236 TlMEHRI. 



satisfied with the West India Company. The following 

 is a resume of the " Ideas :" — 



The profits of the Company are mostly realised from 

 the navigation and trade of the colonies. Fortifications 

 ought to be established so that an enemy might be kept 

 out, and a fleet kept constantly cruising off the coast, 

 the expenses of which should be defrayed by the nation 

 generally. The colonies should belong to the nation, 

 not to a company, and taxation be light and also regu- 

 lated by the Government of the Netherlands. If this is 

 done the profits will be great, and instead of being con- 

 fined to a few persons, will benefit the whole nation and 

 develop navigation ; on this account the states should 

 undertake to pav the costs of the defence. The nation 

 should offer premiums for agricultural improvements, 

 breeding of horses and cattle, &c. The prosperity of 

 the colonies has increased wonderfully during the last 

 ten or twelve years. The first planters were poor, but 

 hardly any of them were encumbered with debt. Estates 

 in the upper part of the rivers turned out very barren, 

 but it was soon found that there was plenty of rich land 

 at the mouths of the rivers and along the coast. Conces- 

 sions were very large at first, hut afterwards the estates 

 became split up into smaller lots. Credit was for a long 

 time- quite unknown, when it came it poured in too fast 

 — it came too early, fell in bad hands, and occasioned 

 more harm than good. If this influx of money had 

 come later, it would not have been squandered uselessly 

 on the upper river estates, but would have been used to 

 advantage on the rich low lands. On the higher grounds 

 we only get from one to three good crops of sugar, 

 while even coffee, although it looks well and appears 



