Early English Jamaica

Trade, Plunder, and Economic Development in Early English Jamaica, 1655-89 Author(s): Nuala Zahedieh Source: The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 39, No. 2 (May, 1986), pp. 205-222 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Economic History Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2596150 . Accessed: 04/12/2013 16:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

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EconomicHistoryReview, 2nd ser. XXXIX, 2 (I986),

Trade, Plunder, Development in Jamaica,

and Early

pp. 205-222

Economic

English

I655-89

By NUALA ZAHEDIEH dam Smith concluded The Wealth of Nations with a fierce attack on the value of empire, "not a gold mine, but the project of a gold mine: a project which has cost . . . immense expense without being likely to bring any profit."' Smith focused his attention on the West Indian colonies, which contemporaries widely considered to be the most valuable part of the empire. He claimed that from the introduction of the Navigation Acts the stock which had improved and cultivated the sugar colonies had been sent out of England, for "[their] prosperity has been, in a great measure, owing to the great riches of England, of which a part has overflowed, if one may say so, upon those colonies."2 He added that this investment represented a diversion of resources away from what would have been more profitable employment at home. Furthermore, colonization imposed high costs which offset an additional part of any gains: the costs of preferences on sugar borne by the British consumer and the costs of administration and defence of empire borne by the British taxpayer. Whilst the individual return for many planters and merchants was high, the social rate of return for Britons at large was low or even negative.3 Smith's assertions have provoked discussion in the last 200 years. However, this has tended to focus on the latter'parts of the argument. Little thought has been given to the initial assertion about where the capital for colonization came from and most commentators implicitly assume that it did, as Smith claimed, flow from the mother country.4 This paper examines his assertion in A

p. 587. "When,by the act of navigation,Englandassumedto herselfthe monopolyof the colonytrade,the foreigncapitalswhich had beforebeen employedin it were necessarilywithdrawnfromit. The English capitalwhichhad beforecarriedon but a partof it was now to carryon the whole . .. [priorto this] the island of Jamaicawas an unwholesomedesart, little inhabitedand less cultivated."Smith contrasted Frenchand Englishcolonialdevelopmentin the West Indies. "The stock, it is to be observedwhichhas improvedthe sugarcoloniesof France... has beenraisedalmostentirelyfromthe gradualimprovement and cultivationof those colonies. .. But the stockwhichhas improvedand cultivatedthe sugarcolonies of Englandhas, a greatpartof it, been sent out fromEngland,and has by no meansbeen altogetherthe produceof the soil and industryof the colonists."Ibid. pp. i87, 197, 199. 3 Smithexpandshis views on the financingof the coloniesin the sections"Causesof the prosperityof new colonies"and "Of the AdvantageswhichEuropehas derivedfromthe discoveryof America."Ibid. 1 AdamSmith,An InquiryintotheNatureand Causesof the Wealthof Nations(1776), II,

2

pp. 157-256.

4 R. P. Thomas,'The SugarColoniesof the Old Empire:Profitor Loss for GreatBritain,'Economic HistoryReview,2nd ser. xxi (i968), pp. 30-45;P. R. P. Coelho,'The Profitabilityof Imperialism:The in Economic History,x (1973), pp. 253-80. BritishExperiencein the West Indies, 1768-1772,' Explorations SheridanpresentsthecounterargumentthattheWestIndiesyieldedaneconomicsurpluswhichcontributed to the growthof the metropolitaneconomy. R. Sheridan,'The Wealthof Jamaicain the Eighteenth Century,'Econ. Hist. Rev. 2nd ser. xviii (i965), pp. 293-311; idem, 'The Wealthof Jamaicain the EighteenthCentury:A Rejoinder,'ibid. xxi (i968), pp. 46-6i. Also see, F. W. Pitman,TheDevelopment of theBritishWestIndies, 700-63 (New Haven,Conn. 1971), pp. 334-60;EricWilliams,Capitalismand Slavery(ChapelHill, N. Carolina,1944), pp. 209-12.

205

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206

NUALA

ZAHEDIEH

the light of the funding of what was to be England's richest sugar colony, Jamaica, and concludes by discarding it. It shows how the capital for planting Jamaicawas locally generated and, furthermore, that this capital once earned, could not easily have been more profitably employed in the mother country. Debate about "profit and loss" has focused on the West Indian islands because they most nearly approached the contemporary colonial ideal. The Caribbean colonies stimulated the expansion of long distance trade, "to the benefit of navigation"; they had no manufacturing industries of their own and so imported goods from England; above all, they "cultivated a plentiful soil, productive of commodities not to be had elsewhere".5 They produced tobacco, cocoa, indigo, ginger, dyeing woods and, most important, sugar. Sugarquickly became England's leading colonial import and, from its first arrival on the market in the i640s, yielded a far higher and steadier profit than any other American cash crop.6 Sugar gave rise to levels of wealth and conspicuous consumption which bolstered the image of the Indies as a source of fabulous riches-the land of El Dorado. There is no one commoditythat doth so much encouragenavigationadvancethe King's customsand our land and is at the same time of so greata universaluse, virtueand advantageas this king of sweets.7 Jamaica was England's leading sugar exporter for most of the eighteenth century and in the I770S surpassed all the other English islands combined. Production more than quadrupled between the I720S and the I770s and aggregate levels of capital investment must have increased in similar measure.8 However, as contemporary planters remarked, "a plantation once made may be improved to as much as one will only by its own produce".9 Once the sugar industry was established the plough-back of profits meant that expansion could be self-financing.10 This paper looks at the early period when the first English settlers faced the daunting task of amassing the resources to get sugar planting underway-to clear the land; build roads, houses, forts, harbours; support the labour force until the first crops appeared. This was the period when the colonists' need for outside assistance was apparently at its height. I Jamaica was seized by the English in i655 and was their last Caribbean acquisition in the seventeenth century. The settlers were sparedthe experimental phase passed through in earlier colonies in which pioneers searched for 5The southerncolonieswerehighlyvaluedby contrastwith the 'Northwardparts'whichwereseen as veryinjuriousto the mothercountry."TheNorthwardpartshavedrainedus mostof peopleandyet yield commoditiesof little value":CharlesD'Avenant.'On the PlantationTrade'(I698), in ThePoliticaland Commercial Worksof CharlesD'Avenant,ed. C. Whitworth(177i), II, p. 20. SeealsoJosiahChild,A New Discourseof Trade(I692), pp. 204-6;JohnCary,An Essayon theStateof Englandin Relationto its Trade (Bristol,I695), pp. 68-70, 204-205. 6 R. Davis, 'EnglishForeignTrade, I660-1700,' Econ.Hist.Rev. 2nd ser. VII(1954),pp. 150-66;idem, 'EnglishForeignTrade, 1700-1774,' ibid. xv (i962), pp. 285-303; R. Dunn, SugarandSlaves (Chapel Hill, N. Carolina,1972), p. i88. 7 Thomas Tryon, Tryon'sLetters,Domestick and Foreignto SeveralPersonsof QualityOccasionally Distributed in Subjects(1700), p. 221. 8 R. Sheridan,SugarandSlavery:An Economic Historyof theBritishWestIndies,i623-I775 (Barbados, 1974), pp. 487-9.

