INTRODUCTION. 7 



"What other arm of the ocean is between two Continents 

 with opposite seasons? Where is there another gulf-stream, 

 uniting the waters of an Amazon with the waters of a Mississippi, 

 an extra-tropical with an inter-tropical river? Where, in the 

 wide ocean, or the wider world, is there another Mesopotamian 

 sea, that is the natural outlet for a system of river-basins draining 

 an extent of arable and fertile lands greater than the Continent 

 of Europe can contain, that yield all the productions of the torrid 

 and the temperate zones ? 



" From the Gulf of Mexico, all the great commercial markets 

 of the world are down hill. A vessel bound from the gulf to 

 Europe, places herself in the current of the great stream, and 

 drifts along with it at the rate, for part of the way, of 80 or 100 

 miles a day. 



" And when there shall be established a commercial thorough- 

 fare across the isthmus, the trade-winds of the Pacific will place 

 China, India, New Holland, and all the islands of that ocean 

 down hill also, from this sea of ours. In that case, all Europe 

 must pass by at our very doors on the great highway to the 

 markets both of the East and West Indies. 



" This beautiful Mesopotamian sea is in a position to occupy 

 the summit level of navigation, and to become the great com- 

 mercial receptacle of the world. Our rivers run into it, and float 

 down with their currents the surplus articles of merchandise that 

 are produced upon their banks. Arrived with them upon the 

 bosom of this grand marine basin, there are the currents of the 

 sea and the winds of heaven so arranged by nature, that they 

 drift it and waft it down hill, and down stream, to the great 

 market-places of the world." 



This is a spirited, and, to the reflective statesman, a true 

 picture of this Mesopotamian sea, as the talented writer calls it. 

 But the Antilles form its Eastern limits, and, therefore, must 

 evidently participate in its importance. 



How is it that these islands, once so eagerly coveted, are, 

 in our days, virtually neglected and disregarded ? The present 

 state of depression of the emancipated colonies is evidently the 

 main cause of their being neglected. Capital does not venture 

 where there is little profit to expect, and only precarious security. 



The abolition of slavery was one of the most extraordinary 

 social changes recorded in the history of the human race. It 

 will be conceded that the natural and immediate results must 

 have been a greater or less revolution in the relations of the 

 different classes which then constituted colonial society : and I 

 take it for granted that such disorganisation must have influenced 

 temporarily, at least, the welfare of the community. 



The revolution produced was instantly felt in the labour 



