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COLONIAL QUESTIONS

PRESSING FOE IMMEDIATE SOLUTION,

IN THE INTEREST OP

THE NATION AND THE EMPIEE.

iapi-s unit gttim

R. A. MACFIE, M.P.,

MEMBER or THE ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE.

"IN THE MULTITUDE OP PEOPLE IS THE KINa's HONOtTB : BlTT IN THE W*v^
OP PEOPLE IS THE DESTEUCTION OF THE PKINCE." ^

ABVA PETSMI.-

'POETAS INTEABE PATENTES;
PATIENTS COLONO

THIS GEEAT NATION, WITH BOUNDLESS COLONIES WHICH WOULD EEWa^.^
ENTEBPEX8E AND ABUNDANTLY YIELD THE PEUITS OP ToTl YET 8TTtn«
BEFOBE THE WOELD WITH THE SHAMEFUL AVOWAL TIlATnJu J^t
AND HEECEIME INFLICT TAXATION UPON HEE POPULATION To '^H^Jr^^rZ

TWENTY MILLIONS A~Y.An."-JPro.j.ectu. of }Fork>nJri:"^i;;:iio^^^^^^^^^

LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, HEADER, AND DYER.
EDMONSTON & DOUGLAS. EDINBURGH.

Price One Shilling.]

187L

[Postage, Twopence.

I AM ANXIOUS THAT, WHIIE THE QTJESK'S DOMINIONS ENJOY EVEETWHEBE THE
BLESSING OP TEANQUILLITT, PEOSPEBITT, AND LOYALTY, THEEE SHOULD BE
INSTITUTED SUCH A CONSTITUTIONAL CONNEXION BETWEEN THE MOTHEB
COUNTBY AND THE COLONIES AS WILL CONSOLIDATE THE BEITISH EMPIEE,

AND SUSTAIN ITS PATBiOTiSM, STBENOTH, AND POWER. — Candidate's Printed
Address to Electors of Leith Bwrghs, 1868.

{Fro7n the "■ Leith Herald" September, 1868.)

" I will proceed now to state my viows on the great questions that
occur to my mind, although, perhaps, they do not assume in the
popular view all the importance I assign them. I will speak of the
British Empire as a whole. I look upon the face of the globe, and
I find this is the day of great Empires. We have near us the great
Empire of France, and a little further distance away the newly-con-
stituted great empire of Germany. We have beyond that the great
Empire of Russia; and we have, more formidable still, the great nation
of the United States of America. (Hear, hear.) Now, if the United
Kingdom is to maintain its ground — to stand on an equal footing
with these great Empires — I think we must not forget that it is
necessary to maintain our magnitude also. We are possessed of
vast territories, but, for good or for ill, these territories are widely
scattered over various parts of the world. We are not so compact
as any of these four Empires I have mentioned. Well, if we cannot
be compact by being one great land, we may be compact by means
of coidial unions between Britain and her Colonies. (Loud cheers.)
The British people, as a nation, have done, I believe, most ample
"ustice to the Colonists that have left our shores and settled in our
valuable territories ; but we have;, as I apprehend, been too generous
or too confiding. We have not stipulated, in return for the protection
we afford them — for the powers we have conferred upon them — that
these favours shall be at all reciprocated, by furnishing a fair quota of
the men and part of the money that may be necessary for defonce,
and perhaps to fight the battles of the Empire. (Cheers.) Nay, we
halite been so extremely libenvl that, wliilst we have removed the
protection in which they formerly revelled, we have allowed them to
institute a new kind of protection injurious to ourselves. Their
own mnnufactures they protect, and they exclude, by high duties, the
manufactures of the Mother Country. (Hear, hear.) It appears to
mo the time has come v:hen we ought to cousohdote the British
Empire, and unite this country and these Colonies by some system of
federation, or some system of union, so that the great mass then will
work together and act together, they and we finding the common
fund of men and money requisite for Imperial purposes, and thus
removing all prejudice that might exist in our mindi against them.
(Cheers.) Happily, this is a favourable time for seeking such a

' \

KXTRACT FROM ADDRESS AT LEITII.

reform. All tlio Colonics are in a state of the most satisfactory eon-
tcntuiont, witli one exception — that exception is Xova Scotin, which
has no jirejndicc against the Mother Country. . . . My niiiul now
naturally turns to the great question of Emigration, for which these
territories offer a most wide field. Now, I must at once say that I
deplore the extent to wliicli the ports of Loith and Liverpool are
made the channel for banishing from our lands to many thousands of
our fellow-countrymen — our most vu1na1)le fellow-sul)j'M;ts. (Hear,
lieur.) I believe, however desirable change of residence may be for
the emigrant, that it is not required by over-population that any leave
our own country. I believe that by an amendment of the land laws
we could maintain on our soil, thriving and blessed under God, double
the ])opulation that now occupies the acres of our country. (Loud
cheers.) The calculation has lately been made as to what is the
value of the article we bestow when wo send a man abroad. Take
the cost of production — the mother's cure in his youth, liis mainte-
nance, his education, and his training in early life — and £100 would
not pay the value of the gift we bestow on our Colonies when we send
forth an able man.* Then that iJlOO, itself a producer, is invested in
such a way that it may bring forth twenty, sixty, or one hundred-
fold. Now, much as I value the connexion that subsists bct^veeu the
United Kingdom and the States of America, I tell you we are hurting
ourselves deploral)ly in taking active measures to send away these
most valuable workers. One distinction, I think, is drawn between the
emigrant to the Colonies and the emigrant to the United States. The
latter never returns. He becomes for ever, not merely expatriated,
but the citizen of a foreign country. The former frequently comes
back ; and while he remains in the Colonies he feels that he is a
British subject, and he maintains his loyal allegiance to the Crown of
his country. (Cheers.) How much, then, ought wo to prefer that our
emigrants should flow in the direction of the Colonies, where they will
be equally welcome as in America, and where they may soon become
proprietors of land. That brings me back to tho importance of
uniting the Colonies to the Mother Country so thoroughly that we can
still claim their services, and still reap the benefit of the emigrants'
muscles and cordial good-will, and not lose their patriotism, for
which I am sure they will become daily more remarkable." (Cheers.) —
Extract from Mr. Macfie^s Address at Leith.

* The productive value of a man may more truly and ajipreciatively
be reckoned £500. The reader will excuse such a way of exhibiting
a value that is inestmahle. (See page 9L)

PllEFATORY NOTE.

The Extracts wliicli precede, and the Object in view,
will, the writer trusts, justify publication of the Papers
which follow, notwithstanding imperfection of style.
In the language of the produce marker, they are ex-
posed all-faults.

Questions connected with the relation between the
United Kingdom and the Colonies are now much
better understood, and receive much more attention
than was the case even so late as two years ao-o'
Hardly any of the published or spoken addresses ""at
the last general election touched on them. If ^ve do
not misread - Ilansard," the whole subject was ignored
m both Houses of Parliament in the session of TsGS-i)
Not so last session. Still, the course taken by Go-
vernment was regarded as not satisfactory by a
growing number of members on both sides. The
reign of absolute indiflerence is now past. Were
It otherwise, recent movements in the Australian
Lolomes would constrain our earnest attention ; pro-
minent among which is the fact that a Eoyal Commis-
sion, or Select Committee, at Melbourne has, by a
majority, proposed that the British ParKament should
be asked to sanction some relationship to the Mother
Country, or rather to the Sovereign only, that Avould

PREFATORY NOTE.

entitle a contemplated Union to make treaties and be
engaged in war, " as may to tlie Colonies seem wise
and expedient" — tliat is, without regard to the in-
terests or the will of the rest of the Empire ; or,
plainly, in practical disconnexion therefrom.

The writer does not attribute the highest import-
ance to the recent speech at Boston of General Butler,
nor to the still later Presidential Address. But the
threat these hold out of non - intercourse, fore-
shadows more or less remote probabilities, and in-
dicate belief, fostered, one is afraid, by observa-
tion of ugly facts, that undue concern for the main-
tenance of trade and manufactures is a snare and a
danger to Britain. Why should the British people
longor so exclusively cultivate and depend on manu-
factures and trade, as to give ground and encouragement
for inimical or hostile treatment ? Are we not disre-
garding the manifest interests of the United Kingdom
and of the whole Empire, — and the o^)portuni..ies, the
duties, and the career, which possession of invalu-
able and almost boundless territories of our own,
where the British and Irish peasant, more prosperous
than at home, would be gratefully loyal to our Queen
and institutions, unequivocally present and press
upon us, — when we abstpJn from considering the
best means of welding the Colonies to one another
and to ourselves as a Unitas Fratrum ? Why, in
thdse times, when the air all around is surcharged
with electricity that may bring the pealing and pelting
thunderclouds of war over our heads, do we neglect the
ready and noble means which union with such a hardy

PREFATORY NOTE.

Vll

and attached population as the Colonial "vvould insure
for the raising of additional forces and acquiring addi-
tional power of resistance ? Is there not confidencG in
the Colonists that they will discharge the duties, and
fulfil zealously the responsibilities, that w^ill devolve
on them when admitted to their just and equal rights
including in these a fair share of the government of that
ancient and loyal Empire whose honour, and strength,
and union they, like ourselves, fondly and proudly seek
to maintain and promote ?

To illustrate by fresh cases, is it reasonable, is it
prudent, to part with any portion of the British terri-
tory — foi instance, a naval station like the Gambia,
which the Cape route, likely to become again our
most reliable one to the East, renders, some tell us,
invaluable — without consulting the Colonists, not even
those Avhose trade with the Mother Country is con-
ducted along its shore ? Or to prosecute the great work
of devising a naval and military system, and making
and manning fortification? (that are demanded by threat-
enings, whose origin, ground, and motives, being im-
perial and national, are as much their concern as ours),
without affording them the means and the satisfaction
of jointly deliberating on, directing, and. influencing the
nature and extent of these defences, and the de-
cision of such a question as peace or war ?

Is the Empire to be bereft of its most populous
and populable parts because the rulers of the
United Kingdom have other cares to occupy their
minds ? Is no endeavour to be made to avert the
evil ? When will there be a more convenient
iseason ?

Vlll

PREFATORY NOTE.

Success would be tlio crowning triunipli of* a
Premier who knows what is due to the people.
The nobles and the masses alike wait not without
deep anxiety liis action ; continued non-action is predi-
cable failure — foreseen 2)artition of the Empire-trust.

To the Papers read before the Social Science As-
sociation are a])pended two letters on the same sub-
ject; and extracts from Dr. Lang's new Book in
favour of Colonial Independence, and from the latest
Keport on Emigration. If the present hrochure should
reach that venerable gentleman's eye, may it lead him
to consider whether the via media is not tatissima.
Before leaping into the gulf of separation, v/henco
there can be no harking back, why not " trust and
try ; " — trust the rest of the nation, which he professes
to love nmch, and try if those are not in the right
who said a nobler aspiration and a greater and
better future than he aims at will be found in In-
dependent Confederation ?

It is aprojyos to add that a similar appeal may
fairly be made to the statesmen at home who look
with complacency on Separation. First, do they con-
sider that if their ideas and anticij)ations should prove
to be a mistake, and if consequently the greater Colonies
are encouraged or allowed to go, there are not now any
other unoccupied territories to be had on the globs
for British colonization ? Secondhj, even if they are not
too much afraid of the difficulty of holding Canada in
the V , ent of troubles with the United States (of whose
principle and practice they think disparagingly), why
speak and act so as to generate disloyal and bad feel-
ing in Africa and Australia ?

PREFATORY NOTE.

Probably, wlicn the subject of Federation is pro-
posed, our Irish neighbours may take advantage of the
occasion to delineate their scheme for giving back to
that chronically complaining country a Legislature of
her own. Well, the people of England and Scotland,
though they at present fail to see its practicability and
promise of good, will look at the scheme without ad-
verse prejudice, and would be happy if the consequence
prove advantageous to her or to her and them.

The reader will find a passing allusion to our too
little observed deficiency in national spii'it. It is a
significant fact, and the fons et origo malorwm, that,
whereas there has long been a United Kingdom, and
in spite of our ha* mony and unity of feeling, we are,
not only at home, but over the world, anything but a
united people. We call ourselves English, Scotch, and
Irish, but not Bntish, although, indeed, this last word,
in spite of its inappropriateness, the children of the
great Islands are obliged to use, for want of any other,
when they mean to indicate that ccjmon nationality
which exists, and which ought now to be cherished
and made more palpable and pervasive, more eno ir-
ing and binding and stimulating. We should feel, and
speak, and act everywhere as one]people. Nationalism
is in the ascendant abroad. On the Continent it is
wisely cultivated and trained as a matter of State
policy. We, Briton-Irish or Anglo-Celts, have an
indisputable and fertile ground whereon to plant and
uprear ours. " Germania," or the German race, has
surprised mankind by the vigour and number and

6-i-

X PREFATORY NOTE.

effects of its new national songs. Has the Poet
Laureate, whose epic has so nobly prepared tlie public
mind, struck the first note in Court circler? How
many popular muses will join in concert, anrl the in-
spiriting '- peaceful notes prolong ? "

AsHFiELD Hall,

21^^ Dece,rJjer, 1870.

CONTENTS.

Notes on Colonial a^hd Imperial Policy : A Paper read before the
Association fo"" Promoting Social Science, at Newcadle-upon-Tyne, 1870.

PAGE

The Colonial Question not a Party one 1

Constitutional Changes are Required ...... 1

Object to Promote Stability and Interest of Empire ... A

What the "Empire "is 1

*' The Mother Country " 1

The Celtic Element, and Service it renders .... 2
Queen and Parliament Act and Legislate for whole British

Dominions ......... 3

British Sway is Mild and Confiding 3

The Transfers of Invaluable Productive Lands ... 3

Those Transfers should have been under Conditions ... 3

Conditions were Implied . 3

*' Nation" comprehends all at Home and in Colonies . . 4

Facilities for Settlers an Imperial Concern .... 4
Emigration to Colonies, not Foreign Countries, the Nation's

Interest 4

In Colonies Emigrants augment Nation's Wealth and Strength 4

Manufacturing and Trading Pre-eminence is Unstable . . 6

British Consumers far more Beneficial than Foreign . . 6
Manufacturing Prosperity depends on Increased Consumption

or New Markets 6

Trade tends irrepressibly towards Increased Oper..tion3 . . 6

Dead-locks and Crises inevitable in Commerce .... 6

Farming has no such Drawbacks ......

What is the Permanent Product of our Trading Ascendancy ? . 6

Statesmen neglect Agrlcultm-al Development .... Q

Agriculture would make Population overflow into Colonies . 7

Causing remarkable Prosperity and Population ... 7

W^hile Britain free from Dangerous Classes .... 7

Policy points to Land-Cultivation in Colonies .... 7

This would lead to Greater National Independence ... 8

And Complete Harmony between United Kingdom and Colonies 8

Grand Field for Reciprocative Supply and Demand ... 8

Formidable Danger of Persisting in Indifference ... 8

Xll

CONTENTS.

Aggi'andizenient of otlier Nations

Their Advantages not Superior to our Own
Concessions to Colonies Necessitate Progress in same Direction
SystematiseJ Emigration a Boon Conferrible or. Colonies .
Population and Cajjital should be Diflused over the Empire
National Spirit must be Cherished .....

Other Nations show us an Example .....

The Colonial Office might be Ro-Pormed ....

Functions of Royalty and Nobility .....

Anciently the Nobles discharged Public Responsibilities
Division of Great Estates and Exchange of Lands for Colonial
Colonial Orders of Knighthood fall Short . . . .

Etjuality of Subjects must bo Principle of British Rule
"Mother of Nations "an Objectionable Name .
United Kingdom is a " Mother of States " . .

Rendering lil^e Allegiance .......

Comparison of Colonies to Children In ^pt ....

They and United Kindom are Brothers who are Partners .
The Capital — viz., Lands — held^for Behoof of Family or " Firm
Self-Government now Enjoyed by Principal Colonies .
They have Equal Inteiest with us in Good Government of
Empire .........

From Participation in which they cannot longer be Excluded
Experience and Observation show their Participation Required
Business of Colonies at Home now Done Unsatisfactorily .
More Sympathy and Leisure Required at Colonial Oifice .
Representation in Parliament would not Serve .

A Colonial Board

Representation in the British Cabinet Insufficient

An Imperial Cabinet or Council solves Difficulties

Only other Alternative is Disruption of Empire

Parliamentary Negligence and Careless Expressions of Statesnaen

Letter from CaHac^tt showing Apprehensions of Severance .

" Annexationists "

Abandonment of Canadian Fortresses ....
Promised Assistance in case of War .....
Congress at Melbourne, and tendency to Independence
Independence compatible with Confederation
Lessons from the Growth of other Nations . . .

A Nation's Power Proportionate to its Population
Tenure of India stands connected with Retention of Colonies
Isolation of Portions of Empire is Strength as well as Weaknesi
A Strong Power is usually at Pea j Avith other Nations
Advantage of Harbours and Depots in Colonies . .
Cosmopolitanism of Free-trade must not be AbuHed .
The Feelings of Coloi.ien must be Regarded . . .

TAOE

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CONTENTS.

Xlll

OMIC

otion

Foreign and Colonial Trade . . , .
Advantage of Possessing Unoccupied Territories.
Growing Strength of a United Empi'-e
Good Understanding with the United States
Vision of Nearer Relations wi^h United States.
Firm Resolution to Maintain Colonial Relations
Consultation with the Colonies ....
Defences of the Kmpire .....
Cannot bo Arranged by Correspondence .
Council of the Empire
Feeling in the Colonies ....

The United Kixgdom and the Coloxirs oxe Autox
Empire : A Papir read before the Association for the Prom
of Social Scien'ie at Bristol, 1869 ....

Comparative Strength of Great Nations

The Great Trust Committed to Britons

Agriculture versv.x Manufactures ....

Emigration not Pursued on Sound Principle

Concessions to Colonies have Conciliated .

Their Equality Avith the United Kingdom Wolcomod .

Amalgamation of Interests

Value of British Co nexion to the Colonies

The United Kingdom must Show itself Worthy .

The National Debt should be Reduced

Sufficient Defences must be Maintained ....

Tho Rights which the United Kingdom has in the Colonies

Responsibilities and Duties of the Peerage.

Advantage of Colonial Element in London.

Misuse of the Word " Imperial " . . . .

Letter to a Prominent Member of the Cabinet.

Evil of Deferring Consideration of the Colonial Question
The Recent Congress at Melbourne ....
Independence meant is Disintegration of the Empire .

Federation of the Empire

Our Position compared with that of Foreign Powers .

Implied Condition to Maintain Waste Lauds for tlie Purposes of

Emign* ion .
Proposal for a Convention of Delegates

Lktter to the Times

• • • • • «

Extracts from Melbourne Newspaper ....
Extracts from Montreal Newspaper ....
Dangerous Declarations by the Government
Regarded in light from the Edinhiunh Review .

page
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XIV

CONTENTS.

ii'l:

Dr. Langh New Book, " Tlie Coming Event "
Deputations from the Colonies Proposed

Extract prom a New Zealand Newspaper .

Extract from Report of the Victoria Commission
Remarks made by the Fall Mall Gazette . . .
Mutual Affections of Canada and the Mother Country
Extract from the British Colnmbia Gazette
Very slight Recognition of the Mother Country .

Letter from Captain Colomb on Coloniai. Defences

Canadian Defences .......

Lines of Intercommunication by Sea

Strates;ic Points .

Defences of whole Empire must be Considered Together
Author of "Friends in Council" on Unification and Federa
tion, and a Council .....

Clippings from Dr. Lang's New Book .

Status quo of Colonial Question not Satisfactory .

Pleas in Favour of Independence

The Mother Country's Alleged Consent

The Object Dr. Lang has in View

The Intor-Colouial Conference in Melbourne

An Incorporating Union of Seven Provinces

Protectorate over Figi hinges on Independence

Talk about Annexation to United States or Germany

Dr. Lang^s Definition of a Colony . . ,

Which are the British Colonies ? . . .

The Object of Colonization ....

It is Britain's Duty to Colonize . . , ,

General Ignorance on the Colonial Question

Bad System of Governing Colonies has Passed Away

They Aspire to be Nationalities

Improper Views on Allegiance to the Queen

" The Colonies have Reached their Majority" .

Correction of a Common Misapprehension .

The Views of Mr. Wah'field as to Love of England

United Kingdom does not wish to Dominate over Colonies

Confederation

" The Empire is likely to bo Dismembered "
" The United Kingdom has been Ambitious and Proud "
Unwarranted Expressions Emanating from the United Kingdom
British Public is not Prepared to Sanction a Disintegrative Policy

Grecian Colonization

And Boman

PAGE

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49

50
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51

53
64
64
65

57
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68
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*63
63
U
64
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66
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68
68

M
Al

r|
oj

o]
b1

CONTENTS.

PAOB

48
49

4»

60
60
60
61
61

63
64
64
66

57
68
68
58
59
59
60
60
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34
64
66
65
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66

after

American Colonization ......

Favouia Union rather than Disintegration .

Manner of Dealing with Waate Lancia by United States

A Quotation from Grotixis

Dr. Adam Smith on the Relationship of Colonies

Dr. Benjamin Franklin on the same ....

Kesolution of the American Congress ....

Opinion of Jeremy Bentham .....

Opinions of Mr. Merivale and Mr. Carlyle .

Britain Alleged to Lave Received Cc>mpensation for Planting

Colonies ..........

A Great Mistake in the Author's Views ....

" Independence is Claimed Irrespectively of Compensation "

Mr. Wakefield again Referred to

"Colonial Interests must not bo Compromised "
"United Kingdom is Hampered by its Heavy Debt."
Mr. WakeficlVs View as to Prestige Controverted.
Works of Earl Grey and Sir George Leiuis ....
Advantages which Colonies Confer on the Mother Country
Those which Colonies Receive from the Mother Country .
The Value of Trade with the Colonies ....
Sir H. Parnell Reckons Unwarrantably on same Trade

Separation .

Alleged Advantage of the Separation of the United States
questioned .......

" Emigration the Grand Question of the Day " .

" "Waste Lands Belonged to the Mother Country " .

" It was a Mistake to Alienate Them "

Undue Flow towards the United States

Anti-Immigration League and Sentiment in A ustralia

There Ought to be a Bonus to attract Emigrants

Valuable Parliamentary Return on Waste Lands

Negotiations Regarding Australian V/aste Lands and Emigration

Charge of Mismanagement by Unconditional Transfer

Australians would yet pay "Tribute" to Promote Emigration

The Act 18 and 19 Victoria, cap. 54

Lord Enssell .........

Mr. Fronde's Indignation at Transfer of Lands .
How Dr. Lang Persuades the Colonists to seek Independence
Alleged Advantages to the United Kingdom and the Colonies
Great Britain must Dictate Terms when conceding Separation
Dr. Lang's too sanguine Expectation as to Australian Federation
The Abortive London Conference ....

Opinions of Earl Grey and Duke of Manchester .
A Council to Supersede the Colonial Office

FAQE

69
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73

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XVI

CONTENTS.

Sp..c„ o. Lon,. S.,™„,i„ F„„„„f Confedoralion of «,e Empto

EePORT op „m EMrOEWIO!, COMMBSIONBE, ■ _

Mortality in Stcamsliips .

Total Emigration, 1847 09 ' ' ' * ' *

Ijvrgo Sum Contribnte.; from Private Sources ' " '

The same m Queensland ... *

Table of Emigration in 1870 '''•••

Americans find too rpnrJv P«c„ x' ,, .'

ready Responses to their " Wilings Away "

PROCEEBmoS OF THE RoVAL CoLOXIAL I:.«TITUTE -Mr Wnj

garth on the Feelings and Position of the Colonies
Extract of a Lettek from Cai^ada
An Illustration and Warning from Glasgow
Index .

PAGE

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8G

91
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95
96
07

IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL POLICY.

A PAPER READ BEFORE THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF
SOCIAL SCIENCE, AT NEWCASTLE- UPON-TYNE, 1870.

The subject which I brines under your notice is,
happily, not a party one. It is, undoubtedly, a field
on which there has been some conflict of opinion ; it
may soon be a battle-ground on which parties, with
opposing projects, will meet in earnest combat; but
both sides will contend "in the Queen's name." The
contest may be vehement, but it will be conducted with
the ardour of loyalty to the same Crown, and with the
aims of a common patriotism. Let us hope and strive
that the public mind then may be found so enlightened
and so leavened with sound principles, that the only
issue to be tried shall be, what policy and what
constitutional changes (for to these we may look for-
ward) will most conduce fco the ptubility, the pros-
perity, and the influence of the Empire.