9 B. L. Add. MS 11410, fo. 527, Sir ThomasLynchto LordCornbury,29 Marchi671. 10RobertNash claims that the growingindebtednessof the West Indies afterthe 1730s came from financingconspicuousconsumptionamongstthe plantersratherthanfinancingthe sugarindustry.R. Nash,

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TRADE,

AND DEVELOPMENT

PLUNDER,

207

IN JAMAICA

profitablecash crops and ways to man the fields. Already Barbadoshad demonstratedthe potentialprofitsof tropicalagriculturewith a firmlyestablished sugar and slave economy. This island, lauded as "one of the richest spots of ground in the wordell""1provideda model for Jamaicawhich her Englishmasterssuccessfullyemulatedby the earlyeighteenthcentury.This achievementwasimpressive.The Englishconquerorshadinheritedlittle from the Spaniards,who had scarcelysettled or plantedthe island;'2Jamaicahad only seven sugar works in i655 producingnegligible quantities.'3In the first decade progresswas slow and in i67I there were still only 57 sugar plantations.14 Clearlymany were as yet in their infancy, as legal exports were only about i,ooo hogsheads(containingi,ooo lbs. each) per annum.15 Thereafter,progressaccelerated.A map of i685 shows that Jamaicahad 246 sugar plantations.16By i689 Jamaicansugar productionwas over I2,000 hogsheadsper year and was approachingthe Barbadianlevel of I5,000 to disruption; 20,000 hogsheads(Table I). The Frenchwarscausedconsiderable progresswas temporarilyhalted. However,it was resumedafter the Treaty Table I. J7amaica'sAgriculturalExports Accordingto the Naval Officer, I67i-I678 Sugar (hhds.) i671 (6 i672 i673 i674

months)

585 i,I69 i,I69 I,I69

Indigo (hhds.)

and I682-I689 Cocoa (hhds.)

Hides

Cotton (bags)

32

8

i,6i6

460

64 64 64 II8 ii8 II8

i6 i6 i6 6 6 6

3,232 3,232 3,232

920 920 920

90

26

Ii,865 1,937 1,309

623 5o6 651

430

I676 I677

2,512 2,512 2,512

I678

5,I65

I682 I683

io,66i 9,533

-

-

22,535 I6,107

i686

12,855

-

7,462

I687

ii,i86

-

-

8,468

i688

12,129

-

-

842

1,505 1,296 648

I689

11,574

-

-

576

903

I675

Sources: I671-I678,

Logwood (tons)

4,931 4,931

430 430

4,931

554

P.R.O. CO 1/43, fo. 59. Given as aggregates, from June I67I-I674,

5o6 1,079 1,132

I675-I677,

and

P.R.O. CO 142/13. Thesefiguresaretakenfromthe NavalOfficer'sreturnswhichwere kept to ensurecompliancewith the NavigationActs. Thus, they includeonly legalexportsto Englandor Englishcolonies.It is evidentfrom merchants'papersthat illegalexportssent directlyto Europeor via the Dutch entrepotat Curaqaowerevery considerablealso. The tableexcludesindigoand cocoaexports in the i68os as thereis no standardunit of measurementin the records. I678: I682-I689,

Trade, i660-1730: A QuantitativeStudy'(unpublishedPh.D. thesis, Universityof 'EnglishTransatlantic Cambridge,i982), pp. 31-51. 11 B. L. Sloane MS 3926, fo. 8, 'Henry Whistler's Journal.'

F. Cundalland J. Pietersz,JamaicaUndertheSpaniards(Kingston,Jamaica, 91i9). i655,' in C. H. Firth, ed. TheNarrativeof GeneralVenables(I9oo), p. 139. 14 B. L. MapK123 (44), 'NovissimaandAccuratissima JamaicaeDescriptioperJohannumOgilivium,' 12

13 'LettersConcerningthe EnglishExpeditioninto the SpanishWest Indiesin

I671.

15 P.R.O. CO 1/43, fo. 59, 'An Accomptof whatPassengers,Servantsand Slaveshas been broughtto this Islandwith accountof what goods hath been exportedfrom 25 Januaryi671 to 25 March 1679'

(hereafter 'Account of what . . . brought to this Island'). 16 B.L. Map 80710 (17), 'A New Map of the Islandof Jamaica,'i685.

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208

NUALA

ZAHEDIEH

of Utrecht in I7I3, after which Jamaicaquickly becameEngland'sleading sugar producer.17 The Barbadianmodel for agriculturaldevelopmentwas expensive.A sugar plantation,with its combinationof industrialand agriculturaloperations, requireda very large-scalecapitalinvestmentby seventeenth-centurystandards. The costs of raisinga workingplantationof ioo acresare laid out in Table 2a. CapitalCostof Raisinga Plantationof i00 Acres in Jamaica, i690 ?

s.

d.

blacksat averageinventoriedvalueof ?i6 12S. 7 white servantsat averageinventoriedvalueof ?12 for 4 years'service

830

0

0

84

3 artists which are paid wages

-

0 -

0 -

25

0 12

0 0

-

-

50

5 horsesat averageinventoriedvalueof ?5 8 bullocksat averageinventoriedvalueof ?2 4s. Purchase of uncleared land

Costsof land clearance-3 yearsworkingchargeson the plantationas shownin Table 2b. Stills, mills, coppers,etc.; clothes, tools, provisions Interestat 8%p.a. on capitalinvestmentfor first 3 years

17 -

988 I,ooo

674 3,620

i9

0

0

0

19

10

10

10

Table 2b. AnnualChargesIncurredon the Same Plantation Wagesfor 3 artistsat 30 shillingsper month Wearand tearon tools, accordingto Thomas Clothesand provisions,accordingto Thomas Replacement at io% p.a. of Slaves

Servants Livestock

? 54 6o

s.

d

0 0

0 0

120

0

0

83

0

0

8 4

8 5

0 0

329

13

0

Sources:Dalby Thomas,An HistoricalAccountof theRise andGrowthof theWestIndiaColonies(i690), pp. 14-i5; JamaicaArchives,SpanishTown, InventoriesiB/i 1/3, iII; Lynchto LordCornbury,29 March i672, B.L. Add. MS 11410 fos. 525-33; Somerset Record Office, Taunton, Helyar MSS, DD/WHh 1o8990, 115i Addenda Papers 12.

Tables2a and 2b which are basedon a computationmadeby Dalby Thomas in i690.18 However,as Thomaswas pleadingthe casefor a reductionin sugar duties he wantedto show that planters'profitswere being squeezedand it is assumedhe weighted the evidence accordingly.Where possible, his values have been replaced by figures taken from Jamaicaninventoriesand trade papersof the same period. The resultingcalculationthat it requiredalmost ?4,000 to raise a working plantationis borne out by other contemporary comments.19

A planter who made an investmentof ?3,620 could eventuallyexpect a reasonablereturneven when Jamaicansugarpriceswere at theirlowest as in 17 18

Sheridan,SugarandSlavery,pp. 487-9. Dalby Thomas,An HistoricalAccountof theRise and Growthof the WestIndia Colonies(i690), pp.

14-15.

19 B.L. Add. MS 11410, fo. 532, Lynch to Cornbury, 29 March i672.

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TRADE,

PLUNDER,

AND DEVELOPMENT

209

IN JAMAICA

i688 (Table 3). The annualanticipatedoutput of 8o hogsheadsof sugarand wouldproducea turnover 28 hogsheadsof molasseson Thomas'splantation20 Table 3. Returnson a SugarPlantation,i688 ? a) Capitalinvestment(Table2a) Annualcharges(Table2b) Averagepriceper hogsheadof sugarand molassesin Jamaica Annualturnover Capitalappreciationin valueof clearedland at 8%p.a. Annualproduction

b) Net income (without interest on capital) Net income + 8% capital appreciation in land value (without interest on capital) Net income (with 8% interest on capital) Net income + 8% capital appreciation in land value (with 8% interest on capital)

3,620

s. 10

d. 10

329

I3

0

IO 0

0 0

6 702

0 0 79 8ohh. sugarand 28 hh. molasses

d.

