there was an
irreparable scarcity of slaves to cultivate their land; and the planters
were reduced to the necessity of killing their own cattle to support
the lives of those who remained alive; so that the mills were no
longer worked, and the inhabitants consumed beforehand what ought to be
reserved for their sustenance, in case of being blocked up by the enemy.
They desired, therefore, that the general would suppress the permission
granted to particular merchants, and admit neutral vessels freely into
their ports, that they might trade with the colonists unmolested and
unrestrained. They observed, that the citadel of Port-Royal seemed
the principal object on which the safety and defence of the country
depended; as the loss of it would be necessarily attended with the
reduction of the whole island: they therefore advised that this fort
should be properly provided with every thing necessary for its safety
and defence; and that magazines of provision, as well as ammunition,
should be established in different quarters of the island.--This
remonstrance plainly proves that the island was wholly unprepared to
repel the meditated invasion, and justifies the plan adopted by the
ministry of Great Britain. The regular troops of Martinique consisted
of about twenty independent companies, greatly defective in point of
number. The militia was composed of burghers and planters distressed and
dissatisfied, mingled with a parcel of wretched negro slaves, groaning
under the most intolerable misery, from whence they could have no hope
of deliverance but by a speedy change of masters; their magazines were
empty, and their fortifications out of repair.

EXPEDITION AGAINST THAT ISLAND.

Such was the state of Martinique, when the inhabitants every day
expected a visit from the British armament, whose progress we shall now
relate. On the twelfth day of November in the preceding year, captain
Hughes sailed from St. Helen's with eight sail of the line, one frigate,
four bomb-ketches, and a fleet of transports, having on board six
regiments of infantry, and a detachment of artillery, besides eight
hundred marines distributed among the ships of war; this whole force
being under the command of major-general Hopson, an old experienced
officer, assisted by major-general Barrington, the colonels Armigerand
Haldane, the lieutenant-colonels Trapaud and Clavering, acting in the
capacity of brigadiers. After a voyage of seven weeks and three days