346 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



two passages, one of which ought to have been in- 

 cluded in the chapter on the Inhabitants, a quotation 

 which would so aptly have coincided with the one I 

 quoted from Trollope (see page 154), it is this : — 



' 6 The fate of the white and the black man is 

 intimately connected, and in these islands, where 

 slavery no more exists, they must rise or fall to- 

 gether. Highly mistaken are those who think that 

 the emancipated Africans are able to carve out their 

 onward destinies by their own unaided efforts and 

 that the presence of the white man on the same spot 

 with them is an obstacle to their advancement. " ? 



I am glad to be able to quote such a sound pas- 

 sage from the pen of so able a man as Sir Louis de 

 Verteuil, a brilliant and versatile son of the soil, de- 

 scended from one of its oldest families and one whose 

 opinion must carry great weight with his country- 

 men. The other passage I have quoted in the de- 

 dication. 



In writing this book I have tnied to map out a 

 course somewhat different from other writers, and 

 my endeavour has been to avoid raising contentious 

 points which time alone can remedy. It is probable, 

 that notwithstanding this, some portion of it will be 

 found unacceptable to all, but if so that cannot be 

 helped. I have endeavoured to portray things and 

 events as they appeared to me, and whenever I came 

 across anything in other books which coincided with 

 my own ideas I have not hesitated to use it. 



I have said that I have reluctantly been com- 

 pelled to omit other interesting matter ; they are 



