The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. II

From Bermuda Lord Dundonald sailed down to Barbadoes, where he arrived on the 5th of February. "The negroes," he said, "who are much more numerous on this island than on any other of the West Indies, appear to be well fed, and cheery in their dispositions. They live in small wooden houses resting on clumps of wood or blocks of stone, a mode of construction which enables them, when tired of or displeased with their locality, to transport them elsewhere. I was told that a street of stone huts, constructed for their use, is almost abandoned, by reason of the immobility of such residences. I consider this locomotive propensity a favourable trait in their character. Behind the barracks we stopped at a hut on the rising ground whereon the barracks ought to have been placed, and assuredly I never saw a more contented scene. There was a young negro, and, I believe, his wife, together with an old woman, perhaps the grandmother of the child she fondled. We made inquiry as to their mode of living, and they showed us green peas, seasoned with red pepper, ready to be cooked, yams, and cassava bread, as good as oatmeal cakes. These peas grow on large bushes, and vegetables of all kinds surround their hut."

From Barbadoes Lord Dundonald proceeded by way of Tobago to Trinidad. "On the morning of the 11th of February," he said, "we weighed and returned through the Dragon's Mouth, shaping our course for the great natural curiosity of Trinidad, the Pitch Lake, which I hoped might be rendered useful for fuel for our steam-ships – so important in the event of war – as fuel is only obtained at present from Europe. The United States and Nova Scotia are never resorted to; hence, could this pitch be rendered applicable as fuel, our vessels would be supplied when an enemy would be almost deprived of the use of steam in these seas. We arrived at La Brea, and before daybreak on the following morning we were on the road to the lake, or rather on a stream of bitumen (now indurated) which in former ages overflowed the lake. Indeed the bitumen beneath this road seems still to be on the move, as shown by curvilineal ridges on its surface, like waves receding from a stone thrown into water. The appearance of the lake is most extraordinary. One vast sheet of bitumen extends until lost amidst luxuriant vegetation. Its circumference is full three miles, exclusive of the creeks, which double the extent. The bituminous surface is of a dark brown, waxy consistence, except in one or two places where the fluid still exudes; obviously this spring is in full vigour beneath, for the whole surface of the lake is formed into protuberances like the segments of a globe pressed together, having hollows between filled with rain-water, which (except in the immediate vicinity of the bituminous springs) is inodorous and without taste – an extraordinary fact, showing that this bitumen is of a nature quite different from that of pyrotechnic mineral or vegetable tar. In its dry state it is quite insoluble in water, though when charged with essential oil, as it exudes from nature's laboratory, it imparts a pungent and unpleasant taste. A considerable quantity of gas bubbles up through these bituminous springs, showing that decomposition is still active amongst the materials whence it exudes. Some of the recent bitumen has an odour resembling vegetable gum. Mr. Johnson, the very obliging proprietor of a neighbouring estate, had the goodness to cause some of his labourers and a cart to bring samples to the beach. Means of transport, however, were so inadequate, that we had recourse to digging the more impure pitch on the beach, in order to prosecute our trials for its substitution as fuel. This bitumen, which had flowed upwards of a mile from the lake, was combined with earthy and other substances which it had encountered in its course. Various attempts have heretofore been made to apply the bitumen to useful purposes, but without success, as we may judge from the total abandonment of those trials and expectations which for a brief period induced its shipment to England with a view to its application to the pavements of London and other cities. All excavation has consequently ceased, and so low is the estimation in which the bitumen is held, that the duty on embarkation is only one halfpenny per ton. The nature of this bitumen is very different from that of coal. When exposed to a naked fire it becomes fluid, and runs through the bars before gas is disengaged, or at least before it is raised to a temperature at which it will ignite; perhaps it requires more or purer air than enters through the bars of steamboat furnaces – a conjecture which seems to be confirmed by the dense smoke speedily produced."

