Antigua and the Antiguans Volume I Part 1

Antigua and the Antiguans.

Volume I.

by Anonymous.

PREFACE.

Although in the present day the writing of a preface may be considered almost a work of supererogation on the part of an author, since it is that portion of a work seldom or ever looked into, still, as custom demands the form, and there may be some among my readers who may desire to learn what first led me to undertake this work, I am induced to follow the fashion, more especially as on one or two points I am desirous of offering a few words of comment and explanation.

Not being a native of the West Indies, and visiting that part of the world for the first time at an age when all looks bright around us, the novelty of the scenes which pa.s.sed before my eyes struck me forcibly, and induced me to make notes of the impressions I then received. Pursuing the same practice at subsequent visits, and during prolonged residences, in process of time my memoranda expanded to a considerable bulk. The increasing interest I took in everything relating to Antigua, led me to inquire into its early history, and to search out the origin of the numerous ancient families whose descendants have resided in the island from the period of its colonization.

Some of my friends in the island who had become acquainted with my pursuits, were gratified by the specimens of my labours, which were exhibited to them, and urged me to throw my scattered notes into form. I yielded to their solicitations, and the result has been the following pages, which, while they afford a condensed history of the colony from its earliest days, present also a record of the impressions produced on one, at first, fresh from English society, but now, by long continued residence, become almost an Antiguan; having, it is hoped, lost all relics of English prejudice, but not become so bia.s.sed by her new connexions, or blinded by the many charms of Antigua or Antiguan society, as to hold the scales of justice unevenly.

Having been resident in Antigua both before and after the pa.s.sing of the Emanc.i.p.ation Act, and having had ample opportunity of judging of the practical effects of that memorable event, the observations I have made with relation to it may not be considered altogether unimportant.

In perusing the early history of the colony, the English reader may be surprised to find how many men of family became early settlers in the West Indies; but when the eager spirit of adventure which immediately followed the enterprises of the Spaniards, and was so eminently conspicuous in the days of Elizabeth, is called to mind-when the causes which drove the "pilgrim fathers" forth are recollected, together with the numerous emigrations which took place from England, when the Royalists, in their turn forced to become fugitives, mostly sought a refuge in the West Indies, at first a safe and sanctioned asylum, till the very amount of the fresh influx of Royalist opinions made the West Indies a thorn in Cromwell's side, and compelled him to have recourse to strong measures to secure their obedience to his will,-when all these causes are considered, it becomes no longer a matter of wonder that much of the best blood of England runs in the veins of the people, not only of Antigua, but of the West India islands generally.

In justice to the character of the country which I have learned to love, I must, although unwillingly, notice another and a most painful subject. I refer to the exceedingly harsh laws pa.s.sed respecting the slaves, and the shocking executions of those concerned in the insurrection in 1736. In relation to the former point, it is sufficient to observe that such laws are almost inseparable from the inst.i.tution of slavery itself, and that the stigma affected the mother country equally with her colonies, while it redounds to the honour of Antigua that she was the first to announce unbounded freedom to her slave population. With respect to the barbarous executions, they would not be tolerated in Antigua at the present day, even had she continued to be a slave-dealing colony; and they can only in justice be referred to a state of society when the practice of torture had hardly fallen into desuetude in the civil courts of Europe, when the Inquisition was in full glory, when, only a few years before, the politest capital in the world had looked unmoved on

"Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel,"

and criminals continued to be strung up by dozens in England (and for many long years after) for offences which, in the present advanced state of society, no civilized state would visit with the punishment of death. What wonder, then, that at such a period, and under such alarming circ.u.mstances, the Antiguans should have shewn themselves cruel and barbarous?

Before I conclude, I must not omit to tender my acknowledgments to the numerous friends who have kindly afforded me a.s.sistance in the course of my work, among whom let me make grateful mention of Edward S. Byam, Esq., the Rev. and Hon. Burgh Byam, Col. Byam, Dr. Furgusson, Nathaniel Humphreys, Esq., Deputy Colonial Secretary in Antigua, (to which latter gentleman I was indebted for access to the Records of the island,) to John Furlong, Esq., (who obliged me with the will of Governor Parke,) Registrar of Antigua, to --- Edmead, Esq., to Captain George B. Mathew, of the Guards, the Rev. D. F. Warner, and others.

