LORD DUNDONALD'S VISITS TO THE NORTH AMERICAN AND WEST INDIAN
COLONIES, AND HIS OPINIONS THEREON.--NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS
FISHERIES.--LABRADOR.--BERMUDA; ITS DEFENCES AND ITS GEOLOGICAL
FORMATION.--BARBADOES.--THE NEGROS.--TRINIDAD.--ITS PITCH LAKE.--THE
DEPRESSED CONDITION OF THE WEST INDIAN COLONIES.--LORD DUNDONALD'S
SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT.
[1848-1850.]
The foregoing chapter consists chiefly of extracts from letters
addressed to Lord Dundonald during 1848. In the present one free use
will be made of his own journal of a tour among the colonies and
islands whose interests he was appointed to watch as Admiral of the
North American and West Indian squadron.[22] It furnishes much
interesting information about the places visited, and has also
additional interest as illustrating the writer's tone of mind and
method of investigation concerning every object that came in his way.
The journal describes his occupations during eight months, beginning
with the summer of 1849, and includes reminiscences of less systematic
visits to the various localities made during the previous year.
Leaving Halifax, in Nova Scotia, on the 14th of July, Lord Dundonald
proceeded northwards, passed Cape Breton Island to Newfoundland, the
fisheries of which it was part of his duty to protect.
[22] Published in 1861 as a pamphlet, entitled, "Notes on the
Mineralogy, Government, and Condition of the British West India
Islands and North American Maritime Colonies."
He entered St. George's Harbour, the chief resort of the fishermen and
traders, on the 27th of July. "It is situated," he said, "in the angle
of a deep bay between Aguille and Cape St. George, the town being on
the promontory and having deep water close to it. No village can be
better placed for the herring fishery, as these gregarious fish at the
season of their arrival on the coast enter this harbour, as it were,
into the cod of a net, whence they are lifted into the boats by scoops
and buckets. With such slender means possessed by the inhabitants, the
average catch amounts to twenty-two thousand barrels; but hundreds of
thousands might be taken, were encouragement afforded. Salmon are also
caught in the neighbouring rivers, which are alive with undisturbed
and neglected trout. The barrels in which the herrings are packed are
said to cost two shillings and sixpence each, and some new regulation
requires additional hoops, which, to those concerned, appears a
grievance. It is said the herrings must realise ten shillings per
barrel, in order to repay costs and labour, but the last advices from
Halifax state that eight shillings only are offered by the merchants.
The French, I understand, attend more to the cod fishery. They are not
at liberty, if they adhere to the treaty, to draw nets on the shore.
There is an American merchant here who deals in truck with the English
settlers, and obtains from them about a third part of the herrings
caught, which he sends to the United States in such of the numerous
American schooners employed in the fishery as enter this bay. The
unauthorised British settlers here are said to be very jealous of
intruders, as they consider they have an exclusive right to the land
and fisheries in their actual possession, and from which all are, by
treaty, excluded. They seemed suspicious that the _Wellesley_ might
have some motive in entering the bay contrary to their interests. No
person whatsoever came on board, nor did any one come off to the ship,
even to offer himself as a pilot. Some persons were lately desirous to
set up a saw-mill, which would have been important, as they obtain all
their staves for herring-casks, &c., from abroad; but the sanction of
the inhabitants could not be obtained. There is no magistrate or civil
or military authority, no medical man, and, perhaps fortunately, no
attorney. Indeed, there is no law, though justice is done amongst
themselves after their own manner. There is a neat little church, at
which the bishop is now officiating, and the people who are resorting
to it seem well-dressed and orderly."
On the 30th of July Lord Dundonald left the harbour, to pass round the
sharp promontory known as Cape St. George. "About midway," he said, "a
remarkable change takes place to the northward of the table mountain,
where the vertical strata become in appearance horizontal along the
whole shore of the projecting isthmus. The colour of the strata is
chiefly grey, in parallel layers of varying hardness, as appears from
its projections and indentations. I could not, without delaying the
ship longer than I wished, procure samples of the strata, but there
was no appearance of carboniferous minerals. The same layers were
visible in detached places up to the tops of the hills, which are of
considerable altitude, though that is not denoted in the chart. When
we rounded Cape St. George on the following morning, the strata, which
before appeared parallel, were observed to dip at a considerable angle
towards the N.E., and seemed, where sufficiently exposed to view, to
be split into large diagonal flakes. There is an island close off the
shore, about five miles to the eastward of the Cape, called Red
Island, which is of quite a different formation seemingly red
horizontal layers of sandstone, of a soft nature, as is obvious from
the encroachments of the sea. The peninsula opposite to this island is
of considerable elevation, as far as Round Head, whence it gradually
lowers to a point about ten miles farther to the eastward. Here the
level ground at first seems to be alluvial, but on closer observation
indurated rocks are seen to protrude in flakes dipping into the sea.
