now proceed to record the exploits of the British arms
within the tropics, and particularly the expedition to Martinique and
Guadaloupe, which is said to have succeeded even beyond the expectation
of the ministry. A plan had been formed for improving the success of
the preceding year in North America, by carrying the British arms up
the river St. Laurence, and besieging Quebec, the capital of Canada.
The armament employed against the French islands of Martinique and
Guadaloupe constituted part of this design, inasmuch as the troops
embarked on that expedition were, in case of a miscarriage at
Martinique, intended to reinforce the British army in North America,
which was justly considered as the chief seat of the war. What hope of
success the administration conceived from an attempt upon Martinique,
may be guessed from the state of that island, as it appeared in a
memorial presented by the French king's lieutenants of its several
districts, to the general of the French island, in consequence of an
order issued in November, for holding them in readiness to march and
defend the island from the English, of whose design they were apprized.
They represented that the trade with the Dutch was become their sole
dependence: that they could expect no succour from Europe, by which
they had been abandoned ever since the commencement of the war: that the
traders vested with the privileges of trafficking among them had abused
the intention of the general; and, instead of being of service to the
colony, had fixed an arbitrary price for all the provisions which they
brought in, as well as for the commodities which they exported; of
consequence, the former was valued at as high a price as their avarice
could exact, and the latter sunk as low in value as their own selfish
hearts could conceive: that the colony for two months had been destitute
of all kinds of provision; the commodities of the planters lay upon
their hands, and their negroes were in danger of perishing through
hunger; a circumstance that excited the apprehension of the most
dreadful consequences; as to slaves, half starved, all kinds of bondage
were equal; and people reduced to such a situation were often driven
to despair, seeking in anarchy and confusion a remedy from the evils
by which they were oppressed; that the best provided of the inhabitants
laboured under the want of the common necessaries of life; and others
had not so much as a grain of salt in their houses: that