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The Virginia Gazette
Richmond, Williamsburg, Richmond County, Virginia
What is this article about?
Letter from Kingstown, Jamaica, dated June 16, 1751, reports economic decline with little trade, business, or money; net emigration; widespread sickness and rapid deaths causing empty houses; lost island credit; calls for reprisals on Spaniards to avoid ruin; residents bartering rum and sugar due to cash shortage from remittances.
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"I am sorry there's very little Trade, Business, or Money now, and no Prospect of an Alteration of Affairs; ten to one more People going off the Island than comes on it, besides a very sickly Time and People dying very fast; by which you may imagine Plenty of empty Houses: In short, the Credit of the Island is lost, and we are look'd on as in a very bad Plight. Desolation, Misery and Ruin appears in all our Faces; and, without the Government in England will permit us to make Reprisals on the Spaniards, we shall be absolutely undone to all Interests and Purposes, being now, for Want of Cash, obliged to barter Rum and Sugar for what Necessaries we want, and can hardly do that, People not knowing what to do with it, the Money being almost all drained off by Remittances to England and the Continent of America."
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Where did it happen?
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Kingstown, Jamaica
Event Date
June 16, 1751
Outcome
widespread sickness and rapid deaths; empty houses; lost credit; bartering of rum and sugar; potential ruin without reprisals on spaniards.
Event Details
Little trade, business, or money with no improvement expected; more people leaving than arriving; sickly conditions and fast deaths; desolation and misery evident; cash drained by remittances, forcing barter for necessities.