"The pecuniary resources of the [West India] Company were exhausted by
the various expeditions to Seregipe, Maranham, Angola, and
Chili. Money became scarce at Recife. Hitherto all transactions had
been carried on on credit; but now credit was stopped, and money had
to be borrowed at the ruinous rate of 3 or 4 per cent. interest per
month. Many of the planters were ruined by the floods and the
subsequent ravages of the worm; whilst the small-pox committed great
havoc amongst the valuable negroes imported from Angola.
So great was the pecuniary distress that the most desperate measures
were resorted to, and which only made matters worse. Some creditors
endeavoured to procure payment of their debts by means of large
abatements; others threw their debtors into prison; whilst the
government felt itself compelled to exact its dues by seizing the
sugar produce at harvest time. Thus a conflict arose between the
government and the public as to the priority of their respective
claims, and the result was embarrassing and ruinous."
Those were the days.