Per cent of capital investment

? 372

s. 7

45I 82

7 I4

6i

I4

0

4.46

0

IO-28

0

I2.46

0

2-28

of about?702 per annumin i688; a net income of ?372 7S. (I0.28 per cent) if no interestis chargedon the capital;a net incomeof ?82 I4s. (2.28 per cent) if interestis chargedat 8 per cent, a typicallevel in Jamaicaat this time.21 The ratesof returnwould be substantiallygreaterat I2.46 per cent and 4.46 per cent respectivelyif allowanceis made for a capitalappreciationin land valuesat much the samelevel as the interestrateof 8 per cent. However,the plantercould not expect to see any visible returnfor at least threeyearsafter he madethe initialinvestment.A sugarplanterneedednot only plentifulcash resourcesto invest, but also had to be in a positionto defer gratificationfor severalyears. As GovernorThomasLynch remarked,"plantingis a work of time, it requires vast expense . . . wherefore who will plant, must (like the

buildersin the Gospel)taketheirmeasuresbeforehand,andfurnishthemselves with money and patience."22 Clearlyit needed a large-scalecapital investment to establish Jamaican agriculturein the seventeenthcentury.Whilst it is not possibleto calculate the aggregatesum with precisionthe precedingcalculationsdo suggestvarious indicators.They show that it cost ?45 5s. to produceone hogsheadof sugar per yearin good conditions.This indicatesthattherehad been an investment of ?540,330 5s. in order to produce the island's annual averagerecorded 20 Thomasexpectedone acreto yield one hogsheadper annum.Thomas,Historical Account,pp. I4-I5. However,the yield of sugarper acrevariedwidelyaccordingto site conditionsandlevelsof management. One writergave the followinginformationabout classesof yields of muscovado:for plant cane, 3,200 poundsper acre, "uncommonlygreat";2,400 poundsper acre,"I0 per cent of all estates";i,6oo pounds peracre,"maybe a savingaverage";forratoonsi,6oo poundsperacre,"veryfew";I,200 poundsperacre, "good";800 poundsperacre,"abovethe commonmedium".Anonymous,RemarksUpona Book,Entitled, ThePresentStateof theSugarColoniesConsidered (I73). 21 InterestratesusuallyexceededEnglishlevelsin the Caribbean. andJews: S. A. Fortune,Merchants TheStrugglefor BritishWestIndianCommerce, i6So-i750 (Gainesville,Florida,i984), p. i55. At times they soared.Sir JamesModyford'stransactionsin i668 reveal"thebareinterestof this place"was i6 per cent. By courtesyof the Dean and Chapterof Westminster,WestminsterAbbeyMuniments(hereafter W.A.M.), II92I, Sir JamesModyfordto Sir AndrewKing, 4 Nov. i668. 22 B.L. Add. MS II4I0, fo. 532, Lynchto Cornbury,29 Marchi672.

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NUALA

2I0

ZAHEDIEH

exportsof I I,94i hogsheadsbetweeni686 and i689. If allowanceis madefor illegal exports, which were reported to be considerable,23and the many misfortuneswhich could befall a plantation,the investmentmust have been far greater. The main cost of sugarplantingwas labour. One acre in canes produced one hogsheadof sugarper year in good conditionsand requiredone man to Table 4. Labour Requirementsof Sugar Plantation Described by Dalby Thomas, i690 Plantation size

ioo acres

Numberof slaves

50

Area in cane

8o acres

(areaharvestedannually) Slavesper acreharvested Annualproductionof muscovado Annualproductionof muscovadoper slave

40

acres

I-2

8o hogsheads(of i,000 i,6oo lbs.

lbs.)

Source:Dalby Thomas,An HistoricalAccountof theRise andGrowthof the WestIndiaColonies(i690), pp.

I4-I5.

cultivateit (Table4). Survivinginventoriesconfirmthe literaryevidencethat, despiteconcernabout securityrisks, Jamaicanplantingwas largelybasedon black slave labourfrom the first. They reveala servantto slave ratioof i to 24

in i674-i675

and i to 54 in i686-i696 (Table 5). This acquistion of a large

slave labour force requireda substantialoutlay and provides yet another indicationof the scale of the capitalresourcesrequiredto establishJamaica's plantationeconomy. By i689 the island's 5,000 or so whites owned about 25,000

slaves (Table 6). The inventories surviving for the period i686 to i689

give an averagevalueof ?i6 M2s.for a slaveso that the blacklabourforcewas worthat least ?4I5,ooo. But, the plantersneededto spendperhapstwice this sum to acquiretheir 25,000 slavesas very high mortalityratesand desertion caused substantialwastage. Assuming a mortalityrate of i0 per cent per annum(as in the estimatesin Table6), planterswouldhavehadto buy 30,000 slaves between i68o and i689 to increasethe total from 2I,500 to 25,000. This representsan investmentof ?498,ooo in that decade alone, an annual outlay of ?49,800.

II Did this large capitalinvestmentmade in Jamaicanagricultureflow from the mothercountryas AdamSmithsuggested?The mannerin which Jamaica was acquiredhad a considerablebearing on this question. Unlike earlier colonial projects Jamaicansettlement was not initiated by a joint stock company or lords proprietors, who might have provided the first capital.24

The Jamaicanprojectwas backed by the state, but more by accidentthan design. The island was a consolationprize acquiredin what was little more 23 The frequentcontemporary assertionsthatthe Navigationlawswerewidelyignoredby the Jamaicans areconfirmedby evidencein merchants'papers.P.R.O. C II0/I52, ChanceryMastersExhibits,Brailsford v. peers(hereafterBrailsfordpapers),Halls to Brailsford,25 Sept. i688, 20 Sept. i689. 24 R. Pares,Merchantsand Planters (Cambridge, i960), pp. I-I4.

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TRADE,

AND DEVELOPMENT

PLUNDER,

IN JAMAICA

2II

Table 5. Number of Servants and Slaves on Jamaican Plantations, I674-5 and I686-96 Number of servants i674-i675

I

0

3

2

4

5

6

7

8

9

I0

-

Total

Number of

plantationswith 0- Islaves II2I-

20

50 5I-I00 0I +

Numberof plantations Numberof slaves Number of slaves per

plantation

25

2

I

8 8 I

I

I 3

-

-

I

-

-

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

I I

-

-

-

-

-

-

2

-

-

_ I -

_ -

_ -

-

-

I

-

_

-

-

I

43

5

5

4

-

I

-

_

I

_

I

7i8

85

83

i65

-

55

-

-

44

-

6o

I7

I7

I7

4I

-

55

-

-

44

-

6o

20

I7

8

I4

-

II

-

-

5.5

-

6

24

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

I0

II

Total

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

57

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

_ -

_ -

-

-

-

36 3I

-

-

-

-

-

-

_

_

I

I

I5I

Slave to servant ratio

6o I,2IO

Number of servants I686-I696

Numberof plantationswith o- io slaves II- 20 2I- 50 50-IO0 0I +

Number of plantations Number of slaves Number of

I

0

52

5

29 26 I2

6

4 I23

I I

2 I

I4

2,856 266

2 I

3 5 259

2

-

3 II2

2

I

22

I

5

2

-

i84

-

i6i

-

-

-

64

io6

4,oo8

-

8i

-

_

_

64

io6

27

-

I3

-

_

_

6

II

54

2

slavesper plantation

23

I9

52

37

92

I9

26

I2

23

Slaveto servant ratio

Source: Inventories, Jamaica Archives, Inv. iB/II/3,

I

and III

than a state-sponsoredbuccaneeringraid on the SpanishIndies;25a venture conceivedwith the intentionof makinga large, immediateprofitin Spanish treasure,not a long-term investment in agriculture.26England did retain Jamaicabut neither Cromwell,nor his successors,felt disposed to spend moneyon it. Land was reservedfor the state, but it was neverdevelopedand was finally abandoned in i678.27