"The plains of Trinidad," wrote Lord Dundonald, "have a fertile soil, which, simply by clearing the ground, is capable of being rendered the most productive in the West India Islands for the growth of sugar and whatever can be cultivated in a climate most uniform in its temperature, most congenial to tropical plants, free from the evils of hurricanes and from all impediments to vegetation. I am confident that, if the hands of the Governor were not bound by restrictions and routine, the progress of Trinidad would soon verify this opinion. Lord Harris, the present Governor, nobly tendered a portion of his official income in alleviation of the burthens which are so severely felt in the present depressed state of agriculture and commerce, but from some cause his lordship's liberal intention was not realized. The example would have proved salutary, as it must have been followed by reductions throughout other West India Islands, whose resources are even in a worse state than those of Trinidad. Is it reasonable, whilst the ground has ceased to be cultivated because production is unprofitable, not only that the land should continue to be taxed at the rate it was in prosperous times, but that a duty should be levied on the exportation of its produce? Is it reasonable that whilst householders can obtain no rent, and have no income save the bare means of providing a scanty subsistence, they should be assessed at the rack-rent of former valuation? Can any property be more entitled to protection than that of the owners of the soil or of the dwellings they inhabit? And yet all these, as appears by the numerous gazetted sales, are sacrificed to the collection of sums, the bulk of which is uselessly and prejudicially expended. Whilst the Government of the parent State has alleviated the burdens on the productive classes, is it just that taxes on food and on all the necessaries of life should be continued throughout the colonies, and that even their productions should be intolerably burdened with local imposts, whilst complaints are loud and true of the absence of all remuneration from the sources which once constituted the prosperity of those now impoverished and oppressed possessions? The above observations do not apply exclusively to Trinidad, but to the whole of the islands, which scarcely differ in degree in the causes of ruin which seem irremediable by any authority except the legislature of the parent State. I am persuaded that the chief of the Colonial Department at home would endeavour to counteract the causes of widely-spread and increasing ruin, were he in possession of correct information; but popular representations of grievances, often embodying misapprehensions as to their true origin, and accompanied by suggestions of impracticable remedies, are denied or disputed in counterstatements by interested officials, so that the Colonial Minister is bewildered, and can form no correct judgment from such conflicting statements. I hold it to be impossible that the monstrous absurdities and violations of every principle of good government which exist throughout these western colonies could be tolerated an instant, were their consequences known and believed by those in power, or were they laid before the British public by any person on whose judgment and opinion they could rely. Can it be credited that even in the island of Trinidad, not only multitudes of valuable properties are brought to sale from the inability of their owners to pay the fiscal demands, but that properties are consigned to the Government auctioneer even for so small an assessment as three-fourths of a dollar? This is, nevertheless, the fact. The emancipation of the slaves was a glorious act, but the rescue of these noble possessions from ruin, and the restoration of prosperity to an integral part of the empire, would redound to the honour of any one who would successfully advocate the cause of reason and justice, not only on the principles of equity, but with the less noble view of gain to the parent State, as it is certain that the consumption of British manufactured articles has fallen off in these colonies to an extent which has not been counterbalanced by the increase of exports anticipated from the questionable policy of concession to Brazil, in which I have reason to believe the supply of articles required for the slave trade constitutes a large proportion."

Reflections of that sort occurred to Lord Dundonald again and again, as, passing round from Trinidad, he visited all the principal British West India Islands, the last at which he called on his way back to Halifax being Jamaica. "No doubt," he said, "the generous and noble act by which, in the reign of his late Majesty, slavery was abolished, produced a prejudicial change in the economy of the sugar plantations, notwithstanding the large amount awarded to the proprietors, as the sums so paid were for the most part immediately transferred to mortgagees, leaving the proprietors in possession of the soil, but without the means of paying the expense of its cultivation by free labour. This is an evil which time has not remedied, and, of course, in the estimation of those who are, in consequence, losers, furnishes the pretext for imputing to the black population a degree of reluctance to labour far exceeding the reality. Those who pay a reasonable price for work, and are punctual in their payments, do not fail to get as many labourers as they require. I assert this not from any vague hearsay, but from various unquestionable and authentic documents, amongst which are the examinations taken by Committees of the House of Assembly appointed to inquire into the causes and difficulties alleged to exist in the cultivation of estates. Whilst the poverty of the planters and the destitution of the labouring population is so universal, it seems most extraordinary on inspecting the Custom House returns to find almost every article of necessary consumption brought from abroad paying high duties on entry; whilst the concession of small patches of land to the negroes, whom there is no capital to employ, would, if accorded, produce food, and in a great measure dispense with such injurious importations. Is it reasonable to instruct the negroes in their rights as men, and open their minds to the humble ambition of acquiring spots of land, and then throw every impediment possible in the way of its gratification? I perceive by the imposts and expenses on the transfer of small properties, that a barrier almost insurmountable is raised to their acquisition by the coloured population. I have learnt that small lots of Crown lands are scarcely ever disposed of, though three-fourths of these lands are still in the hands of Government.

