pean manufactures, particularly for woollen and linen cloths and hose.

Successive generations passed their days in gloomy languor, enfeebled by sloth and depressed by poverty: and not having either the conveniency or the ability to send their children to Europe for education, they proceeded from one degree of degeneracy to another, and would probably, if we had not captured the island, have met with a similar fate from their own slaves, to that which the original natives fatally experienced from their inhuman ancestors.* *

But whatever was the condition of the inhabitants, or from whomsoever they were descended, nothing can justify the subsequent conduct of Venables towards the Spaniards who had surrendered upon certain express conditions, to which Venables had bound himself to adhere.

Among other particulars it was expressly stipulated, “first, that all forts, ammunition and necessaries for war, and all kinds of shipping in any of the harbours of the island, goods, wares, merchandise, &c. should be delivered up to Venables, or whom he should appoint, for the use of the protector of the commonwealth of England.

"Secondly, that all the inhabitants of the island should have their lives granted them. Those who liked to continue, should remain peaceably there; or, if they chose it, be transported to New Spain with their apparel, books, papers, &c.

"Thirdly, that all commissioners, officers, &c. should be permitted to wear their poniards, rapiers, &c. And, fourthly, that all such as continued in the island, should be entitled to the privilege of enjoying their goods and properties, provided they conformed themselves to the laws which should be established." (See Barrow's Naval History, vol. i. p. 268.)

Previously to its being attacked, the real condition of this island was not known either to Penn or Venables; and their failure before Hispaniola had induced them to act with the utmost precaution in this second expedition. Their former ill success had tarnished their reputed glory, and a similar disaster before Jamaica would have completely ruined their reputation.

It was on the third of May 1655, that general Venables issued among his troops the following order, "That if any man through cowardice should attempt to quit his station, or neglect his duty, the next person behind him should immediately shoot him; and in case that he should neglect to do it, the next in succession should shoot him; and that in regular progression each man should expose himself to the same punishment." With these orders they proceeded to attack the fort, which they carried; and then to storm the town of St. Jago. But the latter was unnecessary. The threats which were used with the inhabitants, produced the desired effect; and a capitulation shortly ensued. No evil consequences seem to have followed the indiscreet directions which Venables gave to his soldiers; which, if carried into execution, might have been productive of the most fatal consequences.

Cromwell's generals and the troops under their command began their career in perfect conformity with these articles of capitulation, and behaved with great generosity to the inhabitants. They were left in peaceable possession of their plantations, of their slaves, and of their personal property, with liberty to remain on the island, and to continue the free exercise of their religion. But it was not long before civil dissentions rose to a considerable height between the conquerors and their captive Roman Catholics; insomuch, that Venables, the commander in chief of the republican forces, suddenly deprived the planters of their slaves and effects; arrested the Spanish governor, who had surrendered the island under an express stipulation of unmolested residence; and forced him and his friends to sign fresh articles, by which they reluctantly agreed that all the Spaniards should quit the island. The reasons which urged Venables to adopt such severe measures, have never been satisfactorily explained. Those shadows which frequently conceal injustice, seem to obscure his conduct, and give us much reason to believe, that it did not arise from any well-founded complaints against them.

The Spaniards, at once astonished and exasperated at this flagrant act of perfidy, felt all the horrors of their situation. The new articles, whatever they were, were such as "forbade their compliance; but their situation was such as placed resistance beyond their reach, and they were obliged to submit.

Venables, in his letters to Cromwell, assigns no reasons for his change of measures. He only observes in general terms, "The Portuguese we hope to make good subjects of; the Spaniards we shall remove." This sudden transition took place within one month from the time of their first surrender, and holds out an awful lesson to assure mankind, that terms of capitulation are too often held sacred no longer than while they accord with the will of the conqueror.

But be these things as they may, certain it is that while the better sort complied with this imperious injunction, numbers of the poorer rank, having no relations nor friends, nor any other country to which they could fly, betook themselves to the inaccessible mountains and impenetrable forests, determined to perish in these inhospitable retreats, rather than submit to beg their bread in a foreign clime: and many of their negro slaves accompanying them, they made together a formidable corps of concealed enemies to their unjust oppressors. Our commanders, during the first year of their conquest, were obliged to keep their troops constantly under arms and in military array, and to enforce the strictest discipline. The negroes accustomed to a savage life in their native land, and being delivered from all

restraint, soon deserted the impoverished Spaniards; and, impelled by hunger and their natural savage ferocity, murdered the English wherever they found them in small parties exploring the country either from motives of curiosity or interest. They had sometimes the temerity to fall upon the soldiers in their quarters suddenly in the night; and even at St. Jago, the capital, they succeeded so far as to set fire to several houses; and in the confusion to plunder and carry off a considerable booty in provisions and clothes. These depredations and cruel excesses obliged the three commissioners whom Cromwell had sent out to assist Penn and Venables, to subject the whole island for a limited time to martial law.

The negroes thus driven, or absconding with some of their original masters, to the mountains and forests of Jamaica, secured themselves by those impassable ramparts which nature had provided for them in these solitary retreats. In these recesses they found a mode of life congenial to their primitive views; and, after encountering those hardships which are inseparable from all sudden changes, they subdued the inconveniences which would have proved fatal to Europeans, and claimed for themselves that independence which their original masters had lost.

The progress of time which accomplishes events by slow and imperceptible degrees, confirmed them in their notions, habituated them to their mode of life, and considerably enlarged their numbers. From this circumstance sprang the ferocious Maroon negroes, who afterwards became so formidable to our settlers. In their early state depredations were rather incidental than customary; but their excesses increased with their augmented power and numbers, till a treaty between them and us defined their rights, and acknowledged their independence. But the circumstances of their case will best appear, when we come to view them in a subsequent part of the history.