Otheroutsideinterestswere equallyreluctantto makea directinvestment in Jamaicanagriculture.This is not very surprising.The dramaticprofitsof 25Cromwellhad no provocationfor his attackwhichwas launchedwhile Spainwas tryingto negotiate an alliancewith England. A. MacFayden,'Anglo-SpanishRelations, i625-i66o', (unpublishedPh.D thesis, University of Liverpool, i967), pp. 56-65. 26 B.L. Add. MS I I4I0, fos. 6i-8o, 'A Copieof the OriginalDesignuponwhichCromwell sett out the

fleetfor the takingof the islandof Hispaniola'. 27 P.R.O. CO I38/3, fo. 482, Carlisleto RobertSouthwell,ii July i68i.

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2I2

NUALA

ZAHEDIEH

Table 6. The Population of Jamaica, 1662-i689 i662

i670

i673

i68o

White men women children

2,458 454 448

3,000

4,050 2,oo6

c.4,000

I,200

I,7I2

Total whites Privateers Negroes

3,360 I,500 514

4,200 I,500-2,000

2,500

i689

7,768

c.5,600

I,500 9,504

I,200

I,200

2I,500

25,000

Sources: i662: P.R.O. CO I/I5, fo. I92. i670: Ibid., CO I/25, fo. 5. i673: Journalsof House of Assemblyof Jamaica,i663-i826 (Jamaica,i8iI-29),

I, pp.

c.4,600

20,

28.

There is no head count availablefor i68o or i689. Figuresfor i68o based on the Naval Officer's informationon arrivals,i673-i679. The figurefor blackswas doubledto allowfor illegaldeliveries;both figureswere adjustedto allowfor a mortalityrateof io% p.a. P.R.O. CO I/43, fo. 59. i689: Figurefor whites basedon annualaveragearrivalscalculatedfromthe Naval Officer'sReturns, i686-i688. The figurefor blacksis basedon the RoyalAfricanCompany'sdeliveriesi680-i689, doubled to allowfor illegaldeliveriesand then reducedby 25%to allowfor sales to the Spaniards.Both figures were adjusted to allow for a mortality rate of io% p.a. P.R.O. CO I42/I3; T 70/IO, I2, i5, i6; T 70/938944. The mortalityrateis basedon planters'expectationsin the i68os. For example,BodleianLibrary, Oxford,MS Rawl. A348, fo. 4, "Affairsand instructionsfor the careof a plantation". The figurefor slavesis broadlyconfirmedby the followingcheck. Mapof i685 shows690 plantations; averagenumberof slavesper plantationin inventories,I684-I694is 27. This givestotalsof I8,630 slaves. In additiontherewas an estimatedi,500 slavesin Port Royaland SpanishTown. Total ig,630 slaves. The trendsarealsoconfirmedby literaryevidence.Contemporaries remarkedthatthe whitepopulation barelymaintaineditselfin the I670S anddeclinedin the i68os. Meanwhile,the blackpopulationincreased rapidly.P.R.O. CO I38/3 fo. 332, Carlisleto Coventry,i5 Sept. I679; Instituteof Jamaica,Kingston, MS I59, fo. 63. The Stateof JamaicaUnderLord Vaughan;P.R.O. CO I38/7, fo. I29, Presidentand Councilto Committee,Sept. 28, I692; P.R.O. CO I38/9, fo. I4, Some Considerations Relatingto the Islandof Jamaica,Oct. i696.

the early sugardays in Barbadoswere over. The returnsnow looked far less tempting. Production had outstrippeddemand, and the English price of muscovadofell by 6o per cent from about40 shillingsper hundredweightin i66o to a low point of i6 shillingsper hundredweightin i686/i687.28 It was still possible to make a handsomeprofitfrom a sugarplantation,even when priceswere at bottom, as shownin Table 3. However,these profitsdepended on close, carefulsupervisionof the estateas manyan unhappyabsenteeowner discovered.One such was WilliamHelyar, an English squirewho inherited a Jamaicansugarplantationfromhis brotherin I672. Underthe management of irresponsibleand corruptoverseersthe estateneveryieldeda penny profit exceptwhen the squire'sown son took briefcontrolin the i68os.29As Lynch remarked"servants,attorneys,etc. are apt to dye or remove,and this ayre I think disposespeople more to covetnousnessyn yt of Europe. . . those that are absent can do nothing, but loose all".30Absentee investmentin sugar plantingwas a very risky and generallyunattractiveproposition. The pattern of land ownershipwas reflectedin a survey of Jamaicaof I670. This shows that a total of almost 2IO,OOOacres had been patented.31 28 J. R. Ward,'The Profitability of SugarPlantingin the BritishWest Indies, i650-i834', Econ.Hist. Rev. 2nd ser. XXXI(I978), pp. I97-2I3; Dunn, SugarandSlaves, p. 205; Sheridan, SugarandSlavery, pp. 496-7. 29 Somerset RecordOffice,Taunton(hereafterS.R.O.), HelyarMSS,DD/WHhio89-90, I I5I Addenda PapersI2. 30

B.L. Add. MS

31

P.R.O. CO I38/I fos. 6i-8o, 'Surveyof Jamaica,'i670.

II4IO,

fo. 532, Lynch to Cornbury, 29 March i672.

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TRADE,

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AND DEVELOPMENT

IN JAMAICA

2I3

Contemporariesobserved that those aiming to produce cash crops would usuallypatentover I ,000 acres. There was only one absenteeamongstthe I3 men with tractslargerthan 2,000 acres;Lord Clarendonwhose portionwas totally uncultivated.The 34 patenteeswith between iooo and 2,000 acres revealeda similarpattern.Of the 26 who couldbe identified,25 wereresidents. Therewas only one absentee,JosiahChilde,who patentedlandin partnership with SamuelBache, a Port Royalmerchant.Clearlythe groupof 47 men who possessedover iooo acres(an aggregateof 80,386 acres, or 42.5 per cent of the total patentedby i670) were overwhelminglyJamaicanresidents.There was no similarsurveyat the end of the period, but it is clearthat the pattern of land ownershipchanged little. The file of Land Patents in the Jamaica Archivesshowsthat at least 74 out of the 88 personswho patentedover2,000 acresin the seventeenthcenturywere residents.A sampleof conveyancesin the Island Record Office in Spanish Town indicates that sales were also overwhelminglyamong residents. Outside interests were almost as wary of making an indirect as a direct investmentin earlyJamaicanplanting.The inventoriesanddeedsin the Island RecordOfficeshow that it was unusualfor plantersto owe moneyoutsidethe island. Meanwhile, there was an active internal credit market. The one importantoutsidecreditorwas the RoyalAfricanCompany.The totalamount owed to it in Jamaicarose from?56,583 in i683 to about?iooooo in i689.32 Almosthalfof this was short-termcreditgivento planters.Partwasinterest.33 However,even the total sum representsthe value of only 5,422 slavesat the averageinventoriedvalueof ?I6 I2S. or aboutIOpercent of the totalnumbers deliveredto the island. Unwillingnessin England to become too heavily involved in the risky business of funding a distant colonial venture is reflectedin the dispersed natureof Jamaicantrade.The Londonportbooksindicatethata largenumber of individualswere involvedin tradewith the island, mainlyin a smallway. Between 29 December i685 and 30 June i686, 298 merchants imported goods

