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Rh caused much destruction of property. Parliament in 1782 granted 80,000 for relief, but an attempt to obtain the repeal of the 4| per cent, duty was again unsuccessful. The French were regaining their ascendency in the archi pelago, and had it not been for the great naval victory won by Sir George Rodney, Barbados and the remaining British colonies might have fallen to the enemy. As the 18th century closed, the prospect of the great final struggle with France overshadowed the colonies. The Barbadians ener getically put themselves in a state of defence, and at the same time voted and privately subscribed money to assist his Majesty to carry on the war. The peace of Amiens, in 1802, relieved anxiety for a brief interval, but hostilities were soon renewed. When in 1805 Napoleon sent a squadron to the archipelago, with 4000 soldiers, the crisis put Barbados on her mettle. The French fleet was suc cessful in exacting large &quot;sums of money from adjacent colonies. Admiral Yilleneuve, too, was on his way with a still larger fleet and stronger force. But when Admiral Cochrane arrived off Barbados the safety of the island was secured. Even amid the intense excitement of these events constitutional questions were not forgotten. The governor could only establish martial law when the enemy s fleet was in sight. A premature declaration drew forth a protest from the assembly, and the controversy was only ended when the Home Government asserted the full prerogative of the Crown to impose martial law when necessary for the safety of the island. The most memorable event in 1805 was a flying visit from Lord Nelson in search of a French fleet. In October of the same year the battle of Trafalgar was won, and Bridgetown soon after had its Trafalgar Square and its Nelson statue. In 1809 an expedition sailed from Barbados, under Governor Beckwith, against the French in Martinique. After a bombardment of five days that place was taken. Twelve months later Beckwith similarly attacked Guadaloupe ; and when that island was conquered, after some hard fighting, the power of the French in the archipelago was again reduced to its lowest ebb. When the war ended in 1810 in the West Indies, the British were supreme in that region. But danger was threatened from another source. The rupture between Great Britain and the United States in 1812 caused privateering to be resumed to an extent that almost destroyed the commerce of the island, until the abdication of Napoleon and the peace with America in 1814 again brought relief to the colonies. The military history of Barbados ceased at the close of the Peninsular War. In the meantime Barbadian affairs had attracted notice in Parliament. In 1812 a motion was made in the House of Commons that the 4i per cent, duty should be applied exclusively to local purposes. A considerable amount of this revenue had been devoted to pensions to persons entirely unconnected with the colony, and it was stated in tho House of Commons that part of the money had been appropriated to the king s household in the reign of William III. Nor were the Barbadians themselves back ward in stating their grievances. In 1813 they protested against the importation of East Indian sugars into Great Britain, and also against the system of patent offices, by which non-resident officials were able to draw large sums from the island for services which they never performed. By Act of the Parliament 6 Geo. IV. c. 114, 1825, foreign com modities were admitted into the British possessions at mode rate rates of duty if the countries sending those articles would give similar privileges to British ships. As the United States refused reciprocity, the West Indian ports were closed against their vessels, and the United States retaliated by prohibiting all intercourse with British colonies. From the operation of the above-mentioned Act an important constitutional question arosa These duties, levied in tho name of the king, were to be paid into the local treasury for the uses of the colony, but the customs officers, of course appointed from home, received instructions to retain their own salaries from the revenue. This was denounced by the assembly as illegal, and after a long controversy it was agreed, in 1832, that 10 per cent, should be deducted to defray the expense of collecting the tax. Another question arose which illustrates the relations between Eng land and the colony. By an island Act of 1773, a 2s. Gd. tonnage duty was imposed, but small vessels belonging to residents were only to pay on three voyages a year. By an Act of Parliament in 1832 this exemption was abolished. The assembly protested and denied the right of Parliament to tax colonies which had representative institutions ; but Lord Stanley, in 1833, declared that this right existed, although its exercise was a matter of expediency. After the hurricane of 1831, which was perhaps the severest the island had ever experienced, causing 1591 deaths and a destruction of property estimated at more than a million and a half sterling, another urgent appeal was made for the remission of the 4½ per cent, duty, but without effect, although 100,000 was granted by Parliament in 1832 for the relief of the islands which had suffered from the visita tion ; of this sum Barbados took half. By an Act of Parlia ment passed in 1838, the 4J per cent, duty was at length removed, after having been in existence for 175 years.

But a social revolution had begun which was destined Slave to change not so much the prosperity of the colony, as the labour, conditions under which that prosperity arose. From the first settlement, of course, the one great want was labour. As the labour supply increased and became more certain the cultivation expanded, wealth was created, and the importance of the colony grew. In the early days white labour was employed, assisted by Indians obtained from other islands and the mainland of South America, but when the sugar-cane began to be cultivated, negro slaves were imported from Africa. This slave trade, mostly conducted by companies or persons in England, continued until the year 1806, when it was stopped by Act of Parlia ment. In that year there were 60,000 negroes in the island. This measure was, of course, the first step to the abolition of slavery itself. On the 1st August 1834, the great Act of Emancipation came into force, and four years of apprenticeship began. Out of the 20 millions granted for compensation, Barbados received 1,720,345, being an average payment of 20, 14s. on 83,176 slaves. In conse quence of the large population and small extent of uncul tivated land, emancipation had not in Barbados such a relaxing effect upon the industry of the negroes as it had in the more thinly-populated colonies. An efficient system of town and rural police was, however, essential. From the time of emancipation the negroes multiplied rapidly. In 1844, out of a total population of 122,198, at least 90,000 were negroes, among whom females were largely in excess. The population, notwithstanding an occasional epidemic and almost continuous emigration, has continued to increase, as the following census returns will show:—

Year. White. Coloured. Black. 1851 15,824 30,059 90,056 1861 16,594 36,128 100,005 1871 16,560 89,578 105,904 The density of the population in 1871 was therefore 966 to the square mile. The gross population at the end of 1873 was estimated at 170,000.