What, I here ask, is " the British Empire " ? Rather
awkwardly, we have the Queen designated " Empress
of India," and we speak of " the Indian Empire." But
there are not two Empires under Her Most Gracious
Majesty's sway. Still less are the British Islands, though
in Boyal Speeches and official language the expres-
sion may have been ventured, the Empire. No ; these.
Great Britain and Ireland, are " the United Kingdom,"
and *' the Empire " includes, along with " the Mother
Country," the Colonies and Dependencies thereto
belonging.

THE CELTIC ELEMENT.

The " Mother Country," I have said : it is an en-
dearing name, and well expresses the regard and
reverence in which the soil from which the Anglo-
Saxon race have sprung, and to which our affections
cling, is held by her many children scattered abroad.
"What a magic there is to Southrons and Hibernians in
the names, " Old England !" "Ould Ireland !" If Cale-
donia, with her mountains and her floods, has no such
adjectival prefix usually attached to her venerated
names, it surely does not indicate want of feeling, but
only undemonstrativeness, on the part of Sawnie and
Donald. Pardon me, Donald and Brother Pat, for
using the term " Anglo-Saxon." Perhaps the better
designation is " Anglo- Ce/^," for we do not forget the
sev^eral nationalities and races whose blood has been
commingled in the vigorous and vivacious population
of the realm. This intermixture inspires in our
breasts through you a sentiment of kindred with
the men of other European stocks, who have been
absorbed or merged within our Colonies, or with whom,
aliens dwelling in foreign countries, we are brought
into relations by diplomacy and commerce.

None will question that the object — the true and
noblest object — of British policy, in reference to the
Colonies, is the stability, the prosperity, and the in-
fluence of the Empire, not of the United Kingdom
only.

It would not be fair or generous for the British
Cabinet or the Parliament of the United Kingdom to
govern the Empire and frame its laws, with a view to
home interests only or chiefly. The Queen is the

COLONIES ARE TREATED WELL.

and
the
in-

dom

Queen, not of a part of the Empire, but of the whole.
The Parhament rules and legislates for the Colonies,
over which the Three Estates are by constitution su-
preme pro bono puhlico in the widest sense.

Certainly tliis sway has been exercised most mildly,
and considerately, and confidingly. Think of the self-
government that has been oflPered to the Colonies, and
of our statesmen's abstinence from interference in their
domestic concerns, and of the rareness with which con-
trol has been exercised and demands made or even
explanations asked hence. These communities know
and feel that ^ney are free, like and along with our-
selves who are at home.

Think, further, of the transfers made, without equi-
valent and without condition, of millions on millions of
productive lands. That was implicit confidence indeed !

It might have been wiser and better for all parties
if these lands had either not been transferred, or had
been transferred upon some distinct condition that
they should be promptly let oi' sold, or turned to
account in the ways most likely to promote the wel-
fare of the whole people, and not merely of the per-
sons who have already settled or will settle there, and,
in particular, that they should be as easily as possible
obtainable by immigrants.

However that may be, two things are obvious — that
the Government and Legislature of the Mother Country
transferred these territories on an implied, though
necessarily unexpressed, understanding that the Colo-
nial connexion is indissoluble ; and, further, that what
the Mother Country, almost unsought and altogether

B 2

FACILITIES FOR SETTLIXO.

urn I

without a price, gave, she relied on the Colonists beinor
ready to dispose of in such a manner as to attract
thither her surplus population ; for this nation, which
still realizes the blessing or command, '' Be fruitful and
multiply, and replenish the earth" — the nation, by
which term we mean the whole people, wherevej in the
wide world located — had a right to expect this return.

It is not to the nation, especially not to the masses,
a matter of indifference and unimportance whether un-
occupied lands are available or unavailable on easy
terms for settlers. If the terms are high and difficult
to comply with, the greater nearness, compared with
Africa or Australia,, of the United States, the supe-
riority of that country's climate, compared with the
climate of Canada, and the facilities afibrded in the
States or in Southern America, will, as in the past, so,
most surely, in the future, turn the stream of emi-
grants away from the destination which otherwise
they would choose, and which we and they, on the
strongest and most irrefragable grounds, prefer.

Every man who leaves our shores for the Colonies,
there to farm, goes to increase the population, and the
wealth, and the strength of the Empire. Every man
who leaves for the United States is a subtraction from
our numbers, and, per contra, becomes a producer of
Avealth and an accumulator of power for them instead
of for ourselves. True, he will still be a consumer of
British and Colonial wares, even on alien soil. He
will be so, perhaps, for his life -time (in years of peace),
but not to anything like the extent which could be
predicated of him if he continued a British subject.

COMMERCIAL PRE-EMINENCE UNSTABLE.

the

;ead

sr of

,ce),

Beware of the conceit that the people of the United
Kingdom, or the manufacturing and trading portions
of us who export— a comparatively sma'l section — will
continue able for the future, as in the past, to under-
sell other countries from this as " the workshop for
all the world." Act not on the assumption that there
will be no serious obstruction to trade from wars or
hostile tariffs. Besides : the tailor, cobbler, and grocer
— for they and such like, and not the employes in huge
factories, are the staple of our industrious non-agricul-
tural population — will tell us they know too well by
experience that every expatriation of a neighbour is,
even during peace, their unmixed loss.

But, whether well or ill founded the assumption of
perpetual superiority, or expectation of such perpetual
commercial superiority as is looked for by many, it is ab-
negation of national independence, and courting national
dangers, to act on it. Consider for a moment what, in
the most favourable circumstances, is involved in
" manufacturing for the world," and in the pursuit of
manufacturing prosperity. According to the nature of
things, in order to maintain such prosperity there
must be either continual increase of consumption on
the part of persons or peoples who are already
customers, or else continual opening of new markets :
for this reason, that every success and every improve-
ment in mechanism leads to increase of operations and
of output in existing establishments, and neighbours'
observation of success, and the hiring off of clerks and
partners who set up for themselves, lead, with the
same certainty, to the formation of additional establish-

6 FARMING THE BEST EMPLOYMENT.

mcnts, which in their turn will in like manner enlarge.
Now it is not possible there can be kept up for a long
series of years the requisite progression. There must
be occasional deadlocks, and consequent distress ; and
at some point a final stop. •

How different the case of farmintj ! If the farmer
is prosperous, he begins to cultivate better than he
did, and so produces more food ; but he treads not in-
juriously on his neighbour's domain. He is not much
wont, or much tempted, to venture on ambitious ex-
tensions. If his success encourac^e an additional num
ber of persons to engage in the business, they must
either set about reclaiming waste land at home, or go
abroad, where, while producing more, they are at the
same time, by the employment of more labour and the
uprearal of industrious families of their own, raising
up consumer's for their crops. This further, at any
rate, is palpable : there are, with tillers of the ground
and producers of animal food and wool, no sudden and
overwhelming crises and times of disaster, such as shut
up mills, and silence forges, and compel thousands of
industrious hands to pine in idleness on the streets.

Has the nation cause to boast of the choice it has
made in time past? What will be the verdict of
posterity 1 What is the permanent product of our as-
cendancy in manufactures and commerce, of its alluring
splendour and its refined luxuriousness ? During the
last half-century British statesmen had two grand
openings lor the profitable occupation, within the
realm, of our increasing population and capital —
employment in manufactures, shipping, and mines, and.

roiiEiGN tra.de has its evils.

employment in afjcrieulturo and fisheries. They have
persistently preferred the former, to the neglect, in a
very great measure, of the latter — the stabler and the
better of the two. If they had shown the same ardour
to find outlets for the yearly increase of our people in
this last direction, as they have in the former, farms
at home might possibly not have been competed for so
keenly, or taken on terms so inconsistent with the in-
terests of tenants ; and wages for labour on the land
might have been dearer ; but the Colonies would ere
now have surpassed the Mother Country in population,
and that population, transferred and rapidljr uuiltiplied,
would be wealthy, far, far beyond their actual ex-
perience or most flattering dreams ; v hile she would
contain within her borders far fewer paupers, far fewer
of the dangerous classes and the down-draughts, who
are our reproach and our loss, and Avho, if we
allow the more worthy portion to hive off, leaving tlie
infirm and the dregs, may be our ruin.

It is time, high time, for our rulers, for the people, to
awake. Tell us why we should not devise and do now,
at length, what it v/ould have been wise and well we
had been doing all through the last half-century. Why
not bestow on agriculture, especially in the Colonies,
at least as much attention and thought as the genera-
tion before us bestowed on manufactures and trade ?
Extension of employment so obtained will not be
chequered and checked by disastrous strikes and locks-
out. It will be less fluctuating and more remunerative
than that in gigantic manufactories ; its supplanting
which would make us infinitely more independent, for

RECIPROCAL GOOD OFFICES.

then we need not fetter ourselves with embarrassinor
treaties. We would be able to arrange our fiscal
systems, and pursue our diplomacy, without unmanly
granti ^ or mean cringing for commercial and other
favours. We would not practise nor require, for trade
sake as is falsely supposed, to defend the queer neu-
trality which supplies one of two belligerents with coals
for his fleet and Chassepots for his armed citizens.
The millions would be m.c re contented, because more
thriving, more healthy, and more happy. The relations
between the home and the outlying portions of the
Empire would be brought into liarmony more complete
and sweet.

Never has there been a grander area for the recipro-
cation of the good offices which supply and demand
play in the Divine economy of the world. What the
Colonists want is men to cultivate theii- virgin soil.
These we can give. What the old country wants is
land. That we have enabled the Colonies to give.
What a host of healthy, sturdy, loyal subjects might
our good Queen soon so have ! If, unfortunately, the
next thirty years shall be uiin).arked by any definite
policy in this hopeful direction, what will become the
position of our country ? Her millions, sunk beneath
burdens of taxation ryndered all the more oppressive
because the busiest and the best of her sons have bid
her adieu for ever, will find themselves yearly less and
less able to maintain their struggle with foreigners,
who will yearly more and more obtrude themselves
into the very shopkeeping and minor trades even of
our own cities, towns, and villages. Our national

FURTHER CLAIMS OF COLONIES.

<levblopment will be stunted. The slow train must be
shunted. We shall be left far behind by other Empires.
Even unfortunate France, especially if she fortify her
position by alliances — notably Germany, Russia, and the
United States — are already more populous — shall I
say more powerful ? — than the United Kingdom and
the Colonies, all told. The three last-named Powers
are expanding and increasing still.

We have the same advantages, perhaps greater than
they. Do we mean to utilize these ? Is it not more
than possible that we die casting them away ? What
if our demeanour towards the Colonies — such a paltry
economy, for instance, as our ceasing to fire the gun
that marks a fortress as British — should lead to es-
tr'^Tigement, and estrangeme^tit to declarations of Inde-
pendence ? We have sometimes — aye, too often — spoken
and acted in a way calculated to estrange. No doubt
we have been liberal in our concessions in thincfs sub-
stantial. This very liberality has its dark side. We
have gone so far, that we must go farther. What we
have done is not enough. A satisfactory answer must
be given to the question. What benefit do the Colonies
receive now, or have they to expect, from their con-
nexion with us and with one another ? We allow them
no preference in our markets. If they were foreigners,
they would have the same advantages. Deprived of
their early privileges, they now obtain little more from
us than the British segis in case of war. Moreover,
this advantage is equivocal ; for, say some, they are
more likely to be involved in v/ar through us.

I rejoice that we, even in peace, have still great favours

NATIONAL ESPRIT DE CORPS.

to bestow. We can establish a national and patriotic
system of Emigration to the Colonies. We can, under
the auspices of the august Head oTthe State, inaugurate
a new Imperial policy, which will tend to diffuse
throughout tlie Empire the capital, and " well-to-do "
persons from the nobleman to the peasant and the
artizan, which superabound or " congest " at the Em-
pire's heart. Thereby new life and a fresh spring of
energy would everywhere burst forth.

Highly as I rate these favours, wholesome and
heartsome as I am sure their influence would be, they
are in my sight as nothing, for the end in view, com-
pared with the cherishing of a national spirit. May
we not learn much in this respect from our neighbours ?
What a practical love of la belle France, what prido
in it and sticking to it, has the volatile Frenchman !
How has devotion for the Fatherland stirred up and
knit together in self-sacrifice the phlegmatic German !
Who has such conspicuous tall talk, and, as its basis,
elevated, efficacious conceptions regarding " our
country," as the citizen of the Tj nited States ? Call
forth, then, a stronger national sentiment.

Realize simultaneously the possibilities of our future.
What a grand ground -work has been laid by our
fathers ! Are we sure we do not degenerate ? With
the good old toast, " Ships, Colonies, and Commerce,"
have disappeared other evidences of the ancient amor
patricB. What, at any rate, to descend to humbler par-
ticulars, is the reception Colonists experience when
they come " home " for life, or on visits ? Who gives
them welcome ? and of what kind is it ? There is na

— -T^^j fff^-^a ttAtttj --

THE QUEEN AND NOBLES.

*' hoicff" no home-warmth, at the Colonial Office, nor
anywhere in London. If the administration of that
part of the Empire were conducted by a Board com-
posed of leading men vv^ho have dwelt for a time in
some Colony, or otherwise are recognized as authorities
on Colonial questions, and if the Colonial Office thereby
became, as it might and should be, the frequent, plea-
sant, and natural house of call, the case would be
different quite. Royalty and nobility might then re-
cognize a now unfelt personal duty, and now unseen
splendid opportunities to serve the Staie.

Without in any way imputing deficiencies in time
past, the future points, in the interest of the Throne
and the Peerage both of which we wish to maintain in
efficiency for the sake of the Constitutional liberties
and order that form their raison d'etre, to a more
palpable, active, and loyal discharge of the pertinent
functions, as hereafter essential to their successful
operation. The Queen, when in that health v/hich we
much wish to see restored, ought to be accessible to
Colonists, not for consultation, but as the social head
and leader of the nation. The entree into Buckingham
Palace might make them feel they are '' at home,"
when appreciatedly welcomed by the highest and the
legitimate exponent of the nation's mind and affections.

As to the Nobles, who will follow suit, remember
how in old times they were expected to be at the call
of the Sovereign. They had to fight for their country,
and that beyond seas. In later days we have instances
of better leadership during peace, in the first occupa-
tion of transatlantic lands. But what thus rarely has

KNIGHTHOODS.

been done by individuals ought to be the work and
glory of the class. The laws ought to be changed so
as to permit subdivision of large estates among sons,
without regard to primogeniture, wherever tlie estate
is large enough to suffer partition without its derogating
from the sufficiency of the eldest son's means to uphold
the rank assigned him and to perform its requirements.
Especially there should be facility and encouragement
given everybody to exchange lands in the British
counties for larger tracts in the Colonies.

The greater the sacrifice made for country's sake, the
more honour is due. The more remote the position
chosen, and the more arduous and expensive the re-
claiming work, the more recognition should be made
of service so rendered to the Empire. Stars of India
and Orders of St. Michael and St. George — or, recall-
ing the past. Knighthoods of Nova Scotia — are valu-
able as a partial acknowledgment by Royalty that the
Empire is one ; but they fall short in this respect, that
they mark a distinction between its parts. They are
not Imperial, and they are even extra British.

What the emergency demands is bold, hearty, un-
mistakeable, practical avowal by our rulers and by
Parliament, that the people at home and the people in
the Colonies are alike and equally fellow-subjects, and
are to be dealt with as fellow-workers in the common
cause, indiscriminate participators of the ancestral
honours and hereditary privileges of the nation, as well
as permanently responsible, as joint guardians, for their
transmission to future generations.

The United Kingdom has been caDed " Mother

COLONIES — SONS, BUT ALSO PARTNERS.

of Nations." I dislike the expression. It too well
consists with that separation of interests and severance
from the Throne which we reprobate and deprecate.
But I have no objection to any modification of it that
may imply that, while the Mother Country is a home
for all the children, tlie people who still inhabit the
British Isles claim no superiority nor even precedence,
except what depends on their being more numerous, over
the other States or Provinces which form the Empire.

Let us, if you will, regard the old country as a
" Mother of States ; " of States as free and independent
as the United Kingdom, rendering allegiance as hearty
and as abiding to the same Sovereign, who is loyal, like
them, to the Constitution in which we rejoice.

At a recent conference in Liverpool a speaker com-
pared the relationship between the British Isles and
the Colonies to that between parents and children, and,
resting on his similitude, drew the unpleasant inference
that a time must come when the parental house should
be left and the filial tie be broken. Surely the con-
nexion resembles rather that between a number of sons
or brothers associated in a commercial firm. You
know that there are no partnerships so harmonious, sa
successful, and so lasting, as those constituted in this
manner. Perhaps the similitude may be carried a
step further. The original " firm " may be supposed
to have founded in various parts of the world thriving
branch establishments, managed by partners who are
members of the family. These establishments have been
supplied with large capital, and trusted with great re-
sponsibilities, for the general behoof. The capital I

EQUALLY INTERESTED IN GOOD RULE.

refer to is, in the actual circumstances, lands acquired
by our fathers. Their liability to hold these for the
family or firm ought to form an insuperable barrier to
separation. No one branch can disconnect itself with-
out the consent of every other. The property and
profit of each belongs to all.

Leaving metaphor, let us address ourselves to the
facts of the case in hand. The Parliament of the
United Kingdom has begun to act as if the several
*' countries " which compose the British Empire (not
reckoning among these India, which is altogether an
exceptional dependency) are sister or brother States,
and that the Colonies have outgrown the distinctive
character which belongs to daughters or sons. All
these countries, no doubt, so far as their internal or
municipal affairs are concerned, enjoy, or may look for-
ward to, self-government and independent action ; but
there is, up to the present moment, no practical exer-
cise or recognition of their right or title to share in the
regulation of Imperial affairs, in the government of the
Empire.

It is unreasonable to stop short without this crown-
ing concession. The Colonists have an equal interest
in the Empire's good government, are equally liable to
suffer from its bad government, and are as competent to
judge what should be the nation's policy and to express
the nation's wish and will. How can we expect that
Colonists, intelligent and prosperous, accustomed to
Parliamentary debates and to the business of governing,
will submit longer to the exclusion to which our want
of prevision still subjects them ?

COLONIAL MATTERS NOT FULLY DELIBERATED ON. 15

Who of US can allege that the wisdom of the British
Parliament and Government is so indisputable, and
their kn^>wledge of the extremities of the Empire so
intuitive, that the addition of these counsels and the
infusion of new vigour would not tend to a better
system of rule ? Whether or no, besides, the amount
of work which all departments of Government and both
Houses of Parliament have to face and scamper
through (or scamp) is such, that it has practically come
to this : the considering of Colonial questions and
advising with the Colonies has almost fallen into com-
plete abeyance. During the last few sessions of Parlia-
ment, how very little time has been bestowed even on
the important subjects of this paper ! How difficult
has it been to find time for them ! How have they,
when actually brought forward, been slurred over !

What sympathy has been shown Colonists at the
Colonial Office ? How much leisure has the Colonial
Minister been able to give for free and easy conning
over and communing on Colonial affairs ? Is there any
rational ground to hope for a healthier state of things
in the future ? None.

The experience and the anticipctcion of Colonists,
even with regard to matters that come under their
cognizance, cannot satisfy them that exclusion from
all voice in the determination of questions that affect
the Empire, is innocuous, and continuance of the
status quo reasonable and defensible. Not less must
they see and feel that to send representatives to sit in
the British Parliament would in no promising degree
make matters better. Such representatives would

A COLONIAL BOARD.

deem it impertinent to vote on questions affect-
ing only the British Islands. Motions carried
by a majority dependent on Colonial votes would
be resented among ourselves. The increased length
and number of discussions on Colonial questions
would only still more overburden Parliament ; and,
after all, the Colonists could hardly expect to exert
their legitimate influence and power either on Colo-
nial or Imperial measures. Objections of the same
character and weight cannot bo alleged to a proposi-
tion which has often been made, with differences in
details, to representatives of the principal Colonies
sittmg at a Colonial Board, such as I have already
spoken of, presided over by the Colonial Minister ; but,
then, such a representatives would not touch the ques-
tion presently before us, and would not mitigate the
evils, or meet the claims, we are presently discussing.

If the proposition were to admit representatives of
the principal Colonies to places in the Cabinet, the only
objection that could be raised is the incongruity of bur-
dening them wdth the responsibility of deciding ques-
tions which do not affect the Colonies nor the Empire,,
but the British Islands only. I apprehend we are
shut up to one conclusion and one course. That course
perfectly satisfies some. If others can show a better,
let them. Till then, and in its absence, we may be
allowed to maintain and urge that the most or the
only logical procedure is to superimpose over the
several Parliaments and Administrations of the United
Kingdom and the Colonies an Imperial representative
Cabinet or Council, invested, under the Queen, with

&i\-

lliii

AN IMPERIAL COUNCIL.

supreme power to act as a Legislature and Executive
for the Empire. To such a body would be entrusted the
determination of questions of j^eace or war, of contri-
butions of men and money for naval and military pur-
poses, of international treaties, and of all laws affecting
tlie Empire as a whole.

I do not conceive that there is any objection on prin-
ciple to a Council invested with these great powers. It
would work much more easily than it could have done
but a few years ago, seeing Colonial representatives
can now with lightning speed communicate with their
several " countries."

The Colonies would probablv hail the establishment
of such a Council as a complimentary concession, as
well as a positive advantage. They could not but feel
just pride in being called on to take part in the great
Council of the Empire.

The inhabitants of the old country might not so
easily reconcile themselves to their amended relation-
ship. Some might represent it as a " coming down in
the world." Others might apprehend that the new
machinery would not work smoothly. To these and
every hesitai..t an appeal must be made in the plainest
terms, and in the most earnest language : Are you,
or are you not, prepared for the alternative — disruption
of the Empire, the severance from the Mother Country
of the more important Colonies ?

Let us not blink matters. There has been a por-
tentous change. If we do not direct it aright, it will
culminate in revolution. Negligence on the part of the
British Parliament, and insouciance on that of British

FEKLlNCi IN COLONIES.

Governments, during the last quarter of a century, have
allowed a few individuals or theorists to speak ex
cathedra, and even to act with authority of office, in
such a manner as to cause loyal Colonists to believe,
and a few to allege openly, that the connexion of the
Colonists with the Mother Country is regarded at home
as a burden, and that their value to her is so disparaged,
and the reciprocal claims, to which I at least attach the
greatest importance, so attenuated, that we would will-
ingly " let friends part as friends.")

I need not multiply quotations from public docu-
ments and the public press, to esiajlish this appalling
charge. Unfortunately, inculpatory proofs are as plen-
tiful as blackberries at this season. I merely quote a
short extract from private letters which I have re-
ceived within the last two or three months.

A relation of my own writes in August from
Canada : " The Liberal party, whose policy evidently is
to throw Canada into the arms of the United States. . . .
It is a great pity, as the bulk of the Canadian popula-
lation are loyal to the heart's core, and justly proud of
their connexion with Great Britain. We had an in-
stance lately. The Independence-Annexation-Fenian
party brought up a candidate " [in my correspondent's
own district] " to oppose the nominee of the loyal
party," &c. . . . ''The gentlemen of the Irish persuasion
invariably supported the Annexation candidate. . . ,
Many of us are deeply grieved to see the Imperial
Government abandoning the time-honoured and historic
fortresses of Quebec and Kingston. It looks like leav-
ing us to our fate."

INDEPENDENCE NOT SEVERANCE.

Looks beguile. I am ready to distrust them
here. It is to the credit of the present Government
that they have avowed a settled purpose to assist the
Colonies in case of war. How can they fulfil the pro-
mise and engaf^ement on the present system, and with-
out more concert with the Colonies ? This en passant.

Another friend, a member of one of the Australian
Legislatures, writes me : " At a Congress at Melbourne,
for the purpose of a Customs Union, ideas are rather
going in the direction of Independence altogether and
confederation of the various Colonies."

Observe the use of the word Independence in both
letters. Plainly, we are reaping as we have sown. If
there is not disaffection, certainly indifference has been
engendered. Happily, there is no ground for disaffec-
tion ; happily, whatever indifierence does exist admits
of being removed, and that by moving on in the very
direction indicated in the second of these communica-
tions — that is, by conceding independence, conceding it
in the sense and way of confederation ; in other words,
enlarging the Imperial Constitution in such manner as
to admit of the Colonies being put on a par with the
United Kingdom in the government of the Empire.
In case any one should conceive that separation of the
Colonies can be effected without injury to the Mother
Country, I ask him again to look to other nations.
See France, cccupied by a population much more
numerous than that of the British Isles ; yet it is sup-
posed that even she, in order to greater magnitude,
will seek to bring into alliance and unity of action
with herself the contiguous peninsulas. See Germany,

c 2

^'|:

LAllOE POPULATION IS GREAT POWER.

