RUIN. 77 
be a lesson, for it is probable that the cotton famine 
would have been averted, or at least rendered much less 
disastrous, had the West Indies received a little help at 
the right moment. 
It was most fortunate that sugar could be made to pay 
when the other produéts fell—this redeemed the coasts 
of Demerara. Down to about 1820 this produét realised 
good returns, and it almost seemed as if the colony would 
recover from the effeéts of the downfall of the other 
produéts. It was a case of the “ survival of the fittest ;” 
sugar had been proved and found successful—coffee and 
cotton lagged behind. 
But, prices again fell, and again the planters com- 
plained that sugar could not pay. The cost of produc- 
tion varied ; a few estates managed to keep the expenses 
of produ€tion below the market price, but others lost 
money. Then began those attempts to economise which 
have been continued down to the present day. Syste- 
matic cultivation, steam engines, organisation of labour, 
and finally the vacuum-pan, helped to reduce the cost. 
It must be remembered that all the Demerara sugar 
made at the beginning of the present century wag mus- 
covado, and it is enough to make the modern planters’ 
mouth water to hear of a hundred shillings per cwt. for 
such muck as was shipped at thattime, Is it any wonder 
that when it went down to about thirty shillings, every- 
one said they would be ruined, Petitions to Parliament 
were drawn up, a Committee appointed, and a loan to 
the West Indies recommended. 
But, the great slavery question had now come to the 
front. Orders in Council limiting the hours of labour 
and giving civil rights to the negro produced great dis- 
