minions. Having, like the priests of ancient Egypt, acquired an unlimited influence over the minds of the people, secured their attachment and veneration, and monopolized all the sources of power and emolument, they instructed their subjects in the European arts of war, in order to give stability and permanency to their empire. They formed them into bodies of cavalry and infantry, completely armed and regu larly disciplined. They provided a sufficient train of artillery, as well as magazines well stored with the implements of war, and thus established a military force, which appeared formidable in the neighbourhood of the Spanish and Portuguese settlements. Such is the account which historians have given of this empire established by the Jesuits in South America.* Its tranquillity was not interrupted, nor its force called into exertion, till the year 1757, when part of the country being ceded to Portugal by Spain, the Jesuits refused to submit to this transfer. The persecution of their order in Portugal, and afterwards in France, involved them in a new series of troubles; and at last, in 1767, they were expelled from America. It must, however, be observed, that this piece of history, as well as every thing relating to that celebrated order, appears somewhat mysterious. Dr. Robertson, who has consulted not only Charlevoix and Ulloa, but also the reports of Chalotais and Monclar, and most of the works that were written concerning the Jesuits, at a period when their affairs. attracted the attention of Europe, seems to give implicit credit to the history of their empire in South America, as it is here related nearly in his own language.† But it must be confessed, that in the accounts of modern travellers, no marks appear of that exalted state of civilization, which has been represented in colours so attractive, and of which the traces could scarcely have been so soon obliterated. And it is equally certain that their armies, which in the writings of historians ap. pear so numerous and formidable, soon vanished before the European troops. The latter circumstance, perhaps, may be accounted for, by considering that the missions of Paraguay

Voyage de Ulloa, tom. 1. Traduction Françoise.—Charlevoix Hist. du Paraguay, vol. 2.

Robertson's Hist. Charles V, vol. 3. book 6.

constituted only a branch of the order; and that the necessity of sacrificing their partial interests in America to the general interests of the society in Europe, might prevent them from making all the resistance of which they were capable. There is, on the whole, strong reason to suspect that the history of the power of the Jesuits in Paraguay, and of the civilization and happiness of their subjects, has been exaggerated; at first, perhaps by themselves and their friends, in order to show the importance of their labours; and afterwards by their enemies, for the purpose of exciting the jealousy of the courts of Madrid and Lisbon.

Both Spanish and Portuguese America have, as already obscrved, a numerous Indian population. The same may be said of French and Dutch Guiana, of which a small part only is subdued and colonized. The natives of Brazil are represented for the most part as irreclaimable savages, of a middle stature, strong, and muscular. Some of those of Guiana are peaceable and inoffensive; but others are the most ferocious of human beings, especially the Caribs, who are cannibals.* In Terra Firma are a variety of native tribes, who are yet unsubdued. The Peruvians were found in a considerable degree civilized, and are ingenious, humane, and lively. The Chilians are a warlike people. They made a vigorous resistance against the Spaniards on their first invasion of the country; and towards the mountains numerous tribes are yet free and formidable. Patagonia, a country for the most part level, but dry, destitute of timber, and in a cold climate, is left entirely in the possession of the natives. It is here that a real or fictitious nation of giants has caused as much dispute as that of the Amazons. In concluding this article, it may not be amiss to observe, that in South, as well as in North America, the universal form of government among the natives is that of their Caciques, or petty chiefs, with a very limited power.

* Bancroft's Nat. Hist. of Guiana, p. 260.

WEST INDIAN ISLANDS.

THE numerous and important islands which border the Gulf of Mexico, extending nearly from East Florida almost to the mouth of the Oronoko, have obtained the name of West Indies, from an erroneous opinion entertained by the first discoverers, that they constituted a part of India, or at least that they were not far distant from that continent. The principal of these, ranging in a direction from west to east, are Cuba, Jamaica, St. Domingo, and Porto Rico. These are followed by that remarkable groupe known to the English by the names of Leeward and Windward Islands, the former distinction extending from Porto Rico to Dominica, the latter comprising Martinico, and all the southern part of the range.* The French include them all under the appellation of windward, as being situated towards the east, the point of the trade wind: they are also known in geography by the names of the Antilles and the Caribbee Islands. Their situation and products are such as to render them of great commercial importance; but excepting St. Domingo, their political weight is considerable only by their connection with Europe. The West India islands are so well known, that a minute description is unnecessary; and a general view will suffice for every geographical and historical purpose.

