uAuOui/^ 1 . /? 7i' |V|AiN ^ll.Tl A553dX NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY EVANSTON ILLINOIS THE DANISH WEST INDIA ISLANDS, THEIR PRESENT POLITICAL AND ECONOMICAL ♦ POSITION, BY F. -A.IT 13E.. TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH ORIGINAL BT J. JENSEN. ST. TiaOMASi Fbisteb jcxo Pcbushkd BY ACGCST WALLOX. 187C. 97»^,?7 C05CT JSISTTS. PAOB. 1. Exercise of lefnslative power in tlie internal nffaii« of the Islands B. II. The royal sanction 16. III. Exercise of legislative power in the otiier affairs concerning the Colonies 21. IV. Arrangeinetit of the constitutional relations of the Colonies, proposed, latest in 1874, by a select com- * niittee of the Folketliing 25. V. The Colonial Councils 42. VI. The financial position of the Islands in relation to the Kingdom 49. VII. The Contribution towards the general State Expenses .53. VIII. The financial decline of St. Tlioinas, and its causes 60. IX. The financial prospects of St. Thomas 66. X. Commerce and navigation of St. Thomas 73. Xi. Tlie question of exempting St. Thomas from con- tributing towards the general States Expenses.. 85. ZII. St. Croix: Steam Communication; Administration; Central Factories - 93. The last time the Diet was occupied with the coio- liijl affairs, the occasion being the treatment of a draft of law for relinquishing for the financial yeai's 1873- 74 and 1874-75 the contribution from the colonial Treasury of St. Thomas and St. John to the general state-expenses, it did effectually meet the wishes of the government and the population of the colony, by exempting the colonial Treasury froip paying the con- tribution in question—$28,000 p. a. (Law of 10th April 1874). But the assembly gave to understand, that such relinquishment, in favor of the Islands, of a contribution fixed by law, was hardly the most effl- cient means of promoting their welfare, and a com- mittee of the Folkething stated unanimously, that "if we tcere to concede to our Islands theividest possible measure of independence compatible with their constitutional position and the rights of the Crown^ such reform would manifest its comprehensive importance, also in the amelioration of the economiad and finandal state of the Islands!' This assertion is not novel. It has been advanced several yeai-s ago, when a committee in the Folkething reported on a draft purporting to exempt the colonies from the expenses connected with their administration in the mother-country ; it has been heard in the dis- cussions of the Diet and in the Colonial Councils of the Islands, in a petition to His Aiajesty the King and in the local press, and recently it h.as been embodied in a report, wliich, aiming at much more far-going de^ mands, has been submitted by a committee in the OoJonial Council of St. Thomas, Hence it nfight bo' supposed, that there is some truth in the assertion, and that the manner in which the inhabitants of the Islands are admitted to decide on their own affairs, does really suffer from a defect which checks the development of the Islands. It is, however, my conviction, that it is not necessaiy to penetrate deeply in the colonial local relations in order to find proof, that, with regard to this side of the connection between the mother-country and the colony, there is very little, or nothing to alter in the existing arrangement,—that there is at anyrate not by any concession on this precinct, out of regard to the fantastic demands of a dissatisfied circle in St. Thomas, or to the more moderate proposals which have found advocates in the mother-country,—the least pros- pect of causing the advancement of the Islands, economical or in any other direction. In this regard it r>^ill be sufficient to throw a glance at the present organisation, to see it in the shape into which it has actually developed on the basis of the enactments of the Colonial Law. Keeping in mind certain colonial peculiarities, we might then proceed to try whether any of the roads thus suggested could presumably lead to a better solution. The question of " Self-Govemment," however, contains only the one side of the connection between the mother-country and the colonies. There is an- other link in the connection, the financial account be- tween the two parties, and with regard to the manner in which this matter has been regrilated, it can hardly be denied that the Colonial Law has erred. Anyone who has recently visited those Islands—especially the Island which is cumbered with the burden of paying a contribution to the general state-expenses—, and has been enabled to see how a municipality, which forms one of the chief ports of the new world, was, in regard to harbor-aiTangements and sanitary accommodations, hospitals and quarantine-establishments, destitute of the first conditions for maintaining its place—not as a world-harbor, but merely as a well-arranged port of call, and anyone who should see that the Island is as yet unable to barrack its soldiers * and house its aU* tliorities—^not to speak of the want of many other boons that by right belong to a municipality of such significance—, would, better than those who have not seen it with their own eyes, acquire the conviction that in such a place thei*e could not easily be question of a surplus of which the Island itself did not stand in the utmost need. In both regards the inquiry becomes at this mo- ment invested with prominent interest. In all proba- bility the legislative authority of the mother-country will very soon have to deal with a draft of a new Colonial Law, seeing that the Colonial Councils of the Islands have ever since the beginning of 1872 been occupied with such a draft, in committee if not in meet- ings,—and in the present session of the Diet there will at all events be an opportunity of entering more extensively on the question, when the Diet, in accord- ance with Colonial Law § 56, is called on to re-consi- der the future contribution from the Islands towards the general state-expenses. I. In the exercise of the legislative power of the Danish West India Islands, the Colonial Law distin- guishes between " matters exclusively relating to affairs within the boundaries of the Islands, including their harbors and maritime territory," and " all other matters relating to the Colonies." The law omits to mention the matters which fall under the respective classes, but the line must be drawn in such a manner, that the latter class is limited to comprise those relations which concern the position of the Islands as parts of the Danish state-territory. With regard to the first-men- * This defect has been remedied since tbe above was written.—The TRAKei-ator. tioned matters, the Diet has, frofli the day wlten th^ law took effect—1st April 1865—delegated to the Colonial Councils its share in the Legislative poweiv and thus the colonial representation, conjointly with the King, holds free decisive power in regard to every matter belonging to the first classification. The dele- • 1 • • gatiou in question is, however, not without restriction, being effective only during the absence of exigencies requiring the passage of a law in the usual manner. Hence the legislative power of the Kingdom is author- ized on any -precinct soever, and on any given occasion, to give a decision which exclusively concerns the inter- nal administration of the Islands—with the stipulation however, that " the respective Colonial Council shall, before any law, containing provisions specially relating to the West India Islands be given, be afforded opportunity of giving its opinion in the matter, unless particular reasons render an exception necessary.'' This stipulation, then, affords the first subject tor consideration, and, accordingly we ask whether the superior position of the Diet can be said to contain any obstacle to the colonial self-government. Is there, if we keep the interest of the Islands solely in view, and altogether apart from their position as part of the Danish state, any posibility of removing or limiting the initiative of the mother-country, and dare we pre- sume that a concession to that effect could be the cause of good, economical or otherwise ? The question might appear an idle one after the Diet has signified its approval only of a freedom compatible with " the qonstitutional position pt thp Islands," but those, who know the demands which lesound clamorously from an agitation-party in St. Thomas, are aware that the wishes of the opposition go especially in that direction; for which reason the present inquiry naturally must be entered into before we proceed to consider the organisation which ha^ beep recommended in the mother-country. The first point, then, to which we have to direct our attention, is to examine whether the legislativo authority of the Kingdom has ever made use of its right to co-operate in the legislative work of the Is- lands, and, if so, the occasion on which it has made use ci its right of initiative. It then becomes patent—a dr« cumstance which people, apparently, have in many cases endeavored to ignore-^t^t in the course of the ten years which have elapsed' since the promulgation of the Colonial Law, the Diet has nof, in a single inr ^nce eveny found reason to decide in any noatter touch- ing the internal affairs of the colonies, notwithstanding that the scope of these^as already suggested—com- prehepd, not only the entire economy, but, also, the administration of the Islands, judicature, clerical estab- lishment and civil and military arrangements. The colonial legislative authority has in this regard had free hands ; it has imposed and abolished taxes, established new offices and altered existing ones, regulated the superior administration of the Islands, reduced the military force, sanctioned the contracting of loans, &c., &c., and the Diet has not even seen, from Government or from its own members, any proposal for interference in those affairs; the Diet has ^oughout left it to the colonial legislative authority to rarther, or omit to further, the matters according to its own views of the exigencies of the municipalities. Hence it must appear strange that the reservation of the Colonial Law actually comd call forth any dis- satisfaction in the Islands. It is not easy to under- stand how it can be the cause of ever-recurring com- plaints of want of " liberty and self-governmentbut It is perhaps allowable to presume, that the expressions in that direction, hardly give evidence, when examined, of any longing for greater independence being shared by the better informed or by the greater number. The petition some years ago (11th July 1870) sent in to His Majesty the King from inhabitants (ff St. Thomas, did indeed embody a desire of seeing (he CoUmvA CmncA invested toUJi free and exdu^ve pmoer to legislate in aU matters relating to affairs wUMn the boundaries of the Islands, and this address was signed, ~ 10=- npt Jby f';jftlTOOS|t %diilt MS staled .in.the J)i,et,^qt, At ,apyr^te, ,]>y ^oj-e th^n co^erlmlf (llill wt t ,tbe oi^g^atprs. pf the. pptitipn^ i^uepeeded. ip ^prpating ,,a, movement :^a, by ,/ip.p?tediate persoi^ effoi^e^ rall^g a, Jarge, npfabe**, of inhabitants ^P^n^ .^a petition ^ipcb paipted the'state, of 4be pommuiuty du the darkest .Wprs, ^aud ,looked! upph' the^seyeran^ ,o£ the Island's connection! wi&^^e , mpttpr-country ^ihp pnly. jneans of salvation; 3nt ,vre,are pet wairanted .in,considering petition as the embodipaent^pf the,wi,shes of ;tbo more pppsiderate and better iniomed. IBe.tween ' and ji|aPl ip A?? ."?P?^i5!» ,0ui Juj^^ f87^), jft ^gle wor^ about-xt, ,in.th.e ,}|el)i jppie ^wee^ later (^tb jwd ^upe) J!;^et^eep tbe GpyejiQy apd Jl;^9 ponsuli- ,pjg ppnpmf^tees/.comppaed of mep jybp J^^V^^o^slap^a, ^ai^ V^nt ex^ppipTy.fay in ^eir proposals ,7or ,peipm ^^ejliegisiation apd ^i^ministra|;ipn, not a single meodber ^ntterpC}ii,;^yiah;for,an'^of^e pr^ciples whioli ,t4® '^►asis jfpr tbe ^cpppeofipn",jdp^pen mpiher- ^^Qun^ and pdjonies. If, ,i|;hen, people .pt^hpmedipye.>]l>ppn j^sposed to ^attach ^special pighificance,.to,the address in questipi^ and e,ven, in fhe, recent discussions in the ?)iet m April .^.87^4, jhaye copsidprpd . jt .e^pnpe "Aom ;tbose who .aft^ a^ .hnpw ,^68^,^0,016 jffept.that.the colonial population is stjffenng. undpr a weight of Aependenco ,a^ , jnfenonty imposed,by.0i6 modier-countaT, the 'dppu^pht is creditedyvith a good.dei0 jnpre ^te®n*it lay claini, tjo." :Th® address &om .0ie Ejleyen Hun,- ^€|d J.and lEIeyen can only,be jlopked upqn'as the expression qf a. mpmentary jdepre®®i9®» = >rMch was felt, hot jvdthout.reason,, by a number of hhdete .and retail- ^ere» .^hose tr^e had, suderqd by , the negotiations fojr ,the,jlTap8ler, ,a^d whose day-dreams had ^own into jihe , hope '.^p^t. the adoption qf.Ae United , i^tatep' excejlept .maxinis of ',Se7ffGovernment" yepuld a^prd jdiem a nqinber o^ imaginary bpnefite. .Butjwh®*^ ,dia,^atisfipd hhose jtd vent their'.disappointment by hpiuplaming of want o^ liberty and seh-gpyernmentir-ht hiust, be a,dwtted Itbat, Such wapt could never, have ]been .felt, and ^be^far-yeaching wishes,for free and ,exclusive, legislative power vested ; in,the .Golonial C[ounciIi,f9r,anien terested. II. The co-operation reserved the Diet with regard to the internal affairs of the colonies, forms but one of the causes for the complaints a^inst the dependence of the Islands. A resolution adopted by the Colonial Council has no legal effect unless it is sanctioned by the King or provisionally, in His Majesty's behalf, by the Governor; and this sanction the opposition regards as an equally essential obstacle against colonial self- government. "Should His Majesty the King find" says St. Thomas Times " that he knows the wants of the community, better than the representatives of the community, he may set aside the resolutions of the Council, and if he d^oes, there is no appeal." If the expressed wishes in this direction did pur- port only that the Governor should be authorized to sanction certain ordinances of a mimicipal character, there would indeed be no great cause of objection, and such an arrangement will be considered more fully in the following pages. But in St Thomas the desire of the opposition goes a good deal further. Even as it is demanded that the Diet shall renotmce entirely its share in the power of legislating in the internal affairs, it is claimed that those matters are to find final deci- — 17 — sion on the spot—^which claim means that the Colonial Council is to be a sovereign assembly, the resolutions of which are binding, independent of any sanction, if adopted by a two-thirds vote. From the standpoint ol the mother-country it must be evident that such a demand exceeds largely the limit of what the mother- country can concede to a component part of the territory subject to Danish sovereignty. If it must be admitted that the Diet cannot entirely renounce its right to supervise the development of the Islands, there can consistently be no question of removing the royql sanction. Where there is a question of resolu- tions involving Law in its strict signification, enact- ments touching the relations of property and family, penal laws and the forms of Judicature, it is, obviously, not sufficient that the Legislative authority is enabled to promote by its initiative a given development, but the Government must also hold the power to preverU measm'es at variance with the principles of the mother- country's legislation from taking effect. But, even viewed from the standpoint of the Islands, it is patent that a decision of their internal affairs, to the full extent desired, could by no means be left to themselves. In the colonial municipalities, the population of which is of different origin, and exhibits many different degrees of mental culture and education, and where a constant change, coming and going, manifestly takes place, especially amongst the more capable—those who are especially able to repre- sent the community—, there is out little public com- mon feeling. The conflicting interests give easily cause for disagreeing, and the character of the Coloni- al Councils as exponents for a single party, a planting interest or a mercantile intei*est, entails the natural consequence that just as those assemblies may on the' one side neglect a measure proposed for the benefit of the unrepresented part of the population, they may as well carry a measure which purports the benefit of one individual class,, but is opposed to the welfare of the community in general. - The Council pf St. Croix. — 18 — is always exposed to the temptation of regulating the most important question oi the Island—the labor relations and the questions therewith cotmected-^in a way that promotes the planter's interest at the expense of the. laborer ; and anyone, who has followed the discussions in the Colonial Council of St. Thomas, has seen how frequently the assembly is deficient in power of comprehending the general welfare of the commu- nity, and how, on several occasions, it has applied public funds for assisting establishments promoting only special purposes, while similar institutions, in- tended for the good of the entire populationn, were deprived of all support. Thus the royal sanction is not only a guarantee for the mother-country, that the . legislation in the Islands is carried on in accordance with the principles adopted at home: it is to the entire population an assurance, that the interests of the community are duly regarded. A statement like me one we have quoted from "St. Thomas Times^ must, however, at first convey the impression that the sanction on the Colonial Council's resolutions is frequently not obtained without difficul- ty. In this instance also, the opposition employs the tactics of ignoring actualities and agitating with ima- mnary bugbears. How often, in point of fact, has government found cause to decline sanctioning an ordinance ? If we except those extremely few cases in which a resolution of the Council has suffered from essential formal defects, or has, f. i., been adopted in the one Island only, while, according to its contents, it should be valid in all the Islands,—^there is no instance of sanction having been withheld from the resolutions of the Coimcils. The Home Government has actually gone so far in its desire to accommodate, as to sanction the municipal budgets, notwithstanding that the assembly had, contrary to the rules of the Colonial Law, voted on and altered budget-items which were not subject to be voted on during the budget-discussions, and could only be voted on and altered by the ihtro- duction of special drafts of ordinance. Even when^ k — 19 — the Colonial