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 HINTS OJL/^LONIAIh 
 
 {Rep^Hu0Bdfromdhe Montreal Morning Courier, April and May, 1838.) '<^'^ 
 
 \^ .^^ f Montreal, 4f^ 
 
 L,J!a^ our last, we endeavoured to insist upo: 
 essential principle, that the contemplated arrangement of our 
 affairs must be made a thorough and therefore permanent 
 measure. It is not enough, that it infringe upon no rule of 
 justice, nor, so far as it may go, of expediency ; — ^it must be 
 a setdement of every point that can be drawn into dispute, 
 — a settlement calculated in every respect to be final. 
 
 We proceed to allude briefly to some of the more prominent 
 of these points. Their number does not allow of a complete 
 examination of them all in the columns of a newspaper. We 
 shall endeavour not to omit any of the more important. 
 
 It is necessary, as we remarked in our last, that the pro- 
 posed examination should not be limited to Lower Canada. 
 The relations' of Lower Canada with the mother country, and 
 with the sister colonies, must receive their full share of 
 attention. ThiB intimate natural connection of the two 
 Canadas especially, requires that the relations which are to 
 subsist between them be attentively considered. Important 
 as the right adjustment of our own internal affairs is to us in 
 Lower Canada, the settlement of these other questions is 
 hardly less so. The latter is the foundation, so to speak, on 
 which the former must rest. Considering to what extent our 
 past difficulties have arisen from, or been aggravated by, the 
 
 
deficiencies of the Act of 1791 in this respect, the necessity 
 of avoiding all such deficiencies in the future Act of 1840, 
 can hardly be questioned. 
 
 There is, in some quarters, an apparent disposition to regard 
 the separation of the North American colonies from the 
 empire, at no very distant period, as a probable and perhaps 
 not undesirable event. Great pains have been taken to 
 inculcate this anti-colonial doctrine in the three kingdoms 
 as 'Sfell as in the colonies ; and tho natural consequence is 
 that a good many persons are more or less imbued with it. 
 Even in the House of Commons it has been the text on which 
 the radical nunority have enlarged for years past y and of 
 late it has been handled too gently, to say the least, by some 
 of the public men of both the other parties. In these colonies 
 the leaders of the late radical party were its avowed apostles. 
 We do not go too far when we say that some of their political 
 opponents, even, have not been as strongly opposed to it on 
 principle as they might have been. Their number may have 
 been far from large, and the opinions of most of them on this 
 point far from definite ; still, there are those whose opposition 
 to the revolutionists has not arisen from any very decided 
 attachment to the connexion with the parent state, or any 
 very strong desire to preserve it as a permanent element of 
 the constitution. The great body of the nation at home, 
 beyond a doubt, would scout any project for a separation ; the 
 great body of their fellow-subjects in the colonies, we are 
 proud to beKeve, would oppose it no less heartily. 
 
 There is much mischief done, however, by these repre- 
 sentations of the possibility of an abandonment of any of the 
 British colonies. They tend to unsettle every thing, — colonial 
 policy at home, and colonial politics here. If ever they 
 should unhappily be realized, it will be owing mainly to this 
 cause. Great Britain has once lost colonies ; but it was 
 through her own fault, and under circumstances not likely 
 
8 
 
 i 
 
 ever to recur. She has but to continue to avoid the faulty 
 policy which then cost her so dear, and the lesson will never 
 be repeated. 
 
 It is true that from the extent of territory to be occupied 
 by some of the colonies, the time must at last arrive when 
 the precise colonial relation now subsisting cannot possibly 
 continue. In North America and in Australia, whenever 
 their population shall have become dense, (and this will not 
 be until they are also widely extended,) British colonies will 
 exist, too powerful for the control of the mother country. 
 But that period is distant. It will be very long before any 
 colony of Great Britain will need to be abandoned for such a 
 cause. And even then, there is no reason why a league 
 should not take the place of the old bond of union, — and the 
 whole British nation thus continue ever united, o every 
 intent and purpose, so far as peace, mutual good under- 
 standing, commerce, and identity of foreign policy, can unite 
 it. 
 
 It is a great mistake, though not a very uncommon one, to 
 speak of the British Empire as unwieldy, — because its several 
 parts are scattered over the four quarters of the earth, and 
 its subjects are of almost every race and creed under heaven. 
 Such an empire is different from any which has ever before 
 existed ; but that is surely no reason why we should look for- 
 ward to its decay or overthrow. Other extensive empires, 
 unlike it in their construction, have fallen. British policy 
 must adapt itself to the peculiar resources and position of the 
 empire. The fate of the empire may be as unlike that of 
 former states as its position is unlike theirs. 
 
