issued a new set of orders, containing twenty-six regulations, one of which ordered members of the "pretended" reformed religion to keep out of the way when they saw the Host coming! All tobacco was declared confiscated if not weighed by the proper officers before it was exported. No person was to carry arms, except for his Majesty's service. French and Spanish money was ordered to pass current, at the same value as in Europe. M. Houel, the governor of Guadaloupe, sent to make his peace with the general, and among other things contrived to let him know that there were Negroes and cattle waiting his acceptance at Guadaloupe, to the amount of seven or eight thousand livres. M. de Tracy rejected the present with indignation, and sent to tell M. Houel, that there were so many accusations against him, that he had orders from the King to send him to France to answer for himself, and that the best thing he could do was to save appearances, and quit the island as if by his own free will, and not wait for the receipt of the royal letter. Messrs. Herblay and De Temericour, the other governors of Guadaloupe, sent to M. Tracy, and received for answer, that they also must quit the island, and return to France. June the 23d, M. Tracy anchored at Guadaloupe, and M. Houel immediately went on board to pay his respects, and afterwards received M. Tracy, when he landed with the same honours as had been paid him at Martinico. M. Tracy refused the offer of his house, and lodged in Basse Terre, for the same reasons that he had done so at Martinico; and had his authority registered, and the same ceremonies performed as in that island. Upon the fourth day after his landing, to the great surprise of all the inhabitants, M. Houel embarked in a Dutch vessel for France, and the next day the duties were lowered to a capitation-tax of fifty pounds of tobacco or sugar, instead of the ten per cent. on all merchandizes, and some other minor alterations made in favour of the inhabitants. Eight days after M. Houel's departure, M. d'Herblay and Temericour sailed for France, in the Terron, a king's ship. Before her departure, M. de Tracy published an order in council he had just received from France, forbidding all commerce with the Dutch or Flushingers for six months: the order extended to all the islands held of the religion of Malta, as well as those dependant upon the crown of France; and the reason assigned for issuing the order was, that the plague raged at Amsterdam, and had occasioned great mortality in all that country. This order was carried to the governor of St. Christo Du Tertre, tom. iii. pp. 76. 78. 91. pher's, by Chaumont, De Tracy's captain of the guard, and read and registered in that island, without any opposition. M. de Lion was appointed by M. Tracy governor of Guadaloupe, and commander of the royal troops in the island. M. Houel's brother-in-law, Hincelin, was allowed to remain in the fort at Basse Terre, to look after his relative's affairs. 1 The English, having purchased St. Lucia from the Caribs, sent 1400 men, in five ships of war, to that island, attended by Mr. Thomas Warner (son of Sir Thomas Warner, the first governor of St. Christopher's, by a Carib woman) and 600 Caribs, in seventeen piraguas, who were to deliver up the island to the English: they landed in June; and the French garrison, which consisted of fourteen men, commanded by M. Bonnard, surrendered, upon condition of being all sent, with their arms and baggage, to Martinico. Mr. Cook was left governor of the island. The taking possession of this island from the French occasioned a correspondence between Lord Willoughby, the governor of Barbadoes, and M. Tracy, which ended by the latter referring the affair to his government. The English had before been in possession of the island, but the colonists were attacked by the savages, many of them massacred, and the rest driven off the island: this misfortune, it was alleged, could not give any right to the French to possess the island; added to which, for more than a year, the English had bought it of the Caribs, who were the true lords of it.? Du Tertre, tom. iii. pp. 81. 86. 93. This Mr. T. Warner was by Lord Willoughby appointed Governor of Dominica, which island was only inhabited by Caribs. 