Tobago

“ We have just learned by a vessel from Cadiz, that the preliminary articles for a general peace were signed the 20th. The abstract of the treaty sent me by the Marquis de Lafayette, does the highest honor to the moderation and wisdom of France. Never has she terminated a war with more glory, and in gaining nothing but that trophy of victory, Tobago, she has established a character, which confirms her friends, disarms her enemies, and obtains a reputation that is of more value than any territorial acquisitions she could make. ”

“ We gave back the greater part of the colonies we had taken from France and her allies, keeping only the West Indian island of Tobago, the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, the Dutch colonies of Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope, and the little Dutch province of Guiana in South America. In the Mediterranean, we kept the island of Malta, but gave back Minorca to Spain. Our real reward, then, came in the commerce of the world, which during the war had passed wholly into our hands. ”

“ Vincent, Grenada, and Tobago, is a man not only of great energy and devotion, but of cultivation and knowledge of the world; having, I was told, attained distinction as a barrister elsewhere before he took Holy Orders. A group of clergy is working under him—among them a personal friend of mine—able and ready to do their best to mend a state of things in which most of the children in the island, born nominal Roman Catholics, but the majority illegitimate, were growing up not only in ignorance, but in heathendom and brutality. ”

“ Evil times were come upon them. Two years after, the Indians at Punta Galera (the north-east point of the island) told poor Keymis that they intended to escape to Tobago when they could no longer keep Trinidad, though the Caribs of Dominica were ‘such evil neighbours to it’ that it was quite uninhabited. Their only fear was lest the Spaniards, worse neighbours than even the Caribs, should follow them thither. ”

“ It was estimated that there were lost to the island between 1668 and 1671, in the designs against Tobago, Curaçao, Porto Bello, Granada and Panama, about 2600 men,529 which was a large number for a new and very weak colony surrounded by powerful foes. Says the same writer later on: "People have not married, built or settled as they would in time of peace—some for fear of being destroyed, others have got much suddenly by privateers bargains and are gone. War carries away all freemen, labourers and planters of provisions, which makes work and victuals dear and scarce. ”

“ In these circumstances the Shelburne Cabinet rendered the greatest possible service by holding on to office, while they pressed through the negotiations with France, Spain, and Holland. Ultimately, the preliminaries of peace were signed on 20th January 1783. They brought no disgrace on a Power which had latterly been warring against half the world. The chief loss in the West Indies was Tobago, a small but wealthy island, in which British merchants had large interests. ”

“ But Tobago boasts chiefly of the Sassafras-Tree, which resembles the Pine-Tree, hath a firm and streight Body, and on the top Boughs spread like a Crown, the Bark of a dark colour and smooth, and smelling very sweet; the Leaves thin, notch’d, 383and of a deep Green, have also a delicate smell; the thinnest Roots appear above the Ground, and are exceeding good to cure green Wounds, stoppings and shortness of Breath occasion’d by Colds.
The Tobacco, by the Caribbeeans call’d Y-ouli, Planted among the Fruit-Trees, grows very plentifully here ”

“ Trinidad (208) , the largest of the Windward Islands, and most southerly of the Antilles (q. v.) , lies off the mouth of the Orinoco, 7 m. from the coast of Venezuela; is of great fertility, with a hot, humid, but not unhealthy climate; sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cocoa are the chief exports; a source of great wealth is a wonderful pitch lake which, despite the immense quantities annually taken from it, shows no perceptible diminution; inhabitants are mainly French; taken by the British in 1797, and forms, with Tobago, a crown colony; capital, Port of Spain. ”

“ Here, abandoning the northern continent, they passed over to the Lucayos [Bahamas] , and thence gradually, in the process of years, from island to island of that vast verdant chain, which links, as it were, the end of Florida to the coast of Paria, on the southern continent. The archipelago extending from Porto Rico to Tobago was their stronghold, and the island of Guadaloupe in a manner their citadel. Hence they made their expeditions, and spread the terror of their name through all the surrounding countries. ”

