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EMIGRATION FIELDS.
NORTH AMERICA, THE CAPE, AUSTRALIA,
ANb
NEW ZEALAND,
DESCRIBING THESE COUNTRIES, AND GIVING A
COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE ADVANTAGES THEY
PRESENT TO BRITISH SETTLERS.
BY
— -giyr-ytf
PATRICK MATTHEW,
AUTHOR OF " NAVAL TIMBER AND ARBORICULTURE.
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH ;
LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN AND LONGMANS,
LONDON.
1839.
4-||
Tin
which
my Pi
the Cc
Hmitai
also ol
led me
ledge
might
dined
how v(
be ren(
beratin
tion ge
at leas
which
regret i
written
while I
tions, i1
TO THH PUBLIC.
This work {it first consisted only of the part
which relates to New Zealand. When I stated to
my Publisher that I had a work in the press upon
the Colonization of New Zealand, he objected to the
limitation of the subject, and advised me to treat
also of the neighbouring country, Australia. This
led me to reflect, whether I had not such a know-
ledge of the subject of our colonies generally, as
might be of use t*- my countrymen who were in-
clined to emigrate, and whether I could not shew
how very important an element emigration might
be rendered in our national economy. After deli-
berating, I resolved to extend the work to coloniza-
tion generally, and, in the following sheets, I have
at least given an honest sketch of those fields
which are open to British Emigration. What I
regret is, that the first portion having been hurriedly
written, while the second portion was in types, and
while I was a good deal engaged with other occupa-
tions, it is not so full in description and reflection as
▼1
TO THE I'UBLR'.
it would have bcon uudor other (rircimistanccH ; but
thin may bo countorbalanct'd in its bcin^, in conso-
quonce, moro condenHcd and generalized in its views.
It may be objected to this work, that too much
attention h.'is been liestowed on tlie political rela-
tions and prospects of our Emigration Fields. A
little consideration will however convince the ob-
jector, th.at this is not the case. The progress of
colonies depends almost entirely upon their political
relations ; besides, whilst I wished to afford the most
correct and comprehensive account for the informa-
tion of Emigrants, I wished also to render the work
such as the Statesman and Economist might peruse.
The proposed Pacific steam-communication via
the Isthmus of Darien, will soon bring New Zealand,
and the fine countries on the west coast of North
America, within little more than a month's voyage.
In regard to New Zealand in particular, there is,
I would almost say, a wilful blindness to its import-
ance as a commercial and maritime station, and in-
valuable raw-material field of supply. The saga-
cious Franklin was aware of its importance, and
drew up a plan for its colonization. Gibraltar,
Malta, the Bermudas, the Mauritius, Quebec, are
comparatively valueless. But because these are
hallowed by recollections of their importance in
past times, we continue to regard them as invalu-
able, and disregard what, in reference to the future
trade of Britain, and of the world, and as a com-
TO THE PUBLIC.
VII
maiuling naval station, will be found in value tanta-
mount to all these put together.
Much has been said, and with much truth, of tho
excessive toil and insufticiont remuneration of tho
working-men in Britain. It is easy to expatiate and
bo eloquent ujjon a subject so palpably distressing ;
but has any plan been suggested for the quiet and
just extirpation of the evil equally effectual with that
proposed in the ensuing pages i
The condition of man, more especially in Britain,
is upon the eve of a great change. Facility of pro-
duction has become so great, that one-third tho
labour, nay, even less than a third, that was required
half a century ago, can now supply him with tho
necessaries and comforts of life. The facility of
communication, — of traffic with, and emigration to,
the most distant parts of the world, is now equally
advanced ; the whole of the unpeopled regions of tho
earth may now be said to be British ground, and
the gate is opened to an exceedingly improved field
for human labour and vast increase of British race.
The working-men of Britain are determined that they
will no longer be restrained from reaping the fruits
of these advantages^ by monopolies and regulations,
which cause these discoveries and improvements to
administer only to the luxury of a particular class.
The working-men see, that the means of moral im-
provement and rational human enjoyment, are now
within their reach. The capabilities of man for hap-
frti
r?
p
Vlll
TO THE PUBLIC.
piiiess, and for moral advancement, has hitherto been
suffered to run waste. The elements of a new con-
dition of things are all procured, and there is only
awanting a proper arrangement and social organiza-
tion, to afford a sufficiency of all that renders life
delightful and innocent to the whole human family, —
a condition of things which causes the heart to swell
and beat within us.
PATRICK MATTHEW.
Gouni)iE-HiLL,
26i./i November 183J5.
CONTENTS.
I ii
Chap. I. Utility of Emigration and Colonies, . Page 1
II. Circumstances which modify Temperature, . 13
Classification of Emigrants, ... 19
III. North America, 2fi
Description and Advantages as Emigration Fields.
1. The Maritime Provinces of the St Lawrence, 26
2. The Country of the Lakes, Upper Canada, 31
3. The New England States, and Highlands of
the regions between these States and the
Gulf of Florida, .... 39
4. The Atlantic Sea-board Flats, east of the Al-
learhany Range, .... 49
5. The Mississippi Basin, ... 66
IV. Mexico, 62
The removal of a million of Irish to the Texas,
the best poor-law for Ireland, . . 67
V. The Western Territory of North America, 70
To Colonize these fine regions recommended 72
VI. The Cape, 76
VII. Australia, ....... 84
Indications of great and dangerous Aridity of
Climate, 86
That the Aridity and Sterility will increase, 88
Means of Prevention suggested, . . 89
The extra-tropical portion of Australia best
fitted for a Sheep Walk, ... 90
'111
CONTENTS.
m
Destructive hot Blasts in New South Wales
and great uncertainty of Crops, . . 92
West Australia, or Swan River Settlement, 102
South Australia, . . . .• . 104
Australia Felix, 108
Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land, . 109
VIII. Description of New Zealand, — its capabilities for
becoming the Naval Emporium of the Southern
Hemisphere, and of the Pacific, under British
Colonization, 114
IX. Especial reasons for Colonizing New Zealand.
1. Importance of New Zealand, politically and
commercially to Britain, . . • 120
2. Importance of New Zealand as a resource for
provisioning Australia in time of extreme
droughts, and generally as the granary of
New South Wales, ... 122
3. Importance of New Zealand as the head-
quarters of the South Sea Whale-Fishery, 124
4. Philanthropic reason why New Zealand
should be colonized in preference to every
other country, 126
5. The occupation of New Zealand — The duty
of Great Britain in humanity to the native
Tribes, and for the protection of British
settlers, 129
X. Prefatory observations to a plan for colonizing
Now Zealand, with proposals of a Peace Corps, 137
XI. Plan of a protective and combinable labour nu-
cleus for the colony, 150
XII. Necessary Supplies — Location of the Colonizing
Expedition — Purchase and sale of lands to Co-
lonists — Titles, Registration, &c. . . 156
CONTENTS.
xi
XIII. Treatment of the Natives — Address to the Natives
on reaching New Zealand, and pressing occupa-
tions on landing, 162
XIV. Bill for Colonizing New Zealand, account of
opposition of the Ministry, . . . 169
Defects of the Bill, 175
XV. The Economy of Colonization. — A considerati'. ^ of
the effects of a " sufficient," or high Govern-
ment price of fresh land, upon the prosperity of
New Settlements, and the physical, moral, and
social condition of Colonists, with some account
of the practice of South Australia, . . 181
XVI. Remarks on Colonial Legislation, . . 203
APPENDIX.
Note A. Misery of the "Working Classes, and remedy, 213
B. Radical Charity, 216
C. To the British Fair, 219
D. Land-property Right, 222
E. Hottentot adaptation to the climate of the Cape, 224
F. Tobacco Smoking, 225
G. The British Navy, 227
H. Monetary System. — That the Progress of Modem
Civilization has been in a great measure owing
to the depreciation of the Value of Money, con-
sequent to working the American Mines, 229
1:. f
:% n
Prospectus of a Joint Stock Company for Colonizing
New Zealand, 235
ERRATA.
The first seven Chapters of this Volume having been hurriedly
written, and the writer at a distance from the place of Printing, a
number of errors and faults of composition have been overlooked.
The writer hopes that the amount of condensed useful information
will counterbalance them. The following are a few of the most pro-
minent errors.
Page 21, line 4, from bottom, /o>- as ;ead is
23, 16, for causes read cases
2a, 9, for has read have
34, 7i for and read with
74, 7, for can read being able to
76, 4, for the read tliis
91 , 17, for One read Our
109, 19, before the insert and
1G6, 23, for thoup;h read through
178, 5 from foot, /or by the read talten by
170. bottom line, for principle read principal
187, 6 from bottom, for is read are
190, lowest line, for principle read principal
1!>9, 3, insert commn after labour
EMIGRATION FIELDS.
CHAPTER I.
UTILITY OF EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
M '
Britain, at the present moment, exhibits man in
a position altogether new, from the extensive appli-
cation of steam power and improved machinery in aid
of human labour. By means of these facilities to pro-
duction, together with combined labour, the work of
man has been rendered doubly efficient in raising
food, and many times more efficient in fabricating
clothing, and other human requisites. An immense
available power and surplus labour supply has thus
been developed, limited in the field of food produc-
tion by our confined territory, restricted in the field
of manufacturing production by our home food-mo-
nopoly. A great change in the relative proportion
of labour and capital requisite for production has
also taken place, and human labour, in part super-
seded by steam power and machinery, has undergone
a comparative depreciation of value. The usual bar
lance of demand and supply of laboui' being thus
A
■ in-
a UTILITY OF EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
deranged, has caused occasional gluts, and it may
require a time, and much further misery may ensue,
risking political convulsion, before the social economy
adjust itself, unassisted, to the new order of things.
One of the most prominent consequences of this
new order, is the great comparative increase of num-
ber of the non-producing classes (the holders of ac-
cumulated wealth — the idle recipients of income)
and the unprecedented extent of their comforts and
luxuries, while the condition of the working-class,
instead of improving, has deteriorated — (see Appen-
dix A). Had the free-trade system been adopted
contemporaneously with this available increase of
power of production, the condition of the working-
class would, no doubt, have improved in nearly an
equal degree, as an almost unlimited demand for oui*
manufactures, in exchange for the food and raw pro-
duce of the Continent, would have taken place. But
as this system, however much to be desired, is a want-
ing, and the mischievous effects of our restrictive
system already in part irremediable, humanity calls
upon us to endeavour to devise some other means
of effecting an improvement in the condition of the
working-class, but of such a nature, as not to impede
tlie attainment of free trade.
Prevented by our trade-restrictive system from ob-
taining a market in foreign nations for the immense
surplus fabrics which this vast increase of power is
capable of producing, there is only one other avail-
able resource, — to transplant our surplus working-popu-
lation to new lands. This would not only bring about
a salutary balance in our home economy, but at the
same time, by raising up new and most valuable cus-
will
Sill
pr
11
UTILITY OF EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
s
tomers, would afford wide and extending fields of
consumption, commensurate with the future increase
of our powers of production. In the present condi-
tion of Britain, it is even probable that a system of
colonization, judiciously planned and svfficienthj fol-
lowed out, would eventually be equally promotive of
the comfort and happiness of the working-population
of Britain, as if free trade were to give full scope to
the employment of the whole working-population at
home, and at the same time be more influential in
improving the race of man generally. Change of
place within certain limits of latitude, seems to have
a tendency to improve the species equally in animals
as in plants, and agricultural and trading occupations
are far more congenial to health and increase, than
manufacturing occupations. It cannot therefore be
doubted that the increase of the British race (evi-
dently a superior race), and their extension over the
world, and even the vigour of the race itself, will be
more promoted by this colonizing system, than by
the utmost freedom of trade without the colonizing
system, and the turning of our entire energies to
manufacturing industry.
This attempt to draw attention to colonization
proceeds from no wish to check the present national
effort to obtain free trade ! Colonial intercourse is
in effect a circumscribed kind of free trade, under
peculiarly favourable circumstances ; and the amazinp
increase^ and vast extent and advantage, of our colonial
trade^ is the most direct 'proof of the advantage^ not only
to Britain, hut to mankind^ which would result from free
trade over all. Every enactment to prevent the ex-
change of the produce of labour between man and
11. f- ;
I
i\-. i
;
i-'
M
4 UTILITY OF EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
man, and nation and nation, if the article is not in-
jurious to health and morals, is truly diabolic. All
who have aided in these enactments ought to bo held
up to the detestation of mankind as repressers of in-
dustry, as promoters of misery, as ministers of evil,
-selfishly bent upon rendering abortive the good which
a benevolent Providence has designed for man, in
forming one portion of the earth more fitted for the
seat of manufacturing industry and trade, and other
portions for the peculiar production of various kinds
of food and raw material, thus calculated, by giving
rise to a reciprocity of advantageous intercourse,
to promote an enlightening and friendly connection,
and to diffuse science, morality, the arts of life, all
that conduces to improvement and happiness, over
the nations.
In the event of our own Legislature adopting the
fVoe-trade system, the introduction of the colonizing,
by rendering Great Britain more independent of
foreign nations, will be a means of inducing these
nations also to agree to a reciprocity of free- trade';
wliereas, were we soliciting the free exchange of
commodities, and apparently dependent upon these
nations for a market, there would be no end to the
liaggling of their selfish and ignorant governments.
In this view, therefore, colonization is a step to the
attainment of general free trade throughout the
world ; at any rate, the increase of our trade and
manufactures, sequent to an extensive emigration,
by diffusing intelligence and wealth, must sooner
bring about the free- trade system.
The mind is almost overwhelmed in contemplating
the prospects of improvement in the general condi-
W
UTILITY OP EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
D
tion of humanity, now opening through the medium
of British colonization, and the consequent diffusion
of the elevating and meliorating influences of British
liberty, knowledge, and civilization. One great free
naval people, aided by all the discoveries of modern
science, and united under the attractions of a com-
mon literature, and the reciprocal advantage of th(
exchange of staple products, increasing rapidly in
numbers, and ramifying extensively over numerous
maritime regions, will soon overshadow continental
despotisms, and render them innocuous.
From the unlimited supply of new land, colonies
are especially fitted for a connection with Britain.
Being in the opposite extremes of condition, they
are in the highest degree mutually beneficial, the
former affording the raw material in exchange for
the more laboured products of industry of the latter,
while at the same time the colonists are by habit
great consumers of British manufactures. What is
required is, that the extension of colonization should
go hand in hand with the extension of manufactures,
thus generating new markets in proportion to the
increase of fabrics.
But, at the present moment, it is as a salutary
drain to our overstocked labour-market, that colo-
nization is so vitally necessary. To bring things to
a healthy state, a vast exportation of working-popu-
lation must in the first place be effected, and to keej)
them so, a constant great stream of emigration must
be afterwards kept up. And in proportion as this
efflux is properly regulated, will, at the same time,
the condition of the people at home and abroad be
prosperous, and the population progressive.
U:
fi
Wt ■
6
UTILITY OF EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
m
That colonization Is nioroly sowing the seeds of fu-
ture prosperity, is proved by the clearest and most di-
rect evidence. The perfection and extent of our manu-
factures — the source of our national wealth and of
the value of our landed property, are manifestly
owing to the demand and supply of the United
States, and the other colonies which we have plant-
ed ; our trade to these far exceeding that to all the
world besides. Emigration to fruitful new lands,
where our superabundant capital and population
would be employed to the greatest advantage and
most rapidly enlarged, b?/ u'hich our paupers would
he transformed into rich customers (our greatest evil
turned to our greatest good), is in i)olicy and huma-
nity alike our interest and our duty, as being the
clear and direct road to prosperity. Under a pro-
perly regulated colonization, the most sanguine can
scarcely form a conjecture of the extent to which our
manufacturing and commercial greatness might be
carried, and the comfort and happiness to which all
classes might attain.
Under a properly regulated colonization, to obey
the common instincts of nature, " to increase and
multiply," instead of being, as it too frequently has
been in Britain, a curse, will become, as in the United
States, a blessing. Things have been so far misdirect-
ed hitherto^ that the greatly increased facilities of pro-
duction of what is necessary to the comfort and pleasur-
able existence of man^ which^ tinder proper direction^
ought to have benefited all classes^ has only administer-
ed to the luxury of a comparatively small number^ the
property class. So sensible are the working men in
England of this, that they have considered facility of
UTILITY OP EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
production their enemy, and have had recourse to
the most pernicious and atrocious practices, — ma-
chinery-breaking, and burning of agricultural pro-
duce, to prevent it. The old system of English poor-
law (perhaps the worst that could have been invent-
ed) and the new amendment, are equally ineffectual
to accomplish the end desired, — the prevention of
human misery, — the removal of those suffering.s aris-
ing from inadequate employment or inadequate re-
muneration, evils for which there can be no effectual
remedy save an increased or improved field of labour ;
and this, as formerly stated, is obtainable in Britain
only by free trade or by extensive emigration, but
most effectually by both. The prudential check, from
which so much has been expected, is but an irksome
and unnatural palliative, scarcely preferable to the
natural destructive check itself. * Nothing can be
moi'3 pernicious than poor-law contributions, and
charitable givings, and bequests of all descriptions, at
least as these matters have been conducted. It ijs
merely a nursing of misery^ — keeping up a vast num-
ber of unemployed people, ready at all times, should
labour come a little more into demand, to compete
with those in employment, and keep down wages to
the lowest pitch that the animal machine can be
kept working upon.
Charity is not less injurious as interfering with the
great law of nature, by which pain and death are the
• While two-thirds of the world are lying almost waste, and
the other third very imperfectly cultivated, it is yet rather pre-
mature to speak of preventive or destructive checks, — war, nun-
neries, infanticide, single blessedness. The latter, recommended
as preferable to colonization by political economists, may be
left to their own especial practice.
i
8
UTILITY OF EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
i
established penalty of ignorance, idleness, and impro-
vidence ; enjoyment and life the reward of knowledge,
industry, and forethought. Alma or relief to the
poor is clearly an interference with, or a subversion
of, this natural law, and though it does not prevent
the suffering sequent to the former, it destroys the
advantages se(pient to thr latter, and only promotes
general misery. It is to the purposes of colonization
that the English poor-rates and other charitable be-
(juests, now worse than uselessly consumed in nursing
up the improvident poor and keeping down the indus-
trious, should be converted. (See Appendix B.)
A sufficient emigration of the labour-classes would
increase the labour-demand, and raise wages so
high, that every one able and willing to work would
obtain a competency for the support of a family, and
even of a parent in infirm old age, in case of
necessity ; thus cutting up pauperism by the roots,
and leaving the bastiles, the poverty-prisons in
the south of England, untenanted. In the United
States of America nearly all the marriageable people
enter the marriage state and find a family advan-
tageous to the increase of their wealth and comfort.
This arises from the favourable field for industry,
and the social advantages they enjoy. Nothing hin-
ders Great Britain from enjoying these, and even
greater advantages, but her own stupid and guilty
neglect. In many respects she is equally favour-
ably circumstanced as America, in some much more
favourably. Her climate is better, her capital be-
yond comparison greater, her machinery and aids of
human labour and advantages of combined labour
vastly superior, her new unpeopled territory more ex-
UTILITY OF EMIGRATION AND COLONIPIS.
9
tonsivo and moro favourably Hituatinl for trade, and
0(|ually vfiaWy reached, — it ih not more difficult for a
native of ]3ritain to emigrate beyond seas to her co-
lonies, than for an inhabitant of the Atlantic States
to go to the banks of tho Missouri and T^'xas terri-
tory. Why, then, should ti/^' condition of the work-
ing population of Britain not be as favourable
as that of America ? Simply because the field of
labour, from our narrow home territory, dense popu-
lation, and restrictive trade system, is more limited
in proportion to the labour supply, and that we fail
to profit by our opportunities of extending it. A suf-
ficient emigration would render it equally, if not more
favourable. Let the truly charitable — those who have
the welfare of their suffering countrymen really at
heart, reflect that ignorance is criminal, where know-
ledge is within their reach. Let them hasten to
devote their exertions and wealth to purposes of uti-
lity, and not waste them in increasing the very evils
they wish to remedy. Let them promote colonization.
With an overflowing capital, and a population,
notwithstanding our emigration, increasing at pre-
sent nearly 400,000 annually, and as things are regu-
lated beyond the means of full subsistence and la-
bour-demand, Britain is placed under circumstances
more favourable than ever occurred at any former
period for carrying the principle of colonization into
effect to its fullest, most salutary extent. The im-
portance of emigration, as before stated, is proved by
the immense and most advantageous trade we now
carry on with the countries we have colonized ; an al-
most unlimited extent of unoccupied territory is at
our command ; a very extensive emigration is neces-
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10
UTILITY OP EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
sary to render a poor-law practicable in Ireland, and
to assist the working of the new poor-law in Eng-
land (a sufficient emigration would soon render both
unnecessary) ; the beautiful, I would almost say de-
signed, adaptation of the sale of colonial new lands,
partly producing funds to carry out working emigrants
is now discovered ; the economy of transporting great
numbers to distant countries in health and safety is
nearly perfected : — all these conspire in an almost
miraculous manner to place the destinies of man
at the disposal of Britain, and to render the pre-
sent era the most eventful in the history of the world,
— the era of colonization.
Even although 450,000 (the present total yearly
increase, including the present emigration, nearly
100,000) were exported annually, the future increase,
from the improved condition of the great body of the
people, would extend perhaps to double this number,
say 1,000,000 annually, and that of our capital in a
corresponding ratio ; while at the same time the de-
mand for manufactured produce, caused by the wants
of the exported portion of our people, would greatly
improve the home labour-demand, even with this great
increase of hands. Thus our numbers would go on
increasing faster at home than at present, while at
the same time the country would increase in power,
in a ratio still more rapid from the greater prosperity
of all.
It is only within a few years that the immense im-
portance of colonization has come to be appreciated ;
recently the most unfavourable prejudices existed re-
specting it, and the most erroneous and absurd doc-
trines were promulgated, to feed the popular odium,
UTILITY OF EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
11
by political economists ; who, in their wisdom, could
never solve the difficulty how Britain continued the
richest nation of the world, while her resources were
being wasted upon numberless useless colonies. Let
us contemplate the difference of results which the re-
sources of Britain would have accomplished \u> d they
been so wasted, — had they been devoted to purposes
of creation as they were to purposes of destruction
during the American and French revolutionary
wars. We did not then hesitate to lavish hundreds
of millions in engaging in deadly feud the European
and American nations. It seems hitherto to have
been the principle of Government to hold any expense
incurred for purposes other than rapine or destruction
as a misapplication of the national resources. A
change is at hand. The reign of Queen Victoria pro-
mises to be glorious for a victory over barbarism
and human misery — Colonization is the means.
A tax of ten per cent, in Britain and Ireland
upon land rental would be most profitably employed
in carrying out labouring emigrants, and in locating
them comfortably. This would be a humane and
rational amendment of the English poor law, and
the best poor-law for Ireland that could be intro-
duced. This fund, together with the proceeds of
the sales of colonial lands, under judicious and eco-
nomical management, would in the course of a few
years have a most beneficial effect upon trade, and
greatly ameliorate the condition of the working po-
pulation : continued for half a century it would
change the face of things over a great portion of
the habitable world ; and the extent of its effects,
persisted in for several centuries, would be beyond
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UTILITY OP EMIGRATION AND COLONIES.
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even what we now can contemplate. The vast en-
crease of the value of land-property in Britain,
which scarcely suffered a nominal reduction, by the
doubling of the value of money by PeePs bill, is
caused by the food monopoly. Were the corn-laws
entirely abolished, rental would not exceed one-
half what it now is, excepting for property in the
vicinity of towns. And granting what the self-in-
terested assert — that a tax upon foreign grain is ne-
cessary to prevent Britain from being at the mercy
of foreign nations for food, — that it is better to be
kept constantly at the starvation point, than to have
foreign supplies, although our fabrics are lying with-
out purchasers, our working men idle, and the grain
in the Prussian warehouses consuming by weevils, —
that it is more likely an equable supply will be de-
rived from the home- country alone, than from the
home-country, with all the world to assist, a super-
fluity of crop in one country balancing the deficiency
of crop in another ; — even granting all this, and the
necessity of the food-monopoly, our landholders are
clearly indebted to the community in a drawback tax
equal to the increase of their rents by the foreign
grain-tax, especially as they, like the other property
holders, are much less taxed in proportion to income
than the working population. The adoption of this
tax of ten per cent, on land-rental cannot therefore
meet with any reasonable opposition from them.
Even in the event of the attainment of free trade,
it would be but a very small return of what they are
indebted to the community for the increased rents
they have unjustly been receiving in past years.
] I
( 13 )
CHAPTER II.
in IS ne-
CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY TEMPERATURE, AND
CLASSIFICATION OF EMIGRANTS.
Having demonstrated the extreme importance of
Colonies to the progressive prosperity of the Em-
pire, and the necessity of extensive emigration to
the well-being of the labouring population ; that the
wages of labour, the returns from capital, the mer-
cantile marine, in short, all the elements of national
happiness and greatness, would be greatly increased,
I shall now take an excursive glance at the different
most inviting fields, where colonization is practica-
ble, endeavouring to point out the advantages or
disadvantages which these present to intending emi-
grants.
Before entering on this, however, I shall make a
few remarks on climate, temperature, and the cir-
cumstances by which they are modified. A correct
knowledge of these is necessary to a comprehensive
acquaintance with the economy of colonization, and
to assist the intending emigrant in making choice of
a future home, and it will save future digression. A
few remarks will also be necessary on the classifica-
tion of emigrants.
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TEMPERATURE.
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Circumstances which modify Temperature.
1st, Altitude. — Every one knows that the tempera-
ture diminishes as we ascend above the level of the
sea. At the Equator, the line of perpetual snow is
nearly three miles above the sea-level, and in Britain
nearly one mile. The decrease of temperature may
be taken roughly at about 300 feet of altitude for
one degree (Fahrenheit) of temperature, or one de-
gree of latitude. This decrease, however, is very un-
equal at different places. High table-lands are
much warmer than high mountain peaks, rising from
a low level : this is caused by the sun's rays heating
only opaque bodies, — the surface of the earth, and
not the transparent air. Exemplifying this, we
find the line of perpetual snow on the north side of
the Himmaleh mountains (contrary to what we might
expect from the exposure) is much higher than on
the south side : this is owing to the very high level
of the surface of the country to the north of these
mountains, and the comparatively low level of the
south.
The temperate zones, to pole-wardof 30 °of latitude,
where malaria does not abound, are favourable to
the European or Caucasian race. Within the tropics,
and to the distance of 30° from the Equator, it is
necessary to ascend from two to eight thousand feet
to obtain a temperature fitted to that race. At
a high altitude, in low latitudes, we have a nearly
constant equality of mild temperature, — a perpetual
spring, which might be considered exceedingly fa-
vourable to animal and vegetable life. But another
circumstance powerfully affecting the economy of
ALTITUDE.
To
animal and vegetable life, comes into action, at least
when we exceed six or eight thousand feet. The
air, at these high altitudes, from the absence of
pressure, is much rarer than at the level of the sea, —
so rare, as to be much less fitted to excite and sus-
tain the energy of the vital functions; the lungs
seem too unsubstantially inflated to supply a suffi-
ciently aerated or assimilated blood ; the working
of the pulsatory mechanism of the heart is also de-
fective, — any kind of muscular exertion, especially
the climbing of an eminence, causing the heart to
palpitate to a painful degree. There is, however,
an adaptive power in nature, which gradually ac-
commodates the living mechanism to a change of cir-
cumstances, and the lungs of those who have so-
journed at these altitudes for a number of years be-
come, in some degree, accommodated to their un-
substantial fare ; and this adaptation is increased,
when the individual has been born in the locality,
and still more, when his progenitors have been so.
Neither animals nor plants, however, attain the
same vigour, size, and weight that they do at lower
levels. The human system is also liable to diseases
not known, or very rare, at lower levels ; and, upon
the whole, excepting in the case of a few species,
which seem formed peculiarly for high elevation, the
condition of life is inferior, and life itself of shorter
duration.
Between the 30th and 40th parallel of latitude,
mountains andtable land, of from two to four thousand
feet in altitude, are sufficiently favourable to animal
and vegetable life, and especially to the White Euro-
pean race of men, who, on hills, at these altitudes,
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TEMPERATURE.
1^
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ti'
from the moist and bracing atmosphere, and general
absence of putrescent malaria, attain a ruddy and
bright complexion, and do not yield to those at the
sea-level, in strength, hardihood, or longevity. As
we advance from the 40th parallel to the polar
circles, the altitudes favourable to life gradually
diminish till about the 60th parallel, when only the
lands immediately above the sea-level are habitable.
2d, Prevalence of land or water in the vicinity,
or in the same quarter of the world ; land causing
extremes of temperature ; water, especially deep
water, equalizing it, excepting when frozen.
3d, Trade winds^ or prevailing aerial currents. —
These blow on the north temperate zone, from west
and south-west ; and on the south temperate zone,
from the west and north-west. Within the Tropics,
and in summer, for about 10 degrees of latitude be-
yond them, the trade-winds blow, on the north of
the Line from the east and north-east ; and on the
south of the Line from the east and south-east.
These winds generally blow from eight to ten months
of the year. Winds, or the motion of the air, by
mixing different strata, tend generally to equalize
temperature, especially that of day and night ; by
giving out heat to the surface of the earth, as they
brush along, they prevent it from cooling very low in
the night from radiation, and thus producing hoar-
frost, and by taking in heat during the day, prevent
it from becoming much heated by the sun's rays.
4th, Winds that come over an extent of sea, if
that sea is not frozen, invariably equalize the tem-
perature of the country to which they blow.
c5th. Winds that come ovor an extent of land m
WINDS.
17
winter, when the surface of the country is covorod
with snow, cooled to a very low temperature, are ex-
ceedingly keen, and frequently destructive of animal
life. They are also destructive of the vegetables
which are above ground in winter, when not pro-
tected by snow, such as wheat, rye, rape, turnips.
Britain, from its insular position, is but little affect-
ed by these winds ; but the North of Europe, and
Asia and North America, north of 35° of latitude,
suffer extremely.
6th, Winds that blow over an extent of land in
summer, when the surface of the land is dry and
heated, raise temperature. These winds, when
coming from an extent of sandy desert, or parched
country, are frequently warmer than the natural
temperature of the human body, rising to 100° and
upward of Fahrenheit. They become then extremely
distressing to the human feelings ; every species of
vegetation shrivels up and disappears under their
blasting influence, while all descriptions of timber
frame-work and machinery crack and twist, and go
to pieces. The sii'occo of the Levant, and the
north-wester of New South Wales, are instances of
this. The blasting mortal effect of the simoom of
the desert, the most pernicious of all, seems owing
to some electric agency.
7th, In the north temperate zone, an extent of
water to the northward of any country, and in the
south temperate zone to the southward, has a power-
ful influence in softening the rigour of winter. One
of the chief causes of cold in the temperate zones
in winter, is the continuance of winds from the
frigid zones, below the freezing point. When
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TEMPERATURE.
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water not frozen exists towards the pole, wind or
moving air from that direction, by its contact and
friction with the waves, as it sweeps along, receives
heat from the water, and is generally raised in tem-
perature above the freezing point ; and countries thus
situated, as to the sea, are freed from one great cause
of a very low depression of temperature, being only
subject to be cooled by throwing off heat by radiation,
by the electric meteoric agency in generating cold, or
by evaporation. Countries thus situated with sea
towards the pole, are also less subject to rains, and
consequently have less evaporation, than if they had
sea in any other direction. It is generally winds
from the sea which cause rain to fall ; but air
coming over sea, from the direction of the pole,
upon reaching the land, gains a warmer locality,
unless in case of high mountains overbalancing the
effect of diminished latitude ; and although this air
were fully charged with moisture, at what is termed
the dew-point, instead of depositing this moisture,
it acquires by increase of temperature greater
power of suspension. On the contrary, when sea
lies in any other . direction, especially towards the
equator, the warm air, whose power of suspending
moisture is great, and which, by moving along the
watery surface, has been fully charged with moisture
(at the dew-point), when it reaches land cooler than
itself, necessarily deposits a part of its moisture.
This is greatly increased when the locality is of high
elevation, — when it partakes both of the coolness of
higher altitude and higher latitude. Exemplifying
this, we find the country southward of the Canadian
Lakes has a winter nearly a month shorter than the
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CLASSIFICATION OF EMIGRANTS.
19
same parallel of latitude in America, a little to the
east or west, where land extends to the northward.
Morayshire, and East Lothian, in Scotland, are
both placed under circumstances nearly similar, and
are considerably earlier in vernal vegetation, and in
harvesting their crops, than any other part of Scot-
land, or North of England ; the harvest in Moray-
shire being generally as early as in England in the
parallel of Liverpool. In both places (Morayshire
and East Lothian), a dry sandy soil, and compara-
tively dry climate, from no high land being in the
immediate vicinity, assist in increasing the tempera-
ture. The great quantity of rain which falls on the
west mountain-shores of Great Britain, Ireland, and
Norway, where a warm sea-wind from the south-
west, partaking of the heat of the Gulf-stream, and
surcharged with moisture, reaches a cooler locality,
is also an instance in point.
8th, Deep-sea has comparatively higher tempera-
ture and clear weather ; shallow-sea, lower tempera-
ture and foggy weather. The fogs, and chilly atmo-
sphere of the lower part of the German Sea, and of
the Banks of Newfoundland, exemplify the latter.
II
\
i.
Classification of Emigrants,
Emigrants are divisible into two classes, 1st,
Those who intend to return, after having amassed a
sufficiency of wealth. 2d, Permanent settlers.
The first class, for the most part, emigrate to
tropical countries, uncongenial to British constitu-
tions, and unfitted for their permanent residence, —
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20
CLASSIFICATION OF EMIGRANTS.
•!
theconquered provinces of the East, and the colo-
nies of the West Indies, where they are chiefly em-
ployed in civil or military situations, in the provin-
cial or colonial government, and as superintendants
of native industry. This class consists, for the
most part, of the younger sons of our aristocracy,
and the youth of the middle ranks, accustomed or de-
sirous to occupy a certain grade in society, for which
they lack the means. In most cases the individuals
of this class have rich or influential connections, with
whom they are unable to associate, though very emu-
lous of doing so ; and they voluntarily go, or are sent
by their parents, into temporary banishment, risking
exposure to the most pestilential tropical climates,
in the hope that they may accumulate wealth, and
return to their proud connections in a condition to
command their friendship and attentions.
Nothing is more remarkable, than the heartless-
ness with which British, especially Scotch parents,
devote their children to the very probable loss of
life, or if surviving, to the almost "rtain loss of
health, in order that these may not lose caste, and
lower the family rank by comparative poverty, or
disgrace it by application to some of the branches
of useful industry. This disposition to banish, or
drive away their oifspring, seems in some cases in-
stinctive and akin to what we observe in certain
classes of the brutes, occurring frequently where the
wealth of the parent is so great, as to be far more
than amply sufficient to provide for the supply of
their children during life, with all the most desira-
ble comforts. In this way our tropical provinces
and colonies may be regarded as standing in a simi-
CLASSIFICATION OF EMIGRANTS.
21
lar relation to our Protestant community, and per-
forming the same general economical functions, as
monasteries and nunneries do in Catholic countries,
in affording a very decent sort of apparatus for de-
stroying the younger branches of our aristocracy,
and thus obviating the necessity of diverting any
portion of tho family fortune away from the eldest
son.
It is not my intention to enter into any considera-
tion of the comparative unhoalthiness of tho fields
for emigrants of this class, — Madras, Bengal, Bom-
bay, the Mauritius, Jamaica, Demerara, Sierra-
Leone ; any of these is sufficiently well fitted for the
purpose of destruction. I may merely mention, that
the yellow and livid fever demon of the American
and African tropics, disposes of his prey with shark-
like celerity ; while the liver-gnawing, demon- vulture
of the East continues to feed upon the vitals of his
victims, with protracted epicurism, as if the lingering
Promethean anguish gave relish to the repast. I
only allude to this species of emigration, to point
out to parents and unthinking youth how infinitely
more desirable and wise ifc were to emigrate perma-
nently to temperate healthy climates. The fatality
of tropical climates, notwithstanding of every-day
proof, is not sufficiently estimated, especially as re-
gards the fair-haired race of German or Scandina-
vian origin, a race the worst suited of all to tropical
regions. The comparative mortality of our different
foreign military stations, as given in the United Service
Journal for (I think) the last quarter of year 1835 ;
and the loss by climate, in some of the tropical sta-
tions, is stated to exceed the loss in stations in the
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CLASSIFICATION OK EMIGRANTS.
! 1
temperate zone, in the ratio of twelve to one, not
taking into account the numerous instances where
the sufferers come homo in broken health, to die in
Britain. The writer himself has lost eleven cousins,
besides other relatives, fine stout young men, all cut
off prematurely in tropical climates, and not one of
his relatives who have gone to these climates now
survives. This mortality, under tropical exposure,
is not from any peculiarity of family constitution.
One of these relatives, the owner of a trading ves-
sel, took out a complement of sixteen men to a tro-
pical island, of which fourteen died while he was
procuring a cargo, though he himself survived at
that time.
In cases where the white race have migrated to
tropical climates, and settled permanently, it is
found, that though they may survive so long as to
leave offspring, that unless one of the parents is of
the native circumstance-suited race, the offspring is
of a degenerate character, so feeble in mind and
body, as to be incapable of sustaining " the shocks
which flesh is heir to," or of keeping their ground
against the native race. This is exemplified in the
continent of tropical America, and in the West In-
dies. It is even said, that in Egypt, the Mameluke
corps of Grecian, Georgian, or Circassian birth,
never left grandchildren, — that although they left
offspring, that this offspring never reproduced. The
children of white parents, in these hot regions, are
of extreme nervous delicacy ; any sudden noise,
such as a clap of thunder,* frequently causing con-
* The presence, or flow of electric fluid, seems to have an
eff^ect upon the nervous system, even although in so minute di-
CLASSIFICATION OF EM ICJ RANTS.
23
vulsions and instant death. It is vc^y common to
find white mothers, who have had their families in
the East or West Indies, with only one or two sur-
viving children, out of six or eight births. Even at
the Capo settlements, although considerably extra-
tropical, so very T>recarious is the life of infants of
the white race, in the hotter si^asona of the year,
that mothers never count upon children as b(»ing
their own, till they are at least a month old.
Taking into view these facts, which shew the ex-*
treme unsuitableness of tropical countries, as emi-
gration-fields, to the white race of man, whether the
individual is to remain for a limited period, or per-
manently ; taking also into account, that the tem-
porary emigrant is generally without family ties,
vision as not to be; otherwise penoptible ; and the causes of in-
fant death in tropical countries attributed to tlic thunder-clap,
may be caused directly by electric activ)n, deranging the ner-
vous organization, or stopping the galvanic circulation of life.
During earthquakes there appears to be considerable evolution
of electric fluid, wlii( h has been thought to affect the nervous
system in a manner somewhat analogous. About thirty years
ago, when a rather severe earthquake shock was felt in the
North of Scotland, a number of persons, chiefly children, were
struck parjilytic or lame, during the shock. The writer found
two instances at Grantown, in Inverness-shire, of lameness at-
tributed to this earthquake. In one of these, where the person
had become a schoolmaster, both feet were affected ; he was an
infant, so young at the time of the earthquake, when he sus-
tained the injury, that it was impossible it could have been
caused by terror, nor did the parts, at the time, show any dis-
coloration or bruised appearances. The medical practitioner
at the place stated, that lie had traced lameness in eleven or
twelve individuals to some unknown influence, or effect of this
earthquake, — that the lameness in these was immediately con-
secutive to the earthquake, but that no appearances of electric
fluid had been noticed.
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CLASSIFICATION OP EMIGRANTS.
that he has the strongest possible motive for pro-
curing wealth rapidly, that he has considerable
power over a dependent, recently conquered, or
slave population, which he is apt to consider an in-
ferior race ; and should he be inclined, from ac-
quisitiveness, to overstep all moral bounds, that he
may do so with almost certain impunity, his conduct,
whatever that may be, not easily admitting of being
brought to light ; that he is placed under circum-
stances the most adverse to good principle, and un-
less of great natural benevolence, must become
callous to human sympathy, and tyrannically selfish ;
— ^taking into consideration how life and morals are
thus perilled, and that even should the individual
survive, that health is irremediably lost, — what
epithet would be too harsh to describe the guilt of
the parent, who, aware of all this, will sacrifice his
offspring to pride and mammon.
Having endeavoured to point out how tropical
emigration appears to a plain observer, and leaving
the eulogistic description of tropical-emigration
fields to the knights of the preventive and destruc-
tive check, I shall now proceed with a sketch of
temperate zone emigration-fields.
, v.. -i
APPENDIX.
235
PROSPECTUS OF A JOINT-STOCK COMPANY FOR
COLONIZING NEW ZEALAND.
Having in the previous sheets recommended in
the strongest manner the colonization of New Zea-
land by the British Government, should the Govern-
ment not proceed immediately to do so, I would sug-
gest the formation of a New Zealand Joint- Stock
Company, of 20,000 shares of L.oO each, affording a
colonizing fund of a million sterling — on something
like the following scheme : —
Joint-Stock Regulations.
1st, That overy shareholder go out in person, taking one, or
two, or more, shares, — if taking two shares, to carry out a
woman above twelve years of age.
2d, That shareholders, taking several shares, carry out an able-
bodied young man above fourteen years of age, and woman
above twelve, for every two shares more, and if ^aking an
odd share to take out a yoimg man in lieu.
3d, That an economical but wholesome plan of removal be
adopted ; each shareholder contributing in proportion to the
number and age of his family and settlers under him, — in-
dependent of the colonizing fund.
ith, That all shareholders and settlers fit to carry arms be
embodied in a militia, armed at their own cost — each share-
holder beinof accountable in this for the men he takes out.
5th, That the capital of L.l, 000,000, be laid out under a com-
mittee of management in purchasing land, and surveying
and allotting it, in procuring a supply of grain and provi-
sions from India and Europe, during the first two or three
years, and in improving the condition of the natives by
education and medical treatment. It is expected that the
British Government will grant a sum in aid of this latter
purpose.
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236
APPENDIX.
Gth, That a low land-tax be established to defray the ex-
penses of government, roads, &c.
7th, That all exports and imports, in British or Colonial-Bri-
tish vessels, be free of any impost.
8th, That the purchased land be allotted to the shareholders
in proportion to their shares, under such regulations as the
committee of management may direct.
i)th, That all previous settlers be obliged to join this company,
under just and expedient conditions.
Government Regulations.
The Colony to be subject to the British Crown,
undor the following social organization and chartered
rights ; —
1st, That a colonial Parliament be chosen ; at first by every
100 shareholders electing a representative, and afterwards
by such a number of electors as afibrd 100 representatives.
2d, That at first every shareholder only have a vote, — that
after a specified number of years, say ten, every freeholder
have a vote, — and that after a further specified number of
years, every man have a vote.
Sd, That the colonial parliament enact laws, levy taxes, and
appoint a committee of government subject to the approval
of the British Crown.
4th, That the government committee appoint inferior ofiicials.
5th, Excepting at the commencement, that all representatives
and government officials be natives of the country, or resi-
dent for a specified number of years.
