, 1866-12-14

abundantly, not for the masses, but in support of themselves, their priv.
leges, and their order. But byand-by their opponents, daily increasing
in knowledge and numbers, will become toe strong FOL them, inc when
that happens many a hobby will be merclessly swept away. Ii the
franchise in Barbados should ever be so extended as to allow the MAORI
ty to govern, and | do not see how such a movement can be consistently
prevented, | should only be able to hope that the passionate and revenge
full temper of the colOred people would not carry them beyond the bounds
of moderation and make them dissatisfied with mere political equality.
/ have seen too many exhibitions of prejudice and violent feeling against
the whites to permit me to believe the statements of leading men in this
island that one class entertain no il-wIl against the other. The mulatO,
educated and enlightened as he is, feels much more acutely the lnferiOri
ty of his position now than he felt it as a slave; and this feeling of social
inferiority in consequence of color is calculated to excite and keep alive
the animOsity of a people much more readily than the sense OF any
other wrong. | can assert positively that it IS not the prevailing opinion
among the whites themselves that they are regarded with too much
affection by their social interiors. Some short time ago the British gov
leave only the black, but the proposition created such general alarm that
the idea was abandoned. I do not mean to say that the removal of the
force would have been followed by any thing so absurd as an insurrec-
tim; l simply wish to show that an insumechon was considered, in such
project created no little uneainess. 1t is, moreover, a fact that this
very proposition to withdraw the white troops was freely discussed among
the lower classes of the people, and their notion, very generally express
ed, was that they would Mm be able "to do as they liked"
While / think it established that free labor IN Barbados is cheaper
than slave labor, and that, therefore, til a success, there still remain
unsettled issues, social and political, flowing from emancipation which
may one day create trouble. The planters have done nothing to con-
ciate the peasant population on the contrary, they have done all they
could to keep them IN low wages and in dependent servltude. The
peasant, then, is under the complete influence of the mulatto, between
whom and the white there exists a feeling amounting almost to hostility.
The halfcaste, after he has acquired wealth and independence, does not
and will not comprehend the inexorable prejudceS which still keep him
the inferior of the white, and be frets under the restraint. While, there
fore, these preiudices remain, and I see no sign of their disappearance,
and the mulato o middle class continue to increase in strength and
influence, the day must come when their interests and the prejudices of
the white population will more openly conflict, and, with chances of
success more nearly equal, will strive for the mastery. Both can not
triumph, nor can both always exist together. Happily the colonies
acknowledge the sway of a power strong enough to control them, and
to prevent mems passions leading them to follow examples like those
that we read fin Hayian history.