402 TRINIDAD. 



reasonable chance of success ; and it is highly desirable it should 

 have at least a fair trial. 



But not only should inducements be offered, such as would 

 invite immigrants to Trinidad, but such encouragement should 

 also be given as would lead them permanently to settle in the 

 island ; and this can be done only by affording complete security 

 to the person and property of the immigrant, and placing his 

 rights under the protection of the law. With a view to that end, 

 a liberal system of denization, or island naturalisation, should be 

 at once established. A register could be opened at the Registrar- 

 General's Office for that purpose, in which the name of the 

 person so naturalised would be inscribed, such person paying a 

 small fee, as also the expense of having his name inserted in the 

 "Royal Gazette." All indented immigrants should be eligible 

 to the grant of naturalisation at the expiration of their inden- 

 tures, unless they should prefer returning home. All foreigners 

 becoming landholders should de facto enjoy, in the colony, all the 

 rights of British subjects ; the privileges being accorded, however, 

 only on their becoming naturalised. Will such a system be 

 deemed too liberal? But, to what purposes should the public 

 lands be reserved ? And what inconvenience could possibly 

 arise from a large influx of foreigners ? It is evident that there 

 are, in the British possessions, scattered over America, Asia, 

 Australia, and Africa, lands enough to supply the exigencies, and 

 satisfy the cravings of the most needy and avaricious. Offer, then, 

 encouragement to foreigners to come and settle amongst us, and 

 such a policy will assuredly prove as much for the benefit of 

 British commerce, as for the welfare of the colony at large. 



The same liberal views should be entertained concerning re- 

 ligion, and equal protection extended to all Christian denominations. 

 It is granted, I believe, that the impartiality shown in the United 

 States to all sects, has acted as an inducement to Europeans to 

 emigrate thither particularly catholics from Ireland and Germany, 

 in which countries their religion was exposed to daily vexations. 

 The British Government itself seems to have understood the ne- 

 cessity of such a policy, by relieving the catholic religion in the 

 colonies from the many restrictions that still fetter it in Great 

 Britain. In Canada, the catholic church is on a footing of equa- 

 lity with the church of England; in Australia and the Cape colony, 

 it has also received assistance from government. The majority of 



