one of the Caribbee islands, lying in W. Long. 61. 30. N. Lat. 12. 10. It is the last of the Windward Caribbees; and lies 30 leagues north of New Andalufia, on the continent. It is about 30 miles in length, and in some places 15 in breadth. The chief port, formerly called Louis, now St George's, stands on the west side of the island, in the middle of a large bay, with a sandy bottom. It is pretended that 1000 barks, from 300 to 400 tons, may ride secure from storms; and that 100 ships, of 1000 tons each, may be moored in the harbour. A large round basin, which is parted from it by a bank of sand, would contain a considerable number of ships, if the bank was cut through: but by reason of it the large ships are obliged to pass within 80 paces of one of the mountains lying at the mouth of the harbour; the other mountain lying about half a mile distant. The island abounds with wild game and fish; it produces also very fine timber, but the cocoa-tree is observed not to thrive here so well as in the other islands. A lake on a high mountain, about the middle of the island, supplies it with fresh-water streams. Several bays and harbours lie round the island, some of which might be fortified to great advantage; so that it is very convenient for shipping, not being subject to hurricanes. The soil is capable of producing tobacco, sugar, indigo, peas, and millet.

In 1638, M. Poincy, a Frenchman, attempted to make a settlement in Grenada; but was driven off by the Caribbeans, who resorted to this island in greater numbers than to the neighbouring ones, probably on account of the game with which it abounded. In 1650, Mons. Parquet, governor of Martinico, carried over from that island 200 men, furnished with presents to reconcile the savages to them; but with arms to subdue them, in case they should prove intractable. The savages are said to have been frightened into submission by the number of the Frenchmen: but, according to some French writers, the chief not only welcomed the new comers; but, in consideration of some knives, hatchets, scyffars, and other toys, yielded to Parquet the sovereignty of the island, referring to themselves their own habitations. The Abbé Raynal informs us, that these first French colonists, imagining they had purchased the island by these trifles, assumed the sovereignty, and soon acted as tyrants. The Caribs, unable to contend with them by force, took their usual method of murdering all those whom they found in a defenceless state. This produced a war; and the French settlers having received a reinforcement of 300 men from Martinico, forced the savages to retire to a mountain; from whence, after exhausting all their arrows, they rolled down great logs of wood on their enemies. Here they were joined by other savages from the neighbouring islands, and again attacked the French, but were defeated anew; and were at last driven to such desperation, that 40 of them, who had escaped from the slaughter, jumped from a precipice into the sea, where they all perished, rather than fall into the hands of their implacable enemies. From thence the rock was called le morne des sauteurs, or "the hill of the leapers;" which name it still retains. The French then destroyed the habitations and all the provisions of the savages; but fresh supplies of Caribbeans arriving, the war was renewed with great vigour, and great numbers of the French were killed. Upon this they resolved totally to exterminate the natives: and having accordingly attacked the savages unawares, they inhumanly put to death the women and children, as well as the men; burning all their boats and canoes, to cut off all communication between the few survivors and the neighbouring islands. Notwithstanding all these barbarous precautions, however, the Caribbeans proved the irreconcileable enemies of the French; and their frequent insurrections at last obliged Parquet to fell all his property in the island to the Count de Cerillac in 1657. The new proprietor, who purchased Parquet's property for 30,000 crowns, sent thither a person of brutal manners to govern the island. He behaved with such insupportable tyranny, that most of the colonists retired to Martinico; and the few who remained condemned him to death after a formal trial. In the whole court of justice that tried this miscreant, there was only one man (called Archangel) who could write. A farrier was the person who impeached: and he, instead of the signatures, sealed with a horse-hoe; and Archangel, who per- formed the office of clerk, wrote round it these words in French, "Mark of M. de la Bric, counsellor for the court."

It was apprehended that the court of France would not ratify a sentence passed with such unusual formalities; and therefore most of the judges of the governor's crimes, and witnesses of his execution, disappeared. Only those remained whose obscurity screened them from the pursuit of the laws. By an estimate, taken in 1700, there were at Grenada no more than 251 white people, 53 free savages or mulattoes, and 525 slaves. The useful animals were reduced to 64 horses and 569 head of horned cattle. The whole culture consisted of three plantations of sugar and 52 of indigo.—The island had been sold in 1664 to the French West India company for 100,000 livres.

