The planters, recollecting the bloody scenes that had been enacted, years before, at the beginning of the insurrection headed by Fedon, were greatly alarmed. Military organizations were formed in different districts, and a regular night patrol, and a well-devised system of espionage, were kept up for several weeks. The governor of Grenada and the Grenadines, at this period, was Major General Riall, who had distinguished himself while commanding the British army on the Canada frontiers, and was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Niagara. Acting with judgment, firmness, and discretion, he succeeded in pacifying those bodies of slaves who sought him, and explained the true character of the act. They slowly returned to the plantations and resumed their labors; but were evidently dissatisfied, and more than half convinced that even the governor was deceiving them.

To add to the excitement, a rumor was spread abroad, and obtained belief, that a number of aliens had arrived in the island, with the intention of stirring up another insurrection; and a sort of panic prevailed among the whites. The governor issued a proclamation, declaring that every free person who was not a native citizen of Great Britain, or who had not taken the oath of allegiance, must appear forthwith before the executive authorities of St. George, and report himself and state his object in being on the island.

I felt myself included in the list of aliens, and in spite of the remonstrances of friends, who insisted that the proclamation did not apply to me, I determined to comply with its directions, and go immediately to St. George. Accompanied by a gentleman who was connected with the government, and to whom I had a letter of introduction, I called upon his excellency. The governor was a thick-set, ruddy-faced man, with a decidedly military air, of simple habits and courteous manners. He received me

with great politeness. On being informed that I was an American, he waived all desire for an explanation in regard to the cause of my residence in the island; and further remarked, that should it at any time be in his power to render me service, it would give him pleasure to do it.

When peace was established between the two countries it was expected the ports in the English islands would be thrown open for trade, as before the war. In this expectation the planters were disappointed. In order to protect the trade in the British American provinces, the importation of produce in American bottoms was prohibited. Consequently there was no direct communication between English ports in the West Indies and ports in the United States. Our vessels landed and sold their cargoes in St. Thomas, St. Bartholomew, or some other free port, where they were shipped in English bottoms, and thence conveyed to the English islands.

There being no opportunity to go directly to the United States from Grenada, I sought the means of proceeding to some other port, where I should be likely to fall in with an American vessel. I called on Mr. Budge, a merchant of St. George, with whom I had some acquaintance, to make inquiries. He informed me he was on the point of chartering a small vessel in which to proceed to St. Pierre in Martinico, should sail in the course of a few weeks, and would cheerfully give me a passage to that port.

I returned to the interior of the island in fine spirits, and commenced making the necessary arrangements for my departure. In due time, having received information from Mr. Budge that his sloop would sail on a certain day, I took leave of my numerous friends, bade farewell to the plantations; to the lonely glens and deep gorges in the mountains, which, for me, had many charms, and took the "Grand Etang" route for the capital. I could not bid adieu to my kind Scotch friends without emotion.

Several of them expressed an intention to visit the United States before the lapse of many years, perhaps to settle there for life, and promised to look me up. But I have never seen them since. With the sight of a Scotchman, however, is associated many pleasing recollections; and a Scotch accent has ever sounded grateful in my ear since I left the shores of Grenada.

During my residence in Grenada my duties were neither arduous nor difficult. Had I complied with the advice of friends and remained, I might have succeeded as a planter, and led for a number of years a lazy, monotonous, vegetative kind of life. Nevertheless, my stay was not unproductive of advantages. I found much to interest and occupy an inquiring mind; and my situation gave me an opportunity to gratify a thirst for information, to gain an intimate knowledge of tropical life, usages, and productions which has often since proved of signal service. I was brought into communication with people of different nations, different characters, and different modes of thinking; of different politics, philosophy, and religion; all of which has a tendency to eradicate or weaken early prejudices, liberalize opinions, and inculcate charitable views of human nature. While such a relation with people of other countries can never diminish the feeling of patriotism in a well-balanced mind, it will lead a person to discover, acknowledge, and respect, in other communities and other nations, much that is good and worthy of commendation.

After paying my debts and supplying a few pressing wants I found remaining in my pocket fifty Spanish dollars. I had emerged from a state of poverty and dependence. I was rich, having the means, without much doubt, of procuring a passage from Martinico to some port in the United States.

It was about the middle of September, in the year 1816, that I embarked with Mr. Budge in a little sloop bound to St. Lucia and Martinico, after having resided in Grenada nearly four years. We had a few other passengers, one of whom was a French gentleman named Chambord, who had fought a duel with an Englishman in St. Lucia a few months before. This duel grew out of a fierce dispute in relation to the battle of Waterloo, and the comparative merit, in a military point of view, of Napoleon and Wellington. The Frenchman, being an adroit swordsman, got the best of the argument by running his antagonist through the body, and leaving him senseless, and apparently lifeless, on the field. He made his escape to Grenada. Having learned that the champion of Wellington was in a fair way to recover from his wound, he was now on his return to his home.

We tarried but a short time at St. Lucia, merely lying off and on at the mouth of the port of Castries, or Carenage, which is one of the most beautiful and safe harbors in that part of the world; the entrance being so narrow that two ships cannot pass through it abreast; but inside, the extent of the harbor and depth of water are sufficient to furnish good anchorage and shelter from hurricanes for a large fleet of ships of the largest class.

On arriving at St. Pierre I found a fearful hurricane had raged in that quarter only a week or ten days before. The wind, blowing from the eastward directly into the open roadstead with irresistible fury, had driven every vessel in port ashore on the beach. The ship Cato, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, having all her cargo dis

charged, and presenting a large surface of hull to the wind and the waves, was found, after the tempest had subsided, high and dry in one of the streets, in a condition which precluded the possibility of getting her into the water, and was broken up. Others were launched on "ways" constructed for the purpose; while some sustained but little injury, and were easily got afloat. One English brig, built of the red cedar of Bermuda, a material greatly in favor at that time on account of its remarkable resistance to decay, was crushed like an egg-shell the moment it struck the shore, and the fragments were strown along the beach.

At the time I arrived at St. Pierre the yellow fever was prevailing to an alarming extent among the inhabitants. The same epidemic prevailed in Point Petre, Guadaloupe, and the numerous immigrants from France, in some cases whole families, who sought those shores with the hope of improving their condition, were cut off by this terrible. disease soon after their arrival. Some cases of yellow fever appeared among the shipping in St. Pierre, and nearly every one proved fatal, showing the malignant type of the disease. Great alarm was manifested lest the epidemic should spread among the vessels, and sweep off whole crews, and I subsequently learned that these apprehensions were realized.

I engaged lodgings on shore, and was there an eye witness to the ravages of this plague of the West Indies. Young and healthy men, full of hope and gayety, with rich prospects in the future, were visited by this grim messenger soon after they set their feet on those shores; and few, very few, recovered. Death was doing a mighty business at Martinico at that time; and during my brief stay I listened to many a thrilling tale of hopes blighted, ties of affection sundered, and sorrows awakened by the remorseless action of the "King of Terrors." The strong man was cut down while boasting of his strength; and