thousand blacks. In this situation was the island when it fell into the hands of the English, to whom it was secured by the peace of 1763. In 1779 it was re-captured by the French; but it reverted to Great Britain n 1783.

The English had no sooner got possession, than they issued an order to deprive the cultivators of the lands of their property, unless redeemed. The settlers remonstrated against a proceeding so unjust, but were disregarded; and the lands were ordered, by the English ministry, to be sold indiscriminately. This severity made them disperse. Some went to St. Martin, Margalante, Guadaloupe, and Martinique; but the greater part to St. Lucia. The Caribs still occupied the windward side of the island, which contained fine plains; but having refused to evacuate them when ordered so to do by the English, the latter took to arms to compel them. These unfortunate people defended themselves with extraordinary courage during several years, but were at length obliged to submit. The greater part had been exterminated during the war, and the remainder either fled, or were sent off the island.

DOMINICA.

Dominica, discovered by Columbus, in 1493, is about thirty miles long, and sixteen broad. This island was for many years afterward inhabited only by its natives. In 1732, nine hundred and thirty-eight Caribs were found there, dispersed in thirty-two carbets, or huts; and three hundred and forty-nine French lived in a district by the sea-side. At the peace of 1763, when it became an English colony, it was found to contain six hundred whites, and two thousand blacks. The island was captured by the French in 1778, but restored at the peace of 1783. The great advan tage of this island to the English is its situation. It is nearly equi-distan from Guadaloupe and Martinique, and at a small distance from either; an its safe and commodious roads and bays enable their privateers and squad runs to intercept, without risk, the navigation of France in her colonies

GRENADA.

One of the West India islands, belonging to Great Britain, is about thirty miles long, and twelve broad. The French formed a project for settling there as early as the year 1638, yet they never carried it into execution till 1651. At their arrival they gave a few hatchets, some knives, and a barrel of brandy, to the chief of the natives they found there; and imagining they had purchased the island with these trifles, assumed the sovereignty, and soon acted as tyrants. The Caribs, unable to contend with them by open force, took the usual method which weakness inspires to repel oppression: they murdered all whom they found alone and defenceless. The troops that were sent to support the infant colony, destroyed all the natives they found. The remainder of these miserable people took refuge upon a steep rock, preferring rather to throw themselves down alive from the top of it, than to fall into the bands of an implacable enemy. The French called this rock, Le Morne des Sauteurs, (the Hill of the Leapers), which name it still retains. The French held this island till 1762, when it was captured by the British, to whom we confirmed by the treaty of 1763. The French, however, retook it in 1799, but restored it in 1783, agreeable to the treaty of peace.

TRINIDAD.

This is the most southerly of the Windward Islands, and, next to Ja maica, the largest and most valuable of the West India islands belonging to Great Britain. It lies immediately off the north-east coast of Colombia, being only separated from it by a narrow strait. It was first visited by Columbus in 1498, at the time he discovered the river Orinoco. Its favourable situation for carrying on trade with the main, as well as the neighbouring islands, its extent, fruitfulness, and the convenience of its harbours, make it an object of considerable importance; indeed, so fertile is the soil, that not more than a thirtieth part of its surface is incapable of cultivation. Cocoa is more extensively grown in Trinidad than in any of the other British Antilles, and is of superior quality; but its sugar plantations are still more important. Coffee, indigo, tobacco, and cotton, also come to perfection here, though the quantities grown are but small; but all the fruits and vegetables of the adjacent tropical climates are found in abundance; and the pines transplanted from France or Spain are said to be equal to the parent stock.

The mineral products of Trinidad are considerable, but the most abun dant is that of asphaltum, which is found in the greatest profusion in the lake Brea, or Pitch lake; part of which is in a liquid state, and consists of fluid pitch of unknown depth, in a state of slow ebullition, and exhaling a strong bituminous and sulphurous odour. Exclusive of this pitch lake, Trinidad has several extinct volcanic craters and other positive evidences of volcanic agency. Is is. however, happily exempt from the destructive scourge of hurricanes. Although discovered in 1498, Trinidad was not taken possession of by the Spaniards until 1568, when a similar scene of extermination of the natives occurred as marked most of the other territories in the New World which fell under their power. Raleigh visited it in 1595; and the French took it in 1696, but soon after restored it to the Spaniards, who held it till it was taken by the English in 1797, and ceded to them by the peace of Amiens.

