om 



5 



156 TRINIDAD. 



strengthen that party, which was led by men who knew how to 

 turn every event to the best advantage. General embarrass- 

 ment, if not utter ruin, had resulted from the emancipation of 

 the slaves ; and the Creole proprietors found themselves either 

 deprived of their estates, or suffered nominally to retain them as 

 the mortgagees of capitalists in Great Britain, who, with scarcely 

 an exception, were Protestants. In either case, the prestige 

 and influence of the class were utterly lost. 



The first overt act of those who longed for a change was the 

 introduction, under the government of Sir Henry McLeod, of 

 Ordinance No. 6, 1844, known as the "Ecclesiastical Ordi- 

 nance." By this ordinance, the laws, ordinances, and canons 

 ecclesiastical of England were declared to be in force in the 

 colony; and the Church of England became the Established 

 Church of Trinidad, in defiance of the long- established custom 

 which tacitly admitted the Roman Catholic Church as t 

 Church of the island, it being that of the immense majori 

 Trinidad was then placed under the spiritual charge of the Bisb 

 of Barbadoes. 



In 1855, Sir Charles Elliott, the then Governor of the colony, 

 went a step further, and did not hesitate to show unmistakable 

 signs of active hostility towards the Catholics, nearly all of whom 

 were of foreign descent. 



He was succeeded by Governor Keate, who held on the same 

 course ; and their narrow and most injudicious policy produced 

 much social as well as political disunion. 



Fortunately for Trinidad, that policy, which had been par- 

 tially modified by the late Lord Canterbury, was completely 

 reversed by Sir Arthur Gordon, his successor, and the feeling of 

 antagonism which it had created almost immediately dis- 

 appeared. 



But I regret to be obliged to remark that there appears to be 

 a tendency in certain quarters to revive, in its most mischievous 

 form, the policy inaugurated under Sir Henry McLeod, and 

 which we hoped had been crushed by Sir Arthur Gordon. 



That such should be the case is deeply to be regretted. 

 a colony like Trinidad diversity of races will probably continue 

 to exist for many years — a contingency which some may deplore, 

 but which should not disturb their equanimity. In fact, it 

 would be a most suicidal policy on the part of the Government to 



nd 



