62 TRINIDAD. 



This is proved, I believe, not only by the history of the West 

 Indies since emancipation, but also by that of all intertropical 

 countries ; and this is, perhaps, the main point from which sugar- 

 .cultivation has received such a check in the emancipated colonies; 

 for it has been kept up or increased only where circumstances 

 either compelled the people to work for a livelihood, or where 

 indentures bound them to the sugar estates. It is to be ap- 

 prehended that, not merely will that cultivation remain stationary 

 in these islands, but that it will experience a still further decrease ; 

 but if any diminution would be a great and immediate mis- 

 fortune, certainly there is no reason why we should desire a 

 further increase. The actual price of sugar is already so little 

 remunerative that any increased supply can hardly be desired at 

 present. However, it is to be hoped that the low figure of the 

 article will tend to an increase of consumption ; and then it will 

 be time to think of a more abundant supply ; but, I repeat, there 

 is no inducement whatever to augment the present production. 

 Now, allowing that increased demand should call for increased 

 production, the industrious cotters will probably be the principal 

 agents of that production by the adoption of the division-of-labour 

 method and the establishment of central factories, as is the 

 case in Java; with this difference, however, that in Java the 

 cultivation is carried on by contractors, whereas in these islands 

 it would be performed by cotters. The system of central factories 

 I consider as the most natural and also the most beneficial to 

 all parties ; but too much has already been said on this subject 

 to call for further comment on my part in this introduction. It 

 has failed in these colonies from two obvious causes : 1st, It 

 necessitated, on the part of the planter, immediate sacrifices which 

 he felt strongly disinclined to make, though they would have been 

 followed by subsequent advantages ; 2ndly, No reliance could be 

 placed on the labouring class of cultivators ; in fact, this was the 

 great obstacle, and it will continue so for some time to come. 

 The emancipated class being destitute of capital, the cultivation 

 of staple products, and commerce in general, will be carried on 

 by and through European agents. These will establish central 

 factories, and carry on the colonial export and import trade ; but 

 the cultivation of other articles of cacao, coffee, tobacco, spices, 

 &c. will probably be more widely extended than at present, 

 because they demand neither a large capital nor much exertion. 

 This normal condition, however, must be the result of the 

 formation of an industrious body of small proprietors, whilst 

 the cultivation of the cane should be kept within its present 

 limits. 



Here I must conclude this rather lengthy preliminary to a mere 

 sketch of the island of Trinidad. But the fate of my native land 

 being more or less intimately connected with that of the other 



