and having taken up a position on an eminence which could only be approached on one side, they had felled logs on that side ready to be rolled down on the advancing foe." The commissioners appointed for the sale of lands on the cession of the island to the British crown in 1763, acted with great indiscretion by disposing of lands actually belonging to and in the occupation of the Caribs. These natives very naturally refused to give up property derived from their forefathers; and the resistance which the purchasers met with in attempting to get possession, brought on the war of 1772. The commissioners having acted in direct contravention of their instructions, by which they were strictly enjoined to respect the property of the Caribs, their conduct was made the subject of parliamentary inquiry, the result of which was a condemnation of the war as unjust and dishonourable. A treaty was then concluded which was highly favourable to the natives. It might have been expected that the measures thus adopted to redress the wrongs inflicted on the Caribs would have secured their fidelity and attachment for the future, but very different was the return which they actually made. While England was engaged in the war with her North American colonies, French emissaries were employed to seduce the Caribs from their allegiance, in FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY AGENTS. 211 which they easily succeeded, and through their instrumentality, assisted partly, it is alleged, by the incapacity of the governor, the island once more fell into the hands of the French, with whom it remained until four years afterwards, when on the conclusion of peace between Great Britain and the United States, the island again reverted to the English on 1st January 1783. During the time St. Vincents was under the French, a very hostile feeling to the English had been exhibited by the Caribs. This feeling was, in a great measure, smothered after the restoration of the island until the period of the French revolution. That great political convulsion made itself felt even in these remote islands, separated from Europe by the breadth of the Atlantic. The celebrated Victor Hugues was the leading agent in disseminating revolutionary doctrines in the Antilles, and his plans were so skilfully devised, that he succeeded in gaining adherents in most of the islands where French settlers were located. In St. Vincents he was particularly successful; and after gaining his countrymen, the next step was through their agency to open communication with the Caribs, to rouse their passions, and incite them to insurrection, by descanting on the charms of liberty, and distributing inflammatory proclamations, of which this is a specimen :— "Behold your chains forged, and imposed by the hands of tyrannical English. Blush and break these en signs of disgrace, spurn them with becoming indignation; rise in a moment, and while we assist you from motives of the purest philanthropy and zeal for the happiness of all nations, fall on those despots, extirpate them from this country, and restore yourselves, your wives and children, to the inheritance of your fathers, whose spirits from the graves will lead on your ranks, inspire you with fury, and help you to be avenged." Such addresses were grateful to the prejudices and passions of the Caribs. They replied, they were flattered and obliged by these professions of friendship extended to them by the French republic; they were sensible of their oppressions, and felt uneasy beneath them, and delayed hostilities on no other account but because they wanted a sufficient supply of military stores to support the first avowal of their intentions; that on being furnished with what was requisite in this respect, they would most cheerfully co-operate with their friends and allies, the delegates of the republic, in promoting their influence and the establishment of their own rights. The French inhabitants who had taken the oath of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty were the active agents in this treasonable movement, nor did they stop at the crime of treason, for their plans, when matured, included a scheme for a general massacre of their enemies of all ages and sexes throughout the island. Fortunately an able man presided over the affairs of FORMATION OF 2D WEST INDIA REGIMENT. (213 the island at that time as governor, and being apprised in time by the president of Grenada of an outbreak in that island, he was enabled to take such precautions as defeated the diabolical scheme of the French emissaries, in concert with the Caribs, for a general massacre ; but war had now been entered upon which was not to be quenched without much bloodshed. This outbreak had just commenced, and urgent entreaties from the colonists for protection and assistance, had just been received when Major Graham returned with his regiment from the continent. The reputation he had acquired there as an active officer of light infantry, was such that on his return to England he was requested to attend at the Horse Guards, and was informed of the intention of the government to raise some black corps, to be employed in the war then raging with the Caribs in the West Indies, and the question was put to him, whether he would remain in the position he then held, or go out to the West Indies as lieutenantcolonel of one of the new regiments to be raised for colonial service. His answer was, that he was ready to go anywhere for the rank of a lieutenant-colonel. Having received his commission as lieutenant-colonel of the 2d West India Regiment, he sailed for the island of St. Vincents in June 1795, and landed there in September of the same year, with the officers and non-commissioned officers requisite for the formation of the regi |