Page:Substance of the speech of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, in the House of Lords.djvu/10

 Robert Rich and others. In 1631, Charles I. granted another; but the troubles opened the trade till 1660.

The dreadful events of the Civil War, during the latter part of the reign of the unfortunate Charles, and the capture of the Island of Jamaica, during the Protectorate of Cromwell, are historical facts well known to your Lordships. But even these calamities did not annihilate the trade. Upon the capture of Jamaica, Cromwell promised to send a supply of Africans; and highly requisite indeed it was, for the British settlers would not undertake to cultivate the lands in Jamaica, unless encouraged and protected by this promise of the Usurper. To confirm the settlers in their opinion of that necessity, those of Barbadoes had, by fatal experience, ascertained the impossibility of carrying on labour in tropical climates by Whites. In 1662, Charles II. granted a new charter to the African Company; his brother, the Duke