It is to a certain extent despotic, and interferes with free trade, free labour, and free communication.

A native cannot leave his village without a pass, and cannot engage himself to any merchant or captain without a Government permit.

The coffee has all to be sold to Government, at less than half the price that the local merchant would give for it, and he consequently cries out loudly against "monopoly" and "oppression." He forgets, however, that the coffee plantations were established by the Government at great outlay of capital and skill; that it gives free education to the people, and that the monopoly is in lieu of taxation.

He forgets that the product he wants to purchase and make a profit by, is the creation of the Government, without whom the people would still be savages.

He knows very well that free trade would, as its first result, lead to the importation of whole cargoes of arrack, which would be carried over the country and exchanged for coffee.