Report of the Council of Foreign Plantations to the Lords of Trade of
the Privy Council Board concerning the Condition of the Americas, with
Recommendations for Furtherance of the Interests of our Merchants.
. . . Having described Barbados, Virginia, Maryland, and New England,
we will now address the Condition of Jamaica subsequent to the demise
of the late (and unlamented) Oliver Cromwell and the Restoration of His
Royal Majesty, Charles Stuart II, to the Throne of England.
Unlike Barbados, which now has 28,515 Black slaves and whose lands
command three times the price of the most Fertile acres in England, the
Island of Jamaica has yet to enjoy prosperous Development for Sugar.
Although its production may someday be expected to Surpass even that of
Barbados (by virtue of its greater Size), it has ever been vexatious to
Govern, and certain Recommendations intended to ammend this Condition
are here set forth.
It is well remembered that after Jamaica was seized from the Spaniards,
the Admiral and Infantry Commander (who shall not be cruelly named
here) were both imprisoned in the Tower by Oliver Cromwell as Reward
for their malfeasance in the Western Design. Furthermore, the English
infantry first garrisoned there soon proved themselves base, slothful
Rogues, who would neither dig nor plant, and in short time many sought
to defect to the Spaniards for want of rations. These same Spaniards
thereafter barbarously scattered their cattle, reducing the English to
eating dogs and snakes, whereupon over two-thirds eventually starved
and died.
The Spaniards did then repair to the mountains of that Island with
their Negroes, where together they waged war for many years against all
English forces sent against them, before at last retiring to live
amongst their fellow Papists on Cuba. After that time, Oliver Cromwell
made offer of Free acres, under the authority of his Great Seal, to any
Protestant in England who would travel thither for purposes of
settlement, but to scant effect. His appeal to New Englanders to come
and plant was in like manner scorned.
Thus for many years Jamaica has remained a great Thorn in the side of
England. Even so, we believe that certain Possibilities of this Island
may soon compensate the Expense of maintaining it until now.
The Reason may be taken as follows. It has long been understood that
the Aspect of our American settlements most profitable to England is
the Trade they have engendered for our Merchants. Foremost among the
Commodities required are Laborers for their Plantations, a Demand we
are at last equippd to supply. The Royal African Company (in which His
Majesty King Charles II and all the Court are fortunate Subscribers)
has been formed and a string of English slaving Fortresses has now been
established on the Guinea coast. The Company has thus far shipped
60,753 Africans to the Americas, of which a full 46,396 survived to be
Marketed, and its most recent yearly dividend to English subscribers
was near to 300%. A prized coin of pure West African gold,
appropriately named the Guinea, has been authorized by His Majesty to
commemorate our Success in this remunerative new Business.
Now that the Assemblies of Virginia and Maryland happily have passed
Acts encouraging the Usefulness of Negro slaves in North America, we
may expect this Trade to thrive abundantly, in light of the Fact that
Blacks on English plantations do commonly Perish more readily than they
breed.
Furthermore, the noblest Plantation in the New World could well one day
be the Island of Jamaica, owing to its abundance of fertile acres, if
two Conditions thwarting its full Development can be addressed.
The first being a band of escaped Blacks and Mullatoes, known to the
Spaniards as Maroons, who make bold to inhabit the mountains of said
Island as a Godless, separate Nation. Having no moral sense, and not
respecting the laws and customs of Civil nations, they daily grow more
insolent and threatening to the Christian planters, brazenly exhorting
their own Blacks to disobedience and revolt. By their Endeavors they
have prevented many valuable tracts of land from being cultivated, to
the great prejudice of His Majesty's revenue. All attempts to quell and
reduce these Blacks (said to live as though still in Africa, with their
own Practices of worship) have availed but little, by virtue of their
unassailable redoubts, a Condition happily not possible on the small
island of Barbados. Our records reveal that some 240,000 pounds
Sterling have thus far been expended in fruitless efforts to bring them
under submission. Yet they must be destroyed or brought in on some
terms, else they will remain a great Discouragement to the settling of
a people on the Island.
It is now concluded that, since all English regiments sent against them
have failed to subdue these Maroons (who fall upon and kill any who go
near their mountain strongholds), efforts must be attempted in another
Direction. Accordingly we would instruct the Governor of the Island,
Sir Benjamin Briggs, to offer terms of Treaty to their leader, a
heathenish Black reported to be called by the name Etiba, whereby each
Nation may henceforth exist in Harmony.
The other Condition subverting full English control of the island is
the Town that thrives at the Entrance to Jamaica Bay, a place called
Cayo de Carena by the Spaniards and now known, in honor of the
Restoration of His Majesty, as Port Royal. Said Port scarcely upholds
its name, being beholden to none save whom it will. It is home to those
Rovers of the sea calling themselves Buccaneers, a willful breed of men
formerly of Tortuga, who are without Religion or Loyalty. Travelling
whither they choose, they daily wreak depredations upon the shipping of
the Spaniard (taking pieces-of-eight in the tens of millions) and have
made the Kingdom of the Sea their only allegiance.
Unlike our own Failure to settle prosperous Plantations on Jamaica,
this port has enjoyed great Success (of a certain Kind). No city
founded in the New World has grown more quickly than this place, nor
achieved a like degree of Wealth. It is now more populous than any
English town in the Americas save Boston--and it has realized a
position of Importance equalled only by its infamous Reputation. In
chase of the stolen Spanish riches that daily pour in upon its streets,
merchants will pay more for footage along its front than in the heart
of London. Having scarce supply of water, its residents do drink mainly
strong liquors, and our Census has shown there are not now resident in
this Port ten men to every Tippling House, with the greatest number of
licenses (we are advisd) having been issued to a certain lewd Woman
once of Barbados, who has now repaired thither to the great advancement
of her Bawdy Trade.
Although this Port has tarnished the Name of England by its
headquartering of these insolent Buccaneers, it is yet doubtful whether
the Island would still be in His Majesty's possession were it not for
the Fear they strike in the heart of the Spaniards, who would otherwise
long since have Reclaimed it.
The chiefest of these Rovers, an Englishman known to all, has wrought
much ill upon the Spaniards (and on the Hollanders, during our recent
war), for which Service to England (and Himself) he is now conceived by
His Majesty as a Gentleman of considerable parts, though he has acted
in diverse ways to obstruct our quelling of the island's meddlesome
Maroons.
Accordingly, His Majesty has made known to the Council his Desire that
we strive to enlist this Buccaneer's good offices in persuading his
Rovers (including a notorious Woman, equally well known, said to be his
Wife, who doth also sail with these Marauders) to uphold English
jurisdiction of the Island and its Port. Should this Design fall out as
desir'd, His Majesty has hopes that (by setting, as he would have it
privately, these Knights of the Blade in charge of his Purse) he can
employ them to good effect.
In furtherance of this end, it is His Majesty's pleasure that we, in
this coming year, recall Sir Benjamin Briggs (whose honesty His Majesty
has oft thought Problemmatical) and make effort to induce this
Buccaneer to assume the post of Governor of Jamaica.
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