'111!;

formerly composed of separate parts bound clumsily
together, crystallizin<^ into one mass. See Russia,
with a vast po})ulation, drawing to herself, with bearlike
hugging, adjoining States. See the United States,
with a population as great as that of Great Britain and
the Colonies superadded. These last continue still to
increase or grow, to grow rapidly. Knowing that a
nation's strength and independence is in proportion to
the number of fighting men and consequently of its
people, taken in connexion with the conqmctness and
defensibleness of its soil, and observing that the war
spirit is not dead nor dying in the world, need one
ask : Is this a time to be indifferent as to the magni-
tude of the population of the British Empire, and be
careless whether we, as a nation, grow stronger or
weaker?

Indi"!, we cannot take into account. The hundred and
fifty or eighty millions there may be weakness as much
as strength. If strength, this arises, in no small
degree, from the strength of the rest of the Empire.
Part with the Colonies, and we wecken our hold of
India. We prepare the way for troubles, and invite
movements and agitations ; 1 at might eventuate in loss
of our dominion there, an^l of the 2yrestige and power
which possessing it gives.

The isolated position of the several parts of our
Empire is also, in one point of view, weakness, but in
another, strength. It exposes us at a great many
points to attack. It is difficult, or impossible, to
defend so extended frontiers, and so long and so
many coast-lines.

CONCILIATION OT (.'(JLONIKH.

On the other hand, the loss of a part docs not en-
danger other parts. The ivholc of our tcrritones can-
not be overrun by an enemy, and ^ve derive the benefit
of places of security, replenishment, and repair for our
navy and military at a great multiplicity of what, in
varied circumstances, may prove to be positions of im-
portance. After all, however, these are secondary
considerations. A great and strong Power is normally
and usually at peace Avith other notions. The posses-
sion of harbours and depots is then of uneciuivocal and
unmixed advantage. It is our own fault if we do not
turn them to very profitable ac(;ount.

^* Oh," says he who is free-trader and nothing else,
'^ under the beautiful and benign cosmopolitanism
which Cobden preached and Britain practises, all
nations and all flags are destined to have equal ad-
vantages. Let the Colonies be abandoned, and even
fall into the arms of foreign Powers, our trade would
be unaffected. They'd still welcome our ships, and
receive our cargoes, and send us their wealth."
Friend, who are content with so little, can you be
sure even of this ? Will slighted love and spurned
advances not breed coldness, or aversion, or retalia-
tion ? Will the protectionism which shelters and dis-
guises itself as virtue, under the plea that blood is
thicker than water, and charity begins at home, not
overthrow existing commercial arrangements, and in-
tensify tariffs that are adverse enough now, so as to be
positively subversive of commerce ? Howevei", no com-
plaints ! We are deeply thankful for the extent of
profitable business that we actually do with the

EXTENT OF T^IADE WITH COLONIES.

Colonies. Let me illustrate, by means of a few
figures kindly furnished me by the ex-Fresident of the
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. These show how
much more largely than foreigners, man for man,
Colonists trade with us : —

COMPARATIVE IMPORT AND EXPORT PER
THE POPULATION TO THE FOLLOWING

COUNTRIES*— VIZ. :—

Expoils.
Population. and Imports.

Russia 74,000,000

Franco 38,000,000

Italy 24,000,000

Austriii.. 34,670,000

Turkey in Europe ... 15,500,000

Holland 3,756,000

Belgium 5,000,000

United States 34,500,000

Brazil 10,000,000

... £27,250,000
... 57,410,000
9,250,000
3,270,000
.. 12,700,000
... 28,000,000
... 16,600,000
... 66,800,000
... 12,940,000

HEAD OF
FOREIGN

Rate

per head.

£ c«;. d.

7 4

1 10
7 6
1 8

16
7 10
3 2

1 18
15

239,426,000 £234,220,000 Less than 20s.

per head.
To the following British Possessions : —

North America 4,250,000 ... 12,000,000 ... 2 17 6

West Indies 1,000,000 ... 9,500,000 ... 9 10

Australia 1,500,000 ... 25,500,000 ... 16

Singapore 300,000 ... 3,600,000 ... 12

Cape 260,000 ... 4,300,000 ... 18

7,310,000

£54,900,000; or £7 10s. per
head.

* The trade with India is at the rate of only about 7s. per head, but
that country is not a " Colony." Tiie friimer of the table wishes it
understood that it is not intended to be minutely accurate.

ADVANTAGE FROM UNOCCUriED LANDS.

There is one inestimable advantage which the
British Empire enjoys in common with three of
the great Powers of the world. This advantage
is presented to us only in and through the Colonies.
I mean the possession of large unoccupied territories.
France has something of the kind, but only in Algeria,
and there under conditions which neutralize its bene-
fits — a burning climate and hostile rightful claimants.
Hussia is so sparsely populated that her vast area is
not needed in order to sustain an increasing population.
The United States are in circumstances exactly like
ours. They have vast tracts still open, and in a tem-
perate climate. Probably, immigrants from Great
Britain would reach the extreme far West, even Cali-
fornia, more cheaply than South Africa or Australasia.
But on the debtor side of the account must be placed
distance from the sea ; and the lanky look of the
American may well occasion doubt whether Europeans
will thrive, even in body, over there as well as in the
British Possessions.

The philosophy and good sense of the case is, let
Britons be content and grateful, and keep together.
Nationally, we can hardly, if at all, be situated better
than we are. If our superior advantages are not seen
by some men, remove the film from these short-sighted
eyes. If quite w^ell seen, and yet perilously slighted,
the more shame. But there is no great good in self-
reproach. Enough that we reverse erroneous proce-
dure. The earlier we make known our determination
to hold the Color les firmly, the better. There is no
second unoccupied world for us to conquer and colonize.

h
IS:

:'!

HOPES OF THE FUTURE.

Great Britain and the United States (inheritrix on a
title we don't care to dispute) own and possess all the
fertile and accessible tracts oi the globe .

Observance of British antecedents, and conscious-
ness of the nobleness of British policy, Avarrant us to
believe, what other nations will not hesitate to admit,
that the retirement of Great Britain from her place of
pre-eminence and its opportunities, her relinquishment
of the post Avhich Providence and mankind assign her,
would be a just and great and perpetual subject of
world-wide lamentation. Why should we retire volun-
tarily and unnecessarily ? We may hope, if not 1 1-
tacked too suddenly and by combined force, and li'
repressing impracticable meddlesomeness, to stand our
ground.

How much stronger will the Empire be by-and-by,
when, through judicious encouragement of emigration
and presentment of facilities for the cultivation of
waste lands, the Colonies shall have doubled the
Empire's population and strength ! Friendship, or
alliance, with such a Power as we shall then be, will and
must be sought and valued. If the Anglo-Saxon, Ox-
rather — for we forget not the Celts — the English-
speaking races, act in harmony, with no jealousies
among themselves, they will form a coalition which no
nation dare oppose, yet none need fear ; for its
power will never be exercised adversely to mankind.
For tliis reason, if for no other, let the United
States and our " United Empire " act and feel towards
each other as if the day may not be distant, and ought,
b}^ interchange of kind offices and reciprocation of

UNION OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING NATIONS.

courteous respect, to be accelerated, when botli will be
cemented in the warmest, as it will be the most
natural and congenial, of alliances.

Why may I not express, what I rejoice to discover
is a cherished thought in many earnest and large
hearts — hope, rising almost to anticipation, that the
United States of South America and ^'the United
States of the Britannic Empire " will, a century hence,
be federated together, as not merely geographically,
but morally, a great " Atlantica " and " Pacifica," —
AtlarUic, as being the realization of the fabled sus-
tainer of the world in its place and order, by means of
quiet, concentrated strength ; and Pacific, as the
keeper of the world's peace, by its diffused healthful
influence.

With the Germans, now^ in the ascendant, all these
federable States have the ties of blood-relationship and
love of religious freedom and simplicity. With the
French, the Celtic element in Scotland, Ireland, and
Canada makes us akiu. With the Russians, we will
be close neighbours in the East and in the North, with-
out adequate motive for jealousies and unworthy
rivalries.

Is chis picture j^^inted in too glov/ing colours ? Is
there no dark back-ground ? There may possibly bo
a hidden wish, in quarters wliere our type of civiliza-
tion, and liberty, and religion is feared and distru^-ted,
that the U^nited Kingdom should decline in influence.
Some, with this in view, may insidiously favour disin-
tegration. Cavete canes. Undoubtedly I have indulged
my imagination by conceiving a bright future.

NO UNC^-RTAIN SOUND.

It is with the present we have to do. Our immediate
concern is to counteract any disintegrative tendency,
and to prevent its development. There is no wisdom
in letting the ships of a fleet drift apart. Our Admiral
should give forth the word that will keep us together,
and lead us on the right course. His trumpet must
not give forth a faint nor a,n uncertain sound. "Why
should our statesmen, like the parent who was " very
old," and "heard all that his sons did" without re-
straining, feebly say with him, " "Why do ye such
things ? for ^ hear of your evil dealings by all this
people. Nay, sons, for it is no good report that I
hear." I wish that some of the most prominent
went even thus far. They even speak of " educating"
our Colonists for such a catastrophe, as if it were a
merit to lead on thereto ! It is high time to wake up
and wao^e war aofainsb such disturbers. Let us beware
especially of undermining operations, and cease to con-
fer honours on men who openly advocate secession.

To be practical : let the British family be summoned
together for a family council. The Colonists will there
tell all that is in their mind. We shall learn what
they wish. They will be able not only to speak for
themselves, and disarm our minds of fears which sheer
ignorance and distance (not always lending enchant-
ment to a view) ma}'- have generated and fostered.
They will add wisdom, vigour, and impulse to our de-
liberations and our acts. All have a commoL and im
perial cause in hand ; let there be a common and im-
perial character given to these deliberations and acts.

CONSULTATION WITH COLONIES.

The case is undoubtedly urgent. Every mail brings
fresh evidence and tidings of mischief brewing. If
there are to be consultations and negotiations (and
where several parties are to enter into an agreement
negotiations there must be), a time of harmony is always
the most opportune. Such a time is the present. There
is nowhere any jarring just now. The period, there-
fore, is eminently favourable ; and a good excuse, a
ready occasion, a sufficient motive, is at this very
moment happily presented. The United Kingdom is
moved oa the subject of its national defences and
armaments, which are admittedly inadequate for the
contingency of sudden emergencies. The same negli-
gence, or false security, in virtue of which we have
inconsiderately been slumbering at home, has prevailed
in the Colonies. Yet there it is as necessary as here
that there should be devised beforehand, and prepared
for the demands of required instant service, a thorough
system of naval and military armaments. But w^ho
shall prescribe their mode and extent, and command
actual performance of the work ? The Colonial
Minister cannot do this of himself The Cabinet can-
not. Parliament would shrink from the responsibility
as too venturesome, even if it possessed the necessary
qualification and aptitude.

The object cannot be attained in any serviceable
time and manner by correspondence. The business is
too complicated for that. It does not brook slowness
and delays. The condition is unexampled. The right to
determine and execute practically lies with others,
who, if they do not require to be conciliated, at

A CONFERENCE SHOULD BE HELD.

least (and that not merely from courtesy, but in the
veiy nature of the case) need to be consulted and
worked with heartily as any principal co-operators.
Would that the Government saw and felt all this.
Surely a ^' ])ro re nata council of the Empire/' how-
ever informally, and in spite of there being no prece-
dents for such a course, ought to be immediately con-
vened. Their deliberations would, as a matter of
course, but by no means as a matter for regret, diverge
and expand, so as to comprehend other cogna> e sub-
jects on which it is desirable and important that all
parts of the Empire should arrive at a common un-
derstanding. There are many points connected with
our legislation that demand attention. There are
many questions on which our remoter fellow-sub-
jects are entitled and able to make weighty repre-
sentations. One of their propositions will, probably,
be a supreme and permanent Council for the Empire —
such as that which it is the chief object of this paper
to recommend and promote. I hope it will be so. I
have little anxiety as to the course of 'events.

To sum up my convictions and aspirations, may I
again revert to early history for apposite words ? To
an ancient mother it was said, as Providence is now
saying to the Mother Country, " I will multiply thy
seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for
multitude." " Arise ! lift up the lad, and hold him m
thine hand, for I will make him a great nation." In
the same venerable record Ave find addressed to another
mother a filial remonstrance, which I give the Colonies
the credit of adopting : '' Entreat me not to leave

PART ? NO, NEVER ! 29

thee, or to return from following after tliee ; for
whither thou goest T will go, and where thou lodgest,
I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, "and
thy God my God. Where thou diest I will die, and
there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and mor^
also, if aught but death part thee and me."

NATIONAL STRENGTH.

THE UNITED KINGDOM AND COLONIES
ONE AUTONOMIC EMPIEE.

A PAPEU READ BEFORE THE AfiSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OP SOCIAL

SCIENCE, AT BRISTOL, 1869.

That regcard for liberty and equity which character-
izes the law and rule and diplonatic action of our
country, warrant our belief that the permanence of her
place and influence, as a first-class Power, is a matter
to be desired for the sake of the great world among
whose nations she has so wonderfully acquired a com-
manding position.

A people may be powerful by reason either of moral
influence or of natural strength. Practically, the
former, which is the nobler and more valuable attain-
ment, cannot subsist effectually if not associated with
the latter, the coarser and more common-place attri-
bute. This strength is relative. A nation may be-
come weaker even while its resources are as great,
and its people as many and as brave as ever, if other
nations are outstripping it in resources and particu-
larly in numbers, either by the natural growth of
population, or by emigration, or by extension of
populated territory. Pussia, Germany, and the United
States, are at this moment much ahead of the United
Kingdom in the number of fighting men they can
train for defence and attack. These Powers are also
remarkably compact in respect to their territories,
whereas the British Empire lies scattered in separate
portions over the globe.

This diffusion is not without advantages ; whether

PRESENT SELF-INDULGENCE.

on the whole for better or worse, it is our situation,
and we accept it. This our situation involves duties.
In accepting it, we assume heavy responsibilities.
These duties and responsibilities, I much fear, have
been generally overlooked, or, at least, are seldom
boldly faced. We do not realize the grandeur of the
heritage and trust which have been committed to the
last and the present generation of Britons and, if the
term will be allowed, Anglo-Celts. Our immediate
predecessors, and w^e ourselves, have sought present
ease and prosperity Avithout considering earnestly
what is best for the estate we are called to occupy as
life-tenants and administer as trustees. I fear we
have been deluding ourselves by the transparent fal-
lacy that what contributes most to the enjoyment and
wealth of the living will best serve the unborn. Is
it beyond the truth of facts to suggest that we have
hoodwinked ourselves into presumptuous and foolish
confidence that in future there will be no costly
wars, or, if there shall be such wars, that the un-
paid enormous debts incurred in former wars (which
were carried on far more cheaply than can be the
case hereafter) will form no serious obstacle to suc-
cess in them ; that is, that more hundreds of mil-
lions will, notwithstanding these liabilities, be bor-
rowed on favourable terms, and the augmentec. charge
of interest for the doubled or trebled debt will,
when peace is restored, occasion, and be, no hin-
drance to the nation's continued prosperity ? This is
the charitable construction of our acts. Unfortunately,
the frivolous way in which the question, " What has

Ldl_

:lliMi'

FARMING OR TRADE ?

'ill

liilKi'

posterity done for us ? " is frequently put and received,
conveys to thoughtful minds painful misgivings and
forebodinj^s of a less flatterins^ character.

A principal feature of British policy since the peace
of 1815 has been to stimulate manufactures and
trade. Equal heed has not been given to the ad-
vantages of promoting agriculture, though this is
a source of wealth which is far steadier and more un-
failing than foreign trade, and an occupation that
produces men of greater physical vigour than manu-
factures — men also better rooted and more deeply
interested in the land we live in and in its Colonies.
Attention to home agriculture has been left to the
landlords, who, it must be said, have wonderfully
developed the capabilities of the soil (except in so far
as the influence of game laws and the desire of sport
have restrained the tendency to reclaim). As to
farming in the Colonies, considerable efforts have no
doubt been put forth by the State as proprietor of
waste lands, but not in a manner worthy of being
regarded and praised as national policy. Without
disparaging the beneficial tendency, in several points of
view, of the remarkable progress of mining, manu-
factures, and commerce, to which we have attained,
there is room to question whether our national great-
ness, our national stability, our national independence,
our national solidarity, as well as our national present
happiness and future prospects, would not have been
much more thorough and satisfactory if Government
and people had sought earnestly and with less dis-
traction that the outflow of our population and the

EMIGRATION TO COLONIES.

obtaining of employment had been towards agriculture
at home and in British '^■olonial territories. Hitherto
emigration, which in itself surely is a matter for any-
thing but congratulation if we consider its causes, has
not been regulated, or directed, to the extent to which
it might have been, on the principle that it is better to
retain the emigrant as a British subject than to have
him numbered among foreigners. In the one case he
Avould, in time of peace, be a consumer almost ex-
clusively of British goods, and a contributor to British
wealth ; and, in time of war, a prized addition to the
prowess and patriotism we might evoke. In the other
case he would consume foreign conmiodities, or else
British commodities heavily taxed by (his own) unsym-
pathetic legislation, and might even be called to take up
arms against his native country.

It is not too late to mend. Opportunities indeed have
been missed, millions of our best sons and daughters
are nov/ citizens of the United States ; but we have few
wrongs to redress, little or no legislation to undo. If
we have erred, it has been in the spirit of a free
nation. Our people have been left free to go wherever
they liked. Our Colonies have been allowed to frame
their own laws, and impose whatever duties they
thought fit, I shall not say even to the unnatural ex-
tent of commercial j^arricide. but, speaking euphemis-
tically, of commercial suicide. Thoy are loyal to our
beloved Sovereign and to the Constitution. They
cannot but appreciate the treatment they have re-
ceived. If our relationship had been as it was of old,
when their trade was restricted by exclusive regard

•

HKCOONITION OF EQUALITY.

to the interests of the Mother Country (T prefer to use
that word which conie.s, and ever will conio, to our ears
and hearts with more dearness and tenderness than
doeJi "Fatlierland " to the Germans), we would not at
this day have been addressing them through British
governors with the excessive frankness which lias just
awakened our feUow-subjects to a sense of their new
position of reco;_;nized equality and of liberty to judge
and act no longer as our children, but as full-grown
though younger brothers jind adult members of the
British family. Their rulers are in little danger of
supposing that what is really complimentary, and a
recognition of the rights and powers they have
achieved, is an expression of British indifference to the
connexion that subsists between us. On the contra''
we would feel pain to part ; but w^e are avQrse to cl
the right and power which theoretically belongs to us
to overrule their decisions and shape their destinies.
We hail them now, not as Dependencies, but as parts
of the same Empire, participants of our ancient and
noble privileges, and sharers of our grand responsi-
bilities. Both they and we see that in union is our
strength. The bundle of rods must and will be kept to-
gether Like the patriarch, we all say, and the Colonies
most especially, " With a staff w^e crossed the waters,
and now we are become bands, strong and many, bound
together as one." When other States of the world are
growing in number of subjects and extent of territory,
it would be a matter for unbounded regret if the
British Empire were to shiver into fragments. There-
fore we will not part from one another, if it is possible,

ADVANTA(JK TO COLONIES.

re-

as we know it is, to luaintaiu the union that has boon
so long enjoyed. Lot us rather consult together how
best to consolidate and weld or fuse into one mass
what is in nature congenial, and is already warm.
Even now the comprehending of the Colonies in tlie
census of British subjects, without including in the
aggregate the vast population of India, shows that, in
point of peopled territory, we are entitled to a proud,
but I trust not abused, pre-eminence among the
nations ? To how much more, when we take into ac-
count the tendency of Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Celts
to multiply and replenish, in a few years may we ex-
pect to grow ? I see no reason why we should not be
able in half-a-century to con it equal to the greatest
Powers then sharing the beneficent domination of this
earth.

We at home require, however, to recall the Colonies
to greater consciousness of the fact, and the value to
themselves, of their British origin and connexion. We
and they require to reconstitute our reciprocal relation-
ship, if not on a firmer, at least on a new basis. As
for us, we must not merely appeal to our claims on
them and their claims on us, but show ourselves
worthy of their admiration and confidence. We must
so act as to make them court amalgamation. A
feeling of this kind cannot be relied upon if our British
policy continues so selfish and so short-sighted as it
has been. We must no longer rest satisfied with our-
selves, while making no attempt, even the feeblest, at
once to reduce and finally to remove our prodigious
and disgraceful debt of eight hundred millions. What

D 2

NATIONAL DEBT.

■I'

are our honest fellow-snbjects — not to say the open-
eyed citizens of other States — to conclude, when a
popular Chancellor of the Exchequer, in answer to a
recent motion in the House of Commons calling atten-
tion to this subject, points with more than complacency
to the fact that for the last few years three millions
and odd sterling per annum have, casually and
certainly without set purpose, been written off by the
favourable circumstance of there being surplus re-
venue/"' They cannot but contrast the etout and success-
ful efforts, mad 3 at no small personal cost, of the people
of the United States to extinguish, as is expected to
be done within fifteen, or at the utmost twenty-five
years, the heavy debt which imposes on those States
the payment of interest not much short of our own
annual burden. Seeing we are utterly indisposed to
do our duties in peace, how can we expect that the
Colonists will maintain, if they can escape it, relation-
ship with a Power that, so far from preparing itself in
peace for the fresh debts which war is too sure to bring,
is actually making itself effeminate, by avoiding, with
equivocal morality or unequivocal immorality, that
necessary hardship of bearing taxes and denying our-
selves luxuries, which would form a valuable training
for evil times that may come, God only knows how soon.
It is much the same with regard to our amiaments,
naval and military. How can we hope that Colonies
will esteem 9 people which — in these times, when other

* Duriug last Session the House of Commons, with approval of the
right honourable gentleman, passed unanimously a mot <i in favour of
gradually reducing the National Debt.

ADEQUATE ARMAMENTS.

r
B

Powers are armed and ready for the conflict, and
although its territories are so much more exposed by
extent of shore-line and wide distribution — unabashed
acknowledges that time is required for the raising,
equipping, and training of a sufliciency of soldiers, and
the building and manning of a sufficiency of ships of
war for her safety ; in other and plain words, that she,
as a rule, keeps herself unready ?

Doing what becomes us, what indeed is incumbent
on us, as at once a first-class Power and a Mother
Country, we may confidently look for alliance, or con-
federation, or unification ; and we need not fear that,
if we on our side admit or allow the claim of thriving
Colonies to equality, regulated by due regard to num-
bers, they will be backward in recognizing equity as
tho basis on Avhicli the regenerated Empire shall be
governed in the matter oi" State burdens and State
services. In so far as debt has been, and expenses
shall hereafter be, incurred for interests common to
them and to us, doubt not tlie Colonies will be ready
to assume and bear their fair share. They will be
ready to raise soldiers or pay for those we raise for
national defence, in just proportion.

We have hitherto held thcs.o reasonable expecta-
tions in abeyaTif'e. Colonial matters have hitherto oc-
•cupied a very small place in the minds either of our
statesmen or our Parliaments. Tn consequence of this,
there has not only been remissness in the important
matters just adverted to, but slackness, which I for
one characterize as culpable, with regard to mainte-
nance of British proprietary rights in British tcriitories.

i
f*

BIUTISII RIGHTS.

Ask leading, perhaps even official statesmen, to whom
belong unoccupied lands, acquired by the bravery of
our troops or our seamen, and the enterprise of our
navigators and pioneers, and you will be surprised how
hazy, if not how erroneous, is the answer you will re-
ceive. But this is only in keeping with their dis-
claimer of liability to share the expense of defending
from internal disturbances ; a disclaimer untenable if
Britain still owns lands, for such she would, of course,
contribute to hold. We are apt to forget that the
British rights in our Possessions are two-fold. As we
should not relinquish or have relinquished proprietor-
ship in unoccupied lands,"'" tliough we would wisely con-
join in it the Colonist as administrators for the new
'' State body," so we ought not to relinquish the im-
perial right of suj^CiHoritij over lands sold and
occupied, with all that is involved ; most precious is
the hereditament if we are to continue one great
nation.

The approaching conference, t summoned by leading

* At tlic late meetings at wliich Mr. Macfie rendered an account of
his stewardship, he characterized the way in which the United King-
dom has, without debate in ParUaraent, and without receiving any
equivalent or even stipulating for any share of or control over the pro-
ceeds of sales, divested herself of the whole lands and territories she
possessed till within the last few years in our thriving Colonies, as
" playing ducks and drakes " with these costly and valuable national
properties, right to deal with which at the present time might have pre-
sented a ready and useful means of relief from difficulties connected
with Ireland, and with the depression of trade in Great Britain. —
NotCy 1869.

f The suggested Conference vvas discouraged by the British Govern-
ment, and not fuvoured in the Colonies, and never met.

WHAT MIGHT BE DONE.

