nial government, embarked for France, as the legal representatives of an integral part of the French empire. M. Duchilleau, the governor, issued proclamations to prevent the meetings, which were treated with indignity and contempt. The deputies arrived at Versailles in June, about a month after the states-general had declared themselves the National Assembly. Eighteen deputies from one colony was thought excessive; and it was with difficulty six were allowed their seats among the national representatives. Upon the 20th of August, the National Assembly voted the declaration of rights, the promulgation of which in St. Domingo occasioned a general ferment: it declared, that "all men are born and continue free and equal as to their rights." The colonists declared it was calculated to convert their contented Negroes into implacable enemies, and render the whole country a scene of bloodshed. Orders were sent from France to convoke the inhabitants, for the purpose of forming a legislative assembly for interior regulation. The inhabitants of the northern district had already constituted a Edwards, vol. iii. pp. 17. 19. 21. thing, even supposing that the complaints "Besides those means, it will be necessary that people of good characters and conduct be appointed by the justices and magistrates to visit the estates three times a year, and to make inquiry whether every thing be observed which is ordered in the foregoing chapters, informing the said justices of it, who must apply the remedy; and it is likewise declared to be a popular action, that of informing against a master or his steward for not obeying one or the whole of the said chapters, as the name of the informer shall not be made known, and he shall have the part of the fine which he may deserve, without being responsible in any other case than in that where it is proved that the information is false. And lastly, it is likewise declared, that the justices and attorney-general, as able for any neglect of theirs in not having made use of the necessary means to have my royal resolutions put into execution. "CHAPTER XIV.— Chest of Fines. "In the towns and villages where the before-mentioned regulations are to be formed, and where the courts of justice are, a chest with three keys shall be made, and kept in the town-house; one of which keys shall be delivered to the justice of the peace, another to the governor, and the third to the attorney-general, in order to keep in the said chest the produce of the fines which are to be laid on those who do not fulfil my royal orders; and the said produce shall be employed in the necessary means of making them to be observed, neither can there be a single maravedi taken out of it for any other purpose, without an order signed by the three who keep the keys, expressing its destination, and they shall remain responsible, and under the obligation of restoring what has been spent or employed to other purposes, for fear that for those reasons, or for others, their accounts, which must be remitted every year to the intendant of the province, together with the attestation, of the produce of the fines, may not be approved of by him. "In order that all the rules prescribed in the before-going chapters may be ful a provincial assembly, which met at Cape François in November. The western and southern provinces did the same. The western assembly met at Port-au-Prince, the southern at "Les Cayes." Parochial committees were at the same time established, for a more immediate communication between the people and their representatives. All these provincial assemblies concurred in the necessity of a full and speedy colonial representation, and voted, that if instructions from the King for calling such an assembly should not be received within three months, that the colony should itself adopt and enforce the measure. Large bodies of Mulattoes, determined to claim the full benefit of all the privileges enjoyed by the Whites, appeared in arms in different parts of the country; but acting without sufficient concert, were easily overpowered. They were defeated at Jaquemel, and their chiefs imprisoned. At Artibonito, the revolt was more extensive; but on the submission of the insurgents, an unconditional pardon was granted. Against such of the Whites as had taken part in favour of the people of colour, the rage of the populace was extreme. M. Ferrand de Beaudierre drew up a memorial in the name of the Mulatto people, claiming the full benefit of the declaration of rights. This was considered as a summons to the Negroes to revolt, and the author was committed to prison; but the populace took him from thence by force, and put him to death. The first Methodist meeting-house was built in Barbadoes by subscription this year: it was sufficiently large to contain six or seven hundred people, and was opened on the 16th of August. Mr. Pearce, the missionary, by whose zeal it was built, landed upon the island in the latter end of 1788, and began to build, trusting to a bank of faith to pay the expences. Several tradesmen, who could not afford to give money, contributed their labour. In March, the whole number of persons belonging to the Methodist society amounted to fifty, of whom only sixteen were Whites. They soon began to attract attention: large mobs pelted the building with stones, and frequently interrupted the prayers with hideous noises. Some of the most riotous were carried before a magistrate, who observed, that "the offence was committed against Almighty God; it therefore does not belong to me to punish." Edwards, vol. iii. pp. 22, 23. custom which are opposed to them; and I command my supreme council of the Indies, viceroys, presidents, audiences, governors, intendants, justices, ministers, Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. pp. 143. 145. cuted whatever is decreed in this my royal order, for this is my will. "Published at Aranjuez, the 31st May, 1789."