Council has altogether overstepped the limits of its competence, and refused an expenditure, the existence and amount of which are fixed by the consti- tulional law,—^the contribution towards the general state-expenses—the Home Government has preferred to ignore the disregard thus evinced, and, instead of having the budget lawfully treated by a new-elected Council, has sanctioned the budget as to all the other items, insisting, of course, on the payment of the con- tfibution as fixed by the Colonial Law. Of a delay being caused by sending the matters in question home, there can be no question. In those cases where it is of importance that the sanction should be given immediately after the passage of the resolu- tion, the Governor exercises the right of sanctioning provisionally. By virtue of the Cwonial Law $ 3 he promulgates the ordinances passed by the Colonial Coimcil, disposes of the funds granted ; and the Home Government does not stand so strictly on the written letter as to demand that this procedure should always be warranted by the presence of a " particularly ur- gent" case, but is content by the mere fact that the immediate sanction has been desirable or rendered expedient by the local exigencies—even in the instance of the municipality contracting a loan, which propor- tionally, comparing the revenues respectively of St. Croix and the mother-country, corresponds with the col- lective annual revenue of the mother-country. In regard to the budgets, which form the most important and com- prehensive subject for discusssion, the Governor has re- peatedly, by royal resolution, been empowered to sanction all the items on which he is ^accord with the Council,—^a power expressly conferred because the de- layed treatment of the budgets made it impossible to obtain His Majesty's sanction in due time. In that regard, also, it must cause astonishment that Colonial Law could possibly call forth any dissatisfaction. The complaints we hear, on this point as well as cm the subject of the Diet's initiative, are wholly witiiout foundation, and must be regarded — 20 — only as the work of a small but clamorous opposition, by which a few individuals, who refuse to see the true state of things, try to influence the multitude, who are too ill-informed and vacillating to judge for itself. Re- farding the purpose of this agitation it is difScult to now anything. The bone of contention on which the whole disaffection rests—the CotUrihtdion to the general State Expenses—could at at^ate not be removed by a resolution of the Colonial Council, even if the ordin- ^ ances of the Council were binding without sanction, seeing that no " ordinance," but only the legislative authority of the mother-country, is competent to de- cide in this matter; and there is no ordinance, regard- ing any matter within the competence of the Council, waiting for sanction in order to acquire validity. It is just possible to imagine the existence in St. Croix of a matter which a ruling party could be anxious to see regulated independent of sanction, but in St. Thomas we look in vain for a similar affair. The dissatisfied must state the measure which the Colonial Council— within its proper sphere of action—is desirous of pass- ing, but abstains from taking in hand because it is fearful ot not obtaining the required sanction. If there is such a measure, let the proposal be put in form, adopted and sent in, and, then, according to every existing experience, the assembly is warranted in expecting that, if the resolution thus adopted be useful to the population, even if ever so little, or, rather, if it does not cause direct harm and is kept within such limits that it constitutionally can be sanctioned without the co-operation of the Diet, it will beyond a doubt meet with approval. But in St. Thomas the leaders of the opposition appear to be caught by the air of the French September-Days. They refuse to see any future for the Island unless the Colonial Council be made a sovereign assembly, with free and exdusive rule in every regard ; th^ refuse to have anything to do with a staff of public officers, imless it is Creole born and bred and responsible to the Council,- and they are. altogether blind to the fact, that if St. Thqmas en- t — 21 — joys in Europe a degree of confidence not accorded to Cuba or Puerto Eico, Haiti or San Domingo, it is just because it is connected with the Danish sovereignty, bceause it is subject to a power whose sense and maintenance of right and justice, and political relations, afford reliable guarantees. The only perceptible con^ sequence from a severance from the mother-country, is, however, not distant, and it would probably soon render St. Thomas a drifting wreck upon the waves. Somebody or the other might, indeed, then attain to the realisation of his day-dream, and see the Island becQpie a link in a West India federation—a branch- concern of Haiti; but, looking away from the indivi- duals who aspire to attaining power in that realm of the future, the good and peaceful days of the popula- tion would be things of the past, and the commimity would cease to be counted among the civilized ones. III. It has already been mentioned, that in some affairs the Colonial Councils have no share in the legislative power, but co-operate consultatively, whilst the exercise of the legislative power rests with the mother-country. To that category belongs, fii'st, the Constitution or the Colohidl Lato, in the enactments of which alteration cannot ordinarily be made, except by law given in the mother-country. The restriction in this manner im- posed on the action and competence of the Councils ds, however, rather trifling in extent, seeing that the daw- has been very liberal in conceding exceptions and erhpowering the local legislation to alter some of its enactments. Thus an " ordinance" effect altera- tion in the administrative prerogative oi the King and the Grovemor (power of filling offices, grant of licenses commutation of penal sentences, &c.), in the general enactments concerning the liberty of the citizens (the * — 22 — inviolability of person, dwelling, and right of property, and relations therewith connected) ; and in the solitary cases in which the constitutional law has intended to secure the Islands against interference on the part of the administration, and has referred the regulation of a given relation to the legislative authority (f. i. the exercise of the judiciary power), it has placed " Or- dinance" on a level with " Law.'' Looking away from the Island's contribution to the mother-country, which will be discussed in the following pages, and from the detailed regulations for the elections of the Colonial Council, in which altera- tions might be effected without hesitation, we find, properly speaking, but one relation, the regulation of which, as embodied in the Colonial Law, the Colonial Council may fairly consider as a restriction in the plenitude of its power. The law enacts that " the Evangelical-Lutheran church, which is the National Church, shall be supported from the public funds." The National Church coimts, however, only a minori- ty in the Islands, c. 15 of the population, while tne Moravians, the Episcopal and the Roman Catholic congregations comprise respectively 24, 28 and 29 ®|o; by donations and privileges it is more amply endowed than any other church, and hence it may be under- stood that the many, who do not confess this faith, feel aggrieved by being obliged to contribute not only to their own church, but also to a congregation, the tenets of which do not afford them religious* consola- tion. Hence, more than ten years ago, during the discussions on the present Colonial Law, propossd was made to the effect that the enactment in question should be expunged, and be replaced by a provision that the Evangelical Lutheran ministers should in their capacity as mUiiary chaplains be supported by the public, funds, but the proposal, which, by the way, came from a Lutheran, Dane by birth, did not meet with sufficient support. Under the present state of things the public mind has changed, and both from St. Thomas mid St. Croix we find, in the committee- ^23 — imports on tlie draft of the revised Colonial Law,, the wish expressed, that the National Church be separated ftom the municipality, because, it is said, it cannot be seen, that the reasons, which have led to its support in the mother-country, find application in the colonies. The support aflforded by the latter, is, however, a mere tnflej the Colonial Treasury of St. Thomas, defrays a part of the salary of a minister and a clerk (respective^ ^900 and $250), besides the garrison's ofltering, $120, and both, minister and clerk, are entitled to a certain share of the so-called ^ave-per- mits^ an emolument which may be considered as being defrayed by the municipality, insofar as it is paid for interment in the public cemetery. It follows, however, that tho law does not proiiibit the , granting, by Ordinance," of assistance to the cleri<^ establish- ments of other religious congregations. Since the promulgation of the Colonial Law, there has been but a single instance of an alteration of the Colonial Law having been required in order to allow an ordinance passed by the Council to take effect In that solitary instance, the re-organisation of the military force of the Islands, the Diet passed at once and unanimously a law amending the enactment in question ; hence the colonies cannot in that regard complain of a want of accommodation on the part of the mother-country. In another instance, also with- out pendant, the Diet has taken the initiative of its own accord to effect an alteration in the constitutional position of the Islands, but that act, like the former one, was an act of deference to the wishes of the population, exempting (by law of 25th March 1871) the colonial treasuries from the payment of 12,600 RixdoUars towards the expenses of the colonial admin- istration and audit-ofBice in the mother-coimtry. Besides the Constitutional Law, it is, as a matter of course, beyond the competence ot the Councils to decide in affakrs not exdusivdy concerning rdcAwns vMhin (he limits of the Islands. The Colonial Law has not gone to the length of specifying those affairs, but they — 24 — must, ' " * -Hi. ^ ^ hence, are in common for mother-country and the colonies, f. i., grant of the right of nativity, or dis- solution of the tie between sovereign and subject, conclusion of treaties with foreign powers regarding the Danish West India Islands, and laws, concerning trade and navigation, which contain provisions that are to be applied in the mother-country. The Law has protected the interest of the Islands by reserving " the respective Colonial Council, before any law containing provisions especially relating to the West India Islands be given, opportunity of giving its opinion in the matter, unless particular reasons render an exception necessary." It could, indeed, by no means be^ expect- ed, that the population could entertain a wish for a larger measure of co-operation, but it is a characteris- tic peculiarity of the agitation in St. Thomas, that both in the address and in "/Sf. Thomas Tirmi" it demands that, on this precinct also, the Colonial Council should be invested with decisive power—^in the address, however, more modestly, by adding " subject to the veto of the superior magistrate and the legislative authority of the J^ingdom in regard to these matters." On this precinct too, the Diet has not, since the promulgation of the Colonial Law, found reason to display an activity which could cause dissatisfaction in the Islands. An enactment in the Postal Law of 7th January 1871, empowering the Home Govern- ment to draw up needful provisions in regard to the transmission of mail-matters between the Islands and the Kingdom or foreign places, and the Law of 28th March 1871, regarding an alteration in the custom- dues on sugar, which was given in order to assist the importation of St. Croix sugar in the Kingdom—that is all, unless we here call to mind the different laws by which the Colonial Treasury of St. Thomas has been exempted from paying its contribution to the general state expenses. cem Danish state, and. IV. When on several occasions the Diet has expressed itself in favor of such an arrangement of the colonial affairs as would further the development of the Islands in the direction of self-government and self-help, it has certainly never imagined or intended that the connection with the mother-country should be djs- solved to the extent desired in St. Thomas, but it has mooted the question " whether at least a certain definiie share of the l^islative power ought to be finally and wholly vested in the Islands, and whether it were not possible to allow them such acttwd municipal independence as, /. t., th^ possessed by the municipality of Copenhagetiy Thus the legislative power of the Kingdom were not to be excluded from using its initiative in the internal affairs of the colonies, nor would the Royal sanction be abrogated, but certain affairs would be reserved, in which the decisive authority should be exclusivdy vested in the Colonial Councils, and the final decision of which should take place within the Islands. To this arrangement, which was proposed by a committee in the Diet, under the discussions on a draft of law for devising means for the Central Colonial Board, the Diet has reverted pretty frequently, latest in April 1874, when' the financial committee in. the Lower House expressed the hope, that Goveniment in the impending revision of the Colonial Law would con si- der its expediency. The Government has, however,' long ago entertained a similar idea. It would, indeed, appear strange if neither the administration at home nor the Colonial Government should have been able to discover a means considered potent enough to manifest Us comprehensive importance, also in the amelio- ration of the economical and financial state of the Islands^ The efficiency of such a means has, on the contrary, been already considered, and it was unanimously re-' jected by a committee, composed of men fully acquaint^ ed with the state of the Islands, elected to report on the first draft of the Colonial Law in 1852. Leaving aside — 26 -T the reasons which were at that time considered sufficient for disadvising the projected arrangement, and origin- ated in more objective circumstances: th^ difficulty of defining the limits within which free self-government should be exercised,—I still believe that we will encounter a series of complications, if we try to define with any degree of precision the nature of the self- government which has been recommended for the Islands. So long as Government ^the Grovemor) and the Colonial Council agree about a given measure—the pur- port being at present left out of question—the proposed arrangement offers, indeed, no difficulty ; and we see no reasonable objection against such a joint agreement, within the pale of the limits fixed, acquiring validity without being sent home for higher sanction. There is however, but little gained by a provision to that effect, seeing that with regard to those precincts on which the self-government in question would" especially become active—the discussions on the budgets—^ the Governor is, in point of fact, authorised to sanction the colonial budgets in regard to all the items about which he agrees with the Council * ; and if in the course of the year the exigencies require extra grants, or when ordinances are passed, the development of the given relations has established the practice, that the Govern- or exercises his right of sanctioning, provisionally, whenever the local conditions render such sanction expedient. And it would be difficult to suppose that, —apart from the cases here mentioned, in which the resolution of the Council, when submitted to His provisional sanction, ever refuse to sanction an arrangement jointly approv-- ed by the authorities of the Island. * It has already been mentioned, that the anthorisation in question is, probably, especially owing to the circnmstance that for a number of years it has been fonud impracticable to get the bndget-disscnesions in the Colonial Councils terminated in such eood time that His Majesty's sane- tion could be promulgated in the Ida'nds before the beginning of the respective financial year; the anthorisation ban actnally been given in every financial year following that of 1^1-72.