from Jamaicain 30 ships. Of these, only 62 people had goods on more than one ship, and only 20 had goods on three or more ships.34These mainly small-scaleadventurersmight have felt able to extendshort-termtradecredit to theirJamaicancustomersbut few wishedto makethe large,and frequently risky, long-terminvestmentnecessaryto get Jamaicanplantingunder way. III It is clear that it was largelyleft to the early Jamaicanresidentsto make what they could of the island'sagriculturalpotential.Outsidersplayedlittle part. How did the first colonists accumulatethe necessaryresources?Very few arrivedwith sufficientcapitalto developa plantation.Therewas no largescaletransferof capital(see numberof slavesbroughtfromthe othercolonies, 32

P.R.O. T

70/i6,

fo.

52;

P.R.O. CO 138/6, fo. 227, 'Petitionof RoyalAfricanCompany,'15 July

i689. 33 Interestchargeswerehigh. "The companywith theirown chapmen... takingtwentyper cent the firstsix monthsand fifteenafter."P.R.O. CO i38/3, fo. 479, 'Paperpresentedby Plantersof Jamaicato

- Lords of Trade', i68o. 34 P.R.O. E 190/143/I, LondonOverseasImportsby Denizens, i686.

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Table 7. Migration to Jamaica from Other Colonies, I1671-8 and I686-9 Whites

Blacks

I671-4

793

1,491

i675-7 I678

989

1,585 95

92

Total Annualaverage I686

I,874

i687

90 49

i688 I689

46 0

i85

Total

Annualaverage Sources: P.R.O. CO 1/43, fo. 59; CO

3,171

296

46

396 82 2i6 109

86

493 123

142/13.

Table 7) and expertise from the smallerislands, despite their complaints about land shortageand soil exhaustion.35The conqueringexpeditiondid recruit4,000 men (mainly indenturedservants)in the Caribbean,but few survivedeven the first yearof settlement.Afterthis, West Indiansdisplayed a markedreluctanceto transferto Jamaica(Table7). Sugarprobablydid not seemto offerrichenoughrewardsin this periodto offsetthe storiesof disease, death and generalgloom which circulatedfrom Jamaica.Some plantersof substancemade the move-Luke Stokes, Sir Thomas Modyford,who was appointedgovernorin i664, the two groupsof settlersfrom Surinamin the i670s; but they were few and far between. It was often remarkedthat those who did transferto Jamaicawere usually the "loosersorts" who went "in hopes of plunder"-not to plant.36 Settlerswho arrivedfrom the mothercountryalso came to the Indies in expectationof makinga fortuneonce there:very few broughtone with them. Thosewhomthe diarist,JohnTaylor,listedas the island's"chiefandprincipal gentlemenand planters"in i688 were "for the most part (thoughnow rich) formerlyrude and of meanbirth, men of theirwits, whichhavehere advanct their fortune."37They were youngersons like HenderMolesworthor Cary Helyar;juniorofficerslike ThomasLynch;smalltraderslike PeterBeckford; craftsmenlike RobertBindlosswho was said to have been a ship's surgeon. Only one of the I2 residentswho had patentedover2,000 acresby i670 came with sufficientcapitalto set up a plantation:ThomasModyford,a successful Barbadiansugarplanter. The six army officersand the five merchantswho madeup the grouphad firstto accumulatefundsbeforethey could "fallupon planting".38

In fact, the earlysettlerswere not firstattractedto Jamaicaby its futureas a plantation.It was often remarkedthat "few come particularlyor only to 35E. Hickeringill,Jamaica Viewed(i66i), p. 59. B.L. EgertonMS 2395, fo. 286B, 'Considerations aboutthe Peoplingand Settlingthe IslandJamaica,'i66o. 36 B.L. EgertonMS 2395, fos. 640-I, ColonelLynch 'Concerning the SugarPlantations'. 37 Instituteof Jamaica,Kingston(hereafter I.J.), MS 105, JohnTaylor,'Multumin Parvo',fo. 589. 38 P.R.O. CO 138/2, fo. 117, 'Stateof Jamaica',i675.

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TRADE,

PLUNDER,

AND DEVELOPMENT

IN JAMAICA

2I5

plant, but to merchandize."39Their interestin Jamaicawas arousedby its geographicallocation, "in the Spaniard'sbowels and in the heart of his trade."40It was this strategicposition which attractedsettlersto the island and it was their successfulexploitationof the locationwhich enabledthem to accumulatethe necessaryresourcesto begin plantingfree of overseasties. Men had been attractedto the Indiesby visionsof El Doradosincethe first discoveries.The abundanttreasureof the minesof Mexicoand Peruaroused the avidity of all Europe. Spain tried to reservethis wealth for herself by declaringa monopolyof trade and navigationin the area;but what others could not have by agreement,the newcomerstook by force or stealthprivateersand smugglersraided and traded.41 As the Spaniardsfound it increasinglydifficultto defendtheirempirefrom depredationsit was likened to a "deadcarcassupon whom all the rest do prey".42 The first half of the seventeenth century was the great age of Dutch commericalexpansion;the Hollandersturned the Caribbeanalmost into a Dutch lake.43The acquisitionof Curaqaoin i634 gave them an ideal base for expandingtheir trading operationson the Spanish Main. Meanwhile,the Englishwerehamperedin both contrabandtradingand plunderby theirlack of a suitableheadquartersin the Caribbean.44 The Englishsettlementswhich survivedthis early period were all situatedon the peripheryof the region, wherethey were safelyawayfrom Spanishharassment,but equallyill-placed to tradeor plunderon the Main.45The colonistswereconfinedto agricultural developmentby necessityratherthan choice. Jamaicawas different.It was "in the centreof the most valuablepartof the West Indiesat an easydistance from the Spanish settlements."46The island was ideally situatedfor both tradeand plunder. The Englishfoundeda town at PortRoyalwith its large,shelteredharbour immediatelyafterthe seizureof Jamaica.The port quicklybecamea basefor freebootingactivities against the Spaniards,attractingdisorderlyelements fromall over the Caribbean.In i663 Jamaicahad a fleet of i5 privateers.By i670, the islandhad over 20 such vesselswith about2,000 men.47Marauders 39 Ibid.