In the above scheme it will be seen that the ge-
neral interests of the community, of the mother
country, and of the Colony, have been alone studied,
and not class interests — not the means of providing
for the sons of a dominant aristocracy — not the
means of bribery, procuring places to the supporters
APPENDIX.
237
■ i
of a government or ministry who cannot lean for
support upon the utility of their measures. The
only strong ties between Colonies and the mother
country are mutual interest and mutual protection,
and the more the social institutions of a colony are
calculated to render it prosperous and contented
with its connection with the mother country, the more
will the connection be mutually beneficial, and the
integrity and power of the Empire be strengthened.
The sooner the colonies of Great Britain are placed
upon this self-governing system, the better.
The writer would, in all probability, take a number
of shares under the above scheme. Any one wish-
ing to join in it may communicate with him by letter,
post-paid. Branch societies might be formed in dif-
ferent parts of the country for effecting the object.
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CHAPTER III,
NORTH AMERICA.
This grand division of the earth extends from con-
siderably within the Arctic Circle, to the middle of
the North Torrid Zone, and consequently possesses
a great diversity of climate. Being as yet very
thinly peopled in proportion to its natural resources
and capabilities of supporting population, the whole
may be said to constitute an emigration-field. The
habitable part of North America is divisible into the
following sections. (As this work is a mere sketch,
to endeavour to draw the attention of the country
to emigration, a particular account of each artificial
division or State is not attempted.)
1st, Lower Canada, including Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, St John's, and Newfoundland. These
countries may be named the Maritime Provinces of
the St Lawrence.
2d, Upper Canada, or Country of the Lakes.
3d, The New England States, including the
Highlands of the Alleghany chain, as far as the
Floridas.
4th, The low flat Atlantic Belt, once the ocean-
bed, eastward of the Alleghany range, extending
from the Chesapeake south to the Gulf of Florida.
5th, The vast inland Basin of the Mississippi.
c
26
PROVINX'ES OF THE ST LAWRENCE.
Gth, Tho Mexican territory.
7th, Tho Western territory and Rocky Moun-
tains.
I.
The Maritime Provinces of the St Lawrence.
These extensive maritime regions being situatetl
on the cast side of a great continent, in the tempe-
rate zone, with the most prevalent winds blowing
from the west and north, over land, have what
has been termed an extreme climate, the tempera-
ture varying from 40 degrees below zero, to 00°
and 100° above. Although in the same latitude
with the most temperate parts of Europe, the win-
ter is long, and the cold intense, v th nmch snow (a
consequence of the great intermixture of sea and
land) ; and when the wind blows strong from tho
north and west, over thousands of leagues of an in-
tensely cold snow surface, exposure to the breath of
Boreas is insupportable. The spring and autumn,
especially in the more eastern parts, are also bois-
terous and variable, with snow, sleet, and rain. The
short summer is, however, warm and genial, more
particularly in the island St John and the south-
west portion of these provinces, and is sufficient to
ripen oats, barley, potatoes, excellent apples and
pears, with a little spring-sown wheat, (autumn-
sown wheat generally rotting or dying under the
snow, from the very long period, sometimes six
months, which the snow remains on the ground.) In
the eastern and northern portion, Nova Scotia
PROVINCES OF THE ST LAWRENCE.
27
and Newfoundland, the climate is exceedingly un-
genial and rough, and but for the vicinity of the
fisheries (the most productive in the world) would
be considered uninhabitable. The prodigious quan-
tity of floating ice which drifts down from Davis's
and Hudson's Straits, and, which grounds upon the
banks and shallows on the eastern shores, neutra-
lizes the sun's heat during the first half of summer,
and, combined with the shallow seas, produces very
frequent fogs, sleet, and drizzly rain, which sometimes
chills the season so much, as to ruin the prospects
of the grain-farmer. These regions are as yet only
very thinly peopled, chiefly along the river courses,
upon the alluvial lands, and in the vicinity of the
frequented harbours. The clearances have generally
the most uncouth appearance, around which the
bare unsightly stems of the broken forest stand
mangled and torn, and scathed by fire, giving a
character of destructive rudeness to the doings of
man. Nearly the whole of these wide provinces are
covered by forest ; the most valuable timber of
which is yellow, white, or.d red pine, black birch,
elm, oak, and maple. Almost the sole export is
timber, under different forms, and potash (the solu-
ble portion of timber-ashes), to Britain and the
West Indies, which admits of a return of clothing,
hardware, iron utensils, rum, tea, and coflee. Ship-
building, and the cutting and preparing of timber
for export, and the manufacture of barrel-staves,
hoops, and potash, are, with the fisheries, agricul-
ture, and a little mining, the sole employments.
The province of Lower Canada, or New France,
chiefly occupied by a population of French descent,
1 )■
28
PROVINCES OF THE ST LAWRENX'E.
and speaking the French language, enjoys a better
cHmato than the more eastern provinces. It is al-
so comparatively an old settled country, having con-
siderable marks of the presence of man, — villages,
and churches, and orchards, and numerous clear-
ances, interspersed with forest. The seignorial or
feudal nature of the holding of property in this
])rovince, and the influence of the Roman Catholic
l)ric8thood, has stamped the population with a cha-
racter different from that of the American IJritish.
Society is here more linked together, customs more
permanent, improvement slow, and the habitans be-
ing more affected by local impressions, and deriving
more of their enjoyments from social intercourse, to
which they are considerably disposed from habit of
race and from a deficiency of individual mental re-
source, have not, excepting when ingrafted upon an
1 ndian stock, the disposition to part from theirfriends,
and scatter, so characteristic of those of the British
They are, however, but very indolent husband-
race.
men, and are, notwithstanding of all their indisposi-
tion to change, not unfrequently beaten from their
old clearances, and compelled to cut out new ones,
by their inveterate enemy, the weeds, especially the
(Canadian thistle, which appears to be possessed of
considerably more constitutional energy than the
hahitans. The latter, however, of their own contri-
vance, or more probably directed by their politic
priesthood, turn their starved stock, for a few sum-
mers, upon the victorious intruders, and thus, by
means of these more active auxiliaries, make out
eventually to recover the lost territory and to re-
sume cultivation. With few wants, and not very
PROVINCPiS OF THE ST LAWRENCE.
2J»
numerous families, the hahitans circumscribe their
industrial and mental exertions to as limited a field
as possible, and make out to lead comparatively
<iuiet and happy lives.
While the greater portion of the population of
Lower Canada is of French descent, speaking that
language, those in New Brunswick, and Nova Sco-
tia, are mostly British. This division of races and
language, is a barrier to the formation of any con-
siderable independent national power in these pro-
vinces, and renders their ultimate union with the
United States much more probable. In speculating
on the future prospects of these regions, we cannot
see much chance of their ever becoming highly
peopled and civilized. The climate, which no
drainage or clearing can ever render congenial to
man, or favourable to production of grain, or the
rearing of flocks and herds, will remain an insupera-
ble barrier. The opening of a communication be-
tween the Lakes of Upper Canada, and the Hudson
and Mississippi rivers, by means of canals and rail-
ways, will also divert the commerce of the interior
from the Lower St Lawrence, the navigation of
which must always labour under the great disad-
vantage of being hermetically sealed by ice for six
months of the year. The timber-trade will, however,
continue, while the forests exist. It may, indeed,
in the first place, experience a considerable diminu-
tion, when the anticipated removal of duties takes
place ; but as the Baltic supply, already much ex-
hausted, will under the then greatly increased de-
mand rapidly fall off, recourse must again be had to
the iuf<Qri9r and more distant supply of these pro-
m
■\
\\\
30
PROVINCES OF THE ST LAWRENCE,
vinces. The decrease of timber in the United
States, already beginning to bo felt, will also soon
compel them to resort to the Lower St Lawrence
provinces, and the demand of the West Indies, and
of South America, will continue. Yet, in the
course of time, the timber supply furnished by these
regions, will come to be reduced to the annual
growth ; and it is on the fisheries chiefly, that the
trade and industry must ultimately depend.
The cutting and squaring of the timber in the
interior forests during the autumn and winter, the
dragging it to the water-courses, and the floating it
down the rivers on the dissolving of the snow, is an
extremely rough and exposed mode of life. Men with-
out female society, away from their homes, roaming
from place to place, and engaged in employments,
where the severity of the labour, privations, and
exposure to cold and wet are almost irresistible
inducements to the use of spirituous liquors, be-
come necessarily coarse in manners, and of reck-
less licentious character. These unfortunate circum-
stances, in conjunction with the resort of great num-
bers of foreign sailors in the timber-trade, have a
powerful effect in lowering the standard of morals
generally throughout these settlements, and are a
considerable ban ier to steady industry, improvement,
and population. And the monopoly of the timber-
trade of Great Britain, which these provinces possess
(timber imported from thence paying only 10s. per
load, while Baltic timber pays about five times as
much), although the cause of nearly one-half of their
commerce, may indirectly, by the corruption of man-
ners which it occasions, retard the population,
THE LAKES, UPPER CANADA.
31
wealth, and general prosperity, more than it pro
motes it directly by the unnatural increase of com-
merce.
Emigrants of robust constitutions, and rude ha-
bits, may find the maritime provinces of the St
Lawrence a desirable land. They have the recom-
mendation of being nearer to JJritain, and more easi-
ly reached than any other emigration field, and at
less expense, as the timber-vessels frequently go out
in ballast, and transport on the cheapest terms.
They have the further advantage of not being so
subject to fever, and ague, and dyspepsia, as Up-
per Canada, and the greater portion of the United
States. Rheumatism and consumption, however,
prevail, and the severity of the winter renders the
rearing of children a, task of some difficulty.
II.
The Country of the Lakes^ Upper Canada.
This great interior country, extending south-west
from Lower Canada, along the north side of the
great American lakes, is chiefly a flat or slightly
undulated contir»uous forest, only diversified by the
lake and the river, and the small rude clearance
of the settler. Nothing can exceed the sensation of
loneliness {lone as the Americans term it) which is
experienced in these interminable forests, where, for
hundreds of miles, no object is recognisable beyond
the tops of the trees. To a Scotsman, the view of
hills is awanting ; to the Englishman, the cleanly
smiling villages, and the neat enclosures, with the
n2
THE LAKES, UPPER CANADA.
boautilul hIkm'P and cattle Tlie ocean is also awant-
ing, 80 intorosting to tho Jiriton, as giving him sonio
assurance of his locality, and carrying with it the
idea of home — that ho is not lost in flat dull illimit-
able space.
This dreariness, combined with some climatic in-
fluence, has a marked effect upon the spirits and
character of the settler, who is as silent and sombre
as the gloomy woods among which he U lost, — nothing
seeming to be alive, and in a state of active noisy
enjoyment in these interminable swampy forests, but
the myriads of frogs*
The country of the Lakes has a shorter whiter,
and a climate nuich superior to that of the maritime
provinces ; yet the heat of summer and the cold of
winter are intense, and the great and sudden tran-
sition enfeebles the constitution of those who have
sojourned for a number of years in the country ;
so much so, that in winter they require thicker
clothing than people who have recently come from
Britain : Exposure to the intense summer heat for
three seasons, however, has generally the eff*ect of
rendering strangers equally susceptible to the win-
ter cold as those born in the country. The malig-
nant effects of marsh miasms are more or less felt
over the whole country, and in the immediate vicinity
of the lakes, especially when the water recedes a
little in the after part of summer, and the weather
is hot, the lake-fever or bilious remittent is very
prevalent and fatal. Intermittents are also preva-
lent over the whole country, to such a degree as to
render human life miserable. The banks of all the
rivers which run into the lakes are peculiarly liable,
the Americans declaring that these rivers, towards
THE LAKES, UPFKR CANADA.
33
the end of «uinmor, are green with the wjue seeds ;
while the universal palenens of tlio eountenanco indi-
cates the prevalence of bilious aH<H*tions, and the
derangement of the digestive functions. In the ma-
ritime provinces a florid complexion is not uncom-
mon, partly from the superior tone of the digestive
organs, partly from the moister atmosi)here.
The great disadvantage of the country of the
Lakes, is that it wants some staple article of export.
Its timber is too distant from market to be worth
transporting. The climate is not very favourable to
tine woolled sheep or sheep of any kind ; besides, they
would require a great extent of clearance, not a pile
of grass growing in the dense hard-wood forest, where
only pigs can pick up a little food, consisting of rep-
tiles, nuts, and tree-seeds. Cattle recjuire too much
hoarded winter forage, and are far from markets,
the nearest of which are Montreal, Albr.ny, and New
York. Grain is also too distant from market to be
profitably raised for export i and, m fact, it, as well
as cattle, is imported to very considerable extent.
There is thus almost no means of export to balance
necessary imports of clothing, hardware, &c., and
the portion they receive has hitherto been purchased
by the hard cash which emigrants have carried out,
by the pensions of half-pay officers (a number of
whom have settled in the country), and by the money
expended by the Government derived from Britain.
Being entirely destitute of exports, the imports of
even the few supplies which people of such inade-
quate means find necessary, speedily exhausts the
little hoarded money which settlers carry out with
them, and except when they can exchange a few
34
THE LAKES, UPPER CANADA.
cattle or some seed-grain with a new comer for his
hard dollars, they are under the necessity to content
themselves with the rude fabrics which their own
hands can manufacture, and with the simple food
which their clearance can supply.
The late disturbances have tended much to aggra-
vate the misery ; emigration and the foreign supply of
dollars has ceased, property has been destroyed, the
price of foreign supplies has been increased, the secu-
rity of property has been lessened, industry has been
checked, and even though these dis '^bances have
been put down for the present, an anticipation of
future mischief continues to prevail. The conse-
quences of this are becoming apparent on the most
exposed frontier. Towns which had recently a po-
pulation of 1500 are now (it is said) reduced to 300,
and people are emigrating in great numbers to the
valley of the Mississippi, and some returning to
Britain. Another disastrous event, of considerable
importance, has more recently attracted public at-
tention. A great part of the shores of these lakes
are only a few feet above the level of the waters : a
periodic rise and fall of all these lakes above Niagara
of a foot or two every few years had been previously
noticed, perhaps caused by the common succession
of several wet and several dry years ; but during this
summer (1838) a rise to the amount of 4 feet has
taken place, overflowing a considerable portion of
the adjacent very low shores, and inundating the
houses and fields of the settlers. This rise of the
lakes at the present time is attributed to the dam-
ming up, by drift-wood, of the channel of a large
river which used to discharge its waters into Hud-
THE LAKES, UPPER CANADA.
35
son's Bay, and the waters now flowing southward
into Lake Superior.
Such is the extreme flatness of this vast interior
lake country, chiefly a Hmestone platform of about 500
feet of elevation above the sea, and extending several
hundred thousand square leagues, that the rise of a
few feet at Niagara would double the extent of the
lakes, and give several outlets, one discharging into
the Grulf of Mexico, another into the St Lawrence,
and another into Hudson''s Bay.
Perhaps there is no inhabited country where the
settler, or even the settled, have greater natural
difficulties to contend with than in Upper Canada,
and the Maritime Provinces of the St Lawrence.
These countries have an arctic winter of six or seven
months, and a tropical summer of four months, with
a short autumn and no spring. From the depth of
snow no agricultural work can be begun till nearly
the end of May, and as there is no mild season of
spring, but the intense heat of summer immediately
supervening on the dissolving of the snow, and as
there is little autumn-sown wheat, nearly the whole
of the ploughing, sowing, and planting, has to be
performed under a temperature equal to that of the
West Indies (the mercury frequently rising to 90°
in the shade), while the constitution receives a most
injurious shock from the sudden change from the in-
tense cold of winter — the more that the severe toil
is reserved to the very hot season. Within the five
or six months of summer and autumn the whole agri-
cultural labour must be performed — ploughing, sow-
ing, hay-making, harvesting, and the securing of all
winter provender for man and beast. These irre-
'i'
1 'i
I ?
36
THE LAKES, UPPER CANADA.
mediable evils are the more felt, as in a new country
the support of man is chiefly derived from domestic
animals. Besides turnips and other roots, from the
severity of the frost, are not used, and six months
hay must be laid up during the hottest season, for all
the stock, causing extreme toil to the farmer, as
little or no assistance can be obtained, from the
thinness of the population, — the class of artisans and
manufacturers who generally assist at the harvest in
other countries being awanting in this. The climate
is equally unfavourable, in respect to the greater
quantity of clothing, of fuel, and of housing for cattle
as well as for man, which is required.
In the Canadas, it is said, there is scarcely a cattle
beast deserving the name, the produce of the coun-
try, to be found ; any of even moderate quality to be
seen in it being importations from the United States.
This may be easily accredited when we reflect, that
their winter of six or seven months is merely a length-
ened contest between life and death for the poor
animal, and that should it survive when winter has
left, the creature is reduced to a mere skeleton, re-
quiring all the summer and autumn to repair the
extreme emaciation. The great alternations of cli-
mate in the Canadas, with the necessary severe toil
under a temperature unsuited to those of British ra/je,
even where the prevailing fever and ague do not ruia
the health, has the effect to induce premature old
age. The author had a friend in Canada, a military
man, but bred in his youth to agriculture, who, at
the end of the war, had the choice of a considerable
grant of land should he incline to remain in the
country. He, however, left it, and he gave as his rea-
THE LAKES, UPPER CANADA.
37
son that he did not see a settler in the province old-
er than himself (about forty), and that he therefore
considered it high time to depart.
These regions have the credit of being the most
slovenly cultivated of any part of the world, and are,
in every respect, very far behind the neighbouring
provinces of the United States. The cause of this
is the indolence of the people of French extraction,
a consequence of their subjection to a Roman Ca-
thu'."'? priesthood and perhaps their seignorial hold-
ings, and that the new settlers (principally British)
are a very mixed assortment of adventurers, many
of them, from unsuitable habits and a deficiency of
necessary knowledge and means, extremely ill calcu-
lated for subduing the wilderness. These consist ot
old military men, coloured people from the United
States, {iyi' ' f"om the degradation which tyrannic
custom acL . j to their colour in that country, and
of Scots, Irish, and English, of all grades and cha-
racters ; while the colonists in the neighbouring ter-
ritory of the States are settlers bred from their in-
fancy, the sons of settlers, endowed with the col-
lected sk'll of ages, habitually, almost instinctively
adapted to this mode of life. From the very imper-
fect cultivation throughout British America, and in
many places from an injudicious selection of soil, the
crops that are reaped scarcely remunerate for seed
and labour, and after a few seasons'' cropping, the
weeds spring up so thickly (although di the com-
mencement the ground was perfectly clean) as to
take complete occupation of the soil, and the farmer
finds it easier to displace the great weeds of the un-
touched forest than the small weeds of the clearance.
II
38
THE LAKES, UPPER CANADA.
The soil of Upper Canada is in many places of
fair quality, and generally superior to that of the
eastern provinces. The timber consists mostly of
large-leafed deciduous trees, while that of the eastern
provinces is chiefly pine. This distribution is part-
ly owing to soil as well as climate, and has led to
the belief that pines prefer inferior soil. This,
however, is not the case. Hard-wood trees have only
greater poioers of occupancy in warmer climates and
richer soils, and pines in the colder and inferior, es-
pecially in the more siliceous.
The prospects of Upper Canada are at present
sufficiently gloomy, with little chance of brightening
while it remains in British nands. It is spread out
extensively along the frontier of a richer and more
densely peopled country with a more popular govern-
ment, and it is open at every point to inroads across
the boundary river, and lakes, on which the United
States' navy will, in case of new hostilities, as during
last war, maintain a supremacy. In case of war the
whole combined force of that great and rapidly in-
creasing empire, by means of the new facilities of
communication by railroads and canals 'cia the Hud-
son and Mississippi lines, can be thrown upon any
point of Upper Canada, without waste or exhaustion
by long marches, and the necessary supplies easily
kept up ; while the counter force and supplies must
be brought from another quarter of the world, across
a line of sea open only six months of the year, and
over a line of country incapable of affording supplies
of almost any description, and this country, through
which every thing must pass, in a highly disaffected
state — ready, should a good opportunity offer, to
NEW ENGLAND STATES.
39
join the enemy. While this state of things lasts,
from the insecurity of property there is little chance
of progressive prosperity. Canada, so situated, does
not afford a very tempting emigration field.
III.
i !
The New England States^ and Highlands of the regions
between these States and the Gulf of Florida.
This division of the United States is the only por-
tion of North America east of the Rocky Mountains
which can be accounted wholesome, and at the same
time comparatively temperate and pleasant, and well
suited to the British race. It may be subdivided
into two portions, the north and the south. The
first, the New England States, and the New York
and Pennsylvanian Highlands. The second, the
Highlands of the Southern States — the Alleghany and
Cumberland Ranges, including the connected spurs
and elevations.
The North Portion, The New England States and
Highlands of New York and Pennsyhania^ has been
colonized by the British race for a period of nearly
200 years, and is comparatively an old settled coun-
try, throwing off a vast emigration yearly south-
westward to the fertile Mississippi basin. The popu-
lation of this northern portion of the Union, keeping
away from that of the aguish districts around Lake
Champlain and of the westward towards Lake On-
tario, are nearly as robust and healthy looking as
I '-
40
NEW ENGLAND STATES.
the home British ; only the exposed skin is a little
more tanned from the higher range of the sun and
the brighter skies, and the person not quite so full.
From the keen bracing air of winter in this quarter
of the Union, and the summer not being so oppres-
sively hot as farther south, it is the best suited of
any part of North America for the seat of manu-
facturing industry. The people of European descent
here are at the same time more energetic, — more will-
ing to labour, and able to perform more work than
in any other portion of the United States. Although
not one-tenth peopled, yet is it not so favourable an
emigration field for Britain as the highlands of the
south ; at least for those who, from a superior educa-
tion and a little capital, look forward to some em-
ployment more productive or less irksome than com-
mon labour. The New England ers (Yankees proper)
are too acute and active a race, and too well informed,
for any stranger to carry off the more valuable prizes
in their own country: But, as afield for the agricultural
labourer, or common artizan, it offers fair prospects,
affording sufficient employment at good wages. The
great emigration which takes place from the New Eng-
land States while their own lands and field of industry
are far from being fully occupied, is caused by the
strong emulation of the cute native Yankee to elevate
himself above the common labour class ; and this
desertion of the labour field leaves it open and favour-
able to emigrants of this class.
The Atlantic States for several years back have
presented the anomaly of a country importing grain
to a large amount, with a superior and comparatively
NEW ENGLAND STATES.
41
unoccupied field for grain production. This has
arisen from the following combination of circum-
stances : —
1^^, The great recent increase of population in the
Atlantic sea-bord cities. New York, Philadelphia,
Boston, Baltimore — which, by commerce, sea-fishing,
and the carrying trade, derive a revenue from every
quarter of the world, and require a large and in-
creasing supply of grain provision.
2d, The influx of a great amount of foreign capital
attracted by the high interest, and lent out or in-
vested on railways, canals, &;c. affording employment
to a numerous population not engaged in agriculture,
and requiring a grain supply.
3^, A considerable portion of the labour of thf^
country which used to be employed in raising grain,
being turned to the formation of railways, canals,
and other purposes, — mere implements for future
production, leaving agriculture, for a time, in some
measure neglected,
4th, The exhaustion of a considerable portion of
the lands in the Atlantic States, employed in raising
grain, by hard cropping and the want of a e^^fficient
application of manure, and this portion being left to
recruit under grass, — the farmers selling off* and mi-
grating across the Alleghany to the Mississippi basin.
5th, An unusual proportion of the population be-
ing diverted from agriculture by having received an
education superior to what labouring agriculturists
usually possess. They considering themselves, or
their parents considering them, more fitted for the
learned professions, or mercantile affairs, than agii-
D
■: I
42
HIGHLANDS OF VIRGINIA.
»..'
'z:
li'^>^■
iA
culture, in a country where the land-owner must
himself be the land-worker.
These causes tending to diminish the supply of
grain for a time, Jhd to increase the demand, com-
bined with two defective crops, have operated to
raise prices so high during the last three years as to
produce a considerable importation from the Baltic,
Lower Germany and Britain (bonded grain). In a
few years, however, the facilities of commercial in-
tercourse with the interior parts of the union, where
an almost unlimited extent of very rich land is now
being opened up by roads, railways, and canals, will
place the United States in a condition to be an ex-
porting, instead of an importing, country of grain,
and which the present high prices will accelerate. It
is, nevertheless, not very probable that any great sur-
plus amount of grain will be raised in a country where
the population are freemen, and land so cheap as to
be within the reach of every industrious individual,
as in the non-slave American States. A servant, or
tenant population, is necessary to mv.iih surplus grain
production. The raising of grain is attended with
too much hard labour to be a favourite occupation
with independent citizens working their own grounds,
and it will be found that the industry of the United
States nation will be turned to branches of industry
of less arduous bodily exertion in order to procure
exportable produce.
The South Portion, The Highlands of the Soutliern
States and Kentucky, extending from the Potomac
to Alabama, about 600 miles in length, and 200 in
breadth, although beautiful and fertile, and the cli-
HIGHLANDS OF VIRGINIA.
4S
mate delightful, is not so well adapted for the seat of
manufacturing industry, or, indeed, for labour of any
kind, by the white race of men, as the northern divi-
sion ; partly from the delicious climate and greater
heat producing a disposition to enjoyment rather than
to active labour ; and partly because of the hoteful
slave system, throwing a shade of degradation and
meanness over the occupation of the working man,
and disposing to idleness, ostentation, and profligacy.
Leaving out, however, all adventitious circum-
stances, — taking no account of the moral blight of
slavery, this division is naturally highly favourable
for rural life, affording many a sweet valley, which
might well lay claim to the name " Val-Paraiso." It
is especially suited for orchards and vineyards, and
plantations of the finer and more valuable fruits of
the south of Europe, upon the steep slopes and rising
grounds, where almost all kinds of trees grow with
more luxuriancy, and ripen better fruit than on flatSc
It is also much more propitious for a pastoral life
than the northern division, as the winter is of short
duration, and the flocks and herds can find a pastur-
age supply almost at all seasons. These romantic
internal regions, remote from water communication,
and in many places of difficult access by land, have
hitherto been comparatively neglected, partly from
the distance from markets and the want of roads,
partly from the soil not being quite so rich as the low
country, and partly from the greater difficulty of
clearing and cultivating the ground where the impedi-
ments of declivity and ruggedness of surface are
superadded to that of forest. Railways and roads
are, however, being formed, which will open up these
ii
I
44
HIGHLANDS OF VIRGINIA.
fine highland regions to tho settlor ; and, in the course
of less than half a century,every valley of the Alleghany
and Cumberland Ranges will smile with rural villages,
and water-mills, and gardens, and orchards, and
corn fields; and the hilly ridges, cleared of the greater
portion of their forest incumbrance, will feed innu-
merable flocks and herds.
The population of the United States, greedy of
wealth, and impatient of steady labour, are much
too indifferent in respect to climate and healthful
locality. They rush to the Texas and Mississippi
alluvions, where less labour will suffice, where wealth
is more easily compassed, and where sugar and cotton
— articles of lighter carriage in proportion to value,
and more marketable than grain or beef — can be
raised, but where health and length of days are
very precarious ; while, by a little more persevering
industry, they might secure a much greater amount
of human enjoyment in the mountain valleys they
leave behind.
Although much nationality exists among the
United States people, yet is there perhaps some
want of local attachment, or of kindred and friendly
ties, and even a deficiency of enthusiasm for the
natural beauties of their fine country. By having
been dissevered from their local attachments in the
mother country, the race seems to have lost the dis-
position to be fixtures — to become enamoured of
surrounding objects, and fascinated by the delightful
remembrances and associations of youth and home.
Their disposition to rove seems, at least, the leading
passion, and has the effect of driving them westward
from the Atlantic States, and even from the beauti-
HIGHLANDS OF VIRCilMA.
46
ful country of Kentucky, leaving a sufficiency of space
behind to accommodate the whole J3ritis)i emigration
to the United States. The American emigrants are,
from habit of race and acclimate<l constitution, nmch
better suited for pioneers in the western wilderness,
than the British emigrants, especially as being less
liable to fever and ague. While, on the other hand,
the emigrants from Britain, from being accustomed
to the division of labour, and the habits of a denser
society, are far better suited for the districts which
have been for some time partially settled.
Seeing the extreme liability of the British emi-
grant to fever and ague in the whole of the flat coun-
try of the United States and Upper Canada, and
the misery that must ensue when the head of an
emigrant family is incapacitated, by lingering dis-
eases, for labour, I would impress upon British emi-
grants to North America the wisdom of choosing one
or other of these two more salubrious divisions : —
perhaps the working emigrant without capital or
much education, to the North division, and the ca-
pitalist and more educated to the South — especi-
ally to the hills of Virginia and Kentucky.
It is true the slave blight is spread over these de-
lightful regions, but the ingress of British emigrants
would have its effects to bring about a change soon-
er than otherwise might take place. The natural
resources of the country are great, the evil is only
adventitious, and must soon give way before the force
of moral opinion and civilization. This change is
the more likely to take place in Kentucky and the
highlands of Virginia, as the climate is suitable to
white race labour. x .
ii I
I i
46
HIGHLANDS OF VIRGINIA.
In judging of tho fitness of a locality for emi-
gration, the appearance of those born in the country,
eKpecially those of Hritish race, ought to be particu-
larly attended to ; and the Hritish liighland Virgi-
nians and Kentuckians are as athletic, tall, and
handsome a people as are to be found. The fact
that in Kentucky and Tennessee the raising of black
people for exportation to the sugar-producing swamps
of Louisiana is a highly profitable business, and
carried on to considerable extent, although no very
favourable index of the standard of morals of the
white population, is rather a favourable one of the
salubrity. Some may think that the circumstance
of salubrity of climate has met with more attention
in these pages than it merits, but if they think so,
it is from ignorance or inattention to facts. In a
vast majority of cases, at least when slave labour is
not employed, everything depends upon the personal
activity and the power of muscular exertion of the emi-
grant and his family ; and health and strength come
to be of the last importance to happiness and even
to existence. In the greater part of the United
States, and even of North America, the defect lies
more in the climate than in the productive powers
of the soil. The United States citizens are suffi-
ciently sensible upon this point, and nothing can be
said more likely to give offence than any reflection
upon, or expressed doubt of the character of the
district they belong to in regard to salubrity. Al-
though it can be proven that every dwelling during
the latter part of every summer is an hospital of
fever and ague patients, and even that one-half of the
population died the previous season, yet any allusion
HIGHLANDS OF VIRGINIA.
47
to tho fact is quite enough to afford occasion for a
little rifle practice. Tho rapid increase of the [»opu-
lation of the United States is not owing to any sa-
lubrity of climate, but to the favourable field for hu-
man labour inducing early marriage ; scarcely a wo-
man of twenty-one years of age remaining a spinster
unless she is awful (very ugly). In certain localities
of America, the prevalence of insects, mus(iuitoe8,
and sand-flies, come to be an imi)ortant considera-
tion as well as climate ; in some cases, otherwise de-
sirable settlements have been abandoned after the
necessary buildings have been erected and dea^'ances
made, from the insufferable annoyance oi thcdo di-
minutive pests.
It is proper, however, to mention that neither of
these divisions are free from endemic disease. Con-
sumption is prevalent in the New England Str^'>p,
causing a premature loss of about one-fifth of th •
population ; and in the south division, although the
inhabitants are upon the whole healthy, yet fever
has its periodic visitations, generally once in eight
or ten years, and will sometimes carry off one-haii of
the population of a village or district. It must also
be kept in view, that the base of the mountain ranges
next to the low country, and the low adjacent val-
leys and ravines, especially when of sr'^th exposure
and heavy wooded and sheltered by the i igh grounds
from the purifying ventilation, are even more un-
wholesome, than the low country * c>&elf.
Were the dense forests reuiovad from the Alle-
ghany highlands and valleys, the climate would doubt-
less be greatly improved, as the surface of the earth
48
HIGHLANDS OF VIRGINIA.
would be swept over by the frequent mountain breeze?
and no quantity of malaria suffered to accumulate.
Some bad effects might still continue to be felt for a
few years, from the vast quantity of tree roots decay-
ing under ground, and emitting putrid effluvia. The
soil, also, so long shaded by the rank vegetable co-
vering from the direct action of the sun'*s rays,
would, upon being stirred and exposed to it, send
forth for a time pernicious exhalations. Thus the
production of malaria will, in the first place, be in-
creased by ploughing and digging, though the source
will sooner be exhausted.
In situations, however, of a peculiar nature — rich
deep vegetable mould or water alluvion, such as are
met with in the low country east of the Alleghany
and in Louisiana, — in the hot weather, the drier the
soil becomes the production of malaria is the more
abundant ; fluids of the most pestilent quality rising
out of the cracks which the drought occasions in the
ground. This dry malaria is most abundant and of
the most deleterious nature when there is no plenti-
ful cover of vegetables upon the ground (as after the
crop is reaped or gathered) to consume it as it rises ;
which vegetables do as food when they are present.
In some parts of the low country of the Carolinas
and Virginia, eastward of the mountain division we
are treating of, where the soil is of this description,
it is almost certain death for a white man to remain
during the latter part of summer in the cultivated
grounds ; his only chance of surviving, should he not
migrate to the New England States, or the more ad-
jacent highland district (which nearly the whole
white population do during the sickly season), is to
ATLANTIC SEA-BORD FLATS.
49
(liter the lovv-coiintry forest where the trees have tall
clear stems with room for a ventilating breeze under-
neath, and reside in a hut till the winter commence.
It is even said that should a few trees around the hut
be cut and a small garden formed, malaria will be
generated, and the occupier seized by a dangerous
])ilious remittent.
JV.
The Atlantic Sea-hord Flats^ Emt of the Allerfhanp
Range.
This low division of the United States extends in
length from the Chesapeak to the Gulf of Florida,
about 700 miles, and in breadth, from the sea to the;
mountain division last treated of, nearly 100 miles.
With the exception of a few partial slight elevations,
such as that at Savannah, it is almost a dead level
along the sea-coast, and appears to have been the
bottom of the Atlantic at some former period, when
that sea has washed the Alleghany base. The soil
consists chiefly of sand, such as the ocean would
leave, in some places arid and unfit for cultivation,
in others covered to considerable depth by the mud
alluvion of rivers, which flow eastward across it from
the Alleghany range, and by the debris of a rich
vegetation, forming a deep vegetable mould.
Very little of this productive but unwholesome
region is suited for the British emigrant ; at least it
is impossible for that race to subsist by their own
labour in these fever-flats. The >vhite population
E
50
ATLANTIC SEA-BORD FLATS.
consists chiefly of what are termed planters ; proprie-
tors farming their own grounds by the labour of the
black slaves. The exportable produce of this divi-
sion is both great and valuable : it consists chiefly of
tobacco, cotton, and rice, far exceeding that of all the
other divisions of the United States put together ;
and it was in a great measure the wealth derived from
this produce, obtained by slave-labour, which put the
British colonies in a condition to achieve their inde-
pendence, and to become the great and powerful na-
tion they now are. It is also true, though not a very
pleasant truth, that many of the leading spirits in the
war of independence, and also in the later patriotic
conflicts and struggles for liberty, have been slave-
holders, indebted to slave-labour for their means and
leisure and proud inflexible character. That which
has contributed so much to the creation of the national
power will, however, in all probability, lead eventually
to its destruction. The tree which has rushed up so
fast, and flourished so richly, has sprung from too
rank and corrupt a soil, and the cause of its early
vigour and luxuriance will also, it is to be feared.
prove the cause of its sudden decay.
The black slave population here is so great, and is
increasing so rapidly, from superior adaptation of the
race to the climate, in comparison to the whites, that
the power of the latter over the former would be of
very short duration, were it not for the coercive in-
fluence of the whi^^s in the other provinces of th(^
Union."' From the fact that the white race cannot
■* It is ono of the ovils of confedoratod and dopcndcnt Go-
vernments, that tliey sometimes kee[) up an extent of tyranny
and misery which could never exist but by powerful extraneous
ATLANTIC SEA-BORD FLATS.
51
maintain themselves by their own labour, in this low,
hot, and unhealthy country,* while, should the blacks
obtain thejr freedom, very little labour will be per-
fonned by them in raising colonial produce as hired
servants, as they will preferably purcli.^.se small por-
tions of land, on which they can raijj^' all the neces-
saries of life for themselvos with little trouble, we
may expect that their manumission will not take place
till the last necessity compels it. It is, therefore,
highly probable that the manumission may be delayed
till insurrection breaks out, from which the most disas-
trous consequences tc the Union may be apprehended.
influence. "Wc have had illustrations of this in our West
Indian colonies, where a system of slavery, — (>xtrenie tyranny
and misery, — has been supported by means of a strong British
military force ; a system wliich the population of Britain never
M'ould have endured themselves, nor would the colonial inha-
bitants have endured it, but for the coercive British power.
We find another illustration of the mischievous effects of ex-
traneous power in Ireland, where a condition of things the most
galling to the great body of the population, and the most un-
favourable to imi)rovement and civilization, has been ke])t up —
a state of things so adverse to hunuin enjoyment, that nothing
approaching to it would have been tolerated an hour, or coidd
ever have come to exist, but for the coercive influence of a neigh-
bouring more powerful nation.
'* Agricultural labour, the most healthy occupation in healthy
countries, is perhaps the most unhealthy of all occupations in
these unwholesome regions. Brought to high p(.'rspiration from
his exertions under a very hot sun, and in this state, or in the
still more susceptible state, after the ensuing chill, exposed to
the exhalations from the soil, the field labourer of tlie white
race is almost certain to fall a victim. If the white race can
with difficulty maintain existence as masters or superintend-
ents, subsisting by the labour of others, it is not to be exjjected
that they could nuiintaiu existence if obliged to labour fur their
own subsistence.
52
ATLANTIC SEA-BORD FLATS.
In the mean time, however, the consciousness of
this enemy witliin his walls, has a powerful influence
to repress the warlike propensities of Brother Jona-
than. He is well aware what the consequences
might be were a liberating army, with a few hun-
dred thousand stand of spare arms, to form a rally-
ing point in this division of the Union. Now that
the British West Indian black population are invest-
<h1 with all the rights of British freemen, the forma-
tion of a native West Indian army might be a
consideration well worthy the attention of our Go-
vernment. A black force, consisting of several thou-
Hand picked men, should be embodied, have their moral
sense and intellect properly educated, be trained to
military tactics, and thus prepared, in case of emer-
gency, to act as disciplinarians and leaders of the peo-
ple of their colour in the United States. This measure
is the more expedient as having a double philanthropic
tendency. It would have a considerable influence in
maintaining our present friendly relations with our
American white brothers (with whom, in order that
libei-ty and human improvement may continue to
progress, it is exceedingly desirable that friendly
relations should exist), and might also have the effect
of bringing speedily about a judicious act of Con-
gress manumitting several millions of our American
black brethren. It is pretty certain that ere long
the whole of this eastern low region will be possessed
l)y a free black population, and the sooner this takes
place the better. The black population existing in
the neighbouring mountain region to the west, after
being manumitted, should also be encouraged to re-
move to this division. The affairs of the United States'*
ATLANTIC SEA-nORI) FLATS.
^•"»
.)•>
Union will never be in a wholesome condition, till
several black Representatives from these low regions
are seated in the House of Representatives at Wasli-
ington. This is a more plausible scheme, — would
form a better Liberia, than the African Liberia.
It, nevertheless, but ill becomes the home Jh'itish
to say much about the L^nited States' slavery, or, in-
deed, about any slavery. The causes which operate
to promote or prevent direct slavery have never, tliat
I am aware of, been clearly pointed out. Slavrs
(direct) arc found only where land is cheap. When
the land, from its redundancy in proportion to popu-
lation, as in America, is of little or no value, the whole
property consists of labour, or the produce of labour,
and the covetous man not being able to satisfy his
lust for riches by the produce of his own labour, has
no other way of gratifying it but by obtaining posses-
sion of the persons of his fellow-men, and compelling
them to labour the otherwise unprofitable ground for
his emolument ; and this he finds profitable, because
the produce of labour, even of slive-labour, in this fa-
vourable Held for production, is more than sufficient
to support his slaves as reproductive labouring stock,
or to purchase new ones should they wear out.
On the reverse, slaves (direct) are not found when
the land has been all occupied, and has reached any
considerable value or rental. Wherever this has
taken place, and population has become dense, hired
or piece labour becomes more profitable than slave-
labour, and drives it from the field. The reason of
this is obvious : man in a state of comparative liberty
of action, has more of mental energy to stimulate
and carry on his corporeal exertions, and to direct
1'^
\i i
o4
ATLAFVIC SEA-BORD FLATS.
™'
them to more profitable effect, than when under di-
rect slavery, while at the same time he can be main-
tained at less cost as a reproductive animal when
in semblance free. Besides, when the land has been
all taken up, and has co ne into the hands of a small
number of the community, these, from being the pos-
sessors of property, generally obtain the governing
power, and form a land aristocracy class. They pro-
ceed to legislate and levy taxation in the most par-
tial and unjust manner, to forward their own selfish
interests, they secure the land property to themselves
and their posterity, and, by taking advantage of the
poverty and necessity for food of the labouring popu-
lation, make out to obtain a more complete command
over their labour, and more power to render them
subservient to their pleasure and luxury, than if the
working population were slaves direct.
In this way, by means of a food-monopoly, for the
emolument of the heir or eldest male of the family,
and excessive taxation upon the necessaries of the
working people for the support of the younger
branches, our governing land aristocracy have done
every thing in their power to bring the working po-
pulation to a complete state of indirect slavery, the
only slavery which, from the nature of things in
Britain, is profitable or practicable, and they have
succeeded, — the destitution and hollow cheek of wife
and children being a more powerful incentive to severe
toil than the whip of the hippopotanms hide. A
sufficient emigration would help to reform this.
THE MISSISSIPPI DASIN.
OO
V.
The Mississippi Basin.
Thia vast extent of very fertile territory, in which
rivers navigable for 3000 miles upward from the
ocean hold their com-se, extends from the Lakes of
Canada on the north, to the Gulf of Mexico on the
south, and from the highlands of the Alleghany and
Cumberland ranges on the east, to the Rocky Moun-
tains far to the westward.
The greatest labour of Hercules, the noblest deeds
recorded of man in ancient or modern history, sink
to nought when compared to the doings of Brother
Jonathan. It was but as yesterday when he first
stood on the highest summit of the Alleghany range,
and, gazing down upon the illimitable western wilder-
ness, boldly resolved to people the whole extent ; and
already cities, and towns, and villages, and innumer-
able clearances, are scattered over nearly a million
of square miles. True to his purpose, Jonathan is
progressing in a ratio of increase never before equalled,
and, in the course of a century at the present incre-
ment, this great and most fertile field for the exten-
sion of the human race w'il contain a progeny exceed-
ing the whole of the population of Europe.
This region, upon a closer inspection, presents
traces of a former population of considerable amount,
and, as some facts would seem to indicate, of con-
siderable civilization. It is not easy to account for
the extinction or displacement of a numerous popu-
lation of a country so fertile, and comparatively so
ii
56
THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN.
temperate. The ancient records of the Mexican
Empire, as well as the old world history of man-
kind, however, speak of the migrations of whole
communities, for which no sufficient reason is given,
or can well be traced, and the population may have
moved to the Mexican territory, only a few stragglers
remaining, to degenerate into roaming savages. It
is also not impossible that some destructive pesti-
lence, such as has lately swept off entire tribes of the
red race in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Moun-
tains, may have passed over this immense valley,
leaving only a few scattered individuals, scarcely .able
to contend for existence with the other numerous
types of animal and vegetable life struggling for oc-
cupancy in this teeming field.