—Tbk Atjthoii. Government should / In the event, however, of dissent regarding a given measure—when the Governor cannot approve of the Council's decision, or the Council cannot adopt a pro- posal from Government—certain difficulties present themselves, and it is not shown in what manner the proposed arrangement is meant to provide for the exigency. If in that case it is intended, as it would seem to be, that the Governor should be empowered by his veto to invalidate a resolution of the Colonial Covmcil, and hinder the appropriation of public funds, in which case the matter would be thereby decided without possibility of appeal to a higher authority,— an arrangement to that effect would not appear to be much of a concession in the direction of self-govern- ment. The Governor is, by his official position, not only the superior magistrate of the municipality ; he is also the representative of the Home Government, but a dissatisfied party in the Islands would always, in his declining to sanction a measure adopted by the assembly, see a manifestation of his governing power, and it would be said that the Governor was acting on instructions from home, against the wishes of the population; or, even if the opposition could not help seeing that the mother-country had no interest what- ever in the matter, it would deem it a flagrant injustice that the Governor—a " non-native," should hold power to hinder by his veto the promulgation of an ordinance that had, perhaps, been passed by the unan- imous vote of the Council. Hence any step of import- ance towards self-government, which could effectually meet the wishes expressed in St. Thomas, must necessarily fall in with the idea so frequently advanced by the leadei-s of the opposition : that the resolutions of the Council should be binding, independent of any sanction, if adopted by a qualified majority. But such sovereignty it has hardly been the Financial Commit- tee's intention to concede to the assembly, and it may also, with a good deal of probability, be presumed that the agitation, which at present eagerly covets this form of self-government, would soon acknowledge that — 28 — by its adoption the affairs would be too much left to the individual good pleasure of a few men. The Financial Committee, however, refers to the organisation of a Danish mimicipality, f. i., the muni- cipal board of Copenhagen ; and the analogy of such an organisation (Law concerning the municipal affairs of Copenhagen, of 4th March 1871 § 19) would lead to the consequence, that in a case of dissent like that in question, the Colonial Council would be entitled to submit the case for higher decision. But in so doing, we depart from the proposal that the matters in ques- tion should wholly and finally find decision within the Islands, and, apart from this inconsistency, we cannot but ash^ if the Home Government would not be awk- wardly situated if it bad to choose between sanctioning a measure disadvised by its own representative, or causing dissatisfaction by setting aside the resolution of the Council. A case of dissent like the one here suggested, in which it is supposed that the Colonial Council in a given matter takes the initiative or effects essential amendments in a Government-draft, is, however, not the most serious complication. The consequences will be worse, if the assembly refuses point blank to entertain a proposal from Government Under such a conflict it would be impossible to be content with an organisation, by which the contested matter were to find final decision in the Island. Not only in the event of a dissent regarding a certain use of the mu- nicipal funds, but in any other matter, a given measure could be of such importance that the conamunity would positively suffer in default of a decision. Should the Governor find, f. i., that the Council abused its grant- ing power, by withdrawing needful support from existing institutions, or by refusing to grant expendi- tures required for the proper performance of the administration, or should he find, f. i., that the adoption . of a measure regarding the sanitary state, or the trade, quarantine, or police, would be of signal impoi*tance; or even in the absence of any such special occasion,— — 31 — liad seen a proposal to^ the effect that certain fees, which by virtue of old regulations acci*ue to the National Church for interments in the public cemeteiy —which is, moreover, the property of the church,— were made to accrae to the colonial treasury. The Colonial Government did not find reason to refer the matter to the Home Government, seeing that, as a matter of course, the Governor, while he is not entitled to share in the exercise of the legislative authority, only in case of the greatest necessity resorts to this expedient; but he had to meet the wishes of the oppo- sitiofl and promise to entertain and consider the demand thus made. Cases of a similar nature are not wanting, but they would certainly be encountered much more frequently if the Council did not feel that in case of necessity the mother-country could give decision in all colonial affairs. It may thus be presumed, that whether we follow the proposal of the Diet's committee in the one or in the other direction—whether we realize the idea in such a manner, that in regard to a certain shaie of the legislative power, the Colonial Council be allowed final and decisive authority, which would render the decision given by the assembly the last word in the matter; or whether we are guided by a reference to the iniles of the municipality of Copenhagen, and demand the Governor's consent as a condition for the validity of the Council's resolutions, with reservation of the mother-country's decision in case of dissent— the expedient thus offered would only serve to compli * cate the situation. The position of the Governor might, indeed, become somewhat doubtful, if he were to take part in the exercise of the legislative power. Anyone who has the least idea of the work the Governor has to do, has noticed the strange superstition pre- • valent in the Islands—that the views of the Governor are not so much founded on his own perceptions as formed by some influence or the othei*—in no other place than the West Indies are colonial affairs more regarded as mysteries in which only adepts of many — 30 — but renderiug bim, upon the whole, reluctant in apply- ing for assistance at home, and at all events preventing him from using a more favorable opportunity for re-introducing the matter. It will probably be objected that dissents like those here suggested may be supposed to occur only exceptionally, and that consequently a regard to such a possibility is not sufficient reason for excluding the Islands from the contemplated self-government. But those who have during the last years followed the discussions in the Colonial Council of St Thomas, will be less sanguine. They must admit that, with the tendency which is gaining ground in the assembly, there is an immediate danger that even the most trifling affair, the most reasonable and natural, is turned into a question of principle, in dealing with which an oppositional majority, in order to manifest ill-will against Government—the proposer of the measure—^is actuated by other regards than the advancement of the proposed measure and the good of the municipality. A dissent between the Council and the Executive is a contingency which cannot be ignored in contemplat- ing a concession of increased power to the colonial representation, and it must in St. Thomas be kept even more closely in view, seeing that the Council of that place has frequently shown, that in discussions with the Governor it does not consider him standing on the same level as the municipality, but regards him as the representative of foreign interest ' * the Council was called on to discuss a proposal for an extension of the public cemetery of the town, the cemetery being over-filled to such an extent that, according to the statement of competent parties, there was no more room for interment. The majority of the assembly (to whose earthly remains places of rest have probably been secured elsewhere) did, however, take advantage of the occasion, by going to war against the Lutheran Church, and refused to grant the means of acqiiiring the required plot of ground before they stance we recall the following : V — 31 — had seen a proposal to the effect that certain fees, which by virtue of old regulations accrue to the National Church for interments in the public cemetery —which is, moreover, the property of the church,— were made to accrue to the colonial treasury. The Colonial Government did not find reason to refer the matter to the Home Government, seeing that, as a matter of course, the Governor, while he is not entitled to share in the exercise of the legislative authority, only in case of the greatest necessity resorts to this expedient; but he had to meet the wishes of the oppo- sitionr and promise to entertain and consider the demand thus made. Cases of a similar nature are not wanting, but they would certainly be encountered much more frequently if the Council did not feel that in case of necessity the mother-country could give decision in all colonial affairs. It may thus be presumed, that whether we follow the proposal of the Diet's committee in the one or in the other direction—whether we realize the idea in such a manner, that in regard to a certain share of the legislative power, the Colonial Council be allowed final and decisive authority, which would render the decision given by the assembly the last word in the matter; or whether we ai-e guided by a reference to the rules of the municipality of Copenhagen, and demand the Governor's consent as a condition for the validity of the Council's resolutions, with reservation of the mother-country's decision in case of dissent— the expedient thus offered would only serve to compli I cate the situation. The position of the Governor might, indeed, become somewhat doubtful, if he were to take part in the exercise of the legislative power. Anyone who has the least idea of the work the Governor has to do, has noticed the strange superstition pre- valent in the Islands—^that the views of the Governor are not so much founded on his own perceptions as formed by some influence or the other—in no other place than the West Indies are colonial affairs more regarded as mysteries in which only adepts of many — 30 — but lenJeriug biiii, upon the whole, reluctant in apply- ing for assistance at home, and at all events preventing him from using a more favorable opportunity for re-introducing the matter. It will probably be objected that dissents like those here suggested may be supposed to occur only exceptionally, and that consequently a regard to such a possibility is not sufficient reason for excluding the Islands from the contemplated self-government. But those who have during the last years followed the discussions in the Colonial Council of St. Thomas, will be less sanguine. They must admit that, with the tendency which is gaining ground in the assembly, there is an immediate danger that even the most trifling affair, the most reasonable and natural, is turned into a question of principle, in dealing with which an oppositional majority, in order to manifest ill-will against Govemment—the proposer of the measure—is actuated by other regards than the advancement of the proposed measure and the. good of the municipality. A dissent between the Council and the Executive is a contingency which cannot be ignored in contemplat- ing a concession of increased power to the colonial representation, and it must in St. Thomas be kept even more closely in view, seeing that the Council of that place has frequently shown, that in discussions with the Governor it does not consider him standing on the same level as the municipality, but regards him as the representative of foreign interests. By way of in- stance we recall the following: Not very long ago the Council was called on to discuss a proposal for an extension of the public cemetery of the town, the cemetery being over-filled to such an extent that, according to the statement of competent parties, there was no more room for interment. The majority of the assembly (to whose earthly remains places of rest have probably been secured elsewhere) did, however, take advantage of the occasion, by going to war against the Lutheran Church, and refused to grant the means of acquiring the required plot of ground before they — 33 — speak, exclusively represents the plantei'S, To rest the validity of a resolution on the consent of the Colonial Government, would not afford a sufficient guarantee. In the Council the Governor would on all sides be influenced in the interest of the planters; he is himself to a certain extent inclined to stand on their platform, insofar as he is the representative of the largest creditor of the Island, the State Funds, and under a continuous pressure he would hardly be able to oppose measures which were generally desired by the assembly. Experience has to a certain extent prctved the existence of such influence. It is not with- out reason, when a member of the Colonial Council, who has for a number of years battled for a free development of the labor-relations of the Island, asks " whetlier, since the emancipation, a Governor ever has held other views than those of the planters, in regard to the large unrepresented part of the population, the rural laborers,—whether it is not those Governors, who have given and maintained the exceptional legis- lation, which, for the benefit of another class, is keeping that population as a separate, less privileged class in the community ? Have not those Governors," he continues, " by administration of Police-regulations endeavored still more to restrict the rights of that population I" Hence, in dealing with this question, a resolution of the Colonial Council appears to need con- firmation in the mother-country before it could acquire validity, and it seems clear that the Diet ought to have a right to co-operate in the matter. But by excluding the labor-relations from that part of the legislation, which could be done wholly and finally iu the Island, we have excluded, we might say, all the more important affairs of the municipality. Thu.s:—in order to mention some instances—the school- and the poor-department of St. Croix are inseparably connect- ed with the.labor-regulations. The education and support of the laboring popvdation form es.sentially the common centre of both matters ; and the organisation to be adopted must necessarily interfere in the mutual — 34 — relation between the planter and bis servant, by imposing a series of restrictions in the use of laborers under a certain age, and by prescribing obligations Avith regard to the maintenance of individuals who become " invalids" on the estates.—The road repairs, which form an important item in the economy of the Island, are similarly connected, and cannot be regulat- ed without the appropriation of the" labor- force of the estates.—In St. Croix, again, a definite separation between rural and town-work, between commerce and trade on one side, and domestic service on the other is unknown, and the transition from one of those classes to the other occurs frequently and is easily effected ; hence a legal enactment concerning trades and labor in the iTiral districts would necessarily interfere with the relations of labor and service. The same rule applies more or less to the different Police-regulations, enactments against vagi*ancy, &c.—an additional ar- ray of relations, whose working are most closely connected with and depending on the maintenance of the present state of the laborers. In all these matters an assembly could not move freely and safely, if it had not free hands in the matter with which they are so closely connected; being accessory to the labor relation, they would have to share its fate, and be separated from that part of the legislation which could be reserved to the Island. If we were, further, to exempt the organisation of the military force, we would in so doing take away the power of giAung regulations for the police of the municipality; the military force serves, properly speaking, as a well-disciplined constabulary, for the maintenance of internal peace and order, and accord- ingly the numerical strength and the activity of the police must depend on the number of soldiers on whose services the Council may count. Thus it would be on a very naiTOw precinct, only that a certain share of the legislative power could be left decisively and finally to St. Ci'oix, and CA'en on that precinct the close connection that exists between the — 35 — most impoitant affair of the colony and all others, would easily give occasion to doubt whether the Council had not gone beyond its competence, in which case the ordinances it had passed would, in order to acquire validity, have to be sent home for sanction. In St. TJmms we find indeed no similar affair, which at the outset it would be necessary to separate from those that were to be finally decided in the Island, and to which the other affairs of the munici- jjality were so closely related that on that account there would be left but naiTOw scope for free self- goiiernment. But in regard to St. Thomas we would, it piay be presumed, be justified in abandoning every attsmpt of defining that part of the legislative power which wholly and finally could be left to the Island, seeing that the insuperable difficulty against realbing the organisation proposed at home, as mentioned in the foregoing, must be looked for in the population itself. It must be admitted, that the creation of self- government—^not political but simply municipal— requires certain pre-existing conditions. It requires a population possessing a certain homogenity of compo- sition, and a sense of solidarity, which, out of the diverging interests of the individuals, creates the consciousness of community. But in St, Thomas the ties, which should form the feeling of community, are, I think, entirely wanting, or difficult of connect- ing. The population is throughout all strata composed of different elements, originating elsewhere—all nations are here thronging in intercourse : "/ran sun- rise to sunset'^ says a descriptive sketch of St. Thomas * " the main street, can show a medley of nationalities, to the full as varied,, as that which daily throng the wooden bridge * An article iTTitten by the British Consol in St. Thomas, Mr. Palgrave, and published last August in Cornbill Magazine. It has in St. Thomas cansed a good deal of indignation, and jnstly, as it speaks of the population and its relations in a manner little seemly and little reliable, but it contains some moments that are characteristic in showing a foreigner's conception of the state of the Island. An epitome of the article from the version of a G.ernian periodical, has been published in Copenhagen in " Nser and Fjevn" (1871, No. 181).—The Author. 