 The single fact that steam is now on the point of being 
 successfully applied to ocean navigation, is decisive (to go no 
 farther) on this point. When Spain and Portugal held 
 South America and the two Indies, a voyage to their nearest 
 colonies was an affair of months, and to the most distant, an 
 
4 
 
 affair of years. The wretched system of misgovemment 
 -which they established in their colonies, grew in part out of 
 the state of the times, and in part, also, out of this very cause. 
 The colonies were too distant not to be misgoverned. Their 
 mismanagement proved their ruin, and that of their founders. 
 In the present day, the case is different. Steam-commu- 
 nication with the East Indies, as already established by way 
 of the Mediterranean, brings Bombay and London within 44 
 days of one another. Steamships are fitting out to go from 
 London round the Cape to Calcutta, in 62 days. Steam- 
 frigates are exterminating the native pirates in the Eastern 
 Archipelago. A very few more years, and who will say how 
 much nearer the several portions of the empire may thus be 
 brought? Edinburgh was once farther from London than 
 Montreal will be in another week or two. Take into account, 
 besides, the principles of government adopted everywhere 
 under the British flag, the civilization which it carries with it, 
 and *;he rapid improvement in all these respects which the 
 c .we are alluding to must produce, — and who will then 
 limit the increase or the duration of a power which is founded 
 on such elements ? 
 
 Those who affect to philosophize in favour of an early 
 separation of colonies from the parent state, might do well 
 not wholly to overlook these considerations. They may lead 
 some of them, as they do us, to a directly opposite conclusion. 
 Misgoverned, a colony may gain, or it may lose, by a suc- 
 cessful assertion of its independence. Well governed, the 
 bright prospect for a British colony is in the steady main- 
 tenance — as the essential object of its policy — of its connexion 
 with the British Empire. 
 
 v; 
 
 Montreal, April 13, 1838. 
 The opinion that all colonies must, sooner or later, become 
 wholly independent of the connexion with the parent state, 
 
I 
 
 has been so often confidently asserted, and so often tacitly 
 admitted, that, at the risk of being tedious, we return to it. 
 Its importance, bearing as it dues upon every other point in 
 our colonial politics, must be our excuse for urging one or 
 two more reasons, in addition to those we have already stated 
 in opposition to it. They will serve as an introduction to the 
 remarks we propose afterwards to offer on the relations which 
 ought to subsist between the North American colonies in gene- 
 ral, and the two Canadas in particular. 
 
 It is surely unnecessary to dwell upon the immense advan- 
 tages which must ever accrue to all parts of an empire like 
 the British Empire, from the constant maintenance of the 
 most intimate connexion between them. Every climate, trade, 
 production and manufacture may be found, or obtained, within 
 their limits. The commerce between them gives its possessor 
 the almost uncontrolled command of the sea. The only nation 
 that can at all compete with us on this element, is, in fact, the 
 United States — a people of our own origin and language, and 
 endowed with the same enterprising disposition which is the 
 peculiar feature of the British race, and to which the 
 British Empire owes all its power. So long, however, 
 as we remain united, we possess an immense advantage 
 over them. We have ports of our own^ in every sea. 
 They have ports, only along the North Eastern border 
 of the Atlantic. Our own possessions furnish us with the 
 entire material for a most extensive trade by sea ; all the 
 trade we may carry on with other countries is so much added 
 to this ; and the mere fact that we have ports everywhere, 
 ensures a great advantage in our foreign trade over other 
 nations whose ports are limited to one quarter of the globe. 
 The United States have vast resources for internal commerce, 
 and its rivers, canals and railroads enable its people to deve- 
 lope those resources with great rapidity ; their coasting trade, 
 too, is considerable ; but their commerce over sea is entirely 
 
foreign, and depends, therefore, not only on their own enter- 
 piise, but also on the temper of other nations, and especially 
 on the uninterrupted maintenance of peace between them. 
 The government and people of the United States do their best 
 to make up for this deficiency by their commercial treaties 
 with foreign powers. Great Britain can also make such trea- 
 ties, just as well as they can ; and thus preserve her present 
 advantage over them. 
 
