Under the administration of Choiseul a fleet was equipped, which conveyed to Cayenne 15,000 per sons. Few of them possessed property, few of them were handicraftsmen or labourers, and of those, few were disposed to work, supposing the climate would have allowed Europeans to labour.
The settlers were soon visited with the dreadful fevers of the tropics ; and those who had the means of returning to Europe abandoned the country with the utmost precipitation. In the year 1763, the num bers that landed were 13,060, of these 2000 quitted it, either for France, Canada, or the West India islands; about 100 enlisted in the colonial battalion, and, at the end of the year 1765, there were only in the colony 430 persons left of the expedition ; so that more than 10,000 must have perished in the first two years. The expence of this equipment is esti. mated to have amounted to thirty-three millions of livres, the whole of which, as well as the vast num ber of human beings, was sacrificed to a plan in which the splendid rather than the useful was con sidered, though it was sketched by the celebrated Turgot, and some other of the eminent economists of France. From the period of this disastrous at tempt the colony continued to languish till the Ame rican war broke out, when the predatory cruisers, both French and Americans, carried in several valu able prizes ; many negro slaves were by these cap tures conveyed to the settlement, and this enabled the planters to extend their cultivation, so that, at the peace of 1783, the colony was in a more thriving condition than it had been at any former period, and it continued to increase in prosperity. The Revolu tion of France extended its calamities to this colony in a very early stage of its progress. As the rumour of the intendedemancipationof all the negroes-reach ed Cayenne, before the absurd decree was passed in the Convention,, the richer proprietors, frightened by the menaces of the slaves, lied from, the colony ;. and the popular assembly, consisting principally of mem of colour, proclaimed them emigrants, and decreed the forfeiture of their estates. When the decree was received and promulgated at Cayenne, the 'blacks supposed that their labour was at an end, and that, on the principles of equality, the whites, in their turn, should now be compelled to work for the ma jority. The whites from the various plantations fled
for security to the capital, where the troops were so factious that they could scarcely obtain protection. The miserable slaves in the plantations soon found this boon of freedom to be the severest punishment that could be inflicted. Cultivation became neglected, provisions, in consequence, were scarce, and a short period produced a want of even the commonest ali ments. Regulations for fixing the prices of labour were in vain established, for those who could pay their labourers had fled from the country. Though modifications of this absurd decree were afterwards made, they could not produce the former abundance of provisions, and, during the whole period of the war, scarcity continued to be experienced. During the agitations in France, several of the leaders of the unsuccessful factions were banished to this co lony, by the decrees of their triumphant opponents. They were not an order of men who were likely to benefit the settlement, and many of them died from the effects of the climate, many from chagrin, and the few survivors who returned to Europe had ex perienced the most severe and mortifying hardships. As the military force had been neglected, the small body stationed at Cayenne very readily submitted to the Portuguese armament. When it was restored to the King of France, the number of white inhabit ants did not exceed 1300, whilst the black and. mixed races, including those of Indian origin, amounted together to between 10,000 and 11,000.. Many negroes have been since introduced, from Africa and the other French settlements, and though no accurate returns have been made, the whole population has been recently calculated at 14,000. As the government of France has abolish ed the slave trade by a formal law, if that abomin. able traffic should be continued, it must be so cramped, that there is no probability of Cayenne re ceiving any great addition to its population from the continent of Africa ; and as the number of male is greater than that of females,.natural increase can not take place till the sexes approach to an equa lity in numbers.