In conclusion, may the Great Giver of all good pour down His choicest blessings upon this beautiful and favoured little island; may her legislators be ably endowed in all true principles of jurisprudence; may her planters be blest with kindly showers, so that their golden canes may raise their "tall plumes" in luxuriance; may her merchants, the prop of every civilized state, be prosperous-her peasantry happy and good, as they are _free_; and, finally, may her ministers (of every denomination) be long spared to watch over and pray for her teeming inhabitants, that one choral song of praise may resound from every quarter and from every tongue.

The Author.

CHAPTER I.

General Description of the Island-Appearance-Soil-Productions- Climate-Early history-Discovery by Columbus-Attempted settlement by Spaniards-Grant to Earl of Carlisle-Settlement by d'Esnambuc-Williams-Governor Warner-Account of Sir Thomas Warner, founder of the family.

The Island of Antigua, one of the great Antilles, is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about twenty-five miles to the north-east of Montserrat, and forty miles north of Guadaloupe, in lat.i.tude seventeen degrees north, and longitude sixty-two degrees, or thereabouts, the measurement in these respects not being more exact than those of its length and breadth, which are variously stated at 21, 20, and 18 miles for its length, and 21, 20, and 17, for its breadth. The lower estimate is, however, most probably correct. Its circ.u.mference, again, is variously stated at from 50 to 80 miles, and its total area from 59,838 acres, to 108 square miles, or nearly 70,000 acres. The population in 1837, consisted of 2000 whites and coloured people, and 33,000 blacks.

All the slaves in the island were enfranchised in 1834.

The island is of an oval shape. On the first approach the coast appears rough and barren, but as the voyager draws nearer, hills and valleys open on his view, and the sh.o.r.e puts on an appearance of luxuriant vegetation. The country possesses little of a mountainous character, the highest elevation reaching only to the height of 1210 feet above the level of the sea. The soil varies according to the situation; that of the valleys and low lands consisting of a rich, black mould, on a substratum of clay; and unless in seasons of excessive drought, to which this island is peculiarly subject, remarkably productive. The soil of the high lands, on the other hand, is a stiff, reddish clay, on a substratum of marl, and is much less productive, abounding, as it does, with a species of gra.s.s extremely difficult to extirpate; and the increase of which has even caused some lands, formerly cultivated, to be abandoned. With the exception of such tracts, and of a small part totally unimprovable, the whole island may be said to be under cultivation. The staple production is sugar; a little cotton is cultivated; but all other articles of commerce, with the exception of sugar, are neglected. The quant.i.ties of ground provisions, as yams, eddoes, sweet potatoes, &c., grown in favourable seasons, is very considerable.

The most remarkable circ.u.mstance connected with Antigua is the want of fresh-water springs, there being but two or three of them, wholly inadequate to the wants of the population. This want is supplied by tanks, in which the rain water is preserved, and found to be particularly wholesome and agreeable, being light and pleasing to the palate.

The climate is remarkable for want of moisture, although the average fall of rain is forty-five inches. It is considered one of the most healthy in the West Indies.

The history of Antigua may be said to commence with its discovery by Columbus, for although it was at that period, and subsequently, frequented by the Caribs, they appear not to have made it a place of permanent residence; the want of water, which caused European settlers so long to neglect the island, deterring them also from establishing themselves upon it. For an account of the Caribs, and of their probable origin, the reader is referred to the chapters devoted to that interesting subject; and we shall now proceed to the history of the settlement of the island and of its internal administration down to the present time, reserving for future chapters those sketches of the island, and its inhabitants, which are the result of personal experience.

It was not until his second voyage, in the year 1493, that Columbus discovered Antigua. He landed with a party, but finding, on examination, that it was peopled only by a few Caribs, who possessed nothing that was serviceable to the Spaniards, and who were, probably, only casual visitants, and that the island was dest.i.tute of fresh water, he contented himself with giving it a name, Antigua, from the church of St. Mary of Antigua, at Seville, and abandoned it. There is a tradition that the name given to the island by the natives was "Xaymaca," signifying the "land of springs;" but whether this "lucus a non lucendo" was a specimen of Caribbean wit, or, more probably, arose from a mistake on the part of the European visitants, is uncertain.

