ferent 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
remu