The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-02-14 00:00:00

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

EDUCATION FOR THE BRITISH COLONIES.

LETTER V.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

To show the extent of the ungranted lands in Trinidad,
to the quantity granted, I beg now to call your attention
to the evidence taken before a committee of the House of

Assembly, for the year 1841. Martin Sorsano, Esq., a
gentleman holding the situation of commissary of popula-
tion, and surveyor general of the island, a descendant of
Contador et Exercito, under the Spanish Government,

said, in his evidence before the committee, at Port of
Spain There are 180 sugar estates, of which 104 have
distilleries : 21,710 acres are planted in canes ; 6,910
cocoa ; 1,095 coffee ; 6,313 provisions • 7,237 pasture :
total in cultivation, 43,265. Acres granted in the colony,
208,379 ; ungranted, 1,079,301. Total acres according to
Captain Columbine, which Mr. Lorsano thought the cor-
rect one, 1,287,680 : according to Captain Mallet, 1,536,000.
From the immense number of ungranted acres of land in
_ _

the island, it is evident that Trinidad is capable of sup-
porting a very much larger population than she has at
present. What is remarkable is, that the population of
some of the West India islands is much less now than it

was two centuries ago. I3arbadoes for instance is said to
have had, in the year 1676, a population of 70,000 whites,
and 80,000 blacks, making in all 150,000 souls. In 1666,
the island had an effective military force of 20,000 infantry,
and 3,000 cavalry, composed entirely of the colonists.
The number, extent, and importance of our West India
islands to England is little known to the general public of
the country. With the exception of Jamaica, and one or
two others, little is known of them : they might as well,
nearly, so far as the public interest themselves- in them,
have no existence. Their interests are never cared for,

and the progress of their people in science, morals, or re-
ligion, unheeded. When I say this, I speak, sin., of the
nation at large. I know that, in some of them, indivi-
duals have long had their hands at the plough, and have
not proved themselves unworthy of the Kingdom of
Heaven by
i looking backward ; but what can a few indi-
viduals do n a matter which should be done by the na,

tion at I;ge ? Just to give your readers some idea of the
number of little island paradises which rise from the blue
waters of the Atlantic, and from the towers which guard
their towns oar countrymen see, as they sail, by on
their way to other lands the old familiar flag of their
country, waving in the hot breeze and bright sunshine,
let me call your attention to that numerous constellation
the T3—"ldas. or Somer Isles. These islands are more
than 300 in numot,.. The principal of them are St.
George's, Ireland, St. DaVlce-, Somerset, Paget, Lang-
bird, and Smith's. St. George s +he- main island ;
Somerset and Ireland form a chain, With very little ex-
eeption, of about thirty miles in length, though In breadth
they are not near so mtreh, forming, as the do, some-
thing like a shepherd's crook. Groves of cedar-trees are
here and there detached on; plains of rising ground; wiikh,
with the numerous basinit formed by the island's, give

very much the appearance of lake scenery. The tiivin of
St. George, on the island of the same name, stands en the
south side of the eastern extremity of the island, in a sort
of amphitheatre, low built, and with narrow streets.
These islands have their own legislature and council, and
the inhabitants are distinguished for their industry, good
morals, and hospitality. Then, again, there are that sin-
gular group of isles termed the Lucayes, or Bahamas,

Which extend in a crescent-like farm frorn. the Matanillii

Reef_to Turk's Island, a distance of about 600 miles. New

Providence •is eonsideied the most important of the Lucaya
islands : on it is Nassau, the seat of government for the.
isles, and the head quarters of the naval and military
establishments. The most important islands are Hog
Island, Rose island, Harbour Island; Turk's Island, and
North and South, Biminis ; these islands are well wooded
and watered, having also capacious anchorage for large
shipping. The streets of Nassau are- well laid out, and
the public buildings good. How many of the public are
there that know nothing of the groups of islands I have

just named ? The Bei:raudas some may have heard of,
but their notion of them is, that they are two or three
insignificant spots Lwhile, of the Bahamas, I dare assert

that thousands will acknowledge they did not know of
their existence, though no less than three hundred have

been enumerated as existing. I could advance some in-
teresting statistical details in connection- with the other
islands, but the immense ground to go over compels me
to hurry on with a racer's speed, or the ground will not
be got over. Thus I must close, at present, with a few
general reflections upon the negro's character and condi-
tion in the islands of the 'West Indies.

In their amusements;. the negroes display" a marked

fondness for the dance, and narratives partaking of the
marvellous. The dance is- now conducted by them with
a great deal more decorum than formerly, when slavery
existed among them. So• fond of this amusement are
they, that parties will not break up for three or four days
when they meet to enjoy it. A wild mirth. and jollity is
manifested by them when. engaged in it. So fond are

they also, of narratives, that when they meet on a moon-
light night to listen to some tale of African origin, they
will remain the whole of the night. They have a great
relish for this kind of amusement, and eagerly pick
up any tale they can hear, about their betters, which they
relate with great seeming pleasure. The loud laughter
with which such tales are received by the company show
their relish for them. Light-hearted gossip they have a
relish for, and embrace every opportunity for indulging
in it. Thus, when they gathar frvathor. at one of their
cottage doors, when the full moon is throwing ILS .li,
light around them, and Illumining the dark shades of
night, tales of wonder and" romance are related by those
among them who have the talent for oral narrative, while
the rest hearken with the most intense interest. The
godt with which they relate, and the embellishment they
give, to these tales, whether of romance or scandal, show
that they both enjoy it themselves, and that it is enjoyed
also by their auditors. Through this avidity for narra-
me, great, iwpes may be justly entertained of their im-
prottment, if education be diffused among them, and the
power to read a general acquirement. Evidently, they
have a natural talent for history, and, were education pro-
moted among them, the great events in it would be the
subjects of narrative, to the moonlight parties, instead of
wild tales or idle gossip. The achievements of Alexander
and Tamerlane, Julius Cnsar and Hannibal, Cceur-de-Lion
and Wellington, might form the subjects of narrative to
them. History would be an inexhaustible field of in-