Hickeringill,JamaicaViewed,p. i6. R. D. Hussey, 'SpanishReactionto ForeignAggressionin the Caribbeanto about i68o', Hispanic American HistoricalReview,IX (1929), pp. 286-302; Violet Barbour,'Privateersand Piratesin the West Indies',American HistoricalReview,xvi (i9i i), pp. 526-66; K. R. Andrews,TheSpanishCaribbean: Trade and Plunder, i530-i630 (New Haven, Conn. 1978). 42 I.J. MS 390, Letterto Nottingham,Marchi689. 43 Dunn, Sugar and Slaves, p. i6; C. H. Goslinga,The Dutch in the Caribbean, i58o-i68o (Gainesville, Florida,1971), pp. 52-60. 44 An EnglishCompanydid settle the islandsof Providence(SantaCatalina), Henrietta(SanAndreas) andTortugain i630, whichprovidedidealbasesforprivateering. The SpanishexpelledthemfromTortuga in i635 and Providencein i641. A. P. Newton, The ColonisingActivities of the English Puritans (Yale, 40

41

1914). 45 All foreigncoloniesestablishedin the Antillesin the earlyseventeenthcenturyfacedseriousdanger of a Spanishattack.The Spanishexpelledthe Frenchand EnglishfromTrinidadand Tortugain i634; theyexpelledthe FrenchandEnglishfromSt. Christopher andNevis in i629; the DutchfromSt. Martin in i633; and the Englishfrom St. Catalinain i64i. Hussey,'SpanishReactionto ForeignAggession',p. 299. 46 H. of L. Journals,xvii, p. 5i0. Reportof Admiralty PapersRelatingto Vice AdmiralGreydon,23 March1703. 47 B.L. Add. MS 11410, fo. I1, 'An Accountof the PrivateShips of War belongingto Jamaicaand Tortudosin i663'; P.R.O. CO I/25, fo. 5, CharlesModyford'sReporton Jamaica,i670; M. Pawsonand 0. Buisseret,Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford,1975), pp. 6-i9.

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NUALA

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ZAHEDIEH

continuedto operatefrom Port Royal throughoutthe seventeenthcentury despitethe Anglo-SpanishTreatyof Madrid,promisingpeaceand friendship in i670. Both opponentsand advocatesof so-called"forcedtrade"declared that the town's fortunehad the dubiousdistinctionof being foundedentirely on the servicingof the privateers'needs and a highly lucrativetradein prize commodities.48A reportthat the 300 men who accompaniedHenry Morgan to Portobelloin i668 returnedto the town with prizeto spend of at least?6o each (two or threetimes the usualannualplantationwage)leaveslittle doubt thatthey wereright.49AlthoughJamaicanplantinghad scarcelybegun(Table I), the port'stradeincreasedfivefoldin the i66os. It attractedabout20 ships a year in i66o, and i00 by the end of the decade.50As GovernorLynch admittedin i67I, scarcelyone quarterof what was shippedfrom the island was of its own growth.51The Portobelloraid aloneproducedplunderworth ?75,ooo,52 more than seven times the annual value of the island's sugar exports, which at Port Royal prices did not exceed ?io,ooo at this time. Port Royalwas also ideally situatedfor contrabandtradewith the Spanish colonists. Foreignershad long obtained a substantialshare of the official Spanishcolonialtradewhichwas conductedin two, supposedlyannual,fleets from Sevilleor Cadiz. The goods were shippedto Portobelloand VeraCruz wherethey were exchangedfor rich Americancommodities,mainlybullion. However, the traders'profits were eroded by innumerabledifficultiesand delays,particularlyas the fleetsbecameincreasinglyirregularandhighdefence costs pushed up charges.53The advantagesof direct tradevia a base in the Caribbeanwere apparentto both sellers and customers.Suppliersreduced costs and delays considerably(Peter Beckford, a Port Royal merchant, reckonedthat direct tradereducedshippingand freightchargesto half what they were with the fleets),54which enabled them to increaseturnoverand profits. The Spanishcolonistscould buy goods more cheaplyand disposeof their own productsmore regularlywhich was particularlyimportantif they were sellingperishableagriculturalcommodities.The economiclogic was too strongto be denied and, despitethe Spanishauthoritiespersistentrefusalto condonethe trade,it grewand flourished,attractingmerchantsto Port Royal who participatedon theirown, andtheircorrespondents' behalf.55Partof this 48

P.R.O. CO 1/23, fo. i9i, Bowne to Williamson, 17 Dec. i688; W.A.M. 11913, Sir James Modyford

to Sir AndrewKing, 27 Dec. i667. 49 W.A.M. 11920, Sir JamesModyfordto Sir AndrewKing, 4 Oct. i668; P.R.O. CO 1/24, fo. 145, 'Narrativeof Sir Thomas Modyford',23 Aug. i669; P.R.O. CO 1/24, fo. i, 'Memorialof Spanish Ambassador',7 Jan. i669. 50

P.R.O. CO 140/I, fo. 6, Minutes of Council of Jamaica, i8 June i66i; P.R.0 CO 138/I fo. 107-I1,

'List of WhatVesselsArrivedin Port Royal, i668-i670'. 51 P.R.O. CO 1/28, fo. 9, Lynch to Willamson,i6 June i672. 52 W.A.M. 11920, Sir JamesModyfordto Sir AndrewKing, 4 Oct. i668. 53

Sailing of Fleets

I670s i68os

Galeones

Flota

3

5

4 H. Kamen, Spain in the Later SeventeenthCentury(ig80), p. 133. 54 C.S.P. Col. i675-i676, No. 735, Peter Beckfordto Williamson,6 Dec. i675. Caryclaimedthat 2

directtradewith the SpanishIndieswas five timesmoreprofitablethanthe Cadizroute;Cary,Essayon the State of England, pp. 115-i6. 55 B.L. Add. MS 28140, 'An Essayon the Natureand Methodof Carrying on a Tradeto the South Seas," fos. 24-24b; P.R.O. C 110/152, Brailsford Papers.

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TRADE,

AND

PLUNDER,

O

DEVELOPMENT

I-

0

%0

?o

bo

I

JAMAICA

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2i8

NUALA

ZAHEDIEH

trade was conducted in the island's own sloop fleet, stimulating its growth

from40 in i670 to 8o in i679 and about i o in i689.56 A furtherconsiderable part was carried on by English and colonial ships which called at Port Royal before making for the Spanish Indies, but did not return to Jamaica on their way home. Reginald Wilson, the Naval Officer, reported that 40 of the 87 ships which had sailed from Port Royal in i679, had gone on to trade with the Spaniards in this way.57 A close examination of Wilson's returns in the i68os suggests that it continued to be usual for about half the ships entering Port Royal to be destined for Spanish markets58 (ships with a recorded arrival but no recorded departure in Table 8). Jamaican agents hired skilled supercargoes and strengthened the ships' crews, earning commission for their services.59 Contemporary comment confirms the importance of the Jamaican entrepot trade and, as Cary remarked in i695, its steady growth was also reflected in a decline of English commerce by the old route to the Indies, via Old Spain.60 The contraband trade was mainly carried on "underhand" in bays and creeks or the smaller towns. The larger, strongly fortified towns of Portobello, Cartagena and Havana were more difficult and risky to penetrate. The one commodity which could open their doors was slaves, for the Spaniards did not pretend to provide them for themselves, and so had to turn to a middleman who did. The contractors, or asientistas,obtained supplies where they could and Jamaica was ideally situated to serve them; transport costs being 20 per cent lower than they were from the rival Dutch base at Curaqao.61There is no record of a formal agreement to supply the Spaniards in the early years but there are references to their coming to Jamaica. By the i68os the trade was substantial. The African Company alone sold about 25 per cent of its annual supplies to the Spaniards(i.e. an averageof about 500 slaves, see Table 9) and there are also records of large sales by interlopers. However, it was a small group of merchants who benefited most. They bought slaves from the African Company, then sold them to the Spaniards, providing their customers with an armed convoy and accepting payment in the Spanish home port. The Spaniards paid 35 per cent extra for this convenience.62 It was a highly lucrative and relatively safe business which was, as the planter John Helyar remarked, "a much easier way of making money than making sugar".63 56

