248 EDUCATION. 



for the whole of tlie West Indian Colonies,^ as a focus of 

 liigher education ; and a focus, also, of cultivated puhlic 

 opinion, round which all that is shrewdest and noblest in the 

 islands shall rally, and find strength in moral and intellectual 

 union. I earnestly recommend all West Indians to ponder 

 Mr. Keenan's weighty words on this matter ; believing that, 

 as they do so, even stronger reasons than he has given for 

 establishing such an institution will suggest themselves to 

 West Indian minds. 



I am not aware, nor would the reader care much to know, 

 wdiat schools there may be in Port of Spain for Protestant 

 young ladies. I can only say that, to judge from the young 

 ladies themselves, the schools must be excellent. But one 

 school in Port of Spain I am bound in honour, as a clergy- 

 man of the Church of England, not to pass by without earnest 

 approval ; namely, " The Convent," as it is usually called. It 

 was established in 1836, under the patronage of the Eoman 

 Catholic Bishop, the Plight Pev. Dr. Macdonnel, and was 

 founded by the ladies of St. Joseph, a religious Sisterhood 

 which originated in France a few years since, for the special 

 purpose of diffusing instruction through the colonies.^ This 

 institution, wliich Dr. De Verteuil says is " unique in the West 

 Indies," besides keeping up two large girls' schools for poor 



1 Mr. Keenan's Eeport, pp. 63 67. 



2 Dr. De Verteuil's " Trinidad." 