Colonists, we who are here rejoice in. "VYe approve of
the order of Knighthood by which the Queen has
shown the Colonies that they are still " of us, though
not locally with us." Visits of Royal Princes point in
the same good direction. But very much more must
be aimed at. I trust, difficult as the work is, good
progress towards mastering it will be made by the
present congress as well as by the conference that is
summoned.

The Lords have, in relation to the Colonial part of
this Empire, great functions and great opportunities.
The Upper House may Avell make this subject a
speciality. Their Lordships may reckon on the sup-
port of the House of Commons in any practical
propositions which it may please them to make for
facilitating, even on the principle of sub-division in
favour of younger sons, the ex liange of valuable
estates in the British Isles for large unoccupied dis-
tricts over the seas. There 1 tiave no doubt, without
any dimi'^.ntion of prestige and pow< at home, but
rather w'tn vast increase of these, the ;.,reat abilities
and manly virtues, and other high qualities which j
honourably distinguish our aristocracy, W" ild be
educed and exercised far more than at home in the
comparative inactivity wliicli is here their doom. A^'ho
can estimate how much this '' birzing yont" (t^ alopt
the homely phrase, with the tactics, of a Scottish noble
of the olden time) would promote not only their own
happiness, but the strengthening of the Colonial con-
nexion with Britain, the expansion of the Empire, and
the welfare of mankind ? Then our dukes will show

A COUNCIL IN LONDON.

themselves truly duces ; our marquises will really, con-
forming to their name^ occupy and defend the place of
honour and trust at the marches and outposts ; and
earls and barons will no longer bear titles of dignity
apart from the State services these formerly implied
that they were ready to render.

The presence of a standing Council, composed of tlie
weightiest and most sagacious of our fellow-subjects,
congregated from every quarter of the globe — which
advantage a better connexion witli the Colonies would
insure — would introduce even into our domestic legisla-
tion new and masculine vigour, and would enable us
to command that respect which is so advantageous,
with a view to the preservation of peace within the
deservedly fostered British dominions in the East,
and to the avoidance of dangerous pretensions from
foreign Governments.

A word in conclusion, Avhich I hope will not bring on
me the smiles of hathos-hsiters. Let us cease to use the
word " Imperial " to designate what belongs merely to
this kingdom, and give it full and appropriate signi-
ficance as denoting what belongs to the ^* Empire " of
which this kingdom, however much it shall prosper,
may, we hope, become, by the growth of our Colonies,
but a minor portion.

CONSOLIDATION.

LETTER TO A PROMINENT MEMBER OF

THE CABINET.

AsiiFiELD Hall, Neston,

5th September, 1870.

My Dear Sir, — In your obliging letter of 31st
August, you well stated the aim of the policy, im-
perfectly understood by my Canadian correspondent, to
be " strength, union, and consolidation." In my ac
knowledgnient of the 1st inst., I readily assumed that
this statesmanly object has regard not merely to the
British Possessions in America, but to the whole Em-
pire. I know from the declarations you and Lord
Granville made in Parliament no lono^er ai^o than last
session, that the unity and substantial integrity of the
Empire it is the determination of the Government to
maintain. I have already expressed my fear that the
opportunity or possibility of perfecting ai.d securing
the strength and power of the Empire by consolidation
in the form of federal connexion is slipping away.
Every mail that arrives from Australia and Africa
furnishes additional ground for this fear. To-day I re-
ceive licni Queensland a letter, dated 11th July, in
which my correspondent, a most intelligent member of
the Parliament of the Colony, writes : —

^' As regards politics, Australia seems on the whole
not inclined to have a closer connexion with the
Mothur Country than at present exists. The j^eople

CONFERENCE AT MELBOURNE.

seem quite satisfied with tlie privileges they possess,
and I do not think tliey will like the idea of a con-
solidation with tlie Empire. At a congress at Mel-
bourne (the proceedings of which are interesting to
you), for the purpose of a Customs Union — the ideas
are going in tae direction of Independence altogether,
and Confederation of the various Colonies."

The Independence my friend points at means dis-
integration of the Empire. Disintegration means weak-
ness of the parts into which it would decompose.
Such weakness of the United Kingdom is not mere
national calamity from which there would be recovery,
but an irreparable loss to the world. The people at
home and, I am satisfied, the people in the Colonies —
whatever a handful of theorists may have said in
fa\our of it, or done in a direction towards it — are
opposed in heart to the separation of the Mother
Country from the Colonies, and of the Colonies from
one another (if, indeed, they can be said to be opposed
to a policy of rending, of which they have not only got
no notice, but have not contemplated the possibility).
I hope I may say the same is the case with the British
Parliament. It is certainly so with the constituencies.

Events now hurry on so fast, and politicians have
now so many surprises, that (allow me to say it, with
great deference) the Government will be held justi-
fied in the eyes of all men if it takes the initiative
at once in proceeding to prevent, by anticipation,
agitation or action intended to dismember. Such
agitation may be the insidious work of enemies who see
in the power of our country and the tendencies of the

FEDERATION.

time influences on behalf of liberty and of mankind
which they dislike ; or, and this is the probability, it
will be the natural expression of dissatisfaction with a
state of mutual relations which the Colonies have out-
grown. I do not wonder at the dissatisfaction. Tt
must be met by a recognition of existing facts and
prospective wants. The whole Empire, and not the
United Kingdom only, must be independent or self-
governing.

Some connexion on the principle of equality and
equity must be formed — call it a '^Federation" — re-
sembling in a good measure that by which the United
States are bound together in strong happy oneness. If
the alternative of such a connexion with the Mother
Countr}'- and the rest of the Empire, or separation and
isolation, be presented now, there can be little doubt,
or no doubt at all, ivhich the several Colonies will
prefer. As to the United Kingdom, I am convinced
it is ripe for the proposition. Even if such had not
been the case before the present dreadful war, the
events of the last few weeks show all men that a
nation's strength depends in no small degree upon it&
numbers. Strip away the Colonies, what are we, where
are we, in comparison with populous and growing nations
like the United States, Kussia, and Germany ? With
these great Powers, not ignoring France, it is desir-
able, for the peace and progress of the world, that the
British Empire should be on friendly terms and in
alliance. This we can best attain and maintain by
entering into the relationship on a footing, with re-
spect to population and power, which severance from
the Colonies would put out of the question.

IMPLIED OBLIGATION.

The equality and equity of which I speak, of course
imply that each of the associated countries which con
stitute the Empire should subject itself, in respect to
Imperial interests, to a central conjoint Administration,
which should have the right to determine and legislate
for peace or war, emigration and crown lands, and con-
tributions of men and money for military and naval
defence and armaments on the basis of population.
Allow one remark more. When the Government and
Parliament of the United Kingdom made over to their
Canadian, Australasian, and African fellow-subjects
the control or proprietorship of our magnificent heri-
tage of vast and valuable unoccupied territories, neither
contemplated that these should be alienated from the
Empire, to whose whole people they belonged, and I
trust, for the credit of British rulers and the good of
the entire nation, will belong.

I have already suggested that the present juncture,
when public attention is earnestly turned to the neces-
sity of reviewing our system of defence and armaments,
affords a ready occasion for a convention of delegates
from the more important Colonies, to consider that and
other cognate questions. I am sure I rightly interpret
the general sentiment and wish when I most respect-
fully express hope that the step will be early taken by
the Government. The great work you have accom-
plished on behalf of Ireland would be dwarfed by
success in the not urgent and not less hopeful work
which, I trust, you will have the gratification to begin
and complete — the strengthening, uniting, and consoli-
dating this noble and royal Empire by an expanded
Constitution. — I have the honour to be, &c.

LOYALTY OF THE COLONIES.

THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE

COLONIES.

To the Editor of the Times.

Sir, — The loyalty of the Colonists has shown
forth, as it was sure to do, since the possibility of the
Mother Country being involved in a Continental war
became known to them. Will you allow me to occupy
a part of your columns with short extracts from the
latest Australian newspapers, which show that loyalty,
and further indicate expectations and claims deserving
earnest heed ?

The Melbourne Argus of September 18 says : —

We share in the jealous afFection which is cherished for the Mother
Country by her children in all parts of the world. Her greatness is
our greatness, her honoitr is our honour, her glory is our glory. We
neither separate ourselves from her past history nor from her future
fortune. ... In the presence of a common danger men feel
how much stronger are the ties of kindi-ed, the instincts of race, and
the traditions and renown of a venerable Empire as motive force
than the theories of closet philosophers or the doctrines of social
parasites. ... In the whole of these Colonies the Governments
and the peoples have obeyed one impulse, and acknowledged one duty
to be paramount over all others — that of maintaining the unity of
the Empire, and defending ourselves against any enemy with ^whom
England may engage in warfare. ... If, happily, the storm
shall blow over, and England shall maintain undisturbed her pacific
relations with the other Great Powers, the precautions which have
been forced upon us will not have been without their beneficial uses.
We shall have been admonished of the duties which are annexed to
the privilege of forming part of a great Empire, and we shall show

OPINIONS 0»<' THE COLONIAL PRESS.

the Mother Country with what cheerfuluesa we accept and discharge
those duties. Nor must we omit to remind her of the recriprocal
obligations which she owes to us.

These obligations are defined to be, along with defence of her ter-
ritories, *' maintaining her naval supremacy," and keeping " the silent
highway" of the ocean "clear from all marauders."

The Melbourne Age of the «anie date sjieaks thus
boldly and sensibly : —

A country which is liable to be warred upon, must of necessity have
the right to make peace. . . . The question we have raised will force
itself upon the attention of the party in England which advocates the
maintenance of the integrity of the Empire, as well as upon that which
disavows all responsibility of the Parent State for its oflshoots. It is
impossible that the Colonists can remain content to be subjected to
all the horrors and disabilities of war without a voice for or against
its declaration. . . . The Empire cannot be held together in a
state of serai-dislocation. The Colonies must either be integral parts
of the Empire, or they must be free in all things. In the meantime
we will do our duty as BritLsh subjects, in the full hope that we shall
not be looked upon and treated as subjects of an inferior grade, bur-
dened with responsibility, but denied the possession of their cor-
responding rights.

So much for the Southern Hemisphere. Let us
look to the Northern. The Montreal Gazette of the
1st inst. bef^ins its leader thus : —

It is well sometimes to glance away from interests of merely local
value over the immense area which in every region of the w »rld
makes the sum total of that mighty Empire of which we form a
part. To compare ourselves with our separated brethren of common
allegiance, and to compare the British Empire with the other Great
Powers of the world, is always instructive and often necessary. . .
She (England) is, in fact, much stronger than some of her statesmen
seem to consider. The aggregate in extent of territory, in popula-
tion, and wealth of her foreign Possessions throws into the shade the
Empire of Rome in its highest glory. . . . That such an
Empire should be disintegrated and destroyed; that the triumphs
and trophies of centuries should be made a prey for the first adven-
turer ; that the Colonies won for England long ago by the bravest

OPINIONS OF THE COLONIAL PRKSS. 4/

and settled by the hardiest of licr noxii*, should now, when they arc
just brginning to he a source of benefit u.s well as honour, be thrown
aside as useless — this is a policy wliich it is hard to believe that any
British statesman should bo found to sanction. The danger, how-
ever, is now overpast, and there is no longer any fear of so ill-omened
an event as the disraeinbernient of our British household.

The article thus closes : —

The prosperity of one is the prosperity of all, and in the loving
regard of all for each other and for the Motherland, lie the safety,
glory, and prosperity of the P^nipire.

These extracts allude to a '^ party " which " dis-
avows all responsibility of the Parent State for its off-
shoots," and to a " policy " that would throw tht
Colonies aside as useless. There is, we know, reall}'
no such party, no such policy, whatever individuals of
some position may have said, or been supposed to say.
But words have, no longer ago than the last Session
of Parliament, been spoken which are not without
danger. Even the Prime Minister gave forth the
following : —

There ought to be nothing to preclude the liope, when the growth
of a Colonial Possession is such as to make separation from the
Mother Country a natural and beneficial result, that that separation,
so far from being effected by violence and bloodshed, might be the
result of a peaceful and friendly transaction. Surely it is a great
object to place, if possible, our Colonial policy on such a footing, not
for the purpose of bringing about a separation, but of providing a
guarantee that, if separation should occur, it should be in a friendly
way. That is the sense, the principle, and the secret of our policy.

He, I am glad to say, added : —

Our policy gives the best chance of an indefinitely long continuance
of a free and voluntary connexion.

So the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies,

TMMEDIATK ACTION ESSENTIAL.

strangely ignoring the strong ties of duty and alle-
giance, said of the Colonics : —

They are bound to uh by no cords but those of aflVction and of
interest. . . . The desire of Her Majesty's Goverment, and, lie
believed, of every party in the State, is ... to make the tics
that bind us so ehxstic that they may not burst.

It is safe to interpret these regrettable declarations
in the liglit of the recent Edinburgh Review article,
which, after some obscure expressions, proceeds thus : —

As regards our Colonies, we have gradually reached the invaluable
knowledge that one and tlie same secret of a free autonomy is a
specific alike for the relief of the Mother Country, the masculine
and vigorous well-being of the Dependency, and the integrity of the
Empire.

The last fortnight has furnished most cogent argu-
ments for some movement on the part of our rulers
to direct and emi)loy the loyalty and strength that
these extracts recognize, and to endeavour to knit the
Empire together in harmony with actual circumstances
and wants.

It is obvious that no time should be lost. There are
individuals at work to accomplish severance from the
Mother Country. Even Dr. Lang, to whom Australia
owes much, has published a book with the following
unpleasant and ominous title — " The Coming Event ;
or. Freedom and Independence for the Seven United
Provinces of Australia." Happily a State may be
free and independent Avhile federated. The Mother
Country desires no less worthy foundation of the
Empire. Such consolidation will be strength. Sepa-
ration would be weakness, all the more to be depre-

OPINION IN NEW ZEALAND.

catod Avlien otlier Great Powers are yearly becoming
stronger .

I have suggested that the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, speaking in the name of tlie Queen,
should invite the more important Colonies to commis-
sion deputies to confer together in London on the
best means of defending the Empire and promoting
its security, power, and union. The subject of federal
connexion would, of course, arise. Much may be said
in its favour ; but T have occupied so much space al-
ready that it is better I should merely mention it.

I am, &c.
AsHFiELD Hall, Nov. 25.

The subsequent mail brouglit the following. It is
from the Wellingto7i Independe7it, but expresses a
view not generally entertained, I hope, in the now
contented and satisfied Colony of New Zealand : —

Engaged herself in a costly war, Britain will not be able to render
great assistance to her Colonies. The question of our independence,
therefore, is absolutely forced upon us. If Britain, by her new Coloaial
policy, has ceased to be great, we must terminate a connexion that is no
longer glorious or safe. We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that the
Colonial question, from a question of Empire, has dwindled down into
a mere question of money. The noble and patriotic and colonizing
principles which rendered Britain what she is are now no more in the
ascendant. We will have to face this question sooner or later. Can
there be a better time than the present, when our danger is imminent,
and ihere is yet time to avert it ? If our connexion is to be severed,
let it be done deliberately and not hastily, in a time of peace and not
of war. Let us part (if part we must) as friends, submitting to a
deplorable necessity, and not as discontented children from churlish
parents. We do not wish to raise unnecessary alarm, but the pro-
bability of Britain being forced into war cannot be disregarded. In

REPORT OF VICTORIA COMMISSION^.

sueti a case, our ports would be liable to blockade, our towns to
plunder ; our exports of wool, flax, and gold might be seized by
cruisers ; and all the evils of a war, in which we have no intere:t, might
be on us befo''e we are aware. We should now, therefore, put our
case before the Imperial Government, and ask them — if they cannot
give us sufficient pro<^«ction, or diplomatic arrangements to have the
law of nations so revised, as to make Colonial flags neutral — to free us
at once, by some treaty of Independence or otherwise, f om a con-
nexion which is a source of danger to us as it is of weakness to them.
They have invited us to depart j let us now f micably settle the terms
and go in peace.

The subjoined extract from the Report of the Com-
mission appointed ] y the Governor of Vicioria, is in
the same strain : —

The British Colonies from which Imperial troor 3 have been wholly
withdrawn present the unprecedented phenomenon of responsibility
without either corresponding authority or adequate protection. They
are liable to all the hazards of war as the Unitf^d Kingdom ; but they
influence the commencememt or coiiciuuauce of a wr.r no more than
they can control the movements of the solar system ; and they have no
certain assurance of that aid against an encny apon which integ'^al
portions of the United Kingdom can confidently reckon. This is a
relation so wanting in mutuality that it cannot sately be regarded as a
lasting one, and it becomes nec.sso.ry to consider how it may be so
moailied as to afford a greater security for permanence.

In an article on the British Army, the October
Qiiarterhj Review quotes a private letter from Quebec,
which says : —

The removal of the troops — the f^enoral neglect — is th" moving
cause. Everywhere the cry is " Independence ! " I hctvo not yet
talked with one man who is in favour of remaining in static quo.

The Pall Mall Gazette, of December 14, says of the
Canadian Dominion : —

Strong as her affection is for this country, she conceals it wonder-
fully.

CANADIAN NON-RECOGNITION.

ret

Perhaps so ; but we on our side have somewhat

dissembled our love ! We are not even Platonic.
We have, by approving of the ambitious name
Dominion, sanctioned a certain coolness. I have
before me The Goveryiment Gazette Extraordinary,
British Columbia, of August 30. It contains a des-
patch from the Governor-General of Canada, and a Re-
port of the committee of the Privy Council of Canada,
arranging the union of that Province with Canada, in
neither of which documents do I find the smallest
mention of the Queen and Mother Country, except
the following : —

in the former —

The Hon Mr. Trutch goes to England, &c.

I announced the result of the negotiations, and sent a copy of
the memorandum to Lord Granville on the 5th inst.

in the latter : —

6. Suitable pensions, such as shall be approved by Her Majesty's
G oyernment ... for those of Her Majesty's servants in the Colony
"whose position . . . would be affected;, &c.

13. . . . In case of disagreement between the two Governments
[respecting land for Indians], the matter shall be referred for the de-
cision of the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The Union shall take effect, according to the foregoing terms and
conditions, on such day as Her Majesty, by and with the advice
of the Most Honourable Privy Council, may appoint (on addresses
from the Legislature of the Colonies of British Columbia, and of
the Houses of Parliament of Canada), &c.

lr-

£ 2

DEFENCE.

It I
'is

COLONIAL DEFENCES.

The foregoing Letter produced, some days after, tlie
following from Captain J. C. R. Colomb : —

To the Editor of the Times.

Sir,— The letter of Mr. Macfie, M.P., on the '' Home
Government and the Colonies," is a striking addendum
to my first letter on " Imperial Strategy," in which I
pointed out that national defence involves the defence
of the United Kingdom, the occupation of India, and
the protection of our commerce or communications. I
now crave a small space to expose myself to the charge
of egotism by quoting a few brief extracts from lectures
\jTi the '^ Distr bution of our War Forces," delivered
by me before v,he Royal United Service Institution,
which deals with that part of the question so forcibly
alluded to by Mr. Macfie — viz., the Defence of the
Colonies : —

"I think it may fairly be assumed that in the matter of National
Defence we are bound to look to the general welfare of the Empire, but
when we remember the vast extent of our territories, scattered as they
are over the face of the s^lobe, it is manifestly impossible to take the
whole burden of their defence upon our own shoulders. It is reason-
able to say that those Colonies and Dependencies whose geographical
position and natural advantages do not entitle them to be considered
as military positions necessary for the general safety of the Empire,
must defend themselves. There are many placies which, for the sake of
our communicationa, we must strain every nerve to hold against all

CANADA.

odds, but to the rest of our Possessions we are'compelled by limited
means to say, ' Defend yourselves from direct attack ; we can do no
more than guard the communications which are common to us all.' We
should say this because it is useless and wrong to hold out hopes of
military assistance which in their hour of danger we should have to
withdraw, and it is evident that if we can secure these highroads to
ourselves, and consequently to them, they would, with the sole excep-
tion of Canada, be virtually excluded from the possibility of attack."

Then, having argued against holding Canada by de-
fending its frontier with British troops, I said : —

" By all means, in peace and war, let us give to our North American
Provinces, and to all our other dominions, all the assistance we can in
the shape of experienced oflicers and miUtary equipment, but do not
let us risk our regular forces in the direct defence of any portion of
our territory the possession of which is not essentially necessary to the
safety of the State. Let u>i guard against the military blunder of
leaving our communications and our whole position exposed in order
to defend small and, in a purely military sense, valueless posts. Let
Canada, and all our Colonies and territories unnecessary to the Empire
as miUtary posts, fully and clearly understand that we will never suffer
them to be wrested from the Mother Country ; that any attempt to do
so will bring down upon the aggressor the vengeance of England, but
that they must rely on themselves for protection from direct assault, in
order to leave the regular forces of the United Kingdom free to act in
such a manner as will best make that vengeance felt."

" The communications of the Empire being the common property of
all its component parts, it follows that their security is an imperial
necessity, and that our first duty towards our Colonies and Posses-
sions is to provide means by which the roads between us and them may
be kept open. For this purpose the fleet is, of course, the engine
to employ ; but, in order to enable it to act, it must be divided into
parts, these being distributed in different quarters of the globe, the
strength of each part being in proportion to the forces against which it
would probably have to contend, and to the interests it has to pro-
tect. As each fleet constantly requires stores, repairs, and reserves of
men, the protection of our communications would not be accomplished
l)y the judicious distribution of the Navy, unless means are devised for
securing to each fleet the j)ower of self-support ; therefore each must
be provided with a head-quarters, or base of operations, where all
these things, so essential to its vigorous action, are to be found."

LINES OF INTERCOMMUNICATION.

I then proceeded to state that these minor bases
should be situated so as to command the Hnes of com-
munication and possess natural advantages rendering
them capable of defence, and of being not only depots
for war forces, but also ports of refuge for our traders
during maritime war ; the naval stations, of which they
are respectively the head-quarters, being so arranged
as to make them central points, they should be, further,
the chief, if not the only, coaling ports of the stations.

According to my calculation, they are 16 in number,
including Bombay, which is the natural grand base of
operations in the Eastern seas. They would all
require garrisons in time of maritime war. Tliey are.
Sir, the " strategic points " which we must strain every
nerve to hold.

Having named them, and the means necessary for
their defence, I concluded by saying : —

" It has been truly stated tliat it is wiser to concentrate the resources
of a country on the fortifications of the principal arsenals, so as to secure
them against capture, than to expend the same resources on many
comparatively unimportant points, which, from their isolation and
weakness, invite attack and afford cheap victories. Now, viewing the
whole Empire as a country exposed to attack, it may be said that it
would be better to turn our resources to the purpose of securing
points which command our communications than to fritter them away
in attempting to defend a variety of unimportant positions. How far
we have hitherto acted upon this principle may be gathered from the
fact that the estimated Imperial military expenditure upon our Colonios
and Dependencies for the year 18G4-5 amounted to about 3,500,000/.,
and of this sum only about 1,300,000/. was expended on the outposts I
have named. Now, if these positions are lost to us, the safety of our
communications is gone. That being the case, we could do little to
assist any of our distant Possessions in time of need. "Why, then,
expend nearly two-thirds of our available resources upon unimportant
points, which would afford ' cheap victories,' while but one-third is

DEFENCES MUST BE IMPERIAL.

spout npon positions tI,o loss of which would involve the whole Emnii-o
m a state of commercial and military paralysis ? " '

If, Sir, Mr. Macfie's proposal for a commission of
deputies to confer on the best means of defending tlie
Empire be carried into effect, it will be a curious prac-
tical comment on words put forward by me anony-
mously four years ago in " the protection of our com-

T,T;n .,^'^'" 'P''"''""^ "*■ ^^^ ^'^^'"^'^ Commission
01 lb.59 these words occur :

co2eato^i''^"'y^T-"'' '""^""^ "' the Commissioners were

Z^sto\llZ"l7 "' "''''"" "'-'"'• ^ -■'ideratiou of the
means to be adopted for n.ational defence can only be b.ascd cnon
national requn^ement, .and cannot be limited to drawin., no deXn or

sat^y'oftrel;::' . ' """"" "' ""'' '" ''" '='^"™' -"-> f- "'^

I am, &c.

llELATIOX OF COLONY TO PARENT STATE.

OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR OF "FRIENDS IN

COUNCIL."

(From Good Words for December, 1870.)

" I now proceed to discuss the third branch of the subject —
namely, the rehition of the Colony to the Parent State.

" There are five different conditions of tliis relation. . . .

