Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/487

 Frencli Govern)nent i>i tlic ]]'est Indies 477 of engagement for one year, or of carr>'ing a livret, in default of which they could be punished as vagabonds. Strict penalties were also imposed for missing the daily work. But this measure was too rigid ; it defeated its own purpose, in that it caused laborers to strive to become small proprietors and thus to escape from its operation. To supply the necessary labor the system of Hindu immigration was next resorted to. Beginning in 1853 regular importations were made, and by 1870 sixteen thousand Hindu coolies had been introduced into Martinique. A strong fiscal institution. La Socicte de Credit Fonder Colonial, was created in 1863, for the purpose of assisting the landholders under the new economic conditions.' By these means the proprietors of plantations sought to weather the dangers into which the abolition of slavery had brought them. The political institutions of the French West Indies are the re- sult of two opposite policies, — the Republican policy of absolute centralized assimilation, and the policy of a colonial regime with special laws and privileged local legislatures or general councils, inaugurated by the July monarchy and taken up again under the Second Empire. It was the policy of the three successive Re- publics to regard the colonies as integral parts of the national terri- tory, to assimilate their administration to that of a French depart- ment, and to allow the colonial population a voice in the national parliament. On the contrary, the Monarchy, as well as the Em- pire, looked upon the colonies as pays d' exception, to be governed by special laws and decrees, hence not entitled to participation in the national legislature ; they however favored the policy of giving considerable powers, mostly of an administrative nature, to the co- lonial councils. The products of these two policies constitute the political institutions of the French West Indies since 1870; they have neve • been harmonized, nor has the one been definitely aban- doned for the other ; so these colonies enjoy both representation in the national parliament, and the possession of local councils with a great latitude of functions. In reviewing briefly the history of these institutions we shall recognize their somewhat haphazard origin as well as the grave practical difficulties which are due to the lack of subsequent harmonization. Before the Revolution, the old French colonies, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guiana, and Reunion were administered, much as are the present English crown colonies, by a governor, with the assist- ance of an executive council and a colonial assembly summoned at irregular intervals. By royal decree of 1787 the organization of this assembly. was regulated and the qualification for suffrage was VOL. VI. — 32.
 * Annitaiye dt la MartiniqiUy 1 900, p. 20S.