ABSTRACT
The change of attitude is important in the history of the relations of the West Indian islands with the mother country. The Peace of Paris marks also the climax and the approaching decline of the influence of the West India interest in British politics. At the time of its negotiation the West Indian planters opposed the transfer to English rule of new plantations whose products would compete with those of the older islands. The zenith of the influence of the West India interest coincided, as far as can be determined, with the growth of more definite organisation. The West India Committee, taking its origin in meetings of merchants analogous to these, gathered political significance from the more public meetings held in times of crisis, and took form in the latter part of the eighteenth century in a general organisation of the West India interest.
