STATE OF THE ISLAND OF MARTINIQUE.

Having finished the detail of the actions achieved in the European seas by the naval force of Great Britain, within the compass of the present year, we shall now proceed to record the exploits of the British arms within the tropics, and particularly the expedition to Martinique and Guadaloupe, which is said to have succeeded even beyond the expectation of the ministry. A plan had been formed for improving the success of the preceding year in North America, by carrying the British arms up the river St. Laurence, and besieging Quebec, the capital of Canada. The armament employed against the French islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe constituted part of this design, inasmuch as the troops embarked on that expedition were, in case of a miscarriage at Martinique, intended to reinforce the British army in North America, which was justly considered as the chief seat of the war. What hope of success the administration conceived from an attempt upon Martinique, may be guessed from the state of that island, as it appeared in a memorial presented by the French king’s lieutenants of its several districts, to the general of the French island, in consequence of an order issued in November, for holding them in readiness to march and defend the island from the English, of whose design they were apprized. They represented that the trade with the Dutch was become their sole dependence: that they could expect no succour from Europe, by which they had been abandoned ever since the commencement of the war: that the traders vested with the privileges of trafficking among them had abused the intention of the general; and, instead of being of service to the colony, had fixed an arbitrary price for all the provisions which they brought in, as well as for the commodities which they exported; of consequence, the former was valued at as high a price as their avarice could exact, and the latter sunk as low in value as their own selfish hearts could conceive: that the colony for two months had been destitute of all kinds of provision; the commodities of the planters lay upon their hands, and their negroes were in danger of perishing through hunger; a circumstance that excited the apprehension of the most dreadful consequences; as to slaves, half starved, all kinds of bondage were equal; and people reduced to such a situation were often driven to despair, seeking in anarchy and confusion a remedy from the evils by which they were oppressed; that the best provided of the inhabitants laboured under the want of the common necessaries of life; and others had not so much as a grain of salt in their houses: that 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.