22 TRINIDAD. 



change of climate, as for the advantage of a more extended and 

 solid education. Public schools were established after emancipa- 

 tion, and a few private institutions were formed to receive the 

 children of those parents whose reduced circumstances no longer 

 permitted their availing themselves of European instruction, and 

 of those who could afford to pay a small sum in giving a primary 

 education to theirs. The creation of churches and chapels, and 

 the formation of schools, was a necessary consequence of the abo- 

 lition of slavery ; but have the emancipated profited by the pro- 

 visions so liberally made ? This is the question. And as regards 

 education, it can be safely affirmed that the means of acquiring a 

 sound primary education luere placed within reach of the entire 

 mass of the population ; indeed, it may be said to have been 

 brought to each family's door. But almost everywhere they have 

 shown themselves very slow in profiting by the boon so afforded ; 

 and, unfortunately, the present state of misery has, for the last ti ve 

 years, operated as a check to the diffusion of knowledge. In fact, 

 immediately after, and for several years subsequent to, their 

 obtainment of liberty, the emancipated exhibited a great eagerness 

 to acquire those ideas which they instinctively felt to be the prime 

 agent of success, and the foundation of respectability ; but when 

 it was found that, without industry and honesty, those ideas were 

 superfluous, their acquisition was neglected to a deplorable extent. 



I do not here pretend to say there has been no progress what- 

 ever, nor that it can be expected the present generation should be 

 exempt from the vices contracted during slavery. I only mean to 

 express my conviction that more progress ought to have been 

 made, and particularly, that the habits and character of the negro 

 population ought to have improved in a greater ratio, whereas they 

 have, in several respects, deteriorated. 



It is rather remarkable that whenever an attempt is made to 

 prove that the negro population of these colonies has progressed, 

 a comparison is established between their past and present con- 

 dition between the slave and the freeman but this is not a 

 sufficient proof of an actual or positive progression ; and after 

 sixteen years of unconditional freedom something more tangible 

 might certainly be expected. Whenever the question is discussed, 

 surprise is invariably expressed that the negro population has 

 made any advance whatever under the circumstances, and that 

 sugar cultivation was not altogether discontinued. "It is sur- 

 prising," says Mr. Martin, " that sugar cultivation was continued 

 at all after emancipation, and still more remarkable that, in the 

 efforts to provide for their daily bread, the negro population should 

 have raised themselves from their former degraded position." 

 It is evident, that persons so much pleased at what did not take 

 place, must be perfectly satisfied with the present condition of the 

 emancipated class, and will not willingly listen to the complaints 



