Welsh Journals

Spain still held the major share of possessions in the New World, Cuba, Saint Domingo and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, the South American continent and Central America, but she had been unable to keep the European powers out of the New World. By the seventeenth century Portugal had claimed Brazil, France had won Haiti, Guadeloupe and Martinique (and Canada until 1763) and had constant battle with Britain for the islands, for example St. Kitts. The Dutch in spite of their very important carrying trade, held only the tiny offshore islands of Aruba, Curacao and Surinam. Britain in addition to her North American colonies, held the larger share of Caribbean islands, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, most of the Leewards, and, by 1763, most of the Windwards. Britain, France and Holland held lands on the mainland of South America (present day Guyana and Honduras). The eighteenth century in particular had witnessed a series of dynastic wars between Britain, France and Spain, and several of the islands were to change hands several times, giving West India planter life a marked degree of instability. The Senior Letters refer to 'the new islands' and 'the ceded islands', islands in the Wind- ward group which had changed hands, and the disturbances caused by the American Revolution were extensive, islands once again changing hands as the three major European parties struggled, only Admiral Rodney's victory at the Saints in 1782 saving her Caribbean possessions for Britain. Wars were not alone responsible for instability, however. Almost as bad were fears of slave insurrections, for planter society in the West Indies was founded on slave labour. The slaves came almost entirely from West Africa and those who survived the Middle Passage, the Atlantic crossing, were sold at auction on arrival in the West Indies. The treatment accorded them was almost universally hard, and many died in the first year of 'seasoning' before becoming 'Creolised'. Those who survived were usually regarded as potential threats to the life of the master and his household, the great fear being not only of an uprising but of an attack by fugitives, runaway slaves who had taken refuge in the hills and as 'Maroons' were feared for their surprise raids. Trials by war and slave attacks not surprisingly induced many planters to become absentee. Relatively few were permanently domiciled in the British West Indies, most having homes in Britain. The Seniors lived in London, and Nathaniel Phillips was to buy the beautiful Slebech estate for himself in Pembrokeshire. The profits of planting (mostly sugar, but as the Senior papers reveal coffee also had a market) were large, and the 'gold rush' to the islands was remarkable. Even the tiny Windward Islands experienced a boom (as the Senior letters indicate), whilst not surprisingly, larger islands like Barbados and Jamaica were legendary for their wealth, even marginal land (and Nathaniel Phillips's land was fairly marginal) was pressed into use. The Dominican estate of the Seniors, on the other hand, had a great appeal because of its relatively new soil. Not surprisingly West India planters were famous for their great wealth. Few, as has been mentioned, resided permanently in the islands, but some did, forming an island aristocracy, the Duke family of Barbados being an example of this. Nathaniel Phillips's father,