4 



INTRODUCTION. 



tion, and are only divided in opinion as to the race who 

 are best suited for the climate and requirements of the 

 Colonies. Thus we have advocates for European labourers.- 

 for Kroonien, Hindoos, Portuguese of Madeira ; and a late 

 writer on the subject extols the Chinese above all others ; 

 and thinks that an immediate importation of 250,000 

 labourers from that empire would prove to be a universal 

 panacea for all the evils that threaten or have befallen the 

 West Indian Colonies, 



The experiment of immigration has been tried to £ 

 certain extent, and I cannot think it has at all realized the 

 expectations of those persons who have made the trial, 

 The expense of it has been very great, and the benefits 

 derived from it have been not at all commensurate. It may 

 be objected, that the success of the scheme could not be 

 fairly tested because tried on so very limited a scale ; but 

 I think it a hazardous experiment to invest so much capital 

 as would be required to carry out a measure, the success of 

 which is doubtful. And, besides, we do not perceive that in 

 those places where the native population is most abun- 

 dant, as in Barbados, they have been much better off, 

 than in those Colonies where labour has been comparatively 

 scarce. There has been nearly as much complaint of 

 distress and ruin from the Planters of that densely 

 populated island, as from other Colonies much more thinly 

 peopled. 



It is possible, that had more time elapsed between the 

 enactment and the operation of the measures deter- 



