Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/257

 towns and home garrisons. On the sudden reduction of the army in 1783, the 75th regiment, then quartered at Bristol, was ordered to be disbanded. After Picton, as the senior officer with the regiment, had paraded his men and read the orders for disbandment, the soldiers became mutinous and riotous. Serious danger was anticipated in the town. But Picton rushed into the midst of the tumult, singled out the most active of the mutineers, and dragged him away; some non-commissioned officers who had followed their captain made him a prisoner. This prompt action and a few stern words from Picton quelled the strife. His spirited conduct was made known to the king, who directed that the royal approbation should be communicated to him. This was conveyed by Conway, the commander-in-chief, with a promise, which was not fulfilled, of the first vacant majority.

Picton was placed upon half-pay, and went to the family place in Pembrokeshire, where for twelve years he remained in obscurity, enjoying field sports, studying the classics, and reading professional books. Despite his numerous applications, no offer of employment came, and, when hostilities with France broke out, he determined to take action himself.

Towards the end of 1794, without any appointment, Picton embarked for the West Indies, on the strength of a slight acquaintance with Sir John Vaughan, who had recently gone thither as commander-in-chief. Vaughan at once appointed Picton to the 17th regiment of foot, and made him an extra aide-de-camp to himself. Picton, now for the first time on active service, so satisfied his general that the latter obtained promotion for him to a majority in the 68th foot, and appointed him deputy quartermaster-general to the force, with temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel. Vaughan died in Martinique in August 1795, and Picton was superseded by Major-general Knox. The new commander-in-chief, Sir [q. v.], who had known Picton's uncle, induced him to remain as an extra aide-de-camp.

The first act of the campaign was an attack upon the French in the island of St. Lucia. Seventeen hundred men, under Major-general Campbell, were landed off Longville Bay, St. Lucia, in the evening of 26 April 1796. The island was captured by 24 May, after a well-contested struggle. In the whole of the difficult operations Picton bore a distinguished part, and Abercromby recommended him for the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 56th regiment of foot; his commission was antedated from 22 June 1795.

Picton next accompanied Abercromby to the attack on the island of St. Vincent, which fell to the British on 10 June, three days after their landing. Thence he went with Abercromby to Martinique, and sailed with him in the Arethusa for England. He returned with him to Martinique near the end of January 1797, and was present at the surrender of Trinidad by the Spaniards on 17 Feb. Abercromby appointed Picton, who was proficient in Spanish, commandant and military governor, with instructions to administer Spanish law as well as he could, and do justice according to his conscience.

Picton applied himself to remedy the civil disorder and corruption prevailing in the island, but was hampered by the smallness of the force at his disposal, the garrison consisting of but five hundred effective men, of whom only three hundred were British. By making an early example of mutineers among the coloured troops, he succeeded in enforcing discipline. He established a system of police, not only in Port of Spain, but over the island. The roads, which were nearly impracticable, he made the finest in the West Indies, and he established trade with the neighbouring continent. At the end of six months he reported that perfect tranquillity prevailed throughout the colony, and that all classes of the inhabitants acknowledged the benefits of British rule. After revisiting the island in June 1797, Abercromby expressed his entire and complete approbation of Picton's administration.

In the autumn of 1797 Picton overcame an attempt at rebellion among the coloured inhabitants at the instigation of refugees who had collected on the opposite coast of Venezuela. In January 1798 he received the thanks of the king, and an intimation from Henry Dundas that his salary had been fixed at 1,200l. per annum. In the beginning of 1799, Admiral Harvey, then commanding the fleet in the West Indies, sent, in accordance with Picton's suggestions to the home government, some small cruisers to protect the trade which Picton had established with the continent. They destroyed the batteries which had been erected to intercept the traffic up some of the rivers. The governors of Caraccas and Guiana, fearful of Picton's influence, each offered a reward of twenty thousand dollars for his head. Picton wrote to each a humorous letter, regretting that his head was not better worth the amount.

While the peace of 1801 was under consideration, the Spanish inhabitants, in a letter to Picton, deprecated the transfer of the island to Spain, and it was mainly due