This great river-land rises almost imperceptibly
from the level of the Mexican (lulf at New Orleans,
to the neighbourhood of the Canadian Lakes, where
it attains an elevation of nearly GOO feet above the sea.
It is comparatively a level country, with only gentle
undulations, and, in some places to the westward,
with rounded gravel hillocks, relieving the unifor-
mity. A great portion of it, like Upper Canada,
consists of limestone strata, covered with a pretty
thick layer of diluvium, constituting a fertile and
manageable soil. The eastern half was fifty years
ago a continued forest of magnificent hard-wood
trees ; but in which numerous clearances have now
been effected by the industry of the settler, and the
demand for timber-fuel to the numerous steamers.
To the west, beyond the confluence of the Mississip-
pi and the Missouri, a considerable portion of the
country consists of prairies, extensive fields covered
THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN.
57
)rs.
•ed
with tall rough grasses, and skirted by portions of
forest. The absence of trees in these extensive
meads has been variously accounted for, some attri-
buting it to conflagrations (the most probable cause),
some to th(5 dryness of the climate. It is also not
impossible that the graminea;, though a compara-
tively smaller order of plants, may have greater
power of occupancy than the trees in this locality, —
the rank grass smothering the annual shoot rising
from the forest-tree seed. These beautiful prairies,
frequently wider than the eye can reach across,
afford most excellent stations for the settlers who
migrate thus far westward. They locate themselves
in a circular ring around the margin of these
flowery grassy plains, where the forest-belt affords
plenty of timber for houses, enclosures, and fuel;
they cultivate the nearer portion of the prairie,
where not a stone is to be found, and nothing inter-
feres with the ploughshare but the strong roots of
the grassy sward ; and they drive their herds to
pasture a little farther into the interior of what ap-
pears like a verdant sea. The pastoral life is far
more desirable here than in British America ; the
winter being only about one-half as long as in the
maritime provinces of the St Lawrence, or even in
Upper Canada, while the Herculean labour of re-
moving the dense forest which covers nearly the
whole of America to the eastward, is not required.
Immense herds of wild cattle once fed upon these
pastures, but they, like the red Indian, have retired
westward, before the fire-armed European, and are
only now to be found towards the base, and amidst
the fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains. This fine
58
THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN.
prairial country, were mca.surcs taken to dostroy the
wild (logs or wolves, might bo rendered very produc-
tive of wool, the export of which, down to New Or-
leans, would be easily accomplished.
The great distinguishing features of the Mississippi
Basin, are the vast abundance of tine level land,
capjible of supporting a very dense population, and
the immense system of rivers ramifying through it,
a number of the tributaries of the Mississippi flow-
ing a distance of 1000 miles before they join the
grand stream, and being conveniently navigable for
nearly their whole course by steam vessels.
The case of connnunication, however, and of
transit by the system of rivers, has the effect to
scatter the settlers in all directions, so much so, as
to present a great impediment to the advantageous
division of labour, and use of combined labour, and
thus to retard the progress of improvement, although
this condition of man, no doubt, has a very favour-
able effect to increase his acuteness and general
capacity. Had the system of river-communication
been awanting, it is probable, that the new settle-
ments in this comparatively level fertile territory,
would now be conducted by carrying forward rail-
ways, and settling within a practicable distance of
the lines, in a more systematic, and, perhaps, on the
whole, more advantageous manner for the speedy
production of wealth, than by the rivers. As it is,
the. rivers are the highways, — the lines of traffic, —
the landmarks, — the connecting medium with the
world of civilization, — the system of nerves by which
the electric currents of opinion and social sympathy,
are transmitted from the more vital parts to the
extrj
stanj
is a
Amcj
helpi
and
THK MIftSTSSlPPI BASIN.
59
oxtremities. In North America, a strong and con-
stant tido of emigration is setting westwarc!. There
is a fascination in the wilderness. The bold young
American of the North- Kastern States, chooses a
helpmate, collects some clothing, takes up his rifle
and hatchet, and, trusting entirely to liis own prowess,
marches off in the direction of the setting sun. He
crosses the JJlue Alountains, conniiits himself and
mate to the rivers, and penetrates more than a
thousand miles into the heart of the western wilder-
ness. There is something highly exciting and grate-
ful to youthful daring and independence, in travel-
ling onward in search of a future home, and having
found some sweet encouraging spot in the bosom of
the wilderness, in rearing every thing by one's own
handiwork.
The superior means of communication in this re-
gion, and the absence of natural and artificial bar-
riers, as it is being occupied, with the exception of
the slave popidation southward, by one race speaking
one language, dispose it for becoming the seat of
one very great empire, perhaps exceeding the Chinese
in population ; while, from the superior energy of the
race, and higher civilization, it will be incomparably
superior to the Chinese in national influence, and in
power over the future destinies of man.
All this low flat country is defective in salubrity,
the whole of the Mississippi Basin being tainted with
miasm atmosphere. Fever and ague, and in the
fall, dangerous remittents, are more or less com-
mon over all the region, increasing in malignity as
we get lower down in the system of the rivers, till
at New Orleans, " the wet grave," we reach the ne
-i I
00
THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN.
plus ultra of insalubrity. This is exceedingly un-
Ibrtunate, a« New Orleans is fitted by position for
being the enij)oriuni of North America. It is said,
that si\ hundred Irish labourers migrate down the
Ohio and Mis8issip[)i every season, attracted down-
ward by the wages rising, and the rum falling in
price as they descend, till they reach New Orleans,
where the arrivals of last season are almost to a
man cut off every fall by the yellow fever. The
Jknks of the beautiful Ohio, by the French called,
par ea'cellmct\ *' La lielle Riviere,"''' are perhaps the
most salubrious of all this region, especially higher
up eastward, towards Pittsburgh. It is not easy to
determine what effect the aearly entire removal of
the forest might have upon the climate. It would,
in all probability, render it drier,* and in some de-
gree more salubrious ; but as the groat cause of the
insalubrity is the annual flooding of the alluvial
grounds, along the river-sides, and as the rivers
and river inundations are on so vast a scale, and the
river-beds gradually changing, hither and thither,
through the alluvial grounds, liable to be flooded, so
that the labour of man cannot, by forming embank-
ments, have much effect in circumscribing the over-
* In Prussia, from the increase of population, and great im-
provements of the country of late years, much of the country
has been strii)pecl of its forest cover ; the consequence is, that
the fall of rain has been considerably diminished, and the eva-
poration increased ; and the rivers, which used to continue
streams of considerable depth all the year round, are now near-
ly dried up during the summer months. This has interfered to
a considerable extent with the internal navigation, and in dis-
tricts of dry sandy soil is regarded with considerable appre-
hension. The Elbe has, it is said, fallen several feet.
THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN.
61
bat im-
)untry
that
le eva-
itinue
near-
red to
In dis-
ippre-
flowings of the rivers, a conipleto roniovnl of tlw
inahiria cannot be expected.
This country affords a field, at least suflfi* icntly
extensive, for British emigrants ; but from tin- fover,
an<l ague character of the t<'rritory, particMilarly to
the south and west, — the whole of the regions of the
Mississippi Proper, of the Wabash, Missouri, and
Arki.nsas, the British emigrant, more especially the
agriculturist, ought to prefer the Alleghany high-
lands. In simie of the towns on the Ohio, artisans,
who are not so much exposed to the exhalations
from the soil as agriculturists, may find a favourable
Held.
•11^
( ^>^ )
CHAPTER IV.
y»Exico.
Tho Mcxioiin empire, extending from 15° to 41^
north latitude, has the greater portion of its terri-
tory within tlie temperate zone. It consists chiefly
of a central highland country, or tahle-land (which
may be considered a prolong;\tion of the Andes).
A great portion of this table-land is elevated from
five to ten thousand feet above the sea level, inter-
sected in scmie places with river-ravines of great
depth, and having a number of mountain ranges
and peaks rising from it to considerably greater ele-
vation, some of them covered with perpetual snow, and
the highest exceeding 17,<)^H) feet of altitude. This
high table- land, declining very gradually from the
Vale of Mexico, latitude ii)\ to Santa-Fe, latitude
37', is skirted on the east by a rich flat sea-bord,
like the Atlantic sea-bord of the Southern United
States, ai)parently the sea bed at some foi-mer
pei iod ; while, on tlie western side, the highlands
begin to rise innnediately from the Paciflc. The
whole sea-coast, east and west, especially the por
tion within the tropics, is unhealthy, and this con-
tinues, till, by travelling inward, you leave the c<mii-
mon tropical vegetation, and, gaining an elevation of
about .'JOOO feet, reach the region of Oak. Along
n
MEXICO.
Cu]
ndes).
from
inter-
great
aiiges
r ele-
V, and
This
n tilt!
itudc
l)ord,
nited
•rnicr
ands
The
por
eon-
)1J of
long
the Mexican Gulf, and from Vera-Cruz to the
Texas, the cholera morbus is the most fatal distem-
per, while on the Western, or Pacific side, the yel-
low fever is nearly equally destructive ; and it is only
in the winter and spring, when these destroyers
seem to hibernate, that Europeans ought to attempt
to make their exit from, or entrance into, the com-
paratively healthy interior. The Eastern sea-bord
is very defectiv<3 in regard to harbours, the rivers
iiaving dangerous bars, and the sea being shallow
for some distance from land, as it generally is on all
low coasts. This deficiency of good harbours is the
more to be regretted, as, from the insalubrity of the
climate, it will be very difficult to remedy the defect
by the formation of artificial harbours. The most
of the low country is, however, fertile, and suited
for raising sugar, ;ind other tropical produce, so as
to attract agricultural settlers, or rath<'r colonists ;
and the advantages of a situation which, notwith-
standing the deficiency of good harbours, connnands
the trade of the whole of Mexico, through which
the vast wealth derived from the very rich mines of
the interior nuist pass outward, and all the Euro-
pean manufactures in return pass inward^ is also a
strong inducement to connnercial si^ttlers.
Leaving out the insalubrity of the climate of the
sea-bord, Mexico presents a cond)ination of advan-
tages uni(pie in character. The position, a long
neck of land joining two great continents, and
dividing th(} two great oceans, thus holding in the
right hand th(^ connnerce of the East of Asia, and
in the left, the connnerce of lMU'o))e*; the possession
of incomparably the richest and most v>>>rkablo
64
MEXICO.
mines of the precious metals (especially silver) that
are known in the world ; and the being capable of
raising, within itself, all kinds of tropical produce
in i)he low hot regions, and all the valuable grain,
and vine and orchard produce of temperate climates
in the delightful more elevated country, where, in
some places, they enjoy a perpetual spi-ing, combine
to render* it an extremely tempting Emigration Field.
It is only, however, at moderate elevations that
the cereal plants and fruits appear in great luxuri-
ance and perfection. At very high elevations, though
the temperature be sufficient, the rarity of the at-
mosphere comes to affect their growth, they are
comparatively weak and stunted, and, as w<3ll as the
aninuds, seem to languish from the insufficient den-
sity of the element in which the functions of life arc
carried on.
Mexico, notwithstanding its great natural advan-
tages, is not at present very prosperous. The popu-
lation are of a mixed description, the descendants of
Spaniards, and Indians and Negroes, with all the
intermediates ; and since the establishment of inde-
pendence, things have not settled down properly.
There is a deficiency of knowledge and political
judgment, and combinable power. The population
are not sufficiently enlightened for self-government,
and would re(piire a superior class to act as leaders, —
something resembling our feudal system. The priest-
hood serve in some degree to supply the defect, and
to bind society together ; but they are so bent upon
their own mischievous dogmas and institutions, —
up(m keeping up their idle saint-day observances,
their charity bequeathments and monastic religious
ofth
supel
in f(l
and
MEXICO.
OT)
I
• stablishnients, that they greatly repress the industry
ot'the country, iiuhieiiig tlie people to lost- their time in
(I
mder th(
superstitious munnneries,
in feeding profligate me idicants. Public opinion,
and the rules of society, being thus founded upon
false or mistaken princi])les, arc also very deficient
as a moral regulating power. The government is, in
consecpience, defective in organization and strength,
and not very stable, and property and life compara-
tively insecure. The northern parts enjoy a tempe-
rate climate, but they are almost a wilderness, sub-
ject to the inroads of the wild r<>ving Indians, and
in some places under Indian sovereignty. In tin:
western parts, towards the (kdf of California, affairs
are very unsettled ; this is the more to be regrcttetl,
as these regions, i)articularly the province of Senora,
an? extremely rich in silver, and the climate, espe-
cially to the northward, favourable to Europeans.
The portion of Mexico, which at present most
(joncerns the British emigrant, and indeed the
British nation, is the province immediately adjacent
to Louisiana, and extending south-west, towards the
Rio IJravo, named the Texas. A part of this pro-
vince has recently been overwhelmed by an inunda-
tion of the United States' people (merely a private
affair, however, and not a government invasion, foi-
which the authorities of that country can in any
way be considered accountable), and all the i)oW( r
which the Mexican enn)ire has been able to exert,
has been baffled, in attempting to drive back th( in-
vading legions of settlers.
Raising colonial produce (better designated tropi-
cal produce), from the great demand in the Euro-
m
MEXICO.
<)
pean and North American markets, has hithert
been a far more profitable occupation than raisin]^;
the agricultural produce of temperate countries.
And the cause of this friendly visit, or love- intrusion
of Brother Jonathan, is the adaptation of the Texas
territory for raising tropical produce, with the supe-
riority of the climate to that of Louisiana, the lower
portion of which is the only pait of the United
States well suited for raising of this kind of produce,
but which, from New Orleans upward, for at least
five hundred miles, is a pestiferous (well named)
" Dismal swamp.""
Another cause of the spirited progress of Jona-
than is, that by the Mexican law no slavery can
exist within the empire, while in the Texas territory
it is by slave-labour only that tro[)ical produce is to
be raised in any considerable (piantity, and wealtli
amassed. The United States' people, with a con-
siderable connnand of slaves, have, therefore, a
stronger motive for possessing this soil, productive
under slave-labour, and for expelling the Mexican
government ; and even the old Mexican proprietors,
where tlie ground has been appropriated, fin(lin<r
they can make most of their property under
Jonathan liberty, — preferring the liberty to hav»'
slaves, to the slaves having liberty, make no stnmu-
ous effort in support of their own government.
Seeing that the contest in the Texas resolves it-
self into the question of slavery and no slavery, and
considering the vast importance, politically, of the
possession of that province, which is calculated to
command tlie Eastern trade of Mexico, and, in all
probability, to determine the possession of Mexico
MEXICO.
(i7
litherto
raising
uiitries.
itrusioii
u lexas
10 supe-
10 lower
United
reduce,
it least
named)
f* Jona-
Ty can
irritory
30 is to
wealtli
a con-
ore, a
luctivc
exicau
ietors,
indin<r
under
Iiav.'
trenu-
08 it-
, an<I
)f thr
ed to
in all
exico
itself, it is surely a high object of JJritish policy to
prevent a slave-driving banditti from plundering
our natural ally of Mexico, of her most valuable
jjrovince.
It is even a duty incumbent on the British Cr<>-
vernment towards our West Indian ])lanters, now
that these aro no longer slave-drivers themselves, to
see that a slave-state does not s[>ring up in the vici-
nity, which, by the unfair advantage of compulsory
labour, would ruin the success of our free labour
system. Should some steps not be innnediatoly
taken, the probability is, that a considerable portion
of the twenty millions given by the nation to re-
deem our slaves, will go to the Texas, and tin* neigh-
bouring low country southward to Vera Cruz, to
foniul new slave-States, and perpetuate slaveiT, and.
at the same time, to an innnense extent to strengthen
a rivar.s ])ower.
Ireland is now teeming with a very numerous,
and, as thini are regulated, a greatly over-abundant
population, so situated, that a deticient crop is fol-
lowed with a pestilent typhus, which carries oft vast
numbers, a consequence of the extreme reduction of
bodily vigour, caused by starvation. And from the
rai)id increase of poj)ulation now going on, and the
comparative abundant cro[)S of late years, the effects
of a scanty crop are the more to be dreaded. The
Texas province, especially in the interior valleys, a
few days* journey up the beautiful rivers, where a
country, as healthy as Upper Canada, abounding
in ]>asture, and superior in productiveness, in beauty,
and in every way more advantageous for a settler,
is lying almost desolate, would be a most de-
08
MEXICO.
sirablo cmigration-fiold for our poor and destitute
fellow-subj(3cts. The emigration of a million of Irish
j)opulation, accompanied and directed hy their priest-
hood, who, from the circumstances under which they
have been placed, are generally an indefatig.ably
humane body of men, and in some respects necessary
to the direction and government of their trusting
flocks, would be a very great relief to the Irish re-
maining at homo ; Jind the emigrants, under proper
direction, would, after a few years of exertion, find
themselves comparatively in an earthly j>aradise.*
There is no doid^t that the government of Mexico
would be ready to give every possible encourage-
ment to an auxiliary JJritish importation of subjects.
From the Irish being generally of the Roman Catho-
lic persuasion, the same as the Mexicans, the amal-
gamation would take place readily, and the Mexican
government, sujiported by British influence and con-
nection, would obtain strength and stal)ility to en-
force obedience to the laws in her own territories,
and to command a respectful and just forbearance
on the ])art of foreign powers. Considered in rela-
tion to British interests, the stability of affairs, and
consequent prospeiity of Mexico, would be of the
greatest advantage to British industry, as Mexico,
on account of her vast internal riches, is one of tlu
very besj^ customers forJh'itish numufactures; and our
protective connection would necessarily place the
trade on the most i'avourable footing. A sufficiently
strong govermnent n\ ould also be of incalculable ad-
* The iviuoval of a great number of the Irish poiuihition is
ahsohitely necessary. If sonietliing extensive in this way In?
not lone, a convulsion may be expected.
'^ ^,-
MEXICO.
69
vantage to the British capitalists, who liave invested
so much money in the Mexican mines. Hesides, an
alliance offensive and defensive witli Mexico, would
have the certain effect to render the Hritisli in-
fluence permanent in the West Indies.
The whole affair resolves itself into this, arc the
United States to be allowed to seize ui)on Mexico,
and to deprive Britain of her West Indian empire i
This is even more likely to take j)lace, than the
dreaded con(|uest of the East Indies by Russia. The
United States and Russia are clearly aiming at
these two objects ; and it for us to prevent them, by
taking p/ecautionary measuren in time.
( 70 )
CHAPTER V.
TIIK WKSTKUN THKUITOUV OF NORTH AMEUK'A.
This territory oxtcnds in length from tlic 4l8t de-
gree of Nortli Lat. north-westwiird to the i)()hir circle,
bounded by the Rocky and Stony Mountains on tlie
east, and the Pacific on the west. The southern
par
ts from N. Lat. 41" to 5.'}° a thousand miles in
length and several hundreds in breadth, is in niany
respects a very favourable field for Hritisli emigra-
tion, possessing numerous excellent harbours, ex-
tensive sounds and firths and rivers well suited for
the seat of a maritime i)eoplc, and for carrying on
trade with eastern Asia, and the numerous island
groups of the Pacific. The })rincipal river in the
southern portion, the Columbia, has been frecpiently
traced by ] British .and United States' travellers and
hunters, and is found to How through a rugged coun-
try of great fertility, abounding in the most gigantic
trees that have ever been seen in any part of the
world, some of them exceeding 100 yards in height ;
Piiiidi Douqlasil (a species of spruce, one of which
is described by Ross Cox, growing south of the Co-
lumbia, 57 foet in circumference and 210 feet of stem
clear of branches) being the forest Queen, the great-
est of all the land vegetable creation.
THK WKSTKRN TKKIUTORY.
71
From the accouiitH we ar« in possession of, this
portion of" America is monntainous and rngged in
the interior, spnrs of the Rocky Mountains exten<l-
ing westward to the coast. Tlie climate apju'ars to
be cohh'r than tliat of Knrope of the same latitmh'.
The position on the west si(h» of a great continent in
the temperate zone, with extensive sea toward the
prevalent winds, is favourable to mild tennx.'rature.
and very similar to that of western I"]uroi)e ; but the
i*acific to the westward of these shores may not be
modified in temperature by having any considerable
curn-nt from the south-west similar to the gulf stream
in the Atlantic, and the breath of Zephyrus may
not, in c(mse(pience, be rendered <[Uiie so mild and
balmy as with us. The north-west slanting of tin*
shore with land to the north is also a defect of posi-
tion in regard to mihbiess, an<l nmst render the win-
ter more severe than in western Europe, which has
sea towards the pole, besides the land is not so
nmch cut and intermingled with internal seas as in
Europe, which also must exert a modifying effect.
Much, however, will depend upon whether the south-
west winds or the north-east winds are more preva-
lent hero or in l^jurope.
The numerous firths and sounds and insular posi-
tions along the sea-bord are very favourable to the
occupation of fishing, the coast being thronged by
prodigious shoals of fish, particularly the salmon,
which come up so plentifully into the rivers at cer-
tain seasons to spawn, that vast numbers may b<;
killed by clubs, and supply a great i)roportion of the
food of the natives, and even serve them for clothing,
the Nootka Sound belles having chemises and other
72
TIIK WESTERN TERRITOUV.
'
attiro of salmon Hkins, when they cannot reach ho
high as have them of the .skiiiH of the sea-otter.
A proof of the natural resources of this Hue tem-
perate country is, tliat the natives are rather more
numerous here than they liave been found in any
other <iuarter of North America, with the exception
of Mexico, although they are not advanced beyond
the coiulition of lumters and fishers. They have
been found to tak( a resolute })art in defence of what
they consider their jjroperty-right t<^ the country,
and fatal results have several times attended the vi-
sits of vessels, owing to their jealousy and treachery.
Their numbers, coud)ined with this disposition, forms
a considerable barrier to the colonization of the
country by lOuropeans.
These lands from California to Analaska, from
their extreme remoteness, hav(.' been ncjirly forgot-
ten of late years, excepting by a few Kussian and
United States*' vessels, which resort to these shores
for the valuable furs of the sea-otter, obtained fi om
the native's by barter. Several lodgments have,
however, been effected by tlic Russians from Kamts-
chatka in the more northerly parts, which arc held
as Fur stations and as nuclei of future extension of
territory. Settlements have also been attempted
by the Uritich ami by the United States' p(>ople to
the southward, but withcmt success, from the inade-
quacy of the means employed. The country is, how-
over, so extremely desirable to Britain as an emigra-
tion-field that a lodgment should bo effected, cither
by a strong colonizing armament doubling Cape
Horn, or by advancing up the llio Bravo from the
Texas to Santa Fe, in subsidiary alliance with the
TIIK WKSTERX TKURITOUY.
7t\
HO
Mexican povcrnmont atid I'olonizin": wost ward jilon^
the liio Colorado and tlie Colunibi.i : — Ixst in l>otli
ways.
Tho liritisli intorcstH in ^Icxico an<l tho ^('.Mt of
America will, however, in all probability, be ne^deet-
ed. Oin* national energy, at least in relation to na-
tional external objects, has snnk pfreatly of late years ;
tho attention of* the two classes in Ihitain — tin: land-
lord class, or governing aristocrac^y, and tlw working
class, having been engrossed by a home strnggle, the
former striving to extend or niaintain monopoly and
taxation to afford means of gratification to its grow-
ing luxnry, and Ihc other class devising means to
free itself from an extent of bnrdensome taxation
and monopoly beyond what has over before existed
in any country. ( )ther causes have also had sonn?
influence to increase our neglect of the external
means of advancing the national prosperity. Tin*
enthusiasm of a first discovery of distant lands has
passed away, and the foolish doctrines of ignorant
political economists respecting colonies have been
listened to. Luxury in the one class, and the great
division of labour and long hours of labour in the
other, are also limiting and impairing the en<'rgy of
the human powers, and inducing a condition ap-
proaching to the tame degradation of tlie East In-
dian by C'ast, or of the Chinese by long confiiMued
steady despotism. We are, in fact, becoming little
men, and the greater part of our aristocracy — sunk
in luxury, fit only to intrigu(3 for pensions, and to
attend to the etiquette of manners and court dresses,
engrossed with the litth: arts to appear great, are
incapable of regulating the affairs of the world
o
r
N^
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
1.0
I.I
■^ 1^ 12.2
US
1^
■ 4.0
I
2.0
1.8
1.25 |U |i.6
-» 6"
►
%
0>
^^
^'-?
'/
/A
Hiotographic
Sciences
Corporation
23 WEST MAIN STREET
WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580
(716) 872-4503
74
THE WESTERN' TERRITORY.
(which our position calls upon us to do). The spirit
which actuated the Spaniard, and Portuguese, and
Dutch, and British, a century or two ago, has passed
from Europe, and we are only fitted to " chronicle
small beer" at a time when, by means of the Steam-
engine and other modern Discoveries, a few hands
can provide food and clothing for a great num-
ber, disposable for any purpose of National Utility,
we have acquired the power to carry through plan.s
which our Fathers could only dream of, and, if neces-
sary, to turn the World upside down ; — Discoverio?,
the advantage of which our aristocracy would, how-
ever, engross entirely to themselves to feed their grow-
ing luxury, regarding all manufacturing establish-
ments as so many Bee-hives, the busy members of
which have been providentially destined to gather
honey from the uttermost ends of the Earth for them
to devour.
of
•^,
( 75 )
CHAPTER VI.
THE CAPE.
The country of the Cape of Good Hope, the Capo
of Storms, constituting the apex of the Pyramid of
Africa, is situated between 29° and S4^° south lati-
tude, extending, according to its present not very
accurately defined frontier outline, about COO miles
in length, from east to west, and 400 in breadth,
from north to south.
The Cape territory is, upon the whole, barren, and
rugged, and mountainous, and very deficient in the
means of comnmnication, as well by water as by land.
The western coast from Cape Town to the mouth of
Orange river, and considerably farther north beyond
the frontier (with the exception of an indifferent
haven a few leagues north of Cape Town) is not only
completely destitute of harbours, but also from the
extreme barrenness of the country, and almost total
want of fresh water, in no condition to benefit by
harbours had they even existed. A portion of the
south-eastern coast is however of a different charac-
ter, having several fine rivers flowing into the Indian
Ocean, along the valleys of which a considerable ex-
tent of beautiful and fertile country is to be found
well adapted for European settlements, especially
4\
76
THE CAPE.
4
towards the north-east frontier, whore the country
<;onerally ia well wooded and watered, and favourable
for agriculture and grazing. With the exception of
the north-east district, a great portion of the country
like the western coast, consists of barren mountains
and arid plains, one of which, the Great Karoo De-
sert, a high parched table-land, totally destitute of
water, se{)arating the Cape Town district from the
finer country to the north-east, extends about 100
leagues in length from east to west, and 80 in breadth.
This district, a pretty good sample of South African
wastes, undergoes a magical transition — alternately
a desert and an Eden — at one season of the year
after the winter rains, it is an innnense blooming
wilderness, covered with innumerable flowering plants,
chiefly of the liliaceous and bulbous-rooted kinds, with
thousands of springbokes and quaggas, and other
herbivorous quadrupeds roaming over it ; at another
season after the summer drought, it is a leafless,
lifeless desert, as far as the eye can reach, of hard
parched clay or sand.
The African quarter of the world, a large conti-
nent chiefly intertropical, with little of the surface
of sufficient altitude to counterbalance the effects of
tropical latitude, and the northern portion situated
to leeward of an extensive torrid continent, is neces-
sarily a very hot country. With the exception of
the low Guinea regions, and the parts immediately
under the line, which are subject to excessive rains
(apparently from electric influences), this continent is
of a very arid character, the high temperature greatly
promoting evaporation. Many parts, as well to the
south as to the north of the tropics, are destitute of
vc^
seal
sul
or
dn
riv^
t
I
THE CAPE.
i i
vegetable cover to the soil, especially during the dry
season, and present a surface of dry sand or clay,
subject to be blown about by the winds. This sand
or dust-drift lodges in the water channels (frequently
dry at this season), and when the heavy rains set the
rivers and streamlets a-flowing, or give them greater
impetuosity, the materials which had lodged in their
beds are carried down to the sea, and beaten baclf
by the action of the waves, fill up or blockade all
the gulfs and firths and river mouths along the coast,
even forming sand-hills of considerable elevation,
where deep gulfs and creeks suited for harbours had
once existed. From this cause, Africa, excepting on
the Guinea coast, is very deficient of harbours, as
well on the Mediterranean as on the Atlantic and
Indian sea-shores ; a defect which it would be difficult
to repair by human exertion, and which could only
be remedied by the excavation of low rocky head-
lands (these form convenient harbours), as the mouth
of an erected harbour, in any other locality, would be
drifted up by the movmg sea sand. The aridity of
the air of the Cape, and the sand dust, is also found
to be very injurious to the eyes, many cases of blind-
ness occurring ; to guard against this sand-dust, a
gauze veil is frequently worn.
The climate of the Cape — hot but comparatively
temperate, considering the latitude — is, upon the
whole, favourable to Europeans, or at least to their
increase. From the poverty of the soil,* or rather
* Fertility, or rather production, is not altogether dependent
upon richness of soil. In a warm climate, the growth of vege-
tables or the crop is more under the control of an opportune
shower than of the quality of the soil, or the husbandman's
II
78
THE CAPE.
'P
from the absence of vegettable matter in the soil and
the aridity, the country is pretty free of malaria ;
nor are the population so liable to dyspepsia as those
of the United States and Upp<>r Canada. The cli-
mate is also advantageous to people liable to pulmo-
nary disease, none of the native race, as is said,
having ever been known to cough. As a balance,
inflannnatory attacks and diseases, — measles, small
pox, and other cutaneous affections, are very infec-
tious and dangerous, partly from atmospheric influ-
ences, and partly on account of the population sub-
sisting chiefly upon animal food, combined with the
high temperature. The descendants of the Dutch
colonists (Africaners) are a fine luxuriant race, the
men tall and largo bodied, the females pretty and
round, and both sexes of a very different build from
the lathy Yankee. The aridity of the air in the dry
season is, however, an enemy to the rosy hue and the
dewy freshness of the cheek and lip of the Dutch
beauty, to which a moist cool air is necessary ; and un-
der exposure at the Cape, a very few seasons is suffi-
cient " to transfix the flourish set on youth, and delve
the parallels in beauty ""s brow." The heat of the cli-
mate, and perhaps the abundance of animal food, has
also the effect to bring life to what we consider a pre-
mature close, and it is said few burial-grounds afford
memorials of Africaners exceeding fifty years of age.
exertions, and the application of manure. The crop in these
countries being thus precarious has an injurious effect upon agri-
culture, as the exertions of the husbandman can only deserve
success. Perhaps Britain is the country where the exertions of
the husbandman go nearest to command success, and this in
part accounts for the superiority of his practice.
THE C APE.
7\)
soil and
i«'xlc'iria ;
i« those
The cli-
piilnio-
is 8caid,
•alance,
small
^ iiifee-
influ-
>n sub-
th the
Dutch
0, the
'^y and
I from
le dry
id the
3utch
id un-
suffi.
delve
e cli-
i, has
pre-
fford
age.
these
agri-
lerve
Qsof
s in
To the naturalist. South Africa affords a very in-
teresting field, a Held where the larger forms of life
are more varied than in any other region, and where
the adai)tation of the organic constitution to cir-
cumstances is also very conspicuously marked. The
ruminant and the thick-skinned mammalia are espe-
cially numerous, as well in genera and species as in
multitude of individuals, and the carnivorous kinds
which prey upon them nearly equally so. These
afford to the hunting amateur a variety of game to
suit every peculiarity of appetite for destruction, —
the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, giraffe, lion,
leopard, hyaena, quagga, numerous quadrumanna,
and vast assortments of deer and antelopes, present-
ing an unequalled choice quite sufficient to content
the most fastidious taste and the greatest love of
variety. These, and all other living things which
have sufficient locomotive powers, migrate to other
regions on the occurrence of drought ; — the reptilia
and insect tribes creeping into holes become torpid,
and chrysalides, or outstand the period of arid death
in the egg state, defended by an impervious shell ;
and vegetable life, with a few exceptions of stem
and leaves of peculiar powers of resisting drought,
retires into the earth, where, in the state of fleshy
bulbs, with numerous concentric defensive scale-
layers, it is able to withstand the parching des-
truction.
It is nearly 200 years since the Dutch formed a
settlement at the Cape, and only last war that it fell
into the hands of the British. In order to give the
colony something of a British character. Government,
several years back, gave considerable encouragement
,^f
u
80
THE CAPE.
k
and assistance to settlers proceeding from this coun-
try, and a British colony was located at Algoa Bay,
the eastern limits of the Cape territory. This colony,
considering the capital and numbers engaged in it,
has been far from prosperous. The grain crops
during the three first years, from blights and igno-
rance of the climate, were a complete failure, and a
number of the houses and gardens situated within
the reach of torrents, which here swell to the size of
rivers by the excessive rains which sometimes occur,
were swept away or destroyed. Notwithstanding of
this, and that considerable numbers of the settlers
deserted the place, some retiring to Cape Town, some
proceeding to other districts of the colony, and some
returning home to Britain ; yet the energy and per-
severance of the more resolute, at length mastered
the first difliculties : they had obtained numerous
flocks and herds, and a sufficiency of food, had rami-
fied their grazing and agricultural establishments to
considerable distance along the interior valleys, and
had erected a town (Graham's Town;, when the
whole settlement was nearly swept away about four
years ago by an irruption of the Caffre tribes.
It is not easy to determine the proximate causes
which led to this unfortunate war. The leading or pri-
mary cause was the occupation, by a numerous body
of settlers, of a country already nearly peopled up to
the means of subsistence. The natives of Southern
Africa are a shepherd or rather neatherd population,
to which, indeed, the climate and country is more
fitted than for an agricultural, by reason of the great
droughts to which it is subject. These droughts
frequently render a removal, to another locality ne-
wi
ur(
THE CAPE.
81
us coun-
oa Bay,
colony,
kl in it,
» crops
d igno-
and a
within
size of
occur,
ling of
ettlers
some
some
d per-
?tered
lerous
rami-
its to
, and
I the
four
mses
pri-
)ody
p to
lern
ion,
ore
eat
hts
ne-
cessary when the pastures fail, to prevent the cattle
from perishing, which is but following the practice
of the wild animals. The British colony had occu-
pied a country which had remained for some time a
sort of neutral ground, from whence the native Caffre
population had been obliged to retire by the com-
mando-plundering expeditions of the Dutch, but to
which they (the Caffres) resorted in cases of the fail-
ure of the pasturages to which they had retired.
Further encroachments had been made by the Bri-
tish settlers, in numerous instances, uj)on grounds
along the frontier in common use by the natives.
Numerous misunderstandings and quarrels had arisen
between the two races brought into contact, but ig-
norant of each other's language, and no doubt, grie-
vous offences had, in many instances, been committed
by the better armed upon the more defenceless. It is
also said that tribes still further to the north-east, in
consequence of the droughts or other causes, had moved
south-west, pushing those more immediately adjacent
to the Cape Colony forward in the same direction, (per-
haps the recoil of the wave of population north-east-
ward which the ingress of the British colony had oc-
casioned). A combination of circumstances had
thus led to a grand attack by the neighbouii;!!'
Caffre tribes upon the Algoa British Colony, which,
in the first place, drove every thing before it, and
compelled the settlers to retire upon Grrahamstown,
and to entrench themselves in the city ; and it was
not till after nineteen months of exterminating war-
fare carried on by nearly the whole disposable force
of the Cape, that the irruption was driven back and
; r
.1 '
82
THE CAPE.
something like a settlement of affairs brought about
at a cost to Groat Britain of nearly L.2.>0,()00.
Hy the last accounts things are yet in a precarious
state. New encroachments have been made and in-
juries committed by the African ])utch, and consi-
derable destruction of life and pro[)erty has taken
place by native retaliation. It will bo very difficult
to bring about a steady and peaceful order of things,
at least by the rude means at present employed.
Nothing would so much tend to effect this as to
have civilization establishments with all the more
influential tribes, and these tribes to be received as
allies under British protection, and treated in the
kindest and most generous manner. To do this sys-
tematically, it would be necessary to form a peace
or educational South African corps (in which mis-
sionaries might take a considerable part) similar to
what will afterwards be described as necessary t,o
the civilization of New Zealand. This would be at-
tended with considerable cost to Britain, but it
would be cheaper to employ moral force in part than
to employ only compulsory force, and surely if the
accomplishment of a purpose by wrong and injury is
more costly than by kind offices, we ought to prefer
the latter.
Till something of this nature has been effected,
the Cape Colony, especially the English settlements
to the eastward, though rather favourably situated
in regard to temperature and healthiness of climate,
and of considerable fertility, will not afford a desir-
able emigration field ; and even were protection to
person and property complete, the deficiency of good
harbours and difficulty of communication, and occa-
THE CAPE.
8S
ht about
m.
ocarioua
and in-
J consi-
LS taken
(lifficult
things,
ployed.
3 as to
) more
ivod as
in the
lis sys-
peace
h inis-
lar to
3e at-
ut it
than
P the
iry is
refer
sted,
ents
ited
ate,
sir-
to
)od
ca-
sional disastrous droughts a..d locust visitations, are
insuperable drawbacks to the rapid progresHion of
the colony. The deficiency of good harbours is the
more to be regretted, as the position is very favour-
able for connnerce.
In countries where extreme droughts are occurring
in particular districts, the population are generally
nomadic, as herds and flocks can be removed to
other localities where subsistence is to be found ;
whereas an agricultural population would be de-
stroyed unless they could procure foreign supplies, or
retained in magazines sufficient store of grain for one
or even more years, and had artesian wells, or large
deep tanks capable of affording a sufficiency of water.
Whenever a shepherd population are accustomed to
migrate, individual land property-right is not in use,
the land right being vested in the connnunity.
The Caffre is not, however, endowed with the meek
enduring nature and passive courage of the Hindoo,
who expires of famine by hundreds of thousands
without disturbance. When the Caffre puts on
the girdle of famine (a tight bandage round the
middle to prevent the gnawing of hunger), the bonds
of government are loosened, and all alliances and
compacts with other tribes, and respect to their pro-
perty or life, are at an end. It is not, therefore, to
be expected that any means, within the compass of
the British Government, or of any government, can
bring things to a very secure state in Southern Afri-
ca, at least for many years to come.
il
( »4 )
CHAPTER VII.
AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA.
The great island or continent of Australia, which
extends from 10^° to 31)^" South Lat., and from
113° to 153^0 East Long., is nearly of the size of
Europe, being about 2000 miles each way, and con-
taining between two and three millions of square
miles of surface.
We know almost nothing of the tropical half of
this great south land. A colony was indeed at-
tempted at or near Melville Island on the north coast
about fifteen years ago, by our Government, but
from the inadequacy of means and unhealthiness of
the station made choice of, it was abandoned after
the party engaged in it had suffered great privations
and loss. It is said that large rivers exist in this
quarter, abounding with alligators, and the woody
nature of the country also shews that the climate is
not quite so arid as the extra-tropical part. The
general character of the half in the temperate zone
is aridity, poverty of soil, healthiness of climate, —
low rocky mountains covered with trees and brush,
parched plains destitute of water, and an undulating
country, partly covered with patches of wood, partly
cXlfl
Tinl
gov]
its
bar!
AUSTRALIA.
8.5
t, which
><1 from
size of
nd con-
square
half of
secI at-
1 coast
t, but
less of
after
ations
n this
k^oody
ate is
The
zone
e,— .
'ush,
ting
Ttly
l)jire and pro(hicing generally a tliin tufted coarne
j^raHS, twelve aeres of wliicli will n«)t HU|)j)ly aH nmch
nourishuicnt to stock as ouv acre of KiijL?lish nasture.
Considering the ^""''at extent of coast, this half of
Austr/dia is c()ni])aratively destitute of harbours,
especially to the westward of Kan<raroo Island
on the south coast, and on the west coast, few rivers
existinpr, and th(>so which exist having bar inojiths.
This drticiency has caused the capital and seat of
governuKnit to be placed at Sy<lney, on fcccount of
its liarbour, although the adjacent country is very
barren and river connnunication awanting.
The climate, in conse(iuence of sea towards the
pole, is mild in winter, and from the aridity and
lowness of a gi'etit part of the country, very hot in
summ(!r. However, from the absence of clouds and
serenity of the air the nights are cold, especially a
little before sunrise and immediatelv after sunset,
although the day has been very hot. The tempera-
ture is also, from some unknown influence, extremely
variable throughout the day (at least in the South
Wales portion), the thermometer frecjuently rising
or falling 30° in the course of an hour.
The most remarkable feature of the climate of
Australia, at least of the portion in the temperate
zone, is the general aridity and the lasting droughts
which occur, as is stated at intervals of eight or ten
years. At these times for a period of two years in
succession, scarcely any rain has been known to
fall ; the crops, in consequence, being a complete
failure and much of the stock perished ; while at
other times the fall of rain is so great that the
nvers are flooded from fifty to seventy feet perpen-
t+
1i|
1. 1
AUSTRALIA.
^|.
dicular above their usual level, constituting a water
power too unmanageable and ru(ie for being employed
in driving machinery and rendering the low grounds
adjacent to the rivers, which, in other countries, are
the most tortile and best peopled, unfit for tillage or
for building upon. These periodical great floodings
will render the formation of large tanks or lakes for
the purpose of irrigation and water supply during
the droughts very dangerous to the country further
down the valley, as it would be difficult to construct
the dam or mole of a tank so stable as not to be
liable to be broken down by the great floods, and
should this occur, the accumulated mass of waters
set loose in conjunction with the flooding would tear
up everything in the valley downward to the ocean.
a
US(|
In taking a general survey of extra- tropical Aus-
tralia, we observe a state of things indicative of
gi'eat aridity, and a natural provision for withstand-
ing drought fully more complete than in any oth<>r
parched locality.
1st, A deficiency of timber in many places, and
large old trees standing apart, without the young
rising to supply the failure of the old, — rather in-
dicating that the drought is on the increase.
2d, The nature of the tree -foliage, — the small,
hard, smooth, simple (not divided), dark coloured
erect leaf, so different from the beautiful large fresh
green leaves of the deciduous forests of Upper
Canada, and the Mississippi Basin.
3d, The slough, or covering of dead bark, which
serves to protect the living bark of the trees from
the drought. This is gradually forming, and coats
AUSTRALIA.
87
g a water
employed
V grounds
tries, are
tillage or
floodings
lakes for
\y during
y further
3onstruct
lot to bo
•ods, and
f waters
)uld tear
) ocean.
3al i\u8-
ative of
hstand-
I}' other
es, and
young
^er in-
small,
loured
3 fresh
Upper
which
from
coats
arc thrown off as the stem enlarges, which appear
hanging from the stem in the most unsightly fashion,
like tattered garments.
4th, The gummy consistence of the tree-sap, and
the flinty hardness of the timber, matured by the
great drought, and the absence of a winter check to
a solidity and induration which renders it almost
useless to man for the purposes of construction.