 Reverse this state of things. Let any colony be cut off 
 from this connexion. — We do not say that in such a case the 
 whole body might not suffer ; but we do say that the detached 
 colony would suffer most. For a colony, circumstanced in 
 regard to population as Lower Canada is, to be thus detached 
 would be its ruin. It may be said that it would be merged 
 in the great Republic to the South, and would share in its 
 prosperity. There may be some who would willingly submit 
 to the accompanying infliction of democracy in such a hope. 
 But the hope is unfounded. Here, of all places in the world, 
 we must have, for some time to come, a restraining and reform- 
 ing government, such as we surely need not gravely argue 
 that democracy, and connexion with the United States, 
 would never give us. To expect prosperity without such a 
 government is a dream, — as idle as the hope of rain would 
 be in the heart of the Sahara. Separated from England, 
 the fate of Lower Canada may rather be read in the fate of 
 South America. 
 
 But we put out of view these considerations, as they are 
 only temporary. Our position is, that the union of Great 
 Britain and her colonies ought to be perpetual ; changing, it 
 may be, in its character, as the colonies increase in strength : 
 but still perpetual, so far as unrestricted freedom of commerce, 
 identity of foreign policy, the use of the same flag, the admis- 
 sion of a common right of citizenship, and in general, the 
 constant maintenance of the most intimate friendly relations, 
 
x^ 
 
 can render it. It is only thus that the great advantages of 
 our present situation can be realised. Thus realised, he must 
 be a bold prophet who would undertake to limit them. 
 
 What are the objections to this view ? — Are we told that 
 the several British possessions are too distant ? Steam and 
 the maintenance of general peace are annihilating distance . 
 The Saxon Kings of England had a more disjointed empire 
 than the present Sovereign has : though in their day, Corn- 
 wall, Wales, Scotland, and often, indeed, the northern coun- 
 ties of England, were all foreign states, within the compass of 
 Great Britain, and every spot of land beyond sea was also 
 foreign. In a few more years, the projected colony in New 
 Zealand will be accessible, at a less cost of time and money, 
 and with infinitely less risk, than the remoter districts of Ire- 
 land and Scotland were when first the " Three Kingdoms" 
 came under the rule of a common Sovereign. Distance, as 
 well as nearness, has its advantages. Modern improvements 
 are rapidly enabling us to combine them. 
 
 Are we told that the interests of difierent colonies, or of 
 the parent state and the colonies generally, are hostile ? 
 The objection is a century too late. There can be no clash- 
 ing interests in the case. Clashing prejudices there may be ; 
 nothing more. The prosperity of one district is no drawback 
 on that of others, but the contrary. Even as regards inde- 
 pendent nations, this unsocial theory is abandoned. The 
 wealth of England is increased, not diminished, by the wealth 
 of France, and vice versd. The producer sells advantageous- 
 ly only when the buyer has resources to purchase at a high 
 rate. Where would English manufactures be were England 
 the only wealthy country in the world ? The interest of every 
 country is to promote, and not to retard, the prosperity of 
 every other community. How much more is this the case 
 when the communities themselves are but parts of a com 
 mon whole ! Diflferent portions of the same empire with con- 
 
8 
 
 flicting interests! Educate the whole community. Make 
 them understand what their interest is. We shall then soon 
 hear the last of this absurdity. 
 
 Are we told that all this is very fine on paper but not in 
 practice ? Are we reminded of old blunders in colonial 
 policy, ana their effectp ? The argument does not hold. We 
 all know there have been errors ; we all know their effects 
 have been serious. It is these very errors and their results 
 which have made some people hastily adopt the theory we are 
 combating. The question is whether these errors arc essen- 
 tial, — whether there is no remedy for them but in separation ? 
 Tf so, it is still to be determined whether separation itself may 
 not be a more serious error— a remedy worse than the disease. 
 
 But we take no such gloomy view. The mistakes of the 
 past can be avoided. The evils of separation, and the advan- 
 tages of a lasting union, (maintained, as it may be, without the 
 disadvantages which have lessened its value,) are too great 
 to allow of any other than this latter course being adopted. 
 In what way these advantages can best be secured is another 
 question. Many plans, and many reasons for and against 
 each, have been proposed. To discuss them all is impossible. 
 We shall endeavour to the best of our ability to suggest some 
 of the reasons which induce us to give the preference to the 
 measure which we are inclined to think the best. 
 
 Montreal, A'pril 16, 1838. 
 Among the various plans which have been suggested to 
 ensure that permanence to the connexion between the mother 
 country and the colonies for which we have been contending, 
 the one which we feel called upon to notice first is the sug- 
 gestion of giving the colonies a direct representation in the 
 Imperial Parliament. This suggestion has lately been favour- 
 ably noticed in the Parliament of Upper Canada. At first 
 
9 
 
 \/ 
 
 view thoro appears much to support it. It is encumbered, 
 however, with serious difficulties, which are not likely to bo 
 got rid of. 
 
