"The plains of Trinidad," wrote Lord Dundonald, "have a fertile soil, which, simply by clearing the ground, is capable of being rendered the most productive in the West India Islands for the growth of sugar and whatever can be cultivated in a climate most uniform in its temperature, most congenial to tropical plants, free from the evils of hurricanes and from all impediments to vegetation. I am confident that, if the hands of the Governor were not bound by restrictions and routine, the progress of Trinidad would soon verify this opinion. Lord Harris, the present Governor, nobly tendered a portion of his official income in alleviation of the burthens which are so severely felt in the present depressed state of agriculture and commerce, but from some cause his lordship's liberal intention was not realized. The example would have proved salutary, as it must have been followed by reductions throughout other West India Islands, whose resources are even in a worse state than those of Trinidad. Is it reasonable, whilst the ground has ceased to be cultivated because production is unprofitable, not only that the land should continue to be taxed at the rate it was in prosperous times, but that a duty should be levied on the exportation of its produce? Is it reasonable that whilst householders can obtain no rent, and have no income save the bare means of providing a scanty subsistence, they should be assessed at the rack-rent of former valuation? Can any property be more entitled to protection than that of the owners of the soil or of the dwellings they inhabit? And yet all these, as appears by the numerous gazetted sales, are sacrificed to the collection of sums, the bulk of which is uselessly and prejudicially expended. Whilst the Government of the parent State has alleviated the burdens on the productive classes, is it just that taxes on food and on all the necessaries of life should be continued throughout the colonies, and that even their productions should be intolerably burdened with local imposts, whilst complaints are loud and true of the absence of all remuneration from the sources which once constituted the prosperity of those now impoverished and oppressed possessions? The above observations do not apply exclusively to Trinidad, but to the whole of the islands, which scarcely differ in degree in the causes of ruin which seem irremediable by any authority except the legislature of the parent State. I am persuaded that the chief of the Colonial Department at home would endeavour to counteract the causes of widely-spread and increasing ruin, were he in possession of correct information; but popular representations of grievances, often embodying misapprehensions as to their true origin, and accompanied by suggestions of impracticable remedies, are denied or disputed in counterstatements by interested officials, so that the Colonial Minister is bewildered, and can form no correct judgment from such conflicting statements. I hold it to be impossible that the monstrous absurdities and violations of every principle of good government which exist throughout these western colonies could be tolerated an instant, were their consequences known and believed by those in power, or were they laid before the British public by any person on whose judgment and opinion they could rely. Can it be credited that even in the island of Trinidad, not only multitudes of valuable properties are brought to sale from the inability of their owners to pay the fiscal demands, but that properties are consigned to the Government auctioneer even for so small an assessment as three-fourths of a dollar? This is, nevertheless, the fact. The emancipation of the slaves was a glorious act, but the rescue of these noble possessions from ruin, and the restoration of prosperity to an integral part of the empire, would redound to the honour of any one who would successfully advocate the cause of reason and justice, not only on the principles of equity, but with the less noble view of gain to the parent State, as it is certain that the consumption of British manufactured articles has fallen off in these colonies to an extent which has not been counterbalanced by the increase of exports anticipated from the questionable policy of concession to Brazil, in which I have reason to believe the supply of articles required for the slave trade constitutes a large proportion."

Reflections of that sort occurred to Lord Dundonald again and again, as, passing round from Trinidad, he visited all the principal British West India Islands, the last at which he called on his way back to Halifax being Jamaica. "No doubt," he said, "the generous and noble act by which, in the reign of his late Majesty, slavery was abolished, produced a prejudicial change in the economy of the sugar plantations, notwithstanding the large amount awarded to the proprietors, as the sums so paid were for the most part immediately transferred to mortgagees, leaving the proprietors in possession of the soil, but without the means of paying the expense of its cultivation by free labour. This is an evil which time has not remedied, and, of course, in the estimation of those who are, in consequence, losers, furnishes the pretext for imputing to the black population a degree of reluctance to labour far exceeding the reality. Those who pay a reasonable price for work, and are punctual in their payments, do not fail to get as many labourers as they require. I assert this not from any vague hearsay, but from various unquestionable and authentic documents, amongst which are the examinations taken by Committees of the House of Assembly appointed to inquire into the causes and difficulties alleged to exist in the cultivation of estates. Whilst the poverty of the planters and the destitution of the labouring population is so universal, it seems most extraordinary on inspecting the Custom House returns to find almost every article of necessary consumption brought from abroad paying high duties on entry; whilst the concession of small patches of land to the negroes, whom there is no capital to employ, would, if accorded, produce food, and in a great measure dispense with such injurious importations. Is it reasonable to instruct the negroes in their rights as men, and open their minds to the humble ambition of acquiring spots of land, and then throw every impediment possible in the way of its gratification? I perceive by the imposts and expenses on the transfer of small properties, that a barrier almost insurmountable is raised to their acquisition by the coloured population. I have learnt that small lots of Crown lands are scarcely ever disposed of, though three-fourths of these lands are still in the hands of Government.

