Situated as I was, and having an opportunity of drawing my conclusions on the spot, I venture, with a very strong confidence of its truth, to relate the following as the secret history of this business. An agent for the prizes at St. Lucia, joining one of the agents who had already been employed in the sale of the vendible property at Martinique (possibly piqued by some diminution of confidence which the Commanders in Chief from good reason had betrayed towards them), no sooner met the inhabitants of St. Lucia, whom he had convened on the subject of raising the stipulated compromise for the plunder, than he offered, with an unparalleled duplicity, while confessing himself sent on the part of the captors, to suggest a mode by which the payment of this debt of honour might be evaded. "Send," said he, "an immediate deputation to the English government, anticipate the story of the Commanders, and a prohibition will instantly issue." The deputation was sent without loss of time: they relied on securing a large body of English merchants, particularly those in the West Indies, on their side; and their reliance was well placed, for they relied on that which they could easily prove to be their interest. The truth is, that many of these West India traders[40] had carried on an illicit traffic to the French islands before they were captured; and in consequence of it had at the time of the capture immense sums still due to them. Apprehending, therefore, that the payment of this contribution might retard, or even endanger, the discharge of their own debts, they joined heartily in every scheme for defeating this just and prior claim. They encouraged the French in their opposition; they misrepresented the facts to England; they attempted to blast the laurels of the Commanders; and became clamorous against the cruelty of plunder, and illegality and impolicy of confiscation, that they might enjoy the rewards of their own treason. While this plot was secretly carrying on, and a heavy storm brooding over their heads, the General and Admiral were proceeding in their expedition against Guadaloupe, little suspicious, till the dispatches from England discovered the success with which the artful stories of this party had been attended. [40] Admiral Rodney used to say of these people, that "they were smugglers in peace, and traitors in war;" an opinion, I believe, confirmed by repeated experience.