e>. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) y ^ A / /- t<>/ % ^ Vx ^ 1.0 ■^IM 12.5 Ui l« ||||21 I.I Wuu 1111.8 1.25 1 1.4 1.6 — ^ ^ , ^^ - 6" ► v^ /] /: > > //% ' //^. '/ Photographic Sciences Corporation as WEST MAIN fTREET WEBSTER, NY. M580 (716) 877-4503 A 7^ ^ The past month is celebrated as the termination of one vast and marked period in the history of the Anglo- Saxon race. Nations, like individuals, grow and in- crease in stature, strength, and wisdom—hitherto, like individuals, to perish in their strength, or to sink into decay, dotage, and imbecility. Dating from the birth of Alfred, a fair landmark in liistory, the Anglo- Saxons enter in this November on the second millen- nium of their strange and noble career. The past thousand years have their vicissitudes of defeat and triumph; but, borne onwards and upwards, the flag that has at last " braved a thousand years the battle and the breeze," lias attained an influence and power far over the highest flights that the Roman eagle, in his ambition, reached. The Norman conquest of England, and its infusion of Norman blood and manners, is but an incident in Saxon history. The Normans are only Jjranches of one great root with the Saxons — a " wave- let** in one tide of liumanity, that, sweeping down from "the Persian mountains," from the world's centre, from mankind's cradle, through many lands, to the northern coasts, the ends of the earth, were destined there to become, for a time, the agents of civilization, the teachers of the inhabited, and the conquerors of the V ild parts of the earth. We do not confine these remarks exclusively and strictly to the British race — one member, only, of a family — the youngest, and now the most powerful — u family to which the sea-kings of old were patriarchs, and whose branches occupy the " OUB ANGLO-SAXON EMPIRE. north-western coasts of Europe to tl.e present dav Ibe cunous questions connected with the oriffin of this t'^: Z "1 ''"''"' '" "7''^'^ =" inexplifable ut^ they may not even yet, be traced out and solved come to be employed in its elucidation; langua-e head not greatly a very curious and startling 1 ght undoub edly a most interesting examination, we have httlo or nothing to do at present, w; are confined to modern history, to the last thousand years by our own terms, and use them only to fur- wsh the ground for speculation on the future The JVorman myasion we regard, in every sense, as more an apparent than a real inroad on Saxon nde The Znt"" ri'' '" ""'"'"y' P"' °f «'" »«•"« original stock, and they never occupied any great portion of the country, except as its proprietary. They forced back on the Northern English Lntifs. andin'to Ct land, the Saxon nobles ; and for a long period bitter animosity existed between the countries-bitter and iinrelcuting as the strife of brethren-but the Nor- ZutT^f-T- i ^''f T". ""''"■■ 2'^''^% promoted the subs antial interests of the country, for their victories m France were idle and worthless triumphs; and they arc not the men who levelled the forests, tilled the «oi), constructed our roads, built up our towns, drained our marshes madG highways of water over our raoun- llT r W°"^'' ?' ■•"^'"y"' «'=Pl°'^ed the earth's recesses for their wealth, built and navigated our shins mvented new mechanisms, discovered new countries' extended our manufactures, improved our arts, planted our standard by the St. Lawrence and the Mi;sissippi. plAnted animal by steam power, and made the mighty ' OUR ANGLO-SAXON EMHEE. J. engiues that traverse land and sea, running to and fro upon the earth, and causing knowledge tofnerease lil T t'' "^ ^^''' triumphs is^mall, S because the Nonnans, as the term is commonly cL^ cumscribed, are few. Their share is large as the^ numbei-s are great, if ^vithin the descriptive title are m.luded aU those to whom it really belongs; nameTy the greater part of the north-eastern po^dation a^ distinguished originally from those in tl^cenlreX western, and the southern districts of Britain. Some ^ . of Alfred s admirers regard him as the founder of a / separate monarchy, who struggled long against the adverse Danish race. They have not, ^e think, any good reasons m historical facts, so far as they can .ow be gleaned out and substantiated, in considering Lis struggles as materially different in character fromthosft of l^obert Bruce against the English Norman Kings, except that the latter were more powerful combatants and the persons more numerous who were involved in the issue. The difference between the English and bcotch wai-s, and a war between the British and the Kussian people at the present age, is perceptible with- out much historical knowledge. The former mi^ht be more implacable than the latter, without a change of race following victory on either side. There are ex- amples precisely illustrative, in the existing state of J!.urope. The Danes and Swedes have waged violent wars ; and yet they occupy, not so much in territory as in race, the position of tlie English and the Scotch m former times towards each other. The triumph of either Danes or Swedes would not involve any radical change m Denmark or Sweden; but the conquest of either, or of both, by the Kussians, would be a widely different^affair. Then, in the attacks of the British ixt4 on Copenhagen, and in the alliances of the Danes jrith France against Britain, the Danes themselves lQ\md something unnatural ; and the inhabitants of ^1> 8^ ova ANGLO-SAXON JSMriBE t)4e eastern, and especially of the north-eastern dk- tnctsof Scotland participated in their feeling, becanse tie connection of the races is stamped, like the brand on Cains brow, in Hnes perceptible to all, and the intimate assimiktion of laugnage makes the proof of identity distmct. ^ The bii'th of Alfred stamped a broad mark in the his- tory of the British Empire, rather on aceonnt of his legislation than liis wars. He gave consistency to the laws and power of the British Sa^xons, by eollectin^ and embodying the scattered fragments of both. He ruled as king, with the assent, and after the instrnc- tions of the people, in their Parliament. His reif^n was, in every particular, prefignrative of the subseqnent progress of the nation. He was a scholar, a w^ior a legislator, and the munificent patron of discovery and navigation--in themselves the origin and means of ^mmerce. Alfred»s reign commenced a millonnium in British history, which has now closed. Hitherto we have gone forward in power, increasing in popula- tion, in influence, and wealth. Hereafter shall wo retrograde into the insignificance of eastern kingdoms and empu-es, that seemed born oidy to grow and die p Ihe wiswer closely concerns all our population, and should be pondered well. The withdrawal of the United States, at the close of the last century, neither we think, increased British influence, nor improved American manners. The United States are not so Iree from vice as prudent parents would wish to see their chddren m their youth, or early manhood. They seem to be hot m dispute, prone to quarrel, and fond of castmg every misunderstanding into the scale of war opposite their swords. They have displayed to- wards weaker races little of that philanthropy which should be the chivaky of our time. THaiV -ns-'f:.