 The Imperial Parliament is not merely the supreme legis- 
 lature of the empire, but the local legislature of the United 
 Kingdom. Its members act in both these capacities. In the 
 former, colonial representatives might reasonably claim a seat 
 in the House of Commons. In the latter, it is obvious that 
 they would be wholly out of place. What business could 
 members from Newfoundland, Lower Canada or New South 
 Wales, have in the local concerns or politics of England ? Or 
 how, indeed, could they be qualified to interfere in them ? — 
 And yet, how could the distinction be drawn between the two 
 departments, — and the powers of the colonial members limited 
 to that department with which alone they could rightly deal ? 
 
 Were a complete Legislative Union of the whole Empire 
 the measure contemplated, this objection would not hold. If 
 all Legislation were conducted by one Legislature, all its 
 members might take part in all the business that might come 
 before it. Members from Lower Canada might fairly vote on 
 every Irish question, were the members for Dublin and Kil- 
 kenny equally free to vote on all Canadian questions. But 
 we presume no one ever thought of a scheme quite so prepos- 
 terous as this. The House of Commons is full large enough 
 already, with its 658 members. Add a fair proportion for 
 the colonies, and then, what would it become ? Its aflFairs, 
 too, are as complex as its numbers are large. Neither admit 
 of multiplication. Local Legislatures for the several colonies 
 cannot possibly be dispensed with. Retaining them, and 
 retaining also the compound authority of the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment, (and we do not see how it is to be done away with,) the 
 project of colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament 
 must be laid aside. 
 
 There are other minor difficulties, (were this main objection 
 
10 
 
 ,.,^' 
 
 obviated,) which would still be fatal to the project. Suppos- 
 ing the line were drawn between the local and general busi- 
 ness of the Imperial Pai'liament, and the colonial members' 
 speeches and votes restricted to the latter, it must not be for- 
 gotten that, to make the voice of the coIodtcs heard, a pretty 
 strong representation would be needed. What would one or 
 two members be, added to so many as are already in the 
 . House ? Bow could such a representation be maintained as 
 should prove effective ? Such a delegation as could be kept 
 up would be useless ; such a delegation as might be service- 
 able could not be obtained. 
 
 Again, in view of this last fact especially — the impossi- 
 bility of securing a sufficient number of colonial members 
 willing and competrnt to act — it should not be forgotten that, 
 though a proverb says that " a half loaf is better than no 
 bread," there is some danger in this case in taking up with a 
 half provision. The Imperial Parliament having the right 
 of legislating in matters affecting the colonies, it might, at 
 first sight, appear better for the colonies to have some vote 
 (though ever so insufficient) in all such legislation. This is 
 a mistake. iVb vote, or a full vote. Let the entire respon- 
 sibility rest, in all cases, upon those with whom the power 
 rests. They will exercise it all the more cautiously. Let 
 them share this responsibility with a nominal representation 
 from the colonies, and their interference will be all the less 
 cautious for the division. We know that they are careful 
 now, how they interfere in our concerns ; we do not know 
 how careless they might become, with a few members from 
 the colonies present and voting to share the responsibility, and 
 not the power. A small delegation, at such a distance from 
 their constituents, and lost in the body of which they were 
 delegated members, could not be safely trusted. 
 
 The chief, if not the sole, advantages of this plan, as it 
 appears to us, are to be found in the opportunities it would 
 
 •A' 
 
11 
 
 w 
 
 afford the colonies of continuallj making their wishes and 
 feelings known at home, to the authorities and to Parliament, 
 — in the opportunities it would /^ive colonial politicians to 
 make themselves known in England, — and in the consequent 
 opening it would make for colonial talent, to Imperial distinc- 
 tion. These advantages are important, especially when con- 
 sidered in their bearing upon the future maintenance of the 
 connexion between the mother country and the colonies. 
 Nothing could more strongly bind together the several parts 
 of the empire than this introduction of colonists into the 
 political world of the metropolis. Without it, indeed, it is 
 hard to see how the connexion can be made permanent. The 
 highest colonial offices cannot always continue to be filled from 
 home, and no office or distinction at home be attainable by a 
 colonist. ThiB natives of a colony are necessarily more or less 
 jealous of the reservation of the highest offices in their native 
 district, from their own class. As a colony increases in age 
 and consequence, this jealousy must increase. We do not 
 see how it is to be checked, but by opening up other avenues 
 to distinction, which may serve to compensate for this, which 
 the maintenance of the colonial relation seems necessarily to 
 close. 
 
