The doctrinaire style of his utterances, his
sublime indifference as to what Negro opinion and feelings may be, on
account of his revelations, are uniquely charming. In that portion
of his book headed "Social Revolution" our author, with that mixture
of frankness and cynicism which is so dear to the soul of the British
esprit fort of to-day, has challenged a comparison between British
Colonial policy on the [114] one hand, and the Colonial policy of
France and Spain on the other. This he does with an evident
recklessness that his approval of Spain and France involves a
definite condemnation of his own country. However, let us hear
him:--
"The English West Indies, like other parts of the world, are going
through a silent revolution. Elsewhere the revolution, as we hope,
is a transition state, a new birth; a passing away of what is old and
worn out, that a fresh and healthier order may rise in its place. In
the West Indies the most sanguine of mortals will find it difficult
to entertain any such hope at all."
As Mr. Froude is speaking dogmatically here of his, or rather our,
West Indies, let us hear him as he proceeds:--
"We have been a ruling power there for two hundred and fifty years;
the whites whom we planted as our representatives are drifting into
ruin, and they regard England and England's policy as the principal
cause of it.
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