ST. EUSTATIUS.

St. Eustatius, one of the West India islands, in the group called the Leeward islands, is about fifteen miles in circumference, and is, properly speaking, nothing but a steep mountain, rising out of the sea in the form of a cone, the centre of which is apparently the crater of an extinct volcano. Some Frenchmen, who had been driven from St. Christopher's, took refuge there in 1G29, and abandoned it soon after. The Dutch got possession of it in 1639. They were afterward driven out by the English, and the latter by the French, to whom it was ceded by the treaty of Bre da; notwithstanding which, Louis XIV. restored it to the Dutch, in whose possession it remained until the American war, when it was taken by the English, and retaken by the Dutch. During the French republican war it was again taken by the English, with whom it now remains

TOBAGO.

One of the West India islands belonging to Great Britain, is about thirtyfive miles in length, and twelve in breadth. In 1632, two hundred men from Flushing, landed there to lay the foundation of a Dutch colony upon which the neighbouring Indians joined with the Spaniards to oppose

an establishment that gave umbrage to both. Whoever attempted to stop their fury, were murdered or taken prisoners; and the few who escaped into the woods soon deserted the island. In 1654, the Dutch sent a fresh colony to Tobago, which was driven out, in 1666, by the English. The English were soon deprived of this conquest by the French; but Louis XIV., satisfied with having conquered it, restored it to the Dutch. In the month of February, 1677, a French fleet, destined to seize upon Tobago, fell in with the Dutch fleet sent out to oppose this expedition. They engaged in the road of the island; and the courage displayed on both sides was such, that every ship was dismasted, nor did the engagement cease till twelve vessels were burnt. The French lost the fewest men; but the Dutch kept possession of the island. D'Estrees was determined to take it, and landed there the same year, in the month of December, at a time when there was no fleet to obstruct his progress. A bomb, thrown from his camp, blew up their powder magazine, which proved a decisive stroke; and the Dutch, unable to resist, surrendered at discretion. The conquerors availed themselves to the utmost of the rights of war; not content with razing the fortifications, they burned the plantations, seized upon all the ships in the harbour, and transported the inhabitants. This conquest was secured to France by the peace that soon followed. The French, however, neglected this important island; not a single man was sent thither for many years, and it fell into a very low condition. The English claimed a right to Tobago; their arms confirmed their pretensions; and it was ceded to England by the peace of 1763. It was taken by the French in 1781, and ceded to them by the peace of 1783. The English again took it in the French republican war, (1793), and it now remains with them.

THE BAHAMAS.

These islands, the first which Columbus discovered in America, are about five hundred in number, and belong to Great Britain. St. Salvador, one of them, was the first land discovered by Columbus, on the 13th of October, 1492. They are, in general, little more than rocks just above water. When first discovered, some were densely inhabited, and their natives were sent, by the Spaniards, to perish in the mines of St. Domingo. Not one of them had a single inhabitant in 1672, when the English landed a few men on that called New Providence, who were all destroyed by the Spaniards seven or eight years after. This disaster did not deter other Englishmen from settling there in 1690. They had built about one hundred and fifty houses, when the French and Spaniards jointly attacked them in 1703, and destroyed their plantations, and carried off their negroes. The pirates next got possession, and insulted every flag, till 1719, when England fitted out a sufficient force to subdue them. The greater part of them accepted the pardon held out upon submission, and served to increase the colony, which Woods Rogers brought with him from Britain.

There are other islands in the West Indies, belonging to the English, Danes, Swedes, and Dutch, but of so little consideration, that to give de tails of them would afford but little interest or real information.

THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

TO THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

These were originally thirteen colonies, composed of emigrants princi. pally from Great Britain. After enduring all the hardships incident to the settlement of a new country, having at the same time to contend against hostility from the natives and each other, they triumphed over every obstacle and became permanently settled. For the space of about a cen tury they acknowledged the sway, and continued to contribute like loyal subjects to the support of the British crown; but at the end of that period a plan of taxation was projected and attempted to be carried into effect by the parliament of Great Britain, which was peculiarly obnoxious to the people of the colonies. This attempt was the cause which finally separated the two countries; for the colonies with unexampled vigour and pertinacity opposed all the efforts of the mother country to subject them to obedience. The national existence of this country, therefore, commenced on the 4th of July, 1776, such being the date of that celebrated document, the Declaration of Independence of the colonies.