 But for this purpose it is not necessary that colonial dele- 
 gates to the metropolis should be members of Parliament. 
 We have endeavoured to show some of the difficulties in the 
 way of this project. They are all removed the moment we 
 take away from it this one feature. Let delegates be sent 
 from the colonies, — but not merged and lost in the House of 
 Commons. There would then be none of the difficulties 
 which grow out of the necessary powers and numbers of that 
 body. The delegates need not be more numerous than the 
 colonies could well afford to send. Their advice would not 
 have the less weight for their not having direct legislative 
 power. They might constitute a board of advice, attached 
 
12 
 
 to the colonial department. They might enjoy the right of 
 addressing either House of Parliament on matters aifecting 
 their respective colonies, or colonial policy in general. Their 
 functions thus limited, they would have no temptation to fail 
 in their duties to their constituents. As voting members of 
 the House of Commons, we need not say that the case would 
 be very different. 
 
 The full statement and consideration of this project, how- 
 ever, demands a separate article. We defer it, therefore, to 
 our next. 
 
 ' Montreal, April 18, 1838. 
 
 A great deal of complaint has been made, at one time and 
 another, of the defective constitution of the colonial depart- 
 ment ; and it cannot be denied that there has been, and 
 indeed still is, some ground for complaint on this score. The 
 machinery of the department has not been perfected as the 
 colonies have increased in number and importance. Some 
 years ago, a secretary of state, with his complement of under- 
 secretaries and clerks, could very well control the affairs of 
 the then colonies of Great Britain, as they were then con- 
 ducted. At the present day it is quite another business. The 
 affairs of the several colonies are too complex, and the effects 
 of any blunders that may be made, too serious, for any one 
 man to preside over them alone^ successfully. To understand 
 the politics of any colony thoroughly, it is necessary to have 
 spent some time in careful observation, on the spot. One 
 who has never himself visited a country, can form no adequate 
 idea of its wants and capacities, the state of parties, the cha- 
 racter of individuals, the thousand details, in fact, which are 
 essential to a right judgment in matters affecting its govern- 
 ment. A colonial secretary cannot have this knowledge of 
 all the colonies. Often, indeed, on his entry into office, he 
 has no such knowledge of any one of them. In office, he has 
 
 \\ 
 
18 
 
 1\ 
 
 no adequate means of supplying the deficiency. The current 
 business of the department leaves him little time to look back 
 and study the political position of the various colonies, as he 
 best may, even from books or documents. Besides, he has 
 other business, foreign to his own department, to look to, in 
 order to preserve his seat as a cabinet minister. Domestic 
 politics he understands ; his oflSce depends upon them. Colo- 
 nial politics are, of necessity, too often left in the back 
 ground. With all the talent and the best intentions in the 
 world, it is impossible for any man so circumstanced, to avoid 
 mistakes. 
 
 To meet this difficulty it has been suggested that a board, 
 to consist of ex-governors, secretaries, judges, and other 
 officers of colonies, resident colonial merchants and others 
 who have lived in the colonies, should be created, to assist 
 the colonial minister with their advice. This plan has its 
 advantages, — and its disadvantages, too. It is well, as a part 
 of the system ; inadequate, if it is to be the whole. Such a 
 board could give correct information about the past, but 
 could not possibly be equally well acquainted with the pre- 
 sent. In new countries, things change rapidly, and the latest 
 information is as necessary as any other. 
 
 A representation of the colonies, such as we suggested in 
 our last, would meet this difficulty. With a board of advice, 
 consisting partly of the material above mentioned, and partly 
 of delegated agents from the several colonies, the depart- 
 ment would no longer suffer from any lack of information of 
 any description. Such a body, it might be expected, would 
 secure the adoption and maintenance of an enlightened and 
 consistent policy, the effects of which on the interests of the 
 empire could not fail in a very few years to be most striking. 
 
 In our last, we urged some of the reasons which seem to 
 us strongly to require the adoption of the principle of direct 
 colonial representation at the seat of the imperial govern- 
 
14 
 
 ment, and also some of the reasons which as strongly indicate 
 the impossibility, and indeed the impolicy, of giving to such 
 representation a place in the House of Commons. We did 
 not then urge the consideration, that such a step would 
 require a most material innovation upon the constitution of 
 the House as established by the Reform Bill, and indeed upon 
 the entire fabric of the British Constitution itself. No party 
 in England would be likely to carry, or indeed to propose, 
 such a measure. And, supposing it carried, and every other 
 objection removed,whether arising from the Local Legislative 
 powers of the House, the number of its members, or the 
 danger of taking up with an insufficient representation, or of 
 trusting colonial M. P.'s so far from their constituents, — 
 sotting all these aside for the sake of argument, — it is still to 
 be remembered, that the plan gives the colonies a voice only 
 in one House of Parliament, leaving the other precisely where 
 it was. On all these accounts, there can hardly be a question 
 which of the two kinds of representation is the more desirable. 
 
