Chapter XXVIII: In Conclusion

It may be that I am entirely unfitted to deal at any great length with that most complicated, most difficult of all problems, the negro question. The problem is a matter which must be left to the consideration of statesmen who, guided by the experience of years of personal contact with black men, are entitled to be considered as experts. But the negro question is one which forces itself upon the notice of all people who visit any country where, numerically, the black man is predominant. The British West Indian islands each and all are at once both British Colonies and black man’s countries. Where black people are so pre-eminently strong, it is impossible for the white men, no matter what their race, to undertake the work of government unless by the express desire of the black men, or because of the crass ignorance and weakness of the negro race. How comes it that less than twenty thousand white men rule three quarters of a million coloured people in Jamaica? That is the question--pregnant with possibilities--that confronts one after a stay in that fascinating island of the west. The cause must inevitably be found in the weakness, the ignorance, of the blacks. The negro is not fit to govern--therefore he must not govern; so say the English, and in accordance with the dictates of that creed have the English framed their West Indian laws. And undoubtedly it is good that it should be so. The negro is not fit to rule; he is not capable of efficient self-government. But how long will the negro himself believe that he is incompetent? Will he, or will he not, in the future--the near or distant future--ever come to think that home rule is his birthright. Already many negroes hold that opinion as individuals. Will the coloured race ever think so collectively? Will the coloured class ever call for freedom in tones of absolute, organised unison. If so, what will happen?

I have already recorded the opinions of a coloured man in this direction; I have also shown the ideas on the subject common to the majority of white men. The one, thoroughly representative of his class, appealed for greater freedom. In cool argument he suggested that absolute political freedom was the birthright of man, black or white. He claimed Jamaica as his own country, the fatherland of his race. He was convincingly in earnest. His country was as dear to him--just as much his very own--as England ever was to Englishman. He was absolutely serious. The other man, the Englishman, seemed more forceful, but less convincing. The white man’s argument was more desperate. He even suggested bayonets as a hedge for

enclosing the ambition of a people whom we are, by religion and by science and by common sentiment, taught to regard as our very equals. By the law of the West Indies the black man is the equal of the white. Yet my friend suggested that rifle-shots would be necessary should that race demand a practical exhibition of that absolute liberty which is reckoned by the English to be part of the heritage of all British-born subjects, black or white.

Surely it is a curious condition of affairs? Under British rule, the black man is, theoretically, the equal of the white. Practically he is nothing of the sort. Practically it is not even admitted that he is. Or why is it necessary to continue the West Indian system of Government by the Crown?

Now this is all very well. No doubt it is a convenient thing for us and for the peoples of all European countries to theorise about the brotherhood of man. In England and in all countries where the negro population is insignificant, such a question is only a matter of abstract principle; it is a pleasant sop to one’s inherent quality of benevolence to so decide,--to generously overlook obvious shortcomings and proclaim it abroad that Britain accepts her black people as equals--brothers in spirit and in fact. No doubt, in Britain, this is a very comforting creed to absorb in its entirety, and then forget. But not so in any West Indian island. There the fatuity, the impossibility, the impracticability of the scheme is immediately obvious. The farce of the whole thing is at once evident. The average white man cannot count the average negro as being his absolute equal. By reason of the dictum of the homeland he must pretend to do so. Officially he must, with his lips, proclaim the actuality of this impossible equality, but he must do it with his tongue in his cheek. He must see to it that the black man is convinced of the honesty of his protestations--that the blacks believe. And yet he must see that the black man does not attain any of the natural results such a condition would inevitably bring into existence. It is like the old tree in the garden of Eden. The tree of liberty is put before the eyes of the black man who is told that the fruit and the blossom is his very own--but that he must not touch it. That is the condition of affairs. Nominally the equal, the black man is actually not the equal. And this he is beginning to realise. The spread of education among the coloured race in the West Indies is bringing into existence a generation of dissatisfied agitators. The negro is becoming ambitious; he is beginning to become ambitious for his race. As soon as the race feels its strength it will use it for its own ends. It will demand political freedom. The creed of my coloured friend of the Spanish Town highroad may be allowed to stand as the creed of the present, or at any rate the next, generation of the blacks in the British West Indies.

What will be its effect on the several islands? The present unsatisfactory system of semi “make-believe” is impossible. It cannot last for ever. The question Britain has to consider is, Shall it be a black or a white government in the West Indies? If this country is reconciled to the eventual existence of a black government then the existing system is good enough. If not, something ought to be done immediately,--though exactly what could be done I cannot pretend to know. I leave that matter to the consideration of people more qualified to make suggestions. I believe that the negro is, and at any rate for many generations will continue to be, incapable of self-government; I know that no white people could live in a country ruled by black men. And I firmly believe our West Indian possessions are in danger of falling under the government of their black people.

That, in my opinion, is the greatest of all the West Indian problems. Commercial difficulties will solve themselves. The natural riches of the beautiful islands of the West must sooner or later bring a great harvest of gain to their owners. The sugar industry will revive, the West Indian fruit trade is to-day only in its infancy. The Caribbean islands are destined to become the fruit gardens of the world. And many smaller industries will spring into existence. There can be no doubt as to the richness of the industrial future of the Indies. The one difficulty is this political difficulty: the inevitable struggle for supremacy between the white man and the black.

Index

Alligator, West Indian, 174

America, intervention of, 158

Animal life, 140

Antigua, 251

Arima, 255

Barbadoes, 245

Beet bounties, 183

Belle Vue, 215

Blackbeard, 6

Black children, 217

Blue Mountains, 15

Bog Walk, 137

Buccaneers, 6

Caribs, 9

Cassava starch, 191

Cathedral, the old, 229

Chamberlain, Mr., 190

Children, black, 217

Cromwell, the Protector, 9

Cuba, 14

Dignity dance, 85

Dominica, 250

Emancipation Act, 21

Filibusters, 6

Fort Augustine, 174

Fruit trade, the, 189

Gordon, 263

Government, representative, 146

Grand Cayman, 76

Hayti, 259

Hope Garden, 231

Hunts Bay, 175

Imperial line of steamers, 190

Intervention of America, 158

Jamaica, gradual decay of, 185
want of men in, 188

Jamaican buggy, 51
freedom, 158
police, 95
revivalist meetings, 70

Jockey, the coloured, 209

Jones, Sir Alfred, 190

Kidd, 6

Kingston, the market-place, 34

Labour question, 186

Liberation Act, 187

Malarial fever, 24

Mandeville, 214

Martinique, 248

Montego Bay, 229

Mont Pelée, 248

Morant Point, 15

Morgan, 6

Nevis, 251

Newcastle, 109

Octoroon, the cultured, 221

Pitch lake, the, 254

Political agitators, 160

Political revolution, 148

Politics, 145

Port Antonio, 229
Royal, 6, 15
of Spain, 251, 253

Princestown, 255

Railway, 165

Revivalist meetings, Jamaican, 70

Rio Cobra, 137

Roseau, 250

Rose Hall, 230

St. Kitts, 251

St. Lucia, 247

Salomon, President, 263

San Domingo, 259

San Fernando, 255

Settlements, native, 216

Settlers, absolute, 161

Soda-water compartment, 165

Spanish Town, 137, 229

Tobago, 255

Tortoise, the, 139

Trinidad, 251

Turk’s Island, 13

West India alligator, 174

West Indian regiments, 91

West Indian sugar, 183

Yellow fever, 23

_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.