The West India Islands [pp. 455-500]

MARTINIQUE-ITS PRODUCTIONS AND MANUFACTURES.
will be one of the first measures of popular sovereignty, fearfully admonishes of the dangers of which the times are pregnant. We recur
to Hayti, and the blood which the old revolution of France caused to
be shed there, and the horrors of servile insurrection. Are these scenes
again to be enacted?2 In any case, how will that magnificent island,
now under its free blacks, compare with what it was under the institution of slavery; and where are those "British Isles," once such garden
spots and sources of inexhaustible wealth, now that the recklessness
of pseudo-philanthropy has released from labor, and thus practically
enslaved doubly its operatives? But all of this we shall see fully anon.
Guadaloupe embraces two islands, divided by Salt river, which is
navigable for small vessels. These islands are entitled Grande Terre
and Bassee Terre, and are about five hundred and thirty-four square
miles each. The harbor of Le Petit cal de Sac is well sheltered. Thei
town of Guadaloupe extends along the shore, is well built, and has a
population of 7.500. Marie Galanrte, Saintes, Desirada and St. Martin (French port), are dependencies of Guadaloupe. The first is a
small island of sixty square miles area, whose capital is Grandbourg,
a neatvillage; the second consists of rocky cliffs and hills, producing coffee and cotton in the northern districts of Marie Galante; the
third is a small island, six miles from Guadaloupe. We shall consider
St. Martin hereafter.
Population. Population.
Guadaloupe............. 26.168 free. 81.642 slaves.-Total.....107.110
Marie Galante.............3.072 " 10.116..... 1:3.188
Saintes..................... 570 " 569 " "..... 1.139
Desirada.................... 498 " 1.070 " "..... 1.568
St. Martin (French).......... 544' 2.925 " " 3.869
31.252 96.322 127.574
About one-fourth part only of these islands is in cultivation, pro ducing sugar, molasses, rum, coffee, cotton, cocoa, cloves and tobacco.
The colony has two delegates in Paris.
Martinique is of volcanic formation, and two-fifths of the surface has
been reduced to cultivation. Population, 100.000; capital, St. Pierre,
the largest and best built town in the Lesser Antilles, with a popula tion of 20.000. It is well fortified. Fort Trinite', a town of 6,000
inhabitants, on the eastern coast, has a large trade. Area of Martin ique, 244.348 English acres. The cultivation of sugar cane has pro gressed rapidly of late. Four or five hundred persons are engaged in
navigation and the coasting trade. In 1826 there were employed in
sugar making one hundred and eighty-three water mills, twenty-seven
wind mills, and two hundred and eleven cattle mills. In 1836 were
added thirteen steam mills. The number may now be supposed larger.
The population in 1836 was, free, 37.955; slaves, 78.076; free whites
estimated 9.000. From 1831 to 1836, 17.579 slaves were emancipated,
and to 1842, 3.534 more. We have seen a higher estimate of popula tion, viz.: 40.000 free and 117.592 slaves.
In 1831 a law was passed providing for the gradual emancipation of
slavery throughout the French West Indies, which has been carried
out in some degree, it being the intention of France to rely upon the
beet root at home for her supply of sugar, should the worst happen
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