-^-. presents many paUiating circumstances; but, as yet ambition and avarice unfit the democr^y of the States . *:S&^W*-;J^MnHl* ■■ l i ^ M w w iw i wwii m OUR ANGLO-SAXOJJ EMMRE, ''$ tor noble deeds. If we look upon the man of iU ^orld, we find the possessions ^of BrUaS scat e 'd over every quarter. A superficial glance vdU L™ the impression that they 'are disjointed Id Z. mentary; and we only reach the conviction tlS they are compact and naturally knit together afte a careful exanuuation of their position, popuafon and produce We l,old it essential for tKtetst oJlT"^" " 'f """"^'y- °' *•"> inhabit n^^^^^^ our possession.s, of our colonists, of great nrin cip les in commerce, great objects in morals Tnd scieu" and a m.ghty result in religion, that this empire ThouW nlT ""n • '""^ /'P'"'''^- ^' "'■"' be destroyed til Xr f ""'''' ^'''"Sh some great intervral tion, which we have no reason to anticipate. Its chief danger is, therefore, from withia-from ourselves tid our errors. Some years ago, the aristocracy did all vnthin then- power to alienate our colonists, and destroy our possessions. They refused to the former parties l)atiou in our commerce, in our legislation, in the ma- Ihe selfish principle blinded tliem even, to their own self-interest, and they treated the colonies, and ultra- manne possessions, as vvarming-pans for scions of their families The great power of the empire was never conferred for that ignoble purpose, but is that end It was prostituted. A day of rctributiwi arrived Another party rose into power, deficient in sentimenl- careless of any influence not connected with ledgers and Adam Smith-as destitute of chivabous feelSigs as their predecessors were devoid of justice-and ther threaten to cut off the colonies. The influence that retains the British people together must be strong to Tcsist years_of successive and violent temntations to separate, mc design of casting off the colonies is now openly avowed by the subordinates of the Go; vernment ; but, if ever their superiors propose a bilj 1. i 10 pua ANGJ/)-8AX0N EMriEE, for that purpose in Parliament, tliey will learn thai they have completely miscaleulated the temper of tho people. The Ministry will not follow that plain path. They will continue to insult, misgovern, and oppress, in ex- pectation of the consequences. They will sustain Torrington, the Governor, and priest-whipper, in Cey- lon ; they will give certificates of good conduct to the More O'i'errals, who may turn our fortresses into the tools of the Jesuits— knighthood to Wards, who hang Cephalonians like thcHaynaus — peerages to thcElgius, who hide in the woods from the presence of the colo- nists whom they have successfully involved in trouble —and all manner of support to the dozens of governors in over-taxed islets who demand for themselves more money than the colouists earn. This is the habit of the Colonial Office. An effort to part the colonies from home, made avowedly and manfully, would not be successful. The people would at once lay the treason prostrate. Therefore, a deeper scheme is in- vented. The colonists are teased, tormented, and smothered with constitutions. Here they axe threat- ened with an inundation of paupers ; there with an infusion of felons and felonry. Now they are pressed to the earth, and money squeezed out of them hydrau- lically to pay governors and officials, over whose ap- pointments and dismissal they have no power ; again, they are forbidden to employ labourers, except with permission, behest, and benison, from Earl Grey. lu one quarter land is rendered of dangerous and diffi- cult attainment ; in another it is squandered away in grants to favourites and pets, with guilty profusion. An immense and valuable island, the property of the people of this country, is gifted bodily to an iA\^ ^rxmT^oTlv xv\\n immpflinfp.lv arlvprtisft its former vjuxa vviiip«"j> TT.5-. — .., ^ — owners, through the newspapers, that they are at liberty to come and buy portions of their own land OtJE AlfGtO-SAXON EMPIRE. 1! back again at a reasonable price ; and the Colonial Se- cretary, Under Secretary, and the whole bundle of officials, read the advertisements without blushing, in tko company of honest men whose property they have squandered. Losing shareholders in railways talk bitterly of Hudson, and have never a word to say of Hawes. M ^ believe Hudson to be comparatively up- right, for he never gave away a whole concern in bulk to Mr. Secretary so-and-so, or to self and others, like the York and North Midlands, or the Eastern Counties; but the transaction of Vancouver's Island with the Hudson-Bay Company is a commercial story that will never tell well for the present Ministry. We hope that none of them, or of their connections, relatives, subordinates, and menials, hold deeply in the Hudson- Bay Company ; for in that case, instead of playing over theii- remains "the fooPs step,*' it would be neces- sary to employ " the rogue's march." Both Hudson and Hawes are the victims, in their several lines, per- haps, of a bad system ; but the victimising may inca- pacitate them for managing public affairs. This is the charitable conclusion ; and yet meek charity confesses, in a constrained whisper, that mortals of theii- calibre seldomgiveawaytheirown property withtherecklessness apparent in one of these cases. At home we are told assiduously that the colonies don't pay. Of course they don't. They would be very remarkable colonies, in- deed, if they did pay. Thor^^ tlieir log