The bay formed by this promontory is of great magnitude. There are
several islands at its mouth and in the interior, but there being no
chart, and no motive for entering it, we stood on towards the
mountains on the main shore, some of which are very high. In many
parts the contortion of the strata, and the confusion of all kinds of
materials, are extraordinary. The sides of the mountains on the shore
are clad with moss alone, trees of very stunted growth only appearing
in the sheltered valleys. No visible portion of the shore seems
capable of producing food for man."
From the western coast of Newfoundland Lord Dundonald sailed due north
to visit Labrador. With its natural resources, and the neglect of
them, he was much surprised. "The British possessions in Labrador," he
said, "extend over a tract of country as great as the northern regions
of Russia from St. Petersburg towards the Pole, wherein the Ural
Mountains compensate that Government for the sterility of the soil. I
have often felt surprise at the indifference evinced by the Spanish
Government towards developing the resources of its possessions; but it
is with still greater astonishment I view the supineness of our own
Government in leaving this vast tract unexplored, and its probable
treasures undiscovered."
Similar complaints were suggested to him by his observations on the
eastern side of Newfoundland, to which he sailed down on the 6th of
August. "We passed several ports, wherein there were numerous French
ships and square-rigged vessels dismantled, and schooners and
multitudes of fishing-boats in full activity in the offing. These
schooners and fishing-boats are manned by the crews of the large French
vessels which are laid up in port, and constitute depots as well as the
means of transporting the produce of the fishery to France, an
arrangement highly advantageous to the French marine, and which we
erroneously abandoned by erecting Newfoundland into a Colonial
Government, thus surrendering our deep-sea fishery entirely, even
without rendering the inshore fishery available to the newly-erected
colony, throughout which it languishes from want of stimulus, or an
adequate reward, even to induce the impoverished inhabitants of the
shore to avail themselves of their small and almost costless boats to
catch fish, which, by reason of the bounties given by France and
America, are unsaleable with profit in any country in Europe. It is
grievous to observe the difference in the mode of carrying on the
British fishery compared to that of the French. The former in
rudely-constructed skiffs, with a couple of destitute-looking beings in
party-coloured rags; the latter in fine, well-equipped schooners, which
may be called tenders to their larger ships, the seamen uniformly
dressed in blue, with Joinville hats, looking as men ought and may be
expected to look whose interests and those of the parent State are
understood to be in unison, and attended to as such."
At St. John's, Newfoundland, Lord Dundonald made some stay before
sailing down to Sydney, in Cape Breton. Then he returned to Halifax,
to go thence for a second visit to Bermuda.
Respecting Bermuda, as we have seen, he had much correspondence. "This
island," he now said, "ever since the discovery of the opening in the
reefs by Captain Hurd, has been deemed of much naval importance, and
plans were formed by the highest military authorities for its defence.
A naval arsenal also has been designed for the accommodation of a
large establishment of ships of war. Distant islands, however, cannot
be defended on principles which would be the most judicious at
home--by the erection of forts in all quarters that could be occupied
by an enemy. It is obvious that, under the circumstances of Bermuda,
troops cannot be spared from the parent State permanently to garrison
the multitude of forts which, on such a principle of defence, would be
requisite. If they could, the expense would be enormous, and therefore
I cannot dismiss this subject without an expression of my satisfaction
at the intelligence I lately received that such extravagant and
unavailing system of fortification has been suspended. In my opinion
it is a great error to imagine that naval officers are unfit to be
consulted respecting maritime defences; had it not been for so
mistaken a notion many hundreds of thousands of pounds, perhaps I
might say a million, might have been saved. I unhesitatingly assert
that gunboats not only would suffice, but are by far the most
available, and infinitely the cheapest defensive force amongst the
rocks around the island of Bermuda. The coloured population of this
island are a fine race, incomparably superior to the generality of the
coloured population in the West Indies. They are accustomed to
navigate in their commercial vessels: their lives are almost spent in
boats, and no better crews could be got for the defence of their own
island than they would prove themselves to be."
