INTRODUCTION. 57 



religion is also encouraged, and Christianity is, above all, the great 

 civiliser. The elements of civilization are therefore more numerous, 

 more active, and more vigorous in the Dominican than in the Hay- 

 tian people ; and of course the position of the former as a nation 

 must improve, whilst the latter must as certainly remain stationary 

 within the walls of exclusion which they have thrown up around 

 themselves. The Haytians will ultimately be constrained to follow 

 the good example of their neighbours, or sink into the insignificance 

 which must naturally result from their narrow-minded policy. 

 The island of Hayti is second, in extent and fertility, to Cuba 

 only, and must attract European commerce and enterprize, when 

 the guarantee of security shall be thereunto attached. 



Jamaica is, at the present moment, in a most precarious and 

 lamentable condition. The causes which have brought on the 

 present deplorable condition of that beautiful and important 

 island are various and complex. But the principal cause is, no 

 doubt, the indifference manifested by the Home Government 

 towards British possessions in these seas. And yet Jamaica is on 

 the route from Europe to the Pacific, to China, Japan, and the 

 isles of the East, through the centre of the American continent, 

 whether by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, the Lake of 

 Nicaragua, or even the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Kingston has 

 already become a station for steamers from New York to Navy 

 Bay, the terminus of the Panama Railway in the Caribbean Sea ; 

 and is it not, from its situation and the excellence of its port, the 

 natural station for vessels coming from or going to the river San 

 Juan ? The British nation, therefore, must either take a redeem- 

 ing interest in the " Island of Springs," or, by continuing to neg- 

 lect its natural resources, allow it to transfer all its advantages to 

 some other nation more provident and enterprizing than itself. 



Trinidad is second, in positional importance, to Cuba alone : 

 from its situation, it commands the extensive valley of the Orinoco, 

 of which immense and teeming river-basin the Gulf of Paria is 

 the natural outlet. Irrespective of this, its own soil is richly 

 fertile, and nearly the whole extent of the island is still covered 

 with virgin forests. 



Of the smaller islands I say nothing, because, though each 

 has its own status, and may exercise a certain limited share of 

 influence, they must all follow the general fate of the larger; 

 they may, therefore, be considered as mere satellites moving 

 in their own orbits, yet within the sphere of attraction of greater 

 planets. 



Ere the lapse of fifty years, the great commercial thorough- 

 fare from Europe and the shores of the Atlantic to the regions 

 bathed by the Pacific, from Chili to Oregon, and from New 

 Zealand up to Japan, an immense extent of rich and populous 

 countries, will be through Central America. The Western Archi- 