P.R.O. CO 1/43, fo. 59, 'An Account of what ...

brought to this Island; I.J. MS 105, Taylor,

'Multumin Parvo,'fo. 499. 57 P.R.O. CO 1/43, fo. 59, 'An Accountof what ... broughtto this island'. P.R.O. CO I42/I3, Naval Officer's Returns, Jamaica, i680-1705. P.R.O. C 110/152, Halls to Brailsford,i3 and 14 Marchi688; NualaZahedieh,'The Merchantsof Trade, i655-92', William and Mary Quarterly,3rdser. XLIII PortRoyal,Jamaicaand SpanishContraband 58

59

(i986). 60 "The West Indies ... is very plentifullysupply'dby us with manufactures and manyotherthings fromJamaica. . . this I taketo be the truereasonwhy our vent for themat Cadizis lessenedbecausewe supplyNew Spaindirectwith those thingsthey used to havethencebefore."Cary,Essayon theStateof declinedduring England,pp. Ii5-i6. Kamenclaimsthat the Andalusiantradeand Englishparticipation the late seventeenthcentury.Thereis little statisticalevidencebut the Englishin Spainwereconsciousof a decline. Kamen, Spain in the Later SeventeenthCentury,p. i i8. 61 B.L. Egerton MS 2395, fos. 502-502b, 'Considerations about the Spaniards buying negroes of the

EnglishRoyalCompany'. 62 P.R.O. CO 138/6, fo. 288, 'Addressof Counciland Assemblyof Jamaica', 26 July i68i. 63 S.R.O. HelyarMSS, WHh/Io89,John Helyarto father, i6 Sept. i686.

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TRADE,

PLUNDER,

AND DEVELOPMENT

IN JAMAICA

2I9

Table 9. Royal African Company'sDeliveries to Jamaica, I680-I689 No. of ships

No. of slaves delivered

i68o i68i I682 I 683 I684 I685

7 5 5 9 8 9

I,602 1,56i 1,577 I,892 1,905 I,908

i686

'4

3,574

i687

II

3,075

i688

I

i689

7

Total

103 2,176

76

AnnualAverage 7.6 Sources:P.R.O. T 70/10, 12, I5, i6; T 70/938-944; CO

19,373 1,937 142/13.

The asiento trade also provided Jamaican merchants with an opportunity to smuggle manufactured goods into the major Spanish towns, which had proved so difficult to penetrate.64 Unfortunately the lack of detailed statistical evidence makes it impossible to quantify the value of Port Royal's Spanish trades, either peaceful or forced, with any precision. However, their combined importance is clear. It was most obviously reflected in the unusual abundance of cash in Jamaica, which enabled the islanders to use coins as currency, rather than commodities as in other colonies. In i683 a visitor remarked that "there was more plenty of running cash proportionately to the number of its inhabitants than is in London."65 Furthermore, although there were no continuous figures for Jamaica'sbullion exports a number of scattered estimates show that they were considerable. Governor Lord Inchiquin claimed that the fleet carried away ?ioo,ooo worth of bullion in i690,66 whereas sugar exports recorded by the Naval Officer the previous year were worth only ?88,ooo at the current inland price. In addition a large quantity of bullion was earned in the entrepot trade with the Spanish colonies and shipped straight back to England. The value of the Spanish commerce is also indicated by the fact that the growth and prosperity of Port Royal predated the development of the agricultural hinterland. Although the island's sugar trade was in its infancy the port's white population increased from 630 in i662 to almost 3,000 in i68o and 3,000 to 4,000 in i689, making it the largest English town in the Caribbean67(Table io). The importance of trading opportunities in attracting people to Port Royal is shown by the very large number of merchants in the 64 P.R.O. CO 138/5, fo. 47, Molesworth to Committeeof Trade,24 Marchi684; the tradeis discussed in C. P. Nettels, 'Englandand the SpanishAmericanTrade, i680-1715', Journalof ModernHistory,In

(1931), pp. 1-33. 65

66

F. Hanson,ed. Lawsof Jamaica(i683), Introduction. P.R.O. CO 138/7, fo. i9, Inchiquin to Lords of Trade, 12 Aug. i69i.

67 The population of Bridgetown,Barbados,was2,927 in i68o. P.R.O. CO i/44, fos. 142-397, Census of Barbados,i68o. The populationis said to havebeen stableor fallingin the i68os. The populationof Boston,the largesttown in mainlandNorth America,was 6,ooo in i69o. JamesA. Henretta,'Economic Developmentand SocialStructurein ColonialBoston',WilliamandMaryQuarterly, 3rd ser. XXII (i965), p. 75.

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220

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ZAHEDIEH

Table io. Population of Port Royal, i662-i679 Whites i662

630

i673 i68o

i,669 2,o86

i689

approx. 4,000

Blacks

Total

40 312

670 I,98I

845 not available

2,931 not available

Privateers 1,500 1,500 1,200 1,200

Sources:P.R.O. CO 1/15, fo. 192. 'A Brief Accountof the SeveralInhabitantsin the Precinctsin the Island', i662; Journalsof JamaicanAssembly,app. I, p. 40; P.R.O. CO 1/45, fos. 97-109, 'Account of Inhabitantsboth mastersand servantsof Port Royal Parish',26 May i68o. Unfortunatelythere is no reliablefigurefor i689. The diarist,Taylor,whowasproneto exaggerate,claimedthatthe townhad5,000 white inhabitantsand as many slavesin i688. Instituteof Jamaica,Kingston,MS 105, fo. 499. In I692 the Councilassertedthat beforethe earthquakethe towncouldmuster2,000 men whichsuggeststhat the totalwhite populationwas about4,000. P.R.O. CO 138/7,fo. 129, Presidentand Councilto Committee of Trade, Sept. 28, I692.

town. There are I I8 Port Royal inventories surviving from the period i686i694, a fair-sized sample of a town with about i,000 households in I689; 49 of these were merchants. Port Royal was also the busiest port in the English Caribbean. By the i68os the Naval Officer's returns show that it was attracting I50 to 200 ships a year. Barbados was still the leading English sugar producer but in i688, the only complete year for which figures survive in this period, it attracted only I02 ships (although they were of slightly higher average tonnage).68 Visitors remarked on Port Royal's easy lifestyle. Taylor, the diarist, described the merchants and gentry living "in the height of splendour", served by negro slaves in livery. The craftsmen also lived better than in England. There was plentiful employment and wages were three times as high as at home. There was abundant food. Three daily markets were well stocked with fruit, fish and meat. Luxuries were easily available too. There was also a wealth of entertainment: a bear-garden, cock-fighting, billiards, music houses, shooting at targets and also "all manner of debauchery" which the prudish blamed upon "the privateers and debauched wild blades which come hither". Many raised eyebrows at the large number of alehouses and the "crue of vile strumpets and common prostratures" which crowded the town, undeterred by frequent imprisonment in a cage near the harbour.69All this reflected the surplus cash in the place. The Port Royal inventories which survive from the period I674-I694 also indicate that it was a prosperous town. In the whole period 44 out of a total of 2I2 left estates worth over Li,ooo (Table i I). This suggests that the townspeople had succeeded in making themselves at least as rich as their famous New England counterparts.70As Taylor remarked "with the help of the Spaniards' purse" inhabitants of the island "have advanced their fortune" and were now rich.71

IV The successful exploitation of Jamaica's strategic geographical location, and the rise of Port Royal as a trading post based on Spanish plunder and contraband, provided the early residents with the capital necessary to embark on plantation agriculture. William Claypole's study of the extensive land 68 P.R.O. CO 390/6,

fo. 26, 'ShipsTradingat Barbados'. I.J. MS 105, Taylor, 'Multumin Parvo',fos. 491-507. 70 BernardBailyn, TheNew EnglandMerchants in theSeventeenth Centuty(Harvard,1979); Henretta, 'EconomicDevelopment... in ColonialBoston',p. 84. 71 I.J. MS 105, Taylor,'Multumin Parvo,'fo. 589. 69

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221

Table I I. Values of Port Royal Inventories, i674-i694 Volume I i674-i675 Value in ? 050100500-

49 99 499 999

1,000-1,999 2,000+

Volume II i679-i686

Volume III i686-i694 No. % II 9

No.

