The West Indies and the Spanish Main

War in the Young Colonies 113-136

Spanish raids--Effects of the "Great English Revolution"--The Caribbee Islands in revolt--Cavaliers and Roundheads in Barbados--Charles the Second declared king--Lord Willoughby arrives with a Commission from the fugitive--Persecution of the Roundheads--Sir George Ayscue sent out with a fleet to reduce Barbados--The island blockaded--Its surrender--Surinam held for the king--Cromwell and Spain--The Expedition to St. Domingo--Capture of Jamaica--Colonisation of the island--The Council for foreign plantations.

VII.

The Planters and Their Slaves 137-159

First adventurers not agriculturalists--Slaves wanted--Negroes imported--Sugar--Cotton--Tobacco--First plantations--Kidnapping-- Prisoners transported--English slave-trade--Comparative cost of negroes and whites--Rebels--Story of Henry Pitman--Condition of the bond-servants--Life of the planter--Dangers of the voyage--Jamaica--Slavery in Africa--Treatment of the West Indian slave.

VIII.

The Struggle for Supremacy 160-183

Trade disputes between England and Holland--War--The buccaneers employed--Repulse of De Ruyter at Barbados--Capture of Dutch colonies by English--The French drive the English from St. Kitt's--Abortive attempts for its recapture--Peace of Breda--The value of the buccaneers to Jamaica--Character of the three nations now contending for supremacy--Case of Surinam--English refused permission to leave with their slaves--War again--Peace of Westminster and the exodus from Surinam--Case of Jeronomy Clifford--Sir Henry Morgan represses buccaneering--Another war--Du Casse and the Corsairs--Jacques Cassard--Curious position of Berbice--Cassard takes Curaçao--His downfall.

IX.

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE DARIEN TRADE 184-206

Carthagena and Porto Bello fairs--The trade of the Isthmus--The joint-stock mania--William Paterson and the Darien scheme--Caledonia and New Edinburgh founded--Destruction of the colony--The Assiento contract--The Great South Sea Bubble--Vain attempts of the English to obtain free trade with the Spanish provinces--Attacks on the logwood cutters of Campeachy--War with Spain--Contraband traders and their losses--Captain Jenkins' ear--Another war with Spain--Admiral Vernon takes Porto Bello--His failure at Carthagena--English exploits.

X.

SLAVE INSURRECTIONS AND BUSH NEGROES 207-236

Sufferings of the planters from war--Barbados alone as having never fallen to the enemy--Internal difficulties--Ferocity of slaves and cruelty of their punishments--The Maroons of Jamaica and bush negroes in Guiana--Slave insurrections--Abortive plots in Barbados--Troubles in Jamaica--Revolt in Antigua--The great slave insurrection in Berbice--The whites driven from the colony--Haunts of the Guiana bush negroes--Surinam in continual fear of their raids--Expeditions sent against them--Treaties--Great insurrection in Jamaica and suppression of the Maroons.

XI.

The Sovereignty of the Seas 237-255

Downfall of Spain--England and France--Contraband traffic of the Dutch and Danes--Advantages of neutrality--The Jews in the islands--They support the buccaneers--The great war--England against the world--Admiral Rodney--His abortive fights with De Guichen--The training of his fleet--He captures St. Eustatius and confiscates private property--Capture of Demerara--Outcry against Rodney--British disasters--Rodney appears again--His decisive victory over De Grasse--Peace and its results--The great struggle with France and her allies--British supremacy--Peace of Amiens--War again--Nelson in the West Indies--The American war--Decline of the plantations from the abolition of the slave-trade.

XII.

Downfall of Hispaniola 256-275

Results of the French Revolution--The friends of the blacks--The rights of man--Civil disabilities of free coloured people--Agitation in the French colonies--James Ogé--Demand of the coloured people for equal rights--Civil war in Hispaniola--"Perish the colonies"--Great slave insurrection--The whites concede equal rights, but the Convention revokes their original decree--Truce broken--The struggle renewed--Devastation of the colony--The British expedition and its failure--Toussaint L'Ouverture--Slavery abolished--It is re-established by Napoleon--Treachery to L'Ouverture and the negroes--Dessalines and Christophe declare the independence of Hayti--Massacre of the whites--The Empire and Republic.

XIII.

EMANCIPATION OF THE SPANISH MAIN 276-288

Influence of the French Revolution on Spanish America--Miranda vainly attempts to rouse Venezuela--Revolution at Caracas--Simon Bolivar--Struggle for independence--Atrocities of both parties--Bolivar proclaims extermination to the Royalists--Spanish successes--The British Legion--Devastation of the country--The Columbian Republic--Guatemala.

XIV.

Abolition of Slavery 289-313

Agitation against slavery by the Quakers--Abolition of the African slave-trade--Effects of this on the plantations--Condition of the slave--Registration--Rising in Barbados--The Protestant missionaries arrive--Opposition of the planters--Ordinance against preaching and teaching slaves passed in Jamaica--The anti-slavery party in England--Amelioration of the condition of the slave--Insurrection in Demerara--Prosecution and conviction of the Rev. John Smith--Emancipation in the British colonies--Its effect on colonies of other nationalities--Insurrection at St. Croix--Total abolition of slavery in the West Indies.

XV.

Results of Emancipation 314-345

Ruin of the planters--Difficulty of procuring labour--Abolition of the differential duties--Immigration--Barbados an exception when ruin fell on the other colonies--Labour laws in French, Danish, and Dutch colonies--Another insurrection in St. Croix--Race prejudice causes riots in Demerara--Insurrection at Jamaica--Confederation riot at Barbados.

XVI.

The Isthmus Transit Schemes 346-364

Nelson's expedition to the San Juan--Miranda's project--Importance of a canal--Central America--Effects of the discovery of gold in California--The Panama railway--Canal projects--Darien again--The Times and the Nicaragua project--Ship railway--Lesseps and the Panama Canal--Difficulties of the work--Its downfall--Character of Lesseps--The Nicaragua Canal.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.