So rapid and unprecedented has been the rise of this new nation, that the great European powers have already ranked her immediately after themselves in the scale of national importance; and she is now univer sally attracting attention as the most celebrated and powerful Republic that exists.

A brief consideration of the causes which superinduced the Americas revolution, may not be here improper. As early as the year 1651, had been passed in England, a navigation act, for the regulation of the commerce of the colonies, by which it was declared that no merchandize of the English Plantations should be imported into England in any other than English vessels; also, that the transfer of articles of domestic manufacture from one colony to another were prohibited, particularly such goods as could be obtained from England; also, shortly after, was en acted another law forbidding hatters to have more than two apprentices or to extend their business; forbidding, also, the erection of iron works and the manufacture of steel; and prohibiting the importation of sugar rum, and molasses, without the payment of exorbitant duties; and declaring to be illegal the felling of pitch and white-pine trees not comprehended within the enclosures.

Even so soon as 1739, certain restless scheming English politicians proposed to Sir Robert Walpole, then prime-minister, the subsequently fatal notion of imposing direct excises upon the colonies, for the purpose of raising a revenue for support of the government. That profound and sagacious statesman, however, replied, with an ironical smile, "I will leave that operation to some one of my successors, who shall have more courage than I, and less regard for commerce. During my administration I have always thought it my duty to encourage the commerce of the Americas colonies; and I have done it. For, it is my opinion that, if by their trade they gain five hundred thousand pounds sterling, at the end of two years full the half that sum will have entered British coffers. This is a mode of taxing them more conformable to their constitution, and to our own." In 1763, however, the government of Great Britain found it necessary to search out every object, and every occupation, which was susceptible

of taxes, or contributions; as her public debt had at that time increased to the prodigious amount of one hundred and forty-eight millions sterling, or about six hundred and fifty-seven millions five hundred thousand dolars. It was therefore thought expedient, and even necessary, to tax the colonies; and George Grenville, then prime-minister, accordingly introduced a resolution in parliament, "That it was proper to charge certain stamp duties, in the colonies and plantations." This passed the house of commons, March 10th, 1764; but no further action was taken until the year following.

Meanwhile the colonies received intelligence of the design, with a general feeling of indignation. They considered it the commencement of a system of revenue which, if unresisted, opened a prospect of oppression boundless in extent, and endless in duration. Meetings were held, and remonstrances addressed to the king, and to both houses of parliament; and agents were sent to London, to prevent, if possible, the intended act from becoming a law But ministers were not to be diverted from their plan; the memorials, remonstrances, petitions, and resolutions of the American provinces were alike rejected: and the obnoxious stamp act passed in the month of March, 1765, by a vote of five to one in the Commons, and without opposition in the Lords.

On the occasion of the debate preceding the law, eloquence and patriotism of the most exalted character were exhibited. Charles Townsend, a brilliant orator on the side of the ministry, took occasion to exclaim.

"These Americans, our own children, planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence, protected by our arms, until they are grown to a good degree of strength and opulence; will they now turn their backs upon us, and grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy load which overwhelms us?"

Colonel Barre caught the words, and, with a vehemence becoming a soldier, rose and said:

"Planted by your care! No! your oppression planted them in America: :hey fled from your tyranny into a then uncultivated land, where they were exposed to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others, to the savage cruelty of the natives of the country, a people the most subtle, and, I take it upon me to say, the most truly terrible of any people that ever inhabited God's earth; and yet actuated by principles of true English liberty, they met all these hardships with pleasure, compared with those they suffered in their own country, from the lands of those that should have been their friends.

"They nourished by your indulgence! They grew by your neglect: as soon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised by sending persons to rule over them, in one department and another, who were, perhaps, the deputies of the deputies of some members of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them: men, whose behaviour, on many occasions, had caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them; men, promoted to the highest seats of justice, some of whom, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to foreign countries, to escape the vengeance of the laws of their own.

"They protected by your arms! They have nobly taken up arms in your defence: have exerted their valour amid their constant and laborious industry, for the defence of a country whose frontiers were drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded for your enlargement the little savings of their frugality and the fruits of their toils. And believe me, remember, I this day told you so, that the same spirit which actuated that people at first, will continue with them still."

When the news of the passage of this act reached America, a burst of resentment was everywhere manifested. In Boston and in Philadelphia the bells were muffled and rung a funeral peal; in New-York the act was