Antigua remained neglected by all the various European adventurers, who hastened in crowds to other more favoured spots, until the year 1520, when a small party of Spaniards, under the Licentiate Don Antonio Serrano, who had received letters-patent from the King of Spain to colonize Antigua, Montserrat, Barbadu, Deseada, Dominica, and Martinique, landed, and driving off the few Caribs they found there, attempted to establish themselves; but after a short stay they abandoned it, and the island remained without a European claimant until the year 1627, when the Earl of Carlisle obtained a grant of Barbados, Antigua, and the rest of the Leeward Islands, from Charles I. This grant was opposed by the Earl of Marlborough, on the plea of a prior grant from James I., which was, however, eventually compromised, and the Earl of Carlisle was recognised as the sole proprietor. He, however, contented himself with settling Barbados; and although Antigua was colonized in his lifetime, yet neither he nor his son, who died without issue in 1660, and in whom the family honours became extinct, appear to have ever interested themselves in Antigua, or to have exercised any rights of ownership or property. In fact, the first permanent occupation of the island appears to have been a mere private speculation, and to have excited little notice or inquiry, since it is still a question who was the first actual settler.

In the year 1629, Mons. d'Esnambuc, the captain of a French privateer, made an attempt at a settlement, but the want of water drove him away after a very short stay; so short, indeed, that although a party of English settlers seem to have been upon the island, he did not remain long enough to discover them. The a.s.sertion, however, that English colonists were then on the island, rests solely on a tradition that William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, who interested himself greatly in the colonization of the West Indies, sent out his friend and countryman, Mr.

Williams, (the father of Colonel Rowland Williams, renowned in Antiguan story, as having been the first white child born on the island,) to attempt a settlement in Antigua. As Lord Pembroke died in April 1630, it does not appear probable that Mr.

Williams' settlement was later than 1629. If he were not the first, there is no doubt he was one of the first settlers, and an estate at Old Road, still in possession of his descendant, is pointed out as the spot he made choice of for his residence, which, as it is in the neighbourhood of the best spring in the island, now known as "Tom Moore's Spring," is extremely likely to have been the case. A fact that strengthens the probability of Mr. Williams being the first settler is, that Mr. Warner, who unquestionably conducted a party to Antigua from St. Kitts, in 1632, fixed his residence near the same spot, which it is natural he should do, for the sake of companionship, but built a cistern, whose ruins are still to be seen in the savannah, which he need not have done, had not the scanty spring been already appropriated.

In the year 1632, General Sir Thomas Warner, at that time, by the sanction of the Earl of Carlisle, the legal proprietor, and, under warrant from the king, Governor of St. Christopher, Nevis, Barbados, and Montserrat, sent his son Edward, a captain in the army, with a sufficient party, to colonize Antigua, which design he carried into effect, and during the remainder of his life continued to act as governor, although we have discovered no evidence of his having ever possessed, either as princ.i.p.al or deputy, any warrant for a.s.suming the t.i.tle, or executing the functions of governor, except so far as his father, as agent for the Earl of Carlisle, the lord proprietor of the island, might be considered as vested with authority; for in his commission from the crown, no mention is made of Antigua.

The name of Warner being thus distinguished in the annals of Antigua, we may be excused for making a digression upon the history of its founder, more especially as it affords a good ill.u.s.tration of the process of colonization in our West Indian and American possessions.

General Sir Thomas Warner was a scion of an ancient and distinguished English family; but from being a younger son, he was obliged to use personal efforts, in order to effect an honourable pa.s.sage through life. Having entered into the army at an early age, and attained the rank of captain, he accompanied Roger North, brother of Lord North, in his expedition to Guiana, a country which was then looked upon as a perfect _Eldorado_.

Here he became acquainted with a Captain Painton, a great navigator of those times, and one who had well studied the then all-engrossing subject of colonization.

This gentleman suggested to Captain Warner how much more facility would attend a settlement in one of the smaller islands, than in a country so extensive as Guiana; and from his own personal experience, he thought St. Christopher's (at that time unoccupied by any European power) would be an island particularly adapted for the exercise of a daring spirit, in the way of planting a settlement.