36 — of GdiUaf the various nationalities are subdivided in a still larger number of confessions, and these contrasts naturally become a rock on which the endeavors of developing the feeling of community must founder. But the population is not only diversified, it is con- stantly changing. The Island itself produces nothing ; it has no manufactures, no rural tracts and districts supplying articles of commerce, but its existence is depending on its harbor, or, rather, on the circum- stances which at present render that harbor a conve- nient place of exchange. Without disparaging the beauty of the Island, it is not a place to settle in for good; disease creeps in from the harbor; during more than three months in the year the sea-breeze threatens with hurricanes, and eaidhquakes have set then- mark upon the houses of the town. Looking away from the multitude, which possesses nothing, the Island therefore does not contain any "old stock" imbued with feelings of being permanently connected with the place; it comprises a number of continually changing -inhabitants, of sojourners, who, out of purely indivi- duals motives and temporarily, stay there awhile. Briefly : St. Thomas is a mart which, because it lies on the great route, collects a motley and shifting public, but in which not one out of a hundred wishes to remain after he has made his purchases—amassed the fortune which enables him to spend the rest of his life in the place he regards as his proper home. " English, Scotch, Spanish, French, Italian, architects, inhabitants—one and all," says Mr. Palgrave, the onlg object they have had in settling here, ftas been that of niahing as muck money as they could from the business of the place, and then being off as quick as possible." Mr. Palgrave's assertion gives offence in St. Thomas, but it is not novel, and does not come only from a stranger, seeing that it has been uttered also in the Colonial Council, by one who, by his official position, is especially acquainted with the commercial class of the Island, and states his opinion in a similar direction declaring " the inhabitants of our town are for the most pati — 37 — foreigners, who enrich themselves only in order to return to their homes with whal they may earn heref This want of amalgamation and this coming-in and going-out of families and individuals, which especially occurs amongst the more competent of the population, is not only reflected in social life, but it is more strongly expressed in the Colonial Council of the Island. Anyone, who has witnessed the discus- sions of that assembly, has seen how the opinions of the members are mutually at variance. Members of English origin derive their ideas about constitution and administration from English forms, the French- bom seek their analogies in the French National Assembly—^the committee-report on the draft of the revised Colonial Law shows a characteristic composi- tum—, and the Danish members endeavor to maintain Danish state-principles. The Colonial Council of St, Thomas does not form a whole ; there is no unity of conception; in the majority there is hardly any inter- est going beyond individual purposes, and, above all, there is not that sense of calling and responsibility, which is required in the treatment of public affairs. In the development of the given relations the institu- tion has degenerated, has become a play-ground for agitation and dissatisfaction, rather than a deliberately working assembly. " At present,^ says the Governor in the Council, " we have no cordial co-operation, we have only the bitter &cchange of conflicting opinions that might and ought to he contMiated^^ and at times the discussion assumes so unpleasant a character, that the Governor and the minority, who decline to listen to the opposi- tion's attacks on the mother-country, must resort tq leaving the assembly. * Under such relations it would be impossible to entrust safely the more significant part of the legis- lation to a decision in St. Thomas. We would, ^ perhaps, be warranted in going a step further, and presume that the population would on the whole not • Proceed, of Col. Coancil for St. Thomas and St. John 1873-74. ». 86-87 and 1874-75 p. 49-5^.—The Author. ' ^ — 38 — be well served by Denmark's leaving matter for final decision in the Island. The Colonial Council is indeed only a miniature edition of a poHti- cal assembly, yet it may be regarded as such, insofar as there is no side of the Island's existence that cannot be discussed in the Council and come under resolution in one shape or the other. For such an assembly it is the naturd course, that when it cannot carry out its will on the precinct exempted from its power, it seeks redress in opposing Government in the affairs subject to its decision. This danger becomes much more impending when, in regard to the majority, we dare not count on strong independence, but must appre- hend the rule of individuals, men who evince more desire of action than usually displayed in the Islands. Nor must it be overlooked that, in St. Thomas as little ks elsewhere, we can expect that an elective class will seek Us representatives especially amongst the more competent and independent men. In tmis respect it is a suggestive fact, that the man who quite recently and for several sessions occupied the chairman's seat in the Council, and had in that capacity by no means put himself on unfriendly terms with the so-called " Laber- als'' (who as a party were, however, at that time not as extreme as they are at present), afterwards, on his return irom a trip to Europe, repeatedly suffered defeat in the elections for the assembly—in order to make room respectively for a merchant and another man who "applied" in the newspaper and promised fealty to. the views of the opposition—, notwithstanding that his services Were, at the time, of exceptional significance, seeing that he as jurist could have guided in the discussions on the new Colonial Law. We have, then, only left to try if the oft-mentioned expedient: " to allow the colonies wholly and finally a certjun share in the le^slative power," could indeed " manifest its comprehensive significance, also in the financial state of the Islands."-—It will probably be conceded, that there can be no question of any compre- hensive significance, as long as the mother-country, as — 39 shown in the foregoing (Sections 1. and II.), has in no instance, by taking the initiative in internal colonial relations, or by refusing to sanction resolutions of tlie Colonial Councils within the established precincts, encroached upon the populations' right of decision in their own affairs. In that case we must be content with a lesser effect. But in what direction should such an effect be manifested! The amelioration of the economical state of the Jslands is hardly a part of the }>rospect opened by the intended self-government, however much we call on the aid of imagination ; and hence we have left only the possibility, that the more ample independence might perhaps produce a better frame of mind amongst those who are at present dissatisfied. But, strange enough, notwithstanding that almost every time the financial affairs of the Islands liave been under discussion—on the subject of the different laws regarding exemptions from the pay- ment of contribution to the state-expenses—the organ- isation in question has been suggested, and notwith- standing that the colonies naturally catch hold of every hand's turn that can assist them out of a difficul- ty,—they have never consented to listen to the suggestion. In St. Croix the Colonial Council declares in a committee-report on the draft of the Colonial Law, " that at present there can be no question of following any other principle of regulating the affaii*s of the Islands, than the one embodied in the Colonial Law of 27th November 1863," and in that view the Council is supported by that part of the population which is represented in " St. Croix Avis," seeing that that paper is conservative to the length of asking if it were not better to return to the former system with consultative Burgher Councils and responsible Gov- ernment Councillors. From St. Thomas we hear indeed wbhes, strong enough, for the concession of freedom and self-government, laut as yet there has not been even a single vote in favor of an organisation which leaves the Island only a limiied share in the legislative power, whereas the dissatisfied—as proved — 46—' by the report from a committee of the Council—agree in demanding, that the legislative power, in regai'd to all affairs within the boundaries of the colony, should be exercised exclusively in the colony. Thus we dare not, in this direction either, count on the utility of the proposal that has been made. On the contrary, the considerate will perceive that, even as the mother- country has not up to the present time found cause to further (by the Diet's initiative) or check (by the royal sanction) the development of the internal affairs of the Islands, even thus there is no prospect that it should in the future adopt such a course; and in the pro- posed organisation they could not but see a possi- bility of the disadvant^es suggested in the forego- ing. And those, who so eagerly desire a change, would realize only the semblance of self-government if His Majesty's share in the legislative power were to be transferred to the Governor, or they would, even if the Council were invested with power of deciding certain matters by qualified majority of votes, find cause for new agitation, and assure tlie population that it was but a poor self-government that gave " the representatives of the people" discretionary power in regard to the pavement of streets and *' gutters'* and repairs of buildings and inventory, but was, in respect to all other affairs, exposed to the interference of the Kingdom and dependent on superior sanction. The conclusion which may be drawn from the deduction here essayed would, accordingly, amount to this, that in the direction of liberty and self-govern- ment nothing can be done to the advantage of the colonies. If we hear from St. Thomas a wish to attain liberty in a degree that would sever the Island from the mother-country, such liberty would only impose a burden which the poputation would be unable to sustain; and when at home it is recommended " to concede to the Islands the widest possible tneasure of independence conipatible with their constifutioml position and the rights of the Crown,"—the colonies are in point of fact in possession thereof. The Islands may look — 41 — around throughout the West Indies, and neither in the French, Spanish or British possessions they will find municipalities that enjoy greater independence in their own affairs than they possess. Eemrence has been made to the action of Great Britain towards her colonies, as a prototype for colonial policy; the reference may hold good in regard to territories like Canada and Australia, that are able to stand on their own legs, but it does not apply to petty Islands, which in no regard, technical or scientific, can offer^ the population instruction beyond the most elementary. Whether in another respect there could be call for alteration, whether there should be good rea- son to throw overboard the organisation established by the Colonial Law, and lay much greater au- thority in the Governor's hand—are questions which do not re ' ' *' ' at present, see- land in which the dissatisfaction has originated, is in favor of working, by means of a revisal of the constitution, for an extension of the self-government of the population; yet the recollection suggest itself that the loud-mouthed complaints of dependence and inferiority are traceable only to the -time when the Islands became partakers in freedom. And should this su^estion give offence, it is defended by one who during a life-time was acquainted with West India affairs and enjoyed universal respect out there, the former Chief Judge, Councillor Kunzen, who, in reference to the present Colo- nial Law, declares that " a strong Government is, as shown by experience, the form of admin- istration best suited to the welfare of the popu- lation-—and hence those," his Honor adds, " who seem inclined to go in the opposite direction, and lay the power in the hand of the representa- tion, show, by so doing, how little they know of the welfare of the colonies and the wishes of the population." Ing that as in the Is^ — 42 — V. Ill connection with the question of the self-gov- eminent of the Islands, we have to add another observation regarding the Colonial Law. " What we require," said a member of the Colonial Council under the discussions on the present. Colonial Law, " is not big words, in which our little Islands are represented as an independent state, but good, useful enactments, serviceable in daily life, for promoting our material welfare." Has the Colonial Law hindered that devel- opment I Is it, as stated in the petition from the Eleven Hundred and Eleven, "an obstacle against our progress and a bai* against bur welfare," or, as said at home, " a cumbrous, unwieldy machinery In regard to St. Thomas, the question might perhaps be answered in the afltonative, in so far as the population has shown itself incapable of managing the freedom thus conceded, and abuses it, in the representation and through the press, in order to create dissatisfaction with the existing state of things. If the leaders of the oppo- sition, instead of complaining of dependence and inferiority and discussing the principles of liberty and self-government, had worked in the direction of examining the economical affairs of the Island, if they had, f. i., considered and discussed measm'es for the assistance of trade and navigation, they would certain- ly have done more for the Island, and they would, at all events, not have called up a dissatisfaction which destroys the good relation between magistrate and citizens. But for that effect we can hardly with propriety censure the Colonial Law; the question must be put more direct: we have to examine whether, looking away from the self-government it concedes, there are defects in the single enactments, imperfections that hinder a useful development, and, limiting thus the inquiry, it is hardly to be denied that the Colonial Councils, as created by the Law, form an institution which but little suits its purpose. -43 — Tn the discussions vtrhich preceded the existence of the Law in question, particular importance was ■ ' ^ nee Qf the Councils. , . . Burgher Councils, in such a manner that the new assemblies were to retain, as much as possible, the character of administrative corporations, but should at the same time, exercise decisive authority in the legisla- tion of internal affairs; it was expected that the citizens would under the new organisation manifest a •lively participation in the affairs of municipal character, properly speaking, and would frequently take the initiative in the minor, daily affairs which would naturally come under their notice, being intimately connected with their material well-being. The expectation has not been realized. The large number of members of the Councils (respectively 15 and 18), the infrequency of the meetings and a want of interest, have rendered diiKcult that side of their work, an^ in course of time it has been superseded by their legislative or political activity. In St. Croix especially, where the greater number of members live far from each other mid from the seat of the adminis- tration, the interest in properly municipal affairs is so trifling, that when the assembly has graiited the required money, its pm^icipation and responsibility in the matter are generally speaking at an end. Nor have the Colonial Coimcils in their capacity as legislative corporations led a spirited existence, and the cause of this must especially be looked for in the manner in which the meetings are fixed by the Law. Instead of assem- bling for a certain time every year, the Councils work at ml times, of the year ; assembling in ordinary meetings on a fixed day every second month, besides being hable to be convoked in extraordinaiy meetings whenever business requires. But when thus the meetings of the assembly are scattered with long intervals over the year (the average number of the sittings being 15-20 yearly, the lesser number in St. was the extension — 44 — Croix, the larger in St. Thomas) despatch of business becomes flagging and the discussions lose in continuity; the Council loses interest in a matter when it must, so to speak, in every meeting make itself acquainted anew with its bearings, and when, seeing that every matter (ordinance or grant) must necessarily go through several discussions before its final passage, it may require as much as six months to get even the most trifling matter through the assembly. With a view of remedying those defects, the possibility of providing a more simple mode of trans- acting business has been considered, and thus, in the course of the delibemtions in 1870 between the Gov- emor and the members of the Council, regarding reforms in legislation and administration, it was pro- posed in St Thomas, that from among the members of the assembly a lesser representation should be formed for the transaction of the cuirent business : a boai*d of 5 members, which, with the Governor presiding, should meet once every week in order to decide on the economical affairs of the municipality, while the exercise of the legislative authority should be left with the Council in pleno, assembled for the purpose during a certain term. This idea, which was mention- ed already in the discussions in the Imperial Council in 1863, has afterwards been taken up and defined by a committee in the Colonial Council of St. Croix. If we may judge from the report rendered by that committee, on the subject of the new Colonial Law, there seems to exist a conviction that such a distinction between the two sides of the Council's work, which, for the reasons stated, have till now not beeg satisfac- torily treated, would be conducive to a more spirited development in the one regard as well as in the other. The legislative work would progress more easily if the interest in the" matters were sustained by a more speedy and intense mode of working, and the purely municipal or economical affairs would obtain more attention and a more rational treatment by being a continual object for indi\'idual consideration, than — 45 — by being allowed only tbe time which the sporadic meetings of the Council can afford to spare from the business that may be called its^ political work. In St. Thomas it appears that they have aban- doned a proposal regarding which there was unanimity in 1870, and in this Island, where the assembly, notwithstanding its wide-roaming political activity, has retained much better its character of a municipal board, there appears indeed t(j be less call for forming a standing board. It would, on the other hand, be important to get the pieetings of the Council concen- trated so as to occupy only a certain term in the year— say a brief session of a month or two. In this manner there would be gained not only a more prompt despatch of the legislative work, but—^which, in view of the situation in St. Thomas, is equally important,—the work of the administration would be facilitated. By having to occupy a legislative assembly all the year round, the attention of Grovemment is too much with- drawn from the daily administration ; the control with the most essential relations of the municipality becomes less effective, the co-operation with the Council less fraitful; and there will easily spring up cause for ill- feeling or coolness between magistrate and representa* tion, when the discussion on delicate and disputed ques- tions, that cannot be decided in the^ Islands, is kept open for a long time. These remarks contain in a sense the reply to a complaint frequently made at home: tliat no reforms for the good of the Islands are ever seen. In regard to this, it should, however, be considered that the Colonial Councils are by no means assemblies possess- ing great capacity for work. At noon-tide, when the sun of the tropics is high in the heavens, the tempera- ture does not invite to hard work, and in an Island like St. Thomas, in which especially the leading cla^s sees only a temporary home, we must not expect any strong desire to work in the service of the