"The existence of this solitary island so far from the continent of
North America," we further read in Lord Dundonald's journal, "is a
circumstance meriting the attention of geologists, as well as the
uniform material of which it is composed. It is all of a calcareous
nature, but differing in condition from any of the other islands of
the same substance. The strata are exposed in the perpendicular cliffs
on the sea-shore in numerous precipices, from a hundred feet to minor
altitudes, and are composed either of the most minute shells, or of
parts of shells so triturated that they scarcely indicate their
origin. In some places, however, there are laminae containing shells
in a more perfect state, all of a white colour, with the exception of
one (which I found on digging a cave) of a semicircular shape, of a
red colour, and almost as large as an oyster shell. The whole of the
substance of Bermuda can be burnt into good lime; but there is an
indurated calcareous stone, often containing many perfect shells, on
the island on which the naval yard is being built, which is preferred
as more adhesive and better in quality. Although there are no
indications of volcanic products on this island, yet it exhibits
manifest proofs that volcanic force has raised it from the depths of
the ocean. In what stage of induration it was at that period it is
difficult to conjecture. The hills and vales throughout the whole
extent of Bermuda have the stratified calcareous material generally
conforming on all sides to the inclination of the surface. There are,
however, many situations in which the strata present themselves as
manifestly broken by force. In the deep cutting in the road which
enters into the enclosure around the Government House, one of these
breaks appears at the apex of the hill, dividing its sides, which here
incline towards the centre, exposing a wedge-formed supplementary part
that fills up the interstice. In the grounds of the Admiralty House
curious instances of unconformable strata are laid bare in old
quarries. These indicate some other cause for their nonconformity than
that before assigned, and I am quite at a loss to imagine how the
stratified materials could have been placed one above another at such
different angles by the action of water, or in any other way, without
appearance of disruption. There are caves upon this island containing
large stalactites. There is one on Tucker's Island where these
stalactites reach from the top of the cave far below the surface of
the salt water it contains. I am not aware of any other instance where
similar crystalisations have taken place under the sea water. It seems
to lead to the belief that this island was at some time less
submerged. There are other caves much larger, and one which goes in so
far that the officers who accompanied me did not scramble to its end.
This cave is formed by two large masses of calcareous matter having
been reared up one against the other. I have seen some very beautiful
crystallisations taken from another cave recently found in a quarry at
Ireland Island; but the absence of petrifactions here (for I have
never seen one) constitutes a remarkable difference between this
formation and that on the island of Antigua, where the roads are
almost made with petrifactions.
"In clearing the surface of the rock, as has lately been done at the
quarries, and in laying the foundation of the new convict barracks,
the most irregular formation is exposed. Large holes are found
contiguous to each other in the white calcareous rock, which are
filled with a substance resembling chocolate in its colour, unlike
everything else upon the island."
From Bermuda Lord Dundonald sailed down to Barbadoes, where he arrived
on the 5th of February. "The negroes," he said, "who are much more
numerous on this island than on any other of the West Indies, appear
to be well fed, and cheery in their dispositions. They live in small
wooden houses resting on clumps of wood or blocks of stone, a mode of
construction which enables them, when tired of or displeased with
their locality, to transport them elsewhere. I was told that a street
of stone huts, constructed for their use, is almost abandoned, by
reason of the immobility of such residences. I consider this
locomotive propensity a favourable trait in their character. Behind
the barracks we stopped at a hut on the rising ground whereon the
barracks ought to have been placed, and assuredly I never saw a more
contented scene. There was a young negro, and, I believe, his wife,
together with an old woman, perhaps the grandmother of the child she
fondled. We made inquiry as to their mode of living, and they showed
us green peas, seasoned with red pepper, ready to be cooked, yams, and
cassava bread, as good as oatmeal cakes. These peas grow on large
bushes, and vegetables of all kinds surround their hut."
From Barbadoes Lord Dundonald proceeded by way of Tobago to Trinidad.
"On the morning of the 11th of February," he said, "we weighed and
returned through the Dragon's Mouth, shaping our course for the great
natural curiosity of Trinidad, the Pitch Lake, which I hoped might be
rendered useful for fuel for our steam-ships--so important in the
event of war--as fuel is only obtained at present from Europe. The
United States and Nova Scotia are never resorted to; hence, could this
pitch be rendered applicable as fuel, our vessels would be supplied
when an enemy would be almost deprived of the use of steam in these
seas. We arrived at La Brea, and before daybreak on the following
morning we were on the road to the lake, or rather on a stream of
bitumen (now indurated) which in former ages overflowed the lake.