roads were paved four inches deep with beaten gold, and their ploughshares glazed diamonds, how could they pay, with a determination, on the managers' part, that they should cost more than they produced ? The mterest, dignity, and honour of the empire, are trampled dovm beneath fictitious crotchets and absurd fantasies, in the name of liberal government and constitutional freedom. In the name of freedom ! Did ever a de- mocracy so govern colonies, oppress industry, and rob ill ) m II OUB ANGLO-SAXON EMPIRE, its component parts? Give us a democracy, and we shall see, in three months, a dilTerent style of govern^ ment, inaugurated amid a federation of colonies and states, zealous for their mutual honour, profit, and power. The cnisli is coming because we are governed by an aristocracy of money, and a conglomeration of pothouse legislators. The aristocracy is pitiful, fo|' they have no power in their own liouse, but are screwed up by the Iron Duke when he wants them. In me- chanics, now, workmen call any great power employed by them, a last shift, in doing work — an ultimate re- sort of mind struggling witli matter — "the Whigs' Iron Duke." The tlieory of management in politics is comprehended in workshops. When a clever tailor Wuats to press down a stiff and rebellious seam, he does not ask the boy for the goose, but says, " Hand me the Iron Duke, Tim;" and up to the board it is borne, hot and hissing, to do its work. The legislatorSj in the Commons, are not pothouse members more than any other legislators, in the ordinary sense of the term. Perhaps there are more sherry cobblers used by the gen- tlemen of Washington, than goes of gin by the gentlemen of Westminster, in a session. We know not the prevail- ing custom, though occasionally honourable members do get drunk ; but we do not call them pothouse legisla- tors on that account, for they comprehend a large body of most decorous and respectable men ; our reason arises from their official, and not from their personal capacities. Are there six borough members amongst them elected without the consent and by the influence of the spirit-shop and beer-house interest, especially if in the calculation the votes of licensed victuallers be included P We confess that the latter class of trades- men, except in small boroughs, where mine host goes with his customers, and puts it in the bill, give good votes, and many of the former also, or we should have K parliftment of brewers, distillers, and refiners solely ii s-^tt mi i mvmm^mf mmmmn OUK ANGLO-SAXON EMPIRE, 13 but the fact remains, that, from the forms and peculi- arities of our franchise, the interest named can often return the member against the world, and always so turn a point as to make their own bargain. Let us now return to our subject. This Anglo-Saxon em- pire is hastening onwards to a precipice. Is it worth while to turn the chase, save our position in the world, and use the gifts of Providence for our own and other nations' good ? We hold that a variety of interests are concerned in averting a catastrophe : 1st, The interest of the people at home. 2d, „ „ of the Colonists. '^^» n a ofcommerce and genuine free- trade, . 4th, „ „ of morals and intellect ; and, . M\ a „ of religion. The first and the second maybe stated together with great brevity. A common argument by those who have given to the subject all the advantages of very shallow study is, that we should sell and buy as fi-eely and profitably with the colonies, after they were independent states, as in their present position. So we should, of course, if in the case of any large firm- Brown, Smith, & Co., for example— Mr. Brown would have the same interest in Mr. Smith's doings and earn- ings, and Mr. Smith in Mr. Brown's, after the disso^^ lution of their partnership, as during its continuance.'^ A partnership dissolved by mutual consent would not be followed by a result of that character. The parties might say and believe that they could each do better separately; and this is what some writers say and some thinkers believe regarding the colonial connec- tion. A company might, from that motive, be ami- cably dissolved ; and, if no difficulties arose regarding the accounts and settlements, the partners might re- main on terms of personal intercourse and friendship ; but the mutual interest iu their rcspectiro personal 14 oirn AKGLO-sAxoN smpibe. ■ th«t while our exports have increased in 1849 over 1848, yet our imports have grown fai- more rapidly. If any man will take pen in hand, and calculate the cost of grain imported in 1849, he will discover the excess of the present year hitherto over 1848 to be more than all the increase of our exports, even at their nominal Value. We have also been importing other articles more largely; and the balance of trade is tliis year, up to 10th October, against us by a sum of at least £4,000,000,likcly to be made £5,000,00Q or £6,000,000 before we close. A minute examination into these details will disclose the fact, that our great additional sales have been colonial, or to those markets where Our goods are admitted almost free^-to China, to Turkey, and equally liberal powers; for, strangely ettough, the Heathens are wiser than the Christians in this respect. Those new tariffs, again, that the Christian states, by courtesy bo called, have TCcently passed, are injurious to U". The United States talk of raising their duties. Hamburg has joined the ZoU- tctein. Switzerland has raised its rate of taxes on imports. The new Spanish tariff is an increased tax dn many goods, and on all secures the carrying trade by a differential duty of greater amount than the f^^ht added on goods brought by any except Spanish ■ AU these facts will drive us backward, unless some decifiivemeasures be soon adopted. Happy in a Parlia- ment that may live until 1852 or 1833, the Whig Ministry, more powerful in the press than any preced- ing Administration, rejoice over tlieir salaries— hand- some in amount, and paid quarterly; But they do know, that the elections, as they occur, are not grati- Mn^ to their supporters. They have Ireland de- mtirely recurring to murder, as a daily practice, and adding thereto the wholesale theft of crops. They hate «ifl tie colonies at war with their secretary and /:| f f atJB A2«GL0-SAXON EMPIRE. 