" 2. Then there is that condition of a Colony which is complete in
its union with the Parent State — when the difference between the
Colonist and the Citizen at home is a difference of distance only from
the centre of government. There are few, if any, perfect instances
of tiiis condition of a Colony ; but I would wish to imprei^s upon the
reader that there is no reason in the nature of things why this con-
dition could not be originated and maintained. Modern wavs and
means all tend to render it more feasible. The swiftness of commu-
nication and the general assimilation of manners and liabits in
modern times are greatly in its favour. Probably, had it been more
tried, it would have had more to say for itself. I will hereafter return
to a further consideration of it

" 4. TJiere is the condition of federation. Now federation may be
of two kinds. There is the federation which exists only for the
purposes of war, or, to put it more largely, for tlie purposes of deal-
ing with foreign States. Again, there is the federation which is of a
much more intimate kind, and such as that which prevails among the
respective States of the great American Republic — a federation in
which a certain community of law, privilege, and citizenship exists,
and in which the several communities are knit together by common
principles of thought and action. These communities may, or may
not, have a central seat ot government. The principle of federation
is the same in both cases.

" Even the minor experiment has not been tried, of attaching a
Council to the Colonial Office, composed of eminent Colonists return-
ing to the Mother Country for a certain period, or of persons who
have distinguished themselve in colonization, or of those who are
versed in the study of the Colonies and Colonial administration. We
have a similar body connected with the affairs of India ; but we have
never given to our Colonial administration the aid and security which
such a Council would afford."

CLIPPINGS FROM DR. LANG'S NEW BOOK.

[27ie italics are in the original^]

I have now received a copy of this goodly octavo of more than
500 pages. It is not my part ^o criticise it, nor to expose its
weaknesses. I met Dr. Lang a ciurd of a century ago. lie was an
eminent Colonist then, and must now be far advanced in years, and I
have been accustomed to hold him in respect. He has the good of
Australia at heart. I regret that he allows his feelings such vent
as to make the reading of the book painful. In spite of questionable logic
and consistency — for the composition is crude and not homogeneous — it
is instructive and suggestive. The Doctor proves successfully that the
statics quo of the Colonial relations is utterly unsatisfactory, and he
makes many admissions, and adduces not a few arguments and quota-
tions, for which he deserves thanks. To a certain extent he and we
go together. Perhaps he would cheerfully halt where we stop. This
is the more probable, as among the schemes which he combats, the
rational one of an Imperial Confederation finds no place. He strangely
ignores it throughout, and does not even approach it except in one
case, where he seems to introduce it unconsciously, and, as will be seen
below, mistakes what is meant.

In the Dedication his aim is stated, in connexion with bold asser-
tions, thus: —

" The settlement of the great question that is now virtually submitted
for our decision — viz., as to whether we and the Colonies to the north-
ward are to remain for an indefinite period mere Colonies of Britain,
or to assume the noble position of a Sovereign and Independent State
on the Pacific Ocean, with a territory extending from Cape Howe to
Cape York, and the city of Sydney for its capital, as the Queen of the
Isles of the Western Pacific.

" You will see from this volume that it is the law of nature and the
ordinance of God, that full-grown Colonies, like ourselves, should
assume such a position as I have indicated at the earliest possible
period, for the benefit of their Mother Country, as well as for
their own.

" You wiU also see that from Great Britain's ignoring, or rather

BOLD INFERENCES.

wilfully shutting her eyes to tliis groat fact, her colonization system
for the last two hundred and fifty ycai's — so far from meriting the
praise which ignorance and self-glorification have so often bestowed
upon it — has been nothing less than an enormous political blunder, an
offence of very serious magnitude in the eyes cf Heaven, and a loss of
incalculable amount, not only to herself and her Colonies, but to the
human race.

" You will likewise see that the Mother Country, tacifly recognizing
this great political blunder of the past, has at length expressed her
willingness that we should at once assume such a position as I have
indicated, and has intimated her meaning in the matter in the most
signilicant manner, by the withdrawal of her troops from all these
Australian Colonies.

" You will see, moreover, that there is an urgent necessity at present
for our immediately taking the step I have recommended, Lom the
critical state of things in the rich and beautiful Isles of the Western
Pacilic, that naturally look to us as their guide and protector.

"And you will see finally that by assuming the high and highly
influential position that thus awaits us — by taking our place at once
in the family of nations, with the entire concurrence of Her Majesty's
Government — we may be the means of relieving our beloved Mother
Country, in a comparatively short period, of not less perhaps than
half a million of her redundant population, without expense either to
herself or to us, and planting them as British Colonists in the multi-
tude of the Isles."

Again, in the Preface : —

" It is the primary object of the following work to point out the
right principles of colonization, and to coniirm the theory thus ad-
vanced by an appeal to the principles and practice of those nations,
both in ancient and modern times, whose efforts in the work of coloni-
zation have not only been successful, but have, notwithstanding all our
boasting on the subject, presented a perfect contrast with our own.
lu short, it is the object of the writer to show that Great Britain has
hitherto been all wrong in her principles and practice in the matter of
colonization, and to point out, in accordance with the laws of nature
and the ordinance of God, a more excellent way ; that way being the
way of entire freedom and independence. . . .

" While this volume was passing through the press, an Intercolonial
Conference was held in Melbourne, with a view to take into considera-
tion the practicability and the propriety of establishing a General

AUSTRALIA AND PARTIAL FEDERATION.

Customs League and a uniform tariff for all the Australian Colonics
— preparatory, as such a measure was conceived to be, to a general
federation of the Colonies. In the i)rospect of this most desirable
consummation, the writer had perhaps too confidently urged the claim
for freedom and independence for the Seven United Trovinces of
Australia. But the result of that Conference has shown that is hope-
less to expect an incorporating union of all the Seven Provinces at
present ; the three Colonies on J3ass's Straits and the Great Southern
Ocean — viz., Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia — being banded
together in favour of Protective Duties ; while New South Wales, the
oldest of the group and the mother of all the rest, adheres firmly to
the system of Free Trade. It has, therefore, become necessary to
leave out of the programme the three Southern Colonies, for the
present at least, and to confine the claim of freedom and independence
to the Colonies, both present and prospective, on the Pacific Ocean,
from Cape llowc to Cape York — viz., New South Wales, Queensland,
Capricornia, and Carpentaria,

" The principal reason for urging the immediate accomplishment of
the great object in view is the absolute necessity for the erection of a
Sovereign and Independent Power on the Pacific, in view of the actual
state of things in the Fiji Islands. On this transcendently important
subject, however, it is pitiful to tliink that the Conference could only
come to the following impotent conclusion : —

"BRITISH rKOTECTOUATE OVER FIJI.

" ' This Conference, being of opinion that the geographical position
of the Fiji Islands renders their protection of the very highest con-
sideration as regards Australia, and both British and AustraUan
commerce, —

" ' Resolves, — That it is of the utmost importance to British inte-
rests that these islands should not form part of or be under the
guardianship of any other country than Great Britain ; and that a
respectful address to this effect be prepared for transmission to the
Imperial authorities.'

" Did the Conference really suppose that, after- their recent declara-
tion in behalf of Colonial freedom, and their recent and still more
significant proceedings, in withdrawing the Imperial troops from the
Australian Colonies and New Zealand, Her Majesty's Government
could possibly stultify itself by assuming the responsibility of esta-
blishing a British Protectorate over the Fiji Islands, and thereby in-
curring the risk of another war with savages in the Pacific Ocean?

•60

FIJI.

There are at present upwards of two thousand white men, chiefly
British, with about one-third Americans and Germans, in the Fiji
Islands ; and the native population is estimated at two hundred
thousand. There is actually at this moment also a requisition in
Sydney from the Islands to prohibit the export of fire-arms for the use
of the natives — which, however, cannot bo done without an Act of
Parliament, and the report of which will certainly not induce Iler
Majesty's Government to change their ii.inds or to move in the matter,
after their bitter recollections of New Zealand. On the other hand,
there are people in these Islands actually talking still about annexation
to the United States or to the North German Confederation. In such
circumstances, there is an evident and urgent necessity for action of
some kind in the matter ; and earnestly desirous as the writer is, in
common with the Intercolonial Conference, that the Fiji Islands may
never fall under the guardianship of any foreign Power, it must be
evident that the only way in which this can be prevented, and a really
British I'rotectoratc over these Islands established, is the one recom-
mended in this volume — that of erecting n ' ' )vereign and Independent
State on the PaciGc."

The first sentence of the Work itself defines a Colony to be " a body
of people who have gone forth from the Parent State, either simul-
taneously or progressively, and formed a permanent settlement in some
remote territorv." lie omits from the definition the idea that the
land on which the Colony settles belonged to the Mother Country, and
continues a part of the national territories. Is it fair to assume that
they have left the Parent State ? Mark the covert insinuation !

He is careful in distinguishing between the people^ whom he recog-
nizes as the Colony, and the province, or territory on which they settle.
It is in the latter sense we speak of "the British Colonies."

" It is a common but an unfounded idea that the word Colony has a
territorial meaning, and signifies the tract of country inhabited, or to
be inhabited, by any body of Colonists, as well as the people who form
the Colony. It has no such meaning, however. It signifies the people
exclusively. . . . This mistake, as to the meaning of the word Colony,
has been rather a serious matter to Colonists generally ; for by taking
it for granted that a particular nation has rights, arising either from
discovery or conquest, over a particular unoccupied territory or Colony,
in the territorial sense of the word, it has been inferred, without the
least shadow of reason, that it has also a right to govern the people

WHICH ARE COLONIES ?

who may settle within that territory for all time coming. Now we
Colonists adiiiit the national right, whether of discovery or of conquest,
as a right against any other colonizing nation ; but we rcpndiiite the
inference of its implying a right to govern tlio future occupants of the
territory, as being altogether unfounded in reason and justice. For
example, we admit the right of Great IJritain to the exclusive coloni-
zation of the whole east coast of Australia, that coast having boon dis-
covered, in the interest and on behalf of the British nation, by our
illustrious fellow-countryman. Captain Cook ; and we would therefore
do our best, as Britons, to prevent any other European nation from
forming settlements on that coast. But we maintain, as Australian
Colonists, that this right of discovery, as well as of exclusive coloniza-
tion in favour of Great Britain, which it implies, imi)lies no right what-
ever, on the part of the British people, to exercist; domination over the
British Colonists who may settle from time to time on that coast. . . .

" Our detinition must also exclude such Depentlencies of the British
Empire as Lower Canada, the Mauritius, St. Lucia, the Cape of Good
Hope, Demerara, and Trinidad. . .

" Neither are the really British Islands of tlie West Indies — Jamaica,
Barbadoes, St. Vincent, &c., including the Bahama Islands — entitled
to be called Biitish Colonies. At least nim out of every ten of
the inhabitants of these Islands are Africans or the descendants of
Africans, who were originally stolon from their native country and
made slaves of, to grow, sugar, cotton, and coffee for I']nglishmen ; and
the very few Britons, comparatively, who ever went to them went
merely to make money, and to return. These Islands are therefore
merely British Possessions. . . .

" They are all British Possessions, and it is doubtless necessary for
the purposes of a great maritime and commercial nation that they
should always remain so ; but not one of them is a British Colony,
properly so called. . .

" Still less are we entitled to profane the designation British Colony
— which I confess I consider a very high and honourable distinction for
any community, and one that ought not to be lightly applied or appro-
priated where it is not deserved — by applying to any of those nume-
rous posts or stations that are held either for naval and military pur-
poses, or for the furtherance and protection of commerce."

The venerable author proceeds to the objects of colonization : —

" What then are the proper and legitimate objects which such a
country as Great Britain ought to have in view or to propose to

OBJECTS OF COLONIZATION.

"t'Tffi

herself in forming? sncli Colonics ns these — British Colonics properly
80 called ? They are —

" 1. To secure an eligll)lc outlet for her redundant population of all
grades and classes.

" 2. To create a market for her manufactured produce by increasing
and multiplyint^ its consumers indednltely.

" 3. To open up a field for the growth of raw produce for her
trade and manufactures ; and,

" 4. To sustai.i and extend her commerce by carrying out all these
objects simultaneously.

" Now these are noble objects for any nation to pursue ; and no
wonder that Lord IJacon should designate the peculiar work they
indicate the heroic ivorJc of colonization. Nay, it is something more
even than a merely heroic work : it is the course divinely prescribed
in the first commandment given to the hnman mco, ^^ JJe, fruitful and
multiph/, ami replenish the earth, ami subdue it; " and it may, therefore,
bo inferred that it tan never be safe for any nation to neglect this work,
if in the peculiar circumstances to which the commandment a[)plies.
For, as " God made the earth to be inhabited" lie will certainly hold
that nation which he has specially called in Ills Providence to carry
out this Divine ordinance, responsible for the neglect of its proper
duty, if it has been neglected, and will afflict and punish it accord-
ingly. . . .

" It must be clear therefore as daylight that Great Britain has
been specially called, in the good Providence of God, to the heroic
work of colonization. She has by far the largest Colonial Empire in
the world : she has facilities for colonization such as no other nation
on earth has ever had since the foundation of the world ; and she has
a remarkably redundant, and at the same time a peculiarly energetic
people, the fittest on earth for this heroic work, and the most willing
to engage in it heartily. And it must be equally clear, from our very
limited experience on the subject as a colonizing nation, that a regular
and systematic obedience of the Divine commandment, on the part of
Great Britain, would, in such circumstances, enable her to realize all
the objects of colonization enumerated above."

The reader will please observe that among the objects of J coloniza-
tion, and therefore of retention of colonies, preservation aud increase
of the nation's power is not mentioned.
— The Preface begins thus : —

" There is no great public question in which the British nation has

DISLOYAL ARGUMKNTS

so (loop an I'ntorcst, or in ref]^ar(l to wliioli a larpjo proportion of the
intollifjjenco of the country is so profoundly iind fatally ijrnorant, as tho
Colonial (juestlon, or the proi)or relation of a Mother Country to her
Colonies."

no allows elsewhere —

" It is one of the gratifyinp; signs of tho times that the true relation
of a Colony to its Mother Country is thus at lenjjth understood and
ni)prc(;iated in tho most influential quarters, both at home and
abroad."

Heavy as arc his discharges of artillery against tho departed system
of Colonial government, he always honourably acknowledges that all is
changed now.

In page 8 in the Preface he speaks of

" The bad system of government that has universally prevailed, till
Very recently, in the British Colonies."

Again :

" Tho last state of the British Colonies, till the advent of respon-
sible government in the year 185G, has been worse than the first."

Nevertheless, Dr. Lang argues persistently that the relations of the
Colonies with the United Kingdom are not on a right footing. It
domineers over them. It is chargeable with lust of empire (meaning
imperium, rule, no doubt). They are of age, and should be free and
independent. They aspire to become Colonial nationalities. lie asks,
" What right can either Tier Majesty Queen Victoria, or the Imperial
Parliament, have to subject us to their dominion one hour longer than
■we please ourselves ? . . .

" As to the charge of our violating or renouncing our allegiance to
Her Majesty the Queen, in claiming, as we do, our entire freedom and
independence, I repeat it, there is a j)revious question to be put and
answered, ere this knotty point can be determined, ere this offensive
charge can be substantiated — I moan the question as to whether we, as
British Colonists who have attained our political majority, have, or have
not, a right to our entire freedom and independence. For if we have
such a right, as I have shown we have, the right of Her Majesty the
Queen to reign over us necessarily ceases and determines. Under the
universal government of God there cannot possibly be two inconsistent

COLONIAL NATIONALITY.

and iticomp. tible rights ; and the right to obedience or allegi-
ance, on tli> one part, is clearly inconsistent and incompatible
with the right to freedom and indepen(^ence on the other. . . .
Let us hear no more, then, of tiii^ pitiful, this contemptible
charge, about our violating or renouncing our allegiance. The question
is, do we owe such allegiance, in the sense in which the term is used 'ji
the charge, as implying that wo have nc rights in the case ? To whs \
I unhesitatingly answor, No."

Who will call that loyal ?

" There is a time when the youth is no longer to be under tutors and
governors, lie attains his majority " . . .

" Tiiere is certainly no law requiring a young man to claim entire
freedom from all parental control wl'»n he attains his majority ; and if
he chooses to remain in h! 5 father's house, and assist him in his business,
that is his uwn affair, and is supposed to be matter of private arrange-
ment between his father and liimself, with which no law can interfere." . .

" Af! time wears on, and tlie new interests with which he has become
identified are multiplied and strengthened, this feeling gradually ripens
into a spirit of what may perhaps be designated Colonial nationality.
His native land gradually fades from his view, and his interest in its
peculiar objects becomes fainter and fainter. The particular Colon^',
or group of Colonies, to v/hich he l^elongs, e.grosses all his affect' ons.

" ;?!o far indeed from the feeling of nationality being a mere matter
of the imagination, it constitutes a bond of brotherhood of the most
influential and salutary character, and forms one of the most pov^erful
princi})les of virtuous action. Like the main-spring of a watch, it sets
the whole machinery in motion. Like the heart, it causes the pulse of
life to beat in the farthest extremities of the system. It is the very
soul of soc'Pity, which animates and exalts the whole brotherhood of
associated men.". ...

On the foregoing I make only these remarks. As already
shown, the " young man " is partner in a firm holding valuable pro-
perties, Ilis coming of age does not entitle him to carry these off.
Seeing the principle of nationality is so good, why cause the national
relationship already constituted and implied to cease ? - ^ ^ - --

" Must it be held a crime for tfie Australian Colonist, who has come
forth in the vigour of manhood to this far land, to labour earnestly ^'.■r
the freedom and independence of his adopted country, and to identify

LOVE OF ENGLAND.

liv.

lal

ify

himself, in reality as well as in imncrination, with the cominj^ glories of
that great nation of the future of which he forms a part? "

" la one word, nationality, or tlioir entire freedom and independence,
is absolutely necessary for the social welfare and political advancement
of the Australian Colonies. Give n;-- this, and you give us everything
to enable us to become a great and glorious people. Withhold this,
and you give us nothing." . . .

" With all his acuteness, Mr. Wakefield has confounded two Hiings
that are essentially distinct from each other, viz., ' the love of Eng-
land,' and the ' love of her Empire,' or Govern?nent, in the sense of a
strong desire to be, or to continue, under it. The love of England —
meaning the love ol the country, . • its people, of its institutions, aiid of
its prosperity — is a generr>us and manly feeling, whicij, I am most
happy to admit with Mr. Wakefield, is the characteristic of all British
Cohmies ; and so far from there being anything either strange or un-
accountable in it, as Mr. W. seems to imagine, it is the most natural
thing in the world. For, according to the Scotch proverb, ' Blood is
thicker than water,' or, in other words, ' we shall always be more
kiudly-allectioned towards our own kindred, our own country, our oivn
race, than cowards mere strangers or foreigners,' 2^'>'ovided ahv t)/r, that
no disturbing element shall have intervened, as in the case of the War
of Independence in America."

" lint Mr. W^akelield is decidedly in the wrong in taking it for
granted, as he does, that this love of England, which is both natural
and universal in British Colonies, necessarily implies a desire to hve
under her Government, as mere Dependencies of her Empire."

Be it so. Why not welcome the proposition which is ready to bo
entertained, of a new system founded on the principle ^f "Liberty,
Fraternity, and Equality ? " England does not wish to 'jomrn nor T *
nate, if a better practical system is exhibited and its adoption d«sirefl.

" There is a previotts question to be answered — viz., ' Is the exf^»
sion of the Empire of the Mother Country compatible with the attain-
ment of the other and legitimate ends of colonization?" And this i.s a
question I have no hesitation in answering in the negative — it |tf>
not." . . .

There is a general hope and impression that the system of Confodora-
tion will remove these disadvf»ntapfes. Mltf not ihk have been in
Dr. Lang's mind when he wrote as fol'ovv?: —

"The disadvantages in question arise principally from the iguornnce
• ., F

EMPIRE TOO EXTENSIVE !

itammm.'.:

fliW

and io'lilTorence of the dominant country about the position and inte-
rests of the Dependency. . . .

" Thoj'o is, I firndy believe, a career of national greatness and glory
for Great Britain, in friendly alliance and co-operation with Australia
— free and independent — such as her most sanguine orators and poets
have never imagined."

As an inducement for Britain to listen to his counsels, we read : —

" It is as like a universal Empire as possible, and there/ore the niore
likely to he dism.emhered, as it is cnlhd, very shortly. For Divine
Providence has, for the last thirteen hundred and fifty years — that is,
ever since the Roman Emjiire, or fourth universal monarchy, fell — set
its face against the estaljlishment of anything like another universal
Empire or fifth monarchy upon earth ; consequently, the more ex-
tensive any Empire l^ecomes, and the more closely it api)roaclie3 to
universality, we have every reason to believe that it is only the nearer
its fall or dismemberment." . . .

•' Now it a])pears to me that we are approaching a somewhat similar
crisis in. the history of the British Empire at the present moment.
For a long time past we have been adding province to province in
India, till our Empire in that country now comprises a hundred and
eighty millions of people — about an eighth part of the whole human
race ! We have also been adding province to province in Africa.
We have humbled China, and ijlanted a Colony, as we call it by
courtesy, and a line of posts on her frontier. We have annexed ^g^^
Zealand to our Australasian Dominion ; and we have added Aden,
Singa])ore, and Labuan, to our Empire in the East ; an<l certain
political enthusiasts in the Colonies are actually promising us the whole
multitude of the Isles of the vast Pacific. In short, never was the
British Emiiire more extensive than it is at present ; never was its
power more formidable, in every land and on every sea. The press every-
where is tolling us, us<pi.e ad nauseam, that the sun never sets upon it,
and a certain idolatrous limner at the first Great Exhibition, catching
the vain-glorious spirit of the age, actually represented the four quarters
of the globe paying homage to Queen Victoria."

"Now no man of the slightest discernment can be blind to these
my significant signs of the timeB. Buch national pride, accompanied as
it is with such natiomd dereliction of duly towards the poor in the land,
forwltiun this vast Colonial Empir" '■ ^"M in trust, necessarily i)recede3
ft fall ; for it nililji ( liiil I ' p- ■ nli risive in the eyes of the Great

U©f#i'Uor among tlie s aie cvideutly hastening to another

UNTENABLE DECLARATIONS.

great crisis in the history of our country. Wo are on the eve of
another dismemberment ; and I shall be greatly mistaken if, in a very
few years hence, both the Eastern Colonies of Australia and the British
Colonies of North America shall not have ceased to belong to the
British Empire. Which of the two great groups will go first, no
man can tell ; but it is certain, at all events, that they are both getting
ready."

" And why should they not ? And why should a groat nation like
ours seek to prevent them? If it is the right of these groups of
Colonics, by the law of nature and the ordinance of God, to form two
great nations, instead of a series of miserable and till very lately
miserably-governed Dependencies, and to assume the prominent and
highly influential position they are destined to occupy in that (.'apaeity
on the face of the earth, why should Englishmen endeavour, in their
folly and madness, either to prevent or to postpone ' a consummation
so devoutly to bo wished ? '"

Fervently I ti-ust that the allegations contained in the following
paragraphs are unwarranted. I am aware that they are not without
seeming foundation. Taking them at the strongest, no Grovernment
has authority to promise away the rights of the Queen and people.
Parliament has never been consulted. The United Kingdom has not
consented. The rest of the nation in the distant Colonies has the
same right as ourselves to veto such alienation.

"'The people of England,' says the leading journal of Europe" [and
the passage is thrice quoted in this volume!] " 'have long ago renounced
any wish to retain by force of arms remote settlements, inhabited by
peoi)le of our own race, in unwilling and compulsory su1)jection.
Henceforth the bond of union which unites Britain to her Colonies
must be free.' And the Imperial Government of the present day have
nobly endorsed these enlightened and patriotic sentiments, by telling us,
in so many words, that if the Australian Colonies really desire their
entire freedom and independence, Her Majesty's Government will not
stand in their way. Leaving therefore the case of New Zealand for
further consideration in the sequel, Iler Majesty's GovcJinuehL iiavo
distinctly intimated to the authorities of the Colonies generally, on
issuing the recent orders for the withdrawal of the troops (which, it
must be confessed, have been stationed in these Australian Colonies
for years past rather for ornament than for use), that if this or any
other group of Colonies should desire to be separated from the Mother

r 2

GREEK COLONIZATION.

Country, and to l)Gcome an indnpendcnt nationality or nationalities',
Her Majesty's Government would leave them entire libarty of action in
the matter, and would not oppose their desire in any way."

" ' The people of England,' says the leading journal of Europe, in a
passage I have already quoted above, ' have long ago renounced any
wish to retain Ijy force of arms remote settlements, inhabited by people
of our own race, in unwilling and compulsory subjection. Henceforth
the bond of union which unites Britain to her Colonies must bo free."

" The Australian Colonies will therefore have no need of a second
Washington to achieve their freedom and independence ; and still less
will they stand in need of another La Fayette to assist him. They
will only have to signify their desire to become a free, sovereign, and
independent State, in real earnest, and the thing will be done without
further trouljlc."

