CAUSES OF ADVERSITY. 405 



excessive production and unequal competition ; the usurious rate 

 of interest at which the planter is compelled to borrow, and the 

 consequent necessity of shipping his produce to the single market 

 of Great Britain ; the influence of former social institutions, and 

 the consequent unreclaimed dispositions of the labouring classes ; 

 a constant drain of specie, in payment of imported articles of con- 

 sumption, and in defraying the expenses of immigration conducted 

 under restrictive regulations, and with the absurd condition of re- 

 turning the immigrant to his country, after a certain period of 

 industrial residence ; the low state of agriculture in the colony ; a 

 defective administration ; and lastly, the present form and condi- 

 tion of our government, which does not admit of the participation 

 of the people in the management of their own affairs, a system 

 under which everything is mismanaged, or at least carried on 

 with partial views. Now, I say should this state of affairs con- 

 tinue much longer, the fate of Trinidad is sealed, the colony is 

 irretrievably ruined, and the population must relapse into barba- 

 rism, from the mere impossibility of maintaining the social insti- 

 tutions of civilisation. Should, on the other hand, the conditions 

 under which Asiatic immigration is conducted, be altered, and a 

 vigorous and, at the same time, impartial and paternal system of 

 administration be organised and carried into operation, then only 

 may we hope to bear up under the pressure of adverse realities 

 and unavoidable contingencies, until the advent of better days ; 

 and come they must, if we gird ourselves for a hopeful strife with 

 present adversity. But, I reiterate, we cannot place any dependence 

 on a change of the present commercial policy of Great Britain, which 

 itself has been an active agent in our ruin: in the management of 

 colonial affairs in Downing-street we have no voice, no action; and, 

 consequently, nothing to hope from that quarter. We must therefore 

 place our reliance, under Providence, on circumstances and our 

 own exertions. As regards circumstances, it is clear that the 

 consumption of sugar is not at present in fair relation with the 

 quantity produced throughout the world ; and, as a consequence, 

 the price is irremunerative. It is, therefore, the height of folly to 

 extend the cultivation of the sugar-cane at present ; the planter 

 ought to direct his energies, rather to the improvement of the 

 cane cultivation at its actual extent, and of sugar manufacture, in 

 process and quality, whilst he patiently waits for a larger demand. 

 Now, is an improvement in the quality of sugar a desirable object ? 