21 bis staff. They have Jamaica, Guiana, and other pos^ sessions, refusing to levy taxes, and running up arrears which this overpressed British p. ople must clear away. All these r understandings exist because the Colonial Office, in a body, have registered a vow, at the respec- tive banlccrs of the various gentlemen, against paying to their friends, or taking for themselves, a penny or a pound less than is in the bonds. The Cape Town colony refused one of our exports — our surplus fel- onry — and by their determination beat Earl Grey and his ** merry men all;" but the Cape Town has a talented soldier as governor, and who, while he ex- pressed his determination to enforce the law, con- cealed not his conviction that the imports of felons were unnecessai-y, and highly prejudicial. Port Philip, most assuredly, will gam a similar triumph. Any colony, not in the fangs of the family, can beat the Office in the long run ; but those unfortunate posses- sions, once handed over to one of " our cousins," arc in a bad way for constitutional redress. The colonies are in danger, ^he empire is parting. We are in the progress downwards, and commence our second millennium, as Anglo-Saxons, with bad pro- spects, unless our policy be decisively and rapidly- changed. I What, then, do we require ? We are neither retrogres- sive, conservative, nor obstructive. These terminations sliit us not. We are for progress. It is a good word, and implies a necessity. We must progress backwards or onwards. Now we are going back. Peel's im- pidse sent us on a bad track. He is a plausible leader ; and, accused by his party of deserting them, he may only have played a deep game for their good. Quintus Curtius like, he rode his horses, pride and place, into the gulf, aiid bade it close to save his friends. He found true free trade inevitable, unless he could hit out a mixture, under the name, that would 22 OL'Jl ANGLO-SAXON EMriRE. not work, witli the hope that tlie patient would faU back into the practicf^ of ,c - V j^lh, and the pre- scrjptions of tlie old docto. . m is on*:: solution of his movements, and If mny ,cno 1e.s true thuii othm. We want free trade as a world :i blessing— a bond of peace— u sourr-e ot mutual and cver-growinff happi- ness and prosperity • but u is the trade . xpounded iu Oolonel Thompson's c#^rhism of the corn laws, ^^'heli the weaver here may freely ixr^mnge his web with tha farmer elsewhere for a barrel of f.our, or whatever the former requires and the latter can sell. This re- sult is not yet obtained. The State, for public pur- poses, mtervenes, and charges a high sum for license to make the transaction. Tlie only advance made is. that our Government gets, in many cases, no share of this money contributed by two nations ; for wher- ever a high import tax is charged on goods, it is paid partly by both buyer and seller. The absurd idea that we have nn interest in the tariffs of foreign countries is abolishc IS> sane man would now name it before an intelligent audience. Some men say that we-do well m spite of high tariffs, but they will not denv that we could do better without them. Let us, there- fore, try for the better fate, and not rest contented with outs of prosperity, when we may pluck the fruit unchipped and unblemished from the tree. The posi- tion of our trade with the United States and the Jliuropean powers, with f(^w exceptions, is that of a taxed busmess, in which the proceeds of the tax are aJl paid over to foreign governments. The trade with the colonies, with China, Turkey, and some other countries, is also a taxed business, but one in which we keep very nearly all tho proceeds of the taxation. Ihe system is, therefore, unecui^I and unjust, and de- mands an immediate revisal, ii. '-i.^tr'ce to China, to ^ur^ej, to foreign Heathens and c vnial Oiiristians— «>ut tlie latter glass of suffere s, xi C aada, ii-z ^e- OUE ANGLO-SAXON EJT PIRE. 23 paratlon into their own hands. The decomposition of the empire would be most injurious to free trade principles, for it would add the colonies to the taxing countries; while the existence of the empire wf nldbe highly beneficial to free intercourse, because it is at once a Great British League, superior to the Zoi ;erein, to the United States, and to Russia; within which alone we can show, by example, the beneficial opera- tion of our theories. This circumstance should in- fluence the conduct of liberal politicians. Foreign nations may refuse to reciprocate our purposes ; but the colonies desire nothing more than untaxed trade between them and the home country, which should be only the j'.idvG and heart of the empire. Fo- reign nations may decree exclusive dealing in times of such distress and scarcity as we have felt and seen, but the stores of the colonies are always open to our population, and no arbitrary decree can ever come between them and our requirements. The union be- tween this country and its colonies should be complete —a federative union, ih which they should be fairly and fully represented. The advantages and honours open to the Queen's subjects in the Lothians or Lan- cashire^ should be equally open to them in Jamaica or in Canada. Objections of a chimerical character may be made to this arrangement, on account of distance and other difficulties, but Halifax, in Nova Scotia, is not now farther from London than Edinburgh was at the period of the union, while the difiiculties and dan- gers :i intercourse in tlie first case are fewer than they ■*-^';:e a the last. A difference in taxation is already recognised in Scotland, and in Ireland especially, so that this provision need not mar the scheme. A small tax on now waste public lands, as th^y may be allo- cated, would meet the colonial share of taxation an^ would not injure the colonists ; for their great interest M OUR ANGLO-SAXON EMPIRE. Vi .. bound the sale d cultivation of the wastes und forests aromid tlieir homes. This position brings us to another and important argument for maintaining the empire iu its present ex- tent and strength. The people of tliis country are responsible for a heavy national debt. A large part of the sum has been incurred for the benefit, defence, and maintenance of the colonies. If they are sacrificed, we lose all that money, although we must continue to pay the interest, and finally, perhaps, the principal. The unallocated lands of tie colonics may fairly be regarded as security and value for part of this debt; and as our