 In speaking of colonial agents, or representatives, as we 
 have done, we wish the distinction to be clearly borne in mind, 
 between such a representation of the colonies and the late 
 TniWepresentation system, adopted by one party in this 
 colony. It is not to a salaried member of the Imperial 
 Parliament, the representative of one party, that we would pro- 
 pose to commit this trust. The agent or agents must be 
 delegated, in the true sense of the word ; — ^regularly appointed 
 by the Legislature, (not by one branch of it,) and chosen 
 from the colony. It would be easy so to order the mode of 
 election as to secure a fair share in the delegation to both 
 the contending parties in any colony. 
 
 A board of advice thus constituted, we repeat, would, in all 
 probability, very soon effijct all the required improvements in 
 the conduct of the colonial department. The secretary 
 would stiU remain, as he is now, the responsible executive 
 
15 
 
 minister ; in fact, his responsibility would be as much increased 
 as his power to discharge his duties would be, by the existence 
 of the board. At present, he has only to make himself 
 acceptable to Parliament; and this is to be done by the 
 general policy of the cabinet, rather than by his own colonial 
 measures. He would then have to manage his colonial 
 advisers also, who would look directly to the colonies and 
 judge of him by his own doings. Their disapproval of his 
 measures would be very apt to make Parliament look much 
 more closely into the matter, than under the old system they 
 have ever done. By giving the delegates a right to bring 
 up colonial questions in Parliament, or to speak upon them 
 when before either House, this end would be fully attained. 
 
 There are many other incidental advantages of such a 
 system, upon which we have not space at present to enlarge. 
 In the selection of colonial governors, it would ensure a much 
 more careful and thorough scrutiny into their qualifications 
 than is at present possible. In giving them their instructions, 
 in judging of their measures and recommendations, — in every 
 act, in short, of the department, it would be of essential service 
 to the minister. It would keep the attention of Parliament 
 and of the nation more steadily directed to the colonies, and 
 would ensure us no small benefit thereby. Commercial 
 legislation and treaties would be better looked to, in connec- 
 tion with our interests. The statesmen of the mother country 
 would be made more intimately conversant with our wants ; 
 and our own leading public men would be made better 
 acquainted with their views, and would be introduced, not 
 merely to a wider field for their own personal ambition, but 
 to one on which they could better serve the colony of their 
 birth or adoption, and the empire at large. The colonial 
 policy of the empire might further be expected to become, 
 under the influence of such a system, progressive^ as it must, 
 if it is to keep pace with the exigencies of the times. As the 
 
16 
 
 colonies increase in power and resources, it would adapt itself 
 to their changing relations towards the parent state ; and thus 
 the present temporary bond of colonial inferiority and metro- 
 politan control, would gradually convert itself into that more 
 equal bond of union, under which alone the several portions 
 of the British Empire can remain permanently united, for 
 their common good. 
 
 Montreal, May 10, 1838. 
 
 We observe in the last number of the Toronto British 
 Colonist, a very favourable notice of Mr. Robert Montgomery 
 Martin's project for the re-organisation of the colonial office. 
 The following able article on the subject, from a late English 
 paper, is reprinted in that journal, and its conclusions adopted 
 without reserve. — There is certainly much in the plan, and 
 in the article too, that is valuable. So far as the general 
 principle goes, we think every colonist must agree with them. 
 On some points, however, we cannot arrive at the conclusion 
 which their authors favour. 
 
 ' In giving insertion to the article in question, we may 
 remark that there is in one or two passages, a little of that 
 spirit of exaggeration which it is almost impossible to avoid in 
 controversy. The very rapid changes in the colonial office, 
 for instance, cited as evidence against the present system, 
 are not the rule, but the exception. That a system is terribly 
 defective, which ever admits of such frequent transition of 
 powers so extensive, cannot, however, be doubted. Of the 
 importance of the colonies, and the extreme difficulty of the 
 task of superintending their administration, too much is not 
 said, because too much can hardly be said. 
 
 " OBSERVATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THE PETITION. 
 
 "1. No uniformly wise colonial system can be acted on by 
 reason of tlio constant changes of the secretary and under- 
 secretary of state. 
 
