from the West Indian Colonies themselves; and that on no account must Canada appear to influence the opinions of the smaller possessions, even to the extent of making the preliminary suggestion.

On the other hand, the movement is strongly supported in the West Indies upon both imperial and economic grounds. In the Caribbean Sea it is recognised that Empire consolidation has become increasingly necessary in view of United States encroachment upon our commercial interests in that part of the world; for during the past quarter of a century the West Indian islands have been drawn more and more into the already extensive sphere of trade influence controlled by our transatlantic rivals. But there is here something more than laudable imperial sentiment, and deeper than any mere spirit of commercialism. Rightly or wrongly the West Indian colonies suffer from a sense of wrong, a grievance which may be said to have existed for half a century at least, and has found public expression at varying periods, but always with increased bitterness. Our overseas brethren complain of neglect at the hands of the mother-country; and, as we know, even a little neglect may breed much mischief. Those who may be personally acquainted with the docile, good-tempered, and kindly-dispositioned West Indian natives, and who may at some period or other have been witnesses of their perfervid loyalty to the Crown-an inherited attitude since the days of their emancipation from plantation slavery-can best appreciate the bitter feeling which has been created in their simple minds by the real or imaginary official apathy shown towards these far-off colonies. It is not difficult for them to believe the mischievous and mendacious statements of agitators and political disturbers of the peace, who tell them that we only took possession of these islands when they appeared to us of supreme importance in our great struggle with Spain and France; and that these possessions, having served our purpose, and being no longer of any great marketable value, should now be allowed to drift away without further thought or consideration.

The well-balanced utterances of the Colonial Secretary, as reported in his speeches delivered in June last at a meeting of the Empire representatives, and again before

the members of the West Indian Committee, when the Prince of Wales was entertained at a banquet, will have gone some way to satisfy colonial aspirations; even more so will the Minister's suggested reforms for the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, as outlined in the New Empire Scheme drawn up by the Colonial Office and shortly to be discussed, it is hoped, in Parliament. Above all, the individual examination of Colonial claims rendered possible by the visit to the West Indies of Mr Wood, Under-Secretary-in the unavoidable absence of his Chief, who originally hoped to undertake this mission personally-should lead to wide-spread advantages to the Empire as a whole. Petitions and memorials for reform or relief have been pouring into the Colonial Office for years past, but of late they have increased amazingly; and officials have become alarmed at the magnitude of the unrest and dissatisfaction prevalent in our Caribbean possessions. The demands of the West Indian colonies range over a wide variety of subjects-from a permanent preference agreement with Great Britain in the near future, financial assistance to tide over current difficulties immediately (solicited by Jamaica), and the complete control of their own public funds and a voice in the government (asked by the Windward Islanders), to the introduction of an entirely new West Indian currency (as proposed by British Guiana) and a greater display of practical interest in the economic affairs of these outposts of Empire demanded by all alike. If Mr Wood can spare time to examine even a tithe of the proposals submitted-some clear and conceivable, others, it is to be feared, immature and unsubstantial expedients-he will be well employed.

What would tend yet more completely to assure the West Indies of our continued interest in their affairs, economic and political, would be the ready consecration of some of our abundant capital to the development of their rich natural possessions, and some practical participation in order to promote their advance along the road of commercial prosperity; just as the United States have assisted their but recently-acquired colonies, the Philippines, Porto Rico, Guam, the Hawaiian Islands, and St Thomas (formerly Danish West Indies), as well as the contiguous South and Central Americas and Mexico.

Indeed, it is suggested that any confederation that may be formed must result in an arrangement between the British West Indies and Canada to divert to the latter some of the huge investments of Canadian money now placed in Mexico, Cuba, South America, and other nonBritish countries. In the month of February 1922, Canadian influence will make itself still further felt by the commencement of a Canadian Pacific Railway steamship-service between the Dominion and Jamaica.

