Now, then, let us examine for a while this roseate picture of
Arcadian blissfulness said to be enjoyed by British West Indian
Negroes in general, and by the Negroes of Trinidad in particular.
"No distinction of colour" under the British rule, and, better
still, absolute protection of the weaker against the stronger! This
latter consummation especially, [84] Mr. Froude tells us, has been
happily secured "under the beneficent despotism" of the Crown Colony
system. However, let the above vague hyperboles be submitted to the
test of practical experience, and the abstract government analysed in
its concrete relations with the people.
Unquestionably the actual and direct interposition of the shielding
authority above referred to, between man and man, is the immediate
province of the MAGISTRACY. All other branches of the Government,
having in themselves no coercive power, must, from the supreme
executive downwards, in cases of irreconcilable clashing of
interests, have ultimate recourse to the magisterial jurisdiction.
Putting aside, then, whatever culpable remissness may have been
manifested by magistrates in favour of powerful malfeasants, we would
submit that the fact of stipendiary justices converting the
tremendous, far-reaching powers which they wield into an engine of
systematic oppression, ought to dim by many a shade the glowing
lustre of Mr.
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