"It is lamentable to see the negroes in rags, lying about the streets of Kingston; to learn that the gaols are full; the penitentiaries incapable of containing more inmates; whilst the port is destitute of shipping, the wharves abandoned, and the storehouses empty; while much, if not all, of this might be remedied. It may be asked, how is this to be effected? and I answer – by justice, resolution, patriotism, and disinterestedness. Never can this wretched state of affairs be remedied so long as taxes on the necessaries of life are heaped on an impoverished population. Never can the peasantry raise their heads with a contented aspect, whilst every animate and inanimate thing around them is taxed to the utmost. Not only is there a tax on land, and on the shipment of its produce, on houses, outhouses, and gardens, on horned cattle and horses, but on asses and pigs; and the severest penalties are enacted for concealment or suppression in the returns. Officials are employed for the gathering of pittances which do not defray the expense of collection. The harbour dues and exactions are such that no vessel, when it can be avoided, is brought into the Port of Kingston; consequently, though Jamaica is admirably situated, even more favourably than St. Thomas, the former port is abandoned, whilst that of the latter is filled with the shipping of all nations."

Lord Dundonald detailed the substance of these opinions in a letter to Earl Grey, the Secretary for the Colonies. "I have to thank your lordship," Lord Grey replied, "for your letter. The observations of a person of your lordship's knowledge and experience upon the present state of our colonies are most interesting and useful to me. I am aware that there exists much distress in the West Indies at present; but I am sorry to say I do not see what Parliament can do towards removing it, beyond freeing their trade from the remaining restrictions by the repeal of the Navigation Laws, which I hope will now be soon accomplished. I own I quite differ from your lordship as to the propriety of restoring to the planters the monopoly in the British market they formerly enjoyed, and I believe that the permanent interests of these colonies would be injured instead of being advanced by doing so."

CHAPTER XXIX

LORD DUNDONALD'S RETURN FROM AMERICA. – HIS ARGUMENTS FOR THE RELIEF OF THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES AND THE WEST INDIA TRADE. – THE TRINIDAD BITUMEN. – LORD DUNDONALD'S OTHER SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS AND VIEWS.

[1851-1853.]

The Earl of Dundonald's time of service as Admiral of the West Indian and North American Stations expired in April, 1851. On the 31st of December, 1850, Sir Francis Baring wrote to inform him that Sir George Seymour had been appointed his successor. "It is with some regret," said Sir Francis, "that I have performed this duty, as it has been my pleasure to have been in communication with you, and to feel that an important command has been placed in the hands of an officer of your lordship's high professional character and merits. You must permit me, in making this announcement, to add my sincere thanks for the manner in which you conducted the duties of your position, and particularly for the valuable information you have communicated to the Board, and the attention you have paid to the many points you had brought before you."

On the 14th of May Lord Dundonald left Halifax, and he reached Portsmouth in the beginning of June. During the next few years his mind was much occupied with the further consideration of various topics suggested by his observations and explorations on the other side of the Atlantic. It will be enough to make brief allusion to the most important of these.

Subjects of hearty regret to him, repeatedly brought under his notice during his three years' stay in the North American and West Indian waters, were the great depression of the British fisheries in the neighbourhood of Newfoundland, and the yet greater depression of trade consequent on the remission of slavery in the more southern colonies. For both he sought to provide a remedy. He urged, as has already been shown in the extracts from his journal, which was published, and attracted much attention, in the summer of 1852, that special help should be given to these colonies, not only by the removal of all restrictions upon their commerce and manufactures, but by protective enactments in their favour.