On the contrary, the people, the masses, will be moved with
indignation. No Ministry could stand against the storm that would
arise.

The illustrations which the author gives of ancient colonization
favour his views but little. Here are specimens : —

*"' And what a difference there must have been in any great effort of
colonization in such circumstances as these, from the miserable affair
that Ave call colonization ! In the case of the Greeks, men of all ranks
in society, of all professions and occupations, went forth on the great
undertaking, and staked their character and their fortunes on the issue ;
but they all went forth from the same mother-city or State, and they
were all perfectly acquainted with each other before they started on
their noble undertaking. As an embryo community, they had all from
the first the same interesting associations, and the same endearing
recollections of the land they had left ; they had all tl;e same objects
and interests, the same feelings and views in the land of their adoption.
The sprightly and enterprising Ionian from Athens was not incom-
moded with the ])resenco of the dull l^ocotian from Thebes, or the
plodding Dorian from the plain of Argos. lonians, iRohans, and
Borians had all their separate Colonies ; and every Greek emigrant
found himself, on his arrival in his adopted countr;^, in the luidst of his
old neighbours, and countrymen, and jfriends. They all left the some
locality in the oM country, and they all settled together in the v,'iv"

" Under our colonization system, people of a certain class only —
people who have somehow lost their way in the world — people A\ho
have tried everything at home, and have uniformly failed — people who

ROMAN COLONIZATION.

have already readied, or are fast verging towards, the lower walks of
life — people of this kind assemble from all quarters of the three king-
doms, and meet together for the first time in some great shipping
port, as, for instance, Liverpool. . . . Falling, as they now do, among
utter strangers, the moral restraints of their native vicinage are gra-
dually weakened, and perhaps completely lost. . . . The <jre(d hulk
of the Greek Colonies luere reallij independent States ; and though they
commonly regarded the land of their forefathers with lilial respect,
though they yielded to its citizens the place of distinction at pubUc
games and religious solemnities, and were expected to assist them in
time of war, they did so as allies only, on fair and equal terms, and
never as subjects. . . . The Grecian Colonists almost uniformly
defrayed the expenses of their own emigration and settlement ; while
the Koninn, like the earlier settlers in New South Wales, had grants
of land and free passage otit, with rations and other indulgences,
including an ample supply of slave labour, from the State. The lands
were held by the leading Colonists on a tenure somewhat similar
to that of the feudal system, each large estate being a knight's fee.
McCulloch, in his Dictionary of Commerce^ under the Article
' Colonies,' giv^i the following account of the Eoman Colonies. . . .
* The most intimate political union was always maintained between
them and the mother-city. Their internal G<'vernnient was modelled
on that of Rome ; and, while their superior oilicers were mostly sent
from the capital, they were made to contribute their full quota of troops
and taxes, to assist in carrying on the contests in which the Republic
was almost constantly engaged.' "

His deductions from " American Colonization — its Principles nnd
Results," are still more confirmatory of the principle of Imperial Con-
federation : —

"In a work which I pubhshcd in 1840, on my rcliunto iiOndonfrom
a tour of observation in the United Statv^ entith'd ' I'oligion ind
Education in America,' 1 showed (hat thos« States and teiiitorics of
the American I'nion which have been either acquired or settled since
the War of Independence, iuclu.iiug the great valley of the Mississippi,
bear precisely th" ■'fime rei*ti>)fl to the original Thirteen States as
the numerous Colonies of Britain do to the United Kingdom. They
are, to all intents and purposes, the Colonies of the United States ; for,
as far as the relation of .» Mother Country :ind a Colony i^ concerned,
it is of no importanct! whatever wheth.or the latter is planted on the
«ame Coutiubut or Island as the Mother Country, or 'w separated from

UNITED STATES AS COLONIZERS.

it by vast tracts of intervening ocean. This idea, T perceive, has since
been i)ut forth by John Arthur Roeliuck, Esq., in his work entitled
' The Colonies of England,' with a view to contrast the progress and
extent of colonization in the United States, with its progress and ex-
tent in the liritish Empire, since the peace of 1 783 ; "
Mr. Roebuck, however, is represented as saying : —

" ' The Colony would, in] such a case, continue to feel towards the
Mother Country with kindness and respect ; a close union would exist
between tlieni, and all their mutual relations would be so ordered as to
conduce to the welfare of both.' . . .

The following extract presents admirable proof of the advantage,
the crying call, for a Union of the British Dominions : —

" Surely, then, if the art of colonization has been lost, as it seems to
have been, la old England, it has been found again in New England ;
for I question whether even the ancient Greeks ever surpassed the New
Englunilers in that noble art, that heroic work.

" What then is the reason — for there surely must be some ade-
quate reason — for the prodigious difTcrcnce in the two results ? Why,
the answer is plain and obvious to the meanest capacity. America, like
the ancient Greeks, gives her Colonies freedom and independence from
the first ; whereas Great Britain, until a very recent period, uniformly
withheld anything like manly freedom from her Colonies, treated them
with the coldest neglect and the grossest injustice, and harassed and op-
pressed them in every possible way with the incubus and the curse of her
Colonial Office. Yes ; instead of insulting her Colonies by offering them
what certain sol-disant Colonial reformers in England think it would be
a great deal indeed for Great Britain to oCer hers — viz., municipal in-
dependence — which signifies allowing them to manage for themselves
in all litile matters, and leaving all important ones to be managed for
thorn at home, or, in other words, the Colonial Office — instead of in-
sulting her Colonies by offering them municipal independence, America
gives them at once complete independence ; that is, the entire control
of all matters affecting their interests, as men und as citizens, in every
possible way. In short, America realizes the beau ideal which the
ancient Lomans indignantly reminded the Corinthians was the implied
condition of their own emigration — she makes her Colonies in every
respect like herself ; she treats her Colonists not as her slaves or sub-
jects, but as her equals." __

The followiug passage is particularly suggestive : —

" Another great point of difference iuf tween the future National

GROTIUS. ATAM S:.IlTn.

Government of Australia and that of the United States is that,
whereas the possession and management of the waste lauds of the
country are vested by the Constitution of the United States in the
Federal Government, the waste lands of Australia would in all like-
lihood remain in the possession and undt.'r the exclusive manage-
ment of the Provincial Parliaments respectively. I cannot see that
such a svstcm as that of the United States, in regard to the waste
lands cf the country, could be adopted with propriety, or even with
safety, in Australia. The Provincial Governments would be quite
competent to manage the waste lands within their respective bounda-
ries ; and I am confident they would never allow the funds accruing
either from the management or the sales of these lands to be placed in
a common Treasury, like that of the United States, to be divided
rateably among the Provinces, according to the population of each, or
a])plied to the general purposes of the National Government."

We now proceed to extracts which show the kind of authorities on
which Dr. Lang I'ests his audacious pretensions. The first quotations
are from Grotius : —

" An equality of condition cannot subsist between the citizens of
the Mother Country and those of the Colonies. It becomes, there-
fore, just and necessary that the latter should have a suitable compen-
sation for the disadvantages of their situation, and for the re-estab-
lishment of the equilibrium. Their liberty, therefore, ouglit to be
augmented in proportion to the distance of the criuntries they inhabit,
and the difficulties that stand in the way of their frequent communi-
cation with those among whom the legislative body resides.

" But that very authority ought necessarily to diminish in proportion
as the number of the Colonists increases, or be abrogated when their
wants cease. Everything, then, re-enters into the imperturbable
order of nature ; political ties are formed by new conventions, and
the rights of government are established on a new basis."

The principle of Adam Smith was : —

" If it was adopted, however. Great Britain would not only be im-
mediately freed from the whole annual expense of the peace establish>-
ment of the Colonies, but miyht settle with them such a treaty of
commerce as loould effectually secure her a free trade more advan-
tageous to the great body of the people, though less so to the
merchants, than the monopoly which she at present enjoys. By thus
parting good friends, the natural affection of the Colonies to the

FRANKLIN, U.S. C0N0RES3, BENTHAM.

Mother Country, wliicli, perhajw, our late dissensions have well-nigh
extinguished, would quickly revive. It might dispose them not only
to respect, for whole centuries together, that treaty of commerce which
they had concluded with us at j)arting, but to favour us in war as well
as in trade, and, instead of turbulent and factious subjects, to become
our most faithful, affectionate, and generous allies ; and the same sort of
parental affection on the one side, and filial respect on the other, might
revive between Great Britain and her Colonies, which used to subsist
between the Colonies of ancient Greece and the Mother City from
which they descended."

" But the woi-ld has been, making great advances since the days of
Adam Smith ; for the following generous and enlightened sentiment
has appeared (as I have already had occasion to observe) in an ai-ticle
on Australia in the leading journal of Europe, neai'ly eighteen years
ago : — ' The people of England,Y' &c. [Already quoted twice !]

*' ' Many,' says the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Franklin, in the pre-
face to his pamphlet, entitled '* Considerations on the Nature and
Extent of the Authority of the British Parliament," ' many will
perhaps bo surprised to see the legislative authority of the British
Parliament over the Colonies denied in every instance, . . . He
entered upon them witfi a view and expectation of being able to
trace some constitutional line between those cases in which we ought,
and those in which we ought not, to acknowledge the power of Parlia-
ment over us. In the prosecution of his inquiries he became fully
convinced that such a line doth not exist ; and that there can be no
medium between acknowledging and denying that power in all
CASES.' , . .

" The following is a Besolution of the Original American Congress
on the same subject : ' That the foundation of English liberty, and of
all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their
Legislative Council ; and as the English Colonists are not represented,
and from their local and other circumstances cannot properly he repre-
sented^ in the British Parliament, they are entitled to a free and
exclusive power of legislation in their several Provincial Legislatures,
where their right of representation can alone be preserved in all cases
of taxation and internal polity.' . . ,

" The famous Jeremy Bentham, in his pamphlet entitled, * Emanci-
pate your Colonies,' addressed to the National Assembly of France,
characterizes the scheme of Parliamentary Bepresentation for the
Colonies in the following language : * Oh, hut they vnll send deputies :
and those deputies loill govern us as much as we govern them.^

MERIVALE AND CARLYLE.

Illusion ! What is that but doubling the luischief instead of lessening
it 1 To give youraelf a pretence for governing a million or two of
strangers, you admit half a dozen. To govern a million or two of
people you don't care about, you admit half a dozen people that don't
care about you. To govern a set of people whose business you know
nothing about, you encumber yourselves with half a dozen starers, who
know nothing about yours. Is this fraternity ? Is this liberty and
equality? . . . Nay, it is evident and indispn table that it was
on this principle of freedom and independence, as far at least as their
own internal government was concerned, that the British Colonies in
America were originally formed ; for, considering the important
national interests at stake in the matter, it is not less liiuniliating
than it is melancholy to reflect, that, in the theory and practice of
colonization, wc have actually been retrograding or going back as a
people for the last two hundred and fifty years ! ' The fundamental
idea,' observes Mr. Merivale, ' of the old or British Colonial policy
appears to have been, that wherever a man went, he carried with him
the rights of an Englishman, whatever these were supposed to be.
. . This is remarkably proved by the fact, that representative
government was seldom expressly granted in the early charters ; it
was assumed by the Colonists as a matter of right.' . . .

" There are still, indeed, individuals, both in our own and in other
Mother Countries of Europe, who cling to the old fallacy of Empire,
and regard either the actual or the possible loss of dominion over
distant Colonies as an event in the highest degree to be deprecated
and deplored. And it is singular enough that one should have to
include among such persons — the adherents of an exploded system —
so eminent a writer as Mr. Carlyle."

As to the British right of property, and right to the future fruits
of it, and to return for outlays in blood, enterprise, and money, we are
coolly told : —

" But Great Britain has received an ample compensation for her
outlay in planting the Australian Colonies, in another and much more
valuable form — in the magnificent outlet she has thereby established for
her redundant population ; in the valuable and indefinitely extending
market for her manufactured goods of all kinds which she lias thus
oieated, and in the boundless field she has opened up for the production
of the raw material required for her manufactures, and for the employ-
ment of her home population. Assuredly, Great Britain has never
expended any money for which she will receive an ampler return than
she has already received, and will still continue to receive, for all time

PREPOSTEROUS DEMANDS.

coming, from the expenditure slic incurred in the establishment of the
Australian Colonies. Independently of the market for goods of all
kinds which these Colonies afford to the IMotlier Country, to an extent
unequalled in any other country of the same population in the world,
Great Britain actually received from the Colony of New South Wales
alone, during the first ten years, from the introduction of the system
of selling the waste lands of the Colony, and devoting a large portion
of the proceeds for the promotion of emigration, not less than a
million sterling : the whole of which was exj)ended in relieving the
Mother Country of a serious public burden by paying for the con-
veyance of persons of tlie humbler classes from Great Britain and
Ireland to New South Wales."

A pretty relief, to take away our best stuff, if they are to be
" relieved " fi-om allegiance and their labour no longer to increase the
capital and productive i)owcrs, nor the strength, of the Empire ! He
again harps thus discordantly : —

" But even, although Great Britain had never received any pecu-
niary or other com[)ensation for the expenditure she incurred in the
establishment of the Australian Colonies, this would in no way have
affected the right of tliese Colonies to their entire freedom and inde-
pendence, on the attainment of their political majority. The slave
has an alsolute right to his freedom, whetlier his master has cleared
his purchase-money by him or not. The son, who has completed the
twenty-first year of his age, has an absolute right to entire freedom
from parental control, whatever his father may have expended oa his
board and education. It is the law of nature and the ordinance of
God, that the parent should provide for tiie child during his nonage,
without entering him in his ledger as a debtor for the ex])ense of his
up-bx"inging. If the jiarent has discharged his duty in the case, the
child will dt^ligh'. to repay the obligation in whatever way he can.
He will honour his Jather and mother, from the instinctive feeling of
filial affection, as well as that his days may be long in the land which
the Lord his God shall give him ; and so far from this feeling being
extinguished by the mere fact of his being legally free from all
parental control, it will still grow with his g.-owth and strengthen
with his sti'ength. till, in the coarse of nature, he is called to deposit
the remains of his venerated parent with sorrow in the grave."

We are informed that a high authority declares this — viz. :

" The advantage is, that the possession of this immense Empire by

WEAKNESS OF THE MOTHER COUNTRY.

England ciuises tlio mere name of England to be a real and mighty
Power — the greatest Tower that now exists in the world."

But it is assumed that this is not merely be.^ide the mark, but vanity ;
whereas it is sober aiul iiiiportaut truth that equally concerns the
Colonists.

""Whether the latter are to &nrreudur their natural and hiherent
rights, merely to gratify the vanity, or to minister to the self-im[iort-
ancc of those who are at the centre of the system, is a question which,
I conceive, admits but of one answer. It so completely sets aside the
golden rule of doing to others as we should wish to be done by, that
one can scarcely help feeling ashamed at hearing of such a proposition
from any person calling himself an Englishman. Is it either just or
right — for that is the question — that the best and dearest interests of
any people should be compromised and sacrificed ; that their social
progress should be impeded and retarded in an endless variety of ways ;
that they should be refused their proper position among the nations,
and degraded to a condition of pitiable and '"imiliating subserviency —
in order to minister to the gratification ot this mean, contemptible
vanity on the part of another people at the ends of the earth :" For
what, I ask, are the British people better than we — the British
Colonists of Australia — except tb it thoy are twenty to one of us ?
But docs this give them any right, by the law of nature or the ordi-
nance of God, to govern us? ...

" Again, to talk of England keeping the peace of the world, while
she has eight hundred millions of debt of her own, incurred almost
exclusively through her generally unjust and unnecessary wars, is
amusing enough , but it can surely be no reason why British
Colonists, who have a natural and inherent right to nationality, should
be forced to continue in the very suboi-dinatc and unsatisfactory condi-
tion of mere dependents and vassals. '■' If thou niayest he made free"
says the apostle Paul (^and the advice apphes to communities as well as
to individuals), " use it rather.

" . . Mr. Wakefield's jjrestige is merely another name for sJiadow :
it has no substance in it, no real value. And although Earl Grey, in
his elaborate but unsuccessful apology for his own maladministration
of the Colonies, ostentatiously expresses his opinion that * the British
Colonial Empire ought to be maintf ined, because much of the power
and influence of Great Britain depends upon her having li»,rge
Colonial Possessions in different parts of the world ;' as if that were
anything to us. The question ia simply — What solid advantages does

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OBJECTS OF COLONIZATION.

England really derive from her possession of such Dependencies as
the Australian Colonies'? In answer to this question, the late Sir
George Lewis, in Lis able and singularly honest work, on * The Govern-
ment of Dependencies,' enumerates the advantages which a Parent
State or • dominant country derives from its supremacy over a
Dependency as follows : —

". . . 2. Assistance for military or naval purposes. — Such
assistance was very frequently rendered by the earlier Colonists of
America,»iii the wars of the Mother Country with France, which had
then an extensive Empire in that country ; but no sach assistance
could either be expected or would be necessary now. It is worthy
of remark that tho celebrated Dr. Adam Smith considered the con-
tributiou of revenue and military force as so essential to the very idea,
of a Colony, that he regarded any Dependency as utterly valueless that
did not contribute either the one or the other. His words are aa
follows ; —

" * Countries which contribute neither revenue nor military force
towards the support of the Empire cannot be considex'ed as provinces.
They may, perhaps, be considered as appendages, as a sort of splendid
and showy equipage of the Empire.'

" 3. Advantages to the dominant country from its trade with the
Dependency. — Since t3ie commencement of the present Free Trade
system, no special advantage can be derived by the Mother Countiy
from this source."

Is this true? May she not at least stipulate that she shall be
laid under no special c^isadvantage J She might without effrontery.

" 4. Facilities afforded by Dependencies io the dominant country
for the emigraticn of its surplus poptdation, and for an advantageous
employment of its capital. — Sir George Lewis admits, however, that
in order to secure this advantage to the Mother Country, it is not
necessary that the Colony should be a Dependency of the Parent
State.

" Sir George Lewis also enumerates the advantages derivable by a
Dependency from its dependence on the dominant country, under the
following heads, viz. : —

" 1. Protection by the dominant country. . .

"2. Pecuniary assistance by the dominant country. . .

" 3. Commercial advantages . . .

" There ivS therefore not one substantial advantage derivable, either
by the Mother Country on the one hand, or by the Australian Colonies

TRADE WITH COLONIES.

ihat
not
•ent

the

Iher
lies

on the other, from the continuance of the present connexion of
domination and dependency. The only advantage remaiiilng to the
Mother Country is a merely imaginary one — the glory of the thing."

Surely, surely, this is exaggeration and ol^souration. The question,
however, is not mainly one of hard cold calculable " advantage."

See how the Doctor himself writes about what Colonies take com-
pared with ex-Colonies : —

^' Whcfi it is considered that every inhabitant of the United States
consumes only about seven shilrngs and sixpence worth of British pro-
duce and manufactures annually, whereas every inhabitant of the Austra-
lian Colonies consumes from seven to ten pounds worth — [population of
New South Wales in 18G9 - 485,358; imports, .£3,544,285, or
£7 7s. per head]-— the loss which Great Britain sustains in this way
must be immense."

The following is noteworthy, not because of the dangerous mistake
of Sir H. Parnell, but for the exhibition it gives of the vast sums the
United Kingdom has spent on Colonies which yet the Australian
preacher from the golden rule would snatch away without compensation,
using such language as w^ have seen.

" ' With respect to Canada (including our other Possessions
on the Continent of North America), ' observes the late Sir
Henry Parnell, ' no case can be made out to show that we
should not have every commercial advantage we are supposed now to
have, if it were made an independent State. Neither our manufactures,
foreign commerce, nor shipping, would be injured by such a measure.
On the other hand, what has the nation lost by Canada ? Fifty or
sixty millions have already been expended.' "

I do doubt the following very, very much : —

"No one now really doubts that the separation of our North
American Colonies has been, in an economical sense, advantageous to
us. And yet precisely the same arguments are current at this very
day respecting the superior profit of Colonial commerce, and the
wealth arising from Colonial domination, which were in every one's
mouth before that great event had occurred, and by its results con-
founded all such calculations. So easily does our reason contrive to
forget the strongest lessons, or to evade their force, when prejudice
and love of power warp it in the contrary direction. , • .

EMIGRATION.

" The independence of the American Colonies furnishes an apt illus-
tration ; for although the Continental nations believed that this change
had struck a deadly blow at England, they soon forgot their false
theory Avhen they observed the inexhaustible resources which she
displayed during the French war."

Not resources in sons of her own be it remembered and pondered.

Let us, per contra, think how mighty a Confederation would have
existed if the whole English-speaking people had been always and
until now happily united. There is yet a " next best " open.

" The grand question of the day in England is|that of Emigration: and
considering that the po'mlation of the United Kingdom is increasing
at the rate of a quarter of a million per annum, while the difficulty of
obtaining employment and comfortable subsistence for the industrious
classes is also constantly increasing, it_is no matter of wonder that that
question should be one of intense interest to every lover of his country.
How, then, it will be asked, will Australia respond to the desires and
necessities of the Mother Country, whether as a series of separate
Colonies, as at present, or as a sovereign and independent State?
These two questions I shall endeavour to answer consecutively."

" So early as the year 1835, when the Colony of New South Wales
extended from Cape Capricorn to Bass's Straits, and the fund arising
from the sale of its waste lands on the Wakefield principle — that is, ap-
propriating the proceeds for the promotion of emigration — was becom-
ing considerable, I published a series of papers in Sydney, pointing out
the paramount importance of that fund for insuring the welfare and
advancement of the Colony, through the progressive introduction into
its territory of numerous industrious and virtuous fanvlles and indi-
viduals from the Mother Country. In these papers I laid down and
advocated the two following principles, viz. : — 1st. That the waste
lands of Australia were not the property of the actual Colonists, but
of all the inhabitants of the British Empire ; and 2nd. That the best
mode of expeading the funds accruing from the sale of these lands was
in the promotion of the emigration of industrious and virtuous families
and individuals from the Mother Country to Australia, in numbers
proportioned to the population of each of the three kingdoms respec-
tively." . . .

Would the loss described, not too strongly, in the following have
been avoided, or will there be avoidance in future, as the effect of
severance ? I fear not.

ANTI-IMMIGIUTION LEAGUE.

And
aste
but
)est
was
ilies
jers
fcec-

lave
of

" And the result is precisely what might have been anticipated —
colonization directs itself towards the waste lands of the United
States, while those of the British Colonies, with a niucli better climate,
are passed by and disregarded. Witness the emigration from the
United Kingdom during the years 1852 and 1853 : it amounted

In 1352, to 368,764.
In 1853, to 318,680.

And whither did these emigrants direct their steps ? Why, not fewer
than 224,000 in 1852, and 225,258 in 1853, emigrated from Great
Britain and Ireland to the United States ; while the emigration to
British America, during the same years, respectively, was in 1852,
only 33,563 ; and in 1853, only 30,563 ; and to Australia, in 1852,
87,000; and in 1853, 59,931. Notwithstanding, therefore, the power-
ful impulse that was given to emigration thrcugliout the United King-
dom, l)y the discovery of gold in Australia, the full tide of emigration
from Great Britain was still directed towards the United States, and
the claims of the British Colonics, with all their superior advantages,
were treated with derision. In one word, this humiliating state of
things was entirely the result of bad government and the lust of empire
on the part of Great Britain."

Here is one reason why regard for the welfare of the Colonies
should lead even separatists to hesitate and pause : —

" There is a regular Anti - Immigration League in existence in
Victoria, and there is a considerable number of persons of the same
opinion in New South Wales. But I am happy to state that there is
a large majority of the people of the latter Colony strongly in favour
of an extensive immigration from the Mother Country, and strongly
disposed to make the requisite sacriQce, in the way of a honua in land,
for the accomplishment of so important an object."

The Doctor is sound on this point : —

" I hold it to be one of the urgent necessities of the times that a
bonus in land should be held forth to all wbo can pay their own pas-
sage to Australia ."

Now, where would the lands be, or at whose disposal, if the
Colonies go? Happily, all has not yet been ytmi away. See Par-
liamentary Returns, 1870.

What we now reproduce is " an owre true t^Ie " : —

NEGOTIATIONS, 1851 55.

