be imitated by a new people go⯑ing into a remote country, far from the eye and hand of the ſupreme power. What may be an uſeful inſtitution for an inferior member of ſome great body, and cloſely united to it, may be not at all proper for a new ſettlement, which is to form a ſort of dependent com⯑monwealth in a remote part of the world. Here the ends to be anſwered, are to make the new eſtabliſhment as uſeful as poſſible to the trade of the mother country; to ſecure it's dependence; to provide for the eaſe, ſafe⯑ty, and happineſs of the ſettlers; to protect them from their enemies, and to make an eaſy and effectual proviſion to preſerve them from the tyranny and avarice of their gover⯑nors, or the ill conſequences of their own li⯑centiouſneſs; that they ſhould not, by grow⯑ing into an unbounded liberty, forget that [294] they were ſubjects, or lying under a baſe ſer⯑vitude have no reaſon to think themſelves Britiſh ſubjects. This is all that colonies, ac⯑cording to the preſent and beſt ideas of them, can or ought to be. The charter govern⯑ments had nothing of this in view, and con⯑ſequently provided for it but very indiffe⯑rently.

The province of Maſſachuſets bay, which is partly a government of this popular kind, but tempered with ſomething more of the royal authority, ſeems to be on ſtill a worſe footing, through the one error of having no eſtabliſhed proviſion for the governor; this one miſchief is productive of a thouſand others, becauſe the governor in a manner is obliged to keep intrigues and devices on foot, to reconcile the various parts which he muſt act, and is neceſſitated to govern by faction and cabal. Hence it is that the charges of this one govern⯑ment are greater than thoſe not only of the other provinces of New England taken to⯑gether, but of thoſe of Penſylvania and New York added to them; they are deeply in debt, they are every day plunging deeper, their taxes increaſe, and their trade declines.

It has been an old complaint, that it is not eaſy to bring American governors to juſtice for miſmanagements in their province, or to make them refund to the injured people the wealth raiſed by their extortions. Againſt ſuch [295] governors at preſent there are three kinds of remedy; the privy council, the king's bench, and the parliament. The council on juſt cauſe of complaint may remove the governor; the power of the council ſeems to extend no fur⯑ther. The king's bench may puniſh the go⯑vernors for their offences committed in Ame⯑rica, as if done in England. The power of parliament is unlimited in the ways of enquiry into the crime, or of puniſhing it. The firſt of theſe remedies can never be ſufficient to terrify a governor grown rich by iniquity, and willing to retire quietly, though diſhonourably, to enjoy the fruits of it. The king's bench, or any other merely law court, ſeems equally inſufficient for this purpoſe, becauſe offences in government, though very grievous, can hardly ever be ſo accurately defined as to be a proper object of any court of juſtice, bound up by forms and the rigid letter of the law. The parliament is equal to every thing, but whether party, and other bars to a quick and effectual proceeding, may not here leave the provinces as much unredreſſed as in the other courts, I ſhall not take upon me to determine.

The law in all our provinces, beſides thoſe acts which from time to time they have made for themſelves, is the common law of England, the old ſtatute law, and a great part of the new, which in looking over their laws I find many of our ſettlements have adopted, with [296] very little choice or diſcretion. And indeed the laws of England, if in the long period of their duration they have had many improve⯑ments, ſo they have grown more tedious, per⯑plexed, and intricate, by the heaping up many abuſes in one age, and the attempts to remove them in another. Theſe infant ſettlements ſurely demanded a more ſimple, clear, and de⯑terminate legiſlation, though it were of ſome⯑what an homelier kind; laws ſuited to the time, to their country, and the nature of their new way of life. Many things ſtill ſubſiſt in the law of England, which are built upon cauſes and reaſons that have long ago ceaſed; many things are in thoſe laws ſuitable to England only. But the whole weight of this ill agreeing maſs, which neither we nor our fathers were hardly able to bear, is laid upon the ſhoulders of theſe colonies, by which a ſpirit of conten⯑tion is raiſed, and arms offenſive and defenſive ſupplied to keep up and exerciſe this ſpirit, by the intricacy and unſuitableneſs of the laws to their object. And thus in many of our ſettle⯑ments the lawyers have gathered to themſelves the greateſt part of the wealth of the country; men of leſs uſe in ſuch eſtabliſhments than in more ſettled countries, where the number of people naturally ſets many apart from the occu⯑pations of huſbandry, arts, or commerce. Cer⯑tainly our American brethren might well have carried with them the privileges which make [297] the glory and happineſs of Engliſhmen, with⯑out taking them encumbered with all that load of matter, perhaps ſo uſeleſs at home, certainly ſo extremely prejudicial in the colonies.