5th, The herbage, especially the grasses, very
scant, and thin and dry, standing apart in tufts.
6th, The native mammalia, generally of the mar-
supial order, — having a bag, a provision, as it would
seem, for the purpose of removing their young when
they are obliged to migrate on the occurrence of
droughts ; while the renmants of past life found in
caves and diluvial earth, prove the former existence
of mammalia, not marsupial.
These indices of aridity and sterility are not
balanced by any apparent counter advantages, or
capacity for improvement, excepting the peculiar
adaptation tor sheep-walk. Were the country too
moist, or even insalubrious, drainage and cutting
down the forests might remedy the former of these
defects altogether, and to a considerable degree the
latter. Did it have numerous good harbours, con-
venient river communication, or supply of water-
power suited for machinery, with a cool climate,
commerce and manufactures might make some
amends for deficiency of fertility. Were the sea as
abundant in edible fish around Australia, as in the
sea on the cast and west coast of North America,
and around Britain and New Zealand, the fertility
it;
il
;• i^
1/
88
AUSTRALIA.
li si
of the waters might help to repair the sterility of
the land, But all this is awanting in Australia.
It is even found out, by experience, that fertility
is not increased in Australia, as it is in T^ritain, by
the ground being depastured, but on the contrary,
greatly diminished. The country which has been
longest under pasturage, in the vicinity of Sydney, and
which for some time after the commencement of the
colony, afforded comparatively fair pasturage, is now
reduced to great sterility. An uncropt cover of
grass, thin as it is here, appears useful to shelter the
vegetable matter in the soil from being exhausted
or evaporated by the arid heat, and even necessary to
protect the roots from being burned out by the strong
influence of the sun. And the manure of cattle, in-
stead of being covered by the luxuriant herbage, be-
fore it i» desiccated, and enriching the soil, as in
England, under the powerful sun, and arid air, in
New South Wales is quickly reduced to dust, and
dissipated.
These facts do not promise favourably of the
future condition of Australia. Something might be
done by attention to keep up or increase the forest
cover, which has a great influence in attracting or
retaining moisture ; but the increase of sheep and
cattle are exceedingly opposed to the springing uj)
of w^oods, and the frequent burning of the withered
grass is a complete prevention. It is not improba-
ble that some kind of trees may be found more at-
tractive of dews and rain than others. In vhe East
Indies, it is common, when they plant a certain pro-
ductive kind of tree, to plant along side of it an-
AUSTRALIA.
89
other kind, of little or no value of itself, which they
say has the power to attract moisture sufficient to
support the more valuable kind, which ^^ ould other-
wise perish. These they call wet nurses ; and it is
worth experimenting to ascertain, whether the wet
nurse really acts in some peculiar way to attract
moisture, or if it merely affords the dampness of
shade. If, in the former way, this kind or class of
trees might be most advantageously employed in
modifying the climate of Australia. In some parts
of the dry country of France they have rows of
fruit-trees, about one hundred yards apart, in the
corn-fields, which affords considerable shelter to the
crop from the drought. This plan might be tried in
Australia, as well with the grass-fields as with those
under tillage; and the effect of different kinds of
trees might be tried in different districts, especially
the East Indian wet nurse, if it suit the climate.
The condition of Easter Island, which, from the de-
struction of the forest-cover, or some other causes,
is now almost entirely destitute of fresh water, and,
where a once numerous population are sinking,
should not be lost sight of by the Australians.
The New South Wales colony, although vibrating
between adversity and prosperity, as moist or dry
periodis occur, and more than once since the com-
mencement, in ab&olute jeopardy of existence, has of
late years increased very greatly in extension and
wealth. The cause of this increase is partly the
great expenditure of the government establishment
and forces (a fund supplied by the mother country),
and the cheap compulsory labour of the convicts.
But the grand source of the prosperity, is the ex-
H
00
AUSTRALIA.
^^!
cellent adaptation of the country for supporting
great flocks of fine woolled sheep. A certain extent
of aridity of climate, producing an herbage not too
luxuriant and succulent, is favourable for this class
of animals ; and the aridity, by preventing the oc-
cupancy of a considerable portion of the country by
close forest, and thus obstructing the growth of the
herbage, obviates the necessity of cutting down the
trees, and forming clearances (as in Canada), which
requires much hard labour, and which the popula-
tion of a new settlement are quite inadequate to ef-
fect so quickly, as the rapid increase of flocks would
demand ; while, at the same time, from the absence
of any severity of winter, no hard labour is needed
to provide hay, and other forage supply.
As things now stand, it is said, the small capita-
list, who, like the philosophers of Arden, has a taste
for a country life, has nothing more to do to acquire
a fortune, but to embark for Australia, and when he
arrives, to purchase a few hundreds or thousands of
fine woolled sheep, with several horses or bullocks,
for carrying his baggage, to engage one or more as-
sistant shepherds, and to start with his whole re-
tinue for the wilderness, — the more distant parts
of the colony which are not yet appropriated. The
pasture of land of the wilderness costs nothing;
when one valley fails of herbage, he can resort to
another; the sheep are even more healthy from
change of pasture ; and at the clipping season, he
can wear his flocks to the quarter of the unappro-
priated country, nearest to a harbour or place, where
his wool can be disposed of, and where a new sup-
ply of luxuries, — flour, salt, tea, sugar, can be pro-
AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA.
n
cured ; with these he can solace for another year, and
kill his own mutton.
In this patriarchal way our colonist can, it is said,
nearly double his flock every season, and at the end of
eight or ten years will have at least a hundred times
the number of sheep he commenced with; while the clip-
sale of every season will have more than sufficed for
pay of assistant shepherds and all other contingent
expenses. This is all likely to take place, provided he
find sufficient assistant shepherds, and has had the
luck not to be transfixed by a native spear, or has
not fallen in some skirmish with some other bush-
ranger like himself, and provided no terrible drought
occur to reduce his flocks or destroy them alto-
gether. There is no doubt that numbers have suc-
ceeded in amassing fortunes in this way, while num-
bers have been unsuccessful. One flock-master, how-
ever, generally collects a little money from the sale
of a portion of his stock, as it becomes unmanage-
ably large, to some other adventurer, and purchases
some favourite spot in the wilderness, on which his
fancy had fed, as it is brought into the market, at
which he establislies his head-quarters, and from
whence he sends out portions of his stock under ex-
perienced shepherds to graze at large on the unlo-
cated country.
Should recurrences of devastating drought not take
place things would go on very prosperously, and the
whole fine wool supply for ]^riti'^h manufacture would
soon be furnished by An, Iraliu, enriching that coun-
try as much as if it po.sRcssod the mil us of Peru and
Mexico. It is, huwcvcr, greaiiy to lie feared that
visitations of drought even more destractive than
) .
■ "I
92
AUSTRALIA.
wliat have been witnessed will occur, driving the
sliepherds of the plains to the mountains for subsist-
ence, and in a few months destroying the accumu-
lated property of an age as well as great numbers of
the population. To guard against such contingent
danger the Government at New South Wales should
have large magazines filled with grain thoroughly
dried, and shut up close from insect depredation,
which, it is said, here consume in a very short period
what is kept in open granary. (Dry grain in a large
mass will remain sweet almost any length of time if
kept free of damp by a sheet-lead or zinc floor-cover,
and close plaster lath around and over it, or still bet-
ter metallic sheet.)
This is the more necessary as the grain produce
of New South Wales is in some seasons extremely
abundant, and in others a complete failure — the lat-
ter sometimes in consequence of drought, sometimes
from blight, which is especially frequent in localities
near the sea, and supposed to arise from the great
transitions of temperature or from the sea air, as
well as from the sirocco blast. A considerable por-
tion of the grain consumed at Sydney is imported
from Tasmania, where the climate is more regular,
and some portion from Britain. The Hunter river
district, about 100 miles north of Sydney, which
contains a considerable extent of fertile land, is be-
ginning to afford a quantity, but the supply from
this district will never be steady from its liability
to blight.
The heat in New South Wales is sometimes ex-
treme, which the following quotation from the Edin-
burgh New Philosophical Journal will describe : —
8U
bl
AUSTRALIA.
93
" Mr Martin observes that it is only during the
summer months that the hot winds occasionally
blow, and raise the mercury to 120o F., when ex-
posed to the wind. When these siroccos are about
to occur, the sky assumes a lurid appearance, the
sun is hid from the view, the wind suddenly shifts to
the north-west, and blows with tremendous violence,
and can only be compared to a fiery blast issuing
from an immense furnace ; the dust is whirled with
rapidity, and distant thunder is heard. At night
the flashes of stream lightning present a continually
illuminated horizon ; vast forests become a universal
blaze of fire, and the flames, borne along with the
blast, readily find fresh fuel, carrying terror before,
and leaving ruin and desolation behind. Not only
does the field of corn, ready for the sickle, become
a charred stubble, but houses and domestic animals
are reduced to a heap of ashes Fortunately
these winds seldom last long, rarely more than two
days at a time Collins speaks of these si-
roccos as killing birds, beasts, and men."
This picture of the eflx3cts of extreme heat, which
occurring at a ( ritical period of the crop, must en-
tirely blast the promise of a season, independent of
the lasting periodical extreme droughts, is enough
to render precaution, especially in the case of a
greatly increased population, highly necessary. Per-
haps no country has a more steady climate than the
British Isles, or is more regular in production, a
consequence of the insular position and mountain
ranges preventing great drouglits, or any extreme
being so general — west winds commonly bringing
rain on the west, and east winds on the east side of
'■I r.;
lit
1|
'i i'
J i:
sr
t
94
AUSTRALIA.
tho country. This disposition of things at home has
an effect to render the British not sufficiently alive
to the danger to be apprehended from droughts in
other regions, and which seem to be most prevalent
in localities situated from 15° to 3;5° of Lat. It is,
therefore, probable that sufficient precautionary
means will not be taken in Australia and the South
of Africa till some terrible visitation of famine and
consequential disease be our fatal instructor, such as
sometimes occurs in the East Indies, but which only
affecting a people far out of view, and with whom
we have little sympathy, our Indian Government
is allowed to treat with neglect. The following
(abridged) quotation of the account of a famine in
(ruzerat in 1811, by Captain James Hivett Carnac,
Political Resident at the Court of Guicawar, may
serve to give some idea of a calamity of this nature.
The superstitious Hindoos attributed the famine to
the wrath of an offended Deity because of the sins
of that portion of India, as some of our established
clergy in Britain did the yellow fever, which was so
prevalent at New York about the same time, not, how-
ever, because of the immorality of the Americans, but
because they had emancipated themselves from British
tyranny. The famine at least was a consequence of
sin, not of commission but of omission, not of the
direct sin of the sufferers, but of their remiss govern-
ment, which, in a country liable to these visitations,
makes no provision against them.
" It has often been remarked that the appearance
of locusts is a prognostic of other evils. In 1811,
the annual fall of rain failed at Marwar, and when
every vestige of vegetation had disappeared the lo-
AUSTRALIA.
95
custs made their way into the north-west district of
(xuzerat, and from thenco scoured Kattiwar. The
failure of grain in Marwar, and the ruin by the lo-
custs of the products of the land, drove the inhabit-
ants into the bosom of Guzerat, where the same
causes had begun to operate, thus augmenting the
demand on its resources in a twofold degree, and
the pressing wants of the people soon reducing the
half-famished new comers to the greatest privations.
The mortality which ensued among those who had
sought refuge after the sufferings of famine in their
own district, covered with disease, regardless of every
consideration but that promoted by the calls of hun-
ger, almost surpasses my own belief, though an un-
happy witness of such horrid events.
" In the vicinity of every large town, you perceived
suburbs surrounded by these creatures. Their resi-
dence was usually taken up on the main road under
the cover of trees ; men, women, and children pro-
miscuously scattered, some furnished with a scanty
covering, others almost reduced to a state of nudity,
while, at the same moment, the spectator witnessed,
within the range of his own observation, the famish-
ed looks of a fellow-creature, aggravated by the pain
of sickness ; the desponding cries of the multitude,
mingled with the thouglitless playfulness of children,
and the unavailing struggles of the infant to draw
sustenance from the exhausted breasts of its parent.
To consummate this scone of human misery, a life-
less corpse was at intervals brouglit to notice by the
bewailings of a near relative ; its immediate neigh-
bourhood display iiig the hnpationcc .nul wildness ex-
cited in the fortunate few who had obtained a pit-
,5
i^
I ii
5 t'
\i
06
AUSTRALIA.
tanco of grain, and was devouring it with dosperat«^
satisfaction. The hourly recurrence of miseries had
familiarized the minds of these poor people, as well
as of people in general, to every extremity which na-
ture could inflict. In a short time, these emanations
of individual feeling among themselves, which dis-
tinguished the first commencement of their sufferings,
gradually abated, and the utmost indifference univer-
sally predominated.
" During the progress of these miseries, I have seen
a few Marwarees sitting in a cluster, denying a little
water to sustain her drooping spirits, to a woman
stretched beside them,* with a dead infant reposing on
her breast. In a few hours this woman had also expired,
and her dead body, as well as that of the child remain-
ing close by them, situated as before described without
a single attempt to removethem, until the Government
peons had performed that oflico. I have seen a child,
not quite dead, torn away by a pack of dogs from its
mother, who was unable to speak or move, but lay
with anxious eyes directed to the object of its fond
affection. I have witnessed those animals watching
the famished creatures, who were verging on the
point of dissolution, to feast on their bodies ; and
this spectacle was repeated every successive day in
the environs of the town. The number of the Mar-
warees who died in a single day at Baroda could
scarcely be counted, and the return of the burials in
twenty-four hours often exceeded 500 bodies. It
would be doing an act of injustice, however, to the
natives of opulence in Guzerat, to pass over their
exertions to alleviate the surrounding distress. The
charity of the Hindoos is proverbial ; it constitutes
AUSTRALIA.
VJ
one of the primary tcnots of their inonility (religion),
and is generally unaffectedly dispensed. On the oc-
currence of the distress and famine, large subscrip-
tions were made, aided by a liberal sum from the native
Government, and the objects of the institution were
obtained by proper regulations devised for the pur-
pose. I caimot say what munbers were relieved, but
the monthly expense of feeding the poor in this town,
amounted to some thousands of rupees. It was a
cruel sight to witness the struggles, when the door^
were opened to ai)portion their victuals, and it was
no unusual thing for a luunber to fall a sacrifice to
their precipitate voracity. Many also whose wants
had been supplied, continued to devour until the
means intended for their relief proved in the end
their destruction in a few hours. Children were often
crushed to death under the feet of their parents.
The establishment of which I have been speaking
was imitated in most of the principal towns of Gu-
zerat, and added a few months of life to a class of
beings reserved for greater miseries ; indeed, subse-
quent events would seem to ghew that these people
were marked for total annihilation. "' * ^ The
mortality at Ahmedabad is computed at 100,000
persons, a number nearly equal to one-half of its po-
pulation. The demand for wood to burn the Hindoo
portion of the sufferers, called for the destruction (f
the houses — even this was barely sufficient for the
performance of the rites required by the Hindoo
faith, and the half-consumed bodies on the banks of
the Pabiermuttee evince, at this hour, to what straits
the Hindoos were reduced in fulfilling the last duties
to their kindred." — (Edin. New Phil. Journal.)
I
ii-i'
AUSTRALIA.
mm.
This statemont by tho British Resident, is enough
to make us pause to consider of the danger to which
Australia is liable, with a climate even more preca-
rious than that of Guzorat, and so far distant from
extraneous supplies. His account also exemplifies
well the effects of direct charity. The Hindoos are a
very charitable people, which their religion as well as
the Mahommedan greatly inculcates, but their charity
being merely an animal instinct or religious impres-
sion, not under the guidance of reason, is not provi-
dent. They merely feed the hungry indiscriminately,
which only leads to idleness, immorality, misery.
Charity in Guzerat not being providently directed to
improve tho condition of society, and the means of"
individuals to retain a hoarded private supply, nor to
lay up a national store, notwithstanding of thc^r
" lar(je subscriptions ^ aided by a liberal sum from the
native Government^ and the objects of the institution ob-
tained by proper regulations,'''' only served to double
tho extent of the calamity, and to lengthen the mi-
sery, — the gratuitous relief to the strangers only keep-
ing these poor wretches two or three months longer
alive, in the most horrible condition that the fancy
of man can picturtv and scarcely one in a hundred
surviving in the en', while, by exhausting their own
supplies, the donors involved themselves and the
inhabitants of the district in the calamity, nearly
one-half of these also perishing.
The climate of New South Wales, and indeed of
all the southern half of Australia, notwithstanding
the great heat, is salubrious and suitable for Euro-
peans, and especially in the more elevated country,
and to the west of the Blue Mountains at Bathurst.
AUSTRALIA.
I onougli
bo which
preca-
nt from
amplifies
►OM are a
s well a8
rcharity
inipreB-
>t provi-
linately,
misery.
Bcted to
leans of
7. nor to
r)f th(!ir
'^rom the
ition ob-
doublf
he mi-
ykeep-
longer
e fancy
lundred
Dir own
nd the
nearly
ieed of
anding
Euro-
Duntry,
thurst.
Those born in the country, — the Australian British,
— are generally of a good tall size, to which the plenty
of animal food will no doubt conduce. Hut notwith-
dinir of
th
of
I
Klmg ot tne salubrity, tho mnrmities ol age an(
wrinkes approach sooner thnn in Rritiin, the teeth
also, according to Cunningham, d«'cay at /i very early
period, which would augur «ome deficiency in tho di-
gestive functions. As in all r>ow countriog, ^'ven
though a little warmer than the parent country,
light-coloured hair is more frequent than in the pa-
rent country, the complexion is also inclining to a
brick-red cast, without the rose-bloom cheek.
It is said that the births in the imported races, as
well in man as the lower animals, are considerably
more productive of females than of males, whieii
some of the native writers, without attempting to
point out the proximate cause, say is providential. Tho
population has not increased (naturally), but has consi-
derably diminished since the foundation of the colony,
— the deaths greatly exceeding the births, — thi^ in-
crease of numbers being entirely owing to immigra-
tion. This, however, is not the fault of the climate ;
marriages are sufficiently prolific. The great predo-
minance of males in the colony, and the condition of
at least the one-half of these (military .»r convicts
without wives), accounts sufficiently for the defect.
Perhaps no colony in the world has been so absurdly
conducted as New South Wales. It is not long since
the proportion of males to females was as ten to one,
while there was still a greater disparity between the
grown up of both sexes ! ! The economy of the British
army has not been very humane. — Married men with
their families sent off to the seat of war, or to un-
i , I
f 1
■i i
100
AUSTRALIA.
fM^
lioiilthy regions, whore two-thirds of the mothore and
children must sink under the diniate, hardships, and
juiv.itious, wliile a colony like New South Wales,
where population is so desirable, has been garrisoned
by no greater proportion of married soldiers than
other places. A New South Wales corps should
have been formed of soldiers with families, of good
mural character, selected from the whole service, and
limited to the settlement.
The Aborigines of these regions are a race of sa-
vages, perhaps the farthest removed from civilized
man of any in existence. Those inhabiting Tasma-
nia, who are even a degree inferior to those of Aus-
tralia, having been found extremely mischievous
and irreclaimable, were recently rooted out and re-
moved to a small island in Bass' Straits, under su-
perintendence, where they are fast dying of ennui.
Those in Australia are also fast disappearing in the
neighbourhood of the British settlements, and from
the inferiority of the race physically as well as from
a total incapacity for civilization, there is no neces-
sity for any particular exertion to keep it up, farther
than providing that those we come in contact with,
if they aio not very mischievous, be treated with hu-
manity, and every means taken to induce them to
attach themselves to our farming establishments. It
would be in the highest degree absurd to get up a
nursery of so indifferent a race of savages, or to keep
back the extension of the superior civilized races of
man over so wide a region as Australia, lest a few
stra^2glers, exhibiting the most humbling picture of
the degividntion of humanity, should disappear. Per-
hai)s the aridity of Australia and the absence of
^1
AUSTRALIA.
101
edible plants and fruits, and scarcity of fish on the
coast, with the want of tame animals, accounts suf-
ficiently for the inferior nature of the indigenes. 1 1,
however, is probable that their manner of fighting
may have exerted considerable influence. When
two tribes (juarrel, they go out, at least in the Mew
South Wales district, and give fair battie. Alter-
nately, an individual on each side steps forward,
stands with the head bent a little down, and is struck
upon the crown of the head thus exposed, by an indi-
vidual of the other party with a club, and this is con-
tinued regularly till one party is put hors de combat.
This has the certain effect to destroy all those who
have skulls inclining to thin, and carried on for many
ages, as it in all probability has been (the customs
of savages being very permanent), it nuist have ex-
erted a selecting influence — the thin-skulleci falling
prematurely, and the thick-skulled remaining for
breeders, to render them a thick-skulled race, which
they literally are, their skull being nearly double the
thickness of the European skull, and able to bear the
blow of a club which would split the skull of any
other man. Granting that the thick-skulled are
really more stupid than the thin, which, only the thick-
skulled, we think, will doubt, this must act to lower
the mental capacity of the race. Besides, even the
concussions may exert an injurious effect uj)on the
intellect, which may become constitutional. Perhaps,
it may be argued, that the similar chivalric practice
of tilting at each other's heads at tournaments may
have exerted a similar influence in this country.
Now South Wales being a penal settlement with
nearly one-half of the grown-up population consist-
,.'^;
102
AUSTRALIA.
ing of convicts, moral feeling and ^he tone of society
must in some measure be affected. In the business
of common life there, it is said, every man proceeds
as if no other principle but selfishness of the most
gross character regulated the actions of his neigh-
bours. But it would have been folly to expect that
the morals of the inmates of a prison-house, contain-
ing such an immense number of criminals, could
have been better than they really are. We have
for some time been expecting that the exportation
of criminals would cease, but even were it to cease,
it would be many years till society in New South
Wales recover from the taint. This is the greatest
barrier in the way of New South Wales and Tasmania
being desirable emigration-fields.
Two colonies have more recently been established
in Australia, the Western Australian or Swan River,
and the South Australian : the first on the south-
western angle at Swan River, and the other in the
hollow bight of the south coast opposite to and
partly sheltered by Kangaroo Island, where several
gulfs penetrate deep into the interior, and communi-
cate with the great western river which flows from
the back of the Blue Mountains in New South
Wales. Both these colonies now give fair promise
of success, and if they are not checked by some de-
structive visitation of drought, or gross mismanage-
ment, there is no doubt of their progressive prospe-
rity.
Swan River Colony, including the dependency to
the south, enjoys a fine salubrious climate without
any severe winter, but the quality of the soil near
the coast is extremely poor and arid, while at the
AUSTRALIA.
103
same time the deficiency of harbours (several fine
vessels have in consequence been lost) is a great
check upon the advancement of the colony. From
the position of Swan River, upon the west side of a
continent, with the prevailing winds from the sea,
one would expect that the climate would be moister
than that of New South Wales. There does not,
however, appear to be any material difierence, ex-
cepting in not being so liable to such extremes of
droughts and floodings as the eastern country. The
absence of any high mountains, and having sea to-
wards the pole, conduce to render the climate dry
and temperate.
The first attempt to colonize at Swan River was
extremely unprosperous from a variety of circum-
stances. The want of a harbour and the poverty of
the soil, especially in the coast district where the
colony commenced operations, were great impedi-
ments, but the cause of the comparative failure was
the defective social oreranization. One great leader,
land-owner, and capitalist, with numerous working
people under a nominal contract of engagement to
labour to him, but over whom he had no manner of
control to keep them to their engagements, was a
truly absurd scheme for a new country. Combined
labour by servants is totally impracticable to any
extent where land is of little or no value, and can
only be obtained by absolute power or slavery (this
subject will come to be treated of when we speak of
New Zealand). As it was, the working people de-
serted their leader soon after landing, his stock was
stolen or died, and his stores and implements rotted
on the beach. After this had taken place, the work-
I !'
\ }
I;
104
AUSTRALIA.
i -1^ 1 1
iiig men, who had, in the interim, attempted squat-
ting, but had been unsuccessful from a want of
means, ignorance, and the poverty of the soil, re-
turned to their leader and demanded employment
and supplies, but which he no longer was in a con-
dition to give, and it was with considerable difficulty
that he escaped being hanged by these desperate
work-people, in revenge for the failure which their
own default had occasioned, but which being a ne-
cessary consequence of the circumstances, he was
also faulty in not having foreseen.
Since the Peel escapade, the settlement, though
for several years considered in a perishing condition,
has of late begun to shew symptoms of decided im-
provement. The stock is increasing, the better land
of the interior is being resorted to for tillage, the
peculiarities of the climate are beginning to be un-
derstood, and knowledge and property accumulating,
a state of society suited to circumstances is building
up. The nature of the government, however (a
Crown colony), and the population of the place, ha-
ving no political power nor weight in council, will
have an influence to deaden the energies of the set-
tlement and prevent rapid improvement.
The colony of South x\ustralia is not directly un-
der the Crown, but is conducted by a commission
appointed by Parliament. It is an attempt to colo-
nize on the self-supporting principle, that is, without
being any charge upon the revenue of the mother
country. The sales of the land to emigrants of
capital, at L.l per acre, being appropriated to carry
out labouring emigrants, and the revenue derived
fr(
pt
AUSTRALIA.
105
I squat-
^ant of
soil, re-
oyment
I a con-
ifficulty
isperate
h their
ig a ne-
he was
though
idition,
led im-
:er land
ge, the
be uii-
ilating,
uilding
ver (a
ce, ha-
il, will
he set-
ly iin-
iiission
colo-
ithout
nother
Jits of
> carry
erived
from the import duties, to pay the governing ex-
penses.
Should this scheme be found practicable, — that is,
should it be found possible to conduct colonization
without any charge upon the revenue of the mother
country, the originator of the plan (I believe Mr
AVakefield) deserves more highly of his country than
any man now in existence. Much, no doubt, will de-
pend upon the activity and judgment of the Com-
missioners, and upon their choice of colonial officers,
and as far as the thing has proceeded, it seems to be
conducted more after the fashion of the United
States'* economics, than the British, and the progress
has been so rapid, although the first vessel only left
England in 1836, that a population, by the last ac-
count, of upwards of five thousand persons were al-
ready at work, laying the foundation of what, in all
probability, will be the future emporium of Austra-
lia, — the city of Adelaide. The only plague-spot
upon all this fine display of popular vigour, is that
they have commenced by borrowing funds to carry
on operations at ten per cent, per annum interest,
a debt due by the colony, and which, it may be ap-
prehended, will accumulate at compound interest
faster than the wealth of the colony, and swallow up
all.
The features of the country, — the disposition of
the mountains and rivers in Australia, are the coun-
terpart of those of the United States; the Blue
Mountains, about one hundred miles westward from
the coast at Sydney, corresponding to the Alleghany,
or United States' Blue Mountains, and the Lachlan
and Macquarie or Murray, to the Ohio and Missis-
106
AUSTRALIA.
t r.
sippi ; South Australia, answering to the lower part
of the basin of the Mississippi, and the city of Ade-
laide to New Orleans, with this difference, that Ade-
laide appears to be a salubrious place, while New
Orleans is the wet grave. There is this difference,
however, in the rivers, that the Murray, about one
thousand miles long, is navigable only by barges,
and is almost dried up in the summer; while the
Grand Mississippi is navigable by steamers of three
hundred tons, at all seasons, for nearly three times
that distance.
Excepting in the vicinity of the Gulf of St Vin-
cent (where the South Australian colonists have
commenced operations), and along the Murray, al-
most nothing is known of the portions of Australia?
which goes to form the territory of South Australia.
The district around the Gulf is comparatively a
good sheep pasture country. There are several
ranges of hills, the highest of which (Mount Lofty)
is estimated to be 2400 feet above the sea, wooded
on the top ; but on the whole, the districts which
have been explored, are low, at least not nearly so
mountainous as New South Wales ; and the ab-
sence of high mountains to act as attracters and
condensers of rain, and as a source of never-failing
streams, is a want which will balance the superior
position of South Australia, in regard to exposure.
The coast of South Australia stretches south-east,
with sea to the south-west, from whence the pre-
vailing winds blow (it is said for nine months in
the year). This will afford a moist and cooler
air immediately on the coast, rendering it a rath'^"
favourable field for British emigration, being suited
b
O]
01
ti
tl
n(
o
AUSTRALIA.
107
rer part
of Ade-
at Ade-
le New
ference,
out one
barges,
lile the
f three
3 times
St Vin-
ks have
ray, al-
istraliaj
istralia.
ively a
several
Lofty)
vooded
which
irly so
he ab-
rs and
failing
iperior
)osure.
i-east,
e pre-
ths in
cooler
rathe-
suited
for a wool raising country, and perhaps even for
the raising of grain and cotton, and other valua-
ble products ; but from the absence of high land
or mountains in the interior, from being surrounded
on three sides by a great extent of hot arid con-
tinent, and from the sea being towards the pole,
there is every reason to believe, that, excepting
near the coast, there will be very little deposition
of rain, as though the winds from the sea be charged
with moisture almost to the dew point, yet by reach-
ing a warmer locality in the interior, they will ac-
quire greater power of suspending the moisture,
and give out none. A priori^ we should there-
fore expect the interior to be extremely arid, and
only fitting for an emigration-field for the Bedouin
Arab, with his camel support. Even the districts
near the sea coast exhibit features of great aridity
of climate ; — the forest cover not general, but only
straggled over the country in the cooler localities,
and where the soil is deepest, and most capable of
withstanding drought ; — the character of the tree-
leaves, and th-^ thin tufted nature of the grasses ; —
the streamlets and rivers from the hills losing them-
selves when they come to the low country in marshes
and stagnant pools, and only reaching the sea in
winter. All these are signs which cannot be mis-
taken. It is also a remarkable circumstance, that
in these low flats, where marshes and stagnant pools
abound, evaporating the whole product of rivers and
streams under great heat, that there is no notice of
remittent and intermittent fever. This anomaly can
only be attributed to the dryness of the atmosphere,
to the poverty of the soil not giving out putrescent
108
Al STRAMA.
: % I
effluvia, and to the (n.ii)orating water containing
very little of vegetable and animal products.
The south-east angle of Australia, lying soutli-
east of South Australia, and bounded by Hass
Straits on the south, which divides it from Tas-
mania, has been lately explored, and from the salu-
brity of the air, and fineness of the country, excel-
ling every other part of Australia, has been named
Australia Felix. This region, though not yet ap-
propriated, is already being occupied by flocks, at-
tracted by the fine pasture. The Tasmanians are
exporting their flocks to it, across the Straits, and
the New South Wales stock-owners are bearing
down upon it with their flocks from the north. The
Commissioners of South Australia seeing its value,
have been endeavouring to get it placed under their
South Australian government ; but it being within
the boundary of what is claaiied to belong to the
New South Wales government, the Commissioners
have been unsuccessful. An individual from Tas-
mania has also been claiming a portion of it, from
some alleged compact with a few straggling na-
tives, but his pretences have not been listened to.
Crown colonies, such as New South Wales, cannot
work well when very extensive, and as well from the
distance of Port Phillip or Western Port (the pro-
bable station of the future capital of Australia Felix)
from Sydney, as from the convict nature of the New
South Wales colony, it would be highly desirable
that Australia Felix were formed into a colony by
itself; perhaps under a plan similar to that of
South Australia, but with this difference, that Go-
vernment, at least, guarantee to the lender for any
i. !;„; ill
TASMANIA.
lOJ)
ntainin;;
; south-
)y JiasH
m Tas-
he salu-
f^ excel-
i named
yet ap-
cks, at-
Lins are
its, and
bearing
1. The
s value,
er their
within
to the
isioners
n Tas-
;, from
ng na-
led to.
cannot
Dm the
le pro-
Felix)
e New
^irable
my by
lat of
It Go-
)r any
loans that may be required under a certain sum,
by which means funds could be obtained at loss
than one-half the interest paid for the South Austra-
lian loans ; but guarding against what would be
more than a counter-balancing evil, — Government
influence paralyzing the energetic po[)ular direction.
Tasmjania.
Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land, is an island
nearly the size of Ireland, about 120 miles south of
Australia Felix, extending from 42° to 45° south la-
titude. It enjoys a very fine temperate climate,
nearly similar to that of New Zealand, and totally
different from the Australian. From its insularity
and mountainous character, it has a sufficiency of
rain to fit it for a grain-producing country, and it
not only supplies its own consumpt of wheat, of a very
fine quality, but exports considerable quantities to
Sydney, and even some to Rio Janiero. The rugged
and broken shores of Tasmania afford a number of
good harbours ; the coast is generally bold and moun-
tainous and bleak, especially on the south and west
sides, where some ridges rise to the height of 5000
feet. There is a depression along the middle of the
island, commencing with the fine harbour firth and
valley of the Derwent on the south-east coast, and
running at first north-west, and then north, along
the valley of the Derwent, which flows south-east,
and then along the valley of the Tamar which flows
north, till it meets the sea at the mouth of that river
at Bass Straits. This depression, consisting of rich
110
TASMANIA.
level land, were the sea to have any considerable rise,
would form a Htrait of upwards of 100 miles in length,
dividing the island into two mountainous portions.
Tt is chii.'fly in this protected low country, constitut-
ing the double basin of the Derwent and the Tamar,
that the cultivation of wheat and potatoes is carried
on ; the mountain districts on both sides, of inferior
quality, being more suited for grazing.
The greater part of Tasmania is very thickly tim-
bered with large tall trees (evergreens), some of
them of extraordinary size. Oiie is stated to have
measured, when cut down, in length upwards of 150
feet of stem, clear of branches, and so thick that a
common stage-coach could have been easily driven
along the stem for this distance. The heavy natiT'e
of the forest, which covers nearly the whole face of
the country, independent of the common agricultural
work, causes the burliness of the Tasmanian husband-
man to be attended with much hard labour, and the
tenor of his life is as opposed as well may be to that
of the lounging shepherd of Australia Felix, who has
nought to do but " tend his flocks on green decli-
vities," and which must give rise to a very different
condition of society in the neighbouring countries.
The labour of the husbandman in Tasmania is, how-
ever, well compensated by the abundance and the
greater security of the return. Tt is said that every
fruit, and vegetable, and flower that thrives well in
England, thrives better in Tasmania, while several,
such as the grape, not productive in England, are
very productive here. The clover and sown grasses,
which are fully of as much consequence as fruits and
flowers of any kind, are also grown in great per-
TASMANIA.
i&l
fection, and aro vt^ry much superior to the native
herbage in productiveness and nutritive power.
The summer heat in Tasmania, generally ranging
about 70° during the day, is very seldom beyond
what an inhabitant of the British Tslos can support
while at work without inconvenioncy. For a day or
two, indeed, in a summer, when the wind blows
strongly from the north-west, the Sirocco of A ustralia
is felt, and the thermometer rises to 100°, or even a
few degrees higher, causing considerable injury by
blighting the grain crops, but the injury is neither
of so frequent occurrence, nor near to the extent as
in Australia. Although the summer''s heat during
the day is not generally beyond what is felt in the
south of England, and the winter cold during the
night never so great as to freeze the earth or water
beyond what the sun during the following day is suf-
ficient to thaw, yet there is considerably more differ-
ence between the temperature of the night and day
than in Britain, which causes the evenings to feel
very chilly, producing colds and rheumatisms in those
who unguardedly expose themselves. But this is not
peculiar to Tasmania, being merely a consequence of
dry and transparent atmosphere : — where the air is
moist and near the dew point, as is usual in Britain,
the latent heat of the aqueous gas which condenses
into dew, tempers the cold of radiation. The ra-
tionale of the rapid transition to great cold in the
evening, and the great degree of cold at the dawn of
day, remains however unexplained.
Some drawback to Tasmania as an emigration-field,
in addition to its being a penal colony, is, that the
greater portion of the good land, at least in the fine
I !
I !;
t I
112
TASMANIA.
ttsi ;
central basin, ih already appropriated, and the new
comorfl can only purchase at a comparative high rate,
or have their location in the inferior part of th«'
country. But the advantage resulting from a more
condensed, nmtually-assisting population, may over-
balance the greater cost of the land.
In all the British emigration-fields we have treated
of, North America, the Capo, Australia, Tasmania,
there is some drawback in the number of poisonous
reptilia and insects. Children are not entirely safe
playing in the brakes ; no person can sit down upon
a grassy seat, or recline on a flowery bed, without
some dread of the deadly snake or the scorpion.
Serious accidents are occurring at all these places from
these pests ; and owing to th(?ir great prolific powers,
their extirpation cannot be effected, at least while
the country remains uncleared. In Australia, a dog
who is a snake-hunter (which some of them are) has
a short life. The pigs are found to be the best ex-
tirpators, their thick skin either protects them, or
the exterior layer of oily fat neutralizes the poison,
and they grub out from their lurking places, and de-
vour the most venomous serpents with great alacrity.
The great number of serpents are very destructive
to the small singing birds, not only catching them
on the perch, but devouring their nestlings, as well
upon the trees as on the gi'ound ; and as a provision
for their protection, the birds who are not large
enough to give battle, form pendulous nests attached
to the tips of the branches where no snake can reach.
It is, therefore, not probable that the sky-lark and
linnet, and other beautiful songsters of Britain, can
be successfully introduced into these serpent- abound-
ilH iiil
TASMANIA.
Ii:{
tho new
igh rato,
t of th.'
1 a more
ay over-
3 treated
xsmania,
oisonouy
roly safe
•wn upon
without
scorpion.
i,ces from
; powers,
ist while
ia, a dog
are) has
best ex-
theni, or
) poison,
, and de-
alacrity,
structive
ing them
I, as well
provision
ot large
attached
m reach,
lark and
tain, can
abound-
ing countrios, as it is not likely they would adopt
this provision for tho security of thfiir nestlings, — a
loss, as tho melody of tho sky and grove of Britain
is awunting there. It is a curious fact that serpentH
are not found in Now Zealand, and the melody of
the grove at brr ik of day is described to be altoge-
ther enchanting. Can it bo that th(! birds of length-
ened steady song are not so conunon in the seri)ent-
abounding countries, because their note and nujlody
attract these destroyers, while those which only give
out sudden discordant sounds, as they leap from bough
to bough, are comparatively safe i
.^ *■
( 114 )
CHAPTER VIII.
NEW ZEALAND — ITS CAPABILITIES FOR BECOMING
THE NAVAL EMPORIUM OF THE SOUTHERN HEMI-
SPHERE AND OF THE PACIFIC UNDER BRITISH
COLONIZATION.
Estimating the advantages of position, extent,
climate, fertility, adaptation for trade — all the causes
which have tended to render Britain the emporium
of the world, we can observe only one other spot on
the earth equally, if not more favoured by nature,
and that is New Zealand. Serrated with harbours,
securely insulated, having a climate temperated by
surrounding ocean, of such extent and fertility as
to support a population sufficiently numerous to
defend its shores against any possible invading
force, it, like Great Britain, also possesses a large
neighbouring continent (Australia), from which it
will draw resources, and to which it bears the rela-
tion of a rich homestead, with a vast extent of out-
field pasturfAge. In these advantages, it equals
Britain, while it is superior to Britain in having the
weather-gage of an immense commercial field, — the
innumerable rich islands of the Pacific, — the gold
and silver producing countries of Western America
(by far the richest in the precious metals of any of
lECOMING
IN HEMl-
BR1TI8H
1PJI.A.TE rm.
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p^jyi iM t a val St 0-U2
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North Of.
j , Bhuuysi:. Buhofsl. E q, U a t or
Vrunwionds IT'
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.atAnaadu Jiamafyl. :
£1 tirand Ginil
• TafWfUf T.
.tlaheriaiutidil.
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RottonaK or OrtnyUlu
Ormip
VtifYarktl^
D.of (Jarmrr I.
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Taotoa,
TTiHijnwivl liv STiiiiP^y Hall.
I « ^>^t
'*.*fd^'
NEW ZEALAND.
115
the world), — the vast accumulations of man in China
and Japan, — all these lie within a few weeks'* sail.
The south temperate zone, from the excess of
ocean, has a much more equable temperature through-
out the year than the north. New Zealand, consi-
dering its territorial extent, participates in this
oceanic equality in an extraordinary degree, by rea-
son of its insularity and oblong narrow figure, stretch-
ing across the course of the prevalent winds from
lat. 34° to 48° south, — the most enviable of latitudes.
On this account, it enjoys a finer, more temperate
climate than any other region of the world ;* and,
in consequence, the trees, from the principle of
adaptation, are only biennially deciduous, and pre-
sent, as well as the herbage, a never-failing verdure.
The great mountain chain, or back-bone ridge of New
Zealand, which extends through nearly fourteen de-
grees of latitude, attracting and condensing the high-
towering clouds and vapour of the Southern Ocean,
affords a constant source of showers and irrigation
and freshness to the lower country ; and this regular
* There is also another reason why a place in the south tem-
perate zone is of more equable temperature t'lan a place of the
same medium temperature in the north temperate zone. The
south hemisphere is colder than the north by about 7° of lati-
tude, lat. 43° south being nearly of the same medium tempera-
ture as lat. 50° north. Now, as we approach the equator, sum-
mer and winter approximate in temperature ; lat. 43" has less
difference between the longest and shortest day than lat. 60%
and consequently there is less difference between the tempera-
ture of summer and winter in lat. 43° south, than in lat. 50° north,
the medium temperature being the same. The diflFerence be-
tween the time the sun is above the horizon in summer and
winter in lat. 43° is only about 6 hours, while in lat. 60° the
difiference is more than 8 hours.
110
NEW ZEALAND.
M
:il^
supply of moisture, under the most balmy atmosphere,
and the generative influence of a sun brilliant as that
(^f Italy, produces an exuberance of vegetation sur-
passing that of any other temperate country, — the
richness and magnificence of the forest scenery being
only e(]ualled by that of the islands of the eastern tro-
pical Archipelago ;* and the mountains themselves,
the sublime southern Alps, more elevated than the
highest of the Alps of Switzerland, upheaved, from the
depths of the great south sea, in some places to more
than three miles of altitude, and, from their volca-
nic character, of the boldest, most abrupt outline,
are perhaps unequalled in all the world. The cha-
racter of surrounding objects nmst exert a powerful
influence upon the genius of a people. These stu-
pendous mountains, with innumerablo rills pouring
down their verdant slopes, — their gr* at valleys, oc-
cupied by the most beautiful rivers, — their feet
washed by the ceaseless south -sea swell, — their flanks
clothed with the grandest of primeval forests, — their
bosoms veiled in cloud, — and their rocky and icy
scalps piercing the clear azure heaven, — must go to
stamp, as far as earthly things can have impression,
a poetical character upon the genius of the Austral
British. The small portion of New Zealand already
under cultivation, yields, in luxuriant abundance and
perfection, all the valuable fruits and grain of Eu-
rope ; and, unlike Canada (where the husbandman
* " It is a most beautiful country. I have visited tlie Brazils,
the wholo of Van Diemen's Land, and New South Wales, and
been on tlie Continent, but I never saw a country in the world
that equalled it (New Zealand). In scenery, climate, and pro-
ductiveness, it is a perfect paradise." — (See T. B. Monteiiore,
Parliamentary Evidence, 1838.)