His reasons for this view, as regards the Newfoundland fisheries, in which he thought not alone of the interests of the colonists, were set forth by him in a letter addressed to the "Times," in August, 1852. "Were not the question of maintaining our nurseries for seamen," he there said, "more important than commercial considerations, I should not venture, through your favour, to trespass on public attention regarding the North American fisheries; but, perceiving that impressions are likely to be made by writers, avoiding responsibility for erroneous opinions by withholding their names, I feel it a duty explicitly to state that it is not to the amount of fish caught and cured, to the price at which it can be sold at home or abroad, or to the number of persons employed in the fishery, but to their nationality and vocation, to which I attach importance, in order that our fisheries shall form hardy British seamen in oceanic vessels, like those employed under the bounties paid by North America and France. These being the considerations, the question is not whether it is consistent with the enlightened theory of free trade to pay a premium which shall transfer capital from the pockets of one class to those of another, but whether it is wiser and more economical for the community at large to uphold such nursery, or to maintain even a skeleton of warlike establishments – perhaps to build, equip, and employ additional ships of war, squadrons, or fleets, to watch, perchance to contend with, power thus cheaply developed by rival nations. I ask whether the bounty given to enable steam-packets to cross the ocean is more consistent with free-trade principles than a bounty awarded to our fisheries as a nursery for seamen. A colonial premium is indeed talked of, and by those unacquainted with facts, who do not foresee its operation, it may be deemed a substitute for a bounty by the parent State; but I advisedly assert that such colonial premium would not rear one disposable seaman for our naval service, and that even the colonial fishermen would derive no commensurate advantage, such is the impoverishing effect of the inveterate system of truck-dealing that boat fishermen, even from the harbour of the capital of Newfoundland, are chiefly paid by daily wages; the advantages derived from the employment of two half-idle fishermen being greater to the truckmaster, in the absence of an available market, than the like amount of fish caught by one customer. It is manifest, by the true theory of free trade, that it is unimportant whether the French and Americans obtain their bait and catch fish within our limits or not, or even whether the world is supplied by them or by us; but it is not so if foreign nations thereby rear, employ, and maintain in time of peace fifty thousand seamen, who, in the event of war, are at the beck of their respective Governments, while Britain, the rightful owner, has not one available seaman from the fisheries. On subjects of such vital importance it is essential that general theories, however good, shall not be supported in detail by false reasoning, or by captivating appellations inconsistent with truth. Nine-tenths of our western colonies are still taxed on every article of food, and on all existing property, animate and inanimate; a state of things alike adverse to production and trade. Is it reasonable to imagine, if the interests of colonists are not considered jointly with those of the parent State, that they can continue to administer to our wants, comforts, and luxuries – above all, to our commercial nursery for seamen, the source of our national greatness? A Parliamentary investigation is indispensable to afford a chance of escape to these noble possessions of the Crown from impending ruin."

For the relief of the West Indian colonies Lord Dundonald was also anxious to obtain the intervention of Parliament; but he believed that he had himself discovered one source of possible advancement for them. His remarks concerning the pitch lake of Trinidad have already been partly quoted. Having first explored that lake in the beginning of 1849, he at once recognized the importance of its stores of bitumen, and much of his leisure from official duties was employed in observations and experiments with a view to its being utilized. He was soon convinced as to its great and various importance. The decomposed bitumen that lay in vast beds around the lake he found exceedingly valuable as a manure; and he perceived that the liquid mass, of which boundless supplies might be obtained, could be put to many very valuable uses. Here he discerned the presence of a new material of commerce which might prove of incalculable benefit not only to Trinidad but also to all the other West India Islands; therefore he urged its employment, and, though but little heed was paid to his advice, the successful results of the few cases in which it was adopted fully justified his opinions.

After his return to England he also sought zealously to make his discovery beneficial to himself. He was to a great extent baffled by the obstacles common to new projects; but his projects afford curious illustration of the activity of his mind and the fertility of his inventive powers. "Used as a mastic," he said in a concise enumeration of the uses to which he found that the bitumen might be put, "it is peculiarly suited to unite and ensure the durability of hydraulic works. It renders the foundations and superstructure of buildings impermeable to humidity. It is admirably adapted, by its resistance to decomposition by the most powerful solvents, to the construction of sewers, and, being tasteless, it is an excellent coating to water-pipes, aqueducts, and reservoirs. When masticated and prepared, it is a substitute for costly gums as applied to numerous purposes. Combined with a small portion of ligneous matter, it constitutes a fuel of greater evaporating power than coal, and, when pulverized and scattered over growing potato-plants or other vegetables, it prevents their destruction by insects or blight, and acts also as a fertiliser of the soil. Essential and viscid oils are obtained by various well-known processes from bituminous substances, but from none in such abundance and possessing such valuable properties as the oils extracted from the bitumen of the lake of Trinidad, as well as from the petroleum of springs still in activity."²³

While thus urging the importance of bitumen, and initiating many mechanical operations which have quickly and extensively been turned to the great advantage of society, Lord Dundonald was not unmindful of his older inventions and the arguments by which he had long sought to promote the naval strength of England. Of these inventions one in particular – that of his improved steam-boilers – had been largely adopted, and found highly beneficial during his absence from England, and its use continued after his return. From them he hoped, and not in vain, that good would result to the general extension of naval science. He was cheered during the last years of his life by seeing the adoption of many of the views on these matters which he had advocated long before. Others have yet to be enforced.