Laws themſelves are hardly more the ce⯑ment of ſocieties than money; and ſocieties flouriſh or decay according to the condition of either of theſe. It may be eaſily judged, that as the ballance of trade with Great Britain is very much againſt the colonies, that therefore whatever gold or ſilver they may receive from the other branches of their commerce, makes but a ſhort ſtay in America. This conſidera⯑tion at firſt view would lead one to conclude, that in a little time money for their ordinary circulation would be wanting; and this is ap⯑parently confirmed by experience. Very little money is ſeen amongſt them, notwithſtanding the vaſt increaſe of their trade. This defi⯑ciency is ſupplied, or more properly ſpeaking, it is cauſed by the uſe of money of credit, which they commonly call paper currency. This money is not created for the conveniency of traffic, but by the exigencies of the govern⯑ment, and often by the frauds and artifices of private men for their particular profit. Before this invention money was indeed ſcarce enough in America, but they raiſed it's value, and it ſerved their purpoſe tolerably. I ſhall forbear entering into the cauſes that increaſed the charges of government ſo greatly in all our [298] American provinces. But the execution of pro⯑jects too vaſt for their ſtrength, made large ſums neceſſary. The feeble ſtate of a colony which had hardly taken root in the country, could not bear them; and to raiſe ſudden and heavy taxes, would deſtroy the province without an⯑ſwering their purpoſe. Credit then came in aid of money, and the government iſſued bills to the amount of what they wanted, to paſs current in all payments; and they commonly laid a tax, or found ſome perſons willing to engage their lands as ſecurity for the gradual ſinking this debt, and calling in theſe bills. But before the time arrived at which theſe taxes were to anſwer their end, new exigencies made new emiſſions of paper currency neceſ⯑ſary; and thus things went from debt to debt, until it became very viſible that no taxes which could be impoſed could diſcharge them; and that the landed ſecurities given were often fraudulent, and almoſt always inſufficient. Then the paper currency became no longer to be weighed againſt the credit of the govern⯑ment, which depended upon it's viſible re⯑venue. It was compared to the trade, to which it was found ſo diſproportionate, that the bills fell ten, twenty, fifty, and eighty per cent in ſome places. It was to no purpoſe that the government uſed every method to keep up their credit, and even to compel the re⯑ceiving theſe bills at the value for which they [299] were emitted, and to give no preference over them to gold and ſilver; they were more and more depreciated every day; whilſt the go⯑vernment every day emitted more paper, and grew leſs ſollicitous about their old bills, being entirely exhauſted to find means of giving credit to the new.

It is eaſy to perceive how much the inter⯑courſe of buſineſs muſt ſuffer by this uncer⯑tainty in the value of money, when a man re⯑ceives that in payment this day for ten ſhillings, which to-morrow he will not find received from him for five, or perhaps for three. Real money can hardly ever multiply too much in any country, becauſe it will always as it in⯑creaſes be the certain ſign of the increaſe of trade, of which it is the meaſure, and conſe⯑quently of the ſoundneſs and vigour of the whole body. But this paper money may, and does increaſe, without any increaſe of trade, nay often when it greatly declines; for it is not the meaſure of the trade of the nation, but of the neceſſity of it's government; and it is abſurd, and muſt be ruinous, that the ſame cauſe which naturally exhauſts the wealth of a nation, ſhould likewiſe be the only productive cauſe of money.

The currency of our plantations muſt not be ſet upon a level with the funds in England. For beſides that the currency carries no inte⯑reſt to make ſome amends for the badneſs of [300] the ſecurity; the ſecurity itſelf is ſo rotten, that no art can give it any laſting credit; as there are parts of New England wherein, if the whole ſtock and the people along with it were ſold, they would not bring money enough to take in all the bills which have been emit⯑ted.

I hope it is not too late to contrive ſome remedy for this evil, as thoſe at the head of affairs here are undoubtedly very ſollicitous about ſo material a grievance. I ſhould ima⯑gine that one current coin for the whole con⯑tinent might be ſtruck here, or there, with ſuch an allay as might at once leave it of ſome real value, and yet ſo debaſed as to prevent it's currency elſewhere, and ſo to keep it within themſelves. This expedient has been practiſed, and with ſucceſs, in ſeveral parts of Europe; but particularly in Holland, a coun⯑try which undoubtedly is perfectly acquainted with it's commercial intereſt.