“ A sudden shower prevented our making a long stay at this romantic spot, and also interfered with a contemplated visit to a manufactory of Manilla cordage in the neighborhood.
Breakfast was awaiting our return at the hotel, at half-past nine, and this dispatched, spent some time expecting a permit to visit the "Fabrica del Tobago," in which being disappointed, made our cochero drive us through the suburbs. As I have before stated, these form the principal part of the town, and are of considerable extent, but the houses in them are generally constructed of bamboo. ”

“ Vincent— Grenada—The harbour—Disappearance of the whites—An island of black freeholders—Tobago—Dramatic art—A promising incident.
West Indian civilisation is old-fashioned, and has none of the pushing manners which belong to younger and perhaps more thriving communities. ”

“ And We do hereby further publish and declare, that the Allotments for Plantations in Our Islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, Tobago, and St. Vincent, shall contain to Three Hundred Acres, with some few Allotments in each Island of Five Hundred Acres; and that the Allotments in Our Island of Dominica, which is represented to be not so well adapted to the Cultivation of Sugar, and which from its Situation requires in Policy to be well peopled with White Inhabitants, shall be in general from Fifty to One Hundred Acres. ”

“ Barbados is a distinct crown colony, and Tobago is joined with Trinidad to form another. C. P. Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies, volume 2, section 2. chapters 1, and 4-7. ALSO IN: C. H. Eden, The West Indies. T. Southey, Chronological History of the West Indies. See, also, CUBA; HAYTI; and JAMAICA. WEST POINT. "The importance of fortifying the Hudson River at its narrow passes among the Highlands was suggested to the Continental Congress by the Provincial Assembly of New York at an early period of the war [of Independence] . ”

“ After the failures on the South American coast, the English grasped these outposts of the tropics and, side by side with the French, were soon firmly established across one of the principal highways of Spanish commerce. In 1623 St. Christopher was temporarily occupied and was actually settled in 1625. The same year (1625) Sir William Courten started the first colony in Barbados. In 1627 Lord Carlisle received a grant which covered the Caribbees, and the following year the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery also obtained rights to Trinidad. Tobago, and Barbados. ”

“ Lucia and Tobago: for a short time he commanded the troops in the Windward and Leeward Islands. In 1804 he successfully defended Dominica against a French armament; and was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1805, when he returned to England and was appointed lieut.-governor of Portsmouth. He proceeded to Nova Scotia in 1808, with the local rank of lieut.-general; and in 1809 he distinguished himself as second in command at the reduction of Martinique. Returning afterwards to Nova Scotia, he obtained the appointment of commander in-chief [45] in Canada. ”

“ An Historical Survey of the Island of Saint Domingo, together with an Account of the Maroon Negroes in the Island of Jamaica, and a History of the War in the West Indies in 1793 and 1794. By Bryan Edwards, Esq., Also a Tour through the several Islands of Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Antigua, Tobago, and Grenada in the years 1791 and 1792 by Sir William Young, Bart. ”

“ In MS. Aubr. 26, p. 17 is this note:—'The earle of Abington to buy of Captain Poyntz the propriety of the island of Tobago, now regnante Gulielmo III.'
[AF] Aubrey before this time had planned to retrieve his ruined fortunes by colonial schemes: e.g., MS. Aubr. 26, p. 46:—'1676: from Sir William Petty— Jamaica 500 li. gives 100 per annum: take a chymist with me, for brandy, suger, etc., and goe halfe with him.' ”

“ Kitts (St. Christopher) . During the same period Barbados was settled by the English, and Santa Cruz by English and Dutch. By 1632 English settlements had been made at Nevis, Barbuda, Antigua, Providence Island, and Montserrat. By 1634 the Dutch had established trading stations on St. Eustatius, Tobago, and Curaçao, while in 1635 the French West India Company began the settlement of Guadeloupe, Martinique, and other Windward Islands.
Privateers.—Meanwhile French, Dutch, and English privateers swarmed the Spanish waters. Early in the century Dutch ships harassed the coasts of Chile and Peru. ”