Nor were these the only obstacles to the early establishment of the island as one of our regular colonies. The state of public affairs at home contributed in some respects to the discords, which followed close upon the emigrations from thence of persons of different religious persuasions and opposite political principles during the remainder of Cromwell's administration. Allowance being made for the partiality of a French historian, the Abbé Raynal's account of the first arrival and settlement of the emigrants, whom Cromwell, desirous of peopling the island with British subjects, invited and encouraged to repair to it from Great Britain, Ireland, and New England, may be relied on as approaching nearest to the truth; our own historians of these times being still more misled by party zeal.

VOL. I.

The army itself was formed of a heterogeneous mass. It was a compound of royalists and republicans, men who hated each other with the most invincible animosity, and who acted in concert more from necessity than choice. They however accorded with one another in the profligacy of their manners, in their hope of conquest and general hatred of the Spanish name.

"It is pretended (says Hume) that Cromwell was obliged to hurry the soldiers on board when they first embarked on the expedition, in order to prevent the execution of a conspiracy which had been formed among them in favour of the exiled family. The soldiers were the refuse of the whole army. The forces enlisted in the West Indies were the most profligate of mankind; Penn and Venables were of incompatible tempers; the troops were not furnished with arms fit for such an expedition, and their provisions were defective both in quality and quantity." (History of England, p. 96. vol. xi.)

From this unfavourable picture our expectations of future harmony cannot be raised to any considerable height; and we have more reason to be surprised at their success in the conquest of Jamaica, than to be astonished at their failure before Hispaniola. As there was a mixture of Irish Roman Catholics, of members of the established church, and of Presbyterians, the divisions, which had so long and so cruelly tormented the contending parties at home, followed them beyond the seas, One side insolently triumphed in the protection of Cromwell, who had been by their party exalted to the protectorship upon the ruins of the throne: the other relied on the governor of the island, a royalist in his heart, though forced to bend to the authority of Cromwell; who, after a short suspension, continued him in the office of governor, to which he had succeeded by the command devolving on him after the return of Penn and Venables to England.

The difficulties which D'Oyley the first governor had to encounter, were of a most serious nature, and required a combination of superior talents to preserve the distracted state from falling to pieces by its intestine broils and that complication of dangers which threatened it with destruction. But these talents happily met in the person of D'Oyley.

His army was torn by political and religious animosities, and the whole country was placed under military law. The Spaniards were in a similar condition with the Portuguese. They both viewed our countrymen with detestation. At the same time multitudes of the negroes had revolted, and retired to the mountains, from whence they had begun to issue in depredatory excursions. The island in the mean while was in a comparatively defenceless state, and lay open to the return of the Spa

niards who were scarcely expelled from their ancient habitations. These, it was natural to expect, would report the condition of the island, and invite their countrymen to recover it with the sword.

But these dangers were not sufficient to shake the dauntless spirit of D'Oyley.* They were difficulties to which he was

Though we have represented D'Oyley as actually the first governor of Jamaica, there are some circumstances connected with the fact, which ought not to be passed over in silence. They are events of which the reader should be apprised, that he may be able to reconcile this account with some relations which appear superficially to have a different aspect. Thus Mr. Edwards introduces a series of movements between the departure of Penn and Venables and the appointment of D'Oyley to the government of the island. But Raynal says, "that Penn and Venables gave the command of the island to the wisest of their men who happened to be the oldest officer. His name was Dudley (D'Oyley,) and he was a friend of the Stewarts.' That Dudley here means D'Oyley, is evident from the following particulars which are applicable to D'Oyley, and to none but him. "Twice (says Raynal) did Cromwell appoint some of his own party in his stead, and twice did Dudley come again." This was actually the case with D'Oyley; but the name of Dudley is quite unknown in these early memoirs. And though there seems to be a disagreement between the accounts of Edwards and Raynal, yet their relations are easily reconcileable with each other. The whole affair stands thus:

The island of Jamaica, for reasons which we have already assigned, was placed under military law by Cromwell, in which state it continued until the restoration of Charles II. After its capture, Cromwell sent out three men, Winslow, Serle, and Butler, in the character of commissioners, to act in concert with Penn and Venables who had subdued the island. These five men constituted a kind of court of equity, and had in all probability the power of deliberating on all affairs, and of softening the rigours of martial severity.

They had not long been in this new situation, before Penn, Venables, and Butler, without leave returned to England, leaving Winslow and Serle behind. During their absence the command of the fleet devolved on admiral Goodson, and that of the army on general Fortescue. By this action of Penn, Venables, and Butler, Winslow and Serle were deprived of the power of acting; and nothing but military law, operating in all its rigour, directed the island for some time without any assuasive to mitigate its force.

On the arrival of Penn and Venables at home, they were committed to the tower; and major Sedgewicke was immediately dispatched to fill the vacancy which Butler had made by his elopement. Sedgewicke reached Jamaica in October 1655, but unfortunately found that both Winslow and Serle had fallen victims to the climate or the diseases which ravaged the island.

Sedgewicke was now alone, and found himself in an unpleasant situation. He felt much reluctance in acting without instructions from Cromwell, which could not be obtained without a considerable delay, while the situation of the island required a promptitude of exertion to which he found himself inadequate. In this predicament he summoned the principal officers, and after some deliberation they drew up an instrument, by which they constituted themselves a supreme executive council for transacting the important affairs of the island, until some new instructions should reach them from home.

As military law had been established, and the command of the army on the removal of Venables had devolved on major-general Fortescue, he was chosen president of this executive council. In this state affairs continued to move for