The feeling part of my readers, I must hope, will receive with some indulgence a work proceeding from an officer, who, from his early youth, was debarred in acquiring perfection, either as a writer or a painter, by his military and maritime profession. I nevertheless humbly flatter myself that whatever may be found wanting in style and elegance, is in some degree compensated by that fidelity and correctness, which can alone be the work of a pen and pencil employed on the spot. With respect to a few quaint expressions, and even oaths, as spoken by common soldiers, sailors, &c. that sometimes unavoidably occur in the narrative of this wonderful expedition, I must humbly request the world not to be startled at them, not only because the shades of black and white enliven the picture, but because I am determined to write truth only, and expose vice and folly in their native colours.—Come then, my friends— “Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield; The latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar: Eye Nature’s walks, shoot Folly as it flies, And catch the manners living as they rise; Laugh where we must, be candid where we can; But vindicate the ways of God to man.” Pope. I will now boldly launch out on the difficult task.—As the nature, however, of these transactions can only be understood by a reference to the occasion which called me thither, I feel myself under the necessity of still premising a few words upon that subject. Every part of the world, where domestic slavery is established, may be occasionally liable to insurrection and disquiet, more especially where the slaves constitute the majority of the inhabitants; but the colony of Surinam, in Dutch Guiana, has been peculiarly unfortunate in this respect. Whether from the shelter which is afforded to the fugitives by the immense forests which overspread the most considerable part of this country, or whether the government of this settlement be radically defective, it is a certain fact, that its European settlers are constantly exposed to the most violent ravages, and the most desperate outrage. Of these circumstances this is not however the place for a minute detail. Let it suffice therefore for the present, only to observe, that these repeated revolts and insurrections demanded at length the most vigorous measures for the restoration of a general peace; and that the accounts transmitted to Holland, in the year 1772, that a considerable body of armed people of this description had assembled in the forests, and became extremely formidable to the colony, determined their High Mightinesses the States of the United Provinces to send out a sufficient maritime force to oppose the insurgents, and, if possible, to quell the insurrection.