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TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



dren at home, and of how easy it would be not to ob- 

 serve the open door, comes upon him and then what 

 does he do ? Why, with that thought of duty in his 

 heart and his little cudgel in his hand he goes to 

 what may be certain death — with no one looking on to 

 record his valiant deed — like a valiant high-minded 

 man who fears the reproach of his conscience more 

 than the pistol bultet, or bludgeon stroke." 



There I would leave it, I would not spoil it by 

 one word of comment were it not that some of the 

 would be detractors of the Trinidad Police would like 

 to say, but this grand encomium does not apply to 

 them. Does it not ? wait and hear. I have said else- 

 where that before coming to Trinidad I served in 

 Belfast and went through two of the biggest riots 

 that have ever occurred there ; one of which lasted 

 for three weeks and took 13,000 armed troops and 

 police to suppress, and I positively assert that I have 

 never seen greater bravery than was displayed by the 

 Trinidad Police on the night of the far-famed Cannes 

 Brulee riot of the morning of of the 22nd February, 

 1881. 



Although the comments made in this chapter 

 apply with equal truth, to the Police and the Public 

 in various parts of the Kingdom, yet as it is to Trini- 

 dad that I intended it to apply, I think it right, 

 contrasting a previous long and varied experience 

 elsewhere, to bear testimony to the good and law- 

 abiding character of the inhabitants. This includes 

 not only the natives but also the various nationalities 

 residing here. 