public. For this reason the Colonial Council seldom, if ever, takes the initiative in a matter, except it concerns thQ > personal interest of members^ or it is suited to promote the pm*pos6 of agitation; and when a matter is referred to a committee, it may remain there a surprising length of time. In this regard we may, by way of instance, refer to the committee that was especially i , it has for years been discussed in committees and by the press, and upon whose prompt advancement, it has frequently been said, depended the fate and welfare of the population—the draft of the new Colonial Law. It took the committee more than two years (from the 22nd May 1872 to the 8th June 1874) to frame and render a report. Yet there has hardly been any material diversity of opinion amongst the members of the committee, seeing that since the autumn 1872 they all belonged to the same dissatisfied fraction of the Council, and that even the most extreme, the most fantastic proposals have been advanced, signed by the committee in pleno, without a single minority-vote on any point. * If, however, the disappointment express- ed in the Diet owe its origin to the circumstance, that nothing has been seen of the reforms that were an- nounced shortly after the cessation of the negotiations for the transfer, it should not be left unnoticed, that if * It should bo added, however, that while it was said in the discuseione on the present Colonial Law "that the draft thereof" (which is in all essential points word for word Identical with the adopted law) "was thronghont a mass of tautologies, and that all that needed to be said conld be contained in 12 paragraphs instead of 82,"—the opinion at present acted on in St. Thomas goes in quite another direction, seeing that the com- mittee of the Col. Council delivers a " Consiitutimal Law of St. Tkomas and jSt. John,'' which contains 169 paragraphs, besides an Electoral Ordinance for the Islands—or the " dependencies," which is considered to be their proper political designation,—with 39 articles. In this mnltitnde of enact- ments the committee has, however, not forgotten to provide that " no fief, entailed estate, or Fidei Commis can in future be established" i. e. in St. Thomas and St. John, nor has the committee, in spite of the frequently mentioned endeavors to be " brief and terse," been sparing of words, but has, f. i., as intende<1 law regarding the light of nativity in the colonies, framed the articles herennder set: Nativee of other countriet betide* Denmark and the Danieh West Indxee, who, at the time of the promulgation of this law, have resided at least five years in the Danish West Indies, and who swear allegidnoe, shall thereupon attain the earn* rights and privilenes in the Dependency as those ts^oyed by the Ifatives of .Denmark^and of the Danish West Indies. appointed matter that is Art. 139. —*47 — we peruse the comprehensive list of proposals for im- provements in tlie administration and in the legislation at that time advocated by St. Thomas, we will also find that, with exception of the alterations connected with the constitution,, the Island has obtained almost every thing it wished. Through measures on the part of the mother-couutry, the colonial treasury has been exonerated from its share of the expenses of the ceu- tral colonial board at home ; the seat of Government has been removed from St. Croix to St. Thomas ; the public officers who were serving under temporary ' Art. 140. Natives of other countries lesides Denmark and the Danish West Indies, who, at the time of the promulgation of this law, have been residing in the Danish West Indies any space of time less than five years, and who swear allegiance, shall, on the completion of five years residence in the Danish West Indies, attain the same rights and privileges as those eiyoyed by th^ Natives of Denmark and the Danish West Indies. *• ' Art. 141. Natives of other countries besides Denmark and the Danish West Indies, who arrive in ifte Danish West Indies made, into a police-office with suitable prison-cells and wards, and thus the police will be enabled to keep convicts and prisoners under its' own snpervision, debarring them from undue communication with people outside, which 72 — is difficult to l)revent so long as tlie fort, as military barrack, is under the charge of another authority, the military. As yet, however, the greater part of the works so long demanded remains undone, and the requirements of a community that is in the course of development, and desires to follow the march of progress, are, as a matter of course, constantly in- creasing. In the discussions in people were content with an estimate in which those, who made the largest demands, set down the cost of the indispensable works at the figure of $300,000; at present the Gov- emmeufs estimate of works required in the nearest future, shows a cost of $700,000. The harbor is continually putting in its claim. From the surround- ing heights sand and gravel is washed down, the inlets become choked, and the vessels that visit the harbor are continually becoming larger and deeper of draught; dredging works, the removal of rocks and bars in order to produce fresh current, a landing-pier for the service of the numerous steam-packets, will alone entail a cost of c. $150,000. The town must be sup- plied with water, especially for extinguishing fires and for sanitary purposes; it requires the edifice so long missed, a building for public offices, and the establish- ment of public instruction with well-aaranged accom- modations—^works which will cost about $150,000. Finally, a dock and a bonded warehouse belong to the requirements that would appear to be especially needed in a place which draws its entire support from trade and navigation, but these desiderata cannot be procured for less than $350-400,000. It is indeed large demands thus made on the resources of a municipality, whose annual revenue, according to the accounts* of the past financial year during which the Island has not been visited by especial disturbances, hardly amounts to $190,000, but Government is not alone in making the demands. During the discussions in the Colonial Council, we hear the most loyal and competent men say (and thus the statement can hardly be considered warped by t — 73 — personal bias), that the works, upon which the welfare of the Island depends, will hardly be done for less than $1,000,000. Allowing even, that the municipality Avill be obliged to abate its demands, that years arel required for realizing those enterprises, and that they must depend on the absence of calamities involving the overthrow of all future plans,—still it is evident even now, that in order to pi'ocure even but some of the necessities I have mentioned, the Island must have its entire revenue at disposal. And it must be espe- daily pointed out, that the force of circumstances may reader it necessary, that especially those works, which entail the largest expenditure—those concerning the harbor—, must be done in the shortest possible time, in order to save the position of St. Thomas as a harbor from suffering an injury which may perhaps be irrepa- rable. The more, as I am going to show, the Island loses ground as a commercial station, the more, on account of the constantly increasing, direct communi- cation with the European manufacturing countries, it loses in signifioance. as emporium for goods of all descriptions—^the less dare we disregard the possibility of its sinking from its position of being a chief com- mercial station into the position of being a business- place of mere local significance, and the more urgent becomes the necessity of deriving every possible benefit from the advantages possessed by the Island in other respects. Everything must be done for the harbor ; we must endeavor to maintain and extend its importance as central station for the large oceam ])ackets, to render it, f. i., a port of refuge for vessels in distress. But all this requires extensive works, seeing that, looking away from what the hand of nature has done for the harboi*, it may be said to be wanting all the accommodations that should attract such a traffic. X. When the Colonial Council enters upon the task of devising means of procuring the necessities above — 74 — mentioned, it finds the situation critical to a degree, which we at home do not conceive. The resources of the Island have decreased as the expenditiu'e has increased^ in a degree proportionate to the necessity of making every effort for maintaining the commercial importance of the place. In the course of the past decennium, events have occurred which have exercised the greatest influence on business; long foreseen and dreaded contingencies have become matters of actual existence, and have caused a reverse in the means of subsistence of the Island, in its com- merce and navigation, thus diminishing materially the wealth of the population. Everybody knows that the Island's central situa- tion in the West India seas, in connection udth its safe and roomy harbor and the well-devised facilities allowed those who enter the harbor, forms the founda- tion of the commercial significance of St. Thomas. Those advantages, and the favorable terms accorded by a low rate of import-duty (IJ on the value of the goods in the place where they are shipped) to the import of goods, have rendered St. Thomas an emponum for mercantile goods of every description. In the days of its prosperity St. Thomas was a mart, to which the West India merchants resoried from the most distant places. Not only from the nearest of the larger Islands, Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, but from the South American republics, from the eastern coast of Cuba, and from different parts of Central America, the merchants used to visit St. Thomas regularly, several times a-year. Here they found whatever they required, in large assortment and at all times; and accordingly they gave their orders to the merchants of the place, supplying them- selves from the stores udth goods from Europe and the United States, especially with dry-goods and provisions. They required but small quantities at a time, being merely local merchants (retailers) while the merchants of St. Thomas carried on business on a large scale and with proportionate, large capital. J ws TWs Ttansit Trade forms till now the chief branch of business in St. Thomas. What I have said just now regarding the commercial intercourse of former times, becomes, therefore, applicable to the present time also, but only partially^ seeing that the business has changed essentially in the course of the last decennium. Not only has it diminished, in the sense that the Island has lost a number of former customers, but it has, which is just as important, acquired a different character. The title of St. Thomas, to foim ja connecting link between Europe and the West India Islands and the sun-oundmg coasts, must be based first and foremost on the favorable geographical position of the Island. But it is evident, that the significance of that position becomes lesseiied as distances become lessened ' by improved means of communication. Through the regular and constantly increasing direct communication between Europe and the West Indies, the connection with the European mai-ket becomes quicker and easier; the European manufacturing coun- tries are brought nearer and nearer, and the places, which were formerly dependent on St. Thomas, endeavor to emancipate themselves by importing direct. This emancipation does not any longer require capital, or, at any ra,te, it requires much less capital than did importation formerly. When formerly—20-30 years ago—the West India merchants far and wide were in the habit of patronizing St. Thomas, their custom did certainly not depend solely-ion the circumstance of their finding in that place a large and varied assort- ment, but also on the facts that the foreign merchants were not, like the commercial class of St. Thomas, in possession of the means and the credit required for establishing direct connection, and that they, being simply local traders, 'did not choose to incur the risk of being hampered with a large stock, which they could not expect to realize at home after the local demand had been supplied. Hence they found it pro- fitable to be supplied in St. Thomas, in small quanti- ties suited to their local sale, notwithstanding that in — 75 — St. Thomas they paid for the goods a higher price than they would have to pay if purchasing on the spot of production, and that they, besides, had to pay very high freights from St. Thomas to the final destin- ation ot the goods. At present it is different; the large transatlantic packets do not only touch at St. Thomas frequently, but they proceed thence to the different West India islands, to the ports of Central America and of the South American Republics, and create thus the connection with the European market, which formerly could be established only by indivi- dual efforts and private capital. They cairy goods from all parts of Europe, and at a charge which under the increasing competition is not much above the present costly intercolonial freight-rates. Thus the purchasers, who formerly were naturally limited to St. Thomas, may at present have the goods they require shipped direct to the destination, or, in case the line of communication does not branch off so as to include their own little place, they may use St. Thomas i as intermediate station, and, for their own account, have their goods consigned to be there transhipped. And this mode of importing does not any longer require capital, seeing that, owing to the speedy and regular communication, the foreign merchants, may import small quantities, suitable, to the local demand, and need not, as formerly, charter sailing vessels for their own account, and order lai'ge quantities. In other words: the facilities of more recent times, in regard to means of communication, have not only made St. Thomas lose ground in tbe West Indian trade, but they have also imparted a" different character to its commercial business. From l>eing a Transit Trade, properly speaking, in which the goods were ordered by the merchants for their own account and risk, and were sold out of their stores to the foreign purchasers, the business is more and more becoming a mere des- patching of goods in transit, or Commission Trade in which the merchants of the Island act only as commer- cial agents, seeing that the goods are ordered for the — 77 — foreign purchasers own account, and are only for- warded on from the Island. To give any reliable statement regarding the extent or degree of the change in the direction indicat- ed, is hardly possible. Considered with a view to the revenue, the distinction between transit indirect ("Transit Trade") and transit direct ("Commission Trade") is immaterial, in so far as the duty paid ongoods merely despatched over the Island, is the same as would be charged, if the same goods were the objects of actual trade for the own account of the merchants of St. Thomas. In the Colonial Council, the change in question has been discussed pretty frequently, and now and then it has been attempted to reduce the change to figures, but the elucidations given appear to be the personal opinions of individual members, rather than supported by accurate comparative statements; and hence they vary considerably. In 1871 one of the merchants of the town—the present chairman of the Colonial Council—stated, that more than one-half of the goods imported to St. Thomas passed through the Island in direct transit. The statement was con- tradicted by the superintendent of customs, who was of the opinion, that the value of the goods thus passing did not exceed one-fourth of the total importation; but, whatever it may have been at that time, it is beyond a doubt that the Commission-business, which some twenty years ago was of no significance whatever, is now increasing continually and sensibly. That such is the case, is proved by the assertion frequently repeated in the Colonial Council, that " trade has diminished most enormouslyit is the impression of anyone visiting the place, when he sees how many " stores" are vacant, and hears of the increasing num- ber of firms that find themselves obliged to liquidate and give up their business. The significance that must be attached to a dis- tinction between Transit-trade and Commission-trade, in regard to the proceeds they afford, is sufficiently evident. There is of course always something, and — < o — something certain, too, made hy the commission business—for the commission merchant himself, as well as for tlie laborers employed in unloading and reloading the goods—in all c. 4-5 ®|o on the value,, but that profit is, obviously, trifling in comparison with the profits that may be realized on goods actually bought and sold. Besides the change that has taken place in the commercial intercourse, there has been a change in the Island's character as a market, which has additionally affected the wealth of the, population. While former- ly, 25-30 years ago, the entire importation of the Island was in the hands of, say, a score of considerable firms, which, by possessing the large capitals at that time required for carrrying on direct importation, monopolized, so to speak, the whole business, it is now divided amongst hundreds of hands. A pretty large number of smaller firms, with lesser credit and little stock, have been established instead of the large firms, which have retired with their capital. Favored by the improved means of communication, they import direct, in smaller quantities, on terms of ready pay- ment, and seek to obtain speedy realisation with lesser profits. This competition not only diminishes the profits,—it directs a da,ngerous attack against the few remaining large firms, by rendering it difficult for them to keep the extensive and well-assorted stock which is their only means of securing the foreign, wholesale demand. Thus the direct commercial com- munications, which favor the springing-up of the smaller firms, may be said to attack the old business, the transit trade, in the rear: they undermine its power of action, by creating a local competition, and at the same time they attack it in front, by forcing it away from the West India market. In other words : while the demand for the commodities of St. Thomas is constantly decreasing, the offers are increasing pro- portionately, and endeavoring to undersell one another. The facilities that have sprung up diuing the latter years have so much contributed to subdivide business. — 79 — contribute