BARBADOES

Waipa Post, Volume 49, Issue 3556, 11 December 1934, Page 2

BARBADOES

A WEST INDIAN GEM. , A TROPICAL LITTLE ENGLAND. , The most cohesive, non-cosmopoli-tan people of the West Indies are the residents of Barbadoes—<Binshire, or " Little England," as it is affectionately known, by reason of its Trafalgar Square, Hastings and a hundred other plaice names that denote its English paternity, says the Kingston correspondent of the Herald. It s pjcturesqueness is different from the mountainous glory of Jamaica. The scenery in Barbados resembles \ certain pants of the Motherland—-She . wolds of Lincoln or the gentle slopes of Devonshire, down toward Torquay. Its pepole are born of the soil. Lying far out in the ocean, fanned continuously by the trade winds, its climate is pleasantly salubrious. Its area of 166 square miles supports 180,000 people, its density of population being rivalled only by Hong-Kong and Malta. 'The history of the island is romantic and inspiring to a degree. Dis- ' cohered by the Portuguese, who made no attempt to settle there, it was visiited.by an English vessel, driven off her course on the way to Guiana. In 1624 a privateer, chartered by the Courteen brothers, of London Town, called there, homeward bound from Ejrfezil. A year later, the little vessel the William and John, founded the first settlement. : Disputjos as to ownership followed. The claim of the Earl of Carlisle was sustained, conditionally on his agreement to play the Earl of Marlborough and his heirs £3OO a year in perpetuity. Its relative value to Canada is : indicated by the fact that 2,000,000 f square miles of Canada were at about ;. shat time rented to the honourable company* for two beaver skins a year. Earlier, Cabot was rewarded by . Henry VII. with £lO for discovering Newfoundland. .When trouble iarose between the K|ng and Parliament, Barbadoes sided . with Charles, influenced by a number of Loyalists who fled there from Eng- : land. - .When the King was beiheaded, Banbadoes acknowledged Ch'airjss II; , For this, the colony was included in , the'celebrated interdict! of 1650, which prohibited trade with Virginia, Barba- ■ does and Bermuda, because of their "(rebellious" attitude. .'. A fleet was ■ sept out to subdue the island. •

.'■': It '■'. is a -tribute io the hardihood of:'the islanders that, although the fleet arrived , in October, riot until January of the following year did

they capitulate, and then only because of their desire to save the island from ruin and desolation. The terms of the capitulation alone show that it was not from cowardice that they surrendered, for they secured for themselves religious liberty, property rights and representative government, with full powers over taxation. After the Roundhead-Cavalier period Uhe Privy Council decreed that one-half of the annual revenue surplus of the island should go to Lord ■Willoughby during his lease, .and the rest to the Government, to be used to pay the Marlborough claim and a pension of £SOO a year to the Ejarl of Carlisle and his heir.s —subsequently increased to £IOOO. To raise the necessary sum, an export tax to 4* per cent was imposed on all produce leaving the colony. The colony bore this grievance for 175 years, for it was not; until 1738 that the tax was repealed. iln 1665 the island was attacked by the great Dutch admiral De Ruyter, who, with his fourteen men-of-war, wias repelled by the staunch sett[lers. In the wai*s against France, Barbadoes rendered signal service, providing the regiment which captured St. Kitts from the French in 1690. Three years later, they sent two regiments to aid in the unsuccessful attack on Mai'tinique.

In 1762 .another regiment from Barbadoes formed part of the force under Rodney which eventually captured Martinique. Next only to England, Newfoundland and Bermuda, Barbadoes is the proud possessor of the oldest Parliament in the world. Its constitution was granted as long ago as 1627—at the time the illustrious Champlain was still in the "wilds of Canada." The Constitution provided that the inhabitants of the island were t;o possess " all the liberties, franchises and privileges of the Kingdom of England." This "tight little, bright little island l " has been pulling itsqlf out of the depi*ession just as it pulled itself out of the troubles that beset it in the eax'ly days of its history. 'Badians do not acknowledge the word " defeat." Froude,. on his visit in the "eighties," the period of another great depression declared that "if ; these places are going to ruin, Barbat does at any rate is being ruined with a smiling face." ; f The 'Badian is neither an apologist nor a compromiserfl Loyal he has ■been, and, equally with all the West Indiqs colonies, he may be relied on to preserve the British tradition. 'Badians laugh loudest and longest when they hear of some American politician or newspaper suggesting that ijhey be handed over to " Uncle Sam " in payment of the war debt.