ABSTRACT
In the latter part of the eighteenth century the history of the West Indian agents is extended to include the representatives of several groups of islands which had hitherto stood outside the general course of development. The islands, which in the later eighteenth century added new agencies to that already in existence, fall naturally into two classes. Two groups, although their agencies were nearly a century later in development than those of Barbados, the Leeward Islands, and Jamaica, date the beginning of their existence under British rule from the same period in West Indian history. On all sides there were forces working to give to the office of agent recognised characteristics, and the measure of their success is well illustrated by the way in which newer colonies inherited from those whose agencies were nearly a century older the traditions formed by their experience.