"It is lamentable to see the negroes in rags, lying about the streets of Kingston; to learn that the gaols are full; the penitentiaries incapable of containing more inmates; whilst the port is destitute of shipping, the wharves abandoned, and the storehouses empty; while much, if not all, of this might be remedied. It may be asked, how is this to be effected? and I answer—by justice, resolution, patriotism, and disinterestedness. Never can this wretched state of affairs be remedied so long as taxes on the necessaries of life are heaped on an impoverished population. Never can the peasantry raise their heads with a contented aspect, whilst every animate and inanimate thing around them is taxed to the utmost. Not only is there a tax on land, and on the shipment of its produce, on houses, outhouses, and gardens, on horned cattle and horses, but on asses and pigs; and the severest penalties are enacted for concealment or suppression in the returns. Officials are employed for the gathering of pittances which do not defray the expense of collection. The harbour dues and exactions are such that no vessel, when it can be avoided, is brought into the Port of Kingston; consequently, though Jamaica is admirably situated, even more favourably than St. Thomas, the former port is abandoned, whilst that of the latter is filled with the shipping of all nations."

Lord Dundonald detailed the substance of these opinions in a letter to Earl Grey, the Secretary for the Colonies. "I have to thank your lordship," Lord Grey replied, "for your letter. The observations of a person of your lordship's knowledge and experience upon the present state of our colonies are most interesting and useful to me. I am aware that there exists much distress in the West Indies at present; but I am sorry to say I do not see what Parliament can do towards removing it, beyond freeing their trade from the remaining restrictions by the repeal of the Navigation Laws, which I hope will now be soon accomplished. I own I quite differ from your lordship as to the propriety of restoring to the planters the monopoly in the British market they formerly enjoyed, and I believe that the permanent interests of these colonies would be injured instead of being advanced by doing so."

CHAPTER XXIX.

LORD DUNDONALD'S RETURN FROM AMERICA.—HIS ARGUMENTS FOR THE RELIEF OF THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES AND THE WEST INDIA TRADE.—THE TRINIDAD BITUMEN.—LORD DUNDONALD'S OTHER SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS AND VIEWS.

[1851-1853.]

The Earl of Dundonald's time of service as Admiral of the West Indian and North American Stations expired in April, 1851. On the 31st of December, 1850, Sir Francis Baring wrote to inform him that Sir George Seymour had been appointed his successor. "It is with some regret," said Sir Francis, "that I have performed this duty, as it has been my pleasure to have been in communication with you, and to feel that an important command has been placed in the hands of an officer of your lordship's high professional character and merits. You must permit me, in making this announcement, to add my sincere thanks for the manner in which you conducted the duties of your position, and particularly for the valuable information you have communicated to the Board, and the attention you have paid to the many points you had brought before you."

On the 14th of May Lord Dundonald left Halifax, and he reached Portsmouth in the beginning of June. During the next few years his mind was much occupied with the further consideration of various topics suggested by his observations and explorations on the other side of the Atlantic. It will be enough to make brief allusion to the most important of these.

Subjects of hearty regret to him, repeatedly brought under his notice during his three years' stay in the North American and West Indian waters, were the great depression of the British fisheries in the neighbourhood of Newfoundland, and the yet greater depression of trade consequent on the remission of slavery in the more southern colonies. For both he sought to provide a remedy. He urged, as has already been shown in the extracts from his journal, which was published, and attracted much attention, in the summer of 1852, that special help should be given to these colonies, not only by the removal of all restrictions upon their commerce and manufactures, but by protective enactments in their favour.