%

No.

%

8 8 10 7

20-5

13

20-5 25

7 7

13

20

i6

30

47 14

4 2

I8

13

10

6

24 II

5

5

9

Total 39 54 Source: Jamaica Archives, Inv. iB/il/3, I-III, Inventories i674-94.

17 39.5

10

12 8

17

14

ii8

recordsavailablein Jamaicaindicatesthat Port Royal'smerchantsprovided the largestsourceof capitalinvestmentin agriculture.72Manypatentedand plantedland on their own account-at least 275 of 5o8 merchantsidentified in PortRoyalbetweeni664 and 1700 purchasedagriculturalproperty.Twelve of the 23 PortRoyalestatesinventoriedas over?2,000 indicatean involvement in a plantation.The debts listed in the inventoriesalso show that PortRoyal's residentswere the majorsource of credit for the planters.Port Royal grew rich "out of the Spaniard'spurse": the profitsof tradingand looting were used to build up Jamaica'splantations. The mechanismis clearlyreflectedin Taylor'slist of the island's"principal gentlemenand planters"in i688.73 Almost without exceptiontheir debt to the Spaniardsis apparent.The most telling examplewas HenryMorgan,the most celebratedof the privateers,who built up a substantialplantationwith I22 negroes, valued at ?5,263 on his death.74Lynch, Molesworth,Beeston, Bindlossand the others had all participatedin Port Royal'srise as a trading post.75The most spectacularlysuccessfulof these earlyimmigrantswas Peter Beckfordwho arrivedin Port Royalin i66i "breda seamanand merchant" and at firstprosperedby doing businessin prizecommodities.76In the i68os he was asiento agent in Jamaica.77Meanwhilehe also began to patent and plant land.78When he died in I7Io he had accumulated20 estates, I,200 slavesand had founded, what Noel Deerr describedas "perhapsthe greatest fortuneever made in planting."79 V

Adam Smith was wrong. The prosperityof Jamaicawas not "owing to the great riches of England of which a part had overflowed".80Plantation agriculturein Jamaicawas largely financedby Spanish silver earned in a lucrativeillicittradebasedon plunderandcontraband.Nor did the investment 72 IslandRecordOffice, SpanishTown (hereafterI.R.O.), Deeds, OS, I-III. Claypoleanalysedthese recordswith somecarein his thesis.W. Claypole,'TheMerchantsof PortRoyal,i655-I700'(unpublished

Ph.D. thesis, University of the West Indies, 1974), pp. 174-95. 73 I.J. MS 105, Taylor,'Multumin Parvo,'fo. 326. 74 JamaicaArchives,SpanishTown (hereafterJ.A.), Inv. iB/il/3, fos. 259-267, Inventoryof Henry Morgan,i688. 75 Zahedieh,'The Merchantsof Port Royal'. 76 P.R.O. CO 138/4,fo. 25b, 'Namesof Personsfit to be Councillors", i6 Feb. i684; I.R.O. Deeds OS I fo. 115b;P.R.O. CO 1/34, fo. 71, Beckfordto Williamson,25 March1675. 77 P.R.O. CO 138/6, fos. 292-293, Addressof Counciland Assemblyof Jamaica,26 July i689; The RoyalAfricancompany'sfactorsreportedBeckford'sdealingswith interlopers.P.R.O. T 70/10, fo. 296. 78 P.R.O. CO 138/i, fos. 6i-8o, 'Surveyof Jamaica',I670. 79 N. Deerr,Historyof Sugar(1949), I, pp. 175-6.Beckford'sson'sinventoryof 1739 indicatesthathis wholefortunemay have amountedto ?300,000or so. J.A. Inv. IB/II/3, xviII, fo. io8. 80 Smith, Wealthof Nations,II, p. i87.

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of these illicit gains in Jamaican agriculture represent a diversion of capital away from what would have been more profitable employment in the mother country. Table 3 shows that, even at the end of the period when sugar prices were at their lowest, the net return on a well-managed plantation, unencumbered by debt, was I03 per cent (without capital appreciation on the land). This was higher than typical rates of return on rentier-typeinvestment in England.81 However, there was not, as yet, any mechanism by which a merchant making his living in Port Royal could make a safe, trouble-free investment of his surplus funds in England. There was no government stock and it was risky to make loans or an investment in land without personal supervision. Capital and entrepreneurship are most effective when combined, and rates of return suffer if one or the other is missing. The importance of "enterprise" as a contributory factor of production, with higher returns in Jamaicathan in England, made capital far less mobile than might at first seem possible. The failure to recognize this is a prime flaw in the argument that colonies brought "more loss than profit". Furthermore, the high individual returns to planters and merchants in Jamaican trade were not offset by low or negative social returns in the early period. Defence and administration costs incurred in the mother country were nominal. The island did not have a standing army after the disbandment of Cromwell's troops in i662. There were never more than two naval frigates stationed at the island in this period. Frequently there were none at all. The governors' expenses and salary were usually paid out of the proceeds of local taxation and prize goods. The Navigation Acts, which compelled the colonial producers to send their sugar to the mother country, rather than to the market of their choice, tended to reinforce the price fall of the i67os and i68os in England caused by supply outstripping demand. Thus, in this period, they operated in favour of the home consumer rather than the colonial producer.82 The wealth of Jamaica was created out of the profits of Jamaica; far from supporting the liberal theory that empire was a cost and burden on the mother country, the island provides a good example of imperialism as theft,83 albeit by one colonial power from another, rather than by a developed from a developing country. It was plunder and illegal trade which provided England's largest sugar producer with much of its initial capital. Smith's contemporary, the planter historian William Beckford, was justified in this case in asserting that the personwho acquiresa competencein anothercountrydoesnot drawanywealth fromhis own, at the sametime that whichhe makesor at least the greaterpartof it flows back againto enrichthe parentstream.84 England was able to drain some of "the benefit of the Spanish gold and silver mines" without the "labour and expense" of working them.85 Nothing could have been more attractive in a mercantilist world! London School of Economics 81 R. (I969), 82

England',EnglishHistoricalReview,LXXXIV Grassby,'The Rateof Profitin Seventeenth-century pp. 72I-51.

L. A. Harper,TheEnglishNavigationLaws (New York, 1939),

pp.

241-5;

Child,A New Discourse

of Trade, p. 94; Thomas, Historical Account, p. 44. 83 F. C. Lane, 'NationalWealthand Protection Costs,'in J. D. ClarksonandT. C. Cochran,eds. War (New York, 1941), pp. 32-43. as a SocialInstitution:TheHistorian'sPerspective 84 WilliamBeckford,A Descriptive Accountof theIslandofJamaica(1790), II, p. 319. 85 F. Hanson,ed. Laws of Jamaica(I683), Introduction.

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