ITS CAPAIilLlTIES.
117
haa to endure life-consuming toil in the very hot
enervating summer, to lay up provender for the sub-
sistence of all his bestial during the long and rigo-
rous winter), stock of all descriptions fatten in this
favoured region, at all seasons, upon the spontaneous
produce cf the wilderness.* The climate is also the
most favourable to the development of the human
species,t producing a race of natives of surpassing
strength and energy. From the mountainous inte-
rior, the country is, in a wonderful degree, permeated
by never-failing streams and rivers of the purest
water, affording innumerable falls, suited to machi-
nery, adjacent to the finest harbours. The forests
abound in timber of gigantic size, peculiarly adapted
for naval purposes and for house-building, and, from
its mild workable (juality, much more economically
convertible and serviceable than the timber of any
other country in the southern hemisphere ; most of
which, from extreme hardness, is almost unmanage-
• The missionaries have been sojourning in New Zealand for
the last twenty-three years. T\ey, with their families, amount
to upwards of ninety individuals, and, with the exception of in-
fants, only one death (it is said) has occurred amongst them. In
this country, according to the Rev. W. Yate, " invalids become
well, the healthy robust, and the robust fat. It has a perpetual
.spring, the whole atmosphere seems impregnated with perfumes,
and every breath inhaled stimulates the system, and strengthens
man for the labour which may lie before him- I am persuaded
(says he), that all graminivorous animals, wild or domestic,
would thrive well in this temperate clime, if allowed to range
at large in the forests, on the hills, in the valleys, or on the
plains." — (See Appendix, Note C.)
t " Marriages among the English have been prolific, in a very
extraordinary degree, of a most healthy progeny." — (See ofticial
ilocument by T. Busby, Esq. British Resident.)
M 18 NEW ZEALAND.
M
able.* MillionH of acres, it is said, are covered
with the famed New Zealand flax (the great value of
which is now coming to be appreciated) ; and around
the shores are the most valuable fisheries, from the
mackerel to the whale ; in the pursuit of which
latter, many of our vessels resort, though at the
other extremity of the earth. Combining all these
natural internal advantages with the most favoured
position for trade, New Zealand must ultimately
reign the Maritime Queen of the South-eastern
hemisphere.
Estimating these surpassing natural advantages
in their peculiar adaptation to the energetic mari-
time British race, it is somewhat remarkable that no
regular attempt has been made by Britain to colo-
nize New Zealand. This must have arisen from the
numbers and barbarous character of the native po-
pulation ; a population so small, however, reduced as
it now is, as to be quite out of all proportion to the
extent of territory, and which exists only around
some of the sheltered bays of the coast, and in a few
of the rich valleys of the interior. According to Mr
Yate, and the other missionaries who have had the
best means of estimating their numbers, the whole
amount may be about 110,000. Another writer
states : " The inhabitants, in fact, have not, in any
* " There is a great variety of timber in the country fit for
all purposes, as for shipbuilding, domestic, and other purposes.
The forests of New Zealand aflford perhaps the finest spars for
masts and yards in the world, and which are extremely valuable.
In India, the wood being there very heavy, they cannot get any
description of wood to make good spars, and those taken from
New Zealand find there a ready sale." — (See J. L. Nicholas
Esq., Par. Evidence.)
ITS CAPABILITIES.
119
sense of the word, taken possession of the country
which they call their own. It is still the undivided
domain of nature, and they are merely a handful of
stragglers who wander about the outskirts." Thus,
densely populated Britain, with the means of effec-
tual relief, is allowed to remain writhing under the
preventive and destructive checks, while a region,
the finest in the world, — a region which, beyond all
others, can lay claim to the name of Paradise, is
lying an untenanted wilderness.*
* Mr Flatt, an agriculturist from the East of England, of
considerable professional and general knowledge, and who has
lately returned from New Zealand, where he had been remain-
ing several years, informs the Author, that in crossing the North
Island, he travelled along a tract of fine alluvial soil in the
lower valley of theWaikato rivers, equal in extent, but richer,
than the alluvial level between Cambridge and Hull, — the ker-
nel of England. Mr Flatt also corroborates the statements of
others respecting the salubrity, mildness, and beauty of the
climate, — that it is a land of sunny-showers, and tliat in the
case of heavy rains, the clouds clear off immediately when the
rain ceases, and a most brilliant sun shines out.
( l'2() )
CHAPTER IX.
ESPECIAL REASONS FOR COLONIZING NEW ZEALAND.
Independent of the natural peculiar adaptation of
New Zealand for a British colony, there are several
very cogent reasons to induce Britain to occupy this
country without a moment's delay.
,'■ it.
.1111
^■:|
■if M
i ■;(*
if '»•■
I.
Importance of New Zealand^ politically/ and commer-
cialbj^ to Britain.
In the present posture of affairs, when Russia and
the United States are gradually extending their ter-
ritory, increasing their means, nnd preparing for, or
at least looking forward to, a contest with Britain
for the naval supremacy, it is for \w to look around
over earth and ocean, and to pre-occupy, if possible,
every favourable position.
In glancing at the map of the eastern hemisphere,
where, from the extending territorial possessions of
Russia, and the great and rapidly increasing trade of
the United States, as well as of Britain, a consider-
able part of the contest may be expected to be car-
ried on, any one must remark the commanding posi-
tion of New Zealand, — with innumerable harbours,
with vast naval resources, standing forth like an ex-
tended rampart in advance of, and covering our wide
Australian possessions, and having the whole of the
Pacific under its lee. In marking these advantages.
REASONS FOR COLONIZING NEW ZEvVLAND. 121
5EALAND.
ptation of
re several
jcupy this
commer-
ussia and
their ter-
ng for, or
h Britain
►k around
' possible,
[nisphere,
essions of
f trade of
consider-
;o be car-
ling posi-
harbours,
ke an ex-
our wide
)le of the
vantages,
I
&.
^
one is disposed to injjuire, — Has Britain not stirred
to secure this most ini[)ortant position, in refen'uce to
curbing the United States* and Russia in the East, —
this most invahiablc ac(|uisition in reference to aug-
menting our trade and resources i Has she not con-
ciliated the natives, who are a warlike maritime race,
capabh' of forming excellent seamen aiul shipwrights,
and as such would be most valuable auxiliaries ?t
* It is c'xcocdinjfly to be rej^n'ttcd that opposing' inteivssts and
feelings should divide tlie two liritish empires— that one of Bri-
tish race should have to speak of eurhin;,' the power of the
United States. The causes which tend to disunii^n, it is to l)e
hoped, will soon be ren)oved. The United States will abolish
slavery, and Britain will throw oft' aristoeraticul donnnation.
The two nations will then unite in friendly league, "like sister-
streams, which some rude interposing rock has split."
t " We find the New Zealandt'rs in our service behave much
better than the British seamen ; we have invariably foujul them
well-behaved good seamen. I am sorry I cannot say the same
of the British in all cases." — (See T. B. Moutefiore, Escp, Par.
Evidence.)
" Theve is no nation more intelligent on land or any other
subject. As a proof of this, there is at the present moment
sailing out of Sydney a Mr Bailey (New Zealander), chief offi-
cer of the Earl Stanhope whale-ship, and, if he had not been a
foreigner, he would long since have had command of tlie ves-
sel. There are, at the present monvent, sailing on the Paci-
fic Ocean, ships with cargoes worth from L.20,000 and upwards
steered by New Zealanders day and night. Where they had an
opportunity of being instructed, they had shewn great ability.
Their farms had astonished every stranger. Every one is sur-
prised at seeing the beauty of their land, the weeding of it, and
the regularity of every thing." — (See C. Enderby,Esq. Par.Evid.)
" As farm-servants they are admirable ; and if the place is co-
lonized, no people will become better farm-servants than the
New Zealanders." — " Are they clever ?" — " Yes ; with just the
head-piece of Europeans, and just the tact of doing any thing;
the most imitating people in the world."— (Mr J. S. P.^lack, Par.
j%vidence.)
\2'2
NKW ZKALAM).
Hfts hIio not crcctrd {'oHh at tlu^ May of TsIjumIm uiul
in Cook's Straits, under uliose ^iiuh our nunwroufi
Soutli Sea wlialcr.s and our Australian traders (they
pass New Zealand homeward) could take* shelter
in cane of hostilities i She has done; nothin;,^ of all
this. She has only thouii:ht of a plan to afford
her ta pretence for preventini^ others (on the do<^-in-
the-nianger principle) from colonizini!: this valuable
country. She has sent out one* solitary Resident,
and made some sort of an acknowledgment of a Now
Zealand Hag.*
F
oil
nil
St]
wl
II.
liHpotiance of New Zealand as a remurc for proti-
sion'nin Aa^irnVia in time (f CAfreme droufihts^ and
()eneralhj as the granani of New South Ha/es.f
Another reason for the friendly occupation of New
Zealand in provident policy, scarcely second to the
• A i)roclamation, it is truo, wiis some tin\e past issued by our
Govoriior of New Soutii Wales, layiu*,' elaiiii to the New Zea-
land {^roup ; but this proelanuitiou has not been eoiiliiMoed by
any act of occupancy. It is said that France has renionstvated
ajjfainst the occajjancy by Britain of the southern island, — on
what just i)lea it would bo a little difiieuU to jjoint out. France
has the oecu]»ancy of North Africa on her hands ; and the inva-
sion of Spain by the Duke D'Ano'oulenie, to account for which
as caused the loss of at least a million of hunian beinirs to Spain,
and considerable expense of blood and treasure io Britain.
t It would be judicious to have a provision supply for New
South Wales at no great distance. The fact that all the indi-
j^enous mammalia in New Holland, with the exception of man,
are of the order ^Marsupialia, and that man hi'.i self (here a mi-
Horable starved wandertr), hough not marsupial, has also a fa-
cility of removing his young progeny, is rather startling. We
I
KRAHONS FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
12:^
lirHt, Jiaw, I boliovo, never been taken into view.
From t\u) unsteady climate and extreme droughts of
our colonies in New Holland, they, as they bc^come
more poj)ulouH, will bo periodically subjected to de-
structive famine, unless some neighbouring country,
whose climate does not pertake of the same vicissi-
tudes, can afford them supplies. Excepting New Zea-
land, the distance to other countries from whence suf-
ficient supplies could bo obtained is so great, that ex-
treme horrors of famine might bo experienced before
j intelligence of their wants could go out, and supplies
back could reach them. The drought three years
ago raised wheat from 4()s. to 100s. per quarter at
Sydney, and small quantities of potatoes and Indian
corn were imported from New Zealand, where a
number of British, attracted by the fineness of the
climate and country, have attempted settlements.
Such, however, is the insecurity of property in tho
absence of all law, that several of iho settlers, after
never see a provision of nature without a r/iflficiont reason. The
marsupials seem lower in the so lie of animais limn ihe other
mammalia, and calculated to endure greater extremes of climate,
and they appear to have existed ut an era when the conditioix of
this planet was yet too unstable throughout to suit the highei
mammalia. We are warranted in attributing thv> present ab-
sence of the higher mammalia in New Holland (organic remains
prove they have once existed) to tho periodic extreme droughts,
to which this country has become liable, having caused their de-
struction, or should their removal have been otherwise caused,
preventing their new distribution ; and it seems highly probable
that the pouch for receiving the young of the indigenous mam-
malia is a "ecessary circumstantial adaptation, that they may
remove their young when they migrate in time of the extreme
droughts in search of water and subsistence. The character of
the vegetation (different from that of other regions), with leaves
so peculiarly fitted for absorbing moisture from the atmosphere,
and withstanding drought, also merits attention.
124
NEW ZEALAND.
i
I
being stripped and abused, have been obliged to
abandon the attempt, and the industry of the coun-
try, British as well as native, has been turned chiefly
to the supply of timber, which does not encourage
depredation so much as agriculture. At any rate,
no quantity of food of any moment in provisioning
New South Wales can be supplied unless security be
afforded that man shall reap what he sows, which
nothing but the occupation by a British force can
accomplish. From the adaptation of New South
Wales for producing wool, and the sup- ior adapta-
tion of New Zealand for producing grain, and other
vegetable food, much of the vegetable food supply of
New South Wales would at all times be derived from
New Zealand, as it would be most profitable for New
South Wales to raise wool, and import grain and
other vegetable food. Emigrants would flock for New
Zealand in thousands were a secure footing once
established, and a judicious plan of land sales adopt-
ed; and the sooner this is done the better; the
longer it is delayed the greater is the probability
that Russia or the United States may remonstrate.
At present the former is driving civilized life, and the
latter savage life, before it, and neither could have
reason to complain of us.
III.
Importance of New Zealand as the Head-quarters of
, the South Sea Whale-fishery; that its occupation
f\ would procure to Britain a monopoly^ to a certain
"it extent y of this branch of industry.
There is yet another pressing motive for the im-
mediate occupation of New Zealand. No other
REASONS FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
125
liged to
he coun-
i chiefly
icourage
-ny rate,
isioning
mrity be
s, which
>rce can
i South
adapta-
id other
apply of
^ed from
for New
ain and
for New
ig once
3 adopt-
er; the
bability
nstrate.
and the
Id have
rters of
upation
certain
the im-
► other
branch of maritime industry has increased so much
of late years as the Southern Whale-fishery. This
has arisen partly from the recent development of
the business itself, and partly from the failure of the
Northern Whale-fishery. From the general resort
of the southern whalers to the shores of the New
Zealand group, in whose firths and bays much of the
fishery is carried on, there can be no doubt it is
fitted beyond any other place for the seat of this
trade. There are at present 15,000 seamen and
150,000 tons of shipping engaged in it. An econo-
mic alteration in the conducting of the fishery is now
in progress. Instead of vessels proceeding on a
tedious three years'* voyage from the United States
or Britain, the fishery is now, to a considerable ex-
tent, being carried on by boats or small vessels con-
stantly employed in the business (bay fishing), and
the prepared oil conveyed to Europe and other mar-
kets in common merchantmen. Nearly three-fourths
of the fishing is now in the hands of the United
States, and a little less than one-fourth British. But
were the occupation of the whole of the New Zealand
group to take place, there is no doubt, from the su-
perior cheapness and conveniency with which the
fishery could be carried on by the New Zealand
British, that the greater part of it would soon be in
British hands. It would afford a rich field for the
enterprise of the colonists and native New Zealand-
ers, to whose character and maritime habits this em-
ployment is peculiarly suited; and it is incomparably
the best training for maritime war. Th« policy of
immediately occupying New Zealand in reference to
this most important object is manifest.
120
NEW ZEALAND.
)'::■■:
it*
v&
IV.
Philanthropic reason whi/ New Zealand should be co-
lonized in preference to every other country.
In a philanthropic point of view, New Zealand is
a most eligible field for colonization. It is perhaps
the sole instance, at least the most striking instance,
of a thin or scattered population which would not ne-
cessarily suffer, but might greatly benefit by the im-
migration of Europeans into their country. The
aborigines of the greater part of America and of New
Holland are, or, when in existence, were, hunters^ sub-
sisting upon ^Qferw naturw. From long-continued
use, constituting instinctive habit of race, they had
themselves become, or were, in a manner,y^r66^ naturce^
altogether incapable of, or extremely inapt to, agri-
cultural labour and fixed residence, at least without
a very gradual change of habit extending to several
generations. As these hunters, in their pristine
state, have their numbers balanced to the hunter
means of subsistence which the whole country pro-
duces, the entrance of the civilized races, occupying
a portion of their territory, not only abridges their
hunting-grounds, but also by the employment of fire-
arms speedily diminishes the game in the adjacent
territory. Thence, if the hunter-aborigines do not
fall by the musket of the stranger, they are forced
by famine to invade the hunting-grounds of the
neighbouring tribes, and war ensues. Thus the abo-
riginal race is gradually extirpated by slaughter and
famine, assisted by the new diseases and intoxicating
REASONS FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
127
t
poisons of the stranger. (See Appendix, Note D.)
Much the same takes phice with nomadic nations, —
tribes subsisting principally by flocks and herds, —
such as the Hottentot and Catfre of South Africa,
who are also alrea<ly, or at least were, balanced in
numbers to the means of their jxidoral subsistence.
These, when encroached upon by and forced to re-
treat before the fire-armed European, have not space
left for the support of their herds. They are driven
by necessity to trespass in search of pasture upon their
neighbour's territory, and exterminating war is the
result. (See Appendix, iSote E.) On the other hand,
the New Zealand(?rs, in a country, although so rich
in vegetation, almost destitute of game, and with-
out herds of any kind, have been accustomed to raise
their food with the exce])tion of fish, by agricultural
labour (ei^^'.er by digging for roots, or di^-ging to pro-
duce root and, instead of being peopled up to the
means oi ^'^sistence obtainable by agriculture, do
not reach the one-hundredth [)art, their numbers ha-
ving been kept down apparently by their ferocity and
by anarchy. Th«.' entrance of Europeans in a friend-
ly manner (such as is here proposed) affording them
protection to person and j)roj)erty, domestic ani-
mals, better implements of husbandry, more valuable
fruit-bearing trees and edible plants, al the advan-
tages and comforts of civilization, which tend so
much to the increase of population, and which they,
• " They arc very industrious cultivtitors for suviigos. I
should say they are an industrious ^x-'oph'. Tlieir idantations
of the couiinou potato and the sweet potato are cultivated with
great care ; indeed, there is not a weed to bo seen in them. I
have seen between twenty and thirty acres in one i)lace enclo-
sed and cultivated ; their piincipal food, however, is the fern
root." — (!See J. L. Nicholas, Escj., Par. Kvidence.)
128
NEW ZEALAND.
il
: f
from their character and previous habits, appear ca-
pable of receiving and benefiting by, must, instead
of operating to their injury or destruction, prove to
them the greatest blessing.
In the case of the scant-peopling hunter, the im-
perative necessity of an overflowing population, such
as that of Britain, is a justifiable reason for breaking
up his preserves. In the case of the pastoral people
of South Africa, it is unjustifiable to invade their ter-
ritory and disturb their quiet feeding herds, at least
while any part of the world available for British emi-
gration remains under the hunter occupancy. But
in such an anomalous case as New Zealand, where a
very scant agricultural population occupy a few strag-
gling districts of an extensive country, with the ex-
ception of these petty districts, to them entirely use-
less, and which, from defects in the social order and
other circumstances, they are not only totally unfit-
ted for populating, but are even fast decreasing in
numbers ; and where a steady general government
introduced by the emigrants would, in all probabili-
ty, remedy the consuming evils under which the race
is disappearing, — it is here, if we are at all to be
guided by reason, humanity, justice, — it is surely
here where we ought to locate our overflowing popu-
lation. In the case of a region only inhabited by a
few scattered barbarous tribes, totally incapable of
instituting any responsible government, and where in
consequence the country and adjacent sea are infested
with lawless bands of robbers and pirates, any nation
which possesses the power has a right to interfere,
establish a government, and colonize, — surely much
more so in the case of New Zealand by Britain than
in the case of Florida bv the United States,
I J '»■!
REASONS FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
129
)pear ca-
, instead
prove to
the im-
lon, such
breaking
al people
their ter-
, at least
tish emi-
?y. But
where a
'w strag-
I the ex-
rely use-
rder and
lly unfit-
'asing in
ernment
robabili-
the race
II to be
s surely
ig popu-
:ed by a
mble of
^'here in
infested
f nation
iterfere,
y much
in than
V.
The occupation of New Zealand the duty of Great Bri-
tain^ in humanity to the Native Tribes^ and for the
protection of British Settlers.
Independent of the foregoing reasons for establish-
ing a British Government in New Zealand, there are
other sufficient motives. Independently even of the
pacification and civilization of the native tribes, the
protection of British subjects, who, to the amount (it
is said) of 2000, are already located in the country, is
a sufficient reason for the interference of Britain.
These settlers arc living without law, exposed to all
the evils of anarchy ; the natives are incapable of in-
stituting or conducting a government, and the set-
tlers and their countrymen, who only are capable of do-
ing so, have the right of necessity to do so. From the
state of barbarism, and the diffi^'iHy of communica-
tion in so rugged and extensive a country, it is impos-
sible that any general or presiding native government
could exist.* The population are divided into nume-
rous tribes, who. do not intermarry, and who are in-
volved in perpetual hostilities, kept up by the savage
* " Your petitioners would observe, that it has been consider-
ed that the confederate tribes of New Zealand were competent to
enact laws for the propergovernment of this laud, whereby pro-
tection would be afforded in all cases of necessity ; but experi-
ence evidently shews that, in the infant state of the country,
this cannot be accomplished or expected. It is acknowledged by
the chiefs themselves to be impracticable." — (See petition of the
British Settlers in New Zealand to his late Majesty.)
130
NEW ZEALAND.
s %
ij.
i
%
principle of honour — revenrie. Although grouped in
tribi'H jind acting gregariously under particular lead-
ers against their eu( inies, and f're(piently holding so-
lemn feasts and deliberative meetings, and although
certain laws, or rather customs and forms, meet with
superstitious observance, yet there is little internal
government or protective law among the members
of each ])articular tribe. There is no sufficient con-
trolling authority, elective or hereditary," and little
habitual or moral resti'aint beyond the result of com-
mon sympathy with more innnediate connections, to
prevent the strong from preying upon tlie weak : ]<]ach
chief, that is every one who is not a slave, does what
he pleases, or rather what he is able to do ; while
the crafty avail themselves of a horrible superstition,
worked by subtle priests to sacrifice obnoxious indi-
viduals., and effect their ends. The condition of the
slaves, chieHy those captured in war, is deplorable in
the extreme ; the niide part not being allowed to mar-
ry, and both nudes and females liable, upon the least
passion or caprice, to be killed and dcvoured.t The
* " In tnitli, tlie New Zealand cliief has iieitlier rank nor au-
thority, hut that every person above the condition ofa shive, and,
indeed, the most of them, may despise and resist with imi)uni-
ty."— (See Oihciid Documents, by V. I3ushy,Es(i., Resident). The
want of f^overinuent, — tlie incapacity of nuxnkind, in a state of
barbarism, to establish a i»i-i'sidin;^ general governniiBnt, has
greatly conduced to the establishment of slavery,
+ It is no uncommon tiling for these (the slaves) to be butch-
ered and eaten to gratify the diabolical passions of their ungod-
ly masters, or to ajipease the anger of some departed relative ;
who, they fear, will come and di'stroy them if his anger be not
appeased. They that have eaten human flesh are considered as
deities while they are alive, and liy the nameof Atua (God) they
are often addressed ; and even the body itself, when the spirit
■
REASONS FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
131
general possession of war canoes, and the facility, by
means of them, of making predatory attacks upon
distant tribes, in the manner of the former sea-rover
of Scandinavia, has also contributed to reduce +liem
to the wildest state of ferocious barbarism.
Although the value of New Zealand has been known
since its first formal occupation and survey by Cap-
tain Cook, and colonies established in the neighbour-
ing islands in situations incomparably inferior, yet a
backwardness has existed on the part of our Govern-
ment to colonize this group, perhaps from the diffi-
culties in the way, — the ferocity, and comparatively
denser population of the aborigines. A fear has also
been expressed, that these tribes, under colonization,
might dwindle and become extinct, as has sometimes
occurred. It, however, appears that the New Zea-
land tribes are fast decreasing in numbers under
the'present intercourse with Europeans ; that many
places, a few years ago comparatively populous, are
now absolutely desolate, and that all the evils inci-
dent upon European connection, are already in ope-
ration, without being counterbalanced by the great
advantages which a more intimate connection with
Britain, a strong general government, and ihe firm
administration of just and benignant laws, would af-
ford. ,,.
. is fled, is called Atua ; so that, according to their view, they are
themselves deified, body and soul, dead and alive. When any
are afliicted among them, they say that the Atua has got within
and is eating him ; and in this way, according to their view, all
their afiiictions and deaths are brought about. When they die
they tell us that their left eye becomes a star ; the bright ones
are those of great men, the dim ones that of slaves." — See D.
Coates, Esq., and Rev. J. Beecham, Par. Evidence.)
Ki2
NEW ZEALAND.
m
The decrease of population now going on, arises
from a variety of causes ; — the introduction of new
diseases ; more destructive arms, and the disturbance
(^ the balance of power amongst the tribes, from the
acquisition of muskets by those more immediately in
contact with the strangers, the desire to prove the
new admired weapons giving a stimulus to their na-
tive warlike propensities. A stronger motive also
exists for making kidnapping inroads to obtain slaves
to carry on the manufacture of flax and the cutting
of spars to barter for spirits, blankets, muskets, am-
munition, tobacco. Besides, almost every original
moral or conventional idea, every useful social prin-
ciple of government or restraint that may have exist-
ed, is being unhinged by their intercourse with the
numerous dissolute sailors, and the convicts from New
South Wales at large amongst them ;* and even by
the benevolent efforts of the Christian missions ; the
general use of tobacco, encouraged by the missiona-
ries (See appendix F) as a sedative, and the spiri-
tuous liquors, introduced by a number of abandoned
settlers (often emancipists or convicts), combining to
brutalize all who come within their action. In fine,
the seeds of destruction have been sown, the poison
* " Numberless robberies have been committed on shipboard
and on shore, by a lawless band of Europeans, who have not
scrupled to use fire-arms to support them in their depredations.
" Your petitioners express with concern their conviction that
unless your Majesty's fostering care be extended towards them,
they can only anticipate that both your Majesty's subjects, and
also the aborigines, will be liable, in an increased degree, to
murders, robberies, and every kind of evil." — (See petition to
His late Majesty from British Settlers in New Zealand, includ-
ing the Missionaries.)
%
I
REASONS FOR ITS f'OLONlZATlOX.
in;3
on, arises
on of new
isturbanoe
s, from the
ediately in
prove the
> their na-
lotive also
itain slaves
he cutting
Lskets, am-
fy original
social prin-
have exist-
e with the
3 from New
id even by
isions; the
missionar
I the spiri-
^bandoned
nbining to
In fine,
the poison
)n shipboard
lo have not
epredationsu
iviction that
wards them,
■ubjects, and
d degree, to
petition to
and, includ-
I has been generally disseminated by ns, and no anti-
dote, that in the estimation of any practical man can
have a chance of success, has been applied.*
Something has been done in one or two narrow
districts. Much is expected to be done by the la-
bours of the Christian missions ; but, however valu-
able they may be as an accessory, there is little pro-
bability, taking into consideration the contaminating
influence of the numerous dissolute refugees and
^ foreign shipping, that Protestant missionaries can
1 efiect any general reformation without assistance, —
can of themselves ever succeed in combining, under
one steady government, these independent hordes of
savages, separated by natural obstacles and heredi-
tary feuds ;t at least Europe and America afford no
examples of such results. Besides, the social condi-
tion of the New Zealanders is actually retrograding,
— more injury resulting from the contamination of
the turbulent and dissolute crews of whaling vessels
and roaming sailors, convicts and emancipists, than
counterbalances the benefit derived from the Chris-
tian missions. The plain fact is, that unregulated
* " Unless the country should be taken under the efficient
protection of Great Britain, or some other foreign power should
interfere, the natives will go on destroying each otlier, and the
British will continue to suffer the accumulated evils of a per-
manent anarchy." — Even the very children who are reared
under the care of the missionaries, are swept off in a ratio which
promises, at no very distant period, to leave the country deso-
late of asin^'le inhabitant." (See official document, by T. Busby,
Esq., resident.)
t Were the missionaries loft entirely to tliemselvcs, without
other European settlers, or visits of shipping, it is probiiI)lo they
might succeed in making converts of the natives, in mitigating
their ferocity, and in establisliing some so)t of order.
lit !|!
1.34
NEW ZEALAND.
colonization is going on in the worst manner, and
chiefly by the worst characters ; whereas, by the pro-
per intervention of British authority, colonization
would be carried on in the best manner, and by peo-
ple of the best character ; — that government, as a
prevention of crime, is entirely awanting, — anarchy
universal, — distrust, envy, and rancorous malignity,
in place of good neighbourhood ; that stripping, kid-
napping, murdering parties, roam every where ; that
the evils — the worst evils incident upon European
intercourse, are in full operation : and that it is im-
possible to effect any good but by bringing the sepa-
rate tribes and marauding chiefs, and dissolute
settlers, under one subjection to a presiding British
government. It is in having paved the way to the
peaceful accomplishment of this, that the labour of
those truly brave men, the New Zealand missionaries,
is valuable. They have proved to the New Zealand-
ers, by their example, that the British, of a certain
class, may be trusted ; that they may confide them-
selves to their protection, secure that no dishonest
advantage will be taken of their confidence ; and the
best informed amongst the natives must see, that to
do so is their true interest. That Britain ought to
gi'ant them this protection, admits of no doubt : our
intercourse has t rought those evils upon them. That
it is our especial interest to do so, is equally evident.
A firm and friendly union between the British and
New Zealanders would soon raise these islands, sup-
ported by the immense though inferior territory of
Australia, to a pitch of prosperity, which would ren-
der them supreme in the Pacific ; and the amalgama-
tion of the two races (British and New Zealand), the
i
i
!
RKASONS FOR IT8 COLONIZATION.
I.T)
0110 tlio foninost in civilized life, and tlic otlior in
s{iva<j(! life, or natural stamina,* like (•ii<,n-al"tin^ tlio
finest vai'iotii'H of* fruits upon tho |nii'OMt cial), may
1)0 oxj)oct(Hl to produce a people .superior in physical
and moral energy to all others. t
No jj!;reater proof cojdd he afforded of the extreme
adaptation of iSew Zealand for a liritish colony, than
the fact, that ahout *J0()() iiritish have already hx.'ated
themselves in this fine eountrv, notwithstandin*' all
the dangers which surround them. When such a
number of JJritish subjects aro thus exposed to in-
sult, outrage, murder, and the natives, even in a
greater degree, suffering under these accumulated
evils, — evils which a [)residing JJritish gov<'rimient is
the only means of remedying or alleviating, — it is
surely morally imperative upon the Ihitish (jiovern-
• " I cannot repress a feelinj^' of deep rc^^ri't tliat so fine and
intcUifffnt a race of human ln'in<is should, in the present state
of ^'eneral civilization, l)e found in Itarharisni ; for there is not
on earth a peoph' in(»re susccptihh' of liigh intcMcctual attain-
ments, or nioro capable of hi'conunjj; a useful and iiulustrions
race \inder a wise jfovernnient. At present, notwithslandinfj
their fornnil declaration of indejx'ncU'nce, they have not, in fact,
any fjfoverninent whatever." — " That tiieir wars, which are fast
depopulating- this heautiful <'ounti'y, nuiy sooner or later Ite ex-
tended to our countrvnien, is a circur;; tance which it would ho
rashness to doubt." — " It becoinos, tlierefore, a s<demn duty,
both in Justice to the better class of our fellow-sultjects and to
the natives themselves, to apply a remedy to the ^frowiny evil."
(See Official Document, Letter of Captain AV. Ilobson, 1{.X.)—
'" TIh^ New Zealanders are a noble race of men ; they linvo a
body much stronger than tiiat of En;,dishmi'n in ji^eneral, and a
mind in no way inferior, did they only enjoy equal privileges."
(D. Coates, Es(p Par. evidence.)
t T!ie amalnaniiited race is sprinj'ing' up in Sydney, where
a number of JJritisu masters of vessels, who trade in tluise scan.
ceep
New Zealand wives.
•SI
41
13(5
NEW ZEALAND.
mont to afford protection, more especially when the
doing so would, at the same time, bo a means of put-
ting an end to those most horribh' practices, — oi'
effacing those dark stains from humanity, the exist-
once of which, not many years ago, oidy tlie credulous
could believe possible. It is an indubitable fact, that
such a combination of malign circumstances, consist-
ing of convict disposition to crime, sailor dissolute-
ness, savage barbarity, never before were conjoined
in any country in any age, all crying out to Britain
for protective law.
( 137 )
CHAPTER X.
PRKFATORY OBSKRVATION.S TO A IM.AN FOU COLONI-
ZI\(J NEW ZKALANI), WITH PUOrOSAF.S OF A PEACK-
C0RP8.
Having domonst rated that the immediate col'>ni-
zatioii of New Zealand is alike our best policy t.nd
our moral duty, the means of accomplisliHRnt fall
next to be considered.
Colonization is comparatively a sinij)le matte'*,
when few aborigines are in the way, or when thoy
are to be swept down without compunction, as the
incumbering trees of the forest, or reduced to slavery,
and made subservient to the progress of the settle-
ment. But in carrying successfully into execution thn
colonization of such a country as New Zealand, un-
der regulation of the strictest justice and humanity,
a methodical system of proceeding nmst be previously
arranged, — a strong moral and physic?^ force will
require to be employed, — and a consideiully greater
cost will necessarily be at first incurred, than would
be under other circumstances. An *;i portant (pies-
tion arises. Whether the colonizrvtion should be con-
ducted by Government directly (a Crown colony) ? —
Or whether it should be conducted by the settlers
themselves, acting under the direction of a board or
M
138
NEW ZEALAND.
corporation, resident in London, similar to the South
Australian plan I — Whether the funds necessary for
the expedition and the future government are to be
voted by the Jhitish Legislature, or obtained by loan
raised on the security of the proceeds of the customs
and land sales of the colony ?
Were the colonization of New Zealand as simple
an affair as that of South Australia ; were no obstruc-
tion in the way to prev(Mit the regular process of
taking possession of the land, and disposing of it in
allotments at a fixed price ; had the emigrants, upon
arrival, only to set al)out their agricultural opera-
tions in (juiet security ; were no considerable moral,
military, and naval force necessary to protect them
from a most barbarous and turbulent native popula-
tion ; were New Zealand not so very important a
position in reference to the conunand of the J^iciHc,
to the South Sea Fishery, and v;ven to the naval su-
premacy of Britain ; were its sup])ly not so necessary
as a preventive of famine in New South Wal(;s, and
in affording cordage and spars to our shipping ; did
New Zealand only stand to us in the relation of an
available field, like South Australia, for planting our
redundant population upon ; — then, perhaps, it might
be as well to leave the colonization to be conducted
on the South Australian plan. lUit, estimating the
vast importance it bears, politically, commercially,
and providently ; keeping in view the difficulty oi' the
undertaking, where civilized men must bo brought to
act in harmony with savages; taking also into account
that several strong forts would require to be erected as
/>om^ifc^'a/>/>?t/to the settlers, and as a protection against
foreign attack in case of war ; and moreover, consider-
I
ii
PLAN FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
139
ho South
ssary for
ire to bo
I hy loan
) customs
as simple
> obstruc-
rocoss of
^ of it in
nts, upon
al opora-
)lo moral,
ret them
e popula-
)ortant a
I'acific,
naval su-
nocossary
al(;s, and
)ing ; (lid
ion of an
nting our
, it might
onductcd
ating the
nor<Mallv,
ilty (jf the
rought to
o account
L'roctcd as
m against
consider-
li
ing the magnitude of the scale on which things would
require to b(^ conducted, so as to render success not
only not contingent, but so great as give an inunediate
political weight to the colony, I thiidv there can bo
ojily one opinion respecting the mode of o}>eration —
that the colonization should be conducted by the
Uovernment, and that the cost of the navnl and mili-
tary force, of the defensive erections, and of the edu-
cational and protective establishments for the na-
tives, should be l)orne by (ireat Jiritain. 'J'he plan
of colonizing which was proposed for New Zealand
by the New Zealand Association, was similar to that
which has been followed in South iVustralia — to com-
mence l)y a loan raised on the security of the pro-
ceeds of the customs and land sales. As all the
funds d<3rivable from the latter arc only the ditter-
once of first-cost from the natives, and subse<pient
sale to the settlers, no loan on these securities could
be adiTfditaxH'onsli/ obtained, sufficient in amount to
carry on the grand work, unless (lovermnent gua-
rantee to the lender. This plan, embracing the bor-
rowing of funds at 10 per cent, interest, would nev(T
have been thought of for New Zealand pninariltf. It
W{i<s adopted by the New Zealand Association on the
principle of imitation, from that of South Austifilia.
without a sufficient consideration of the difference of
circumstances. Had tlu^ colonization been conducted
on the South Australian plan, th(.> probability is,
that, from a deficiency of moral and i)hysical force,
it would have been attended with difiiculties and dis-
asters of such a nature as eventually to occasion far
more exp(mse to (Jovernment than if it had taken the
management from the commencement.
140
NEW ZEALAND.
i '
V,-
.{;?:
It must be borne in mind, that the aborigines of
New Zealand are a warlike and formidable race ;
that they have been known to assemble to the
amount of 4000 warriors on land, and by sea 100
war-eanocs, of from sixty to ninety m(3n each ; that
they employ the most insidious cunning in lulling the
watchfulness of those whom they wish to surprise ;
that their attack is like the spring of the tiger. In
taking military possession of any part of tlieir coun-
try, even after purchase, it would be judicious to
employ such a force, and such a demonstration of
means and preparation, as render opposition hope-
less ; while, at the same time, the utmost fairness,
friendliness, and attention to their comforts, and to
the improvement of their condition, moral and phy-
sical, must be shewn, and even respect to their pre-
judices. It must not be forgotten, that the abori-
gines in Chili, south of Baldivia (the Araucanians),
and of Patagonia (a race, though not quite so bar-
barous, yet bearing a striking resemblance in cha-
racter and personal energy to the New Zealander),
have always successfully resisted any forcible occu-
pation of their territory by the Spaniards. Their
country also very much resembles New Zealand, be-
ing one of the most desirable in climate, purity of at-
mosphere, productiveness, and especially in adaptation
to the British race (General Miller mentions a woman
of British extraction having twenty-seven'^children all
living). The succss of the enterprise, the effecting
a friendly amalgamation with the New Zealanders,
is of so much the more importance, as the same friendly
connection is also extremely desirable with those
sturdy Americans, whose country is only second to
I
PLAN FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
141
New Zealand itself, in political and commercial im-
portance ; and were the amalgamation ^'ith the New
Zealanders successfu', the same connection with the
Araucanians would soon follow.
The volume published under the sanction of the
NewZealand Association, describing tliat country,and
their plan of colonization, makes light orany danger to
be apprehended fiom the opposition of the natives, and
adduces their conduct to the missions, and their to-
lerance of British settlers, as removing all serious
anxiety on the subject. Those missionaries and
settlers, it state :, " continue to reside there in almost
every favourable locality in both Islands, not only in
safety, but the latter in unmerited impunity, whilst
insulting the natives by all manner of outrage, atro-
city, and oppression." Although this statement is
not a very correct picture of affairs, it is, however,
evident, that the British now in New Zealand live
under the protection of the native chiefs ; that these
chiefs find them necessary for obtaining the desired
supplies of European commodities, and sale for their
flax, food, timber, and that the " outrages and atro-
cities" perpetrated by the settlers upon the inferior
grades of natives, are only tolerated by the savage
chiefs partly on this account, pnrtly because of their
own inhumanity and selfish disregard of others, and
partly on account of a dread of severe retribution by
British cruisers. Tn the event of a British colony
being established in New Zealand, it is obvious that
they, instead of submitting to the native authority
and protection, must attempt to bring the natives
under the British control. This would grate most
harshly with their savage pride. And although at
142
NEW ZEALAND.
t -^
s i
present the settlers, from their Hmitcd numbers, are
regarded by the natives without jealousy, a very dif-
ferent feeling might arise from the arrival of a great
armament, and the military occu})ation of a portion
of their country, even after it had been purchased ;
and this feeling would not likely al)atc as their na-
tive authorities, customs, and prejudices, were inter-
fered with, and began to give way under the British
influence. It would be to despise all experience of
the conduct of other barbarous tribes in like circum-
stances, it would bo to hold the New Zealanders as
differing from humanity, that they, unlike Shak-
speare's Jew, had not the same " senses, affections,
passions," not to expect that a jealousy and bad feel-
ing would arise, and that disturbances could only be
prevented by a strong demonstration of power.* In
this view, I think the volume alluded to, by repre-
senting tlie enterprise as too facile, by undervaluing
the danger, and not sufficiently recommending pre-
cautionary means, may have an injurious tendency ;
in other respects (with some few exceptions), it has
considerable merit, and is highly creditable to the
talents and industry of the writers. t
• Admiration of, and disposition to snl)mit to power, is a clia-
ractoristic of man, wIumi the moral facnltios are nearly dormant.
The New Zealanders are not an exception to the rule ; a de-
monstration of i)ower is the more politic.
t In the a])])endix of this volume, a reverend author in doscrib-
infr ihoirofiil probable effects of civilization upon the native chief?»
— the curtailment of their nu>ans of suj^port by the abolition of
slaverv,— states, " it would be a sad thin«r to see the New Zealand
chief transfornu'd into the mechanic, the labourer, the petty store-
keeper, oreven the harpooner; and yet, what elseeould wo expect,
PLAN FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
14.S
jrs, are
ery dif-
a great
portion
ihased ;
leir na-
e inter-
British
ence of
circum-
iders as
s Shak-
fections,
>ad feel-
only be
er.* In
y repre-
rvaluing
ing pre-
ndency ;
), it has
to the
The history of colonization presents a far more
melancholy account of its effects upon the aborigines
in modern than in ancient times. The primary cause
of this is evidently the greater disparity in modern
times between the aborigines and the colonists, they
being generally quite distinct races, the one at the
bottom of the scale of civilization, and the other at
the top ; and thence, so distinct in character, or ra-
ther nature, that a sympathy and friendly union does
not spring up upon contact. In reviewing the particu-
lar cases where civilized man has come in contact with
what are termed savages, we find, even when justice
and kindness have been manifested towards them, as in
the instance of the Quakers of Pennsylvania, that
effects equally disastrous have followed ; and it is only
in cases when there is a higher motive than the indi-
vidual worldly advantage of the civilized man — wlicn
religious enthusiasm is the guiding power, or at least
the exerted power, that there is any difference oi" re-
sults. In examining more minutely into the cause
of the failures, we find a sufficient one in the wild
roving instinct of the savage, who sinks into apathy
, is a clia-
(lonnant.
lie ; a de-
in (Icscrib-
ive cliiefe»
bolition of
w Zealand
lottvstort'-
wo CXp'Tt,
unless we suppose him the proud and sulky recipient of poor-law
liounty." — (Seei)age4()5). Perhapsit is not very dithcult todoter-
uiine what class of readers the above remark has been intended to
please ; and yet even that class will scarcely thank the reverend
author for the implied parallel, or synipathi/e with him in fan-
cyiiifi; the canni])al -petty-despot, accustomed to shoot his pretty
female slaves and to make a repast of their bodies, as bcintf s<»(f-
ly degraded should he engage in these nu)st commendable
branches of industry, or to regard the being a " r<ni>hnd of poor-
law boiinty," as more di'sj>icable than being th<> rrri/>ii;nt of the
gains of his female slaves by their conncctinn with Hritish and
American vessels.
