, 1876-05-31

peace; but what we fancy neither party will
be able to prove to the satisfaction of Her
Maiesty's Government, the English people,
and the West Indian public, is, that it is in-
nocent of having used in1ammatory language,
Of having tried to outbid the other for popular
support, of having represented itself as the
true friend of the masses, and its opponents
as the embodiment Of pride, prejudice, greed,
and malignant cunning,-in brief, OF having
excited the people. The rival factions did
far worse than bring accusations of political
degeneracy against each other had they stop
ned at that point all might have yet been WELL
at least what had been done might have been
condoned, for a certain degree Of banter
elimination and recrimination, is scarcely
avoidable in the discussion of important poiti~
cal questions. But the foulest personalities
we're exchanged Representatives so foul, so
poisonous, as almost, one ~fancies, to blister
the tongues and oorrode the pens with which
they we're spoken and written. The canalLIs
were told in speeches and leading articles that
certain persons in the higher walks of life were
as licentious, as unprincipled, as Iowbreds
and as hungry as hemselVes-Were in fact
creatures not worthy Of any human beings
respect. In these rencounters the Anti-Con~
federates, we grieve to say, went TOO far, very,
very far, greater lengths than their opponents
OQIlU9 Iu5 4 OF y W6GhS pI6FIOuS W bHo dltA~
val of the Mail on Tuesday their press seems
literally to have escaped from all control.
Governor H8nnessy has been reviled as per-
haps no malefactor ever was, and as for Mr..
Semper, for whose abilities and disposition
his compatriots in the LeeWard Islands cannot
help entertaining q degree of admiration, II
is easier to say what has not been spoken
and written against him than what has. His
whole life has been laid bare to the public
gaze by critics whose role it was to say
everything bad and nothing good of him. In
terms Of undisguised JOY the papers report,
too, how he was kicked at this place, Kissed
at that, and saved from personal violence az
the other only by the interpOsition of the pc
lice, who then come in for anathemas for hay
ing rescued such a monster from the tangs
Of the mob. 1t is proper to add that some
of these reports have been officially contradlc-
ted; but, true or false. all such language on
the part of those whose duty it is to form the
public taste, and lead the public opinion.
are simply revolving to every civilised mind,
Oae wonders how sensible persons could have
supposed that such speeches and writings could
have contributed to the peace Of an excitable
community like Barbados, or exercised any
beneficial effects on the minds of the persons
assaulted. Blast the pirate characters of
men in authority-teach the lower orders that
those above them are no better than them
selves-set them the example Of shoWering
down foul abuse upon the heads Of all who
differ from them ia opinion on political ques-
tons, and you most assuredly sap the fOun-
dations Of law and Order-you open the. flood
gates to a deluge which must sooner or later
overwhelm all classes-you create a monster
which will in time turn and rend you. Con-
federates and Anti onfederates have sowod
the wind in Barbados, and reaped the whirl-
wind.
When we have done and said all, however,
it must be admitted that the balance Of blame
rests on the shoulders of the Governor and
his advisers. In the first place, be ought mot
to have broached the question of Federation
at the time, and in the manner that he did
breach it; and in the next place, after be
got the Legislatures reply to the Address In
which he proposed the celebrated "six points"
and discovered the temper Of the community,
he should have poeketed his pride and with
drawa his scheme-at least for a time. But
he has to a great extent redeemed his errors
by suppressing the riots, with the aid of the
Bridgetown Volunteers, without resorting to
the barbarous oxpedient Of "martial law" 1t
is, however, scarcely possible under all the
circumstances, that his stay in Barbados can
be very long it is certain that Lord Oarnar-
Won, and whoever may be Governor of Bar
bados, will have to give up all idea of carry
ing Federation for a very long time.
(Fr0m the Trinidad CAro.icle.)