nanas and orange trees in the gardens relieved the
ugliness of their appearance. The road when we left the town was
overshadowed with gigantic mangoes planted long ago, with almond trees
and cedar trees, no relations of our almonds or our cedars, but the most
splendid ornaments of the West Indian forest. The valley up which we
drove was beautiful, and the house, when we reached it, showed taste and
culture. Mr. ---- had rare trees, rare flowers, and was taking advantage
of his temporary residence in the tropics to make experiments in
horticulture. He had been brought there, I believe, by some necessities
of business. He told us that Grenada was now the ideal country of modern
social reformers. It had become an island of pure peasant proprietors.
The settlers, who had once been a thriving and wealthy community, had
almost melted away. Some thirty English estates remained which could
still be cultivated, and were being cultivated with remarkable success.
But the rest had sold their estates for anything which they could get.
The free blacks had bought them, and about 8,000 negro families, say
40,000 black souls in all, now shared three-fourths of the soil between
them. Each family lived independently, growing coffee and cocoa and
oranges, and all were doing very well. The possession of property had
brought a sense of its rights with it. They were as litigious as Irish
peasants; everyone was at law with his neighbour, and the island was a
gold mine to the Attorney-General; otherwise they were quiet harmless
fellows, and if the politicians would only let them alone, they would be
perfectly contented, and might eventually, if wisely managed, come to
some good. To set up a constitution in such a place was a ridiculous
mockery, and would only be another name for swindling and jobbery. Black
the island was, and black it would remain. The conditions were never
likely to arise which would bring back a European population; but a
governor who was a sensible man, who would reside and use his natural
influence, could manage it with perfect ease. The island belonged to
England; we were responsible for what we made of it, and for the
blacks' own sakes we ought not to try experiments upon them. They knew
their own deficiencies and would infinitely prefer a wise English ruler
to any constitution which could be offered them. If left entirely to
themselves, they would in a generation or two relapse into savages;
there were but two alternative