17 
 
 " Between March, 1833, and April, 1835, there were eight 
 secretaries and under-secretaries of state ; and subsequently 
 two assistant under-secretaries; thus making ten changes 
 within about two years. (In one year, from April, 1834, to 
 April, 1835, there were three secretaries and three under" 
 secretaries of state.) The names will sufficiently indicate the 
 fluctuations of counsel that must have prevailed in the colo- 
 nial office during this brief period. 
 
 " Secretaries of State. — Lord Stanley, Mr. T. Spring 
 Kice, Earl of Aberdeen, and Lord Glenelg. 
 
 " Under-Secretaries of State. — Viscount Howick, Mr. 
 Lefevre, Mr. Gladstone and Sir George Grey. 
 
 " Assistant Under-Secretaries of State. — Mr. Hay and 
 Mr. Stephen. 
 
 "2. Those who have the management of the vast and com- 
 plicated affairs of the colonies have no local, and probably but 
 very slight personal, knowledge of our transmarine possessions 
 — the heads of the office are naturally much occupied with 
 the patronage which extends from a governorship down to 
 a custom-house officer — the clerks, on whom the business 
 devolves, cannot be supposed to be desirous of extra trouble 
 — and Parliament is too busily engaged with domestic mat- 
 ters to pay much attention to the wants, feelings, and interests 
 of several millions of our distant subjects. 
 
 " 3. The territories under the management, control, and 
 protecting care and patronage of the Secretary of State, are : 
 
 " In North America. — Canada, Upper and Lower, New 
 Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Cape 
 Breton and Newfoundland ; area 435,000 square miles, or 
 279,400,000 acres, with a population of one million and a half 
 of white colonists. (Independent of the foregoing, Hudson Bay 
 Territories extend over 370,000 square miles.) 
 
 " In South America. — Demerara, Essequibo, Berbice, Hon- 
 duras, and the Falkland Isles ; area 165,000 square miles — 
 or 105,600,000 acres, with a population of 120,000. 
 
18 
 
 " In the West Indies. — Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Gren- 
 ada, St. Vincent, Barbadoes, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, 
 Montserrat, Ne^ds, St. Kitts, Anguilla, TortoUa and the 
 Virgin Isles, New Providence and the Bahama Islands, St. 
 George's and the Bermuda Isles ; area 13,000 square miles, 
 or 7,720,000 acres ; population, 1,000,000. 
 
 " In Africa. — The Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Mahe 
 and the Sejchelle Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension, Sierra 
 Leone, the Gambia, Accra, Cape Coast, &c. ; area 250,000 
 square miles, or 160,000,000 acres ; population, 360,000. 
 
 ** In Australasia. — New South Wales, Van Dieman's Island, 
 Swan River, King George's Sound, South Australia, Norfolk 
 Island, &c. ; area 500,000 square miles, or 320,000,000 
 acres ; population, 120,000. 
 
 " In Asia. — Ceylon ; area 24,644 square miles, or 11,771, 
 160 acres ; population, 1,000,000. 
 
 " In Europe. —Gibraltar, Malta, Gozo, Corfu, Cephalonia, 
 Zante, Santa Maura, Ithaca, Paxo, Cerigo, &c., Heligoland ; 
 area 1,500 square miles, or 1,000,000 acres ; population, 
 400,000. 
 
 " Total under the Colonial Secretary. — 1,750,000 square 
 miles, equal to 1,120,000,000 acres ; with a population of at 
 least 5,000,000 of British subjects, and daily increasing. 
 
 " 4. The languages used in these different colonies embrace 
 the English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, 
 Greek, Maltese, Cingalese, &c. 
 
 " 5. The laws are more or less based on the customs of the 
 different nations from whom these languages are derived, and 
 from whom we obtained the possessions. 
 
 " 6. The religions embrace the English Episcopalians, Scotch 
 English and Irish Presbyterians, Dutch, Lutheran, Roman 
 Catholic, and Greek Churches, with various shades of Pagan 
 Idolatry and forms of worship. 
 
 " 7. The value of the maritime commerce of the above men- 
 
19 
 
 tioned possessions is i aggregate of X 85,000,000 per 
 
 annum ; and the value oi tue property, public and private, 
 moveable and immoveable, in lands,houses, roads, forts, canals, 
 ships, trading stock, and horses, oxen, sheep, &;c., is X450,- 
 000,000 ! all confided to the responsibility of a single indivi- 
 dual who has no permanency of office, and no local knowledge 
 of the vast interests committed to his care. 
 