These suggestions of his friend appear to have made due impression upon the mind of Mr. Warner; for in 1620, after the death of Captain Painton, he resolved to return to England, and endeavour to procure the aid of some kindred spirit, in order to put his designs into execution. Having so far succeeded in his plans as to procure all necessary arrangements for establishing a colony, Mr. Warner again left England, accompanied by his wife and son, Edward, (who was a captain in the army at the early age of thirteen, and who was afterwards appointed first governor of Antigua,) and a small party of followers,[1] and embarked on board a vessel bound for Virginia, whence himself and party proceeded to St. Christopher's, where they arrived 28th January, 1623. Mr. Warner, as head of the settlers, commenced immediately the task of cultivation, in which he so far progressed as to raise a crop of tobacco, which was unfortunately destroyed in the severe hurricane of the 19th of the following September.

During this period, the movements of the English were diligently observed by the Caribs, who, instigated by three Frenchmen, (supposed to have been cast upon the island by a former storm,) at length made an outbreak upon the English, and r.e.t.a.r.ded in some measure their work of cultivation.

By the end of the following February, Mr. Warner had another crop of tobacco ready for exportation; and the ship Hopewell (commanded by Captain Jefferson) arriving on the 4th March, 1624, from London, bringing fresh supplies for the infant colony, a few emigrants, and goods with which to trade with the Caribs, Mr.

Warner resolved to return in her to England, in order to obtain more powerful a.s.sistance. He accordingly embarked himself and his first-gathered crop on board the "Hopewell," and once more sought the sh.o.r.es of England, to receive the congratulations of his friends, and search for a patron who would enable him to carry out further his plans of colonization.

Between that period and 1625, Mr. Warner was employed in voyaging backwards and forwards from St. Christopher's and England, leaving the cares of the government to his son, Edward Warner, (of whom Du Tertre speaks very handsomely,) until, having gained a friend and patron in the Earl of Carlisle, he was introduced at the court of the then reigning sovereign, Charles I. This monarch was so pleased with Mr. Warner's indefatigable and patriotic spirit, that he was graciously pleased to grant him a commission, (signed 13th Sept. 1625,) const.i.tuting him governor over the "foure islands of St. Christopher's, Nevis, Barbados, and Mountserrate,"[2] and on the 21st September, 1629, knighted him at Hampton Court Palace.[3]

Some of Sir Thomas Warner's descendants have filled the highest situations in Antigua, administering the government at times. Nor is the family extinct, for many there are who can trace their descent in a direct line from this great founder of four flourishing colonies. One of these was in 1838 "gathered to his fathers;" he was esteemed as an able legislator, and fulfilled his duties as president of the council, brigadier-general of the militia, and occasionally lieutenant-governor, with integrity. As this family ranks among the first aristocrats of the island, a more particular account of their lineal descent may not be deemed superfluous, and will be found in the Appendix, No. 2.

[1] The names of these adventurous few were as follows:-William Tasted, John Rhodes, Robert Bims, Mr. Benifield, Sergeant Jones, Mr. Ware, William Ryle, Rowland Gra.s.sc.o.c.ke, Mr. Bond, Mr.

Langley, Mr. Weaver, Sergeant Aplon, one sailor, and a cook.

[2] Vide copy of the first commission granted, No. 1, Appendix.

[3] Sir Thomas Warner died at St Christopher's in 1648. His tomb is still to be met with in the parish church for the township of Old Road, (a place which derives its name from the involuntary exclamation of Columbus upon his second visit to St.

Christopher's, "Ah! we are at the _old road_ again,") the inscription upon which is as follows:-

An Epitaph vpon Th------------------- n.o.ble & Mvch Lamented Genrl Sir Tho. Warner, Kt Lievtenant General of ye Carribee Ielands & Goverr of ye Ieland of St Christopher Who Departed This Life the 10th of March 1648.

First Read then weepe when thou art hereby taught, That Warner lyes interr'd here, one that bought, With losse of n.o.ble bloud Ill.u.s.trious Name, Of A Comander Greate in Acts of Fame.

Trayn'd from his youth in Armes, his courage bold, Attempted braue Exploites, and vncontrold By fortunes fiercest Frownes, hee still gaue forth Large Narratiues of Military worth.

----ritten with his sword's poynt, but what is man -------the midst of his glory, and who can ----------this Life A moment, since that hee -------------by Sea and Land, so longe kept free -----------al, Mortal Strokes at length did yeeld ------------ace) to conquering Death the field, fini Coronat.

The black lines shew where the marble is broken, or the letters from some other cause are quite obliterated.