BERBTCE. 



59 



on the occasion of his visiting that island in the fall of 

 1849. It is taken from the Berbice Gazette, of October 

 15, 1849. 



" It can but prove a source of the deepest sorrow to your 

 Excellency to behold in your tour of inspection throughout 

 this county, the rapid progress of desolation and decay, 

 consequent upon the measures of the Imperial Govern- 

 ment, measures which, though intended to promote the 

 general interests of the empire, have been only attended 

 with a wholesale destruction of property here, without 

 producing an amount of benefit to the mass of the popula- 

 tion at home, in any degree commensurate with such a 

 fearful, but one-sided sacrifice. 



" We would particularly draw your Excellency's atten- 

 tion to the condition of the Courantyne Coast, the west 

 bank of the Canje Creek, and both banks of the river Ber- 

 bice, and we would pray your Excellency to compare it 

 with the condition in which you found them on your first 

 visit to this country a few years ago. 



" At that time your Excellency found magnificent estates, 

 independent and wealthy proprietors, a thriving class of 

 European subordinate officers, and a peasantry beyond all 

 comparison, the most happy and prosperous in the world. 

 Now, in every direction, your Excellency will only encounter 

 impoverished proprietors ; you will find the introduction of 

 intelligent European servants discontinued, the peasantry 

 relapsing with astonishing and most alarming rapidity into 

 a state of greater barbarism than at any former period, and 

 innumerable fine buildings and costly machinery falling 