-African Institution, Fifth Report, This insult gave great encouragement to the mob: preaching by candle-light became impracticable. This persecution served as a stimulus, and by the end of the year the Methodists reckoned forty-four members in society. Several people of colour were compelled to quit the connexion. Blacks were forbidden to attend, on pain of corporal punishment. In February, there were 2800 persons in the society of Methodists in Antigua, and 2000 in the Moravian society. Early in 1789, Dr. Coke says, "We again made two visits to Nevis. From this period we may date the introduction of the gospel into the island. At this time we (the Methodists) formed a little class of twenty-one catechumens, and provided for their instruction before our departure, by leaving them to the care of Mr. Owens, one of our missionaries, who was appointed to take upon him the charge of the mission throughout the whole colony." Dr. Coke landed at Port Royal, in Jamaica, on the 19th of January, 1789. He was the first of that class of men who attempted to make converts in that island; and the following extract is from his own report:" At this period the form of godliness was hardly visible in Jamaica; and its power, except in some few solitary instances, was totally unknown. The exertions of the Moravian brethren were quite inadequate to the field which lay open before them iniquity prevailed in all its forms; and both Whites and Blacks were evidently living without hope and without God in the world." Dr. Coke preached four times in a gentleman's house in Kingston to small but increasing congregations. The room being too confined, a Roman Catholic gentleman offered him the use of a very large one, which had been a public concert-room. The first evening I preached there," he says, " the congregation was considerable, and received the word with great decency and great attention. Whilst I was pointing out to the unregenerate the fallaciousness of all their hopes, and the impossibility of reversing the decree, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven,' and seriously inquiring of them, whether they had found out some new gospel as their directory, a poor Negro woman cried out, I am sure you are a new priest.' The second evening, the great room, and all the piazzas round it, were crowded with people. I believe there were four hundred white people present (the largest number of Whites I ever preached to in the West Indies), and about two hundred Negroes, there being no room, I think, for more. After I had preached about ten minutes, a company of gentlemen, inflamed with liquor, began to be very turbulent; till at last the noise increasing, they cried out, Down 6 with him, down with him!' They then pressed forwards through the crowd in order to seize me, crying out again, Who seconds that fellow?' on which my new and gallant friend, Mr. Bull, whose house was then my residence, stepped forth between the rioters and me, saying, I second him against men and devils.' A lady also stood up, and reasoned boldly with the rioters on the impropriety of their conduct. They soon afterwards retreated, vociferating, Down with him, down with him! 6 "The spirits of the congregation were so discomposed by this unhappy accident, that I gave out a hymn, and then chose another text, and preached to a serious and attentive audience. "Between three and four hundred thousand souls, living chiefly without hope and without God in the world, forbade all supineness; and the attention of many among those who heard, by giving an early promise of a productive harvest, presented an opening which pointed out our path. "Four or five families of some property opened their houses, and very evidently their hearts also, to me; and assured me, that any missionaries we should in future send to the island should be welcome to beds, and to every thing their houses afforded. "Thus was the work of God begun in the south of Jamaica.” Mr. Wilberforce made the following propositions to the House of Commons: "That the number of slaves annually carried from Africa to the British West Indies amounted to 38,000. That the probable demerits of the supposed delinquents, as alleged by the advocates for the trade, could not justify, or even sanction, the hardships they endured. That the waste of human life must be dreadfully enormous to require such an annual demand. That the influence which our support of this traffic must have on the minds of the inhabitants of Africa at large must be productive of the most pernicious consequences, and must for ever prevent that social intercourse which might ultimately tend to their civilization. "That the injury sustained by British seamen engaged in this inhuman employment was almost beyond calculation. That the fatal consequences attending the transportation of slaves across the Atlantic were such as made humanity shrink with horror. That if this trade were discontinued, Africa presented sources of wealth which might be secured on the ground of honourable commerce, from which we were now totally debarred. That the causes of mortality among the Negroes might be traced to this common source of their calamities. That, with proper attention to their condition, the Negro population might easily be increased in the islands of Barbadoes and Jamaica. That the present system rendered it more profitable for the planter to import Negroes from Africa than to rear an infant in the colony. That these profits were abominable, as they were the price of blood. And, finally, it could be proved that no considerable disadvantage would be experienced ultimately by those who were interested in the trade, if all further importation were prohibited." The Baron de Wimpfens carried out and set the first seeds ever sown in St. Domingo of the narcissus, hyacinth, and violet Table of West India Exports for 1789. Return to the House of Commons, 1806. Jamaica Montserrat Total Hhds. of Sugar 13 cwt. Antigua varies from 2500 to 18,000 hhds.; St. Kitt's, from 8000 to 17,000; Barbadoes, from 6000 to 13,000; whilst Grenada, St. Vincent's, and Tobago, vary only as from 12,000 to 16,000 hhds. average. The number of slaves annually exported from Africa, as stated by the delegates from Liverpool, were 74,000. More of these came from Bonny and New Calabar than any other place. In February, the inhabitants of Tortola amounted to 1000 Whites, and 8000 coloured people and Blacks. The population of Santa Cruz was estimated at 30,000 souls. Baron de Wimpfens' St. Domingo, p.141. Sir W. Young's Common-place Book, pp. 28, 29. |