" A Draft Constitution had been drav.n np by the Legislative Council
of New South Wales, in the year 1853, which was approved of and
enacted by the Imjierial Parliament in 1855 ; the Colony granting
Her Majesty a Civil List, and Her Majesty conceding, in lieu of it,
to the Colonial Lc<rislature all the Droits of the Crown, and in par-
ticular all the waste lands of the territory in absolute and perpetual
possession. Now I have no hesitation in stating — as one of the repre-
sentatives of the people in the Legislature of New South Wales, for
up^\ards of a quarter of a century — that, if the rights and interests of
Great Britain, as a great colonizing Power, had been taken into con-
sideration, on that most important occasion, by the Secretary of State
for the Colonies, a very different arrangement, and one of transcendant
importance to the Mother Country, might have been effected with per-
fect facility. The importance of immigration, both to the jMother
Country and to the Australian Colonies, had then been so long and so
extensively acknowledged, that if the Secretary of State, whose
bounden duty it was to have duly com^idered ihe rights and i'liercsts of
both parties in the case, had merely insisted on attaching to the Im-
perial Act a proviso to the effect that one-half of the funds accruing
from the sales of all waste lands in Australia should be appropri-
ated, for a certain period at least, to the pi'omotion of emigration
from the United Kingdom, the arrangement would have been cordially
acceded to by the Australian public. ... At the general election ia
New South Wales, in 1851, several of the candidates put forth the
idea that, as the discovery of gold would send out plenty of emigrants
to the Colony, no part of the land fund ought in future to be appropri-
ated for immigration purposes, but that the whole of it should be
applied for the cor.structlon of roads and bridges, &c. But Great
Britain has a deep interest in preventing any such measure from being
carried — she has a deep interest, on behalf of her industrious and
virtuous poor, in Insisting upon the continuance of the present arrange-
ment for the api)ropriatlon of at least one-half of the land fund for
the promotion of emigration from the United Kingdom." . . .

" ' I am, therefore, decidedly of opinion that Great Britain should oa
no account surrender the absolute control of the waste lands to any
mere Provincial Legislature, and that she should make it a sme qnd non,
in a Treaty of Independence with the General or National Government,
that one-half of the proceeds of the sales of all waste lands throughout
the Union should be appropriated as at present for the promotion of
emigration from Great Britain and Ireland."

."' Tills nrrar.^cnicnt won! J cfTectualiy insuro a thoi'oughly British

THE ACT 18 VND 19 VICT., C. 64.

reat

Ung

g8-

for

tish

population for the Australian provinces ; which, I confess — with the
best possible feelings towards foreigners of all nations — I regard as a
matter of essential importance for their welfare and advancement.
Under such an arrangement, also, the National Government of the
Australian Union would virtually be a mere (ujency, and as far as the
Mother Country is concerned, an unpaid agency, for carrying out the
first grand object of colonization for Great Britain — viz., the providing
of an eligible outlet for her redundant population. The Australian
provinces would, therefore, although formally free and independent, be
in reality a series of Tributary Slates to Great Britain; paying her a
large amount of tribute for the promotion of emigration from her
shores every year : for although the benctit would be mutual and
equal, the arrangement would necessarily take the form of a large
annual contribution to the British treasury from Australia — probably
not less in amount than £150,000 (a hundred and fifty thousand)
a-year.'

" By Clause II. of the Imperial Act 18 and 19 Vict., cap. 54,
passed IGth July, 1855, it i? enacted that — ' The entire management
and control of the waste lands belonging to the Crown in the said
Colony, and also the appropriation of the gross proceeds of the sales
of any such lands, and of all other proceeds and revenues of the same,
from whatever source arising within the said Colony, including all
royalties, mines, and minerals, shall be vested iu the Legislature of the
said Colony.'

" And it is also enacted by Clause L of the same Act, as follows : —
' The said several sums mentioned in Schedules A, B, and C shall be
accepted and taken by Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, by way
of Civil List, instead of all territorial, casual, and other revenues of the
Crown (including all royalties), from whatever source, arising within
the said Colony, and to the disposal of which the Crown may be en-
titled either absolutely or conditionally, or otherwise howsoever.'

" The three Schedules above referred to are as follows : —

" Schedule A.
" Salaries of public offices £20,550

''Schedule B.

" Pensions chargeable £13,950

" Schedule C (now in process of extinction).
« Public worship £28,000

" This famous Act was passed on the 16th July, 1856 — Lord John
Russell being then Secretary of State for the Colonies. The following

MR. FROUDE.

Paper, for which I am indebted to the courtesy of George F. Wise,
Esq., Agent for Immigration in New South Wales, being an abstract of
his yearly reports for three different periods — will show the reader
how immensely valuable to Great JJritain, as a field for emigration, waa
the magnificent estate which was thus virtually thrown away."

T)r. Lang quotes fairly Mr. Froude : —

" ' The Colonies,' says an able writer ' contain virgin soil sufficient to
employ and feed five times as many people as are now crowded into
Great Britain and Ireland. Nothing is needed but arms to cultivate
it ; while here, among ourselves, are millions of able-bodied men un-
willingly idle, clamouring for work, with their families starving on their
hands. What more simple than to bring the people and the land
together ! . . . . The land, we are told impatiently, is no longer now
ours. A few years ago it was ours, but to save the Colonial Office
trouble, we made it over to the local government, and now we have no
more right over it than we have over the prairies of Texas. If it were
so, the more shame to the politicians who let drop so 2^^sciou3 an
inheritance.^ "

It may be worth while to produce some of the considerations by which
the Doctor would coax the Australians to adopt his views. Tbey need
not defend their trade nor their coasts. They will profit by the ex-
Mother Country's and other European misfortunes. It will bo noticed,
he would not bo downright mean.

" Neither is it the interest of Great Britain that the carrying trade
with Australia should pass into the hands of the Australian people ;
and 30 long as she enjoys her present monopoly, it will be her own
direct interest to protect that trade, as she is well able and can well
afford to do. . . . Nay, removed as she is from the field of
European strife so much farther than America, Australia would be
still less likely to suffer in any way from European warfare. Her
flag would be respected by all the belligerents ; and the prevalence
of a general European war, during which the flags of these belli-
gerents would be in constant danger from each other, would only
have the effect of raising Australia, as the long French War did the
United fcstates, in circumstances precisely similar, into a first-rate
Maritime Power. In such an event, many even of the lovers of
peace in the old world would gladly emigrate to her territory, to
enrol themselves among her free people, and thereby to avail them-
selves of such protection as lier flag would aflbrd them, both by sea

EQUIVOCAL INDC CEMENTS.

and land, when Europe had been again transformed into a field of
blood. But even on the supposition that there should be no
Australian marine, in the event of a general European war, if
Great Britain were no longer ublo to protect the Australian trade
in her own merchant ships, from French or Russian cruisers, our
elder brother Jonathan would gladly step in to relieve her of her
present monopoly, and to frank our commerce with her Stars and
Stripes to all the world."

" England would thenceforth be relieved of the enormous cost of
protecting the Australian Colonies in time of war, while their profit-
able trade would continue to flow in the old channels, and be rapidly
and indefinitely increased."

" * Oh ! but that is the very case in point,' I shall be told. * Great
Britain would defend and protect us in case of war, as she would be
bound to do. She would have frigates cruising off Cape Leeuwin ;
she would have others off both Capes of New Zealand, and others
still ofi" this stormy Cape Horn, where you are now writing, and
scarce able to guide the pen from the rolling and plunging of the
ship in this tempestuous sea. Besides, she would have ships of war
cruising along our whole line of coast, and occasionally enlivening us
with their presence in our harbours ; and, what is best of all, she would
mahe her own jyeople pay all the expenses, without asking a farthing
from us !' Nov/ this is a great deal too much for Great Britain to do
for us. Wo have no desire whatever to put her to the slightest
trouble or expense in tho matter, or to Lvxher people a single farthing
for our protection and defence — simply because it is quite unnecessaiy."

But he foresees diflGiculties. The British people at home must
see that all is right before they allow the Colonist to let go the painter.

" Under the present Colonial system there are always petty
jealousies subsisting between the difierent Colonies, even of the same
group ; which, if they were all sovereign and independent, might
prove a source of repulsion rather than of attraction."

" I repeat it, it is not for the interest either of Great Britain, or
of the world at large, to permit the formation of a number of petty
sovereignties in this hemisphere ; and so long as it is in the power of
the Mother Country to bind together the whole of the eastern pro-
vinces into one great nation — one mighty Power of the future in the
Pacific- — that will condescend to play ' no secor.d fiddle ' to Brother
Jonathan, but will claim perfect equality with him from the first —

G 2

^ONDON CONFERENCE. SOCIAL CONGRESS.

her proper course in the matter is plain and obvious, and cannot be
mistaken."

He liopes half of Australia will be big enough for a " nation."

" As separate and ijidepcndont communities, the present Australian
Colonies would be comparatively insignificant, and would have no
weight or influence in the family of nations ; but seven such pro-
vinces combined, with the whole eastern coast-line towards the
Pacific as the measure of their Empire, would at once form the first
Power in the Southern Hemisphere."

But, alas ! the more important of the seven would not " bite."
(See his Preface.)

He has no good word to say in behalf of the London Colonists
who remonstrated against such heresies as his and agaiust a certain
policy (if policy it is) that elsewhere is cherished.

" Nay, these pseudo-patriots have summoned both Earl Grey and his
Grace the Duke of Manchester to the rescue, to prevent, if possible,
the awful consummation they anticipate. Earl Grey, in a letter to
one of the patriots, Mr. A. Youl, of date, Howick, Bilton, North-
umberland, September 4th, 1869, solemnly declares that ^ the
breaking up of the great Colonial Empire of England would, in my
opinion, he a calamity to the Colonies, to this country, and to the
world.' The Duke of Manchester also, in a letter which was read
at the annual meeting of the Social Science Congress, in [October]
last, addi'essed to Sir Stafford Northcote, M.P., President, expresses
himself as follows : — ' If we lose our Colonies, our power is gone.
On tiie other hand, if we amalgamate our Colonies with us, if we
take them into partnership with us in the government of the Empire,
I am convinced we should greatly increase our power. It seems to
me that the only practical plan would be to substitute for the
Colonial Office a Council, containing representatives of the United
Kingdom and the Colonies in fair proportion according to their
wealth and the number of their inhabitants.'

" Now (without reverting to the subject of Parliamentary Repre-
sentation for the Colonies, which the Duke of Manchester seems to
desiderate) it is particularly worthy of remark that precisely the
same fears that are now entertained, and the same dismal forebodingb
that are now put forth by Earl Grey and the Duke, in regard to the
probable result of the separation of any of our present Colonies from
the Mother Country, were entertained and put forth a century ago."

IGNORES IDEA OF IMPERIAL FEDERATION.

The most marvellous thing in the whole book is, that ia only-
one passage is a Council of the Empire, or an Imperial Con-
federation, mentioned; that passage is the foregoing, where it is
introduced by a sort of accident ; when mentioned it is misunder-
stood and receives the go-by. I am sorry to say that the
answers given to Lord Sandon's allusion to this, the alone
promising, solution of the Colonial difficulty, during last Session
of Parliament, were equally devoid of reasoning, — equally showed
that its value and acceptability were unappreciated or misappre-
hended.

Our enthusiastic Colonist wrote this book because " there is no
subject on which the literature of Great Britain presents so complete a
blank " as the principles of Colonization. He aspii-es [to fill the
blank. I wish he had done io better.

Perhaps I do a greater sei'\'ice to the literature of the subject when
I republish from " Hansard " the following short passage from the
speech of the Member for Liverpool : —

)cr

we
aire,
Is to

the
lited
their

|pre-
\h to

the
Jingb

the

pom

. Who, then, wanted to part with the Colonies? Did the working
classics ? Could anybody mistake the meaning of those meetings which
had been held within the last few months on the subject ? The depth
of feeling among the artizans on this subject was not yet fully appre-
ciated by the country. Was it not manifest that our working classes
looked upon the Colonies as their land of promise, and regarded those
distant territories as the birthright, so to speak, of their sons and
daughters'? ... He could scarcely imagine how any sect of men
could desire to see our great Confederation broken up at such a
moment as the present. The general tendency of men at the present
day was in quite the opposite direction. The tendency of the day was
in favour of large nationalities, and the day of small nations was past.
Could we shut our eyes to the fact that nationalities were everywhere
endeavouring to group themselves into large States? Germany was
forgetting her divisions, and grouping herself into one powerful State ;
Italy had happily almost accomplished the same work ; and the races
in the North were following out the same process. Why should wc,
at such a moment, in obedienoe to the opinions of any set of men,
however enlightened, crumble up that great Empire which Providence
had placed in our hands? It was surely our duty to take the
opposite course, and carry out the work we were called upon, as a
first-class nation, to fulfil. Could it be imagined that we should long

LORD SANDONS SPEECH.

remain a first-class Power if Colony after Colony wore stripped from
us? Could we, under such circumstance?, lonf^ retain our grasp on
India ? AVe owed it as a duty to our own people not to shrink, from
any feeling of laziness, from maintaining the proud position which wo
had acquired, and to keep open these outlets for our teeming popu-
lations ; while we owed it also to the people of those new Continents,
to whom it was a great advantage to have the admixture of our old
civilization and to start with our great traditions, not to break that
tie which attracted to them the cultivated classes of this country, but
which would cease to exist if they did not continue to be subjects of
the same Crown. The question was a great and a large one ; and it
bad, he thought, been very well put in a despatch lately sent to the
Government by that distinguished mon. Sir Philip Wodehouse, who
spoke of responsible government in the Colonies as meaning in the end
independence, and therefore separation from the Mother Country. He
believed Sir Philip Wndehouse was wrong; but, nevertheless, his
deliberate expressions showed what opinions were afloat, and convinced
him that the question of the relations between ourselves and the
Colonies must be faced as a whole, and handled in a broad and com-
prehensive spirit. Now, that was the point which he would entreat
the House to consider very carefully, whether we were to look forward
calmly and contentedly to the future sketched out in that despatch, or
to use our best exertions to consolidate those semi-independent com-
munities into one great Empire with ourselves. It was, no doubt, the
harder, but it was the more glorious task : it was, no doubt, a difficult
problem, and would require the exercise of all the statesmanship which
this country possessed for its solution ; but he hoped that no luxurious
laziness, no timidity, no shrinking from labour would induce that House
to decline the noble work of reconstructing, and so far as things on
earth could be so, of rendering everlasting our British Empire."

ilEPORT 0I-' THE EMIGRATION COMMISSIONERS. 87

EMIGRATION.

)US

ise
Ion

The Thirtieth Gonerai Kcport of the Emigration Commissioners is
a most interesting and informing document or volume. It is obtain-
able from the Queen's Printers for a shilling. The following are
clippings : —

"In 18G9 less than three-fourths were British subjects, the re-
mainder being foreigners who merely pass through this country on
their way to North America. The following table shows the number
and nationality of the emigrants who have left the United Kingdom
during the last seven years : —

Year.

English.

Scotch.

Irish.

Foreigners.

Not dis-
tinguished.

23,061

Total.

1863

61,243

15,230

116,3itl

7,833

223,768

1864

56,618

l.'),035

115,428

16,942

4,877

208,900

1865

61,345

12,870

100,676

28,619

6,291

209,801

1866

58,856

12,307

98,890

26,691

8,138

204,882

1867

65,']. '

12,866

88,622

31,193

7,778

195,953

1863

58,268

14,954

64,965

61,950

6,182

198,325

1869

90,416

22,559

73,326

66,752

5,975

258,027

"In the emigration of last year the most ndticeable fact is the large
increase in the number of English ai><l Scotch emigrants. For the
fu'st time since we have any trustworthy returns the number of English
emigrants exceeded the Irish. With the exception of 1854, the
number was the largest that ever left the United Kingdom in a single
year. There was, however, this diffd nee between the English emi-
grants of 18.54 and of last year, that in 1854 of 90,1)00 emigrants,
47,132, or noary 52 per cent., went to Australia, while last year of
90,410 emigrants 77,710, or nearly 80 per cent., went to North
America. In the former case they were attracted by the hope of gain ;
in the latter they were driven forth by the fear of distress. .

" The emigration of 1809 was thus distributed: —

To the United States 203,001

„ British North America 33,891

„ Australia and New Zealand 14,901

all other places

0,234
258,021

t\m

88 WHENCE, an:) whither destined.

" Of the emigration to the United States : —

The English formed 31-06 per cent.

The Irish „ 32-75 „

Foreigners „ 25-29 „

Scotch 5, 8-48 „

Not distinguished „ 2-42 „

^Too „

"Of the whole number who emigrated to North America in 1869,
amounting to 236,802, no less than 225,685, or 95-2'^ per cent., went
in steamers, and only 11,207, or 4-73 per cent., went in sailing
vessels. The resort to steamers in the emigration lo America has
been uninterruptedly progressive. In 1863 it amounted to only 45-85
per cent, of the whole number. In 1867 it had increased to 92-86
per cent., in 1868 to 93 16 per cent., and last year to 95-27 per
cent. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the advantage which
emigrants obtain by passages in steamers, both in the shortness of
the voyage and the better accommodation. The cost of passage
is, however, from 30 to 50 per cent, higher than in sailing ships,
Bhowing that the emigrants are, at least, not in circumstances which
compel them to subject all other considerations to cheapness.

" The mortality on the voyage, as far as we have returns, was very
smaK, the number of deaths in steamers, among 211,879 emigrants,
having been only 119, or -05 per cent. Assuming the voyage at four-
teen days, this would be equal to a mortality of 14 per 1,000 per
annum."

" Emigration from this country, as has been pointed out, firpt
assumed gigantic proportions in 1847, on the occurence of tLt^
famine in Ireland. Between 1847 and 1869 inclusive, there sailed
from the United Kingdom 5,084,571 souls, of whom thee went—

To the United States 3,496,549

„ British North America 610,343

„ Australia 847,016

„ all other parts 130,663

5,084,571

" For the present purpose the emigration to the Australian Colonies
and other places, which cannot '^e regarded as relief Emigration, may
be put aside, and the emigration to the United States and British
North America be alone considered.

REVENUES FROM LAIHT).

"The number of emigrants to North America between 1847 and
1869 was 4,106,892; deducting-
Cabin passengers 259,141

Foreigners 338,213 597,354

There remain 3,509,538—

equal to tibont 3,112,144 statute adults, who may be considered to
have been British-born subjects of the labouring class. The pas-
sages of these emigrants can scarcely have cost less than 15,000,000/.,
or, on an average, upwards of 650,000', a-joar. The whole of this sum
has been provided out of private resources, in great measure out of
the remittances from the United States and Canada made by pre-
vious emigrants."

" In South Australia the funds set apart by law for emigration,
which, in June, 1868, amounted to 360,000/., and cannot now be less
than half a million, have, in great measure, been appropriated to an-
other service, and Bills have been three times passed by the As-
sembly, but rejected by the Council, to make that appropriation
final."

" From a variety of causes the great bulk of the immigrants who
arrived in the Dominion have only passed through to the United
States, conferring no advantage, but the contrary, on the Dominion.
During the last four years the number who arrived and who remained
have been : —

Arrived. Remained.

1866 51,795 10,091

1867 57,878 10,066

1868 71,448 12,765

1869 75,800 18,630

" New South Wales.

" The land revenue of New South Wales during t
was :—

Land sales £275,726 12

Balances of conditional purchases 19,525 16

Interest on land sales to conditional purchasers 24,360 8

Rent of laud, first-class settled districts 22,424 12

Rent of runs, second-class settled and unsettled

districts 213,326 1

Assessment on runs, second-class settled and un-
settled districts .; 9,522 19

Fees on transfer of runs ;.. 896

Quit rents 69 13

year 1869

6
7
1

NEW SOUTH WALES AND QUEENGLANt).

Licences to cut timber, &c., on Crown lands £1,790 12 3

Mineral leases

Leases of auriferous lands

Miners' rights

Business licences ,

Survey of land

Miscellaneous

5,412 2

4,634 16 8

5,243 5

655

118 18 1

326 12 9

£584,033 11 8

[" Our lands,"' tlierofore, go to lighten, by more than a pound
a-head, the annual taxation of our friends who have jilted us in the
matter of liability for the national debt !]

" This was an increase, as compared with 1868, of 42,804?. 8s. 7d.

" The gold revenue during the year was —

Duty on gold £16,840 19 7

Fees for export and conveyance of gold, &c. 8,152 6 10

£24,993 6 5—

being an increase, as compared with 1868, of 234?. 7s. 3d.
" The total revenue proper in 1868 and 1869 was —

1868 £2,405,356 15 2

1869 2,202,970 5 10—

showing an increase of 157,613?. 10s. 8d.

"The total expenditure in 1869 was 2,617,205?. 3s. lOd."

" Queensland.

" The land sales in Queensland in 1868, the latest date for which we
have returns, were —

Extent.

Amount
realized.

By public auction

Bv nre-emtitive t)urchases

A. K. p.

52,235 3 9

1,600

3,120

114 38

£. 8. d,

57,080 5 3
1,674 10

Mineral sections

2,182 10

Improved allotments

148 7 3

Leased under Act 30 Vict.. No. 12

67,070 7
3,436 2 28

61,085 12 6
431 14 11

60,606 2 36

61,617 7 5

rawiBi' ncTTiimt.fcifciai.i-'

VALUE OF THE TRANSFERENCE.

[So the Queensland folks get only about 12s. per head off their
annual taxation by disposing of land — which is " capital," not proper
income.]

I am favoured by the Secretary of the Emigration Toard with the
following figures, which show that the first nine months of 1870 have
been very active in the Emigration business. Remembering that a large
proportion of emigrants to Canada have their destination in the United
States, the reader will see that the Colonies, especially those in Africa
and Australia, are still neglected. The number of English and Scotch is
striking. Considering their destination, it is appalling in the eyes of
every man who realizes the loss their removal causes to the Empire: —

Return of Emigration from Ports in the United Kingdom, at
which there are Emigration Officers, for thep eriod from the 1st
January to 30th September, 1870.

Destination.

English.

Scotch.

Irish.

Foreign-
ers.

Not
Distin-
guished.

Total.

United States

66,326

18,316

8,532

1,264

13,942

3,270

1,720

235

60,765

2,098

2,350

149

31,866

7,699

275

200

2,954

839

165,843

31,438

12,880

2,687

N. American Colonies.
Aug cralian Colonies . . .
All other Places

Total

84,438

19,167

65,352

40,040

3,851

212.848

Government Emigration Board, S. Walcott.

8, Park Street, Westminster,
December 15, 1870.

It may be useful to consider what is the value of the transference

which the United Kingdom has allowed to be made by Emigration.

This can be exhibited only by a money estimate — a coarse, though true,

method of reckoning, which may be accepted for the purpose. If we

fix the oum at £500 for each adult male, £100 for each adult female,

£50 for each child, and £10 for each infant — figures which, considering

the class and character of the emigrants, are fair enough — we find that

the United Kingdom parted last year with a productive and " tending "

power worth no less than fifty-four millions sterling.

BRITISH LOSSES BY EMIGRATION.

Of the above, I regret to say, forty-eight miUiom may be assumed
to be no longer British, bat now foreign.

The contribution to which — if we may conceive that there were
an equal rate laid in the United Kingdom for the extinction of the
National Debt — each average emigrant would be liable appears
to be a sum of between C35 and £50. So that last year the
population which remained became subject, by means of emigration, to
an enhanced burden or liability represented by a capital sum that may
be estimated at between nine and thirteen millions sterling. That is,
the emigrants shirked and shifted upon us their obligation to pay
taxes for interest to the extent of half-a-million a-year.

I have given no estimate of the loss inflicted on the nation by immi-
gration from the Empire, of consuming power, nor of power of creat-
ing, for neighbour tradesmen, the means of earning their livelihood.
The public mind too generally is directed only to the consumption of
great manufactures and of imports. I desiderate information, from
such accomplished statists as Dr. Levi or Mr. Dudley Baxter, as to
the annual profit or free income which British tradesmen and people who
are employed at jobbing work and repairs, in serving, &c., are deprived
of by the expatriation of an average emigrant. Let me set it down —
and it is a mere guess — at no more than the very safe figure of 10/.
(including in this a quota of rent), and the total national loss in
this item alone amounts up to nigh tioo millions sterling a-year ; or,
say, what would maintain in comparative comfort 100,000 persons
within the Queen's dominions, instead of a like number of persons in
foreign countries. In this reckoning no allowance is made for the
profit or employment which these 100,000 persons in their cum produce.

The world has got so used to British blindness, or softness, or
goodness, that it reckons on our support, and assumes that a service
is done us, when propositions are made to " relieve us of " and draw
away to foreign parts our best population. Just last summer I was
present at a meeting of one of our greatest philanthropic, so-called
^'National Associations,^' called to welcome an American gentleman
whose object or purpose seemed to be to lay before us what the
tJnited States could and would do in that way, the Atsociation's
favour being most implicitly relied on.

MR. WESTGARTH S VIEWS.

is
In
ie

Ir
le

PROCEEDmGS OF THE ROYAL COLONIAL
INSTITUTE, 1869.

