The conquest of Canada being achieved, nothing now remained to be done in North America, except the demolition of the fortifications of Louisbourg on the island of Cape Breton; for which purpose some able engineers had been sent from England with the ships commanded by captain Byron. By means of mines artfully disposed and well constructed, the fortifications were reduced to a heap of rubbish, the glacis was levelled, and the ditches were filled. All the artillery, ammunition, and implements of war, were conveyed to Halifax; but the barracks were repaired, so as to accommodate three hundred men occasionally; the hospital, with the private houses, were left standing. The French still possessed, upon the continent of America, the fertile country lying on each side of the great river Mississippi, which disembogues itself into the gulf of Florida; but the colony was so thinly peopled, and so ill provided, that, far from being formidable, it scarcely could have subsisted, unless the British traders had been base and treacherous enough to supply it from time to time with provisions and necessaries. The same infamous commerce was carried on with divers French plantations in the West Indies; insomuch that the governors of provinces, and commanders of the squadrons stationed in those seas, made formal complaints of it to the ministry. The temptation of extraordinary profit excited the merchants not only to assist the enemies of their country, but also run all risks in eluding the vigilance of the legislature. The inhabitants of Martinique found a plentiful market of provision furnished by the British subjects at the Dutch islands of Eustatia and Curaeoa: and those that were settled on the island of Hispaniola were supplied in the same manner at the Spanish settlement of Monte-Christo.
INSURRECTION IN JAMAICA.
While the British commanders exerted themselves by sea and land with the most laudable spirit of vigilance and courage against the foreign adversaries of their country, the colonists of Jamaica ran the most imminent hazard of being extirpated by a domestic enemy. The negro slaves of that island, grown insolent in the contemplation of their own formidable numbers, or by observing the supine indolence of their masters, or stimulated by that appetite for liberty so natural to the mind of man, began, in the course of this year, to entertain thoughts of shaking off the yoke by means of a general insurrection. Assemblies were held and plans resolved for this purpose. At length they concerted a scheme for rising in arms all at once in different parts of the island, in order to massacre all the white men, and take possession of the government. They agreed that this design should be put in execution immediately after the departure of the fleet for Europe; but their plan was defeated by their ignorance and impatience. Those of the conspirators that belonged to captain Forest’s estate, being impelled by the fumes of intoxication, fell suddenly upon the overseer, while he sat at supper with some friends, and butchered the whole company. Being immediately joined by some of their confederates, they attacked the neighbouring plantations, where they repeated the same barbarities; and, seizing all the arms and ammunition that fell in their way, began to grow formidable to the colony. The governor no sooner received intimation of this disturbance, than he, by proclamation, subjected the colonists to martial law. All other business was interrupted, and every man took to his arms. The regular troops, joined by the troop of militia, and a considerable number of volunteers, marched from Spanish Town to Saint Mary’s, where the insurrection began, and skirmished with the insurgents; but as they declined standing any regular engagement, and trusted chiefly to bush-fighting, the governor employed against them the free blacks, commonly known by the name of the wild negroes, now peaceably settled under the protection of the government. These auxiliaries, in consideration of a price set upon the heads of the rebels, attacked them in their own way, slew them by surprise, until their strength was broken, and numbers made away with themselves in despair; so that the insurrection was supposed to be quelled about the beginning of May, but in June it broke out again with redoubled fury, and the rebels were reinforced to a very considerable number. The regular troops and the militia, joined by a body of sailors, formed a camp under the command of colonel Spragge, who sent out detachments against the negroes, a great number of whom were killed, and some taken; but the rest, instead of submitting, took shelter in the woods and mountains. The prisoners, being tried and found guilty of rebellion, were put to death by a variety of tortures. Some were hanged, some beheaded, some burned, and some fixed alive upon gibbets. One of these last lived eight days and eighteen hours, suspended under a vertical sun, without being refreshed by one drop of water, or receiving any manner of sustenance. In order to prevent such insurrections for the future, the justices assembled at the sessions of the peace established regulations, importing, that no negro-slave should be allowed to quit his plantation without a white conductor, or a ticket of leave; that every negro playing at any sort of game should be scourged through the public streets; that every publican suffering such gaming in his house should forfeit forty shillings; that every proprietor suffering his negroes to beat a drum, blow a horn, or make any other noise in his plantation, should be fined ten pounds; and every overseer allowing these irregularities should pay half that sum, to be demanded, or distrained for, by any civil or military officer; that every free negro, or mulatto, should wear a blue cross on his right shoulder, on pain of imprisonment; that no mulatto, Indian, or negro, should hawk or sell any thing, except fresh fish or milk, on pain of being scourged; that rum and punch houses should be shut up during divine service on Sundays, under the penalty of twenty shillings; and that those who had petit licenses should shut up their houses on other nights at nine o’clock.
