We have tried elsewhere to explain the bitterness which has
arisen between the planters of Barbadoes and the Governor, but must mention here that the contest is not between the black and white races, but between employers and emplOyed.. The employed, who are over-numerous and therefore badly paid, are on the side of the Governor, because, he says, quite truly, that Confederation would increase emigration, the other islands importing Barbadians, instead of Indian coolies, and would therefore improve the rate of wages. They therefore "riot' against those who oppose confederation. The employers, on the other hand, whose staple production requires cheap and abundant labour, are very angry with the Governor for holding out such hopes ; for attacking their Constitution, which they value, as it enables them to govern ; and for showing too much leniency to- wards prisoners, who are no longer, in their judgment, whipped sufficiently to make prison terrible to them. They therefore accuse Mr. Hennessy of " exciting " the poorer classes to outrage, which, so far as appears, he has only done by proposing, under orders from England, a confederation of the Windward and Lee- ward Islands.