so much to enable any one to import direct, that those who have lived in St. Thomas must have noticed how people are getting into the habit of obtaining lesser articles of every day use, f. i., gloves, clothing, &c., by ordering them direct from the places whence they are used to get them, in preference to purchasing them from the local dealers. For those who take no direct personal interest in business, there is under the existing state of things nothing so unac- countable as the fact that St. Thomas still carries on a considerable commerce with the larger and more wealthy Islands. There must be connected with direct import certain difficulties, imperceptible for an outsider. Owing possibly to their troubled state, Spanish colonies still find it difficult to open business- connections with the producing places, and find easier access to obtain credit and favorable terms of payment in St. Thomas, than in the manufacturing countries of Europe; but, above all, there must exist in the Spanish population a strong conservative spirit, which induces it—and may do so for many years to come— to give its custom to an old and known market, where near at hand, in less than a day's journey, so far as concerns Puerto Eico, it finds a well-supplied stock open for their personal selection. From the foregoing, it may fairly be inferred that the amount of the custom-house revenues and the value of the importations, do not afford data sufficient for the formation of an opinion as to the wealth of St. Thomas. The figures of those amoimts may, as has been the case up to 1872, inclusive, be nearly the same as those 10-15 years ago, while at the same time the wealth of the community may have decreased enormously—not only because the commercial inter- course, as already observed, has underwent a change, from a " Transit" trade to a business which approaches to a mere " Commission" trade, but because the local competition has tended to diminish still more the pro- ceeds, lessening the profits on the importations which are the object of actual commerce. On the other — ou — liand, it would appear that when the custom-dues up to the year already mentioned have yielded, without any essential fluctuations, an amount of $68,000 p. a., and, hence, the value of the importations has amount- ed to c. 5^ mill, dollars,—those facts tend to show, that the foreign merchants have not altogether ignored the merchants of St. Thomas—if even they have got in the habit of using them as a sort of middlemen— that they, in other words, have not to any great extent availed themselves of the direct communication with a view to the establishment of direct connections. But even in this regai-d we dare not found any con- elusion on the figures already stated. In St. Thomas there is hardly a trader who does not notice that customers, who used to visit the place regularly, are seen here less and less in the course of latter years, and in the absence of all materials for determining the statistics of the existing relations, we are perhaps justified in considering, that when the chief customers of the Island, f. i., Puerto Eico, with which c. of the entire business is transacted, have during the last decennium progi*essed in wealth so enormously as they in point of fact have done, and their consumption has increased accordingly,—the circumstance alone, that the value of the imports to St. Thomas is not increasing steadily, is in itself an indication that the commercial intercourse is falling off. It is, moreover, well known amongst the merchants of St. Thomas, that endeavors are constantly made in order to establish direct communication between the Spanish colonies and Europe,—that, f. i., in Puerto Eico, where 25 years ago there did not exist a single extensive importer of dry-goods, we find at present, in the larger towns, St. Juan, Ponce and Mayaguez, about twenty considerable firms, which import independently, alto- gether ignoring the merchants of St. Thomas, and that the endeavors in this dhection are effectively assisted by the Spanish Government, f. i., by the differential duty of 6 ®|o ad valorem^ imposed on all goods there imported from St. Thomas. f — 81 — But, leaving out of question the recorded data for the period prior to 1872, the two last years show a decided reverse. According to the last account, the custom-dues collected in the financial year 1873-74 are less by upwards of 25 than those of the 3 foregoing years ($50,800 against c. $68,000 in the years IS""],!—and simultaneously the value of the imports has decreased by upwards of 1 million dollar's. Under the discussions on the budget of the present year, Grovemment did indeed express the hope that the decrease would be merely a transient one, and, accordingly, entered the custom-dues with the former average of $68,000, but the Colonial Council did not teel justified in entertaining such good expec- tations of the future, and hence reduced the budget- estimate by $14,900. Judging from the first six months of the financial year, it appears that the fears of the Council have been well-founded, seeing that the amount of the custom-dues collected during the half- year was c. $8,000 less than the collections of the corresponding months (April-Sept, inch) of the 3 fore- going years ($23,622 against $31,600), and even less than the collections in the preceding financial year, which was not a favorable one. There ai-e no excep- tional circumstances to explain this material falling- off; the years 1873 and 1874 were perfectly normal, without disturbances either from nature, or, as far as it can be seen, from political causes ; * and hence the falling-off may perhaps be regarded as a warning, that even as St. Thomas has by degrees lost the custom of Central America, New Granada, the eastern part of Cuba, and, to a great extent, Venezuela, the time is drawing near when the Island's most faithful and profitable customer, Puerto Rico, is also going to withdraw from the market of St, Thomas. The close proximity, the continual ferment between the Spanish and the native population, may retard the period for * Not qaite. Bad crops thronghont the West fndies and the Emancipa. tion in Puerto Kico could not but ewrcise an unfarorable influence oa trade.—The Tbakslatob. — 82 — a number of years, but in all probability it is inevita- ble. Moreover, in x-egard to mercantile affairs we are justified in looking upon the Colonial Council as an assembly possessing sufficient competency, and in the Council we hear not only the complaint that, " the trade of St. Thomas has diminished most enormously," but also the addendum, " that there is every prospect of its continuing to do so." If we go to trace the effects of this decline of the commercial intercourse, we find them, of course, mani- fested in a progressive diminution of the wealtli of the population. In the official reports this diminu- tion is chai'acterized as alarming; the pi'ice of real property is sinking steadily and considerably, and many houses and shops are becoming untenanted because renters find themselves obliged to realize and close their business; several of the largest firms are constantly threatening to withdraw their branch-business from the Island, and in the last days we have heard that the Board of the English Colonial Bank has resolved to close from the com- mencement of 1875 their office in St. Thomas (which has existed since 1837), because the business of the place has changed to such a degree, that it can no longer support two banking institutions. * An in- creasing scarcity of employment for the laboring population goes, as a matter of course, hand in hand with the diminution of wealth on tlxe part of the employers. It is, however, only by staying some time in the Island that one becomes I'eally aware of the present decline of the general well-being. I have already said, that any one who had visited the Island * The other bank existing in St Thomas, besides the branch office of the English Colonial bank, " Bank of St. Thomas'' vras founded in 1836 with a joint-stock capital of $600,000, of which, however, only one-half is paid-up, and under the present state of affairs, doubts are entertained of tbe ability on the part of the shareholders, the majority of whom are merchants in St. Thomas, to pay up the remaining 50 °/o. Thus, from the beginning of the new year this " station of the world-commerce" is dependent on a bank acting with a capital of $300,000; "the commerce of this Island is •again about to be stricken," says " St. Thom» Tidende" alluding thereto, " and this time in a manner such as it has never yet experienced."—Thb Authoi:. - 83 — lately would be struck by seeing how far behindhand the municipality is in regard to the possession of pub- lie necessities ; but would he not be equally stirprised by seeing hoAv many comforts of every-day life the population is obliged to forego ? Would he not— mention but a solitary instance—feel great disappoint- meut on a rainy evening, when one of the honoratiores has issued invitations for a fete, and the guests are altogether prevented from coming or, -at anyrate, delayed in coming, because there is not a hired con- veyance to be had in the whole town ? In that town, where dancing is appreciated as much as in any other part of the globe, where the streets, with exception of the main street, are very scantily lighted and the * paving is so defective that a misstep must leave a mark on a light-shod foot,—the ladies repair on foot to the most festive gatherings and, if I dare add as much, in toilettes which they are solicitous of keeping a jour with the European fashions: in the town of St. Thomas, with c. 12,000 inhabitants, there are but two or three people who keep their carriage,—carriages, too, of the most unassuming description. And the surprise is doubled when one realizes that in the tropics walking affords no pleasure, and becomes aware that the bay is skirted by a carriage-road so picturesquely beautiful, that even in comparison with the celebrated shore-drives in Italy, it must be considered as beau- tiful as any in the world. Perhaps former days have seen affluent merchant-life in St. Thomas, but if the days have been, when the gold, easily earned, was briskly spent, they are at all events now only mem- ories of the past. Next in importance to the commerce with dry- goods and provisions, ranks the freight-trade. This mvist not be understood to convey that St. Thomas possesses a considerable mercantile fleet, seeking freight in foreign waters; on the contrary, the number of vessels owned in St. Thomas, is but small—15 vessels with a collective tonnage of 3-4000 Eegister Tons—but the central position of the Island, surrounded — 84 — on all sides by ports from which West India produce is exported, has made it a place in which intelligence on afl points connected with the different branches of chartering, is to be obtained, and which is accordingly visited in the course of the year by several thousand vessels, calling for the purpose of seeking freight smtable to their capacity and construction. This business, too, has become affected by the development of the latter years, although, it is true, not to the same extent as the transit trade; yet it can scarcely be doubted that the future will show a sensible diminu- tion in the number of vessels calling at St. Thomas for the purpose of seeking freight. The possibility of such diminution depends on a two-fold cause. It will be owing, first, to the establishment and steady aug- mentation of the large regular steamer-lines, Geiman, English, French and American, the vessels of which are mainly fitted out for the freight trade with tropical produce. These gigantic vessels, each of which represents the tonnage of a little fleet of smaller sailing vessels, call at present at all the more important ports of produce, and ship, at proportionally low rates, large quantities of tropical produce, chiefly coffee, tobacco, cotton and indigo. The number of vessels freighted in St. Thomas with the articles thus specified, does, however, by far not comprise the larger proportion of the tonnage chartered in the place: there remains, still, several descriptions of produce—^such as sugar, molasses, rum, arid hardwood—which, it may be pre- sumed, will never be shipped in the regular steam- packets, but continue to ^ord freight for the vessels that call at St. Thomas in search of freight. Thus the continued improvement of the means of communiea- tion is less dangerous to the freight trade of St. Thomas than to the commerce of the Island, notwith- standing some manifest diminution. But it is already a mooted question whether the electric telegraph, which soon will connect all the West India Islands, will not enable the freight-seekers in question to telegraph for intelligence to the different ports, and. thus, keep them awaj from. &t. Thomas. On this Subject the shipping merehante of the town i^sagree; but, taking the standpoint of those who entertiun leaM; Tear in this regard, w may perbi^ bo {esnmod tha^ iven with yery low tde^am*rates, at all events vessels from the British Leeward and Windward Islands, and from the Frenoh islands, on their way to the western ports (Mexico and Central America) will prefer, rather than telegrapl^g to those ports, to cidl at St. Thomas, where mey may expect to find a rea- sonable choice of fioight, suited to the tonn^e and po^struction of the vessel, and where the contract can be concluded verbally between ship-mast^ .and freighter. J • .'i ■ t xi. If we were to sum up in a few words the state^ tnent given in the foregoing of the present commer' cial relations of St Thomas, it would, perhaps, be allowable to use a metaphor, and say that the com- merce of the Island suffers from " decline.'' Thus one of the most notable and extensive merdumts of the place, who is, moreover,—^it may be proper to add, considering that the complaints of the failing busiuesa of the Isla^ are firequentfy somewhat tilled by tendeu' cy—one of its most loyal dtisens and Crown Member of the Colonial Council, did in 1872 characterize die trade with the Island's duef customer, Puerto Bico, and the commerce has, as shown, declined conndera: ^ bly since that year. In saying this, I do' by no means wish to imply, that the commercial life would become extinct this year or next year—decline may last through decennia—, but we are compelled to face the possibility that St. Thomas will cease to be one of the ports of die world trade, and will in commercial int^course retain only a mere local significance. Should this ^ assertion cause surprise at home, or even call forth doubts, because of our being fond of retaining the old- established idea of St Thomas, as a locality possessing the privilege, rendered inalienable by the geographi- cal ^sition of the Island, of being a chief station of the W^est Indian commerce, it must, on the other hand, be borne in mind that there has actually been a time —while the h^ociations for the transfer were pending —when it was a matter of some interest to cherish and protect that idea. It is tenable no longer; the illusion arises whra, in estimating the advantages of a geogra- phical position, we shut our eyes to the influence of steamsmps and telegraphs, and forget that for its growth and flourishing condition the Island has been essentially indebt^ to a lack of circumspection in the commercial policy of foreign governments and the commercial inactivity of the neighboring colonies.. When the Colonial Council is obliged to view in this light the financial prospects of the Island; when,, consequently, it dares not expect any increase, but looks forward only to a decrease in the revenues from the customs and the shipping, which yield about one- half of the annual collective revenue of the mmtieipali- ty ; while it is unanimous in the opinion that, in view of the considerable decrease of wealth it is impossible to augment the revenue by additional direct taxation, * —it will be understood that the Council regards with a certain degree of apprehension a future, in which the Island is not certain of having the sole ^sposal ks revenue - Hence the population applies ^mn and again to the inothev-country in order to be exempted from paying a contribution, which, at whatever amount it be fixed, is considered disproportionate to the community's ability to pay. The appHeants do not exactly impugn the mother-country's right to, * The direct taxes in St. Thomas ssm np to c. $50,000 p. a., bat they are io town imposed npon a, proportionate, small nnmber of tax Myers, e. 1300, which gixes on an ayerage upwards of $3S per indiyidnal. Considering the hi^ prices of the first neeessities, and toe fact that during the latter years the value of town-properties has t>era decreasing, the taxation can hardly be considered otherwise than high—The Autbok. — 87 — demand that her West India colonies defray a propor- tionate share of the general state-expenses, but tney find that, beside the claim of the undoubted right of the mother-country, the claim of equity and consider- ateness might also be advanced, and, accordingly, they consider that St Thomas, in view of the altered circumstances, is to the full as entitled as is St. Croix, to be, like the latter Island, exempted from paying any contribution to the state-treasury. In this opinion the inhabitants of the Island are unanimous; in this matter the opposition is supported by the loyal part of Ike population, and especially by wose who cherish Danish sympathies. And, supposing the existence of an inclination to meet this claim of equity and considerate- ness, could it not be supported by other reasons than those derived from the Island's pecuniary inability f A contribution exacted from St Thomas is, at what- ever figure we fix it, at all events of the very least significance to the Danish state-treasury—^more worth wmle for St. Thomas to keep, than for the mother-coun- try to receive. St. Thomas is more exposed than is any other Danish municipalily to sudden calamities that may entail incalculable losses; here, more than anywhere else, the old rule of saving in good years the wherewithal to weather out hard times, holds good. When misfortune befalls it, the community must be able to find in itself, and at the required moment, the necessary means of succour; it must not, as was done after the Hurricane in 1871, be obliged to seek loan from strangers. Thus far St. Thomas is in the same position as a merchant, as, like the merchant, it must strive to conceal its loss, lest it lose custom;—the effects of hurricanes and earthquakes must as soon as possible be effaced and the town be clad again in decent raiment, such as beseems a place situated on one of the great thoroughfares of the world, exposed to the eyes of all. . But it is not the economical side of the question which ought to be especially dwelt upon,—the moral. significance, which, it might be conceived, would be 88 — attached to an enactment freeing the Island entirely and finally from paying any contribution to the King- dom, would, I thinki be much greater. On the subject of the liberty claimed for the Island opinions differ ; an organisation of the political position of the Islands, abandoning the principles embodied in the Colonial Law, would amongst the educated and better informed find more opponents than supporters, and, as akeady shown in the foregoing, many puzzling questions, requiring solution, would arise if we were to go be- yond general outlines and attempt a more definite realisation of the general idea—^which, indeed, appears but natural, seeing that the difficulty of the questions that have to be solved in oiganizing the constitutional relations between mother-country and colonies, is, essentially, the same whether the colmiies in question are, like our own, small and populated by a few thousands, or large and populate by millions.