All the produce and merchandise found in the town of Fort Royal and on board the vessels in the Carénage, and the same in the town and bay of St. Pierre and in Trinité in the island of Martinique, and at Basse Terre and Point à Pitre in Guadaloupe, were disposed of by public auction for the benefit of the captors: but those on the estates, manufactured and packed ready to be brought down to the ports for embarkation, were not sold at this time, because persons came forward on the part of the inhabitants themselves, and proposed a contribution, in lieu of that part of the property, as falling more easy on them, and consequently being preferable to confiscation; though they did not at that time pretend to dispute the legality of the forfeiture. The Commanders in Chief acceded to this _their own proposal_, through a pure wish of accommodation. The exorbitant and unprecedented contribution, therefore, levied on an unwilling people, turns out to be an _offered compromise for an undisputed prize, received by a merciful and tender conqueror out of kindness to the conquered_. How well bestowed this kindness was, how deserved the confidence placed in the honour of these people, will appear by the sequel! They received back the forfeitures, and then endeavoured to get rid of paying the compromise (themselves had offered) by infamous misrepresentations of the conduct of those Commanders, of whose generosity they made use, to defame, and then to rob them! For no sooner had they shipped off the property, and got it safe away from the power of the Commanders, than they began to demur at paying the stipulated sum, particularly at St. Lucia, which island had agreed to pay one hundred and fifty thousand pounds.