Author: Lady Maria Nugent
Publisher: Theclassics.Us
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 146
ISBN-13: 9781230369372
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... INTRODUCTION THE WEST INDIES, 180I-1805 Major-general George Nugent was Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica from the 27th of July, 1801 to the 20th of February, 1806. War with France had been continuous since 1793; but long before 1801 British naval supremacy had been established. British merchant ships carried on nearly all the trade, and their rivals had been swept from the sea. Martinique and St. Lucia had been captured from France, Trinidad and Tobago from Spain, against whom Great Britain had made good her title to British Honduras; Guiana and Curacoa were taken from Holland, besides other minor conquests; and in 1799 Sir Hyde Parker had in eight months taken no less than 47 armed vessels and 225 merchant-men. In July, 1801, there can have been little fear in Jamaica of foreign aggression other than the privateering raids that were then ever present. On October the 1st of that year the preliminary articles of peace were signed in London, and on the 27th of March, 1802, they were ratified by the Peace of Amiens. England gave up many of her West Indian conquests, but her naval supremacy remained. The brief interval of peace was utilized by Napoleon in the disastrous attempt to reconquer Haiti, many allusions to which occur in Lady Nugent's Journal. A short summary of the confused history of that unfortunate island at that period is given below. In 1803 war with France began again, and at the end of 1804 Spain joined her. The British recaptured most of the conquests given up by the Peace of Amiens. Sir John Duckworth (whose name is frequently mentioned in the Journal) reported in November, 1803, that his squadron had taken forty-two vessels and destroyed two privateers in the last two months, and he was frequently the recipient of votes of...