2" Le General Waernard, contemporain de M. le General de Poincy, eu un fils d'une esclave sauvage de l'Isle de la Dominique; il le réconnut pour son fils, luy fit porter son nom, et le fit elever dans sa maison avec ses autres enfans. Mais bien que ce batard fust nay d'une femme sauvage et esclave, il ne paroissoit rien en luy de sauvage que la couleur du cuir et du poil, et quoyqu'il eut les cheveux fort noirs, il les avoit deliez, annelez et bouclez, contre l'ordinaire des autres sauvages; sa taille estoit mediocre, mais il estoit parfaitement proportionné de tous ses membres : il avoit le visage longuet, un grand front, et le nez aquilin, les yeux clairs, longs, et ouverts; et l'on remarquoit une certaine gravité sur son visage, qui faisoit connoistre la grandeur de son courage et Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 211. de son esprit. Il perdit son père en l'adolescence, et Madame Waernard, qui ne l'aimoit pas, et ne l'avoit considère qu'a cause de son père, commenca à le persecuter, et à le traiter avec tant d'inhumanité, qu'elle le faisoit travailler à la terre avec les esclaves de sa maison. "Waernard, qui, avec les belles qualitez de son esprit et de son corps, estoit un homme fier et entreprenant, crevoit de depit de se voir reduit à une condition si malheureuse et si abjecte, il se rendit Marom avec d'autres esclaves fugitifs; mais ayant este repris, Madame Waernard le fit enchainer, et luy fit mettre une épouvantable paire de fers aux pieds, et mesme l'obligeoit de travailler en cet equipage. Sa captivité dura jusques à ce que M. Waernard, fils legitime du General Waernard, et qui commandoit dans l'isle de Mont-Sara, vint à S. Christophe, ou l'ayant trouvé en cet estat, en eut compassion, le delivra des fers, et pria Madame Waernard, de luy donner quelque The English colonists at St. Lucie were attacked by sickness : in less than three months, more than 600 men died. A It was not long before M. Tracy had an opportunity, at Guadaloupe, of shewing his antipathy to the Huguenots. French priest had embarked at Nantes in a state of intoxication, on board a vessel belonging to Messrs. Cheneau and Peroneau, who brought him to Guadaloupe, and sold him for three years, to pay the expense of his passage out. M. Tracy imprisoned Cheneau, and said that he intended sending him prisoner to France to answer for his crime; but gave his friends to understand, at the same time, if thirty or forty of the principal Huguenots would sign a request for his liberation, it should be granted they did so, and presented it to M. Tracy, who condemned them to pay fifteen thousand pounds weight of sugar, one thousand of which was to be given the priest, to pay his passage back to France. The total cessation of all trade with the Dutch, and the want of provisions and necessaries in the islands, which was the immediate consequence, were beginning to be severely felt when a violent hurricane at Guadaloupe destroyed their potatoes, and added to their distresses. An earthquake at St. Christopher's also did considerable damage. During M. Tracy's stay at Guadaloupe, he had frequent complaints, from the inhabitants of Grenada, against their governor, the Count de Cerillac, and his son. The detail of them, Du Tertre says, is too odious to repeat. M. de Tracy was affected even to tears by the recital, and he left Guadaloupe the 15th of November, to go to their relief. Upon his passage he stopped at Martinico, and published an ordinance respecting Du Tertre, tom. iii. pp. 95, 96. 98, 99. 101, 102, 103. commandement sur les autres domestiques. Ce pauvre malheureux affranchy n'eut presque de bonheur que la presence de son frère, car aussi tost qu'il fut party, le rage de cette femme redoubla, et elle le poussa avec tant de cruauté, qu'il fut contrainté de suivre le conseil que sa propre mère lui avoit inspiré, qui estoit de se retirer parmy les sauvages de la Dominique. "Il y fut bien receu à cause de sa mère; et comme il avoit de l'esprit, il gagna incontinent les cœurs des sauvages de son quartier, qui estoit la bas terre de la Dominique, qui jusques à son arrivée avoient eu aussi bien que les autres une grosse guerre avec les Anglois. Ce Waernard entreprit de les reconcilier, et y reussit si heureusement, qu'il les mit bien ensemble et se fit admirer des sauvages, sur lesquels il prit un tel ascendant, qu'il les engageoit, avec une facilité merveilleuse, à entreprendre les choses les plus difficiles, et à exercer des cruatez conformes à son natural, qui n'avoit presque rien d'humain, leur donnant en tout rencontre des preuves de sa valeur et de sa conduite." "Le Milord Willoughby, connoissant ce dont il estoit capable, luy fit faire un voyage en Angleterre, le fit paroistre à la cour, ou il vescut en Chrestien avec les Anglois, et s'habilloit comme eux: mais estant de retour, il quitta ses vestemens, et vescut en infidelle avec les sauvages, et marchoit nud, et roucoue comme eux; mais il ne prit qu'une seule femme."