Indeed the bitumen beneath this road seems still to be on the move, as
shown by curvilineal ridges on its surface, like waves receding from a
stone thrown into water. The appearance of the lake is most
extraordinary. One vast sheet of bitumen extends until lost amidst
luxuriant vegetation. Its circumference is full three miles, exclusive
of the creeks, which double the extent. The bituminous surface is of a
dark brown, waxy consistence, except in one or two places where the
fluid still exudes; obviously this spring is in full vigour beneath,
for the whole surface of the lake is formed into protuberances like
the segments of a globe pressed together, having hollows between
filled with rain-water, which (except in the immediate vicinity of the
bituminous springs) is inodorous and without taste--an extraordinary
fact, showing that this bitumen is of a nature quite different from
that of pyrotechnic mineral or vegetable tar. In its dry state it is
quite insoluble in water, though when charged with essential oil, as
it exudes from nature's laboratory, it imparts a pungent and
unpleasant taste. A considerable quantity of gas bubbles up through
these bituminous springs, showing that decomposition is still active
amongst the materials whence it exudes. Some of the recent bitumen has
an odour resembling vegetable gum. Mr. Johnson, the very obliging
proprietor of a neighbouring estate, had the goodness to cause some of
his labourers and a cart to bring samples to the beach. Means of
transport, however, were so inadequate, that we had recourse to
digging the more impure pitch on the beach, in order to prosecute our
trials for its substitution as fuel. This bitumen, which had flowed
upwards of a mile from the lake, was combined with earthy and other
substances which it had encountered in its course. Various attempts
have heretofore been made to apply the bitumen to useful purposes, but
without success, as we may judge from the total abandonment of those
trials and expectations which for a brief period induced its shipment
to England with a view to its application to the pavements of London
and other cities. All excavation has consequently ceased, and so low
is the estimation in which the bitumen is held, that the duty on
embarkation is only one halfpenny per ton. The nature of this bitumen
is very different from that of coal. When exposed to a naked fire it
becomes fluid, and runs through the bars before gas is disengaged, or
at least before it is raised to a temperature at which it will ignite;
perhaps it requires more or purer air than enters through the bars of
steamboat furnaces--a conjecture which seems to be confirmed by the
dense smoke speedily produced."
"The plains of Trinidad," wrote Lord Dundonald, "have a fertile soil,
which, simply by clearing the ground, is capable of being rendered the
most productive in the West India Islands for the growth of sugar and
whatever can be cultivated in a climate most uniform in its
temperature, most congenial to tropical plants, free from the evils of
hurricanes and from all impediments to vegetation. I am confident
that, if the hands of the Governor were not bound by restrictions and
routine, the progress of Trinidad would soon verify this opinion. Lord
Harris, the present Governor, nobly tendered a portion of his official
income in alleviation of the burthens which are so severely felt in
the present depressed state of agriculture and commerce, but from some
cause his lordship's liberal intention was not realized. The example
would have proved salutary, as it must have been followed by
reductions throughout other West India Islands, whose resources are
even in a worse state than those of Trinidad. Is it reasonable, whilst
the ground has ceased to be cultivated because production is
unprofitable, not only that the land should continue to be taxed at
the rate it was in prosperous times, but that a duty should be levied
on the exportation of its produce? Is it reasonable that whilst
householders can obtain no rent, and have no income save the bare
means of providing a scanty subsistence, they should be assessed at
the rack-rent of former valuation? Can any property be more entitled
to protection than that of the owners of the soil or of the dwellings
they inhabit? And yet all these, as appears by the numerous gazetted
sales, are sacrificed to the collection of sums, the bulk of which is
uselessly and prejudicially expended. Whilst the Government of the
parent State has alleviated the burdens on the productive classes, is
it just that taxes on food and on all the necessaries of life should
be continued throughout the colonies, and that even their productions
should be intolerably burdened with local imposts, whilst complaints
are loud and true of the absence of all remuneration from the sources
which once constituted the prosperity of those now impoverished and
oppressed possessions? The above observations do not apply exclusively
to Trinidad, but to the whole of the islands, which scarcely differ in
degree in the causes of ruin which seem irremediable by any authority
except the legislature of the parent State. I am persuaded that the
chief of the Colonial Department at home would endeavour to counteract
the causes of widely-spread and increasing ruin, were he in possession
of correct information; but popular representations of grievances,
often embodying misapprehensions as to their true origin, and
accompanied by suggestions of impracticable remedies, are denied or
disputed in counterstatements by interested officials, so that the
Colonial Minister is bewildered, and can form no correct judgment from
such conflicting statements. I hold it to be impossible that the
monstrous absurdities and violations of every principle of good
government which exist throughout these western colonies could be
tolerated an instant, were their consequences known and believed by
those in power, or were they laid before the British public by any
person on whose judgment and opinion they could rely. Can it be
credited that even in the island of Trinidad, not only multitudes of
valuable properties are brought to sale from the inability of their
owners to pay the fiscal demands, but that properties are consigned to
the Government auctioneer even for so small an assessment as
three-fourths of a dollar? This is, nevertheless, the fact. The
emancipation of the slaves was a glorious act, but the rescue of these
noble possessions from ruin, and the restoration of prosperity to an
integral part of the empire, would redound to the honour of any one
who would successfully advocate the cause of reason and justice, not
only on the principles of equity, but with the less noble view of gain
to the parent State, as it is certain that the consumption of British
manufactured articles has fallen off in these colonies to an extent
which has not been counterbalanced by the increase of exports
anticipated from the questionable policy of concession to Brazil, in
which I have reason to believe the supply of articles required for the
slave trade constitutes a large proportion."
