ſale for their commodities, or work in their line of buſineſs, withdrew themſelves to places where trade and commerce were more briſk; and the planters, from being deprived of the means of furniſhing themſelves with ſuch articles as were immediately neceſſary for their new eſlates, were driven to abandon, or to poſtpone the further improvement of them.
In this deplorable ſtate was the iſland of Dominica when it fell into the hands of the French on the 7th day of September, 1778. Some months previous to this calamitous event his Excellency, Thomas Shirley, Eſq. then Commander in chief of the iſland, knowing the defenceleſs ſtate it was in, and being apprehenſive it would be attacked, in caſe of a rupture with France, which was then threatened, employed a number of men for the defence of fort Caſhacrou; diftributed the few ſoldiers then in garriſon into ſuch places as