“ Mexico, Haiti, Barbados, Trinidad-Tobago, Bolivia, Paraguay, France, India, Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat, Saint Christopher-Nevis, British Virgin Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Nauru, Malagasy Republic, Zimbabwe and Malawi. ”

“ He was afterwards in the Blanche in the West Indies, and when she was paid off in June 1792 he joined the Nautilus sloop, in which he again went to the West Indies, and was present at the reduction of Tobago, Martinique, and St. ”

“ Tippecanoe, river, Indiana. 40N. 86W. [164] Defeat on of Indians under Tecumseh and the 'prophet' (Ellskwatana) by Harrison, 1811.
Titicaca, Lake, between Peru and Bolivia. 15S. 69W. Ruins of older date than the advent of the Incas on its shores.
Tlaxcala, Mexico. 19N. 97W. Cortés has fierce battles with natives of, 1519; received by the lord of after battle of Otumba, 1520.
Tobago, island (Windward Islands) , W. Indies. 11N. 60W. Discovered by Columbus, 1498; in possession in turns of Dutch—the first colonists—Spaniards, English, and French; ceded to England by Congress of Vienna, 1814. ”

“ The countries to which this section applies are Australia, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Botswana, Canada, Cyprus, Fiji, the Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Uganda, United Kingdom and Colonies, Western Samoa and Zambia. ”

“ It is hard to tear one’s thoughts away from the [236] glorious scenes where the history of the great British race has been made. I cannot, however, draw my remarks to a close on the West Indies without referring to another way in which we add to the glory and stability of the Empire to which we are proud to belong. I am alluding to the education which in Jamaica is provided by government for the younger generation of this colony. ”

“ Crown Colonies.There is another group of British possessions which are peculiarly under the government of the Colonial Office, and which have often reason to be dissatisfied with that Government—I mean the Crown Colonies, the most important of which are the Straits Settlements, Ceylon, the West Indian Islands, and Mauritius. In nearly every Crown Colony, the white population bears a very small proportion to the natives, and is composed mainly of merchants, bankers, a few officials, and, in the West Indies, of planters. ”

“ You can grow no sugar on them, even with ever so many Coolies. They are big, brown, valueless things, cumbering the face of the creation; very well for autumn idlers when they get to Switzerland, but utterly useless in a colony which has to count its prosperity by the number of its hogsheads. Jamaica has mountains, and look at Jamaica!
Yes; Demerara is flat; and Berbice is flat; and so is Essequibo. The whole of this land is formed by the mud which has been brought down by these great rivers and by others. The Corentyne is the most easterly, separating our colony from Dutch Guiana, or Surinam. ”

“ MISS SARAH JACK, OF SPANISH TOWN, JAMAICA.
There is nothing so melancholy as a country in its decadence, unless it be a people in their decadence. I am not aware that the latter misfortune can be attributed to the Anglo-Saxon race in any part of the world; but there is reason to fear that it has fallen on an English colony in the island of Jamaica. ”

“ There are five booksellers houses, and the fashions are well displayed in other shops. The French colonists, whether Creoles* or French, consider the West Indies as their country. They cast no wistful looks towards France. They marry, educate, and build in and for the West Indies, and for the West Indies alone. In our colonies it is different. They are considered more as temporary lodging-places, to be deserted as soon as the occupiers have made money enough by molasses and sugar to return home. ”

“ The West Indies are a small limb in the great body corporate of the British Empire, but there is no great and no small in the life of nations. The avoidable decay of the smallest member is an injury to the whole. Let it be once known and felt that England regards the West Indies as essentially one with herself, and the English in the islands will resume their natural position, and respect and order will come back, and those once thriving colonies will again advance with the rest on the high road of civilisation and prosperity. ”

“ In addition to those great island dominions in the Pacific, Great Britain possesses the Fiji Islands, the northern part of Borneo, and a large section of the extensive island of Papua or New Guinea, the remainder of which is held by Holland and Germany. In addition there are various coaling stations on the islands and coast of Asia. In the Mediterranean its possessions are Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus, and in America the great colony of Canada, a considerable number of the islands of the West Indies, and the districts of British Honduras and British Guiana. ”