legislators pass them away, they abandon the value which the people of Britain possessed for a great transaction, but compel them to pay its price. A committee of investigation into the conduct of these trustees, like those committees recently appointed to ex- amine the affairs of railway companies, would present a black report on past grants. Our government has no more riglit to deal with public property as they have dealt, than the directors of a railway have first to con- struct a branch by paymeuts out of the company's funds, and then make it over to a few private indivi- duals for nothing. The Iludsons and the Glyns would be held personally responsible, to tlieir last shilling, for a proceeding of that nature; and the Greys had better watch warily their conduct, for a great infusion of the popular principle into the House of Commons might be dangerous to them. This superiority over the co- lonies may have been, in practice, balanced off against trading privileges; but on their abolition, which is occurring rapidly, we would lose everything except the debt. Are these trading privileges valuable? The returns in PVrvj^rfsi nnarrnr flinf nnpc+ln-n A nrfpnf r\nrfir»i-i /->f the press (piote in triumph the increased exports of 1849. Tliey form a legitimate subject of triumph, OUE ANGLO-SAXOK EMHEE. ib but they have mainly occurred in the colonial trade, and the business wdth countries that charge on our goods a colonial duty. They illustrate the great ad- vantage of untaxed intercourse, but they do not sup- port the hybrid measures which modern statesmen dignify by the name of free trade. If material interests alone stood in the way of those pestiferous projects of decomposition entertained silently by some men, whispered in treachery's silken, dialect by others, spoken complacently as a foreknown doom by political fatalists, we should still oppose them with what energy we could command. But interests dearer still than profit or property— treasures nobler much than those of gold— are staked upon a conflict, with the existence of which the people of this country seem scarcely yet acquainted, although in it they aro so deeply interested. The progress of science, of in- tcUect, of morals, and faith, is ultimately associated with the existence of this empire. In times, and ways many, we have actively sinned against the interests of the aborigines in our colonies and possessions, the un- counted millions committed to our care; and in instances innumerable, we have neglected them. ]N[ow, at least in many minds, a new sense of duty is awakened. Our responsibilities are acknowledged. The power of our position for almost infinite good is felt. The woe that must fall from neglecting our talents for a merciful mission on the earth is perceived. The East looks to us for light and liberty, and wo dare not wisely reject the appeal. The West offers homes for our race, and we need not ungraciously cut off from us for ever those of our number who accept the invi- tation. Africa is friendless amongst the nations in its barbarous and cruel traffic if we abandon a noble and seif-iniposedrasfc. Inula illustrates oi creases our responsibility. Only a few years have passed since India was considered merely a terra in- OUE ANGLO-SAXON EMPIllE. €O0nUa where adventurous spirits sought death or for- tune. Tlie interests of the people were contemned, and yet, how marvellously they clung to the strangers from the west! Now, our Indian connexion is changed. Our power is no longer employed to prevent the influx of knowledge, of capital, and skill, into Hindostan. Our steamers breast its noble rivers. Our engineers are em- ployed in the constraction of its future railways. Our men of science engage indevising means for its improve- ment. Our language is spoken, read, and written, by its merchants in their commercial dealings. Our books are bought — our science learned— our literature sought with avidity by the Hindoos. Our schools are established in their cities, and our churches are scattered, not profusely, but as the seed of a great harvest, over the Eastern land. And what has India done for us ? Some years since we charged a dijffer- ential duty against Indian sugars in the home mar- ket, and their quality was bad. That duty was equa- lised, and the sugars of Benares are now the highest- priced of our imports. A similar result will occur with cotton. The impediments to its transit will be removed, and India will furnish more than our spindles can work or our looms can weave. We want no raw material that India cannot produce, and is not willing to give in exchange for our manufactures. The inter- course requires no money from us. It is one entirely of barter, on wliich, therefore, we have a double profit. Its finances fully meet its expenses, and yield a divi- dend on all the money invested in its management. Its sons fight our battles — under our flag they have won their way from the plain to the mountains. Once more they have pliced tlie Anglo-Saxon race on the Highlands of Central Asia ; and on us rests a deep responsibility if we light not on their summits the torches of all knowledge, and of all freedom *s bles- sings, until the pld homo of tlic human race aris^ 1™ OUE AKGLO-SAXON EMPIRE. n agaiu in more than tlie splendour that it bore when noble cities studded the Euphrates and the Tigris, and busy millions lived and struggled on that river's banks which has its springs among the mighty mountains^ from which mankind have twice descended to cultivate and inhabit the plains below. A nobler destiny could not be imagined for any people than to redeem Asia from its dreary night of thick darkness and su- perstition ; to build again its " old waste places" — to turn its neglected plains into fertile fields, once more to train upon its terraced mountains the culture long abandoned — to lead its multitudes into the paths of peace, and science, and religious faith ; to be the prophetic " Kings of the East," living with its many nations in amity, and mling where we rule, through the law of love ; in justice and in mercy. We believe that the interests of morality, intelli- gence, and religion, are deeply concerned in the main- tenance of this empire. The facilities and security afforded by it to those who have information to convey ; to those who oppose the cruelties practised by, and often on, the aborigines of