ended in miserable
failure. This was followed by another check at Santiago de Cuba, which
virtually terminated all hopes of further great exploits, although
attempts were made on La Guayra and Puerto Cabello.

Yet with all this the Spaniards undoubtedly received a great lesson.
Their men-of-war were captured from under their fortresses, and small
English or colonial vessels performed such deeds of daring as had hardly
been equalled since the Elizabethan age. The old spirit still existed
although it might lie dormant for a time--the men were there when the
hour came. In 1740 Captain Hall in a New England privateer came to an
anchor under the fort of Puerto de la Plata, pretending to be a Caracas
trader. He wanted to land in the night and surprise the town, but found
that the inhabitants kept such a good watch that he had to give up that
idea. However, the Governor was sick and sent to ask the loan of Hall's
surgeon, and here was the opportunity he wanted. The surgeon,
quartermaster, and an interpreter visited the Governor, and at the same
time seven of Hall's crew landed and surprised the fort, dismounted the
guns, marched into the town and plundered it, finally escaping with the
loss of only one man.

Peace was at last concluded on the 7th of October, 1748, but nothing was
said in the treaty of the right of search. The _Assiento_ contract was
confirmed, and one English trading ship allowed as formerly; free trade
with the Indies, however, was still one of those things which could
never be conceded.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

X.

SLAVE INSURRECTIONS AND BUSH NEGROES.

With war almost continuously raging at their very doors the West Indian
planters not only risked their fortunes but their lives. During the
seventeenth century England spent something like thirty-five years in
fighting her enemies, and in the eighteenth, forty-six. As long as the
quarrel was with Spain alone the colonists cared but little, but when
France turned against them the struggle was much fiercer. The French
were always most audacious in their assaults, and the consequences were
all the more disastrous because they were such near neighbours. We have
already spoken of St. Kitt's and the difficulties produced on that
island by its division between the two nationalities. These were only
terminated by its entire cession to England, which did not take place
until the peace of Utrecht in 1713. Meanwhile, besides the two defeats
of