Among other shocks sustained by the West Indian colonies was the sudden and wholly unexpected action of Mr Asquith's Government in August 1912, notifying the withdrawal of Great Britain from the Brussels Sugar Convention. The planters of Jamaica and Barbados, among others, were little prepared for the blow, notwithstanding the fact that some, who perhaps had followed more carefully than others the course of events since the Convention of 1902, may have realised that the agreement, when renewed in 1907, was for the limited period of five years only. Although the action of the British Government was regarded with great disfavour, the effects on the West Indies proved less serious than had been anticipated, since the market for West Indian sugar had extended to, and seemed likely to become more profitable in, the United States; while under the new system of Canadian preference, exports to Canada were greatly stimulated. However injurious, therefore, the British Government's action might have proved to West Indian prospects in the home-market, it lost much of its terror for the colonial sugar-producers who had come to look more and more to the American and Canadian markets as their safeguard. But a bad impression was not unnaturally created by the conviction that the economic prosperity of the British West Indian colonies was being made dependent upon Canada and the United States, while the mother-country stood aside.

Serious attention was given in some quarters to the proposal emanating from Mr McAdoo, former Secretary of the United States Treasury, made in March 1920, to the effect that Jamaica and other of the West Indian Islands' might well be disposed of to the United States, in satisfaction of British financial indebtedness to that

country.' Mr McAdoo seems to have derived his inspiration from the supposition that the British Empire, which now comprises one-sixth of the land area of the whole world, would find it necessary from an economic point of view to devote its surplus capital for many years to come to the development of the agricultural and mineral resources of its great self-governing Dominions and India. 'I imagine,' added Mr McAdoo, that Great Britain would not object to such a disposition of these islands, especially as they would go to a friendly Power; but I see nothing in such a proposal to offend the just pride of a great people, whereas such liquidation of a portion of the British debt might be a happy solution of part of Great Britain's immediate financial problem.'

Nor will it be forgotten that in a recent interview, speaking of the United States policy towards the League of Nations, an American Senator (Mr McCormick) declared that America has not the same interest as, say, France or Britain in the Mediterranean or the Balkans, whereas she has an overwhelming interest in the Caribbean, and assumes responsibility there to the exclusion of France and Britain.' The friendly feelings existing for the United States upon this side should not prevent us from paying some attention to a statement of this kind, even if it be but a brutum fulmen; and, doubtless, but for the more pressing problems which have engaged our attention in these later days, such a pronouncement upon the part of an American Senator would not have been allowed to pass without attention. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that it was not a member of the United States Government who gave out this statement for publication, but one whose opinions may not rank as of any greater importance than certain other political utterances made in this country.

It was supposed that the prosecution of a plan for the purchase of some of Great Britain's territorial possessions, including the Islands of the West Indies, would form the first task to which the new Secretary of State, Mr Colby, would devote himself when he entered on the duties of his office; but this supposition has proved hollow. The suggestion of selling the British West Indies to the United States was not, however, as some have imagined, American in its origin, but British. The

proposal was first put forward by Lord Rothermere, and, at the time, met with neither repudiation nor encouragement from any member of the British Government. On the other hand, a certain number of American voices, always hostile to Great Britain, were raised in its favour; but, again, without drawing any expression of opinion from either Government. It may be that neither Administration regarded the suggestion as calling for attention or contradiction.

Those who advocate the annexation of the West Indies to the United States have been active in pointing out the advantages that would accrue from a dissolution of the tie between the colonies and the mother-country and their annexation to the United States, to which continent, it is claimed, they geographically belong. Now, what would America offer to those who joined her which the United Kingdom refuses to give, or has neglected to give? Is it that Great Britain does not take her colonies into partnership at all? or is it that while, in the United States, the blood circulates freely from the heart to the extremities, so that if one member suffers all the members suffer with it, our colonies are simply regarded as what they used to be called-' plantations,' offshoots from the old stock set down as circumstances have dictated in various parts of the globe, vitally detached and left to grow or wither according to their own inherent strength? It has been declared that the whites in the West Indies would, if consulted, almost unanimously desire to be taken into the American Union, but that the blacks to a man would oppose it. Upon a free vote, therefore, it is clear that with the present-day population of Jamaica alone, numbering 630,181 blacks, to say nothing of 163,201 other coloured people, pitted against a white population of no more than 15,605, any proposal for separation would be lost.

Undoubtedly a stir was created when, some years ago, it was rumoured that the English troops were to be withdrawn from the islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, and the Antilles, and that the colonists were to be left masters of their destiny, free to form themselves into communities like those of the Latin American Republics, or to join with the United States. The more nervous among the white population at once recalled what had happened in