the white man, and, for the rest, blunders on without faith in what
regards this world or that which is to come.

He turns his eyes to another quarter and perceives the cluster of
states which have formed themselves from the breakup of the Spanish
continental dominions. What ground of consolation or hope does he
discover there?

These illustrations of the working of free systems constructed out of
the wreck of a broken-down African Slave Trade are not indeed
encouraging; but neither do they, in my opinion, warrant despair. I
believe that by great caution and diligence, by firmness and
gentleness on the part of the parent state, and much prudence in the
instruments which it employs, a people with a heart and soul may be
built up out of the materials in our hands. I regard our local
constitution as a _fait accompli_, and have no desire to remove a
stone of the fabric. I think that a popular representative system is,
perhaps, the best expedient that can be devised for blending into one
harmonious whole a community composed of diverse races and colour, and
this conviction is strengthened when I read the observations of Sir H.
Macleod and Governor Light, on the coloured classes in Demerara and
Trinidad. In colonies which have no assemblies, it would appear that
aspiring intellects have not the same opportunity of finding their
level, and pent up ambitions lack a vent.

In studying the play of the various forces at work around him, and in
endeavouring to direct them to good issues, Lord Elgin found the best
solace for the domestic sorrow which darkened this period of his life. He
lived chiefly in retirement, at a country-house called Craigton, in the
Blue Mountains, with his sister, now Lady Charlotte Locker, and his