It is impossible to doubt that this Convent has been 'a blessing to the colony.' At the very time when, just after slavery was abolished, society throughout the island was in the greatest peril, these good ladies came to supply a want which, under the peculiar circumstances of Trinidad, could only have been supplied by the self-sacrifice of devoted women.

The Convent has not only spread instruction and religion among the wealthier coloured class: but it has done more; it has been a centre of true civilisation, purity, virtue, where one was but too much needed; and has preserved, doubtless, hundreds of young creatures from serious harm; and that without interfering in any wise, I should think, with their duty to their parents.

On the contrary, many a mother in Port of Spain must have found in the Convent a protection for her daughters, better than she herself could give, against influences to which she herself had been but too much exposed during the evil days of slavery; influences which are not yet, alas! extinct in Port of Spain.

Creoles will understand my words; and will understand, too, why I, Protestant though I am, bid heartily God speed to the good ladies of St.Joseph.
To the Anglican clergy, meanwhile, whom I met in the West Indies, I am bound to offer my thanks, not for courtesies shown to me--that is a slight matter--but for the worthy fashion in which they seem to be upholding the honour of the good old Church in the colonies.

In Port of Spain I heard and saw enough of their work to believe that they are in nowise less active--more active they cannot be--than if they were seaport clergymen in England.