Chapter I: Preface: To First Edition

My purpose in writing this book is so fully explained in the book itself that a Preface is unnecessary. I visited the West India Islands in order to increase my acquaintance with the condition of the British Colonies. I have related what I saw and what I heard, with the general impressions which I was led to form.

In a few instances, when opinions were conveyed to me which were important in themselves, but which it might be undesirable to assign to the persons from whom I heard them, I have altered initials and disguised localities and circumstances.

The illustrations are from sketches of my own, which, except so far as they are tolerably like the scenes which they represent, are without value. They have been made producible by the skill and care of the engraver, Mr. Pearson, to whom my warmest thanks are due.

J.A.F.

ONSLOW GARDENS: _November 15, 1887_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Colonial policy--Union or separation--Self-government--Varieties of
condition--The Pacific colonies--The West Indies--Proposals
for a West Indian federation--Nature of the population--American
union and British plantations--Original conquest of
the West Indies 1

CHAPTER II.

In the train for Southampton--Morning papers--The new 'Locksley
Hall'--Past and present--The 'Moselle'--Heavy weather--The
Petrel--The Azores 10

CHAPTER III.

The tropics--Passengers on board--Account of the Darien
canal--Planters' complaints--West Indian history--The Spanish
conquest--Drake and Hawkins--The buccaneers--The pirates--French
and English--Rodney--Battle of April 12--Peace with honour--Doers
and talkers 20

CHAPTER IV.

First sight of Barbadoes--Origin of the name--Pere Labat--Bridgetown
two hundred years ago--Slavery and Christianity--Economic
crisis--Sugar bounties--Aspect of the streets--Government
House and its occupants--Duties of a governor of Barbadoes 32

CHAPTER V.

West Indian politeness--Negro morals and felicity--Island of St.
Vincent--Grenada--The harbour--Disappearance of the whites--An
island of black freeholders--Tobago--Dramatic art--A
promising incident 41

CHAPTER VI.

Charles Kingsley at Trinidad--'Lay of the Last Buccaneer'--A
French _forban_--Adventure at Aves--Mass on board a pirate ship--Port
of Spain--A house in the tropics--A political meeting--Government
House--The Botanical Gardens--Kingsley's rooms--Sugar
estates and coolies 51

CHAPTER VII.

A coolie village--Negro freeholds--Waterworks--Snakes--Slavery--
Evidence of Lord Rodney--Future of the negroes--Necessity of
English rule--The Blue Basin--Black boy and crayfish 66

CHAPTER VIII.

Home Rule in Trinidad--Political aspirations--Nature of the
problem--Crown administration--Colonial governors--A Russian
apologue--Dinner at Government House--'The Three Fishers'--Charles
Warner--Alternative futures of the colony 75

CHAPTER IX.

Barbadoes again--Social condition of the island--Political
constitution--Effects of the sugar bounties--Dangers of general
bankruptcy--The Hall of Assembly--Sir Charles Pearson--Society
in Bridgetown--A morning drive--Church of St. John's--Sir
Graham Briggs--An old planter's palace--The Chief Justice of
Barbadoes 88

CHAPTER X.

Leeward and Windward Islands--The Caribs of Dominica--Visit of
Pere Labat--St. Lucia--The Pitons--The harbour at Castries--Intended
coaling station--Visit to the administrator--The old
fort and barracks--Conversation with an American--Constitution
of Dominica--Land at Roseau 113

CHAPTER XI.

Curiosities in Dominica--Nights in the tropics--English and Catholic
churches--The market place at Roseau--Fishing extraordinary--A
storm--Dominican boatmen--Morning walks--Effects of the
Leeward Islands Confederation--An estate cultivated as it ought
to be--A mountain ride--Leave the island--Reflections 132

CHAPTER XII.

The Darien canal--Jamaican mail packet--Captain W.--Retrospect
of Jamaican history--Waterspout at sea--Hayti--Jacmel--A
walk through the town--A Jamaican planter--First sight of the
Blue Mountains--Port Royal--Kingston--The Colonial Secretary--Gordon
riots--Changes in the Jamaican constitution 155

CHAPTER XIII.

The English mails--Irish agitation--Two kinds of colonies--Indian
administration--How far applicable in the West Indies--Land at
Kingston--Government House--Dinner party--Interesting
officer--Majuba Hill--Mountain station--Kingston
curiosities--Tobacco--Valley in the Blue Mountains 180

CHAPTER XIV.

Visit to Port Royal--Dockyard--Town--Church--Fort Augusta--The
eyrie in the mountains--Ride to Newcastle--Society in
Jamaica--Religious bodies--Liberty and authority 195

CHAPTER XV.

The Church of England in Jamaica--Drive to Castleton--Botanical
Gardens--Picnic by the river--Black women--Ball at Government
House--Mandeville--Miss Roy--Country society--Manners--American
visitors--A Moravian missionary--The modern
Radical creed 208

CHAPTER XVI.

Jamaican hospitality--Cherry Garden--George William Gordon--The
Gordon riots--Governor Eyre--A dispute and its consequences--Jamaican
country-house society--Modern speculation--A
Spanish fable--Port Royal--The commodore--Naval theatricals--The
modern sailor 224

CHAPTER XVII.

Present state of Jamaica--Test of progress--Resources of the
island--Political alternatives--Black supremacy and probable
consequences--The West Indian problem 243

CHAPTER XVIII.

Passage to Cuba--A Canadian commissioner--Havana--The Moro--The
city and harbour--Cuban money--American visitors--The
cathedral--Tomb of Columbus--New friends--The late rebellion--Slave
emancipation--Spain and progress--A bull fight 253

CHAPTER XIX.

Hotels in Havana--Sights in the city--Cigar manufactories--West
Indian industries--The Captain-General--The Jesuit college--Father
Vinez--Clubs in Havana--Spanish aristocracy--Sea
lodging house 272

CHAPTER XX.

Return to Havana--The Spaniards in Cuba--Prospects--American
influence--Future of the West Indies--English rumours--Leave
Cuba--The harbour at night--The Bahama Channel--Hayti--Port
au Prince--The black republic--West Indian history 291

CHAPTER XXI.

Return to Jamaica--Cherry Garden again--Black servants--Social
conditions--Sir Henry Norman--King's House once more--Negro
suffrage--The will of the people--The Irish python--Conditions
of colonial union--Oratory and statesmanship 308

CHAPTER XXII.

Going home--Retrospect--Alternative courses--Future of the
Empire--Sovereignty of the sea--The Greeks--The rights of
man--Plato--The voice of the people--Imperial federation--Hereditary
colonial policy--New Irelands--Effects of party government 318

* * * * *

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Mountain Crater, Dominica _Frontispiece_
Silk Cotton Tree, Jamaica _Title page_
Blue Basin, Trinidad _To face page_ 72
Morning Walk, Dominica 136
Port Royal, Jamaica 171
Valley in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica 194
Kingston and Harbour, from Cherry Gardens 234
Havana, from the Quarries 258
Port au Prince, Hayti 288

THE ENGLISH IN THE WEST INDIES.