Reflections of that sort occurred to Lord Dundonald again and again,
as, passing round from Trinidad, he visited all the principal British
West India Islands, the last at which he called on his way back to
Halifax being Jamaica. "No doubt," he said, "the generous and noble
act by which, in the reign of his late Majesty, slavery was abolished,
produced a prejudicial change in the economy of the sugar plantations,
notwithstanding the large amount awarded to the proprietors, as the
sums so paid were for the most part immediately transferred to
mortgagees, leaving the proprietors in possession of the soil, but
without the means of paying the expense of its cultivation by free
labour. This is an evil which time has not remedied, and, of course,
in the estimation of those who are, in consequence, losers, furnishes
the pretext for imputing to the black population a degree of
reluctance to labour far exceeding the reality. Those who pay a
reasonable price for work, and are punctual in their payments, do not
fail to get as many labourers as they require. I assert this not from
any vague hearsay, but from various unquestionable and authentic
documents, amongst which are the examinations taken by Committees of
the House of Assembly appointed to inquire into the causes and
difficulties alleged to exist in the cultivation of estates. Whilst
the poverty of the planters and the destitution of the labouring
population is so universal, it seems most extraordinary on inspecting
the Custom House returns to find almost every article of necessary
consumption brought from abroad paying high duties on entry; whilst
the concession of small patches of land to the negroes, whom there is
no capital to employ, would, if accorded, produce food, and in a great
measure dispense with such injurious importations. Is it reasonable to
instruct the negroes in their rights as men, and open their minds to
the humble ambition of acquiring spots of land, and then throw every
impediment possible in the way of its gratification? I perceive by the
imposts and expenses on the transfer of small properties, that a
barrier almost insurmountable is raised to their acquisition by the
coloured population. I have learnt that small lots of Crown lands are
scarcely ever disposed of, though three-fourths of these lands are
still in the hands of Government.
"It is lamentable to see the negroes in rags, lying about the streets
of Kingston; to learn that the gaols are full; the penitentiaries
incapable of containing more inmates; whilst the port is destitute of
shipping, the wharves abandoned, and the storehouses empty; while
much, if not all, of this might be remedied. It may be asked, how is
this to be effected? and I answer--by justice, resolution, patriotism,
and disinterestedness. Never can this wretched state of affairs be
remedied so long as taxes on the necessaries of life are heaped on an
impoverished population. Never can the peasantry raise their heads
with a contented aspect, whilst every animate and inanimate thing
around them is taxed to the utmost. Not only is there a tax on land,
and on the shipment of its produce, on houses, outhouses, and gardens,
on horned cattle and horses, but on asses and pigs; and the severest
penalties are enacted for concealment or suppression in the returns.
Officials are employed for the gathering of pittances which do not
defray the expense of collection. The harbour dues and exactions are
such that no vessel, when it can be avoided, is brought into the Port
of Kingston; consequently, though Jamaica is admirably situated, even
more favourably than St. Thomas, the former port is abandoned, whilst
that of the latter is filled with the shipping of all nations."
Lord Dundonald detailed the substance of these opinions in a letter to
Earl Grey, the Secretary for the Colonies. "I have to thank your
lordship," Lord Grey replied, "for your letter. The observations of a
person of your lordship's knowledge and experience upon the present
state of our colonies are most interesting and useful to me. I am
aware that there exists much distress in the West Indies at present;
but I am sorry to say I do not see what Parliament can do towards
removing it, beyond freeing their trade from the remaining
restrictions by the repeal of the Navigation Laws, which I hope will
now be soon accomplished. I own I quite differ from your lordship as
to the propriety of restoring to the planters the monopoly in the
British market they formerly enjoyed, and I believe that the permanent
interests of these colonies would be injured instead of being advanced
by doing so."