The exports from Essequibo and Demerara employed two ships, and consisted of 559 hhds. of sugar. A French convoy of 180 sail, from St. Domingo to France, was chased by the English, and forty of them taken, worth £500,000. M. de Conflans was taken going out to his government of St. Domingo, in the Renommée, of thirty-two guns and 300 men, by his Majesty's ship Dover, Captain Shirley, and carried into Plymouth. His Majesty's ship Amazon had engaged the Renommée some days before. October the 14th, Rear-Admiral Hawke, with the fleet under his command, attacked a French fleet, part of whom were bound to Martinico, with a convoy, in latitude 47° 49′ N. and longitude 1° 2′ W. from Cape Finisterre, and, after a severe action, captured three seventy-fours, two sixty-fours, and a fifty gunship:-Le Terrible, 74; Le Monarque, 74; Le Neptune, 74; Le Trident, 64; Le Fougeux, 64; and Le Severn, 50. The fleet was under the command of M. de Etendiere, Chef d'Escadre, who escaped in the Tonnant of eighty guns. Twentythree sail of the convoy were taken afterwards: eighteen captured by the Captain, Dreadnought, Dragon, and Ludlow Castle, were carried into Barbadoes, valued at £100,000. Upon the 14th of April, Mr. Greenville superseded Sir Thomas Robinson, Bart. as captain-general and governor of Barbadoes. Two violent hurricanes on September 21st and October 24th did great damage among the Leeward Islands. Fourteen sail were lost at St. Kitt's, and thirty-six at the other islands. The French general and intendant issued an ordinance, 6th of April, 1747, concerning the police of Negroes: "Art. 1. Agreeably to art. 19, of the ordinance of 1685, masters who send their slaves to town to sell poultry, fruit, vegetables, &c. shall be obliged to give them a written authority to that effect, whether the slaves go on their own account or on account of their masters, under pain of confiscation of the effects, and imprisonment of the slaves. "2. Officers of the police to make regular visits at the marketplaces on the Sundays and holidays, and other places where daily markets are kept, to examine the tickets in possession of the slaves, and to arrest those who are without. Bolinbroke's Voyage to Demerary, Appendix. Parliamentary Papers, 1790, Lord Rodney's Examination. Gentleman's Magazine, Oct. 1747, p. 482, from Gazette; p. 486, London Gazette.Dec. 1747, pp. 556. 591. April 1748, p. 173. Parliamentary "Further Papers," 1826, p. 47. "3. Agreeably to the before-recited ordinance, all other persons are permitted to arrest slaves found in possession of articles for sale without the requisite permission. 4. Forbidding masters from sending their slaves beyond a league from their dwelling, without giving them a ticket containing the name of the slave and the master, under penalty of twelve livres against the master, and imprisonment of the slave. "5. Forbidding all patrons of piraguas to afford retreat or passage to slaves of either sex, without a certificate from or accompanying their masters, under pain of eight days imprisonment, at the expence of the master or proprietor of the piragua or passage-boat! 1748. In the beginning of the year, Mr. Greenville, the governor of Barbadoes, sent Captain Tyrrel in a frigate to Tobago, to learn the particulars of a French settlement then begun upon that island. Captain Tyrrel found 300 men, secured by two batteries and two ships of war. He gave the French officers to understand, that His Most Christian Majesty had no right to settle upon the island, which was declared neutral by treaties, and that, if they persisted, he should employ force to drive them away. In the night, Captain Tyrrel's vessel fell to leeward of the island, and the two French ships made the best of their way to Martinico. The next day, Captain Tyrrel, having no power to commence hostilities, returned to Barbadoes. The Marquis de Caylus, governor of Martinico, had published an ordinance, authorizing the subjects of the French King to settle on the island of Tobago, and promising to defend them. In answer to this, Mr. Greenville, the governor of Barbadoes, issued a proclamation, commanding all the inhabitants to remove in thirty days, on pain of military execution. The French court thought proper to disown the proceedings of the Marquis de Caylus, and sent him orders to discontinue the settlement, and evacuate the island of Tobago. At the same time, however, M. de Puysieux, the French minister, told the English resident at Paris, that France was undoubtedly in possession of that island towards the middle of the last century · omitting to mention, that, by the treaty of Nimeguen, it was restored to the Dutch. Smollett, vol. xii. pp. 42, 43. The Dutch made several settlements on the banks of the river (De Mirara), commonly called Demerary, but at some distance up the river. The exports from Essequibo and Demerary employed four ships, and consisted of 2292 hogsheads of sugar. At Jamaica, a law passed, allowing the manumitted as well as the free-born Negroes, Indians, and Mulattoes, to give evidence against one another, provided they had received their freedom six months previous to their offering such evidence. Upon the 7th of October, the definitive treaty of peace was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle. By it Great Britain was to send two persons of rank to reside in France as hostages, until restitution should be made of Cape Breton, and all the other conquests which His Britannic Majesty should have achieved in the East or West Indies before or after the preliminaries were signed; and that the Assiento contract, with the article of the annual ship, should be confirmed for four years. St. Vincent's, Dominica, Tobago, and St. Lucia were declared to be neutral islands, and to belong to the Caribs. The right of English subjects to navigate in the American seas, without being subject to search, was not mentioned, though this claim was the origin of the differences between Great Britain and Spain. The following is the 16th article, and is that which relates to the Assiento: "16. The treaty of the Assiento, signed at Madrid the 27th of