This unfavourable state of the affairs of Grenada was changed in 1714. The change was owing to the flourishing condition of Martinico. The richest of the ships from that island were sent to the Spanish coasts, and in their way touched at Grenada to take in refreshments. The trading privateers, who undertook this navigation, taught the people of that island the value of their soil, which only required cultivation. Some traders furnished the inhabitants with staves and utensils to erect sugar plantations. An open account was established between the two colonies. Grenada was clearing its debts gradually by its rich produce; and the balance was on the point of being closed, when the war in 1744 interrupted the communication between the two islands, and at the same time stopped the progress of the sugar-plantations. This loss was supplied by the culture of coffee, which was pursued during the hostilities with all the activity and eagerness that industry could inspire.—The peace of 1748 revived all the labours, and opened all the former sources of wealth. In 1753, the population of Grenada consisted of 1262 white people, 175 free negroes, and 11,991 slaves. The cattle amounted to 2298 horses or mules, 2456 head of horned cattle, 3278 sheep, 902 goats, and 331 hogs. The cultivation rose to 83 sugar plantations, 2,725,650 coffee trees, 1,503,300 cocoa-trees, and 800 cotton plants. The provisions consisted of 5,740,450 trecches of cahada, 933,596 banana trees, and 143 squares of potatoes and yams. The colony made a rapid progress, in proportion to the excellence of its soil; but in the course of the last war but one, the island was taken by the British. At this time one of the mountains at the side of St George's harbour was strongly fortified, and might have made a good defence, but surrendered without firing a gun; and by the treaty concluded in 1763 the island was ceded to Britain. On this occasion, and the management of the colony after that event, the abbé Raynal has the following remarks.—"This long train of evils [the ambition and mismanagement of his countrymen] has thrown Grenada into the hands of the English, who are in possession of this conquest by the treaty of 1763. But how long will they keep this colony? Or, will it never again be restored to France?—England has not made a fortunate beginning. In the first enthusiasm raised by an acquisition, of which the highest opinion had been previously formed, every one was eager to purchase estates there. They sold for much more than their real value. This caprice, by expelling old colonists who were imured to the climate, has sent about 1,553,000l. out of the mother-country. This imprudence has been followed by another. The new proprietors, misled, no doubt, by national pride, have substituted new methods to those of their predecessors. They have attempted to alter the mode of living among their slaves. The negroes, who from their very ignorance are more attached to their customs than other men, have revolted. It hath been found necessary to send out troops, and to shed blood. The whole colony was filled with suspicions. The masters who had laid themselves under a necessity of using violent methods, were afraid of being burnt or massacred in their own plantations. The labours have declined, or been totally interrupted. Tranquillity has at length been restored. The number of slaves has been increased as far as 40,000, and the produce has been raised to the treble of what it was under the French government. The plantations will still be improved by the neighbourhood of a dozen of islands, called the Grenadines or Grenadilles, that are dependent on the colony. They are from three to eight leagues in circumference. The air is wholesome. The ground, covered only with thin bushes, has not been foreclosed from the sun. It exhales none of those noxious vapours which are fatal to the husbandman. Carriacou, the only one of the Grenadines which the French have occupied, was at first frequented by turtle fishermen; who, in the leisure afforded them by so easy an occupation, employed themselves in clearing the ground. In process of time, their small number was increased by the accession of some of the inhabitants of Guadeloupe; who, finding that their plantations were destroyed by a particular sort of ants, removed to Carriacou. The island flourished from the liberty that was enjoyed there. The inhabitants collected about 1200 slaves, by whose labours they made themselves a revenue of near 20,000l. a-year in cotton.—The other Grenadines do not afford a prospect of the same advantages, though the plantation of sugar is begun there. It has succeeded remarkably well at Beccouya, the largest and most fertile of these islands, which is no more than two leagues distant from St Vincent."

In the year 1779, the conquest of this island was accomplished by D'Eftaign the French admiral, who had been prevented from attempting it before by his enterprise against St Vincent. Immediately after his conquest of St Lucia, however, being reinforced by a squadron under M. de la Motte, he set sail for Grenada with a fleet of 26 sail of the line and 12 frigates, having on board 10,000 land forces. Here he arrived on the second of July; and landed 3000 troops, chiefly Irish, being part of the brigade composed of natives of Ireland in the service of France. These were conducted by Count Dillon, who disposed them in such a manner as to surround the hill that overlooks and commands George's town, together with the fort and harbour. To oppose these, Lord M'Cartney, the governor, had only about 150 regulars, and 300 or 400 armed inhabitants; but though all resistance was evidently vain, he determined nevertheless to make an honourable and gallant defence. The preparations he made were such as induced D'Eftaign himself to be present at the attack; and, even with his vast superiority of force, the first attack on the entrenchments proved unsuccessful. unsuccessful. The second continued two hours; when the garrison were obliged to yield to the immense disparity of numbers who assaulted them, after having killed or wounded 300 of their antagonists. Having thus made themselves masters of the intrenchments on the hill, the French turned the cannon of them towards the fort which lay under it; on which the governor demanded a capitulation. The terms, however, were so extraordinary and unprecedented, that both the governor and inhabitants agreed in rejecting them; and determined rather to surrender without any conditions at all than upon those which appeared so extravagant. On this occasion D'Eftaigne is said to have behaved in a very haughty and severe manner; indulging his soldiers also in the most unwarrantable liberties, and in which they would have proceeded much farther had they not been restrained by the Irish troops in the French service.