ST. DOMINGO.

AMONG all the islands comprised in this extensive range, Hispaniola, or St. Domingo, constituting an independent negro government, a phænomenon in the history of the new Edwards's Hist. of West Indies, vol. 1. p. 6.

world, has acquired the greatest political importance, and merits in the highest degree the attention of the statesman and the philosopher. The central part of St. Domingo is situated under the 19th degree of north latitude, and the 71st degree of west longitude and its extent may be computed at something more than 400 English miles in length from east to west, by about 120 miles in its greatest, or 100 in its medial breadth. The face of the country is exceedingly diversified. Towards the coasts, numerous valleys and extensive plains display the most luxuriant fertility. The interior of the island is mountainous, and presents an intricate mass of hills, valleys, and forests, which, notwithstanding the early colonization of the coasts, appear to be imperfectly known to the Europeans. The climate, like that of the rest of the West Indies, is hot; and if we may form a judgment from the events of the last war, it must be considered as extremely unhealthful Homspech's regiment of hussars was in little more than two months reduced from 1000 to 300; and the 96th regiment totally perished on this inhospitable shore. Of 15,000 British and foreign troops employed in the expedition to St. Domingo, no more than 3000 were left alive and fit for service at the end of the year 1797; and about 5000 seamen are said to have perished in that ill-fated enterprise. The Europeans, however, having wealth for their only object in the establishment of colonies, have invariably postponed the advantages of health to the views of avarice; and in the eye of the merchant or the planter, the exuberant fertility of the soil of St. Domingo might amply compensate the inconveniences of the climate. The average produce of all the sugar lands, while in the hands of the French, was not less than twenty-four hundred weight per acre, which is three times the avarage fertility of those of Jamaica. In the richest soil of St. Domingo, a single acre has been known to yield the enormous quantity of two tons and a half of sugar. Before the revolution, the annual value of the exports in sugar, the principal article, coffee, cotton,

[The unhealthiness of the climate is owing to the numerous salt marshes on the coasts of the island. AM. ED.]

* Edwards Hist. of the West Indies, vol. 3. p. 385, &c.

Brougham's Col. Policy, vol. 1. p. 521.

indigo, molasses, rum, raw and tanned hides, amounted to about 4,765,1297. sterling. In regard to commerce, St. Domingo was the most valuable of all the West India islands, and a mine of wealth to France.

Of all the European settlements, this was the most remarkable for the abundant importation of slaves. During the ten years previous to the revolution, the average number of negroes annually imported amounted to 29,000.* And amidst this immense influx of Africans, the number of white inhabitants had somewhat decreased.† In the year 1790, the population of the French part of St. Domingo amounted to 480,000 negro slaves, with about 24.000 Mulattoes, or free people of colour, and no more than 30,830 whites. From a view of these circumstances, it is easy to perceive that the extent to which the slave trade was carried paved the way to that tremendous revolution, which proved so fatal to those dealers in human flesh, whose grand object was to acquire by the sweat and the toil of the negroes in St. Domingo, a fortune that might enable them to riot in luxury at Bourdeaux or Paris. The national assembly of France too precipitately attempting to reform her colonial system, at a moment when the mother country was agitated by the most violent commotions, gave the impulse to that dangerous power, which the rapid increase of black population had introduced into St. Domingo. Some contradictory decrees of that assembly respecting the rights of the free Mulattoes to vote for representatives, excited the first disturbances, which were further fomented by the intrigues of the French planters. Various struggles ensued between the whites and the people of colour. The commissioners of France had emancipated and armed the slaves, in order to defend the island against the English; and the whole settlement exhibited a tumultuous and martial scene. The revolutionizing and levelling spirit of France was introduced into her colonies, and St. Domingo afforded an ample and favourable field for its operation. The consequence has been, that after a war of many years on the cruel principle of ex* Brougham's Col. Policy, vol. 1. p. 531. † Neckar des Finances, tom. 1. chap. 13. Edwards's Hist. of St. Domingo, p. 134.