New-York tribune., 1892-01-07
IRON RULE IN THE INDIES
AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLAND'S COLONIAL.
METHODS

GOVERNMENTS WHICH HAMPER THEIR IN.
DUsTMEs, CONSUME THEIR REEoURCEs
AND OFFEND THEIR SELF-REspECT.
FROM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIRrxp
Bridgetown, Barbados, British West Indies.
December. 26
II will materially aid to an understanding of
the commercial conditions of these British islands
10 know the methods of their govG-hment by
England. and these can possibly be best portrayed
bv contrasting them with the government of an
American Territory There is no such thing in
England's colonial policy as system. Her colo
nies were acquired in SO many ways-by dis
covery, by conquest, by a gradually increasing
influence asserted first through trading companies
such as those which once hourished in India and
now operate in East Africa, by treaties of cesson
and grants of friendly Powers-and they contain
populations strangely different, that it has
never been physically possible to create system
of administration applicable to all At TIE same
time. scores Of crude and incongruOus provisions
exist almost everywhere that are constant and
necessary source of veXati0n to the colonies. and
that do admit of easy Improvement More aggra-
waiting than all is the prostitution of the colonial
service to the political necessities of the govern
ing parties at home For this, of course, there is
no excuse at all. 1t is scandalous and degrading.
Even in those colonies which possess con-
s;itutonal rights. the presence in their highest
and most honorable offices Of impecunious nobodieS
placed there for no other reason than that they
ore the. nephews and cousins of some influential
person at home, whose purse or power the party
managers have tapped, naturally eXcites resent
ment. In such colonies they do no great harm.
for the excellent reason that they not allowed
to, but they cost a great deal of money Tor which
the colonies get no sort OF return.
In the crown colonies, which are generally
small and struggling these imported official classes
are an unmitgated evil The difficulties of adj
ministration are bound to increase in proportion
rs the colonies are poor. and logically the civil
establishment imposed by the mother country
should be small and competent But as matter
of fact they are almost always m1ch larger than
the colonies need and of painfully inferior qualty
This is the main cause of that dissatisfaction
with colonial institutions which is Observable
throughout the British Empire. Even i'll Canada
where 100000 people pay as much for an ln-
ported GovernOr-General, who has no more IN
huence upon affairs than his valet, as 6o,ooo,Ooo
Americans pay for the services of an Executive
whose authority is vast, and, within Its legally
defined limits, supreme. the question, Does this
thing pay?" is uppermost in every ones mind.
In Newfoundland and Australia, where English
power has similarly fallen into nothingness, pre-
ci>ely the same question is being asked, and few.
oven of those who desire TO continue the British
connection, doubt that the logical answer lis The
one which will finally be rendered. Here IN the
West Indies totally different condition pre-
walls and yet here too that question Is on every
Lodv,s tonque In all but one of these colonies
Fnclish Government is drastic and complete. Inc
voice that speaks in Downing Street speaks with
an authority that none but the Barbadlans uaie
10 DISPUTE. 1t cannot prevent the people lIoin
tbinl,inq. however and their thoughts are re-
fccted in a thousand complaints. All OF THESE
can be fairly expressed in the sentences " England
does nothing for US; her markets are open TO Us
on no better terms than to the rest of the world;
ber military power does us good, for the days
If pillace and plumber over, and the Greau
Pepublic to whose food supply our staple PROD
acts are a necessity, would never permit us 10
no ravaged: interests ere now chlchS
lodoed in America, and are moving thither
in greater proportion every year
the financial resources which we could formerly
ol,,ain from England to the full extent of our
requirements, are now given more ana more
crndcinely and in sums constantly growing smaller
while American capital engages IN our business
more largely every year, and we are fast being
hrought face to face with situation IN which
the only result of our British connection is the
imnoeition of a government administered from
abroad twice as expensive as 1T should De- ana
little calculated to promote our prosperity
When YOU get into the confidence of that part
of these British West Indians which Is composed OF
the INTELLIGENT non-oilical and really interested
pcople-and they, of course, are the people VINO
count-ths is the kind of talk you invariably
hear 1t is not said in disloyal way Many ol
those who say it were born in England, and many
more are of recent English porentage. 1t pro
Irrlsa sanH'S frl
policy, which her colonies have been repeatedly
pjven to understand is no longer open TO dis
cussion. That shuts them off completely
Wherever the British ensign floats there
is a profound sentiment of attachment 10 British
institutions loyalty to the Queen, and adnilra-
ton for " Old England" But British cOloniss, Ike
tie rest Of mankind have TO eat and drink, ana
they cannot shut their eyes TO social ana poIlll-
cal condition which MAKES their present burdens
heavy and shows no hope Of future especliilS
when another condition with splendid POSSIBLE
ties looms large before them They dont see
things now as they did before the war England
WAS then their market, and whatever strengthened
England strengthened them. They regarded an
exchange of Southern cotton for Eneilsh manu-
factures as an arrangement greatly 10 their in
tercst, and they quite prepared To believe that
Yankees had horns and that nothing good in the
way Of a manufactured article could possibly come
from New-York. Even American food products,
except -four, then held in contempt. Free
trade was working all right for the West Indians.
and they had doubt of its eternal excellence and
wisdom.
All this feeling has been swept away. Free
Trade has worked out its necessary results in
England, which, however good for the English
consumer Of food stufis and materials for
manufacture, are fatal TO the West Indian sugar
grower His sugar, carried $500 miles across
the sea- has but little chance against the bounty
helped sugar of Belgium and Germany. Protection