INTRODUCTION. 9 



poising action. This highly injudicious policy was evidently the 

 most fruitful source of miseries to the people of these islands. I 

 do not here pretend to say that legislative authority ought to have 

 been placed or left in the hands of the proprietary body ; this would 

 have been highly imprudent. But the same power which had 

 decreed emancipation ought to have prepared a code of regulations 

 for the good government of the emancipated. The greatest 

 attention was bestowed on the growth of the young tree ; all 

 obstacles were carefully cleared away, and the friends of progress 

 were elated at the wild luxuriance of its foliage ; but they did not 

 seem to have reflected that the most vigorous plant bears com- 

 paratively unsavoury fruit, and that, in order to render a tree 

 ornamental, and at the same time useful, it is necessary that it 

 should be judiciously pruned by a skilful, but unsparing hand. 

 It does not, however, form part of my plan to enter into detail on 

 this subject, or into considerations which are too late to be of any 

 utility. 



I am aware of its being maintained by many that the Act of 

 Emancipation has had nothing to do with the present position of 

 affairs in the West Indies. It cannot be denied, however, that 

 the abolition of slavery was one of the most extraordinary social 

 changes recorded in the history of the human race. It will also 

 be conceded that the most natural and immediate result 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 influ- 

 enced, temporarily, at least, the welfare of the community. 

 Again, it is evident that the change thus effected must have been 

 greater or less in degree, and more or less permanent, according 

 to the nature of the elements brought into operation ; and that, 

 in case these elements should be very dissimilar or antagonistic, 

 the reaction might be such as to produce a complete dissolution 

 of the whole mass, unless such dissolution were prevented or modi- 

 fied by concomitant conditions. 



The revolution produced was instantaneously felt in the labour- 

 market, the available amount being either directed into a new 

 channel, rendered unsteady, or permanently reduced. The 

 amount of labour diverted into new channels was not exactly lost ; 

 but was in many cases such an exchange as tended to the great 

 detriment of all classes as is shown by the immense increase in 

 the number of carpenters, masons, and other tradesmen, tailors, 

 petty shopkeepers, &c. The permanent reduction for agricultural 

 purposes was, on the contrary, a real loss to the colonies ; since 

 the cultivation of staples is the only foundation of their commerce 

 and of their prosperity. 



One of the greatest difficulties, however, with which the colo- 

 nists had to contend, was the unsettled and precarious state of the 