144
Nr,W ZEALAND.
li
f ;•
when lie is not in lonomotion ; although, no doubt,
the character of that portion of the colonist race who
come in contact with the aborigines has also a con-
siderable effect ; they being chiefly reckless wander-
ers, — refugees from justi ;e and disgrace, who have
carried with them only the vices of civilized man, spi-
rituous liquors, and fire-arms ; or small parties of mi-
litary with their canteen-luibits, — all these being ge-
nerally without domestic ties ; and even the common
agricultural pioneer settlers being of the rudest and
most selfish description. The failure of the attempts
of the just and rational and philanthropic Quakers
to civilize their red brethren, j)eculiarly merits atten-
tion. It proves that some impetus more powerful
than they have brought into action, is needed to
overcome the apathy of the savage, whose eyes (as is
stated of the New Zealander) open like tea cups when
fighting is spoken of, but which close when you speak
of benevolence, and the comforts arising from peace,
steady habits, and industry, lleligious enthusiasm
of a less philosophic character than Quakerism, is
the only stimulus sufficient to give him energy to re-
nounce the habits of his race, and to preserve him from
falling into an apathetic state under his change of life,
— perhaps, nlso, the only stimulus that can give the
instructor sufficient ardour and perseverance. Chris-
tianity as taught by our different Protestant missions,
or by the Roman Catholic" missions, is the means
• The Roman Catholic form of Clristianity being directed
more towards the senses, is bettor fitted than the Protestant to
have impression upon the savage mind, and the Church govern-
ment is also much more authoritative — more influential, — ])ut
too much so, — so much so, as to be dangerous to after lilierty.
i
PLAN FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
145
doubt,
bce who
> a con-
vandcr-
10 have
an, spi-
)S of mi-
eiiig ge-
Bommon
lest and
ittenipts
Quakers
ts atten-
powerful
seded to
^^es (as is
ips when
ou speak
m peace,
thusiasm
erism, is
gy to re-
lim from
of life.
give the
Ohris-
missions,
e means
g directed
otostant to
ch govern-
ntial,— l»ut
r liberty.
2!C
which ought to be employed, at the same time sup-
plying the sufficient stinmlus,emancipatingthem from
their most pernicious superstitions, aH'ording them a
code of the highest morality, enforcL'd by religion, and
producing a sympathy and powerful bond of union
between them and the colonists. When they become
Christians, the gate is then opened to improvement.
The success of the missionaries in the ]*acific Islands
(although it must be allowed that their ministry has
been exerted upon an agricultural, or rather a horti-
cultural, population) ought to bo kept in view, more
particularly in reference to the plan to be adopted
towards New Zealand, the population of which are of
the same character.
It is therefore of the highest importance to embody
a strong moral force for the object in view. There is
no alternative, — either the New Zealanders must be
civilized, or they will be destroyed. Although a mili-
tary force cannot be safely dispensed with, yet, to a cer-
tain extent, will a moral force be more efficient in af-
fording protection to the colonists, independently of
the very valuable purpose it would serve in humaniz-
ing and improving the condition of the natives ; in
reality, preserving them from destruction. The cost
of a soldier (officers included) upon foreign service,
may be estimated at about L.50 per annum. The
service of many valuable men, highly educated, of
good abilities and moral worth, could be proeuied at
only the cost of three soldiers each, and their influ-
ence, as a peace force, would, to a certain extent of
number, be more effective each than ten soldiers. It
would, therefore, be judicious that a force of this de-
N
146-
NEW ZEALAND.
i
\
■ ,1
Hcription wore eniployod. A number of excellent men,
who liavc been educated for the Church and the me-
dical profeswion, — at present unemployed, and their
abilities lost to the country, — would thus be made
available to a purpose of high utility, as well as of ge-
nerous humanity.
In(lei)endent of the portion of this peace corps to
be attached to the native tribes, it might be judici-
ous for one of its body to bo placed with each de-
tachment of niilitary, to have a surveillance over its
proceedings, and to act as a peace-maker in case of
disturbance : the military not to be allowed to act of-
fensively unless tlie peace-maker had failed, and mili-
tary in small bodies, without a proper responsible of-
ficer, never to be allowed to go upon any separate
service. Hy means oj'this peace corps, a great, well-
combined, effort should be made to christianize and
civilize the Avhole native population of the group ;
forming normal schools, and even college^, for the in-
struction of native teachers, as well clergymen as
schoolmasters, and especially instructing the rising
generation in the English language. No doubt the
expense of this would be considerable. But it is with
this as with war, by emi)loying an inferior force de-
feat might ensue, and the incurred expense be a dead
loss ; by employing a sufficient force victory would be
ensured. It ought not to be forgotten that the late
war in Oafraria cost the nation about L.250,000 in
nineteen months, and the loss sustained by British
settlers was, perhaps, as much more ; besides many
lives, independent of the loss of our opponents, and
the stain of guilt. All this might have been prevent-
PLAN FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
147
[lent men,
I the me-
Liid their
be made
i as of ge-
corps to
be judici-
each de-
le over its
in ease of
to act of-
, and mili-
)nsible of-
y separate
reat, well-
anize and
le group ;
for the in-
gynien as
the rising
loubt thi^
, it is with
force de-
be a dead
would be
,t the late
50,000 in
yy iiritish
des many
ents, and
1 prevent-
ed by a properly organized peace force. It is probable
that an economic arrangem(;nt could be made with the
different missionary societies to send out a sufficient
number of properly educated religious teachers. All
that is to bo studied is to guard against the forma-
tion of any dominant xoligious body or power, — the
most dangerous of all to liberty, and too often mad (5
an engine of State-despotism, but to which the mild
liberal spirit and principles of the New Testament
are directly opposed. This could best be provided
against, by giving encouragement to, or employing
properly educated teachers of all persuasions, and
the assemblage of creeds and opinions would form an
useful school for christian forbearance and liberality.
They are ..ot Christians who object to this.
In proceeding to colonize a. country alr(>ady con-
taining a considerable population of the most warlike
character, and provided with fire-arms, it becomes
matter of ^lice consideration how best to regulate the
colonizing materiel and system of operation, so as to
accomplish the end in view in the most effectual and
cheapest manner, and with least risk of loss or suffer-
ing either to the emigrants or indiqenw. Along with
a sufficient and well-api)ointed moral force, I would
propose the following organization of a defensive and
combined-labour nucleus for the colony, as not only af-
fording confidence to intending emigrants, but being
in many respects suited to existing circumstances.
Independently of the extremely important advan-
tage of a supply of combined labour, a particular
reason for the adoption of a military and labour co-
lony corps IS THE NECESSITY OF A STRONG MILITARY
forcf:, and THE demoralizing and depopulating
148
NEW ZEALAND.
^
fl j
n
'- m
EFFECT OF ANY SUCH FORCE WHEN IT IS HELD DIS-
TINCT FROM SOCIETY, not possessed of the means of
marrying and rearing families, — not bound by do-
mestic ties. It is well known that in our regular
army the rei)roductiveness is next to nothing, and
also that it renders a vast number of females unpro-
ductive. It icould also he unprojitahle and absurd {tJcat
it has been generally practised does not lessen the absur-
dity) to keep men in this situation in a country u'here
a British population is the great desideratum. Even
the few soldiers of the line necessary for models
and garrison-duty in New Zealand, and the seamen
of the war-vessels, should have it guaranteed them
that should they marry they would not be removed
permanently from the colony.* Not attending to this
principle has incalculably retarded the growth^ and de-
based the morals of our colonies^ and has never, I be-
lieve, been sufficiently estimated. By far the great-
est injury to the New Zealanders, arising from their
intercourse with Europeans and Americans, is caused
by the resort of the South Sea whalers, and the con-
nection of the seamen with the native women. No-
• When the Dromedary (Government ship) was out at New
Zealand about eijj^hteen years ago, loading spars for the British
navy, she was detained ten months proeuring a cargo, and the
sailors and marines during this stay had nearly an equal num-
ber of New Zealand girls constantly with them in the vessel and
individually associated as wives. Upon sailing, these women,
nearly the whole of them enceinte^ were, by order, driven out of
the vessel perforce. — (See Capt, Cruise's account.) The same
is occurring every day with our whalers ; and, nevertheless,
scarcely a child of the mixed race is to be seen. Perhaps the
l)ower of disci[)line over British soldiers and sailors was never
more strongly exemplified than in their obeying orders in the
above case of the Dromedary.
m;!
PLAN FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
141>
:ld dis-
leans of
by do-
regular
,ng, and
9 unpro-
%rd {tlmt
\e ahsur-
ry where
. Even
' models
' seamen
ed them
removed
tig to tim
, and de-
rer, I be-
\G great -
om their
is caused
the con-
en. No-
Ht at New
tlie British
o, and the
qiial num-
vessel and
so women,
ivon out of
'I'he same
vertheless,
'(>rhaps the
was never
lers in the
thing can put a stop to these demoralizing an<l de-
populating practices but the change before stated
taking place in the mode of carrying on the fishery,
a change which the occupation of New Zealand would
soon bring about. Those carrying on the fishery
would then have wives and families located in New
Zealand.
150
CHAPTER XI.
PLAN OF A PROTECT I Nfi AND COMniNAI3LE-LA140l R
NUCLEUS FOR THE COLONY.
m
I
1. That from 000 to 1000 men (best Scots or
Knglish or northern Irinh), activo hibourers, liouso-
cart-plough-mill-ship-wri/lhts, saw- milUTH, i)h)ugh-
men, masons, smithw, gardeners, coast-fishers, tailors,
schoohnasters, — be enHsted to serve five years (after
arrival) in a New Zealand local infantry, — a clear
and specific bargain being entered into betwixt the
(lovernment and the enlisting men in regard to the
nature of the service, conditions, treatment.
2. That a number of Serjeants, or those capable
of being Serjeants, men of good character, be drafted
into it from the lino to act as disciplinarians ; meri-
torious soldiers having families, to have a preference.
3. That this corps be officered by practical men of
good education, — if possible, by emigrating capital-
ists and engineers, — a proportion of half-pay officers,
agriculturists, and master builders would be useful.
4. That a committee of selection bo formed pre-
vious to the enlistment, to accept of picked men
only, of industrious habits and good character, hand-
some fellows of fine muscular and cerebral develop-
ment. The more discriminating nicety shewn by the
selection committee, the greater the difficulty of ad-
mission, the more numerous would be the applicants.
PLAN FOR IT8 COLONIZATION.
Ul
5. That two-thinls at l<*ast of this rorps funiiMh
tlu'iiisclvcM with young women to acconipimy them in
the rxpcdition. The men to rccM'ivc partieuhir in-
junctions to chooHo mates who would not oventiMilly
bring disgrace on the colony. The women to rcvjcive
rations till their gardens beeome j)roductive.
a. 'J'hat th(? eorpfl, ai'ter reaching New Zealand,
be a few w<K'ks yearly in military training, so as to
keep up a proper discipline, and at other times be
employed as labourers and artisans in tin* necessary
public; erections and improveujcnts, thi-ir work being
within daily access of their dwellings.
7. That every man receive an acre or more of
good garden ground, with a suitable house erected
by the corps upon it, as soon as possible after arri-
val ; and that four weeks annually be allowed him
for working the same in proper season, — of course
his pay deducted for this time.
8. That no part of the corps, on any account what-
ever, be removed from New Zealand without their
own consent.
9. That clever artisans, fishers, &c. receive ono-
third more pay than the common labourers for the
time they are at work, and that a sufficient stimulus
for exertion be kept up by granting rewards of addi-
tional ground to the most active and deserving.
10. That as the best means of j)reserving peace is
to be prepared for war, the corps be embodied seve-
ral months previous to embarking, and brought to
that efficiency of discipline, as, in case of necessity,
to be able for actual service on landing.
11. That a corps of about 300 soldiers of the re-
gular army, — foot, artillery, riflemen, a small rocket
152
NEW ZEALAND.
corps, and a few cavalry, — to servo as patterns to the
H
local corpH, jind to garrison the forts,
ems
icconipany
the
expedition.
12. That three vessels, a frigate, a small sloop of
war, and a small gun-boat steamer, also accompany
the expedition : these to be constantl}' employed in vi-
siting the ditterent settlement stations, and in making
a com[)k'te nautical survey of the coast and harbours
of the group, for the construction of charts. A na-
val force thus em])loyed would be by far the most
overawing. The New Zealanders are a maritime
p^'ople, having many war and fishing canoes, and the
whole of these, from the one end of the group to the
other, would thus be at our mercy. Independent of
any relation to the New Zealand colony, there would
be no loss in a naval force of considerably more
strength being stationed here, — !t could he profifahly
employed in the whale-Jishet'i/ ; nothing would tend so
much to nuUio fine seamen ;* and, in the event of
war with America oi* ivussia, it would be ready to
act on (ine of our most exposed positions in protect-
ing our Australian colonies and our South Sea fishery.
l.*3. That the garrison soldiers and seamen of the
war- vessels be encouraged to have wives and fami-
lies in the colony, and, in the event of their marry-
ing, not to be removeable from the group of islands
for tmy long period of time.
* IIuntin{f tho tij^iT or tho olcpliant is c-liiU-play to lumtlnf>-
tho {fiHiat s|>('nM wluile. Our youiijier aristot-racy, — nautical
Niinrods,- would take to tho sjxirt can amort'. Tlic ^luisi' of
those black SiMMUonstrrs wt)uKl ln' exc'lloiit traiiiiu"; tor tho
chaso ol" an onciny, and a little pri/.c-uioney would be going. —
(Sv'e Appendix, (i.)
PLAN FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
lo3
14. That no convicts bo udinitted into New Zeu-
land, except perliaps for the purpose of erecting one
or more forts on the coast in connnandinfj situations,
under whose guns our sliipping niight lie in security,
h'roin tlie paramount importance of the position of
New Zealand as conunanding the whole l*aciHc trade,
and as Cook's Strait is the natural thoroughfare for
homeward-hound Australian traders, several strong
harhour-forts would be necessary. That convicts so
employed be kept secluded from the colonists, and re-
moved from the islands when the works are tiiiished.
15. That emancipists be excluded, as otherwise,
from the i)roximity to New South Wales, they would
Hock to New Zealand in such numbers us to become
a nudignant moral pest.
10. That ardent spirits, as being e(|ually a moral
and mortal pest to savage life, be (dso excluded.
Tim history of the Jh'itish aiul Anglo-American con-
nection with the imcivilized races of mankind exem-
plify in every instance the absolute necessity of this
r(fgulation. The French, Spaniards, and Portuguese,
have amalgamated better with uncivilized races than
the Hritish, and their contact, leaving out cases of
actual slaughter and com[)ulsory unwholesome labour
in mines, has not been attended with the same fatal
effects. This has arisen chieHy from their more tem-
jjerate habits, and not traifickingso nmch in s]>irituouH
li(|uors as the Ihitish. 'J'he law respecting (dl modi-
fications of alcohol should be, that it be d(?stroycd
when foimd, and the possessors banished the islands.
Treaties should, if possible, be entered into with the
native tribes to this effect, — the object being explain-
ed. The temporanco c;lause will, besides, afford an
154
NEW ZEALAND.
\V'
il'
excellent test of proper settlers. With the cLause
the success of the colony, and the civilization and
prosperity of the aborigines, is higldy probable ; with-
out this clause the colony, by force of arms, by the
exertion of Hritish power, may be successful, but the
destruction of the aborigines is almost inevitable.
The New Zealand group, by reason of its p'»sition,
extent, resources, and more temperate climat<\ befit-
ting it for higher civilization and denser population,
is naturally calculated to give the impress of its mo-
rals and institutions to the numerous Pacific groups
peopled by the Mahiyan race, as well as to Australia.
Tlierefore is the prosperity and civilization of the
native New Zealand Malay i)opulation, and their
friendly amalgamation with the British, the higher
an object, and every thing necessary or conducive
thereto, as temperance, high princij)le, humanity,
more onerous in duty and policy. Surely the intend-
ing settler must bo altogetlun' devoid of ])hilanthr()py
and of i)roper liritish feeling, who gives one thought
to the subject, — to the greatness of the purpose to
be served, — and who can for a moment deliberate re-
specting the eligibility of excluding spirituous licpiors.
17. That all settlers able to bear arms be organi-
zed in militia corps, and properly disciplined.
As the New Zealand infantry will have no charges
of cavalry to withstand, and as the natives bear a
great respect to double-barrel guns, acknowledging
no other authority than the number of nuiskets, it
might perhaps be worth considering whether it would
not be proper to arm one-half of the infantry with
double-barrel guns and short hanger, and the other
with long-ranging rifle, pistol, and hanger. It has
PLAN FOR ITS COLONIZATION.
155
he claust'
ition and
jIo ; with-
is, by the
1, but the
iievitable.
position,
at<', belit-
)Inilation,
i)f' its mo-
ic groups
\.U8tralia.
)n of the
md their
le higher
jonchicive
uinanity,
e intend-
unthropy
) thought
iirpose to
)erate re-
us li(piors.
e organ i-
d.
> charges
8 boar a
wledging
iskets, it
• it would
itrv with
he other
It haw
been found advantageous to arm some of our Cape
corps in this manner. These arms would be more
efficient in bush-fighting than thos«' in eonnnon use,
and the hanger would bo indispens[ible for cutting
the way through the lianries and tall fern.
( 150 )
CHAPTER XII.
NKCESSARY SUPPLIES — LOCATION OV TIIK COLONIZINCJ
EXPEDITION — I'VUCIIASE AND SALE OF LANDS TO
COLONISTS — TITLES, REGISTRATION, &('.
iS applies. — Every thing necessary for the colony —
clothing, iron, hardware, tools, ini})lenients — for two
years to come, would recjuire to be carried out with
the expedition, or follow in a few months after, when
warehouses shall bo got ready to receive them. As
a considerable quantity of ])ork, potatoes, Indian
corn, &c., are to be had in New Zealand, and the
country b(.'ing only one or two weeks'* sail from New
South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, it will not be
necessary to carry out the whole supply of provisions.
The animal food and breeding stock will be obtained
on the spot or from New South Wales, and the supply
of vegetables can soon be raised in abundance. But
with respect to the grain, rice and flour, it icillbe/of
several 1/ears muck more economical to import the icliole
from the Baltic and India^ whence these articles can
be had, including freight, at a much lower rate than
the average price at Van Diemen's Land or New
South Wales, and at much less cost than the value of
the labour necessary to raise them on the spot. This
arrangement would leave the whole labour of the co-
NECESSARY SUPPLIES.
157
iLONlZIN(J
.ANDS TO
colony —
— for two
I out with
fter, when
icni. As
s, Indian
, jind the
roni New
vill not be
irovisions.
obtained
he supply
nee. But
u- ill he for
the whole
tides can
rate than
or New
value of
)ot. This
f the CO-
lony disposable for purposes of improvement, — erect-
ing proper buildings, fences, bridges, road-making,
— rearing stock, nurseries, fruit-bearing trees, and
the thousand-and-one indispensables. In importing
grain from the Baltic or Black Sea, it would be ne-
cessary to have it put on boanl in the best condition,
either kiln-dried, or dried from exposure to a sum-
mer's drought, and to have a metallic lining (zinc or
h'ad sheets) to the vessels with sufficient dunnage;
best to have a vessel with bilge pumps. It would
also bo of advantage to have a (pumtity of Hour,
made from very dry wheat, and of liigh-dried oat-
meal, taken (mt m large boxes lined with tin-paper.
Flour and meal thus prepared and j)reserved, will
remain sweet for a number of years. Nothing would
tend so much to the prosperity of the colony, and
the forwarding of imj)rovenu'nts, as a chea}) foreign
supply of grain for several years, sold to emigrants
at prime cost and charges. Of course, a consider-
able (piantity nould require to be kept in store to
•ruard aifainst sea-accident.
Location of the Coloniziuff E.vpedition. — In or«ier
the more effectuallv to extend our influence over the
whole country, and accomplish its speedy pacification
and improv(>ment, it would be necessary to occupy
at least thre(» dilFerent points in force. Separating
the armament in three divisions, one division might
locate at the Hay of Islands, having a wing extend-
ing westward to the Hokianga ; another could locate
at Port-Kaipara, occupying the isthnuis, and extend-
ing south to the mouth of and along the Waikato
rivers, fhis location could have a communication
158
NEW ZKAf.AND.
by a lino of posts kopt up with the other at the Bay
of Islands and Hokianga, being only about seventy
miles distant from both places. The third division
would recpiire to locate in Cook'^s Straits, either at
Port-Nicolnon, or in Queen Charlotte Sound and
Cloudy Hay ; best on both sides of the straits. In-
dependent of these grand divisions, smaller nuclei of
civilization would require to be organized and esta-
blished with each tribe or combined cluster of tribes
who could be induced to receive them, to consist of
a resident or native i)rotector (emi)owered to make
purchases of territory in name of the Hritish Go-
vernment, and to take cognizance of British strag-
glers), and of teachers of morality, science, and the
more useful arts. From ten to twenty individuals,
according to the importance of the tribe, might suf-
fice for each establishment ; say one native protector,
one clergyman, one surgeon, one surveyor, several
schoolmast(M's, one gardener or farmer, several police,
Wright, smitli, shipbuilder, ropemaker, sawer, &c. A
comnnuiication, by regular visits of the naval force,
would re<iuire to bo kept up with these establish-
ments, by means of which any warlike preparation,
or general intended rising on the part of the natives,
could be made known at headquarters. An officer
of the highest responsibility (perhaps the governor
himself) to visit all these establishments annually,
with great discretionary power.
Purchase and Sale of Lands to Colonists, Titles,
Her/ ist rat ion. — The purchase of all lands from the
native tribes will require to bo made by the British
Government through her accredited agents, and
SALE OF LANDS TO COLONISTS.
15.0
at the Bay
ut seventy
•d division
, either at
■jound and
raits. In-
)r nuclei of
and esta-
er of tribes
consist of
d to make
h-itish Go-
itish strag-
ce, and the
individuals,
might suf-
? protector.
or, several
oral police,
iver, &c. A
laval force,
establish-
reparation,
he natives,
An officer
governor
annually,
Istit, Titles,
from the
ho British
^ents, and
afterwards resold to the settlers at such a prieo ])er
acre as bring the highest return, without clu'cking
the influx of the most useful class of emigrants,
working small capitalists, or too nnich impeding the
sales; the difP'rence of price to be expended in car-
rying out labouring emigrants, and in paying them
for work in constructing roads and other pubUc im-
provements after their arrival. Whatever purchases
may have been made by British settlers previous
to the arrival of the colony, should be revised ;^' and
in all cases where no cultivation or enclosing of the
ground has taken place, the (Government ought to
make itself owner of the [lurchase, by paying the
claimant the first cost, with interest from the time
of purchase ; at tlie same time giving him a choice
of a portion of it — say to the amount of 2000 acres
— at the (iovernment sale i)rice. In those cases
where cultivation or proper enclosure has taken
l)lace, all the improved land, with a corn 'spending
outfield pasturage (not too extensive), to renuiin in
the hands of the chiinumt, upon payment of the dif-
ference between the Government purcliase-price and
sale-price of such lands. Should the holder not con-
sent to this, that he receive prime cost and value of
improvements, and vacate the lands. The justice of
this arrangement is based upon two principles : l.s^.
That the natives have not sufficient right to dispose
of the wil(l(.*rness ; f/tcft the pro^ertif riqht of all new
lands lies in the colonizing (/oternment, by whose protec-
tion it onhj acijidves value. 'Id, That the extra price
• SoiiU'tliin;,' of an exptulii'ijcy foinproiiiisc is lu'rcssarv ht-re,
us many y»;Y'^'/*'/t(/ claiins will he inutlc, uiul tliiit it will ha im-
possible to dibtingiiish between the more uud the less valid.
100
NEW ZKALAND.
which (lOV'Tnmcnt charges beyond what it may pay
for the good will of the natives, is in effect no ])rice,
but merely a very necessary (compulsory) subscrip-
tion or contribution to carry out labourers in i)ro-
portion to the (extent of the j)ro})erty. It would be
extremely unjust that the purchasers, or rather set-
tlers, previous to the arrival of the colony, should be
allowed to benefit themselves by the labourers whom
other men"'s money had carried out ; that they should
reap where they did not sow ; or that th y should
not pay some efjuivalent for the increased value
which the protection of the British colonial govern-
ment would give to their estates.
As the <tf/riciiltitral improeeincnt^ and etfii the gene-
ral prospcritii of (t conntnj^ is malnlii depernhnt upon
the nature of the tenures of land properti/^ it is neces-
sary to have this very important affair put under the
most advantageous regulation from the beginning,
and that all British titles be clear, short, and after
one form, and a simple and correct registration
adopted. It would sate an immemitii of future trouble
and litiffat'wn^ and damape to societ//, to allow of no
charters, nor papers of am/ kind^ connected with the
tenures of land propertif, eo'ceptlng the reijist ration
book of the district ; in wliich a page coidd be opened
exclusively for crch property, describing its bounda-
ries, size, and owner , and, in the case of a transfer,
the parties to attend personally, in j)resence of the
register- keeper, and both simply sign their names,
the one as purchaser, and the other seller, attested
by two witnesses and the register-keeper ; or, in case
the principals cannot be present, that they sign a
stamped printed form issued by the register-keeper,
SALE OF LANDS TO COLONISTS.
lOl
t may pJiy
t no ])rico,
I aubscrip-
rs in pro-
would Ix'
'iithor 8('t-
, hIiouUI !)('
vera whom
lu'y 8houl(l
i) V should
180(1 vahie
u\ govern-
n the fjene-
ident tipon
t is neces-
undor the
c'ginning,
and after
gistration
fire t rouble
(loir of no
I u'ith the
iij'kst ration
3e opened
s bounda-
i trannfer,
ee of the
ir names,
, attested
or, in ease
ley sign a
L'
r-k
eeper,
attested hy witnesses, empowering him to make the
transfer in the register-book, in presence of a certain
number of attesting witnesses. In case of division
of the estate, a new page wouhl re(^uire to be ojiened
for eacli section. There never can be secure tenures
of land in any country while the title is dependent
upon stray pieces of parchment, so liable to be mis-
laid or destroyed. All our old mouldy pjirchments
— mere instruments for lawyer-pillage — should be
made a bonfire of. Wo shall never have good titles,
\'\^ pommoH^ living witnesses, and the register-book,
be the only title. Of course, the register-book must
be kept in a fire-proof apartment.
I)
( 1(5-^ )
CHAPTHR XIII.
TRKATMENT OF Till NATIVKS — ADDRESS TO TlIK NA-
TIVKH ON KEAC'IIINC; NEW ZEALAND, AND l'KKS81N(i
OCCUPATION ON LANDING.
i^ :^
Limits ought to be put to tho extent to wlueli
purchases from the natives are to be carried, secu-
ring to them for a certain period of years rather a
superfluity of land, than depriving them, although
by purchase, of what is necessary for growing suffi-
cient food and other supplies. At the same time,
every encouragement should bo held forth to induce
them to settle individually upon particular portions
of ground, intermixed with tho British colonists. For
this purpose, assistance should be given them in
making enclosures, and erecting dwellings ; presents
should bo made them of plants of fruit-l)earing trees,
and oven cattle; and they should be carefully in-
structed an 1 exhorted to cultivate their land after
our example.
It ought,, at the same time, to be a leading object
of policy, gradually to break up their savage confe-
derations and clan-system, by withdraAving the people
from the control of the chiefs, and by generous, kind,
and beneficial treatment, to bring them to look up to
tho Colonial Government, and that of Britain, with
TRFATMFNT OF THE NATIVKS.
Km
THK NA-
l'KKSSlN(i
to wliieli
led, sccu-
rath<jr a
although
mv tiiiK',
to inchice
portioiiR
sts. For
tlii'in in
prosentH
ing trees,
f'ullv in-
ind a ft or
iig object
^e confe-
lic people
•us, kind,
ook up to
ain, with
prid*' and grateful attachment ; in nliort, to regard
tlieins(lv<'8 as the suhjeets, not of a cannihal-petty-
(leMpot, hut of the (Jueen of Ih'itain — fre»> sulgeetsoi*
the greatest enijnre of the world. As the colony
progresses, the slaves ought to be mainnnitted in
some way or other, and the most perfect civil equa-
lity secured to all, as so(m as the l^ritish Colonial
(Government has ac(piired sufficient authority and ex-
tension to supersech,' th(,' wretched native anarchies
of clan-tyr.'inny and superstition. ANove all things,
every efibrt nmst b(^ mad»^ to educates the children in
Ih'itish literature, and to train them up in the habits
of civilized life: after (.'hristianitv, Uritish literature
is the grand lever to elevate the eharacter of the
rising generation, give them a Jhitish feeling, and
ada])t them for a complete amalgamation with the
Hritish race. Estimated in reference to New Zea-
land becoming a British colony, tlie missionaries
have i)erhaps misdirected their labour in renderin
the New Zealand language a written one, as it will
only tend to per[)etuate a distinctive trait, and bo a
barrier to their access to the grand source of know-
ledge and refinement.
In our conduct towards the natives, it ought to be
kept in view, that men cannot be driven to improve-
ment without sustaining more injury than advantage,
at least in the ultimate effects, that nothing can im-
pair the native energy so nmch as being crammed
with that which they do not wish, or may loathe.
They nuist be led to desire information and improve-
ment, and bo enabled by example and advice to ef-
fect it themselves. The advantage lies more in the
energy-creating imj)etus of curiosity an<l discovery,
^,
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1(U
NEW ZEALAND.
than in the received knowledge. Means ought to bo
adopted, by enlarging their views, and cultivating
their moral sentiments, to give their strong love of
approbation or vanity a proper direction. Their high
pride of character, accustomed to run riot in revenge
and destruction, would thus be taught to seek its
gratification in the generous emulation to excel in
the pursuits of industry and social advancement. As
a feeling of self-abasement is the most injurious, and
of self-a[)probation the most advantageous, in ten-
dency, they ought to be treated with high considera-
tion, as reasoning beings, possessed of moral senti-
ment and natural sympathy, and they will be led to
act reasonably, and justly, and humanely. Places
of trust and honour should be open to their exertion,
and every possible use made of their assistance.
How far the keeping of any of the still existing
native social regulations should be encouraged, being
a mere expediency question, cannot be resolved till
the extent of the colonizing force is seen, and the
animus of the natives after the occupation be ascer-
tained. Were their customs only neutral in relation
to morality and improvement, they might be encour-
aged for a time, but as they are generally interwoven
with debasing superstition, and hurtful and inhuman
practices, the sooner they are swept away perhaps
the better.* It might be attempted to get them to
■ Lieutenant-Colonel Colebroke states, resijccting colonists
and aborigines occupying portions of the same territory, that
each should follow their own system of government alongside of
each other, and bo encouraged gradually to assimilate, in con-
formity to local necessities. " I have not the smallest doubt,"
says he, " that Aaron's rod would swallow up all other rods ;
that the native communities would assimilate in all essential
TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES.
165
)ught to be
cultivating
)ng love of
Their high
in revenge
to seek its
to excel in
ment. As
urious, and
us, in ten-
i considera-
loral senti-
11 be led to
ly. Places
ir exertion,
stance,
[ill existing
ged, being
esolved till
and the
n be ascer-
in relation
be encour-
interwoven
id inhuman
ay perhaps
et them to
ing colonists
erritory, that
, alongside of
ilate, in con-
llest doubt,"
other rods ;
all essential
adopt a regular government, with trial by jury, in
imitation of the British ; the Colonial Government
to confirm a chief or magistrates of their own elect-
ing, and to strengthen his or their authority in main-
taining order, as well over the strolling whites as
over the native population. In all cases of crime or
injury committed againt the natives by the colonists,
summary punishment ought to be inflicted (in part
always by fine, paid to the injured party in com-
pensation), as the consequences of such offences
might be of a very fatal nature ; and in the case of
injury to the colonists by the natives, their own sen-
timents respecting right and wrong should be taken
into account, and the punishment only directed as a
preventive of further injury and crime, and not in
the spirit of retaliation and revenge ; perhaps, in the
latter case, and in all cases of dispute between indi-
viduals of the different races, the jury or judges ought
to consist of equal numbers of both races.
The establishment of several hospitals, where the
natives could have medical treatment and main-
tenance during sickness and disease, would be of in-
calculable advantage, and equally requisite as a
means of gaining their attachment, as from being a
humane duty. The missionaries would be as merito-
riously occupied, and acting quite as much in accord-
ance with the example they ought to follow, in heal-
ing the bodily diseases of the natives, as in preaching
particulars to the European communities ; and that both would
become blended, without any compromise or violation of the
rights of either." See minutes of Parliamentary Evidence. I
fear that the social order is at too low an ebb in New Zealand
for trial of this.
166
NEW ZEALAND.
il§
religious doctrine. Every missionary, before leaving
Britain, should pass several months in an hospital*
attending to the treatment of diseases and wounds.
A number of regularly bred medical practitioners
would, however, be indispensable.
Address to the Natives on reaching New Zealand^
and pressing occupations on disembarking. — In order
fully to develope the resources of Now Zealand, and
place her as speedily as possible in a position mate-
rially to increase our maritime preponderance in
the Pacific, and cover our operations there in case
of war ; the good will and co-operation of the native
tribes must be secured, at whatever cost. Every
possible means must be taken to conciliate them by
useful presents, and to enlighten them in regard to
the advantages which an efficient general govern-
ment, a union with Britain, and the comforts of ci-
vilization would afford. On the expeditions reaching
their points of destination, the neighbouring tribes
must be instructed, through proper interpretc "s, that
the Queen of Great Britain has been sore aggrieved
to hear of their intestine wars, continual broils, and
horrid massacres : that, as though her people and
ships, the means of destruction, fire-arms, anarchy,
and disease, depopulating their fine country, has been
introduced amongst them, she has considered it a
duty to remedy these evils, and has sent us to teach
them to live together in amity, instead of fighting
with frenzied cruelty, and tearing out each other's
hearts like wild beasts : that we come as friends to
live amongst them, to cultivate the unoccupied land,
and to unite with them as one people, under the same
:
ADDRESS TO THE NATIVES.
167
pe leaving
hospital>
I wounds,
ctitioners
Zealand^
-In order
land, and
ion mate-
erance in
e in case
the native
fc. Every
) them by
regard to
1 govern-
3rt3 of ci-
3 reaching
ing tribes
3tc "s, that
aggrieved
>roils, and
3ople and
anarchv,
, has been
ered it a
3 to teach
f fighting
ch other's
riends to
pied land,
• the same
just laws : that every thing they possess shall be held
sacred to them : that we will purchase the kind wo
occupy : that a powerful but rude nation may take
advantage of their disunion to come and enslave
them, if we do not protect them ; and that, though
we possess irresistible power, we are incapable of ex-
erting it but under the guidance of justice and hu-
manity : that all war and aggressive inroads by one
tribe upon the territory of another must cease : that
all disputes must be settled by just arbitration, and
not by fighting : that we will defend them from the
aggressive inroads of all enemies, provided they do
not themselves aggress : that we come to cure their
diseases, to lead them in the path of prosperity, so
that they may increase in numbers and wealth, and
become a great nation : that we will teach them the
arts of peace, to build cities, to construct large ships,
to capture whales, to cultivate the earth with ploughs
and horses, so that their fine country may be covered
with corn fields, fruit-bearing trees, and flocks and
herds, and all their harbours filled with great ships :
that should they refuse to receive us, we will go to
some other tribes who have sense to know how ad-
vantageous our alliance would be, and that the tribes
we unite with will soon obtain supremacy over the
others.
Having disembarked, and got the colony and stores
under cover, the more pressing occupations of the
settlement will immediately commence ; some advan-
tageous position must be fortified to make our footing
tenable ; comfortable dwellings have to be erected ;
ground must be prepared for raising the necessary
provisions, and for laying out nurseries of all the va-
168
NEW ZEALAND.
M
pi.:
If'
liiablo fruit-bearing trees of Europe. Stock must
also be procured. As many as possible of the natives
should then be admitted as apprentices, with pay, and
under the most lenient treatment, into the various
works of utility to be carried on, and the capabilities
of the country for producing exportable commodities
as quickly as possible brought out. Saw-mills will
be set a-going, dock-yards formed, manufactories of
New Zealand flax, and whale-lishing establishments
begun. The friendly natives would also require to
be received into the colonial army, and the influen-
tial chiefs appointed as officers, and regularly paid.
Nothing would tend so nmch to procure their favour
as this. With the powerful assistance of the natives,
men-of-war might soon be economically built and sent
to India, or home to Britain, loaded with flax and
spars.
III!
( 169 )
CHAPTER XIV.
BILL FOR COLONIZING NEW ZEALAND.
The foregoing plan for colonizing' New Zealand,
with the exception of several amen< iients, was laid
before a member of the present Government by the
writer several years ago. A copy of " A bill for the
Provisional Government of British settlements in
the islands of New Zealand, prepared and brought
in by the Hon. Francis Baring and Sir George Sin-
clair, of June 1. 1838," has just come to hand (14th
June 1838), and a few remarks upon it may be per-
tinent.
In taking a general view of the plan proposed in
the bill, the prominent defects are the inadequacy of
the ways and means, and the pernicious system of
obtaining them. In the peculiar situation of New
Zealand, a strong military and naval force is indis-
pensable to overawe the natives, the stranger mari-
ners, and the convict banditti ; several forts of consi-
derable strength are requisite ; a considerable judi-
cial establishment is necessary to determine of the
claims of emigrants already located, and the disputes
and infractions of the law so frequent amongst a ne-
cessarily very incongruous population ; the religious
and educational establishments will be comparatively
p
170
NEW ZEAF.AND DILL.
more expensive than in an old community ; the sur-
vey department will also be costly (that of New South
Wales is L. 12,000, and that of Van Diemen's Land
L.6000, per annum) ; and all this is proposed to be
effected, in the first place, by borrowed moneys, at a
rate of interest so high (most probably from seven
to ten per cent. — the bill prudently limits it to ten),
that should it even be found practicable to effect
loans to the requisite extent during the first ten or
twelve years (before which time no great amount of
export can reasonably be expected to make a return
so as to enable the settlers to pay taxes, the surplus
proceeds of the land sales being restricted to carry-
ing out labour emigrants, &c.), these loans accumu-
lating, must entail so great a debt upon the colony
as to blight its nascent prosperity in the bud, and
ti e whole affair will turn out little better than the
famous South Sea bubble scheme of 1720.
What will also be found a very great defect, is
the want of adequate funds to afford sufficiently
strong civilizing educational and medical establish-
ments to be resident with the various native tribes.
Such establishments, in their tendency to bring the
whole native population and country quietly and
speedily under the British sovereignty, are in many
respects exceedingly important, and might save much
blood and treasure, and remove a fertile field of dis-
pute with foreign powers.
An infant colony stands in the same relation to
the parent country as an infant child to the mother.
The support of the parent is for a time necessary,
and, as in nature's provision (suckling at the breast),
should be afforded in the most cherishing manner,
NEW ZEALAND BILL.
171
y ; the sur-
Ncw South
nen's Land
posed to be
oneys, at a
from seven
3 it to ten),
)le to effect
first ten or
I amount of
ke a return
the surplus
d to carry-
ns accumu-
tho colony
3 bud, and
f than the
).
,t defect, is
sufficiently
establish-
tive tribes.
) bring the
uietly and
re in many
save much
ield of dis-
relation to
he mother,
necessary,
he breast),
g manner.
I
till the child shall have attained vigour to forage for
itself. This bill speaks of pursuing a different course,
and instead of bestowing nutriment and protection
as a parent endowed with natural affection would do,
brings the mother country forward as a hard step-
dame, or as a pander to the stock-jobber lending
out moneys to her child, at such high usance as must
enhance the debt in the space of about fourteen
years to four times the amount of the sum borrowed,
in twenty-eight years to sixteen times, and in fifty-
six years to sixty-four times that amount.*
That our crown colonies have been conducted in-
judiciously and extravagantly — that we have done
very good things in a very foolish and wasteful
manner, few will deny ; but is this a reason why we
should throw our infant offspring into the hands of
the stock-jobber, to suck out the very heart' s-blood
and marrow of its life ? This would indeed be a re-
form from mitigated good to unmitigated evil. From
the very great importance of New Zealand to Great
Britain, as already pointed out, it is as much her
interest to give a little primary nursing, as it is the
interest of the husbandman to harrow, weed, and
* The terr y on which the South Australian colony borrowed
their first loan increases the debt in this progression. Were
Great Britain to give guarantee, the money could be borrowed
at less than half this amount of interest, and to the requisite
extent. Under this guarantee the debt of the colony incurred
at the commencement and running on for twenty-eight years,
instead of amounting to sixteen times the sum borrowed, would
not even reach four times that sum. Say L.300,000 were bor-
rowed : in twenty-eight years it would be enhanced to nearly
L.5,000,000, whereas with the guarantee it would reach only
L.1,000,000.
172
NEW ZEALAND BILL.
1"^
ili
t>
protect the seed ho commits to the earth and lor
which he will reap a remuneration, ten, twenty, and
a hundred fold. That we find wo have hitherto
sown and cultivated our very productive colonial
fields in a thriftless and foolish manner, should only
be a reason for reforming our husbandry-practice,
for doing the thing economically and wisely ; not for
running into the mad scheme of getting the stock-
jobber to lend his assistance in the cultivation, and
who in the end would swallow up everything — seed
and all.
The clause which provides that all slaves belong-
ing to the natives shall be free as soon as the natives
place themselves under the British Government, is
too absolute and uncompromising. This would, in all
probability, be the means of preventing the native
free population, to any considerable amount, from
voluntarily placing themselves and territory under
the sovereignty of Great Britain, and thus eventually
be a hindrance to the emancipation of the slaves ;
whereas were the country once brought under the
British authority, it might soon be practicable to
effect their liberation. To bring the whole country
peaceably under the authority of the British Go-
vernment as speedily as possible, is the great object,
and every thing which may have a tendency to pre-
vent or defer this should be struck out of the bill.
A proviso could be made for purchasing the slaves
and for rendering them British apprentices, under
certain strict limitations, after the British authority
was fully established.
Another deficiency of considerable importance is,
that there is no stipulation respecting the introduc-
tion of a legislative assembly.
PROCLAMATION.
173
Tth and lor
iwcnty, and
vo hitherto
vo colonial
should only
ry-practice,
)ly ; not for
f the stock-
vation, and
hing — seed
ves belong-
the natives
ernment, is
vould, in all
the native
Lount, from
tory under
eventually
the slaves ;
under the
cticable to
le country
British Go-
eat object,
ncy to pro-
of the bill.
; the slaves
ices, under
1 authority
ortance is,
3 introduc-
B
With these exceptions, the provisions of the bill
are generally judicious, and the getting uj) not amiss,
passing a little superfluous law-foppery verbage and
some anti([uated formalities, which could be spared,
There is, however, a material defect, which nmst be
remedied. There is yet no absolute claims put forth
on the part of Great Britain to the sovereignty of
these islands.* The bill, however, regulates that no
person whatever shall be allowed to purchase any
territory of those islands from the natives excepting
those authorized by the British Commissioners.
Without a proclamation of an absolute claim to the
sovereignty, by the Crown of Great Britain, what
right have Parliament to assume these powers ? To
prevent others from purchasing is an indirect as-
sumption of the sovereignty. How much better it
would be to do the thing in a bold straightforward
manner. The following proclamation might suffice :
PROCLAMATION.
Be it known to all men, — Whereas the group of
islands, sometime called New Zealand, situated in
the South Pacific, were first formally taken posses-
sion of in the name of the British Crown by Captain
Cook before any other European or other civilized
man had set foot thereon : — whereas the inhabitants
of these islands are in a state of murderous anarchy
and cannibalism, shocking to humanity, and totally
incapable of establishing social order among them-
* The claim by the Governor of New South Wales, never
sanctioned or ratified by the British Crown, is not enough in a
case of this magnitude and importance.