formation and interest for them ; and, if well educated,
they would be able to cull. from its pages lessons of in-
struction and wisdom. The troublous epochs in history,
when war raged from nation to nation with a terrific
fierceness; these eras which rise from out the past like
mountain ridges above the level, plains, or lofty rocks
from amid the waters of the sea, would be estimated pro- .
perly. What benefits did they confer- upon the nations ?
Wat progress was made in morals, or science in conse
quence ? would be questions asked by them in connection,
with those periods. Conquerors and armies waging battle,.
the victors returning in triumph,laden and enriched with
the rubies, pearls, and gold of the vanquished, and with•
their banners of victory proudly waving above them : the
pages of history which relate these things would not be
those most loved and dwelt upon by the West Indians,
however pompous the language, or brilliant the rhetoric
employed by the historian to depict them ; neither would
they take from history's pages her grand eras and splendid
epochs to make with their imaginations a glowing- para-
dise, and to people it with, the heroes of war ; the-magni-
ficent epochs which tower above the mists and glooms of
time into the mental sunshine of the present, like the
domes, mosques, minarets, and spires of religious temples
into the blue firmament above the towns of Europe and
Oriental. countries, would still get their rightful: meed of
praise and admiration, but nothing more. They would
know how to value them. And when she unrolled
her pages of the past before them, and allowed them
to gaze in conception upon the great cities of the ancient
world—Thebes and Memphis, Babylon and, Nineveh, Pal-
myra and Persepolis, Balbec and Tyre, Carthage and Sidon,
with all the hosts that follow in their train, an elevation
would be given to their character of which: we little dream.
Fancy a party of megroes met, on a beautiful moonlight
night, at one of their cottage doors, in Dominica, and with
a full view of the Rousseau Valley, lighted up with the
beams of a fall round moon ; and what must be their
emotions when traversing the streets and squares of
those magnificent cities iu the days of their pride and
greatness, when they were the- glory of the earth
for their magnificence and splendour ? Clearly they would
have emotions a hundred times more lofty than at the
present time, when they have to manufacture some Africo
—American romance, or tale of island gossip. Some
there are, I know, who have condemned the negro as not
capable of such emotions as I have ascribed to him. One
writer in particular has heaped the most unreserved abuse
upon them as a low, cruel, selfish, and brutal race ; but
evidently he has been troubled with the spleen during his.
stay among them ; even the islands presented little beauty
to him, and, in fact, were it not, that once or twice, in.
the course of his two good sized volumes, he acknowledges
having passed through scenery which was of surpassing
beauty, one might be tempted to deny him the powers of
imagination altogether.. Some natures there are that can
see no beauty in anything thing familiar to them ; to
detract and degrade seems their natural forte; they belong
to the class among mankind called grumblers ; dissatisfied
with themselves they are the same with all the world.
The writer I am speaking of has belaboured a brother for
describing scenes as beautiful, when his stay among them
was only for a limited period. It does not require a long
residence in any place to discover the beauties of its
natural scenery. These rush upon the soul at the first
view, and can be valued early. Some men, when they
live any time in a place, verify the old saying that
an " 11l bird befouls its own nest." They are those who
reverse the beautiful lines of the poet applied to the
patriot, whose " First best country always is at home."
Theirs, on the contrary, is everywhere but at home,
which is the worst and bleakest in the world. Fatherland
is a land of sorrows, dreary as the coast of Labrador.
The greatest detracters from the beauty of the West
Indies have not been able to deny to the views from
Cayon in St. Kitt's, and from Monte Bruce, in Dominica,
up the Rosseau Valley, the attribute of beauty. Nevis
also is a place of great beauty ; so is the view from Fig
Tree Hill in Antigua. St. Vincent also has scenes of great
beauty.
One of the least favourable witnesses which could be called
up to give testimony in favour of the negroes, says: "I visit-
ed the Moravian settlement in Bermuda Valley, Antigua,
when the children in the school were drawn out in a line,
and questioned upon geography. Their answers, as efforts
of memory, were most astonishing. The teacher, he says,
asked them what country is that which lies in the north
of Africa ? Egypt was the general answer immediately,
given by the whole of them. Its far famed river (the
Nile), with its direction and the chief cities were all
correctly gone through. The Mediterranean, with its
islands, volcanoes, &c., were all gone over and named by
the class. But in all that was given, the same person saw
nothing but a mere effort of memory, the children repeat-
ing, parrot like, what they had been told before. In fact,
the same party seems to think that negroes are very little
in advance of monkeys, and what he saw in the Bermuda
Valley, exhibited by negro boys, from seven to ten years
of age' was nothing more than what parrots could be
taught to do. But the same objections have been hurled
at the English universities for years, namely, that the
highest honours have been conferred upon men for repeat-
ing portions of Latin and Greek books, without any
regard to a knowledge of the truth, or falsehood of
the books themselves, or whether the views of science or
morals which they inculcated were true or false. It was
mere word scholarship, ppeatimg from money the words