The Irish in the Atlantic World

The “Quadripartite Concern” of St. Croix: An Irish Catholic Experiment in the Danish West Indies

The “Quadripartite Concern” of St. Croix An Irish Catholic Experiment in the Danish West Indies Orla Power St. Croix lies forty miles to the southeast of Puerto Rico and some ninety miles to the northwest of the British Leeward Islands.1 However, the island’s isolated appearance on the map belies its strategic position at the crossroads of Caribbean commerce, particularly during the mid–eighteenth century. Owing to favorable trade winds, the island was a mere day’s sail from Montserrat, and as such it was relatively adjacent to the Leeward Islands. Describing this, one settler declared, “We have continually vessels running to and from among all these islands as if they were all under one Governance.”2 Numerous individuals from the British Leeward Islands settled at St. Croix in the early 1750s. One of them was Nicholas Tuite, who by 1754 considered himself to be the “principal Catholic” on the island.3 Originally from Montserrat, he was of Irish descent and was the chief orchestrator of the first large-scale Irish sugar plantation at the Danish colony. Tuite and three other members of the Irish Catholic trading interest at Montserrat initiated an experiment at St. Croix with a view to expanding their trading interests and those of their community. The four invested their capital and expertise in a venture that they referred to as their “Quadripartite Concern.” Its phenomenal success allowed the group to reinvest in other plantations on the island and signified the beginning of a golden era for the Irish Atlantic sugar and commodities trade. By settling at St. Croix, the Irish Catholics were to become naturalized citizens of neutral Denmark.4 This citizenship of convenience was to serve them well and in many respects allowed them to conduct their business as they pleased. As Akenson has shown, when it came to empire building, the Irish West Indian community was just as efficient as the British.5 214 | Orla Power In examining the mid-eighteenth-century Irish Catholic West Indian community at the British Leeward islands, this chapter attempts to examine the factors that encouraged the initial migration of several key individuals to the Danish West Indies. The success of the Quadripartite Concern will be assessed in terms of how it facilitated the subsequent migration of hundreds of Irish Catholic settlers to the island. As the first of such undertakings, it was to serve as a model for future sugar plantations at St. Croix. Accordingly this suggests that the Irish Catholic community of the period was not only independently involved in the sugar trade and its associated trade in African slaves but also that it was an active colonizer. Exerting a tremendous social and environmental impact on St. Croix, the Irish exploited the nascent Danish sugar industry. As naturalized citizens of neutral Denmark, the Irish Catholic community also took advantage of the tantalizing commercial opportunities that presented themselves at the margins of the British, Spanish, Dutch, and French empires. In consideration of the wealth generated at St. Croix, together with the funds that were repatriated to Ireland in the form of inheritances, remittances, and bills of exchange, the plantations of the Quadripartite Concern were exceptional in that they served to promote the capabilities, and the interests, of the Irish Catholic community in the West Indies. Tuite’s initial relocation to St. Croix in 1749 followed his acrimonious departure from the British Leeward Islands. Perceived as a threat to British sugarplanting interests at Montserrat, targeting Tuite’s Catholicism was one of the few ways his commercial activities could be restricted. At Montserrat, Irish Catholics were tolerated, but as we will see, their brazen and lucrative trade with the enemy was not. Several years later, in 1754, the success of Tuite’s plantations gave him grounds to petition King Frederick V of Denmark for toleration of the Catholic religion.6 When won, Tuite sought to encourage other Irish Catholics to the island in order to establish a peaceful community, founded on commerce and free trade. Throughout the Seven Years’ War, this Irish community at St. Croix was represented by individuals of all ranks. International merchants, artisans, laborers, planters, and local traders, many with connections to Montserrat, Ireland , and continental Europe, came to base their activities at the island. By exploiting the political disharmony that existed in the region during this period, the Irish Catholic community was poised to take advantage of the commercial opportunities that existed in the region. Driven as much by greed and the urge...