CHAPTER VII.

BRIGADIER GENERAL MOORE, GOVERNOR OF ST. LUCIA-CONQUEST OF THE ISLAND-THE YELLOW FEVER.

ON June 4th Sir Ralph Abercrombie sailed with the army, escorted by a fleet commanded by Sir Hugh Christian, to reduce the revolted islands of Grenada and St. Vincent, and left Moore invested with the military power and civil administration of St. Lucia. Although the Morne Fortuné, and the posts adjoining the harbour, had been captured, the rest of the island remained unsubdued; the woods and fastnesses were filled with armed negroes and mulattoes; and multitudes of the prisoners, after the capitulation, being ill guarded, escaped and joined them.

The French agents, who had been sent forth to the West Indies during the frenzy of the revolution, were sanguinary men from

Paris, a city then resembling Rome in the reign of Nero, quo cuncta undique atrocia, ' aut pudenda confluunt, celebranturque *.'

The negroes and mulattoes, who acquired the name of Brigands, were armed, and declared free by those political fanatics, whose frantic decrees and atrocious exhortations kindled their fury to the height. Indeed, the ferocity of these emancipated slaves became direful. They threw off all compunctions of humanity to put on the savage nature of the wildest animals. A resolution to defend their liberties would neither have been unnatural, nor reprehensible, but this was sullied by deeds too horrible to be related.

The corporal frame and mental qualities of the negroes fit them peculiarly for desultory warfare. They are stout, agile, expert in the use of arms, and can endure patiently the scorching sun, and the torrents of rain of the tropical climate. They can live on the roots which grow spontaneously, or with little cul

*Where all atrocities and pollutions are assembled and perpetrated.'-Tacit. lib. xv.

ture, in the fields; and being bold and cunning are ready to oppose their enemies by force, or to deceive them by stratagem. With brutal fury they had murdered many of the white inhabitants, sparing neither women nor children; and those who remained alive had fled for safety into the towns. But none of the survivors, nor of the slaves who had continued faithful to their masters, durst give any intelligence to, or have any communication with the British and Victor Hughes, the French Commandant of Guadaloupe, contrived, in spite of the British fleet, to send by small vessels frequent supplies of arms, ammunition, and provisions, to these ferocious Brigands.

The British troops, who had been left with Moore to contend with all these difficulties, were chiefly recruits, with inexperienced officers; for the jealousy of parliament against a standing army hinders such a military force being kept up in peace as would form the basis of a good army at the commencement of war: therefore, when this

breaks out, sudden levies, at a vast expense, are enlisted; and the raw recruits, ignorant of their business, and without the habits of soldiers, are sent out on foreign service. From the same cause the various military departments were inefficient; even their chiefs were totally inexperienced on occasions where men of great resource, and capable of uncommon exertions, were wanted.

The negroes in St. Lucia had not only been active in deeds of cruelty, but in every species of villany. The conflagration of houses had been so extensive that there were not sufficient buildings remaining to shelter the troops, or even for an hospital; and the rainy season having set in, great sickness already prevailed. Altogether, the condition of the island was lamentable; but Moore struggled against the difficulties with all his faculties. One of his first measures was to publish a proclamation to the inhabitants, granting pardon to all who would come within the British lines, and deliver up their arms. Passes were also given to whoever wished to

return to their habitations, and all were promised protection, if they remained quietly attending to their private affairs. Royalists and Republicans were exhorted to refrain from mutual recriminations, as both should be treated with indulgence, and have equal justice.

The Brigands were not, however, to be quelled by pacific measures; intelligence was brought daily to the Government House that they were laying waste the country, and solicitations were made for soldiers to protect the plantations; but as the detaching troops in separate bodies was a hazardous measure, the Governor judged it expedient, before he came to a decision, to make an excursion, and visit the four largest towns,-Souffrieré, Choiseul, Laborie, and Vieux Fort. In these places he had an opportunity of conversing with the principal people of the country, whom fear had driven thither. He addressed them at public meetings, encouraged them to return to their estates, and gave assurances that troops should be posted to protect their plan