ACTION AT SEA OFF HISPANIOLA.
Notwithstanding these examples and regulations, a body of rebellious negroes still subsisted in places that were deemed inaccessible to regular forces; and from these they made nocturnal irruptions into the nearest plantations, where they acted with all the wantonness of barbarity: so that the people of Jamaica were obliged to conduct themselves with the utmost vigilance and circumspection; while rear-admiral Holmes, who commanded at sea, took every precaution to secure the island from insult or invasion. He not only took measures for the defence of Jamaica, but also contrived and executed schemes for annoying the enemy. Having in the month of October received intelligence that five French frigates were equipped at Cape François, on the island of Hispaniola, in order to convoy a fleet of merchant-ships to Europe, he stationed the ships under his command in such a manner as was most likely to intercept this fleet; and his disposition was attended with success. The enemy sailed from the Cape to the number of eight sail, on the sixteenth; and next day they were chased by the king’s ships the Hampshire, Lively, and Boreas; which however made small progress, as there was little wind, and that variable. In the evening the breeze freshened; and about midnight the Boreas came up with the Sirenne, commanded by commodore M’Cartie. They engaged with great vivacity for about twenty-five minutes, when the Sirenne shot a-head, and made the best of her way. The Boreas was so damaged in her rigging, that she could not close with the enemy again till next day, at two in the afternoon, when the action was renewed off the east end of Cuba, and maintained till forty minutes past four, when Mr. M’Cartie struck. In the meantime, the Hampshire and Lively gave chase to the other four French frigates, which steered to the southward with all the sail they could carry, in order to reach the west end of Tortuga, and shelter themselves in Port-au-Prince. On the eighteenth, the Lively, by the help of her oars, came up with the Valeur, at half an hour past seven in the morning; and after a hot action, which continued an hour and a half, compelled the enemy to submit. The Hampshire stood after the three others, and about four in the afternoon ran up between the duke de Choiseul and the prince Edward. These she engaged at the same time; but the first, having the advantage of the wind, made her retreat into Port-au-Paix, the other ran ashore about two leagues to leeward, and struck her colours; but at the approach of the Hampshire the enemy set her on fire, and she blew up. This was also the fate of the Fleur de Lys, which had run into Freshwater Bay, a little farther to leeward of Port-au-Prince. Thus, by the prudent disposition of admiral Holmes, and the gallantry of his three captains Norbury, Uvedale, and Maitland, two large frigates of the enemy were taken, and three destroyed. The spirit of the officers was happily supported by an uncommon exertion of courage in the men, who cheerfully engaged in the most dangerous enterprises. Immediately after the capture of the French frigates, eight of the enemy’s privateers were destroyed or brought into Jamaica. Two of these, namely, the Vainqueur of ten guns, sixteen swivels, and ninety men, and the Mackau of six swivels, and fifteen men, had run into shoal water in Cumberland harbour on the island of Cuba. The boats of the Trent and Boreas, manned under the direction of the lieutenants Miller and Stuart, being rowed up to the Vainqueur, boarded and took possession under a close fire, after having surmounted many other difficulties. The Mackau was taken without any resistance; then the boats proceeded against the Guespe, of eight guns, and eighty-five men, which laid at anchor farther up in the Lagoon, but before they came up the enemy had set her on fire, and she was destroyed.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760