174
PROCLAMATION.
solves, of reducing the numoroufl banditti or pirates
who shelter in these parts, and of instituting any ge-
neral responsible government ; and besides, as they
are so fast decreasing in lunnbers, in consequence of
this anarchy, and the diseases and otlu • evils inci-
dent ujiDn their present unregulated connection with
the Europetm race as to threaten ero long their
utter extermination : — and whereas a nation such as
Great Britain, which, from a superior social organi-
zation and the advancement of the arts of life, has
attained a very dense population, beyond the means
of competent subsistence within its own confined
territory, has a natural right to extend itself over
the waste or comparatively desolate regions of the
earth : and moreover, whereas a very considerable
number of British subjects have already located
themselves in these islands, subject to every lawless
outrage, and that Great Britain has the power more
than any other nation to colonize these islands en-
tirely, to establish a strong general government, to
check the evils under which the natives are fast dis-
appearing, and to bring these islands from being the
haunts of roaming cannibals and banditti, to a state
of high prosperity, where millions of civilized men
would procure a plentiful subsistence and lead peace-
ful happy lives — these good and sufficient reasons
moving us. We, the Queen of Great Britain,
Victoria, from this date, do
take absolute sovereign possession of these regions
and group of islands, including the bays and border-
ing sea within three leagues of land, under the name
of the country VICTORIA, as part and portion of
our British Empire.
it
i or pi rat OS
iing any ge-
loH, as they
HCMJUellCO of
• evils inci-
lection with
long their
ion such as
iial organ i-
of life, has
the means
n confined
itself over
ions of the
onsiderable
dy located
cry lawless
^ower more
islands en-
rnnient, to
re fast dis-
1 being the
to a state
ilized men
ead peace-
nt reasons
Britain,
do
3se regions
nd border-
' the name
portion of
NEW ZKALANI) BILL,
175
This bill for the colonization of New Zoalund,
brought into the Connnons"' House on the Ist Junt;,
was thrown out on the second reading on the 21st,
by a majority of GO, — 32 voting for, and 02 against;
the Ministry giving it their decided opposition.
The opposition of the Ministry occasioned con-
siderable disappointment and irritation to the com-
mittee and others connected with the association, as
they had expected the Ministry would rather have
supported the bill. This seems to have arisen part-
ly from a misapprehension respecting the means of
obtaining the necessary funds, the Ministry sup-
posing, when the committee stated that funds wore
in readiness, that the parties themselves were to
supply the necessary funds, and not to proceed by
loans, as in the case of South Australia. This mis-
understanding led to recrimination, and, on the
second reading, Sir G. Grey and Lord Howick spoke
against the bill. Sir G. Grey stated, " The Colo-
nial Minister mentioned, when the bill was first sub-
mitted to him, that he objected to dcvplve the
power proposed to be conferred by this bill upon
persons who were wholly irresponsible, who had no
substantial interest in the proceeding, and who
might at any time absolve themselves, by their act,
from the obligations proposed by the bill. From
the first, there had been distinct notice given, that
Government would not consent to allow persons, by
parliamentary sanction, to exercise sovereign power,
and to borrow capital. They would not allow irre-
sponsible persons to go into the market, and to bor-
row money under a parliamentary sanction." And
Lord Howick, in answer to Mr. G. H. Ward, further
170
NEW ZEALAND BILL.
I
explained, as follows : — " That the first view of the
case presented no positive grounds of objection to
the general principle of the project, but at the same
time, it was distinctly impressed upon the deputa-
tion, that any measure to which the Government
would give its su])port, must pay particular attention
to these two important points ; firsts That the sub-
jects of the Jiritish Crown should not be inveigled
into any scheme by which their lives and property
might be wantonly risk(?d ; and, secondly^ That secu-
rity should be afforded that full justice should be
done to the original inhabitants of the soil. These
two points were urged upon the projectors, as abso-
lute essentials, before any scheme on the subject
could be entertained by the Government. There
was one point for which he particularly contended,
namely, that the Government should have a decided
and effectual control over the conduct of the Com-
missioners. Now, he would ask, whether any such
control was provided by the present bill ? On the
contrary, the Commissioners oncb appointed, their
acts would be wholly beyond control, and themselves
irremovable \y any thing short of another act of
Parliament. He certainly understood, that the
parties were prepared at once to produce all the re-
quired funds ; and if he had thought, for a moment,
that it was to be raised, by way of loan, ho for on^
should have certainly declared that the project was
one altogether inadmissible. If the parties to the
project had themselves the money to advance, the case
would have been very different, from a speculation
supported by a borrowed capital, at 10 per cent in-
terest."" * * * "It had been said, that Parliament
NEW ZEALAND DILL.
177
had already sanctioned the principle of this bill in
South Australia, and that it had succeeded there.
He doubted, whether they had arrived at such a
stage in the history of the South Australian scheme,
as to warrant them in fixing a criterion of its suc-
cess. He did not believe that the interest of the
loan was paid from funds fairly derived from the
colony. He questioned rather that in a great
measure chey were paid out of new loans. But
there existed a great difference between the case of
South Australia, and that of New Zealand ; and the
difficulties, with which the project, in regard to the
latter, would be involved, were infinitely greater than
those of the former. There was, in his opinion,
neither sufficient protection to the property and
lives of the British subjects who are sent out, nor to
the aboriginal inhabitants of the soil, afforded by
the present bill."
The objections stated by the Ministry, to com-
mencing with a loan, is a valid one. It is a pity
that our liritish Ministry have not always had the
same repugnance to loans, and for which the coun-
try is now paying even more than 10 per cent, (the
due correction being made for the changed value of
money). The principle of government loans is alto-
gether pernicious, and the sooner the world is rid of
the system the better, although a loan could never
have been taken for a more laudable purpose.*
* Govcrnmont loans liave seldom been resorted to, bnt in
the case of war. They enable botli jjurties, after exi)ending
their own available means on the quarrel, to exjjend also the
hoarded industry of all around, thus wastinp^ accumulated pro-
perty, — depriving the world of the means of present comfort
178
NEW ZEALAND BILL.
The difficulties and intricacies which would at-
tend the home-directory scheme of the association,
applied to such an object as the colonization of New
Zealand, are so great, as render it inadmissible.
That scheme, as already stated, would never have
been thought of, as applicable to New Zealand, pri-
marily. It was borrowed from that of South Aus-
tralia, — a very simple affair, when compared with
the colonization of New Zealand. The association
cannot be blamed, but in so far as having taken up
(their means considered) an impracticable, at least
unfeasible project. The error lay in the mag-
nitude and difficulty of the enterprise, — the provi-
sions of the bill were necessarily defective, and inad-
missible, and Government finding, upon more ma-
ture consideration, that difficulties only increased,
were perhaps warranted in taking the decided part
against it, which they took. The duty of colonizing
New Zealand now devolves upon them.
A home-directory, or provisional commission, en-
tirely distinct from the government of the empire,
and of future improvement, and rendering the posterity of the
parties slaves to the usurious money-lender, or rather, as things
are regulated, rendering the industrious classes slaves to the
non-industrious. The Bonapartean system of levying contribu-
tions was much less objectionable. It did not approach like the
stealthy consumption, with fever excitement, and the flattering
glow upon the cheek, nor interfere with the industry of pos-
terity. The funding system is in effect a new species of sla-
very, cunningly devised, and dexterously brought into opera-
tion, under the mask of liberty. Loans, by the joint-stock com-
panies, are of a very diflFerent character, as the borrowers are
themselves accountable, and they cannot, as in the case of Go-
vernment functionaries, throw the burden of interest payments
upon others, while they make theii* own uses of the principle.
NEW ZEALAND BILL.
170
would at-
;8sociation,
Ion of New
admissible,
aever have
iland, pri-
)outh Aus-
)ared with
association
r taken up
le, at least
the mag-
-the provi-
, and inad-
more ma-
increased,
cided part
' colonizing
lission, en-
[le empire,
terity of the
ler, as things
slaves to the
ng contribu-
oach like the
he flattering
ustry of pos-
ecies of sla-
into opera-
t-stock com-
)rrowers are
; case of Go-
;st payments
! principle.
unpaid, irresponsible, with great power, and exten-
sive patronage, could only find excuse in the vast ex-
tent of business of our Colonial Government, from
necessity producing occasional neglect or delay, or
causing highly important powers and duties to de-
volve upon inferior officers of this department, who
may not be known to have the knowledge, abilities,
or character which commissioners such as those pro-
posed for the New Zealand colony would have. Yet
the responsibiHty of the superiors is an useful check,
and commissioners could be nominated by Govern-
ment, for whom it would be responsible. To al-
low any set of irresponsible men to have the manage-
ment of a funded debt, or to raise loans, would be
improper. They would have it in their power to
purchase or sell, or get their friends to do so, and
regulate the financial enactments in relation to this,
and not to the interests of the colony. The power
to determine the extent of taxation, — to decide be-
twixt the interest of the fundholder a«id the colo-
nists, would be a dangerous and invidious power,
and the possessors, in all probability would achieve
the ill-will of both. To put so important a colony,
and so commanding a naval station, in a proper state
of defence during peace (a precaution highly neces-
sary) would also be attended with much complica-
tion and perplexity of accounts. The chance is,
that debates and contentions would have arisen be-
twixt the Government and the New Zealand com-
missioners respecting the manner of doing this, and
the proportion of tlie expense to be borne by the
empire, and by the colony, which would have pre-
vented the doing of the thing altogether, or caused
180
NEW ZEALAND BILL.
.1
i5
'*-i
it to be done in a very inefficient manner. And, in
the event of war, a provisional government, distinct
from the government of the empire, would be out of
the question.
The indubitable fact is, that New Zealand, the Key
of the Pacific, is of paramount importance, politically
and commercially, to Britain, — more so than any other
colony or dependency in the world ; that the colonization
will be attended with considerable difficulties ; that
delay only increases these difficulties ; that the thing
must be done ; that to do it properly will require a
martial and moral force, greater than any provisional
commissioners would supply ; — and that it belongs
to Government alone to execute the great work.
( 181 )
CHAPTER XV.
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
A Consideration of the Effects of a ^'' sufficient " or
high Government price of fresh Land^ upon the
Prosperity of new Settlements^ and the Physical,
Morale and Social Condition of Colonists^ with an
Account of the Practice in South Australia.
Previous to concluding this volume, it may not be
improper to bestow a little attention upon an opinion
which has of late been prevalent, regarding the be-
neficial influence of a considerable price on new co-
lonial lands, more especially as its correctness seems
to be assumed by those connected with the New Zea-
land association, and the South Australian colony,
and admitted by at least a portion of the Ministry,
and thus may seriously afibct our colonial system.
The supposed merits of this new idea, " the suffi-
cient price," will be understood by the following ex-
planations by Lord Glenelg. " It is possible by fix-
ing the price of fresh land so high as to place it
above the reach of the poorest class, to keep the
labour market in its most prosperous state from the
beginning. This precaution, by insuring a supply of
labourers, at the same time that it increases the
182
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
Jv
i|i
M.
value of land, makes it more profitable to cultivate
old land well than to purchase new. The natural
tendency of the population to spread over the sur-
face of the country, each man settling where he may,
or roving from place to place in pursuit of virgin
soil, is thus impeded. The territory expanding only
with the pressure of population, is commensurate
with the actual wants of the entire community.
Society being thus kept together, is more open to
civilizing influences, more directly under the control
of Government, more full of the activity which is in-
spired by common wants, and the strength which is
derived from the division of labour, and altogether
is in a sounder state, morally, politically, and econo-
mically, than if left to pursue its natural course."
This supply of the labour market, kept up by " a
sufficient price" upon new land, obliging people
without the requisite capital to work as helps or
servants, and thus affording combinable labour, is,
according to Mr Wakefield (the originator of the
sufficient-price idea), to banish slavery altogether,
by making slave-labour a loss (plenty of superior
hired labour being made attainable), and to render
the community with or without a continued immi-
gration, " more prosperous than any that has hitherto
existed in any part of the world." Of such import-
ance is this land-restriction, servant-producing scheme
held, that the direction of the proceeds of the land
sales to the carrying out of emigrants, is regarded
as a minor consideration. The " sufficient price "
would (they assert) be attended with highly bene-
ficial effects, " although the proceeds were to be
thrown into the sea."
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
183
cultivate
e natural
• the sur-
e he may,
of virgin
iding only
nensurate
unmunity.
e open to
he control
hich is in-
li which is
altogether
md econo-
50urse.
1?
a
up by
ng people
helps or
labour, is,
or of the
altogether,
superior
to render
ed immi-
s hitherto
ih import-
ig scheme
the land
regarded
t price
hly bene-
ire to be
Mr Wakefield's idea is ingenious and striking,
and this restrictive principle, in some cases, and to
a certain extent of price, may work well ; at least
may be advantageous in increasing production. In
as far as the proceeds of the sale of new lands are
expended in carrying out labourers, and in forming
roads and other improvements of communication,
provided the price be not so high as exclude small
working capitalists, the plan is good. The necessity
of a supply of combinable labour in new colonies is
evident, especially at the commencement, as nmny
public works must be carried on ; but as things ad-
vance, that this supply will be required to the amount
generally estimated in this country, or that it is judi-
cious or even practicable to obtain this supply, in the
way proposed by the sufficient price, is not so evident.
The " sufficient price " is a term of rather difficult
apprehension ; but taking it, as stated by Mr Wake-
field, in the character of so high a price as renders
slave labour a loss, we have something to lay hold
of; and to this view of the " sufficient price," or even
to such a price as may act as a barrier to the spread
of the population over the country, and produce that
condition of agricultural society, master and servants,
such a price as they seem to contemplate, I extend
my observations.
Before entering upon the consideration of the
" sufficient price " scheme, it may, however, be as
well to notice a prevalent opinion connected with it,
which has been rather more indebted to poetical
figure than to reason for its popularity.
Sir "Henry Steuart's discovery of moving about
grown trees, " by which a desert can be instantly
184
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
transformed into an Eden,"* has been again and
again introduced by the propagandists of this scheme,
as illustrating the manner a portion of society, em-
bracing all classes and conditions as they stand in
this densely peopled country, could be transported,
or rather transplanted, to a new land without injury
or derangement. But our poetical reasoners have
failed in applying the simile to its full extent ; grown
trees can only be transported successfully at an ex-
pense so great as" to render them, not objects of uti-
lity, but merely the idle-pet freaks of those who
possess ampler means than mind to apply these
means to useful purposes. In like manner could the
removal of a section of society be effected only at a
cost immeasurably disproportioned to the colonial
value of the section. Besides, they have entirely
omitted Sir Henry''s prerequisites — circumstantial
adaptation. A section of close forest, with all its
longitude of fragile spray-adornment, removed from
its warm protected site to the bare exposed side of
a mountain, would be torn up by the roots, or re-
duced to splintered havoc, by the first storm, or be
withered by the scorching drought from the thinness
of the skin, and from the inadequate supply of mois-
ture from the roots — the roots being disproportioned
in this locality to the great extension of top. I leave
the fanciful to pursue the parallel.
Although it is neither desirable nor economical to
remove sections of society as they stand in this old,
densely peopled country, many of the members of
which are totally destitute of the necessary stamina
and independent tone of mind, and although work-
* See Quarterly Review, article by Sir "Walter Scott.
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
185
ing small capitalists, are, by their habits and pre-
vious occupations, the best suited for new settlers ;
yet is the emigration of the aristocratic class, at
least the high-spirited portion of them, desirable.
Many of these are the descendants of men who have
gradually emerged from the mass of the community
by some superiority ;* and such as have not a suffi-
cient revenue, precluded at home, by the conventional
rules of society, from engaging in industrial em-
ployments, have not the means of supporting a family.
They see the degradation to which the industrial
classes are subjected in this country. They are too
proud to drudge in another man''8 field and be his
election serf. State places and pensions, from pre-
sent prospects, are not likely to be a very abundant
crop for the future. The army and navy (active ser-
mce) are not reproductive employments, at least as
things have been regulated hitherto ; and should
they go to India, the stamina of the race sustains
certain injury. Thus it is that a fine body of our
fellow subjects, partly from pride and the influence
of factitious wants and prejudices (true Malthusian
checks), partly from honourable independent feeling,
are totally lost to the empire, as well as industrial
agents as reproducers. Emigration to a temperate
healthy country like New Zealand is their only judi-
cious resource, and a sprinkling of this class, should
they leave their besetting sins behind, might be use-
ful in diffusing the elegancies of social intercourse.
* World-going * superiority ;' not unfrequently a consequence
of superior selfishness as well as of superior energy and fore-
thought. Superiority in intellectual and moral perception in
tidelicacy of sentiment, in benevolence and humanity, is a dis
net affair, and often a bar to worldly advancement.
I8G
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
..*
Mi
SK
It would bo rofroshing — it would elevate our opi-
nion of the British aristocracy, to see a considerable
number of this class have the moral courage to
choose Spartan exertion to Persian indulgence ;
burst their fetters asunder, and start forward to
act a manly part as emigrants to New Zealand. I
cannot conceive any feeling more delightful than the
heart-bound of joy of the bird when it breaks from the
mortal fascinations of the serpent, — than what one
of this class must experience when he breaks clear
of those destructive, conventional, ideal agencies, by
which he has been spell-bound, and embarks to be-
come an independent settler in a new country. He
ascends to the patriarchal rank ; the toils and the
privations of what are called comforts are felt only
to be despised. He commences a life of utility. The
improved country around him is doubly his own —
he has purchased it from nature by his labour. He
enjoys the proud feeling that he subsists by his own
honourable exertion. He looks forward to a gradual
but certain improvement of condition, and that his
family after him, without being indebted to patron
or pension-list, will have a competency of their own,
and be engaged in the most healthy, agreeable, and
independent occupations. But to revert to the con-
sideration of the " sufficient price" scheme.
In laying the foundations of an empire, in plan-
ning the frame-work of a new society, we should al-
low no old world rubbish to enter into the composi-
tion of the modern structure.* Things must not be
• It is to be hoped that the accumulated rubbish of centuries,
constituting our English law, especially that relating to land-
tenures, will not be sent out. This is even very desirable in an
r I^
THE KCONOMV OF COLONIZATION.
187
made subsoniont to the luxurious existonco of a par-
ticular class, a state alike pernicious to themselves
and injurious to others. Even the production of the
greatest wealth must bo considered second to the
production of onan — his well-being, morally and phy-
sically, and his progression to a superior nature.
Hitherto legislation, the work of individuals or
bodies of a particular class, has been selfishly and
ignorantly conducted in reference to the advantage
of that class who do not form the tithe of humanity.
By the proposed regulations for colonization, the
same system, the rendering the many subservient to
the luxurious existence of the few, maybe aimed at, —
rather indirectly — half unconsciously under cover
of procuring the necessary combinable labour by the
" sufficient price." Of the utility of this plan wo
must therefore judge the more guardedly, as we are
disposed to be biassed by its seeming conveniency to
the leading class, by the advantage it would afford
us of a means of procuring an earthly paradise with-
out personal exertion, — at the cost of the labour of
others ; forgetting that we, or at least our descend-
ants, in a very few generations, thus situated, would
sink victims to the very luxury we so much covet.
In the mild delicious climate of North New Zealand,
luxury is much more to be dreaded than in the cold
bracing climate of the North of Europe, and is still
more dangerous, as what is termed the useful arts
and civilization become more advanced.
The causes of the rise and decline of empires, and
economic point of view. A vessel as large as the Great West-
ern would not suffice to carry one-half of the rubbish itself, and
the tonnage of its pestilent tail it is impossible to estimate.
188
THE ECONOMY OP COLONIZATION.
the sapping advances of luxury, have not mot with
tho attention which the importance of the subject
demands. It is chiefly upon the non-o{)erativo classes
that luxury has exerted an influence to paralyze na-
tional energy. The manual-labour classes are not
materially affc'cted, but in so far as being rendered
proportionally more of a city and in-door working
population, and having their varied powers curtailed
by high division of labour ; and under the American
system of the same individual being property-holder
and labourer, and well educated, no decline is to be
expected, but a steady progressive rise. As the de-
cline of national energy has been chiefly owing to
the effeminacy of the non-operative classes, and not
a little to the enervating disjunction of mental and
physical labour, every thing tending to regulate this
in a new colony becomes of the highest importance.*
A great mistake is prevalent regarding the utility
of combined labour in raising rural produce in
temperate climates from seeing the practice of this
country (a consequence of high-rented land, cheap
labour, and abundant capital), and from observing
the necessity of combined labour in our manufac-
tories, and also in the raising of some tropical pro-
ducts, in both of which the assistance of expensive ma-
chinery is needed, and where very extensive establish-
* ITow tliis can best be guarded against in any country hy
legislative enactments, is indeed the great problem. Certainly
not by fixing down the human mind in superstition-chains, and
should it at all be exercised, breaking it to move in a circum-
scribed circle, like a horse in the manege-lounge. The cultiva-
tion of the human species in reference to a capacity of modifi-
cation and progression to a superior nature is the leading ques-
tion in modern philosophy. — See Appendix, Note H.
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
180
ments, aro tho most oconoinical. Tlio oxamplo of
Now Soutli NValos, whoro tho Hystoin of master ami
servants, or rather master and shivoH, has, from tho
nature of tho establishment (a penal colony), been
necessarily adopted, seems also to have led to the
opinion, that the industry of tho other settlements
of Australia and New Zealand, though non-penal,
could 1)0 regulated most economically and advan-
tageously under the same division of labour, master
and servants. It ought, however, to bo kept in
mind, that, in the non-slavo portion of America (the
only case in point), this division is at least not in
usual practice, and that these States are progressing
faster in population and wealth than any others have
done within the records of history.
Tho productiveness of combined agricultural la-
bour in Britain being very much greater than of tho
uncombincd in France and Ireland, is not a case in
point, as it bears relation only to old densely j)eo-
pled countries, and to a state of extreme division of
land. The very minute division in France and Ire-
land, renders it impossible to work the ground cheap-
ly in proportion to the produce, very few of the divi-
sions being of the extent to give constant employ-
ment to a family^ assisted by sufficient bestial and
implements. The extent of farm cannot support a
plough-team, and in consequence, much of the labour
is to be performed by the spade, — a very unproduc-
tive disposal of labour. Besides, great part of their
time must necessarily be idle or broken on very mi-
nute tasks. In new countries there is always suffi-
cient scope for the full labour of a family, and a
plough-team is generally within their compass.
190
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
i
,:\
II |i
In new settlements, the same person being owner
of property, master and workman, he derives a dou-
ble, or rather a triple income, — the profits of capi-
tal, the profits of superintendence, and the profits of
labour ; and, in consequence, is not constrained to the
same severity of bodily labour as the European ope-
rative, who, for the most part, is only in the receipt
of the profits of labour ; he enjoys the means of a
fuller subsistence than the European, his children are
more numerous and healthier, while, at the same time,
a better balance of the human powers, mental and
corporeal, is kept up, and the man is a nobler being.
The practical shrewdness of the American Yankee
is the natural consequence of this. As soldier, sailor,
statesman, economist, he bears the palm away.
This effect is not limited to the individual. Capa-
city is transmissive, as the general rule, by descent,
it goes on increasing from generation to generation,
and becomes characteristic of race. The extent to
which it may progress it is impossible to estimate.
In new countries, it is not altogether from an in-
ordinate desire to be their own masters, or to be
land-owners, that combined, hired labour is not ge-
nerally in use, and that the cultivation of land is
chiefly conducted by working families. It is partly
because the hired labour, necessarily of an inferior
character, and not much under the control of the
master, from a variety of causes, is not so produc-
tively employed in raising grain or stock, as when
the master, or rather owner, works to himself. In
the case of agricultural labour, the same physical
impulse or force, being better directed by the stronger
mental force of the principle, will do more execution,
\m
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
101
ng owner
es a clou-
of capi-
profits of
ed to the
pean ope-
e receipt
>ans of a
Idren are
ime time,
Bntal and
ler being.
I Yankee
er, sailor,
Im away.
1. Capa-
' descent,
sneration,
extent to
stimate.
om an in-
or to be
IS not ge-
■ land is
is partly
inferior
d1 of the
produc-
as when
iself. In
physical
stronger
xecution,
and, in the case of stock, the eye and hand of the
owner will be still more efficient when competing
with hired attention. It is because the produce of
hired labour in new countries will not pay the cost
of the labour, that it is not commonly employed. It
i"^'. Iriven from the field by people working on their
own account. Inasmuch as free hired labour is
niore effective than slave labour, so much, and even
more so, is labour to self more effective than hired
labour.* In the case of raising sugar, and other
products where much machinery is required, and
where, to be profitable, things must be conducted on
a large scale ; of course, combined labour must be
had, and will be forthcoming either by co-operativo
or by hired labour, without especial laws to monopo-
lize land to one class, and thus compel people, who
have not a sufficient amount of capital, to serve this
class at a minimum remuneration of labour.
Further, it is perfectly clear that paying a " suf-
ficient price "''* for new land, or any price beyond a
merely nominal one, as formally legalizing the pos-
sessive right, is of itself a positive evil ; not only ex-
hausting the means of the settler, but also acting as
a barrier to prevent working small capitalists from
embarking in the undertaking who are by far the
most useful class of emigrants for temperate climates,
where the work is to be done by British labour, —
combining hardihood, forethought, industry, economy,
* Wherever piece-hired la])our can be introduced, with pro-
per regard to quality of work, it ought to be adopted. It is
nearly one-third more efficient than tiniohired hibour : — it is
besides one step removed from servitude, and has not the same
lowering effect upon the character of the race.
192
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
'YJ
WfP'
and professional skill. It would also be a great
means of preventing the better sort of labourers —
such as could make out to subsist with some degree
of comfort at home, from volunteering to be carried
out, and those who did volunteer would be chiefly
the idle, the unsteady, and the bad workman, who
could not, or would not, procure a livelihood here.
Any considerable price, — such a price as they ap-
pear to contemplate, — such a price as renders slave
labour a loss — would merely be an obstruction to
working the vast and productive mine, virgin land,
and, in practice, will be found totally incompatible
with the successful and rapid progress of coloniza-
tion. *
In all cases where the produce is obtained without
much land cultivation, as wool, timber, New Zealand
flax, &;c., a considerable price upon new land will
act more especially as a great check upon the pro-
gress of a colony, and the increase of its wealth. Had
the New South Wales stock-owners been obliged to
purchase at the " sufficient price " all the country
they pasture with their flocks, the export of wool
would not now equal the one-half what it is. It will
generally be found that people on the spot, when left
to themselves in actual practice, accommodate mat-
ters to circumstances better than though obliged to
follow strictly the directions of home economists.
The wide-scattered five-mile distant farms of the
* In regard to the colony of South Australia, it surely would
be absurd to expect capitalists to resort thither to purchase a
comparatively unproductive soil at one, two, or more pounds per
acre, when they could obtain land in New South Wales and
the United States at one-fourth the price.
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
19e3
Dutch Boors at the Cape were, and still are, perhaps
the best adapted to the condition of that arid and
poor country, and the highW successful New South
Wales flock-owners have had an almost unlimited
grazing country to roam over without cost. It is
also worthy of remark that the South Australian
colony is in effect adopting (though marring it not
a little by an attempt to adhere to the " sufficient
price "") the plan of the Cape, which has been so
much abused, — leaving extensive pasturages to be held
at almost a nominal rent, between the small sold lots.
Lord Glenelg, in adducing reasons why population
should be condensed by a " sufficient price," forgets
that other countries are totally different from Bri-
tain, or even any part of Europe, in climate and
adaptation for production.
It would, perhaps, be judicious that South Africa
and New Holland never were peopled much beyond
a nomadic population, — at least, that the greater part
of their support should continue to be derived from
their herds, as droughts occur periodically, which
continue for several years, entirely destroying the
grain crop and grass in the more arid part of the
country, and rendering it necessary to remove the
herds to the hills and cooler regions. A dense po-
pulation, supported by agriculture, under these visi-
tations, would be annihilated, while a pastoral, by
submitting to sacrifice a portion of their herds for
subsistence, is able to preserve as much of a remain-
der through these disastrous times, as will soon
increase to a sufficiency when a course of good sea-
sons again come round.
PeeFs Swan River affair is not a case in point
R
104
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
against a low price. His attempted colony failed,
we may say, before it was begun — before any circum-
stance-suited regulations had time to dovelope. The
Swan River affair, not properly estimated, is as much
calculated to mislead as to guide aright. The failure
arose from an attempt at combined labour on a great
scale, without the power of enforcing obedience.
Had PeeFs expedition, instead of a few great masters
and many servants, consisted principally of working
small capitalists, trusting to their own and their
family\s industry, the issue would have been very
different. The failures and inferior success of the
earlier American colonists did not arise from the
want of combinable labour, and dispersion, but from
various other circumstances of which the character
of the emigrants themselves was not the least : —
most of them idle, profligate wanderers, they partook
more of the nature of buccaneers than of steady in-
dustrious settlers.
In new settlements, where the population is com-
paratively scanty and scattered, it is very difficult to
carry regulations into effect, which are contrary to
the real or supposed interests of a considerable por-
tion of the community. Were the price of unoccu-
pied land so high, as to prevent labourers from be-
coming landholders, should they so incline, it would
cause so great discontent, as prove very injurious
to the progress of the colony, if it did not ruin it
altogether; and it would be impossible to prevent
sgimttimj to a very great extent, as it is often more
pi'ofitable to keep constantly on the move, not only
with flocks, but even in agriculture, — bringing in
virgin-land, and cropping it till the first flush of
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
105
lony failed,
my circum-
)lopo. Tho
, is as much
The failure
r on a great
obedience,
jat masters
of working
and their
been very
icess of the
3 from the
n, but from
e character
le least : —
hey partook
f steady in-
ion is com-
difficult to
contrary to
erable por-
of unoccu-
s from be-
le, it would
y injurious
not ruin it
to prevent
often more
e, not only
wringing in
st flush of
productiveness is exhausted, and nuinbcrloss weeds
generated, and then again having recourse to a new
portion. The natives of New Zealand follow this
course. And, in the case of the colonization of New
Zealand, were the price of land to be high, it would
be next to impossible to prevent emigrants, who did
not possess sufficient capital to purchase from the
Crown, from straying among the natives, and pro-
curing land from them direct. It would thus act as
a principle of dispersion, — as a complete barrier to
the regular progress of the colony, the establish-
ment of order throughout the country, and the judi-
cious treatment of the native population ; and if
persisted in, would, in all probability, ruin the un-
dertaking.
New Zealand, from the nature of its geographical
features, — an insular and mountainous region, with
some peculiarly desirable localities for commerce
and agriculture, does not present the same entice-
ment to wide dispersion (should a high government
price of land not induce squatting) as the extended
plains and wide undulating country of North Ame-
rica and New Holland, while, at the same time, a
considerable supply of combinable labour will be
found in the native population. Both of these tend
to render the " sufficient," or high price, less neces-
sary in New Zealand, than it may possibly be in
some other places. What is required, is some means
to prevent too large districts from being engrossed
by individuals on speculation, and held unproductive,
injuring the neighbouring districts, and retarding
the general progress of improvement. This would
lOi]
THE ECONOMY OP COLONIZATION.
■r1
HI
ri,"- ,
be most effectually provided against by a low an-
nual land-tax per acre.
A " sufficient" high price, — sufficient to produce
combinablo labour to the extent contemplated, must
act by lowering the condition of the labour-popu-
lation to a state nearly parallel to what exists in old
highly peopled countries. Like every" other restric-
tion, it will act as a preventive of labour and capital
being laid out to the best advantage, — restricting
the use of that great and only advantage possessed
by new countries, a plentiful supply of rich virgin
soil for raising raw produce. To adopt the " suffi-
cient price" plan to the extent proposed, is merely
to forego the very advantage which renders a new
country so desirable to industrious men.
Mr Wakefield adduces the value of a slave in the
United States being so high (about L.lOO), as proof
that the Government price of 5s. 7d. per acre is too
low, and states, that under a " sufficient price " of
land, the value of a slave would be nothing, as
plenty of hired labour would be had. What would
this be, but, by restriction, to bring the condition of
the operative free population, as low as that of a
slave 1 The price of a slave is thus high, because
the condition of a freeman is so prosperous,- -the
purchase of a slave, at this high price, and his sup-
port, balancing what a free operative can procure
for support alone, in performing only the amount of
work done by a slave. The " sufficient price"
would also have a tendency to engender habits of in-
dolence in the landholder, encourage an overbearing
deportme: i towards i;he operatives, and render ma-
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
197
nual labour disreputable. Besides, should this com-
binable labour principle be carried so far by restric-
tions on the obtaining of land, as to render slaves
without value, a colony in a temperate climate would
be useless to Britain, — it would manufacture to it-
self.
No doubt, in a densely peopled country, where,
from a superabundance of labour in the nuirket, the
workmen are much under the control of the masters,
more agricultural work will be performed, and more
spare saleable produce be obtained, when one com-
paratively intelligent master directs a number of
mere workmen, than in the case of family-conducted
farms. The economy of this labour arrangement is
manifest in the grain-producing parts of Scotland
and England, where farm-work is more advanta-
geously conducted in regard to productiveness, and
to distribution and expenditure of labour, than, per-
haps, in any other part of the world. But even, were
this labour arrangement equally economical in new
countries, which it is not, would this state of things
be desirable — that nine-tenths of the agricultural po-
pulation should be retained as mere labour-drudges ;
their rational and moral-perceptive powers extremely
limited, without any spark of intellectuality, which
a cultivated mind can have fellow feeling with, while
the master himself is only cultivated in agricultural
knowledge and worldly selfishness, with few other
aspirations than merely to take the most labour out
of his servants, and most grain from off his rented
fields, both being mere slaves to a landlord class.
It surely is not this state of society that we can
198
THE ECONOMY OP COLONIZATION.
Wsn
desiro to sec implanted in New Zealand — that the
many should be slaves to labour, and the few slaves
to luxury ? It is not how most labour can be ac-
complished by fewest workmen (however degraded
drudges these may be rendered), that we wish to as-
certain, and direct our legislative measures to effect ;
but how an independent, high-spirited, high-prin-
cipled, intellectual, rational community can best be
produced — a community having their muscular ener-
gies developed by moderate labour, their mental
energies developed by education, social intercourse,
and self-direction. But the truth is, what they con-
template can never be effected by legislative enact-
ments, at least such a state of things in respect to
combinablo labour as exists in the mother country,
cannot be brought about in new colonies by any
thing short of actual slavery. What Lord Glenelg
states to be possible, is morally impossible — " The
natural tendency of the population to spread," in an
extensive unpeopled country, which he says may be
prevented, cannot be prevented, and to persist in at-
tempting it by a high (sufficient) price scheme, will
merely interfere with the healthy colonization, and
damage the enterprize.
Although the utility and even practicability of the
" sufficient price," to the extent of its proposed ap-
plication, be neither deducible by theoretic argu-
ment nor supported by experiment or facts, and the
working of the scheme impossible, should the price
far exceed the government price of land of equal
quality in the United States and the other colonies,
yet a fixed price, not too high — say from 5s. to 10s.
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
190
per acre, will, no doubt, bo found advantageous in se-
veral ways ; to a certain extent, perhaps, in obtaining
a certain amount of conibinable labour as a preven-
tion of improper grants and partialities in the allot-
ments by the Government, as a check upon largo
tracts of land being taken and retained in a state of
unproductiveness (this last could best be prevented
by alow land-tax) ; but it is more particularly as a
means of producing funds for carrying out labouring
emigrants that a price upon new land is so desirable.
It affords a beautiful provision for this ; and the
amount of price ought to be regulated chiefly in re-
gard to producing an adequate fund — sufficiently low^
as if possible to command the desired amount of sales^
and encourage the emigration of the most useful class of
colotiists, working small capitalists, The prosperity
of the colony will very much depend upon a con-
siderable portion of the emigrants being of this
class.
It would not, however, be judicious to expend the
whole of the proceeds of the sale of new lands in
carrying out emigrant-labourers ; a part should be
allotted to supporting the emigrants after their arri-
val in the new country, and should be employed in
paying their labour in road-making and other work»
of general improvement. It is, therefore, not to be
expected that enough will be obtained from the sale
of colonial lands to carry out the whole of the super-
abundant population of the mother country, but it
is to be hoped that the home legislature will see the
utility of appropriating a portion, or the whole of
the poor-rates to make up the deficit to this rational
200
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
plan of relieving and preventing poverty. Many of
those so carried out will he disposed to labour for
hire or to carry on their particular trades, should
that hire or trade-gain exceed what they could ob-
tain by cultivating themselves. This is the natural
and legitimate principle of procuring combined la-
bour. All others partake of the quality of slavery,
and if carri(3d to any extent, will not be submitted
to by free enlightened Britons.
The Directors of the South Australian colony
have adopted a plan, which, while it actually carries
into practice a very low price of land, still nominally
adheres to the sufficient price, or rather high re-
strictive price. The first settlers on a territory of
about l,0(/0,000 acres, have purchased only a small
frontage oi central lot, each about 134 acres in ex-
tent, at 12s. per acre, and for each lot of this size
they have received two square miles (1280 acres) oi*
adjacent pasturage, at an annual rent of 10s. per
square mile (less than one farthing per acre), and af-
i jf settlers were to pay one pound or two pounds
(the parliamentary act does not permit a less price
per acre) for each frontage lot of eighty acres, and
for each lot to receive two square miles of pastu
rage at 40s. per square mile (three farthings per
acre) of annual rent. A power to sell these rented
pasturages at or above the fixed minimum price (one
pound per acre) is retained, and to withdraw them
from the lessees should a purchaser be found ; but,
it is evident that, except in the case of any of these
pasturages becoming the site of a town, there is little
chance of their meeting a purchaser, at least in an
m
i f
^.
THE T.CONbMY OF COLONIZA .ON.
201
Muny of
labour for
dc's, sliould
y could ob-
tho natural
)uibinod la-
of slavery,
) submitted
Han colony
ally carries
1 nominally
;r high re-
territory of
•nly a small
xcres in ex-
of this size
50 acres) of
)f 10s. per
Te), and af-
:vvo pounds
I less price
acres, and
3 of pastu
things per
lese rented
I price (one
draw them
bund ; but»
ny of these
lere is little
least iu an
unimprov d state, -hih^ lots are to 1 ^lit i lutle
further on of Hi) )r 13-^ U5ros, a^ the ffune price,
with the advantage of t>» » squa^ . milcH of pastu-
rage attached, at a men ominju riit. This juggle
of keeping up a high noihiiuil price has been adopted
from sheer necessity ; the mininuun selling [)rice, in
submission to an untried theory, having been Hxed
too high (one pound per acre) by act of Parliament,
and it being impossible to obtain purchasers at so
high a rate.
This expediency stratagem must, however, be at-
tended with the most injurious consecjuences to the
colony. Pasture is equally susce[)tiblo of improve-
ment and (lettTioration, as tillage-land. In Austra-
lia, keeping the grass too bare by overstocking, gra-
dually ruins the soil (the drought and ardent sun
totally dissipating the vegetable pabulum from the
exposed earth), and the lessee, no doubt, will treat
his pasturage, so as to encourage no purchaser.*
T/ms a premiuin exists against the improvement of
about \^tlts of the country. As pasturage is the chief
purpose for which land will be employed in South
Australia, this deserves the serious attention of the
Directors and of the Legislature. The necessity of
departing from the present system, and of disposing
of the land, at least all the good improvable land,
• By the regulations, the tenant is deban-ed from tilhige, and
from cutting the timber- in that part of New Holland, mostly
stunted or useless brusliAvood (^crub), which interferes with the
growth of the pasture, and harbours flies, that greatly harass
the herds and flocks. How far it may be necessary to keep up
forest cover, to induce moisture, seems not to have been thought
of.
202
THE ECONOMY OF COLONIZATION.
straight forward and outright, at such a price as
command sales, is clearly manifest.
In the allotting, caro ought to bo taken to have
the divisions as much as possible of one value per
acre; and if this is impracticable, the allotments
ought to be distinguished by first, second, and third
quality, with a suitable difference of price.
|t|'r
11
k price as
( 2<)3 )
n to have
value per
allotments
and third
CHAPTER XVI.
COLONIAL LEGISLATION.
In this country, hitherto, the laws have been sub-
pervient to the interests of the lawyer, (Joverninent
to the interests of the Government officials (servants
of the public !) fully as much as for the ])rotection
of person and property, even where the peo}>le may
be thought to have some controul over the Legisla-
ture. In our colonies, the chance is still greater,
that the interests of civil and military officials, the
delegated authorities of the mother country, will
prevail over the interests of the colonists. Colonial
is, besides, the most difficult of all legislation. They
who legislate primarily in the mother country, inde-
pendent of not being sufficiently responsible, are de-
ficient of information regarding those for whom they
legislate, wanting in sympathy, and not under the
influence of a common interest, at least directly.
The affiiir is also rendered much more complex, from
the regulations being directed towards bodies not
only under very different circumstances, but in-
dividually under progressive change. What renders
colonial legislation more difficult still is, that, unless
the enactments are very clear and simple in practice,
they are sure to be imperfectly followed, from the
distance of the mother country, and the defects of
204
COLONIAL LEGISLATION.
her agonts. There is also a want of precedent for
our legislators to walk by, and to guide them in
judging of practical results, colonial legislation being
as yet only in the infancy of improvement.
In laying down legislative rules for colonies, it
must be kept in view, that nothing is so paralyzing
and injurious as despotism. It is impossible that
the proportions of the child can develope into
grandeur and beauty, when every member of its
body is so cramped and confined by bandages, that
it cannot move. It is better to allow as nmch of
self-direction as is compatible with absolute safety,
and even, that it should get a little teaching from
rubs and falls, rather than its rising energies should
be checked or destroyed by over maternal direction.
It would thereforebe desirable, that a colonial legis-
lative assembly should be formed at the commence-
ment — perhaps with gradually increasing powers,
and that, as in Prussia, they should act as a council
to the governor, only reconmiending wJiat they con-
sidered necessary measures. Tbe governor, when
he did not carry these measures into effect, to remit
them, with his reasons of dissent, to the home legis-
lature, or Government. It would also be necessary
to organize an elective judicial establishment, to de-
termine of civil disputes, and petty criminal offences.
Perhaps it might do well for every ten householders
(the country being divided into districts) triennially
to elect a preses, or justice of the peace, and that
all disputes, petty crimes, &c., should be decided
upon, in the district, by a local court, consisting of
a certain number of these justices, with power of
appeal under certain limitations, to the supreme
COLONIAL LECIISLATION.
