Humble Petition of Denys Rolle, Esq

The Humble Petition of Denys Rolle, Esq. The Humble Petition of Denys Rolle, Esq. Denys Rolle LibraryPress@UF Gainesville, Florida Cover: Map of the West Indies, published in Philadelphia, 1806. From the Caribbean Maps collection in the University of Florida Digital Collections at the George A. Smathers Libraries. Reissued 2017 by LibraryPress@UF on behalf of the University of Florida This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. You are free to electronically copy, distribute, and transmit this work if you attribute authorship. Please contact the University Press of Florida (http:// upress.ufl.edu) to purchase print editions of the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the University Press of Florida. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. ISBN 978-1-947372-54-2 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-947372-55-9 (ePub) LibraryPress@UF is an imprint of the University of Florida Press. University of Florida Press 15 Northwest 15th Street Gainesville, FL 32611-2079 http://upress.ufl.edu The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series In 2016, the University Press of Florida, in collaboration with the George A. Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida, received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mel- lon Foundation, under the Humanities Open Books program, to repub- lish books related to Florida and the Caribbean and to make them freely available through an open access platform. The resulting list of books is the Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series published by the Li- braryPress@UF in collaboration with the University of Florida Press, an imprint of the University Press of Florida. A panel of distinguished scholars has selected the series titles from the UPF list, identified as essential reading for scholars and students. The series is composed of titles that showcase a long, distinguished history of publishing works of Latin American and Caribbean scholarship that connect through generations and places. The breadth and depth of the list demonstrates Florida’s commitment to transnational history and regional studies. Selected reprints include Daniel Brinton’s A Guide- Book of Florida and the South (1869), Cornelis Goslinga’s The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast, 1580–1680 (1971), and Nelson Blake’s Land into Water—Water into Land (1980). Also of note are titles from the Bicentennial Floridiana Facsimile Series. The series, published in 1976 in commemoration of America’s bicentenary, comprises twenty-five books regarded as “classics,” out-of-print works that needed to be in more libraries and readers’ bookcases, including Sidney Lanier’s Florida: Its Scen- ery, Climate, and History (1876) and Silvia Sunshine’s Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes (1880). Today’s readers will benefit from having free and open access to these works, as they provide unique perspectives on the historical scholarship on Florida and the Caribbean and serve as a foundation upon which today’s researchers can build. Visit LibraryPress@UF and the Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series at http://ufdc.ufl.edu/librarypress . Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series Project Members LibraryPress@UF Judith C. Russell Laurie N. Taylor Brian W. Keith Chelsea Dinsmore Haven Hawley Editorial Advisory Board Gary R. Mormino David R. Colburn Patrick J. Reakes University of Florida Press Meredith M. Babb Linda Bathgate Michele Fiyak-Burkley Romi Gutierrez Larry Leshan Anja Jimenez Marisol Amador Valerie Melina Jane Pollack Danny Duffy Nichole Manosh Erika Stevens This book is reissued as part of the Humanities Open Books program, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION OF FLORIDA. Governor Reubin O'D. Askew, Honorary Chairman Lieutenant Governor J. H. Williams, Chairman Harold W. Stayman, Jr., Vice Chairman William R. Adams, Executive Director Dick J. Batchelor, Orlando Johnnie Ruth Clarke, St. Petersburg A. H. "Gus" Craig, St. Augustine James J. Gardener, Fort Lauderdale Jim Glisson, Tavares Mattox Hair, Jacksonville Thomas L. Hazouri, Jacksonville Ney C. Landrum, Tallahassee Mrs. Raymond Mason, Jacksonville Carl C. Mertins, Jr., Pensacola Charles E. Perry, Miami W. E. Potter, Orlando F. Blair Reeves, Gainesville Richard R. Renick, Coral Gables Jane W. Robinson, Cocoa A'Irs. Robert L. Shevin, Tallahassee Don Shoemaker, Miami Mary L. Singleton, Jacksonville Bruce A. Smathers, Tallahassee Alan Trask, Fort Meade iv Bicentennial Commission. Edward J. Trombetta, Tallahassee Ralph D. Turlington, Tallahassee William S. Turnbull, Orlando Robert Williams, Tallahassee Lori Wilson, Merritt Island GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE. PEOPLING the "pine barrens or sandy desarts" became a critical need of Britain after its acquisition of the two Florida provinces at the end of the French and Indian War. Article 20 of the Peace of Paris, signed on February 10, 1763, ceded "Florida, with Fort St. Augustin, and the Bay of Pensacola, as well as all that Spain possesses on the continent of North America, to the East or to the South East of the River Mississippi." Not much was known of this empty wilderness, and the few contemporary accounts described it as "poor and mean." But whether it was another "Bagshot Heath," as one critic called it, or whether England had lost too much by exchanging Florida for the rich port of Havana was no longer the real issue. Florida was now part of the British Empire, and because of its proximity to the Caribbean and to the Mississippi Val ley, it had to be protected. Although Spain and France had lost the war, they still had powerful fleets which might, if the circumstances were right, attack Pensa cola and St. Augustine. Bringing settlers in, establishing towns and cities, developing an economy, and manning VI Preface. fortifications achieved the needed protection and strengthened the colonies. A variety of publicists were enjoined to put Flor ida's best foot forward. The government launched a major publicity campaign to "sell" Florida to would-be settlers and colonists and to make it attractive for land development. Articles appeared in Gentleman's Maga zine and other English and Scottish periodicals, and a number of books and pamphlets were published. They described East and West Florida as a veritable New Eden whose temperate climate, rich soil, and abundant waterways could sustain a large population and a flourishing economy. The Floridas were caught up in the irrepressible American land boom after 1763, and fortunately there were enough vacant acres available for anyone willing to settle. The government instituted a generous land- grant policy, and persons with connections at Court and in the ministries petitioned for and received sizable land grants, ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 acres. Be tween 1764 and 1770, the Privy Council issued 227 Orders in Council for 2,856,000 acres of land in East Florida. During that period only 2,108,000 acres were allotted in Nova Scotia, New York, Quebec, and West Florida combined. Members of the nobility, army and navy officers, government officials, members of Par liament, physicians, and merchants were among those seeking Florida acreage. The Earl of Dartmouth and his four sons received 20,000 acres each, the Earl of Tyrone and his two sons, 20,000 acres each, and Dr. Andrew Turnbull obtained grants of 5,000 acres each for his four children, in addition to 20,000 acres for himself. Among the great baronets who received Orders in Council for land in East Florida were the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Cassi, and the Earl of Thanet. Patrick Tonyn, later governor of East Florida; John Stuart of Charleston Preface. vii who was superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern Department; Sir William Duncan; Captain Robert Bisset; Sir Edward (later Lord) Hawke; Rich ard Oswald, the peace commissioner in Paris in 1782 and a prosperous merchant and planter; and Lord Adam Gordon, the fourth son of the second Duke _,of Gordon, all petitioned for large tracts of Florida land. Lord Adam was a Scotsman and a friend of Governor James Grant who became the leader of the East Florida lobby in London. He helped organize the East Florida Society, which consisted of a group of influential Britons who met monthly at the Shakespeare Hotel, a tavern in Covent Garden. Their main order of business at these sessions was to discuss their development plans for Florida. An Order in Council was not a grant. The land had to be selected, surveyed, and then the survey had to be recorded with the governor who would issue the formal grant. Each grantee had to settle "the lands with protestant White Inhabitants within ten Years from the Date of the Grant in the proportion of one person for every hundred Acres." Various settlement schemes for East Florida were advanced, but very few reached the stage of formal grants. Dr. William Stork, a physician, botanist, and member of the Royal Society, offered to bring over a party of industrious Germans if the government would provide one of the King's sloops to transport the settlers. M. Vivegnis proposed sending over 1,000 munition workers from Liege whom the war had left unemployed. He thought they could establish an armaments plant in Florida. John Daniel Roux, a citizen of Lausanne, wanted to settle a colony of Swiss, and John Augustus Earnst, a German then living in England, proposed a community of Swiss and German Protestants.

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