—^But in the concession of exemption ifrom the contribution to the state expenses, it might be possible to find the key that would shut out much dissmection, the means of overcoming many difficulties. Ever since the Co- lonial Law came into existence, this contribution has been a standing grievance, and has caused a series of pmnful and offensive discussions, which have created a feeling of bitterness amongst the credulous and bin- dered full adherence on the part of the loyal and more considerate citizens. Notwithstanding that the amount of the contribution is fixed by the constitu- tional law of the colonies, and that the Colonial Coun- cil is incompetent to take resolution about defraying the amount thus fixed, the contribution has been re- verted t , and has been discussed in the budgets—at times seriously, as in the instances of the assembly's resolving to reffise it altogether, at times in a manner but little dignified, as when, f. i., it is suggested to grant the contribution wilb an amount of One dollar, or when it is proposed that the contribu- tion should be defrayed by those who find it just and course discussions on the municipal — 89 — intend to vote for it. * It has, more than any other given relation, tended to call forth in the Council the systematic opposition which causes the Governor to complain of " hitter exchange of conflicting opinions f and induces a member (who is not one of the Danish- speaking) to declare in the assembly, that " we would be better off without the Colonial Councir f ; the " tribute," as the contribution is styled, is, also, at the bottom of the most submissive address from the 1111 inhabit- ants, which, amongst the strangely worded complaints of want of liberty and self-government, petitions e^ecially for the Colonial Council's being invested with right " to exclude every project of taxation .... or imposition of payment or pontribution to any state whatsoever." The exemption in question is, finally, unanimous- ly recommended by the Councils of both Islands in their lately rendered committee-reports on the draft of the revised Colonial Law, however much they in other respects differ in their conceptions of the consti- tutional position of the colonies towai-ds Denmark. J * Pide speeches in the Colonial Council, quoted in " St. Thomoe Tidende" of ]9ih June 1872 and 11th June 1873, and " Colonial Conncil'e Proceed- iugs" for 1873-74 p. 16. t Colonial Council's Proceedings for 1874-75 p. 52-56. t While the committee-report from the Colonial' Council of St. Croix espressos itself with proper moderation, and, after dwelling on the parti- cular expenses which are incumbent on the municipality of St. Thomas, but on no municipality in the mother-country, arrives at •the conclusion, that by paying those particular expenses " their contribution towards the general state purposes might well be considered as paid," the com- mittee appointed by the Colonial Council of St. Thomas oxpresses itself with all the bitterness we might expect, judging from the disposition which has so frequently been expressed in that assembly. "The commit- fee is of opiiiiou," it says, " that the imposition of a payment of tribute, under the guise of " a contribution to the general state expenses" was not warranted by the circumstances of the case, when the law effected the soparatioD of the iiaances," .... the committee has vainly endeavored tO: discover any just and equitable ground, on which this claim_ of contribu- tion or tribute can be bssed .. .. ; these Islands cannot in jnstice be called upon to contribute to the state expenses of Denmark, seeing that Denmark gives no material equivalent for such contribution." In regard to the collection of the contribution for certain years, the report says " that it would have been inhuman cruelty to demand from them the payment of any money whatsoever, .... it would in fact have been a public scandal for the Government to have exacted the money from the Islands, at the same time that the people, of Denmark and of other conntries were sending — 90 — Bnefly, if we regard the action and effects of the 56th § of the Colonial Law, it is found to be the inexhaustible, source whence the opposition draws In order to spread discontent amongst the populationj the well with which it has during the last years irrigated, so to speak, almost every discussion on nnancial matters, hi which it meets the reform-proposals of Government with the ever recurring question, of whether the municipality caii afford the expense of the proposed reform^ so long it must pay a contribution to the mother-country. It is with this financial burden in view that the most significant member of the Council refers to the words on a former occasion enounced in the Council " that St. Thomas has always been the milch-cow of the mother-countryit supplies the weapon with which the Governor is hit, when he declares " that he can not admit that foreigners, who come here to enjoy the benefit of Danish law and institutions^ should take upon themselves to attack such law and institutions," and is answered " that if a man, not a Dane by birth, them money to relieve them in their distress and misfortnnes"—expressions to which might be added others equally elroi^, intended to serve as motives for the insertion of $ 60, by which " Efltective measures shall be taken &c." as quoted on page 58. These fragments enable us to judge of the tone which pervades the whole report, with its 208 articles and ^borate motives. The Governor bad good reason to complain of such a document and, especially, of the stand- point which the eommittee had assumed by omitting throughout the elabo- ration of the report to confer with Government, and by keeping the latter altogether ignorant of the purport of the draft. Some people may possibly have found the expressions of the Governor on this occasion severe—yet by no means more severe than necessary, but it is a circumstance charac- teristic to the opposition in the Colonial Council, which is as susceptible in regard to what is said about it as it is regardless in attacking whatever does not please,—that the expressions in question induced it to propose, during the absence of the (Governor, a resolution to the effect that " this Council regrets that His Excellency at the meeting of the 9th Sep- tember used language, when speaking of the Council, that is unbecoming, unwarrantable, and unparliamentary"—which resolution the Council resolved on admitting to discussion iu the following meeting (Proceedings of the Colonial Council for 1874-75, page 53-56). In the same meeting, complaint was made of the Governor's having postponed for a term of 4 months the discussions on the Colonial Law, and this action wap compared —the opposition is, on the whole, fond of drawing parallels between the Colonial Council and the great assemblies of Europe—with the action of Cromwell towards the Parliajient, and that of General Pavia towards the Spanish Cortes.—The Author. settles here, he pays for whatever benefit and protect tion the Danish law and institutions afford him. *" If we, finally, regard the press of the Island, we see how the former St. Thomas Tidende—the privileged paper of the municipality, with the motto of " Truth and Justice" heading its leaders—has known how to agitate with the contribution, and entertain the popu- lation with the " injury and injustice" which such a tribute to a foreign country has inflicted on the Island. How often has it not assured its readers " that by no manner of means can it be made to appear, that St^ Thomas is a part of the mother-country. Neither from a material point of view, nor in an ethical sense, not even morally is St. Thomas a part of Denmark" f —and in a communication to the paper, the question is propounded in sober earnest, whether it were not more consistent with truth, rather than styling St. Thomas a .dependency of Denmark, to call Denmark " a dependency of St, Thomas," seeing that Demnark "depends on us in much but we on her in reality for nothing." J It would, thus, appear that the mother-country, by exempting the colony wholly and finally from any contribution soever, might remove the discontent to which I have alluded, and, perhaps, bury all com- plaints of want of liberty and fulfill all wishes for "the self-government of the people." It might, perhaps, in this regard, be worth while to consider, that such an organisation would on the part of the mother-country be the first step towards giving her representative in the Islands a more satisfactory sphere of action. It is, in the opinion of a former Governor, the only conceiv- able means of establishing the foundation of a strong Government. It might, on the other hand, be said that, even • Colonial Council's Proceedings for 1872-73, page 70 and 80 ; for 1873-74 page 86-87. t See, f. i., St. Thoma Tidende of 19th Jane 1872, 26th March and 9th Jnly 1873. t St. Thoma Tidende, S7th Angnst 1873. — 92 — admitting that under the present conditions St. Thomas may justly claim exemption from contributing towards the general state-expenses, there is still no necessity of rendering the exemption final and perpetual. But,— if I must again allude to the financial prospects of St. Thomas—dare we entertain hopes that the future will afford us a change for the better ? Out of all said under the present circumstances, about the great resources which the place possesses in its splendid harbor and the central position of the latter, in regard to commercial intercourse—which is, in St. Thomas, as important to the population as is agriculture to the population of St. Croix—only this much is certain, that the Island will hardly find any competitor capable of destroying still further the business whose remainders still are the source of its wealth. Hence St. Thomas saw in 1873 without any particular apprehensicm the Samana Bay transaction, notwithstanding that the project was backed by American spirit of enterprise and American gold; it thought, perhaps, that a free port in Samana would suffer the same fate as former essays in the same direction—succumb in the struggle. And apart from the contemplation of the financial future of St. Thomas, it seems legitimate to moot the question, whether an organisation, under which de- eision has to be taken from time to time as to the amount of the contribution which must at all events be paid, does not, properly speaking, constitute an infringement of the " independent financial position" it was the intention to concede to the colonies f Is it not, to a certain extent, just and warrantable that the Colonial Council, whenever there is a question of re- forms that will entail lasting expenditure—f. i., the long-contemplated establishment of public insti-uction, increase of the Police Force, contraction of loans, &c. —asks if the municipality is in reality able to under- take such a lasting expenditure, so long the financial position of the Island, in regard to the mother-country, is not finally settled ? — 93 — If, therefore, it be deemed just to concede the exemption in question to St. Thomas, the exemption must, at the same time, in order to ensure to the mother-country the attainment of the desired object— to create lasting content—he made to cover a long term, or forever. By so doing, and only by so doing, we deprive the opposition of its most potent means of misguiding the population ; by so doing, and only by so doing, it is made patent to all, that, wherever the development of the Islands and the well-being and content of the inhabitants are the purposes in view, thainterests of the colonies and of the mother-country are not divergent, but identical. XII. If the contemplated parliamentary committee had anaved in St. Thomas, it would most probably recom- mend the proposal of exempting the Island entirely and finally from paying any contribution whatever to the Danish state-expenses, but the committee might, perhaps, have saddled the exemption with a condition. St. Croix—" the garden of the West Indies," "the American Madeira," " the gem of the Carib Sea," or whatever other epithcta travelers have bestowed on the Island in recognition of its beauty and healthiness —would beckon and require to be visited. They would see, in the clear air, its outline boldly traced on the horizon ; by the aid of the telescope they would detect a solitary mill, and perhaps see the sunshine on the white houses in Christiansted—but, however near, how far and distant from St. Thomas is the Island 1 When the committee had accomplished its first visit, it would perhaps regard the Island as a land of promise, whicli men long after, but, dreading the hardships of the pa.ssage, dare not revisit. The committee would not — 94 — easily forget the first passage across, 'rhere is no steam-communication between the Islands, the only means of intercourse being some schooners, which may be compared with our smallest coasting craft, and in which one may spend 20, 30, 40 hours, or more, in order to acccomplish the distance, say 40 miles. In the course of the last deliberations concerning the establishment of steam-communication, a member of the Colonial Council declared that he had three times running spent 24 hours in the passage to St. Croix. And were the voyage to be performed by a larger company, the travelers would fare badly indeed. Were they to go in the Government schooner, a limited number of Honoratiores would, indeed, be accommo- dated with the places of distinction in the two berths yclept "dog-houses''—literally, small cages lashed to the bulwarks. In these one finds protection from the sun and may succeed in avoiding pea-sickness, but towards evening the breeze blows rather chilly through the jealousy-flaps, and a sudden, tropical shower of rain would submerge the whole coucii. The other travelers would be left the choice between spending the night in the open air, or seeking shelter below the deck in the cabin, or, rather, the hold, the latter denomination being the more befitting the locality of some berths placed amongst casks and traveling luggage. Down there the heat is suffocating, the smell of the bilge-water most unpleasant; one spends the night with a fan in each hand, with head outstietched to catch a breath of the au* from above. The sails are flapping heavily—how long one remem- hers this sound fraught with disconsolation—there is no prospect of getting on, and one ponders over the incomprehensible fact that there are people who choose to spend their time, year after year, in sailing a schooner between St. Thomas and St. Croix, lie- low-deck one is, however, all right in so far that the rain does not penetrate through the deck; in other respects the security of avoiding contact with water — 95 — might be considered rather doubtful : in St. Thomas they say that the Government-schooner is not quite safe, and it is not altogether by way of joke that fears of mishap are expressed when " Petrel" is overdue. In a state of fatigue and ueariness one arrives at St. Croix. During the first days one needs rest, and realizes at once that a better means of communication is one of the first conditions required for enabling the Governor to exercise an active control with the administration of the sister-island, and to visit it fre- quently. And a steam-communication becomes an object of necessity so much the more, as even the briefest sojourn in the Islands suffices to show how easily circumstances may occur, of such a nature as to require the presence of the Governor, and that under such circumstances it won't do that he is exposed " to lose perhaps 2-3 days on the way." In St. Croix the committee would probably pro- ceed at once to inquire into the complaint, frequently advanced as well at home as in the Islands: that the cost of the administration of the Island is disproportionately high. The said administration is declared to be, in comparison with that of the British colonies, expen- sive to a degree altogether unprecedented, and taxes and imposts are declared to weigh on the population so heavily, that, as stated in the several petitions from the planters, " it is almost impossible for any branch of business to exist under such a burden," One would, indeed, not be long in finding out—as will be shown in the following pages—that these complaints have al- wa3'^s contained a good deal of exaggeration, and that, under the present conditions and after the reductions which have been efiected repeatedly, the savings that still could be effected in the cost of the administra- tion would be altogether trifling, and insignificant in regard to the alleviations they were intended to pro- cure for the cultivation of. the estates. But one would at all events be convinced that in order to effect ad- ditional simplification,—especially, perhaps, in regard — OG — to the superior branches of the administration, yet without weakening- the administration so as to render it unable to preserve the present state of order and se- curity—it would be quite necessary to have such a means of communication between the Islands, as could speedily and safely enable the authotities to co-operate together. The Governor attaches such importance to this subject as to state publicly : " that neither the lo- cal government of St. Thomas nor the administration of St, Croix can be satisfactorily conducted unless we improve our means of communication between the Islands," In regard, especially, to the heaviest budget- item, the military expenses, it must be admitted that the military force of the Island has been reduced, by ordinance of 25th March 1872, considerably below the figure which any committee in 1870, when great de- pression prevailed, deemed advisable—135 men (100 privates); and the Colonial Council is at present dis- cussing a further reduction. If this be adopted and sanctioned, the force, which in 1871 numbered 233 men (173 privates), will in 1875 be reduced to 104 men (80 privates). It will, however, be evident, that lest such extensive reduction, efi'ected at a time when reforms in the agrarian relations are impending,, endan- ger the security of that small community, we must bo able to count on means by which the military of one Island may speedily and safely be conveyed to assist the other. Under any other supposition, the endeavors alluded to would appear somewhat inconsidei'ate, even in regard to the mother-country, which remembers that after the emancipation in 1848, it was obliged to send out 400 men, on account of the reductions which, with a view of saving, had been effected in the military force of the Island. In St, Croix agriculture—the cultivation of the sugar cane—occupies the place which is in St, Thomas held by commerce, and may be said to be the sole means of subsistence of the population. By associat- ing with the planters, one would be told that the cultiva- — 97 tion of the estates leaves nothing to be desired, that it is in St. Croix carried to the same perfection as in any of the otlier Islands, and that if, nevertheless, the re- turns of 20 years show thatthe average crop per acre is hut a little more than one-half of the produce which an acre of land (40,000 square feet) is considered capable of yielding, say canes producing 1500 lbs. of sugar,—the reason must be looked for in the less perfect manufac- ture of the canes, and, principally, in the scarcity of rain, Expei'ts at home, who have investigated the case and compared the state of agricultm-e in St. Croix with that of neighboring Islands, combate this self- coTnplacency on the part of the planters ; they assert tin* St. Croix has not even in regard to the cul- tivation of the soil followed the march of progress, and it has lately been publicly stated "that it may be safely concluded, that the distress of the Island is caused, principally, by a most deficient mode of agriculture'' *).