INTRODUCTION. 7 



" 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 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, then, that the British nation, holding possessions 

 in this Archipelago, take so little interest in their welfare as nearly 

 to have given them up to ruin, misery, and eventual barbarism ? 

 How is it that these colonies, once so eagerly coveted, are in our 

 days virtually neglected and disregarded? In explanation of 

 these melancholy facts several reasons may be adduced. 



The growing importance of the Eastern trade, and the dis- 

 covery of gold in Australia, have monopolised public attention ; 

 and the almost unparalleled success of the free-trade policy, which 

 tends to render the whole world an open field for British enter- 

 prise, has greatly diminished the importance of colonies in general, 

 and of the West Indies in particular. 



So great is the present prosperity of the British nation, and 

 so solidly based does it appear, that, in their estimation, no events 

 are likely to disturb that prosperity ; it is not even suspected that 

 these possessions, to become once more important, only claim and 

 require some fostering care, but that both their claims and appeals 

 are entirely disregarded. The once crack, but now disabled, ship 

 is abandoned ; but look beyond, and there behold a rival cruising 

 around ready to pick up any part of the wreck, and offering every 

 assistance to the crew. 



The present state of depression of the emancipated colonies 

 is evidently one cause of their being neglected. Capital 