March, 1713, and the article of the annual ship, making part of the said treaty, are particularly confirmed by the present treaty, for the four years during which the enjoyment was lost since the commencement of the present war, and shall be executed on the same footing and on the same conditions they have been or might be before the said war." February the 13th, Admiral Knowles sailed from Jamaica, with the Canterbury, Captain Brodie; Plymouth, Captain Dent; Stafford, Captain Rentone; Warwick, Captain Innes, of sixty guns each; the Elizabeth, Captain Taylor; Lennox, Captain Holmes, of sixty-four; and Cornwall, Captain Chadwick, of eighty guns strengthened with a detachment of 240 men from the governor's regiment at Jamaica. Governor Trelawney accompanied Rear-Admiral Knowles. They intended to attack St. Jago de Cuba, but contrary winds Bolinbroke's Voyage to Demerary, p. 142. Long's Jamaica, vol. ii. p. 320. Smollett, vol. xi. p. 302. 303. obliged them to give up the design, and they determined to attack Port Louis, in St. Domingo. Upon the 8th of March, about one o'clock, he attacked the fort at Port Louis in St. Domingo, within pistol-shot. The place was defended by a fort mounting seventy-eight guns and 600 men, under the command of M. de Chateaunoye. The ships anchored within pistol-shot of the walls. Captain Rentone, of his Majesty's ship Stafford, was killed by a shot which took off his thigh, before the ships were moored in a close line a-head, and before they fired. A fire-ship was towed off by the boats, under a brisk fire of the French musketry. Two other fire-ships that were preparing to stand out were also taken by the boats; and, after a warm cannonading for about three hours, the admiral, finding the enemy were driven from their guns, summoned the governor to surrender, who sent an officer off with propositions, which the admiral rejected, and sent back the officer with a copy of the articles which he would allow, giving the governor an hour to determine, within which time they were accepted. They were as follows: "That the governor surrender instantly the fort up to the admiral, and no military officer or soldier in it to serve against His Britannic Majesty, or his allies, for the space of one year and one day from the date hereof. "That, on those conditions, the admiral consents that the garrison march out, with their arms, colours flying, and drums beating, but without any cannon or mortars, or any ammunition whatsoever. "That all the officers shall be allowed to carry such baggage as, upon their honour, is their own, but subject to be inspected if demanded; and that all the Negroes and Mulattoes that are absolutely their servants or property, the admiral will compliment them with; but all other Negroes and Mulattoes that are in the fort shall be delivered up, as right of capture; together with 'the fort, and all the cannon, munitions, and appurtenances thereunto belonging. t 66 Upon these conditions, the admiral agrees that this evening the garrison may march out, as before-mentioned; at the same time the keys of the castle shall be delivered up to the officer whom he sends to take possession, and the troops of His Britannic Majesty shall march in, as the others march out. "That, for what lenity the admiral is disposed to shew the town and inhabitants, the conditions shall be settled between Governor Chateaunoye and him to-morrow. "Dated on board His Britannic Majesty's ship Canterbury, in Port Louis, this 8th of March, 1747-8." Memoirs of Sir Charles Knowles, Naval Chronicle, vol. i. p. 111. In consequence of which, Major Scott, with the troops and the marines, were landed directly, and took possession of the fort. There were seventy-eight guns mounted, mostly forty-two, thirtysix, and twenty-eight pounders, and five mortars, with a great quantity of stores. The admiral found three ships, a snow, and three privateer sloops in the harbour, which he took possession of. The English lost nineteen killed, and sixty wounded: among the slain was Captain Rentone of the Stafford, and Captain Cast (who went a volunteer in the expedition). The enemy had 160 killed and wounded: 128 were killed outright. Besides the ships mentioned, the Worcester, Captain Andrews, of sixty guns; the Oxford, Captain Tole, of fifty, with the Weasel and Merlin sloops, were in reserve. The fort was of stone, the merlons seven feet thick on their top, and stood on an island about a mile from the town of St. Louis. The English destroyed it. From Port Louis, Admiral Knowles sailed for St. Jago, in Cuba. Captain Dent, of his Majesty's ship Plymouth, being senior, demanded as his right that he might go in first, but on his approach found a chain across, with booms, and also two large ships, and two small ones, fitted as fire-ships, to protect the boom. After several broadsides fired at the castle, Captain Dent consulted his officers, who all agreed that the ship would be lost if they attempted to break the chain: he therefore gave over the enterprize, and returned to Jamaica. Admiral Knowles tried him by a court-martial for his conduct upon this occasion: the court honourably acquitted him. The House of Assembly at Jamaica, without a dissenting voice, passed a vote of thanks to the admiral for demolishing Fort Louis, which they designated as "the effect of prudent, wellconcerted measures, and a vigorous and resolute execution," not "biassed by pecuniary selfish views." On the 1st of October, Admiral Knowles, with seven sail of the line, engaged a Spanish fleet, under the command of Admirals Reggio and Spinola, off the Havana. The engagement continued from between two and three P.M. until eight, when the Spaniards got into that port with the loss of two ships, one of which, the Conquistador, struck to the English admiral, and the other, the Africa, with Vice-Admiral Reggio's flag on board, ran ashore, and was set on fire by her own commander, that she might not fall into the hands of the English. Gent. Magazine, May 1748, Private Letter, p. 234. — June, p. 281.. Nov. p. 523. Memoirs of Sir Charles Knowles, Naval Chronicle, vol. i. p. 113. |