Mr. Froude's Negrophobia. 99 
allows himself to believe. That colony may be said to 
have ' turned the corner' towards a brighter state of 
things. The value of the Exports from the Island in 
1 886, the year which ended just before Mr. Froude's 
visit, was substantially greater than in either of the two 
preceding years. Dr. NlCHOLLS is not the only man in 
the colony who is trying ' mixed cultivation/ and ' minor 
industries.' Others are doing the same thing, though 
on a smaller scale. All of these are following in the 
footsteps of the late Dr. Imray, the pioneer of the 
movement. So far from the English connection with the 
Island languishing in favour of the French, of the total 
of 304,423 tons of shipping entered and cleared there in 
1886, no less than 302,063 were British. Mr. Froude 
writes that a boatful of soldiers from Martinique could 
take the Island. He seems to be ignorant of the fa6l 
that Martinique itself has often been taken by the 
English, who might have retained possession of it to this 
day, but for the fa6l that in the old days of Protection, 
and when the West Indian interest was all-powerful, it 
did not suit English owners of West Indian property to 
have larger quantities of Sugar brought into their market 
by the annexation of French Sugar Colonies. As to our 
Negrophobist's statement that scarcely one of the inhabi- 
tants of Dominica, except the officials, would lift a finger 
to save the connection, that is a mere instance of his 
Froudacity. " You forget that we beat you at Waterloo" ! 
said an English Black Man to a French Black Man 
by way of silencing the latter. For one thing, at 
all events, the inhabitants of Dominica should feel 
thankful to Mr. FROUDE. In his anxiety that they 
should be well governed, he recommends the appointment 
N 2 
