The great object of the planters, therefore—for the existence of the colonies seemed to depend upon the success of their endeavours,—was to obtain labour at any cost, from any quarter whatever. It has been perfectly well ascertained that the constitution of Europeans will not admit of their pursuing out-door labour in a tropical climate, and therefore white labour is out of the question. The natives of Madeira, indeed, have been tried, but they are unfit for the work, and even were it otherwise, the supply from that quarter is limited. Coolies were brought out from the East Indies at an enormous expense, equal to two-fifths of their wages for a period of five years, and after all, it was found that two Coolies could hardly perform the task which one African can accomplish with ease. Instead of assisting these efforts towards emigration, government, as if actuated by the most rancorous hatred to the colonies, threw a formidable obstacle in their way. We borrow the following passage from the pamphlet of the Guiana Planter. “This very large importation of people was effected at the expense of the planters exclusively, who lavished their means freely on what they fondly believed to be the only chance that remained. Government, goaded by the _vis a terqo_, threw an impediment in the way, which was the abolition of all contracts formed out of the colony to which the immigrant was destined. This, like a two-edged sword, operated both ways; it prevented people from going to a distant country where they had to _search_ for work; they felt that without an assurance of employment for a limited period, they would be embarking on a very precarious undertaking; and the planter could not derive the desired benefit from the labour of immigrants unless they were bound to remain with him for a certain space of time. Nevertheless, so fully aware were the latter of the necessity for additional hands, that they continued to import them, trusting to their remaining where they were located, notwithstanding the cancelling of their agreements; and the intending immigrants, who were chiefly Madeira people, after a time, learned from their friends, already settled in the colony, that there would be no lack of work for them.