In the mean time Admiral Byron, who had been convoying the homeward-bound West India fleet, hastened to St Vincent, in hopes of recovering it; but being informed, by the way, that a descent had been made at Grenada, he changed his course, hoping that Lord McCartney would be able to hold out till his arrival. On the sixth of July he came in sight of the French fleet; and, without regarding D'Eftaigne's superiority of fix ships of the line and as many frigates, determined if possible to force him to a close engagement. The French commander, however, was not so confident of his own prowess as to run the risk of an encounter of this kind; and having already achieved his conquest, had no other view than to preserve it. His designs were facilitated by the good condition of his fleet; which being more lately come out of port than that of the British, failed faster, so that he was thus enabled to keep at what distance he pleased. The engagement began about eight in the morning, when Admiral Barrington with his own and two other ships got up to the van of the enemy, which they attacked with the greatest spirit. As the other ships of his division, however, were not able to get up to his assistance, these three ships were necessarily obliged to encounter a vast superiority, and of consequence suffered exceedingly. The battle was carried on from beginning to end in the same unequal manner; nor were the British commanders, though they used their utmost efforts for this purpose, able to bring the French to a close engagement. Thus Captains Collingwood, Edwards, and Cornwallis, flood the fire of the whole French fleet for some time. Captain Fanshaw of the Monmouth, a 64 gun ship, threw himself singly in the way of the enemy's van; and Admiral Rowley and Captain Butchart fought at the same disadvantage: so that finding it impossible to continue the engagement with any probability of success, a general cessation of firing took place about noon. It recommenced in the same manner about two in the afternoon; and lasted, with different interruptions, till the evening. During this action some of the British ships had forced their way into St George's harbour, not imagining that the enemy were already in possession of the island. They were soon undeceived, however, by perceiving the French colours flying ashore, and the guns and batteries firing at them. This discovery put an end to the design which had brought on the engagement; and as it was now high time to think of providing for the safety of the British transports, which were in danger from the number of the enemy's frigates, the engagement was finally discontinued. During this action some of Admiral Byron's ships had suffered extremely. The Lion of 64 guns, Captain Cornwallis, was found incapable of rejoining the fleet which were plying to windward; and was therefore obliged to bear away alone before the wind. Two other ships lay far aft in a very distressed situation; but no attempt was made to capture them, nor did the French admiral show the least inclination to renew the engagement.

Grenada was restored to Great Britain by the treaty of peace of 1783.—George's town, or St George's, is the residence of the governor.

When the levelling spirit of the French revolution threatened to banish all rational liberty and subordination from the face of the earth, the ill-fated island of Grenada did not escape the contagion. The slaves in this island were early tinctured with the love and admiration of those principles which subverted the monarchy of France. They were of consequence ready to revolt at the instigations of republican emissaries, who in 1795 effected a landing from the island of Guadeloupe in considerable numbers. Yet many of the slaves hesitated at first to take an active part in this unnatural rebellion against the British government; but their perseverance was at length shaken by the alluring temptations which were held out to them, of participating of the property of their plundered masters, and the flattering promises of total emancipation.

It is astonishing, as it seems repugnant to every feeling of human nature with which we are acquainted, that such of the slaves, both male and female, as had experienced the most humane treatment, and enjoyed the greatest share of their masters confidence, were the most active and cruel in this horrible insurrection. This seems to be a melancholy proof of an assertion often made by those who are inimical to the abolition of the slave-trade, that the most humane and benevolent treatment can make no impression on their native ferocity.

As the French troops had been too successful in their attack upon Guadeloupe, the disaffected negroes in Grenada who spoke the French language, as well as numbers of white people who were charmed with the extravagant doctrine of liberty and equality, were encouraged to project and execute a revolt from the British government, every step of which they marked with plunder and with blood. Having effected a landing at Grenville or La Baye, and Charlotte town, on different sides of the island, the insurgents, to the number of 100, surrounded the former place, and about one o'clock in the morning (March 6, 1795) plundered the dwelling and storehouses, and dragging the innocent, the astonished inhabitants into the streets, set them up as marks to be shot at. When they fell before the discharge of their musketry, the inhuman banditti mangled their bodies with cutlasses in the most shocking manner. At this time there were 14 English inhabitants in the town, only three of whom escaped the infatiable vengeance of those pretended lovers of freedom! Some escaped by swimming to the vessels which were then lying in the roads, while others, captured by the insurgents, were murdered on their way to the camp of the rebel GRENADE rebel chief Fedon, because they could not march so quickly as desired.

The murders committed at this place, and the plunder and devastation which marked their steps in other parts of the island, are shocking to humanity; and it is too notorious that the insurgents were instigated to the whole by the restless emigrees of the French republic. The insurrection was not finally suppressed till June 1796.