 " 8. Some of the colonies have an exceedingly democratic 
 form of government, namely, a controlling Representative 
 Assembly, with a £10 franchise constituency — others have a 
 Legislative Council, appointed by the secretary of state, 
 and consisting chiefly of the principal government officers, 
 and some have no ruling authority but the fiat of the gover 
 nor. Under all these difierent systems there is no fixed prin- 
 ciple — internal discord and party feeling follow in the wake 
 of the politics of the secretary of state at home, and all the 
 evils of sectarianism (lay and clerical) are in full force, to 
 the utter ruin of social concord, and the great detriment of 
 the commerce, peace, and prosperity of each settlement. 
 
 " Governors and public functionaries are not chosen in refe- 
 rence to their personal qualifications, but chiefly with regard 
 to their political bias, their family connections and parliamen- 
 tary influence ; and the unfortunate consequences of such an 
 exercise of power are felt at the extremities, and re-act on 
 the very heart of the empire, as exemplified at this moment 
 in the state of Canada, and which will be the case with every 
 other colony as soon as its inhabitants feel their strength, and 
 become sensible of the cause of their sufiering. 
 
 " As a remedy of these evils, it is suggested to form an 
 administrative board in Downing-street for the management 
 of colonial affairs, with a secretary of state as at present, 
 but aided by a council of retired governors, judges, and 
 civilians, who possess a local and general knowledge of our 
 maritime possessions , the number of the council not to exceed 
 
20 
 
 or to be less than twelve, of whom six shall change with the 
 secretary of state (on constitutional grounds) and six shall 
 hold office quam diu se bene geaserinty with two assistant per- 
 manent under-secretaries for the respective departments of 
 the colonies in the eastern and western hemisphere. This 
 exposition will, it is to be hoped, sufficiently explain and jus- 
 tify the petition to Parliament, which is totally unconnected 
 with party or personal considerations, and seeks to aid rather 
 than embarrass government. 
 
 " The inhabitants of the different colonies, and all who are 
 interested in this vital subject, are requested to use every 
 lawful effort in support of a Parliamentary enquiry, as there 
 are great difficulties to be overcome before a just colonial 
 government can be formed." 
 
 The question of remedy is the great question. And here 
 the suggestions of Mr. Martin are surely insufficient. An 
 " administrative board," such as he proposes, is, on many 
 accounts, objectionable. The number, " twelve," is too small, 
 if it be intended to secure to the department on all colonial 
 questions the advice of persons practically acquainted with 
 every colony. It would scarcely be easy to select twelve 
 men, who could advise, from their own practical knowledge, 
 on all occasions. Again, supposing this board an " adminis- 
 trative board," with six of its members holding office perma- 
 nently, the check upon the colonial secretary would be so 
 great as to deprive him of that power in the department, 
 which a responsible adviser of the crown must have. How 
 could Parliament censure a colonial minister with his hands 
 tied by an " administrative" council, one-half of its mem- 
 bers irremovable, and the other half removable only by his 
 own resignation of office ? The head of a department must 
 be responsible. To be responsible, he must have power. To 
 suppose that either a board of twelve persons, half of them 
 holding office for life, or a colonial secretary shackled by 
 
SI 
 
 such a board, could be made responsible to Parliament, is to 
 suppose an impossibility. 
 
 A still stronger objection to the plan is to be found in the 
 proposed composition of the board. It is all one-sided. Ex- 
 governors and other retired functionaries of colonies, and 
 merchants and others resident for years out of the colonies, 
 are not the men to be trusted as the sole advisers of the 
 department. It is very well that they should advise ; but 
 others should advise too. Men delegated directly from the 
 colonies, practically acquainted with their respective circum- 
 stances, should be present to contribute their share of infor- 
 mation to the department. The present wants and wishes of 
 the colonies should be known as well as their past condition ; 
 and the feelings of the many out of oflfice represented, as well 
 as those of the official few. In both these respects, the pro- 
 posed composition of the board is faulty. 
 
 The more this subject is looked into, the more clearly we 
 think it will be seen that the colonial minister ought not to 
 be controlled by any " administrative " board with irremov- 
 able members — that he ought to have advisers^ sufficiently 
 numerous to ensure practical information from one or other 
 of them, on every point on which he might have occasion for 
 it — and that among those advisers there ought to be persons 
 delegated from the several colonies to discharge that trust. 
 
 The importance of this subject demands for it a far larger 
 share of attention — in the colonies especially — than it has 
 ever yet received. Above all, it is no party subject, but one 
 upon which all men should decide, without reference to party 
 politics, imperial or colonial. On these two points we agree 
 most heartily with our Toronto contemporary.