-Du Tertre, tom. iii. p. 82. the Caribs, forbidding their executing justice one upon another in that island, and ordering them to refer all complaints to his Majesty's governor. Before this, their duels with arrows were a source of amusement to the governors! Upon the 22d of November, M. de Tracy arrived at Grenada, which he found in the greatest distress. Of 500 inhabitants that the Count de Cerillac had found upon the island, only 150 were living! De Tracy was welcomed with great joy, and received the oaths of allegiance from the inhabitants. He obliged their governor, M. de Cerillac, to pay the inhabitants eighty thousand pounds weight of tobacco which he owed them, and distributed the unoccupied lands among the inhabitants of the other islands which he had brought with him, the greater part of whom were sufficiently wealthy to import labourers to cultivate it. M. Tracy appointed M. Vincent governor of the island, and obliged the Chevalier de Cerillac to quit the fort, and live as a private gentleman upon the island; and two months afterwards, M. Tracy sent him to France. An order was published the 28th of November, by M. Tracy, forbidding all persons of the pretended reformed religion to assemble in any place, under any pretence of praying together, or to speak in any manner of the mysteries of the faith, upon pain of being condemned to pay one hundred pounds of tobacco, to be applied to the use of the church, and of being punished according to the rigour of the ordonnances! On the following day, M. Tracy left Grenada. M. Vincent, the new governor, immediately gave free permission to the inhabitants to hunt and fish in the Grenadines, as well as in Grenada, which had been forbidden by M. de Cerillac. This considerably improved the comforts of the colonists. By an act of parliament, passed the 11th of July this year, in France, the apothecaries, surgeons, barbers, goldsmiths, and some others, were exempted from the privileges granted by the edict in 1642, by which any who, for six successive years, had carried on their trades in the West Indies, might keep shops in any of the cities in France, except Paris. The Duke of Courland, restored to his liberty by the treaty of Oliva, demanded of the States-General his establishment at Tobago, which was refused. The duke then applied to Charles the Second of England, who granted him the island in propriety, upon condition that none should inhabit it except the subjects of the King of England and the Duke of Courland, their heirs and successors. Notification of this grant was sent to the Dutch, but it only served to increase their exertions for defending the island. Du Tertre, tom. ii. p. 468.-iii. pp. 104, 105, 106. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 282. The Dutch admiral De Ruyter appeared off Barbadoes, apparently with the intention of landing; but after reconnoitring, and receiving a few shot, he abandoned the attempt: his own ship got on shore under the batteries, and received considerable damage. His fleet consisted of twelve line-of-battle ships, two fire-ships, and several small craft, and 2500 men. They had destroyed the English settlements upon the coasts of Africa on their passage out. 1665. In order to make themselves masters of all the French islands, the West India Company purchased of the Order of Malta the islands of St. Christopher, Santa Cruz, and St. Bartholomew, for the sum of 500,000 livres tournois, which was not half their value. The contract was executed in Paris the 10th of August, 1665, and in December they were all under the direction of the Company's governors. Martinico, which belonged to the children of M. du Parquet, was ceded to the Company by their tutor, for 40,000 crowns. To the Count du Cerillac they gave 100,000 for Grenada and the Grenadines; and to Madame Champigny, and her children by her first husband, for their half of Guadaloupe and the adjacent islands, 120,000 livres: so that M. Houel, the lord of the other half of the same islands, was the only proprietor they had to settle with. They obtained an order from the King in council, that he should have 280,000 livres, besides the lands and establishments which he had reserved to himself in the islands, which were very considerable: thus obliging him to take, not what he valued his own property at, but what they chose to give him for it. The order for this was not settled till April the 18th, 1680. The Company of Cayenne, which was called the Company of Equinoctial France, was united to the West India Company, and the two companies made into one. The French West India Company confirmed M. le Chevalier de Sales as governor of St. Christopher's, and M. Dubois as governor of Santa Cruz, and appointed M. Beauplan to St. Bartholemew's, and Du Clinet to St. Martin's. Two of the vessels first sent out by the Royal West India Company arrived at Martinico in February, and one at Guadaloupe, one of these, called the St. Sebastian, brought out M. de Clodore as governor of Martinico. M. Tracy arrived Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 196. Du Tertre, tom. iii. pp. 199. 247. 266. |