The ordeal of free labor in the British West Indies

Front matter

m

Printed image digitised by the University of Southampton Library Digitisation Unit linJitei Ml a..^;;mcu cm

Printed image digitised by the University of Southampton Library Digitisation Unit f/V

Preface

Letters on Free Labor in the British West Indies, originally written for the New York Times, and, since their publication in that journal, revised and enlarged, make up the volume now offered to the public. It is not designed, in this work, to draw from the results of British Emancipation any inference or to point any conclusion favorable or unfavorable to slave labor in the United States ; and for the reason that a great territorial disparity between the islands on the one hand, and the southern section of the Union on the other, forbids even a comparison of their social and political institutions. The writer's aim has been to give, as free from comment as possible, such statistical and other information concerning the West Indian populations, their habits and customs, their industry, their commerce, and their government, as he has been able to procure from reliable sources, or to gain by personal observation. The writer does not know how far his views on the West India labor question coincide with those of the governor of the Windward Islands ; and it is, therefore, yi PBEEACE.

proper to say that the dedication is prompted altogether by personal esteem for a valued friend, and by sentiments of high regard for a public officer who has successfully defended the West India colonies from misrepresentation, and whose liberal and impartial rule has revived a confidence in West India enterprises.

New York, November, 1860.

Printed image digitised by the University of Southampton Library Digitisation Unit

Contents

THE 'WINDWARD ISLANDS:

CHAPTER

I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS PACi y