distant lands ; and especially to those who are engaged in propounding the great religious truths which comprehend all other informa- tion in their progress, are of unspeakable value. ^ Let Tahiti teacli to the contributors of missionary societies the importance of this empire. They expended men and money on Tahiti, to render the island, its people, and the liberty that they had been taught to enjoy, a more desirable prize for the spoiler. Within the British possessions, they have the security of the British power that no similar event will interrupt the progress of their missionaries who go forth under the flag of their country, their friends, and their sup- porters. Half the danger of missionary labour is cleared away to them. The law, that made the homes of their youth peaceable aud secure, casts its proteQ- 2S Oril ANGLO-SAXON EMPIRB. tion over their steps tlirougli all their generous pil- grimages. Their voluntary exile is shorn of half its sadness. The symbols of their country's power, assum- ing gradually the character of symbols also of its justice, are around and above them. The shield of their nation's greatness is interposed between them and aggression. The prestige of their country's fame favours, or it may be made to favour, their exertions. A charm hangs over their language to the Hindoo. He seeks to know the history, the literature, and the condition, of the Once strange western race, who are slowly assuming towards his people the position of guides and allies, rather than of conquerors. The influence is powerful; for the man who wants to learn our language, to read our history, to study our literature, will reach his objects through our faith. The missionary has torn himself and liis family from the endearments, associations, and ad- vantages of home. The land to w^liich he has wandered is strange to him and them. The companionship they ioved is severed for long, or for ever — for ever in time. Even the inanimate existences around speak not to them the language of past years. They miss the trees of their own country, and the olive compensates them not iot the pine. The flowers which they cherislied and tended in their northern home are the wayside weeds of the southern and eastern lands. Their flaunting, gaudy colours speak not to the stranger's heart like the deep green of an English field. Hills covered With roses would not repay the northern wanderer for the purple heath of his own mountains. The sky above is not like that on which their infant eyes first rest- ed, as, from gowany banks and braes, they looked, and watched, and wondered, at the strange shapes that floated far, far above the land, and marvelled T Ik <^«r ^^ * ■V ^i.rii — ^^ WilCIlCS liJcj Uajiic, vr ".iiiifiSi liicj vvcrC g^Ollig', aiip whose hiiden hands were piloting their course. The sun of djiy is not the kindly sun whose presence ever OJJR ^KGliO-SAXON EMPIRE- ,29 cheered and made glad their home, but a searching, scorching fire, from which they slirink and hide as froin tlie pestilence, for the stroke of death is in its potent beams. The stars at night are new to them, and are not those on which they looked in childhood, and grew to knowandlbve, and measure winter evenings by, from their place in the heavens. All things are changed but one — the flag tliat floats on public days in public places is still the same; still its folds, thrown out to the warm wind, show old figures and familiar colours, and bring a host of associations to the mind — genial, warm, and blissful — not less valuable than the shield this flag spreads over the meanest subject of the empire which it represents. The wanderer feels still the force of that one potent fragment. It averts the stroke of persecution, secures an interest in his wondrous story, imparts force to his argument, and gives him a place at once amongst those for whom he works, that long years of faithful service might not command. Its presence in- cludes other considerations. It indicates the neighbour- liood of his countrymen, and leaves him not the solitary representative of his race. Some men, with kindred feelings, are near, to stand by him in danger, to cheer liim in depression, to aid him in trouble, in sorrow, in sickness, to bury him in death. All these advantages are not to be estimated statistically. Tlieir worth cannot be charged in pounds sterling — their existence does not affect the exchanges ; and yet they may be w^orth more than gold can buy, they may lift up hands that are waxed feeble, impart consolation to hearts that are bruised, and vigour to spirits fainting under many cares. No man can look over the world's map, read the history of our possessions on the globe, form on o/imio-infoi-inia «ri4Ti ■fliQ -r-vrvoif i/>" '^T ■fnOlV in nO nTTOTIT.O. and not feel that we may decline the task that these pos* sessions imply, resign the advantages that they aiford. :'1 ■ 30 OtTil ANGLO-SAXOil EMPIftE. tl f give the world another example of an empire cnimbllng bjthe degeneracy of its people; but not thus fulfil our apparent destiny, not realise our real responsibilities, and not repay by our knowledge whatever of evil may have been indicted in tlie attainment of our empire. The French republic has followed the monarchy in shielding the Pope, and aiding the Propaganda. We have no wish to deprecate such just measures as France may adopt for that purpose. France, with a faith of any kind, would be better than France with frivolity. A deep, strong tide of superstition would be a richer stream in France than the shallow theories that have run over the land. Eut French statesmen say that they are bound to be not only the propounders of the faith, hut /i(f('i milites. They want the general busi- ness of Romanism. Tliey keep the Pope, as Pharaoh's Premier was supposed to keep a cup, wherewith to divme. M. Thiers and ISL Barrot care no more for the Pope than they do for the Grand Lama. They hardly esteem him so highly as General Cavaignac, who described him as that "respectable person." Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, we fear, can scarcely have an estimable character in those nimneries where vows are religiously observed. Unless in the article of absolu- tion, these French gentlemen have little traffic of an ecclesiastical nature; and even in that ease they take the matter greatly into their own hands. A human being in sacerdotal office could not contain the con- fessions that they would whisper if they made a clean breast at regular intervals. Devout Koman Catholics may not like these defenders ; but although they ai-e not much in earnest regarding religion, thev desire power, and they want to "cozen" the priesthood, who, in the end, will prove to be the most sagacious diplomatists. Greek Church, England the Bible Societies, and France must lake the Pope by the hand. We deny and re- OTJR ANGLO-SAXON EMriHE, 31 piidiate any fighting aid to Bible Societies from Eng- land. All that they can expect is protection in their transactions. Britain promises only fair play within her dominions to different religions. That is some- thing widely different from those holy twenty-fonr- pounders used for converting purposes in Tahiti and Cochin China, used nominally in that way. The de- mission of our power now would merely give these buccanneers in nomine fidei freedom to knock down every mission station in the world. Liberal-minded Roman Catholics want no such triumph. They seek a willing assent to their tenets, like other professors; but French statesmen, who merely use tl\e Church as a cloak for political objects, teach by the sabre, con- vince by the bayonet, take bullets for dogmas, artillery officers for priests, and marshals of the republic for bishops of the Popedom, want no such just dealings. The religious public have a thrilling and vital in- terest in maintaining this empire, that they may work beneath its shadow. Our crimes have been many in its formation; yet are we now the only permanent and powerful state to which outraged men and women, stolen, sold, and tortured, may look with confidence for aid. The anti-slavery party in every land should remember that fact. We gave twenty millions for the negroes of the West India Islands, and many millions more to prevent and punish the crime of man-stealing. The amiexation of these colonies to the United States would undo all that has been completed. The twenty millions would be lost for ever, and that would be the smallest loss. The United States* im- migrants would insist on restoring slavery. The negroes would necessarily oppose that scheme. They have now amongst them men of information — members nf \\\r\ Ipo-islaturf^- and of the learned Drofcssions^ U nor leaders for war ; but contest^ invoking all the horror? "*-0 "J )uld want neither 31 OVE AlfGLO-SAXOIf EMtlBE*'' of domestic strife. The auti-slavery pai-ty in Britain must re-awaken. They have been hocussed by po- litical narcotics. In the West India Islands they hold the keys of negro freedom and Africa's emancipation. They might make these isles schools for Africa. It would be better and cheaper than an armed nautical blockade of Africa to purchase the negroes as they are brought to the coast, ship tiiem to the West Indian inlands, employ them in field labour, bestow on them in- tellectual and industrial education, place them under the care of missionaries ; cultivate, through them or the native Negroes, all the islands, and make them depots from wliich, in a few years, the once timid captives will be returned to the African coast, civilised farmers, Christian citizens of that great continent, who will effectually blockade the rivers, stop slave traflSc, and teach the value of labourers to the chieftains, by de- monstrating their power to earn all that Europe can sell, from their labour. That is the way in which a mortal stab can be given to slavery and the slave trade. More teaching and tilling, more produce, more civilization, are the chinks in its armour. Freework will beat slave labour, if justice be done; but there must be no intervention between the labourer and the planter, except such intervention as everywhere can be called into force between the employed and the employer. But do the Anti-slavery men of this country now seek the extirpation of slavery? Are they not content with its expulsion from our own temtories P Do they not even participate in its gains ? Say they not we are not the Artful Dodgers, but merely the Fagans of the profession? Are they not averse to steal, but willing to be resetters of stolen goods ? Because they say wc nmst buy cotton, do they not maintain also that they should buy all other slave-grown produce ? Po they not hold that if piracy, robbery, aiid murder bd l» Wft"WW ig A!|i ' WI!Wai ' ]» ' J ^ JWJ * "" *i W!iJ-ff ' - CiVB. &xeui-»A:xo}i smfise. 3? only committed openly aiid avowedly, tliey may law-- fully share in tkeir bloody gains ? Having neglected cotton culture till it lias fallen almost entirely into the hands of slave-owners, do they not now reason that these men should also be allowed to establish, by most brutal crimes, a monopoly in the growth of all tropical produce ? We cannot answer these questions, but we know that freedom is dear now to the people of Britain as it ever was — that Christian principle is not weaker than before — that they will not prefer a theory to morality — -that if shown a better way than any whicli they follow now, they will turn into that path, even though it should be beset with apparent difficulties. What, then, do we ask ? To revive old monopolies ? -^to resuscitate protection? — to galvanise dry bones? —to shovel out the Atlantic with a dust pan ? Cer^ taiuly these ideas are not sought by us. We se«k freedom in all transactions-— all possible and profit- able freedom; but, preferring the interests of our own people to those of any other nation, when asked if we can continue to fight hostile tariffs with fi-ce imports, we answer that we may, but we disliko %hting, and prefer equal terms, justice, and fidend* ship. We have no desire to see our soldiers or sailors commencing a conflict with an arm each tied up, and clogs chained to their ancles. That, however, is now the dilemma oi our operatives. They are com- mercially crippled. The cui-rency monopoly, the land monopoly, and heavy taxes, are their clogs, while the hostile tariffs tie up their arms. A small demonstra- tion would cast off both clogs and cords. Whenever the United States, Germany, France, Spain, and Rus- sia learn that we are dreaming of a ZoUverein, of a federal union amongst our eoiouies, forming the world in miniature, producing all that we require, offering larger fidds ihm wo c^u cultivate; and a^eater d^mauj u OVJL ANGLO-SAXON ElfPIREr' I llian we can