205
cedent for
} them in
ition being
«
jolonies, it
paralyzing
■isible that
elope into
ber of its
iigiii
that
s nnich of
nte safety,
hing from
^ies should
I direction,
onial legis-
ommence-
g powers,
s a council
they con-
inor, when
:, to remit
lome legis-
necessary
)nt, to de-
d offences.
iseholdcrs
Iriennially
and that
decided
isisting of
[power of
supremo
court. Educational matters, roads, bridges, &c.,
could be under the same management ; and the le-
gislative member could be chosen also by a cer-
tain number of these, nmch after the fashion of
the Norwegian double elective system. This plan
would have simplicity to reconnnend it, and might
be so worked, as save a great deal of litigation, and
labour, to the supreme court, which, although, per-
haps, not desiderated by that court, is not the less a
desideratum to the colonists. It might be a great
improvement upon this, to have a liecouciUator (a
person well instructed in ecpiity law, with good per-
suasive powers, paid by Government) appointed to
each district. And all disputants to come before the
Reconciliator, and endeavour, with his assistance, to
settle the subject in dispute, before it could be
brought into the local court.
The cost and efficiency of governments are very
improperly estimated. The expense of the govern-
ment is often small in proportion to the expense incur-
red to protect person and propwty, or to the loss sus-
tained from injuries and depredations, which a good
government would prevent, and almost nothing com-
pared to the loss which defective laws and injudi-
cious taxation occasions, by obstructing improve-
ments. The cost of law, and lawyers, should al-
ways be estimated as government expenses, and add-
ed to the sum-total. Estimated in this way, some of
the cheap governments of the United States would
rank among the most expensive. It is, therefore,
of great importance that the judicial courts be put
under the simplest, cheapest, and most efficient
plan.
206
COLONIAL LEGISLATION.
Free (not despotic) judicial government is practi-
cable in two ways, either by much written precedent,
and an expensive legal (judge) establishment, with
numerous attorneys, as in Britain, and the United
States, or by a local elective judicial system (elected
arbitrators). The latter is well fitted to a thin po-
pulation, and, assisted by a clear short comprehen-
sive code, could be worked to dispense justice, al-
most without cost. This system would re(j[uire a
free press, and seems hitherto to have been very im-
perfectly tried. It has met with favour neither
from governors nor lawyers, aifording neither patron-
age nor plunder, nor food for official nor corporate
pride. Disputes might be as justly, and far more
economically, settled by this elective arbitrator
scheme, assisted by the Ileconciliator, on the spot,
without lawyer assistance, than in the usual way.
Injustice might sometimes occur, from the want of
lawyers, but not to the tenth part of the amount
which occurs with them. For what is all law ex-
pense in disputed property, but injustice I To make
this plan work well, dispute and litigation wouLl re-
quire to be legislated against directly, by fines upon
those who were frequently engaged in them, espe-
cially being losers, and a register kept of the cases
of each individual. The effect of simplicity, and the
arbitration scheme, combined with the'^ exclusion of
bad subjects, has been lately exemplified in Russia.
A number of small working capitalists, solicited, and
received the grant of a desolate hilly portion of
country, from the Emperor. They divided this into
portions of about sixty acres of tillage-land, with a
suitable portion of hill-pasture, to each family ; al-
COLONIAL LEGISLATION.
207
b is i)racti-
precedent,
ment, with
the United
3111 (elected
a thin po-
coniprehen-
justice, al-
l reciuire a
en very im-
Dur neither
;her patron-
r corporate
id far more
s arbitrator
on the spot,
usual way.
the want of
he amount
all law ex-
? To make
n woul.i re-
,' fines upon
hem, espe-
•f the cases
|ity, and the
xclusion of
in Russia,
(licited, and
portion of
d this into
,nd, with a
family ; al-
lowing no one to enter the community, unless ho
possessed a certain capital, and totally excluding
lawyers and priests. The consequences, as reported
by a recent traveller, have been highly advan-
tageous, — the success beyond all precedent. No
quarrels, high morality, industry, economy, — the
country cultivated like a garden, — plenty to all.
There is a pressing necessity for a change of sys-
tem in our colonial policy. The connection between
the superior country and its dependencies must be
rendered of such a nature as to incline the latter to
cling to the former for self-advantage. The internal
colonial laws, as well as the laws regulating the con-
nection, ought to be liberalized, and put on a definite
secure footing. The internal government of every
colony should be, as much as possible, worked by the
inhabitants of the place, and the few necessary to be
deputed by the superior country, men of practical
knowledge and cultivated minds. Hitherto theofficiale
of our colonies have, many of them, not been of the
best description, — the working portion generally un-
derbred clerks, and the show portion, younger sons
of the aristocracy, often deficient in energy, and in
necessary practical information and business habits. *
The practice, partly originating in our long wars,
of employing soldiers and sailors as governors of co-
lonies, is also of very questionable policy. It tends to
give a military character, — a character of idleness and
parade, — to the society of the place, which is not pro-
motive of industry and the advancement of commerce
* In some countries of the continent, government is made a
particular profession, and men educated expressly for the
\)urposc.
208
COLONIAL LEGISLATION.
and agriculture.* It has also an influence, notwith-
standing the urbanity of military manners, to alienate
the attachment of the colonists from the mother
country. Military, bred to the implicit-obedience
principle, unless they are men of superior minds,
have not always that respect to the opinions and li-
berties of the colonists which other men, accustomed
to act as free independent subjects, would have, and
when disputes arise, either between the aborigines
and colonists, or with the neighbouring tribes, mili-
tary governors are rather more disposed to resort to
their own particular mode of adjusting matters than
what is conformable to civil justice or profitable ;
forgetful of the fable of the wind and the sun, that
kindness warmly and wisely exerted will do more to
melt down angry passions, and remove opposition,
than brute force would — that moral is superior to
physical power, " as three to one." — (Napoleon.)
There is something highly impolitic and altogether
barbarous in the exhibition of compulsory force, — of
a governor appearing surrounded by officials, the
chiefs of armed bands. This is calculated to give an
impression to the people of the dependent country,
that they live under abject subjection, more espe-
cially, when they are of a different origin, and have
been attached by conquest. There is something in
the temper of men^ when their minds have become
elevated one st^p above the slavish admiration of
* It is, perhaps, worthy of remark that manufacturing industry
has several times been attempted in Edinburgh and Leith
wi^nout success. The character of the population receives a
bias from the many law practitioners and resident gentry which
unfits them for industrial pursuits.
U^
COLONIAL LEGISLATION.
201)
;e, notwith-
to alienate
:he mother
b-obedience
rior minds,
ons and 11-
accustomed
i have, and
aborigines
bribes, raili-
to resort to
atters than
profitable ;
e sun, that
do more to
opposition,
superior to
ipoleon.)
altogether
f force, — of
fificials, the
d to give an
it country,
more espe-
, and have
mething in
ive become
airation of
ring industry
h and Leith
n receives a
jentry which
mere power, which bristles in opposition, at the dis-
play of rude force, — which refuses to obey the com-
mand of any one with arms in his hands. There is,
no doubt, also, among civilians, a feeling of jealousy
towards military men, arising from a combination of
causes, which prevents a generous and liberal line of
policy, on the part of the latter, from having th*
same beneficial effect it would have emanating from
civil authority. Military should be kept in the best
state of preparation ; they should not be concealed ;
they ought to be respected as the conservators of the
peace, as the national defence ; but they ought not
to appear purposely exhibited to overawe the com-
munity. The strength of the government should re-
pose on utility and justice, and not be upheld by
foreign bayonets. With civil governors, in case of
any misunderstanding between the government and
the colonists, and the military require to be calkd
out, they will not so likely be held party to the dis-
pute, and thence will have far more influence in
putting down the disturbance. They will be consi-
dered only the necessary upholders of the law, as
peace-keepers, and be yielded to as such. Military,
employed in colonies, should consist, at least in part,
of the natives of the place : this is important to the
attachment of the colony.
Military despotism, upheld by a foreign soldiery,
is the most degrading and injurious of all. When
only the military force of the country itself is acting
to keep up mal-government, things cannot go very
far wrong, as a crisis would soon ensue, and the
dread of this is generally an effectual check on the
authorities. But when a crushing tyranny, in an in-
s
210
COLONIAL LEGTSLATION.
ferior country, is upheld and carried on by the over-
powering military force of a vastly superior country,
there is scarcely any check or limit to the evil.
The Government of Prussia is a case in point, ex-
emplifying the powerful and salutary effect of this
check. This government, generally considered a
military despotism, is perhaps the best and freest in
Europe. The military are not military in the com-
mon sense of the word (a caste with separate inte-
rests and feelings), but a disciplined national guard,
comprehending every male from nineteen to a few
years upwards. The Prussian Parliaments only
advise what they consider proper to be done, and
although the government be nominally absolute,
yet, being aware that the whole of the male popu-
lation arc bred to arms, and that all the youth of
the country have arms in their hands, it generally
makes out to pursue the very course most benefi-
cial to the community, and improvement of all
kinds is making most rapid strides. . It is, in fact,
a government despotic to do good, powerless to do
evil. On the contrary, in Canada, where n)ilitary
men have been well tried, without standing in i inch
fear of a crisis, however near, we have had a vast
national expenditure and improvement standing still,
— nothing progressive but discontent. The most
unbiassed travellers represent the two sides of the St
Lawrence as very different — the United States' side
all activity, industry, frugality — neat farm-buildings,
decent cattle, fair corn-fields. On the Canadian
side, idleness, dissipation, neglect, farm buildings
frequently ruinous, starved cattle, corn-fields where
thistles are the predominating crop. This, no doubt,
COLONIAL LEGISLATION.
211
)y the over-
or country,
e evil,
n point, ex-
Fcct of this
insidored a
nd freest in
in the com-
3arate inte-
onal guard,
)n to a few
ments only
) done, and
ly absolute,
male popu-
he youth of
it generally
nost benefi-
nent of all
is, in fact,
erless to do
sre n»ilitary
ing in i mch
had a vast
anding still,
The most
es of the St
States' side
n-buildings,
Canadian
n buildings
fields where
s, no doubt,
is attributable to a combination of causes, but the
military character of the colony has had its effects.
The only advantage possessed by military men, is
that they are schooled in organization of a certain
kind, and in the care of others, and that they gene-
rally have the benefit of travel. As it is, men of the
highest ability and character arise amongst them,
but as a class, they are not well fitted for governors
of any place but military stations. It may be asked,
" where are better to be found ; — surely not petty-
fogging lawyers I " ]3ut the diff*iision of knowledge
will generate suitable men in all classes, and when
military men of superior qualifications appear, if
they are nominated to a government, they should re-
nounce the employment of arms.
Nothing is so much called for as a proper colonial
code, or system of codes, comprehensively applying
to our wide and extending colonial Empire, but suffi-
ciently condensed for practical use. The formation
of this code might be given out by Parliament as a
prize effort, with a high reward for that which it
shall approve. This is surely as necessary as the
premium offered for approaching the North Pole,
or for a plan of a n^ < meeting-house for Parliament.
Were a good system of colonial government adopted,
islands and inferior states would find it their interest
to unite with us, and the whole of the multitudinous
island-groups scattered over the vast Pacific, in
number as the constellations of the heavens, might
become incorporated as part of the British empire.
APPENDIX.
Note A.
Misery of the Working Classes,
Foreign demand being almost destroyed by their
diabolical monopoly duties, it is obvious that a sud-
den great increase of production-power by improved
machinery, &c. though constituting an improved la-
bour-field, must, in the first place, occasion a labour-
glut and low wages, but it nevertheless might have
been expected that the demands of the community
for increased comforts and luxuries, as they became
thus attainable by less expense of labour, would go
on extending, so as nearly to keep pace with the in-
crease of production, and prevent any permanent
falling oflP of labour-demand, especially as there is
no lack of capital (hoarded provision-supply for the
workmen during the time they are occupied in rais-
ing the raw material, or fabricating it to suit the
wants of the community), and that there is also an
immense revenue derived from British lands and
foreign investments of capital.
214
APPENDIX. — NOTE A.
This deficiency of labour-demand is, in some de-
gree, owing to vast numbers of Mritish being induced
by the corn-bill, and high taxed articles of consumpt
in Britain, to reside on the continent ; and from ca-
pital getting into largo masses, and the holders not
expending their revenue in this country, but accumu-
lating it, and lending it out in foreign investment,
where a more productive field enables higher inte-
rest to bo given (an accumulation partly owing to
the spirit of modern society being opposed to feudal
display and numerous menial retainers). The ef-
fects of these causes are, however, less important
than the direct effects of machinery, as the great field
of consumption lies in the working population them-
selves. Superior machinery has, in the first place,
lessened the demand for their labour ; wages have
fallen, and they must of necessity be but sparing
consumers. This again reacts still farther to lessen
the demand, and the consumption of the owners or
fabricators of the machinery does not nearly com-
pensate. It would also seem that the paralysis
arises partly from the derangement of the labour-
system by the improved machinery ; vast numbers
having been trained to employments which are now
altogether or nearly superseded, while there is per-
haps a deficiency of workmen properly trained to the
new practice. The manufacturing or prf>ducing sys-
tem is thus out of sorts, and, coupled with the nar-
rowed field of industry caused by our restrictive sys-
tem, produces a labour-glut, low wages, working-
class misery — a sufficient emigration would be an
effectual remedy.
But our advocates of restriction and home mono-
n some de-
ing induced
)f consumpt
lid from ca-
holdors not
)ut accumu-
invcstment,
liighor inte-
ly owing to
2(\ to feudal
I. The ef-
I important
e great field
ation them-
first place,
wages have
mi sparing
er to lessen
owners or
learly com-
e paralysis
he labour-
it numbers
are now
lere is per-
ined to the
ducing sys-
th the nar-
rictive sys-
working-
uld be an
)rae mono-
APPENDIX. — NOTE A.
215
polies exclaim — Why export workmen when so
much improvement can still be made in IJritain ?
Why import food and raw produce while we have
full capacities of growing enough at homo I Were
Great Britain properly cultivated it would produce
double what it now produces. The answer is, It is
not what Britain is capaljle of producing, but what
it in reality will be made to produce, which concerns
us. Further improvement, and even the keeping up
of the improvement already effected, di'pend upon
the returns of the capital employed. If from the
less exhausted field for production abr<x'id, we can
obtain ten per cent, per annum for capital, while
from the more exhausted, restriction-limited field at
home, we can obtain only four per cent., capital will
continue to be exported and British improvement
will languish, or things will retrograde. This is the
actual state of matters, and unless means are taken
to bring about a more salutary state, the improve-
ments they look forward to, and which Britain is
indeed susceptible of, will never be attained. By a
properly conducted colonization, in the first place,
diminishing the labour-supply, and acting as a stimu-
lus to our labour-market, and afterwards affording a
continually increasing stimulus by means of the new-
created, fast-extending colonial field of demand for
British manufactures, and all this working in nmtual
reaction to excite industry, we may in reality go on
improving till Britain produce ten times over what
she now produces.
216
APPENDIX. — NOTE B.
1)^
Note B.
Itadical Charltij.
Common charity (alms-giving) is much of an aris-
tocratical thing, and has been the means of rivetting
the chains of indirect slavery. Surrounding poverty is
necessary to the existence of, at least accompanies, the
very rich man — if it is not necessary to his enjoy-
ment. There is a luxury in giving, — in being in a
condition to give gratuitous relief to thcf poor. The
emotion is of a mixed character, arising partly from
doing what he is so much taught to believe is a good ,
deed, partly from gratified human sympathy, and
partly from gratified pride and disjday of generosity,
so flatterinr^ to self-love. At any rate we find the
rich man much more disposed to afford 'nomentary
relief to the poor by alms-giving than to afford per-
manent relief by searching into the causes of misery,
and adopting a system of prevention. The truly
charitable, on the contrary, will always endeavour
to afford relief to the necessitous in the least onerou«t
way, — in the way least calculated to injure or de-
stroy self-roliance, impair industry, or lower the
honest pride of independence. He, in all prac-
ticable cases, will give relief by giving employment,
and will endeavour to give such employment as make
a return to himself, so as to enable him to lay out
an equal or larger sum on the morrow in conti-
nuing the employment (alms-giving, which squanders
on the idle that which should be won by the indus-
trious, and which maketh no return, precludes the
doing of this) — or he will lend a little friendly as-
APPENDIX. — NOTK. IV
217
of an ai'is-
)f' rivetting
^ poverty is
panic'H, the
his oiijoy-
buiiig in a
)oor. The
►artly from
3 is a good
)athy, and
generosity,
^ve find the
nonientary
aiford per-
of misery,
The truly
endeavour
st oneroiu!
are or de-
lower the
all jjrac-
ployment,
t as make
to lay out
in conti-
squanders
he indus-
ludes the
iendly as-
sistance to the industrious, as a commencing stock
that thoy may still more advantagoously procure
employment to themselves. The ]>rovidently chari-
tabJ(! will endeavour to reform the laws which re-
j)ress the industry of the country, and which prevent
the diffusion of useful information, and thus enable
his fellow men to employ themselves in such a man-
ner as render them in(le])eudent of all charity.
The rich man. however, lik(\s to do good in a lord-
ly manner ; he ])refers doing it dii'ectly to indirectly,
that the recipient may feel the obligation ; he lov(5S
also to gratify his lust of power by regulating the re-
ligious concerns of his j)oorer fellow sabj(^cts ; he is
nmch more disposed to build cluu'ches tlian to build
schools ; he would rather retain his fellow-men in
ignorance, superstition, and misery, affording full
occasion for his lordly charity, than put them in %
condition to acquire knowledge, true reli/iion, nnd a
(5onifortable subsistence to themselves.
Providence, the reverse of this, works by whoh^-
soine general laws — does not give in charity — does
not give for the asking, but for the doing — does not
interpose by miracles to obstruct the working of
these general laws, which would confound w isdom
with folly, industry with idleness, and render all
knovvledge of, and obedience to these laws, of no
avail. The rich man's charity is an unnatural offence,
a human interposition counteracting the laws of
providence ; yet is it necessary that the victims of
our pernicious laws, opinions, and customs be in
some way cared for, till a salutary system has begun
to work. The working-man hates charity :, he would
prefer starvation to receiving the landlord's alms, or
T
218
APPENDIX. — NOTE B.
I: M'
any alms. All he wants is a fair field and no favour
— that the landlord should not rob him of the one-
half of his earnings, or throw him entirely out of
employment by diabolically selfish legislation. Our
Ih'itish landlord doles out his petty alms, congratu-
lating himself on his goodness, — like a bee-feeder
supplying a little coarse sugar and water, or sweet
worts, to a hive which he has deprived of the honey, —
their natural support.
It has been considered necessary that some degree
of misery or want of comfort should be the lot of
])overty and pauperism, as a stimulus to industry
and motive for frugality. It is well when only the
dread of want and the desire to obtain the comforts
of life are the stimuli or motives, but it too frequently
is the actual want of the necessaries of life that is
In England, under the present inferior and
so.
narrowed field for industry and the poor law, actual
want or the alternative of a poverty-prison is the
stimulus, and surely the dread of removal from this
country, if any stimulus must be present, is the one
which the philanthropist would approve of, as with
the advantage of a stimulus, it carries in all likeli-
hood the effectual relief and comfort and independ-
ence of the individuals who are removed, and at the
same time improves the labour-field of those who re-
main behind, while every other direct mode of re-
lieving poverty only serves to nurse up the evil and to
injure the labour-field.
It is deserving of trial, however, whether emigra-
tion, kindly and judiciously managed, could not be
made to prevent altogether the occurrence of the
more severe stimuli of pinching want and misery, or
APPENDIX. — NOTE C.
219
id no favour
of the one-
birely out of
ation. Our
is, congratu-
i bee-feeder
er, or sweet
he honey, —
some degree
e the lot of
to industry
len only the
;he comforts
»o frequently
life that is
nferior and
law, actual
risen is the
al from this
is the one
) of, as with
in all likeli-
independ-
and at the
lose who re-
node of re-
eml and to
her emigra-
)uld not be
ence of the
1 misery, or
even the harsh alternative of compulsory removal.
Instead of removing those who applied for relief, as
being unable to support themselves, it would be afar
better plan to remove only those who were desirous
of emigrating, and, if possible, by the advantages
held out to removers, to instigate such a number to
go as bring the labour field into so prosperous a
condition, as that no one willing to work would re-
quire charitable support, and thus render all assist-
ance unnecessary, excepting in the case of unlooked
for accidents, and mental and bodily defects, which
could perhaps be left to friendly aid.
Note C.
To the British Fair.
" The Rose of England bloomed on Gertrude's cheek."
The withering effects of the arid climate of Aus-
tralia, is manifest in the haggard walking skeletons
of the aborigines, while the balmy mildness and moist
air of New Zealand exerts a directly opposite effect,
evinced in the fine stately forms, smooth polished
skin, and rounded beauty of the Malayan population,
although they are evidently a little out of climate —
so far removed from the Tropics ; much more must
this delicious climate have a propitious effect upon
the Caucasian British race, who are naturally suited
to the climate. The rose tinge of the cheek is a
direct consequence of moist air of a fresh stimu-
lating coolness. We find in Van Diemen's Land,
which approaches the New Zealand climate, that
the rose of health is ooEvion, although it seldom is
220
APPENDIX. — NOTE C.
SO on the main of Australia, where the air is too
ilry and parching for this species of flower. The
Jiritish Fair may rely that England's Rose will not
fail to blossom in New Zealand in all its native
richness, giving the unmatched tinge of flower-
beauty, and freshness. The danger is, that it may
even throw that of the mother country into shadi^ ;
although its sister, the vegetable rose, has never
been seen indigenous in the southern hemisphere,
while it surrounds the globe in the northern with a
flowery chaplet.
There is but a very small portion of the world
wliere the rose-bloom is constantly domiciled on the
cheek of beauty. In Asia and Africa it scarcely ap-
pears but in gleams of transient suffusion. In Ame-
rica it is almost equally rare, except in the New
England States, the hills of Virginia, and the mari-
time provinces of New Brunswick, T i \[\, and Nova
Scotia, — in the latter country the . ine blending
to shades of purple and blue, and not unfrequently a
little out of place ; while, in the interior plains of
Canada and the United States, the palor is universal.
In Europe it blossoms in the cooler, aquatic, and hilly
regions, wherever the air is fre^h and moist, — in
Britain, especially the western side, — in Ireland,
Holland, Prussia, Denmark, Norway.
Were the direful effects of a sunnuer spent in tlie
dry parts of the south of Europe generally known,
we should have less of female emigration to these
countries. The lily and rose-leaf cheek ond cherry
lip of the British fair, whose purity and dewy fresh-
ness is nourished by the moist coolness of theii* na-
tive air, when exposed to the Levanter or Sirocco of
APPENDIX. — NOTE C.
2'2\
air 18 too
vcr. The
will not
its native
)f flowor-
at it may
ito shado ;
has never
)mi sphere.
3rn with a
the world
led on the
arcely ap-
In Ame-
thc New
the mari-
aiul Nova
blending
quently a
plains of
univcrsaL
and hilly
loist, — in
Ireland,
nt in the
y known,
to these
d cherry
wy fresh-
their na-
iroceo oi*
Italy and Spain, or even to the dry hot air of the
more arid parts of France, soon shrivel to muniniy
and wrinkled parchment. The seclusion of beanty
in Mahomedan countries, and the Mantilla of Spain,
is less from jealousy of man than of the arid Eurus.
Female beauty, which under hot dry atmosphere,
withers like the rock-rose " ere the noon," in tropi-
cal countries often before the a<?e of twenty, and in
the warm parched portion of the temperate zones,
before thirty, may be expected in New Zealand, pro-
vided warm fire apartments (very little needed in
that climate) are not much in use, to last till nearly
double that age.
Much depends upon regular and natural habits of
life, — exposure to the stimulus of the sun's light, and
especially to the fresh moist air of the morning. It is
customary for girls to go out agathering May-dew,
to form a rose-cosmetic, — and the roses certainly ap-
pear. Airy sitting and sleeping apartments are
essential, and especially to guard against exposure
to di'y fire heat, and, above all, against the modern
abominations of heated air and gas-burners. In
some parts of the north of Europe, where the cli-
mate is severe in winter, the rooms are heated by
stoves, which, in order to prevent dust, open only to
the lobby or passages, and consequently afford no ven-
tilation to the rooms, but give out a close suffocating
heat. The women are confined to these rooms (dl
the year, excepting during the short warm summer,
and being thus always exposed to vitiated air and
high temperature, are nearly of as short duration as
within the tropics ; while the men, more healthy
and lasting from greater exposure out of doors and
222
APPENDIX — NOTE D.
cooler atmosphere, say they require two sets of
wives. In the mild climate of New Zealand, where
the houses are scarcely needed but to guard off
showers, the beau-sex passing most of their time
in open air, and the remainder in well ventilated
apartments, will not have this contingency much to
fear. In other respects^ from its soft moist climate,
New Zealand like Sicily may be expected to be
especially propitious to women. — The prospects now
before them must cause the bright blood to mantle
deeper on the cheek of the British Fair.
Note D.
Land-Property Right.
Cultivation- labour laid out upon land constitutes
the best property right. Pasturing of flocks comes
next in place. The property right in uncultivated
land by aborigines, who subsist only by preying upon
the ferce naturw^ is defective ; and this is more espe-
cially so, when the aborigines are sunk so low in
barbarism, as to be incapable of instituting a regu-
lar government to protect property. Any person,
though produced in another region, being equally a
child of nature, if he has no other way of procuring
a sufficient maintenance to support him, as his
father has lived, — a reproductive vitality, has surely
a right to go into the wilderness, where no one has
placed his mark of possession, and cultivate a por-
tion of it for his and his family's subsistence. But
because of the feeling in the savage, of a right of
APPENDIX. — NOTE D.
223
vo sets of
and, where
guard off
their time
ventilated
3y much to
st climate,
cted to be
spects now
to mantle
3onstitutes
)cks comes
icultivated
iying upon
nore espe-
so low in
g a regu-
ly person,
equally a
procuring
n, as his
has surely
o one has
Lte a por-
nce. But
- right of
possession to the region he roams over, the sustain-
ing of which might lead to a sacrifice of life, it is
fitting that this claim be submitted to, so far as, if
the savage can be induced to sell a portion of his
territory, to purchase it ; but if he will not sell, or
if the desiring occupant has no means of obtaining
funds to purchase with, then he has the right to take
possession as he may.
The same holds of masses of people. A nation
which, by the establishment of social order, and the
advanced arts of life, increases in population beyond
the means of a full subsistence, within its o\vn terri-
tory, has a right to extend itself over the unculti-
vated regions of the earth ; and, should this not be
otherwise accomplishable, to displace the miserable
hordes of wandering savages, who can neither bring
out the powers of productiveiiess of the country
they roam over, nor submit to the social order
amongst civilized men.
It is sickening to listen to the affectations of
pseudo-philanthropists, who make such a lament
over the loss of a tribe of starved savages, such as
once existed in Newfoundland, while they are silent
respecting the hundreds of thousands of fine men
and women (a far superior race) in London, and
other places of Britain, who are equally lost to re-
productive existence, and becoming extinct from the
abridged means of procuring a family subsistence,
caused by the increasing density of population in the
narrow territory of Britain. The nation or tribe is
made up of individuals, — totally distinct beings ;
and I should like to have explained, the moral dif-
ference between the extirpation, — extinction without
224
APPENDIX. — NOTE E.
reproduction, of a number of individuals, although
not constituting the entire nation or tribe, and the
extirpation of an equal number of individuals consti-
tuting the entire nation or tribe, — both taking place
in a gradual manner.
Note E.
Nati'ce Race adaptation.
'■'■■■
1
I
Colonization in South Africa is merely a change
of races. The Aborigines, before the entrance
of the Europeans, seemed nearly balanced to the
means of pastoral subsistence, — perhaps the only
one safely applicable to the climate, from the ex-
treme droughts sometimes causing a failure of
the grain-crop for several successive years ; and al-
though the country has been settled for two centu-
ries by Europeans, the probability is, that the popu-
lation, including both races, has considerably dimi-
nished, notwithstanding a constant immigration.
Besides the advantage is at least questionable, of
substituting a race, though high in civilization, very
defective in circumstantial adaptation, for one, in a
wonderful degree, (almost as much as the bulbous
character of the plants), circumstance-suited : — so
much so, that one would infer the race and the cli-
mate had grown up together.
Whilst laws existed, retaining the natives within
the colony in bondage, and promoting commando-
expeditions against the free aborigines, for the pur-
pose of slaughtering the grown-up, and carrying off
APPENDIX. — NOTE F.
225
Is, ulthougli
be, and the
iduals consti-
taking place
>ly a change
le entrance
iced to the
ps the only
ora the ex-
failure of
Ts ; and al-
two centu-
t the popu-
;rably dimi-
nmigration.
iionable, of
zation, very
9r one, in a
he bulbous
mited : — so
^nd the cli-
)ives within
3ominando-
ov the pur-
arrying off
the children for slaves, the aborigines were fast be-
ing extirpated. Now that laws of a very different
character are enacted, and a just and humane sys-
tem encouraged by our present Colonial Secretary,
it may be expected, should this system be continued,
that the circumstance-suited race will again increase,
and by superior producing and subsisting powers,
the result of superior climate-adaptation, gradually
undermine their invaders, and become the predomi-
nating population. In cases where two races exist
in a country, under any thing approaching to equal
law, it is not the most moral or most civilized which
increases the fastest, or which will ultimately pre-
vail. This is being exemplified in Ireland, and in
Great Britain, where the Milesian race is fast gain-
ing ground, and also in Hungary, where the Scla-
vonic race is gradually overwhelming the Magyar,
by superior powers of encrease. In both cases the
conquered are reconquering, although lower in the
scale of civilization.
Note F.
Tobacco Smoking.
Sucking tobacco smoke has become so general,
and is indulged in to such excess, as must have a
powerful effect upon the destinies of the species. In
the north and east of Europe, it has increased to
such a degree, as to act as a considerable population
check ; and I would desire to introduce it to the
notice of our Malthusian philosophers.
The disposition, or desire to suck, is no doubt in-
226
APPENDIX. — NOTE K.
stinctivo — a baby reminiscence, — and increased in
the north of Europe, by the practice of suckling
their male cliildrcn too long. It is pity, that this
disposition or instinct to suck, were not made sub-
servient to some good, and that so much combus-
tion did not extend to the diffusion of heat and
light, as well as smoke, — that it could not be made
to warm their cold bosoms to freedom, or enable
them to illuminate the " dark side of nature,"' in-
stead of veiling it further by transcendental cloud.
Our Eastern neighbours are no doubt indebted to
the demon of the " accursed weed," set loose by
the combustion, for their dreamy philosophy, and
their philosophic submission to despotic government.
At the present time the weed-demon is the engross-
ing god of their idolatry. Every dwelling is con-
verted into a temple, filled with burnt-incense, and
every man (the ladies, it seems, have not souls worth
a devil's notice) are daily and hourly worshippers.
Although tobacco smoking has not so immediately
obvious an effect upon the system, as drinking in-
toxicating liquors, yet from its influence being in
more general and constant operation, it has com-
prehensively, as regards the species, a more power-
ful impression to disorder the brain mechanism, and
derange the flow of the galvanic nervous currents,
on which depends the character of our intellectual
essence, and organic frame. It is impossible to
raise the veil from futurity; but notwithstanding
the discovery of printing, instead of a progression to
a superior nature, a condition of imbecility and de-
gradation is yet in store for man, — nay even a sink-
ing in the scale of being, unless means are taken to
APPENDIX. — NOTE G.
227
subvert the worship of the weed-demon. It is rather
surprising, that our New Zealand Missionaries have
allowed themselves to be hood-winked by the subtile
fiend, and made subservient in spreading his abomina-
ble rites.
In New South Wales, in the case of convict-
slavery (the most pitiful condition of all), where
civilized man is subjected to the thrall of his fel-
low man, and where the feeling of degradation is em-
bittered by the sting of guilt, tobacco-smoking may
be necessary. It is even said, that great numbers of
the convicts would commit suicide, or take to the
bush, if they did not receive tobacco to drown con-
science and thought. It also tends to enable our
over-worked operatives to support their miserable
condition ; but in this last case it acts as a power-
ful check upon this class taking effectual means to
procure the abolition of the grinding monopoly, and
excessive taxation, which cause the misery. To-
bacco-smokmg is a means of soothing misery, and
repressing energy, by inducing a dreamy stupefac-
tion.
Note G.
The British Navy.
It is in vain, at least for any purpose of utility,
that we keep up an immense establishment of naval
officers at an enormous cost, while a sufficient num-
ber of our war-vessels are not in active employment
to give an experience of naval business to those pen-
sioned, land-bred sea-commanders. Common sailors.
228
APPENDIX. — NOTK (J.
I I
bred in the merchant service, with a very short
training in discipline and artillery practice, can be
made efficient war seamen. But unless merchant-
men commanders are to bo employed as officers in the
war-navy upon the emergency of war, some other
breeding than what is now followed is necessary to
obtain proper experienced sea-officers. Mere ex-
perimental and pleasure voyages of our few men-of-
war in commission will not give the experience and
hardihood necessary to form good officers, and which
actual industrious naval business is best fitted to give;
besides, the small number of vessels in commission
is out of all proportion to the immense number of
officers in commission.
We ought to imitate the economy of nature. In
her operations we frequently find a binary adapta-
tion of means to ends ; a useful purpose effected by
means admirably fitted to the immediate desired
end, while the same means are also instrumental in
effecting another end, though more remote, no less
desirable than the more immediate. It would be
well to have a considerable number of men-of-war
and frigates, with only a part of their guns aboard,
and a sailing complement of picked seamen and
young volunteers constantly employed in carrying
out emigrants ; these could have the full complement
of young officers gaining experimental instruction,
besides a considerable number of cadet volunteers
employed in assisting the sailors in working the ves-
sel, from which our naval-officer corps might be in
part recruited. This would prove an excellent
school, under proper management, for nautical know-
ledge — more particularly the very useful knowledge
APPFA'DIX. — XOTE IT.
220
t'ory short
ce, can be
uiorchant-
Bcrs in the
ome other
jcessary to
Mere ex-
)w men-of-
rienco and
and which
;ed togive;
ommission
number of
ature. In
ry adapta-
^ffected by
desired
imental in
;e, no less
would be
lon-of-war
s aboard,
tinien and
carrying
mplement
struction,
volunteers
the ves-
ht be in
excellent
al know-
Inowledge
of the best moans of promoting and maintaining the
health of a numeroun crew in long voyages, and we
would bo in a much better state of preparation for
any emergency.
Note H.
Monr-fan/ ^listern. — That the Proffress of Morleru Clri-
lization has been in a great measure wing to the
Depreciation of the Value of Money^ consequent to
v'orkina the American Mines.
t-
The rise and dccHno of national energy is in a high
degree influenced by the decrease or increase of the
value of the medium of exchange, and especially by
the regulation of the paper monetary system.* Tt
is to these causes, especially the decrease of the
value of money, that we chiefly owe the rapid pro-
gress of civilization, and of the arts of life, and the
* Tt is excoedingfly to be regi'otted that tlie alistractncss of
the su])ject, eoinlnnod with a little misapprehoiision, should
blind the nation to the extreme importance of the monetary
system, the most pernicious effect of a rise of value of money
md the injustice of the law enforcing payment or interest of
lebts in the present currency, which were incurred in a cur-
j on<"y '^nly on(;-half the value of what it now is. There are
four ])ropositions which I would desire my readers to fix in theii-
minds.
1st, That gold (our present measure of value), like othei
conmiodities, is regidated in price by the demand and the
supply .
2d, That a ])aper currency rises or falls in valus' like gold, in
proportion as the issues are diminished or increased, or ii
proportion to the scarcity or abundance.
3d.
230
APPENDIX. — NOTE II.
increased general prosperity in Europe since the dis-
covery of America.* From the American mines
being very much more productive (fertile) than those
of the old world, and the quantity of gold and silver
brought into circulation as money, greatly exceeding
even the increased demand caused by the increase
of trade, the value of these metals necessarily fell
from year to year, and till latt(*rly, have been dimi-
nishing in value nearly one-half every thirty years.
The decrease of the value of money, as well as the
plentifulness, operates to stimulate all kinds of in-
dustry. The manufacturer receives more money
(nominally) than what he expected for his produce ;
the trader also receives more for the goods he has
had on hand than what he has given for them, and
this gain, though in both cases rather delusory, sti-
mulates both to extend their business. Besides the
agents of industry have the greater part of their
capital borrowed from monied people (chiefly idlers
living upon the industry of others), and as the value
3d, That when a gold currency and paper currency are both
in use, and the issues of paper liable to be paid in gold, that as
the paper currency cannot be far extended without throwing
the gold curr(!nc'y out of circulation altogether, the issuers of
paper are under the necessity of limiting their issues.
4th, That the less a medium of exchange costs the better, as
less capital is thus abstracted from useful purposes. A paper
currency thus saves to the nation the yearly interest of the
amount of the issues.
* Civilization and national prosperity are also very much in-
fluenced by the absence or presence of a sufficient circulating
medium. Before the discovery of America, the circulating me-
dium in Europe was insufficient for carrying on traffic, and the
clumsy system of barter much in use.
APPENDIX. — NOTE II.
2.31
nco the dis-
ican mines
than those
I and silver
y exceeding
he increase
ossarily fell
been dimi-
rty years,
well as the
inds of in-
lore money
is produce ;
ods he has
' them, and
elusory, sti-
Besides the
rt of their
licfly idlers
IS the value
ency are both
gold, that as
out throwing
the issuers of
ues.
the better, as
}es. A paper
terest of the
it
ery much in-
circulating
culating mc-
affic, and the
of money diminiHhes, this lent capital is gradually
being transferred, to the extent of the diminution
of value, from the lender to the borrower : — this is
obvious as tlie medium, whether the pound Stetiing
or guinea, by which the debt is measured, has in the
interim decreased in value. The consequence of
this transference is, that the industrious portion is
not taaeiU in the yearly interest of the transferred
capital, to keep up idlers, and being in receipt of
both the profits of capital and the proHts of industry,
they are thus in a condition to extend their indus-
try. — employing more workmen, and necessarily
raio Jig wages it is, in reality, a creation of capital
to bo eniDloy d in the most advantageous numner to
purposes of n-prodnctio . Thus, by the capital being
gradually transfer ng to the industrious, from what
may be termed diQ drones of society (unfairly it
must bo ix\\'\' jd), the ind ..virions are put in a condition
to be moi'e industrious, and rbr drones are com-
pelled to become industrious. Tiie skilful, and ac-
tive, and enterprising portion of the community,
thus acqui^'ing greater power of carrying on improve-
ment, national prosperity, and a vast increase of na-
tional energy is the result.
Towards the end of last century, another circum-
stance came into operation, — a paper currency with
ti,'^ general use of bills. This rendered a less quan-
tity of gold and silver necessary as a circulating me-
dium, and thus, by diminishing the demand in Europe,
the supply from the mines going on increasing,
lowered the value still further, and during the latter
part of the last war, when the principal portion of
2:32
APPENDIX. — NOTE H.
the national debt was contracted, gold and silver
were at the lowest value ever known.
About this time, the value of that rather vague
idea the pound Sterlimj (/) was further lowered by
the bank-restriction act, — the banks by act of Par-
liament being absolved from their liability to pay
their issues in gold. This condition of things con-
tinued for upwards of twenty years, and the value of
the pound Sterlinp^ although dependent upon the
amount of notes issued by the banks, came latterly
to range about 3 pounds for 2 guineas, — the guineas
themselves, as wo have stated, being very much re-
duced in value. This great reduction of the value
of the currency all the while, by still further dimi-
nishing the real value of borrowed capital, and thus
lessening the burthen of the idle portion of the com-
munity upon the industrious portion, operated power-
fully to benefit industry and trade, and to stimu-
late national energy.
Since the time of the last general peace in Europe,
things have, however, taken a very different turn.
The production of gold and silver by the American
mines almost ceased, owing to the anarchy and de-
struction attending the struggle for independence,
and oven at this day, the production is far short of
what it was when a considerable portion of the po-
pulation were compelled to labour in the mines un-
der the Spanish yoke. The demand for the precious
metals, in the mean time, having rather increased in
Europe from the i>rogress of improvement attending
the general peace, while the source of the supply was
nearly dried up, has caused a considerable rise of the
r. ttti. ••«(-<
... »
APPENDIX. — NOTE II.
23;^
value of gold and silver, independent of the demand
resulting from the re-adoption of a metallic currenc v
in England.
Had the bank cash- payment-restriction act been
continued in Britain, and the paper issues been kept
up, the industry of Britain would not have been af-
fected by this increase of the value of gold, the only
alteration would have been a greater disproportion
of value between the pound Sterlincf and the guinea.
But our Legislature at this most unsuitable time, most
unjustifiably enacted that the banks should pay their
issues in gold, at the gold price of the pound Sterllncf
previous to its depreciation, — that is a pound and
one twentieth for the guinea, — also preventing th<^
circulation of notes less than five pounds in England.
These very unjust and injudicious and most unop-
portune monetary regulations, have had very in-
jurious effects upon the industry of the country,
causing intolerable privations and misery, and im-
pairing the national energy in a high degree. The
money lent to the nation during the wars amounting
to from four to five hundred millions, the greater part
of it borrowed while the value of the currency was at
the very lowest, is by this unjust enactment and the
increase of the value of gold, at least doubled, while,
at the same time, having been bon'owed upon the
usurious* plan of giving an acknowledgment or bill
* I believe money lent out at usury is forfeit by law. The
laws against what is termed usury are highly imjust, but is it
fitting that a nation should do what it punishes in private in-
dividuals ? It claims the right of dealing in usury, perhaps on
the same principle that it claims the right to kill, which it also
punishes in private individuals. It is said that a portion of the
debt was borrowed as low as L.40 to receive the L.100 pledge,
U
' ' . I- • » 'J Jfl ' ■ >
a-.i ,,»i fj.i-^^.R.i VL xa <r;w.,,.».
I !'♦ q<i
234
M« . t/
APPENDIX. '
for L.lOO for every L.50 or L.60 lent, they have con-
trived to increase these 400,000,000 or 500,000,000
to 800,000,000, and this 800,000,000 being now in a
currency double the value of the currency at the
time of borrowing, the nation has, in consequence,
to pay interest for nearly four times the amount of
the real value borrowed.
The great increase of the value of money caused
by Parliamentary enactment, and the decrease of the
supply of gold from the American mines, has doubled
all our liabilities, and rendered the industrious portion
of the community little better than slaves to tho idle
portion, the fund-holders, money-lenders, and pension-
aries,— -reducing vast numbers of the master manu-
facturers and traders (almost all indeed who have
had borrowed capital) to ruin, and greatly dimi-
nishing the price of labour. ' ' '
It is to Sir Robert Peel that the nation is indebt-
ed for the bill changing the value of money, and
thus robbing his industrious countrymen bt/ law. This
individual, in league with other money-lenders, pen-
sioners, and receivers of rent, has thus succeeded in
doubling the national debt, in greatly impairing the
national energies, and in cheating the industrious
portion of the community of at least ONE thousand
MILLIONS STERLING. Sir Robert Peel will take rank
in British history as the (greatest enemy to tJie prosperity
iofhis country that the British Isles have produced.
3
c.
.A
i< 1
y have' ^6n-
iOO,000,000
ig now in a
?ncy at the
)nsequence,
amount of
ney caused
rease of the
las doubled
ous portion
I to the idle
id pension-
ster raanu-
who have
atly dimi-
L is indebt-
lonoy, and
'law. This
iders, pen-
cceeded in
)airing the
ndustrious
THOUSAND
I take rank
' 'prosperity
educed.
, f