—" If the sugar crop of the neighboring Islands, f. i,, of Barbados," Mr. Hagemann says, "is much larger than the crop of St Croix, we may with tolerable safety conclude that the cause is not to be looked for in the circumstance of heayier rains—seeing that the meteorological tables show that at equal elevations the atmospheric deposits are in the one Island as heavy, as in the other—but in the cir- cumstance of Barbados having kept up with the march of progress,'' whereas St. Croix, in respect to rotation of crops, to the proper draining, ploughing, manuring, cleaning and weeding of the soil, to the condition and keeping of live stock, and tree-planting—in a word in respect to the whole system of preparing the soil and growing the canes, is considerably i.ehindhand. It is of course impossible for one who is not an expert, to decide in the controversy, but when we see the planters of St. Croix, in referring to the articles here mentioned, complain of thei/contents,—when we see them declare • In two articles in Dagbladet of 21st and S2nd Juljf 1374, by Mr. G. A, Hagemann,—The Author. s— 98 ' in the Colonial Council that, " this statement could not fail to be injurious to the Island," and that "the assertions there made are not correct or warranted" *), it might fairly be inferred that the planters have but little opportunity to follow the progress of agriculture in the neighboring Islands, seeing that St Croix is so effectually isolated from the outer world. A steamer would afford a regular conveyance in 4-5 hours to St. Thomas, where opportunity for visiting the neighbor- ing colonies is at hand almost daily. By means of such visits, the planters might be made acquainted with k number of improvements in the manufacture of the sugar, with technical processes which, at little cost, could afford considerable advantages. It is character- istic in this regard that it is not the planters, but the Governor, who, a short time after his arrival to the colo- ny, takes the initiative towards the great reform which is purported by the establishment of " central fac- tones"—establishments adapted to manufacture the cane crops of many estates, and by which it is intended to help the planters over the difficulty of being at the same time agriculturists and manufacturers, enabling thein to tmm their whole attention to the process of cul- tivation, whilst the "factory" receives the crop in order to manufacture it into sugar—a reform which is held to be, under the present state of things, the sole means of saving St. Croix from ruin. In regard, also, to commercial intercourse, a regular steam-communication' might be expected to acquire significance. Even with the present wretched means * of communication, the traffic between St. Thomas nnd St. Croix is pretty considerable. The number of pas- • " Proceedings of the Colonial Coancil of St. Croix 1874-75" p. 112 «t tequ. —In meeting the statements of tbe articles here mentioned, about the splendid agricnltnre of Barbados, as compared with tbe agricnltnre of St. Croix, a planter of tbe latter Island declared in tbe Colonial Council, in the conree of the discussions here referred to, " that after the emaucipa- tion many adopted new methods of cultivation, among others the so-called Sarlados Syutem-, but after being tried, they were all given up, and we re- turned to our good old tystem."—Heuce there is hardly room .for doubting the antiquity of the system, but it would apear that as to its goodness, the results Vfould prove couclasive —The Author seiigefB iiobveyed to and fro between the Islands, is estimated at upwards of 2,000 yearly, and the value of the goods sold and shipped between the two Islands "was in 1871-72 set down at c, $365,000 (imports from St. Thomas to St. Croix $304,000, from St. Croix to St. Thomas $61,000)f. A regular communication would serve to augment the trafl&c; at present no mer- chant knows what time it will take before his order csm be effected—that depends on the wind—, and when the vessel leaves, no one knows how long the goods will be on the way, a state of uncertainty which, as a matter of, course, checks the expert of the produce which forms the staple of export from St. Croix to St. Thomas: fresh provisions, live stock, frmt and similar articles. If visitors to St. Croix are charmed by the beauty of the Island, if they find there a profusion of shady trees, of foliage of fresh, vivid green, landscapes of such picturesque beauty—" a Switzerland within the tro- pics," as has been called the environs of Frederiksted —that one would be fain to exclaim, like the American nfiwspaper-correspondents, that the description needs a pencil instead of a pen : it does seem a matter of sur- prise that the neighboring Island, St. Thomas, did not eagerly embrace every opportunity of easy com- munication with this " Gem of the Caribbean Sea." It would afford the business-men of St. Thomas a place oj resting after the toil of the week-days. And how much more pleasant would it not be to spend the Sun- day^ in St. Croix, to take drives on the firm, smooth, roads with their avenues of palmetto—roads which the American correspondents compare with the carriage- roads of the Central Park of New York—to delight the eye with the luxuriant vegetation, rather than spend- ing the day in hot rooms, or, perhaps, taking part in one of the so-called "maroon parties," f. i., in an ex- cursion by row-boat to some sterile point, where, in the shelter afforded by some detached boulders, one is re- galed with one of those breakfasts which, composed of — 100 — ^preserved delicacies, are peculiar to St. Thomas, But in a still higher degree could St. Croix, I think, derive advantage from her beautiful scenery and the peculiar- , ly healthy and pleasant climate with which she has < been blessed. A company, formed lately, has purchas- ..ed the late Governor Scholten's ♦picturesque country- -seat and adapted it as a Boarding-house, especially for > strangers, who, from regards of health, wish to spend t the winter in the Island, Now and then the American I papers contain correspondence from the place, abound- ing in enthusiastic desciaptions of " the Island of views," which "as a saAtarium has not its equal in the western hemisphere, if, indeed, on the globe." *) " Delightful Billowsrainde !" says one of the cor- respondents, " what a dwelling-place ! what views! what weather !—I sometimes fancy myself removed into fairy-land, when I sit on the cool veranda and I enjoy the picturesque views which open in all direc- tions,—-when I inhale the pure air of that bracing cli- tmate." **) A course of active advertizing in the Ameri- can papers might, perhaps, make something out of this " American Madeira," render it a winter-residence i r many of those Americans who are rushing away yearly to the Spa's of Europe, "a crowded and brilliant watering place," as an American paper ( '• the Church Journal,'' of 26th March 1874) considers the . Island capable of becoming. A pamphlet, written by a Danish physician : " The Island of St. Croix, re- garded as a sanitary place of resort, by Dr. P. E. Kalmer," has endeavored to work in this direction, but the first condition for alluring the wished-for crowd of " health-seekers," seems at all events to be the estab- lishment of a steam-communication between St. Tho- mas and St. Croix, seeing that by offering the schooner as a means of conveyance, the company would, I think, frighten away the Americans. * " F. i., corre.4pondence to " Boston Jonrnal'' and " New York Evening Post," reprinted in " St. Croix Avis" of 9th September and 2Sth Ootuber 1874. *• •• St. Thomse Xideiide" S4tU October, 1874. — 101 — It might be difficult to tear one-self away from St Croix, and doubly difficult if one desired to bo in St Thomas within a fixed time, and the wind gave promise that the going would be as tedious as the coming. When returned to St. Thomas, one would proceed at once to examine if serious endeavors towards a change for the better had been wanting ; one would^demand the documents of the case," as the phrase runs inoffi- cial language, but, even in so doing, one would experi- ence the hardships of the defective communication, by getting the answer—not an infrequent one in cases of som^ special information being required from the Gov- eniment in St. Thomas : "we have to write to St Croix before we can give you an answer, and we are unable to tell you when the answer can be expected." —" The Government archives" says the Governor, * " are kept in St. Croix, and comprise not only the papers relating to the local administration of St. Croix, put also documents that concern St. Thomas especial- ly—a state of things which, for administrative pur- poses, necessitates almost daily communication be- tween tlie two municqjalities." This way of doing business might at first glance look rather surprising, but a more close examination of the case would be a most difficult matter: " it is, in fact, impracticable," declares the Governor, f " and it would be much more easy to send for a document, when required, than to rummage through all the diflerent indexes and pack- ages in which the acta were registered and kept-" And we must at any rate admit that the Governor is right when he adds, that when Government did in 1872 meet the wish of the population of St. Thomas by reraov- ing finally the seat of Government from St. Croix to St. Thomas, one of the chief presuppositions under which the change was affected, was the establishment of ^team-communication between the Islands. Briefly; * " Proceeding of tbe Colonial Coonoil of St. Thomas and St. Jobu" 172-63 p. 54. t L. c. p. 61. — 102 — if it must be admitted that improved eommunication would in many regards aflfect the means of doing good for the Islands,—that it is the only means of simplify- ing and acceleratiiig the business of administration *, we can hardly, if the Kingdom were to make her as-^ sistance conditional upon that the Islands agreed on realizing the measure in question and on defraying jointly the trifling expense it would cause—consider such a condition altogether unwarranted. According to colonial phraseology, the Kingdom is the " mother- country" of her colonies—tho " sister-islands"—and, thus viewed, the bestowal of a gift might not unrea- sonably be made conditional upon the colonies' being willing to promote their own interest. And the Islands might have obtained steam-communication quite late- ly, and on the most favorable terms. In 1872 a wealthy planter in St. Croix purchased a screw-steamer in New York, fitted it up for the conveyance of passengers and transport of cattle and goods, and made a contract with Government, binding himself for a term of 6 years to keep the vessel running regularly twice a-week between the Islands, in consideration of Gov- ernment's securing him the payment of a subsidy of $6,000 during the first year, after which it would be diminished by $1,000 each subsequent year, in such a manner that the payment for the last year would he only $1,000. But this agreement, which, supposing its being continued for the full term of 6 years,—both parties being entitled to dissolve the contract at the expiration of 3 years and with 6 months' notice—would cause an aver- age total expense of only $1,700 p. a.—$850 for each colony (say $1,750 ~ the amount of $900 yearly paid by each colonial treasury to the schooner which serves as mail and transport-vessel be- the Islands, which service the steamer were of course to perform),—was, however strange it sounds, over- * " Neither improvement nor simplification can bo made in the existing system of administration as long as w© have not a roliabie means of com- n;nnication'' (the Governor's speech. 1. o. p. 64.) 103 — thrown by the opposition in the Colonial Council of St. Thomas, which, by 7 votes against 7, rejected a draft of ordinance purporting to authorize Government to pay the subvention in question. Nothing was said against the ship, hardly anything against the stipula- tions of the contract, the Council was, on the whole, not unwilling to pay a good deal more for the service of a steamer than for the use of a schooner, but " it could not ignore that by far the greater share of the advantages of the arrangement would accrue to St. Cioix, and, hence, considered it unjust that St, Thomas should participate equally with the sister-island in the proposed expenditure,"—which rate of participation had been adopted because the Colonial Law, § 53, enacts that the expense of steam-communication is to be defrayed by the Islands conjointly, each colonial ti-easury paying one-half. * in regard to the question of suggesting other mea- sures by which St. Croix would be benefited, the opin- ions would, it may be presumed, differ a good deal. When St. Croix is again and again complaining her distress, and we hear it stated in the Island itself that the disproportion existing between the ability of the • L. c. p. p. 63,04, and 70, in -wbicli the ablest spoke^an of the opposi- tion expressly deSnes the standpoint assumed by the party in regard to this subject, by calling attentiou to " that the chief point held by those who oppose the measnie. Is not so much the pecuniary difference (between the expenditure of keeping a schooner and that proposed for keeping » steamer), as the point admitted on all hands ; that the proposed distribu- tion of the subsidy is uot proportionate to its comparative utility to the two municipalities, and it is our duty to resist the former policy of benefit- ing St. Croix at the cost of St. Thomas." When we read these discussions, and see that the ConnciJ was willing to give the required authorisation in the event the share of St. Thomas conld be reduced from 13000 to $2000—or, as it was expressed, " to a of maxi- mum subsidy of $6000 p. a..—an offer which seems to come up very nearly to tho proposal of Government—we cannot repress a certain degree of surprise, that Government took no steps to cause the removal of the clause in the' Colonial Law which required that the colonial treasuries should pay one- half each of the cost of a steam-commuDicatiou. The legislative power had* quite lately, by law of 25th March 137% altered a similar rule, contained in the very same article of the Colonial Law (coucerning the distribution of certain military expenses), and, if we consider the importance which has. in the mother-country too, been attached to tbe measure in question, there is little reason to doubt that tbe mother-country would have been just as willing to sanction whatever mode of distribnting the expenses the ulandt- bad eventually agreed on adopting.-r-TAe.dwtftor. - " • ' v: i us. — 104 — population to pay tax and the cost of the administra- tion, is amongst the principal causes which render the cultivation of the estates an unprofitable business, the reply which offers itself at the ^st glance, would be to suggest to the municipality the propriety of suiting ex- peuse to income. But, as already observed, the road of effecting savings by reducing the administration has been traveled so often that at present very little could be gained by re-entering upon it, and it should also be observed that when, by most submissive petitions for- warded in June 1870, the Colonial Council and the planters complained of the expensive administration, the act did by no means imply chiefly that the ex- penses in question ought to be reduced, but the peti- tioners askeu the Kingdom to assume some of the heaviest expenditure-items, f. i., those of the superior local administration and the military force. * The demand in question being no longer a point for examination, we have to deal only with the question as to whether actually taxes and dues in St. Croix consti- tute so heavy a burden as to render sugar-cultivation precarious and little profitable. According to a balance struck for the last 10 years, from 1865-66 1874-75, the expenses of the entire administration of ' The Governor has lately, referriDg to the wishes which have, daring the latter years also, been expressed in the direction of redncing the ex- penditure of ihe colonial treasnries, pointed ont at some length