supply, a genuine free trade party will arise in all those countries, and we shall be near the realization of free, unchecked, untaxed intercourse with the world. The result is sufficiently great to warrant the experiment. It is a result in which all are con- cerned — ^the members of trades' societies — the advo- cates of sanatory reform — the friends of education — the supporters of ten hours' bills, of anti-truck, aiiti- fomale-mining, and anti-female stitching-to-deatli asso- ciations — the opponents of slavery and serfdom in all lands — the propounders of justice to weak races, and the propagators of the glorious faith that breaks every bond it touches, and scatters freedom's light and faith's peace and joy over every heart and every land to which its knowledge penetrates. This Anglo-Saxon empire must be saved, to wort out a,t home, in the colonies, in Africa, in Asia, in America, a noble mission of love and truth. Let it die now in its first millennium, and it will leave a checqaered memory on earth. Let it live to exhibit generosity and power for a century — to employ its great means for the good of even one generation — to edu- cate, emancipate, and enfranchise, wherever its power extends; and its name will be a household word, spoken with love, in countless homes, for ages. The last thousand years present a varied but a noble history. We have reached the power to do good, to struggle successfully against want, crime, ignorance, superstition, and injustice, amongst a greater population than ever were previously banded together. JBut the links are loose, the chain is weakened, and these ob- jects can only be eifected by concentrating our colonies, by eliciting their resources, by assisting them heartily and sincerely, by regarding them as the safest invest- tuuiiv iur ucipivcii, ciuu luG suicsi ueiu lOF laoour aiiti skill, by invitmg them into the grand Council of the State, and by making them truly and practically extensigns OUR ANGLO-SAXON EMPIRE. 35 of Britain. They have been alienated and neglected, with loss to them and us ; but their effective junction and fusion into one great state will realise the largest conceptions of the wisest men, and the bright- est visions tliat genius ever formed. The union of a few scattered Saxon tribes signalised the reign of Alfred, and the commencement of the last thousand years. ^ The reunion of their descendants, on equal terms, ma firmer bond, should distinguish the reign of Victoria at the commencement of the second gre°at period of the empire ; not merely for a commercial purpose, nor a political end— necessary as are both objects— but for the effective discharge of duties that have grown round us ; to secure trophies that will be neitiier dimmed by tears, nor cursed by blood ; and to prmt our footsteps upon time, not in the conqueror's crimson hue, but in the clear, stainless light of Chris- tian cliivalry. Priuted by QeoaoE Troup, 2U, Dunlop Street, Glasffoir. ■;:jo ilfi I, • ■X Ad 1 ovi life du lal) i COl iie( of m PRINCIPLES OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND RECIPROCITY AND NATIVE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION, Adopted ttt a Public Meeting, held in the Merchants' Hall, Glasgow, 18th May, 1849— Sir John Maxwell, of Poloo, Bart, in the Chair. 1. That OS " the anniinl labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with nil the necess.Trifa jind conveniences of life," the first duly of all governments is to maintain native in- dustry, to encourage and preserve profitable employment tW labour. 2. That the present condition of tho imUistrial classea in this country calls fur the scnous consideration of the Legislature, t'^e necessities of said classes requiring to be provided for before tln-je of foreigners. 3. That the employment of Inrt^c portions of onr population has been diminished in qur.ntity, or in remuneration, or has ceased — increased numbers are dependent <>n poor-rates (which are now excessive)— many thousands have eir.igrntcd— much of this less of employment has arisen from the decline of our colonial trade, and from the severe competition of foreign industry, in our home, co- lonial, and foreign markets. 4. Considering dbsolutdy" free trade" as an open question, liut seeing that the concessions and sacrifices made by this counti-y to other nations have not yet obtained adequate reciprocal or equiva- lent benefits, it becomes a matter for consideration whether it is incumbent on this country to continue that experiment, to tho detriment of Rritish interests, without obtaining some" security from foreign stiites that reciprocal benefits shall be conceded to us. 5. That as " free trade" implies relief from burdens and restric- tions on the home trade, as well as on the colonial trade, it was tho duty of the British Legislature to have relieved domestic in- dustry of a load of taxation, and to have establislied free trade with the British colonies to the utmost extent warranted by the state of tJie imperial revenue. 6. That, in the natural order of things, all arrangements and advances in the direction of free trade ought to have been begun and completed in our home trade, and in our colonial trade, before proceeding to give to our foreign rivals in trade the unrestricted, untaxed, unreciprocated privilege of competing in British markets with heavily taxed British industry. 7. That free trade with our own colonies would contribute largely to increase and consolidate the industrial, commercial, and poli- tical relatiqns of Great Britain, not only with said colonies, but also with foreign powers. THE OBJECTS OF THIS ASSOCIATION ARE— I. — To obtain a free trade at home, by relieving domestic Indus- try from various undue burdens and restrictions still remaining upon it. II. — To obtain free trade with the British colonies, recosrniaing them as integral portions of the empire, by treating coasting and colonial trade on similar principles. III.— To obtain free trade with foreign states, en the basis of a true and equitable reciprocity. lY. — To i)roCurc and circuiute authentic information regarding native and colonial industry and interests; to watch the character of all measures introduced into the Imperial and Colonial Legis- latures, which affect our industrial interests ; and to promote and maintain a harmonious intercourse between all sections of th9 British empire.