December 22. — I have to-day received the First Report of the In-
stitute, and now present some clippings from a valuable Paper con-
tributed by my highly esteemed friend, Mr. Westgarth, late Member
of the Legislative Council of Victoria, and well known as an autiior of
works on Australia : —

" The great aim of the Colonies has been their own self-government :
nor were they unsuccessful in their aim, even from the first ; for
although the Imperial response on this point of Colonial policy had
been in the earlier times of a very negative cliaracter, yet neglect was
generally the happier fate in days when the public sentiment at home
was anything but sympathetic with the views and wishes of Colonies.
Latterly the response has been altogether different, and the relations
increasingly cordial. . . .

" But duriug the reign of George III,, the great development which
circumstances gave to the power of the Crown, and to autocratic
sentiment in the relations of government, led to those well-known high-
handed proceecMngs as to Colonies which resulted so disastrously at
the time, but have led to so useful a lesson since. ' The Colonies,' it
had been then said, ' had no right to manufacture for themselves even
a nail or a horse-shoe ; ' and subsequently when, in a like spirit, taxes
were attempted to be levied for the home exchequer, the cup of en-
durance ran over. Ireland and Shetland, it was argued, contributed
to the Imperial treasury, and why not the American part of the
Empire ? The theory might be right, but all else was wrong. . . .

" Each Colony had its ' British party,' which, ignoring or despising
the great body of the Colonists, put itself forward to the Home Govern-
ment as the only reliable loyal link of the community. Mr. Gladstone
might have added that there was still another party that in those days
characterized each Colony — a party more or less strong, more or less
weak, but always in being — the party that advocated separation from,
and independence of, the Mother Country. Both these parties have
since alike disappeared under the late successive steps of cordial
approach between the Parent State and the Colonial offsprmg. I am
bound to add, as a Colonist who was a witness of the case, that these

MUTUAL ADVANTAGES.

steps have been conceded with like cordiality by each of the two great
political parties at home ; for whether a Conservative or a Liberal has
held the Colonial reins, each in turn has been liberal, in the usual sense
of the word, to the Colonies.

'' Several striking features already stand forth, claiming to comprise
our permanent practical principles of Colonial policy and government :
1. None of our Colonies, from the strongest down to the weakest,
contributes, or is required to contribute, anything whatever to the
Mother Country. 2. The legislation for the Colonies is now prac-
tically placed in the hands of their respective local legislatures and
government. 3. It may now be affirmed as the Imperial policy, that
no Colony will be held to allegiance against its own will. . . .

" I am a Colonist old enough to recollect not only when each Colony
had its Separation and Independence party, but when those who took
such aims felt that they meant rebellion and war. But now, Colonial
loyalty is a thing undoubted, and whatever remains of a separative
feeling has cropped out upon the home soil.

" What, then, are the mutual uses and advantages of the Mother
Country and her Colonics ? . . .

" Take Australasia, for instance, whose total trade, according to
the Colonial import and export returns twenty years ago, amounted to
eight millions, and is now seventy millions. . . .

" Now we must beai- in mind how much trade runs in the groove of
the nationality. . . .

" Whatever is to be learned, on the one side or the other, comes
alike with more authority and more acceptance under the sentiment of
a common citizenship. ...

" A more important illustration is that connected with free trade
principles, now so generally accepted here as the true solution of a
long and arduous contest. Some of the Colonies have indeed in-
clined to 'protection' since assuming self-government, but it has
always been with moderation and a sort of apologetic hesitancy, and
any secondary degree of successful backsliding, if I may so call it,
has been the result of compromise with a vigorous local opposi-
tion. ...

" How often we revel in great schemes of emigration, by which the
excess of people here may, to mutual benefit, fill up the wastes of the
Colonies. The necessities of the subject ever bring it back to us,
and we always hope, spite of all past difficulties, for a system
adequate to the wants in both cases. And who shall say that in the
general race of modern progress this one question is to stand still, and

HOPES AND FEARS.

to remain unsolved ? But if we break from our CoV'^ies, we at once
throw up this noble national domain, its broad acres, and its virgin
soil. We cede its millions of future homes, and lose all that cordial
co-operation and guidance which we may ever expect from those oup
fellow-countrymen already there ; and our dreams, our hopes, and our
plans are at an end.

" Our age is especially characterized by an onward march of
nations, and our English-speaking peoples are at the head of this grand
race in all those substantial considerations that make up the idea of
" progress." We must not halt, and still less lose ground, in such a
busy throng. We are, in fact, so much used to the van of that pro-
gress as to feel out of place elsewhere. An honourable and inspiring
rivalry pervades the world. The great transatlantic people, because
they are our second selves, and planted out under a certain supericii'^v
of material circumstances, are already, with characteristic dash, lu ,
abreast of their parental nation ; and we shall certainly be second in
the race if we are severed from the uncramped areas and ihe fresh
impetuous life of our Colonies.

"The British Empire, as it now stands, in point of geographical
extent, of population, of power in its many-sided aspects, and of
effective world-moving civilization, is the greatest spectacle of its kind
in history ; and may we not heartily cherish the belief that a fabric so
strikingly distinguished, so grand, and so useful, will be long main-
tained by its component members as one united nationality ?"

EXTRACT FROM A PRIVATE LETTER FROM CANADA.

" England seems determined to get clear of us at any cost. It will
be easily and soon done. Uncle Sam has only to smile on the next
Fenian invasion, which is even now talked of, and we must knock
under. What can four millions do against forty ? Annexation looms
up very strong in the future, and unless a more friendly disposition is
shown in England the feeling will grow."

December 9, 1870.

PORTENTOUS FIGURES FROM GLASGOW.

Criminals.
24,832 .

9,100 .

Deaths.
.. 13,825

.. 2,893
« burden "

I am favoured with a presentation copy of " The Rising Tide of
Irreligion, Pauperism, Immorality, and Death in Glasgow, by the
Ilev. Jas. Johnston, 1871," and extract the following lines : —

Non-churchgoing
Population. Protestants. Paupers.
1868 447,000 ... 130,000 ... 28,061

Increase in) yg.oOO ... 25,000 ... 5,825
ten years. ) ' '

This is not the place to speak of the fearfully solemn
which a prophet of old might have been charged with, in relation to
the evils set forth in that plain-speaking brochure. The figures are ad-
duced to enforce the mischiefs which concentration for trade's sake
in large cities generates or involves, and especially the frightful pro-
spect which lies before this nation if manufacturing and commercial
prosperity is to proceed, in the future, with the same sad and shame-
ful accompaniments as in the past ; or if, in absence of such prosperity,
extensive emigration shall skim off the better-disposed parts of the
^ jpulation, and leave behind all the residuum.

Hominum generi universo cultura agrorum est salutaris.

A word in conclusion : —

The idea of a possible coming disturbance of the relations between the
Mother Country and the Colonies may have a most prejudicial effect
in deterring capitalists and emigrants from betaking themselves to and
occupying " the Colonial field." It is therefore most desirable that a
satisfactory and permanent re-settlement of these relations should be
carried out with as much speed as is consistent with the due delibera-
tion which is befitting the novelty and the vast and growing import-
ance of the work.

SIGHS OF A CANADIAN.

The following, from the Edinburgh Daily Remiw of 37th
December, is by " A Coloniat " : —

" There is a growing belief among us that that party which
believes that Colonies are a mere source of expense and weakness to
the Mother Country 's str ^, and is growing stronger. As a taste
of this indifference as to Colonies, we see Lord Granville snubbing
New Zealand. . , . But we are told, first, that we must provide
for our internal peace — nothing could be fairer — and now we are
told that we must erect fortifications, arm and drill our Militia, to bo
prepared to defend our country, at our own expense, against a foreign
foe — that xi we want a single company of soldiers to man our
fortresses we must pay for them, although we shall not command
them — and if we want a rifle we must buy it. Nay, the few rifles
which were used by our Volunteers in repelling Fenian attempts, not
against Canada surely, but against Great Britain, were only lent for
the occasion, and the damages, amounting to the paltry sum of about
000^., have been rigorously exacted.

" We do not ask to bo treated better than the inhabitants of
Manchester or Glasgow would have been, had they been attacked by
Fenians, but we think we have a right to expect the same treat-
ment. Had the rich Corporations of either of these cities furnished
arms and men, and, in default of military, had repelled the brigands,
Parliament would have voted thanks and paid the bill without hesi-
tation. But Canada has done this; our Volunteers took up arms at
once, left their employments, exposed their lives, and shed their
blood, too, to repel the public enemy ; yet our Provincial Government
pays all the expense, and is even charged with the price of the rifles
damaged in this imperial service. Plainly told, our people are forced
to take up arms on account of a question which concerns the whole
empire ; but because our country was made the scene of operations,
we are compelled to pay the piper, and find the pipes to the bargain.

" Absurd as it was and is, the Fenian tries to strike Great
Britain over Canada's shoulder; surely, when she beats back the
enemy she might expect some better acknowledgment of the service
than to be compelled to pay for the weapon which was broken in the
fight.

NEGLECT IN THE COMMONS.

" We do not yet believe that in the event of a war with America
England would expect us to pay and arm our Militia from Colonial
funds alono ; yet the policy which calls upon us at our own expense
to arm and fight against the public enemy, and the treatment
which wo have received in this shabby damaged-rifle matter, would
almost warrant us in believing that henceforth we may look to
England for allies perhaps, but not for fellow-citizens.

" There is no occasion to continue these arguments ; what im-
settles the feelings of the most loyal is the doubt whether England
would not prefer to see \is out of the way — independent, annexed
to the United States, anywhere, rather than a standing temptation to

our friends A.t home, the argument ah inconveniente finds a ready

acceptance with the masses, and when we find able pens arguing that
all Colonial possessions are sources of national weakness, that this
assertion, if true, is especially so of Canada, we may bo excused for
believing, or at least greatly fearing, that the declaration so frequently
made of late, that we may go when we please, may very soon assume
a different expression — that the hint to separate may be turned into
the command to do so.

" . . . Better, if we must separate from our Fatherland, that
we swallow the bitter draught in its entirety, forego our British
birthright, and, by annexation, secure at least safety either from
assault or ridicule — any fate rather than assume the pitiful rdle of
nationality on sufFrance. . . . They know that the prospect of
such a fate for our dominion is hateful to the loyal thousands of the
country; but with very obvious craft, they take advantage of the
utterances of the anti-Colonial party, and the policy of the Govern-
ment, as expressed by Lord Granville, to tell us that independence is
thrust upon us, and that either we must ask for a divorce, or England
will pronounce the sentence without consulting our wishes.

" Again, a reference has been made to the loyalty of our people.
It is not willingly that the subject is introduced ; so constantly has
our honest love to our country been sneered at by the so-called Liberal
press of England, that we a>>stain from all mention of a feeling which,
in the olden time at least, was always spoken of with honour. Yet,
and in spite of the sneer at our old-fashioned faith, in spite of the cold
water which such papers as the Times throw upon our professions, we
do once more declare that love to England and to England's Queen
is a principle so deeply felt in Canada, that the sentence which should
condemn us to give up our allegiance would freeze the hearts of
hundreds of thousands of Her Majesty's most faithful subjects.

SADDEmjfG BEFIECTIONS.

to our Q,.„on, „r even the untldL T ^'T ',8^'** "'-r -"'"ion
remotest of our villagos, they tol T ^^". ^"""""^ % '» "'o
which says that our lie faTut ^^^i'? ■"" '" "'» '"^'^U-^ taunt

t.onaf™™ gratitude for favou^'ftJl""'- ""'""' "^ P™'-'-
-Neither in our Hoimo nf n^^

these question, thu, far " Jo ™, "ITf l" 'f ",'" """««'•■' «-
of, of co„«e, they arc, hut our future 1 T\ ^""""''°''- ^'•"'^'l
of vital interest, ,o fa'r as puUfc d LteT" " ""' '"' '""" '»?'-
the midst of groat raateriarp™„erit; !, ™T™"'- ^'' '™"'' '"
thr.ving, everything lookinrbS ^I "'", ''"r'""'"' '""'™»i"g ™d
=peak- of changes wl.ich n„ w beti ' L w" """^ »'=""" *'"^'''
oyes to tl,e handwriting onThe wan bt ., t ^"'"8"^ «l'»t our
-private oonve«,.i„n°a„„u; friends b/ the fi",'^ "' "" •"'"P'"'
which IS constantly agitated whW, ^/ "''''"'•'' *'"' 1»«tion
solemnly answered, is,°Shan"tt ""^V°°" ''" ""^'^ l"" "-"d
the home authoriti slomto Jbecir" " '""'"°"^ *=''''''tion of
of season-that whenever™: wS 1 "'" "''^™ -" «»'

Country we are most welcome tT dt o/rT,/"''"" ""= ^•'"'-
TZ> tiii this coid hint be crgL^tl* Xli^^

Q , , . "^ CAKADIAN."

- S^'.T:;,,- r ",- v;: - "• ~- -

" Great Britain and Australia." ''""' ^"*^' ^'^^'^

THE PERIOD OF DRIFT.

101

THE AUTnOR OF " CTXX'S BARY " OX IMPKPJAL

FEDIOIIATION.

P.S.— 'Janiauy .3, 1871. — I Iuivm just rccoivod tho Contempt
Romew for this nioutli, and roiul with siiipnhir ploasure tho article

orary

((

Imperial Federalifini" by the autlior of " Ginx's IJaby." This oh)(iuoiit

iiul

appeal oiij^hfc

1)0 circiiUited widely, — if possible, in tho
form of a cheap imniphlet. iJy oblifi;iiip^ permission of Messrs.
Strahan, wc arc enabled to give the followinjj!: dippinc^s ; but the whole
requires to bo read, m order to appreciate its vigour and force. Any
one who looks at tho several speeches and writings which mark tho
rapid growth and the strong sot of popular tjpinion on this now de-
veloped subject of agitation, must be struck with their quite uuconscious,
but therefore most encouraging, accord even in language.

In connexion with the subject of a dear friend's pamphlet, mentioned
on page JG, and with the sul)ject of Emigration, reference is made to
the article in another January monthly, " To what Extent is England
Prosperous? " by Henry Fawcett, M.P.

" Th's is tho period of Drift. Swept along by wind and current, our
political and social tendencies appear to be escaping from our govern-
ance, and to bo manoeuvred by fate. It needs no deep mind to dis-
cover it. Capping leaded leaders in our daily papers, or suggesting to
the " artists " of some of the many vulgar comics — sad misnomer ! —
a subject of grotesque satire, tho idea of Drifting is clearly recognized
as a thing of the age. Drifting into war, drifting into a conference,
drifting into danger, drifting into Church and State controversy, drift-
ing to imperial dissolution — tho terra is now a favourite one to apply
to our political movement — the tendency even seems to be favourably
acquiesced in.

DmFriNG TO Imperial Dissolution : I wish before heaven that I
could lay hold and arrest the movement with a good, strong Samson's
or Cromwell's hand 1 I cannot ; but I have a voice, and I appeal from
the politicians to the people of the Empire. Driftwood politicians ;
sweeping on before the breath of popularity — with uo stern, proud

102

IMPERIAL FEDERALISM.

principles to rule their motions — both parties of them eddying round
and round hero in a Reform whirlwind, tossed out of the way there by
an Irish gust, spun about again by a German-French tempest, inanely
watching the play of a Russian nor'-oaster — Mid lik'mn it ! seemina;
r^ontented with that lot, absolutely looking for the winds and currents
as gof' ^ends to be yielded to — glad if they blow hard enough to make
it clear that it is the way they mus^^^ go, J pray you, any sensible by-
stander, any interested JJriton, Avhose own and his children's fato is in
the boat with these helmsmen ; and even you, captain and mates !
do you call this statesmanship or farce ?

Ought not these men to annouuoe boldly in the face of us all : " This
and this is our design — this is our best gospel in such and such a
matter : there is the point we mean to try to reach, blow wind or run
tide over so strongly against us : if you don't approve of our intentions,
they are honourable, and in all honesty don't expect us to carry out
any other. Here we resign to any man who has another plan, if you
think it a better one. Our scheme is true, we believe, and will hold
on to be true, though the very foundations of the world were dis-
covered ; and till we can preach it fairly into your convictions, we
shall cease to be responsible for the steering ? " If we get not soon
some such determined and specific-minded captains, brother-citizens,
we are lost.

At this moment \re are drifting to the disintegrati' a of our Empire.
Few believe it. Few have soen the greai currents sweeping away off
beyond the horizon, commencing their vast circuits even at the anti-
podes ', but ere long the cyclone will burst upon us, and every one,
especially the chief officers, will acknowledge a Divine wind, and calmly
resign themselves to see the vessel rojked and blown to pieces, saving
themselves, no doubt, " some on boaids, and some on broken pieces of

the ship. And so it came to pass that they ." I should like to

know where our island of Melita will be, and whether the barbarians
are likely to be civil. Meantime, I pray your earnest attention to the
matters hereafter to be submitted, too conscious that my voice is weak
in contest with the now boiiierous elements of Drift, but having faith
in my soul that these matters are serious and true. . . .

I define Imperial Federalism to be : The doctrine of a legislative
union, in the form of a Confederation, of each subordinate self-govern-
ing community which is now included within the British Empire. To
preserve that Empire intact, on the ground that such a policy is not
only Imperial, but d"3tated by the selfish interest of each constituent ;
to combine in some flexible and comprehensive system the great con-

PROGRESS OF FEDERATION.

103

I to

Lns

ihe

course of subordinato States whereof our Empire is composed, for the
benefit of all ; and lastly, to confirm to every individual member of
tue Imperial Community those rights and privileges to which he is born
—rights and privileges justly inalienable from himself or his children :
these three things must be at once the aim and the reason for Imperial
Federahsm.

The gravity of the questions depending on this doctrine, every day
pressing more urgently for solution, must ere long drive it to the front
rank of political movement. "What shall our Empire be fifty years
hence ? What shall Ijccome of those sons and daughters gone from
our bosom to far-off territories, bearing with them a portion of our
strength, our civilization, our freedom, our love of Motherland ? Who
are to be the legatees of the vastest national estate ever accumulated
in one sovereign hand ? Are our Colonies destined to be our weakness
or our strength — to sap or to solidify our power ? Is it the wisest
policy to smooth the way to Imperial dissolution, or our duty and
policy together, by every honest means, by every honourable bond, to
perpetuate Imperial integriry ? Ara the hopes of unborn generations
most engaged in the maintenance of an united Empire, or the develop-
ment of separate nations ? Such, and a hundred other questions, crop
up in the hitherto unexplored ^'cgions of the subject designated by me
Imperial Federalism. . . .

I have said that Federation exists already within the Queen's do-
minions. In 1850 the proposal to confederate the British North
American Provinces is stated to have been regarded by Canadian
Btatcsmeu "as visionary." In 1807 it was adopted throughout thoso
vast provinces and liy the Imperial Government. . . .

In the West Indies, Sir Benjamin Pyne has recently been able to
induce several islands to unite upon a Confederation scheme, which will
receive the sanction of the Home Government.

Following these accomplished facts, the principle of Federalism has
naturally found its way to Australia, where, as we shall directly see, it
has assumed a serious aspect. But the idea has not been allowed to
float about and drop its seeds only on the extremities of the Empire.
From them it has been borne home to ourselves, and has begun to ger-
minate in Ireland. There, though perhaps fostered more by disaffec-
tion than the spirit of patriotism, it would yet be the most wan*on
prejudice to permit its infelicitous associations to distort our judgment
of its political ;>roniiscs. It may, perhaps, hereafter be shown that
some of the most urgent reasons for a federation of the Empire lie at

'*-^,,

104

HOME FEELING.

r ti

Is i'

I i;

home, oucl are not only to be sought in the necessities or the aspirations
of our Colonial provinces. ...

Turn where we will, we find Britain flourishing by the help of hep
own offspring — toiling, tilling, trading in and from her distant pro-
vinces. To every clime have her advc turous sons borne the civiliza-
tion along with the enterprise of thoii- race. Prairies and deserts have
changed their features, and frcii their rich unnumbered acres has been
brought the blessed food for millions at home. Noi' this alone. The
thoughtful workman here looks out with hopeful pride to communities
of grovving wealth and power, whose increasing necessities daily add
to the demanus for the products of his labour. They provide him
with food, they provide him with staples of manufacture, they provide
liim with work, and they offer iiim, should he aim at higher things, the
safest and most inviting field for his energies. To know that wherever
he goes he still retains his English rights, still is safe under English
protection, may at any time return and lie down to rest a Citizen in his
English home — is not this to make him feel the true value uf an Imperial
destiny ? Is not this to give courage to the men and women who
otherwise would perish here in the hopeless rivalry of wretchedness?
Is not this a true, righteous, practical thing to devise and confirm for
the good of every living soul within these crowded kingdoms ?

What would not Germany give for such another Empire as Australia?
What energy or money, or political and legislative zeal, or commercial
enterprise, would she not lavish in establishing and riveting her rela-
tions with such a Colony? What a strength would she not draw from
that young strong son ? And we ! . . .

It has of late years been the apparent policy of our Government,
whether in Whig d Tory hands, to encourage independence in our
greater provinces, especially independence of us in the matter ot
expense, this being most fatally the prime reason ; a proper thing to
encourap-e if it means a vigorous, self-reliant energy and life, but an
ignoble and foolish policy if thereby is instigated a factious disavowal
of Imperial relations. Yet ihe clumsy management of two or three
Secretaries of State has nearly brought, us to the latter point. But to
give to each province the maximum of independent action, and yet
preserve for it and for the Empire at large the maximum of mutual
aid and benefit, is a problem that seems not to have occurred to, far
less to have been attempted by, these summary statesmen. This is the
exact problem whicLv I venture to affirm, Imperial Federalism alone
can solvo., . . .

An elttborate paper, contributed to the Neio York Herald of July

MOVEMENTS IN THE COLONIES.

105

6th, and admitted by Canadian papers to be partly based on fact, con-
tains some singular disclosures. Questionable as is the authority, the
allegations are so specific and important as to demand attention. Ac-
cording to this statement, an Independence party have for some years
been organizing treason in Canada. . . .

■ [Who will object to this manly word ?]

Is it possible that much manoeuvring of the Cabinet on Colonial
questions was due to such tricksters — nay. are there any of them in
the Colonial Office ? This office seems to me, more than any depart
ment of State, to need a visit from a strong reformer with a good
broom. Two or three times does the writer reiterate the allegations
about co-conspirators in England. For instance : —

" On the day tha* Mr. Huntington and Mr. Young held their
Waterloo meeting, assurances were received , rom tlieir friends in Eng-
land that the Gladstone Cabinet could he depended upon to carry out
the 2iolicy of independe7iceJ'

Again : —

" In the fall of 1869 very positive assurances were forwarded to
Canada by friends tvho could speak send-officially that the English
Administration had resolved on the following programme with regard
to Canada : — 1. The withdrawal of the Imperial forces. 2. The cessa-
tion of the system of Imperial guarantee. 3. The declaration of the
independence of Canada at the earliest possible moment."

No one who has watched the details of our recent intercourse with
the Dominion will be disposed to think the above statements impro-
bable. I deem it my duty to insert them here that they may be distinctly
contradicted if untrue. This looks like Drift again, only with a hope
that Dr'ft will be in a certain direction. We are exposed to the
possibility of waking up unexpectedly to find our Empire slipped away
in a night ; cut loose by our statesmen. No indifferent reason
for an immediate decision of the public upon the nature of our future
pohcy.

The New Zealand case is too fresh in every one's mind to require
that I should do more than refer to it. It proved by one example
how delicate were the relations between ourselves and the whole of the
Pacific Colonies. . . .

The Colony raised its own forces and repressed the insurrection,
but it bitterly resented the cold inllexibility of the English Cabinet,
not less than Lord Granville's recommendation to acknowledge within
the Queen's dominions the sovereignty of a Maori chief ! Some of

106

THE QUESTION IN AUSTRALIA.

Is J

the first men of the Colony began to look, as its only hope, to junction
with the United States, who were certain to supply necessary forces to
defend any member of their confederacy. The Imperial Government
was successfully thi'eatened with the alternative of help or secession.
Under the fear and pressure of pubhc opinion at home. Lord Granville
yielded only at the latest hour before the fatal telegram was to hare
been sent to the New Zealand Government.

Within the lai-t month significant news has reached this country from
Australia. . , .

When the disintegration of our Empire is recommended by
a Royal Commission,* it is time to consider whether Her
Majesty is to be Queen only of Groat Britain or an Imperial
Sovereign. The proposal of the Victoria statesmen is unpractical.
Such a relation of independent " sovereignties " could not be
maintained in this age, and we have seen even in democratic
America how the attempt to assert State sovereignty against con-
federated power was stifled in blood. The Australians will look to
one or other cf the great leading Powers of the Anglo-Saxon race ;
and a continuance of our repulsive pohcy will drive them, not to inde-
pendence, but to the United States. The quaint warning of an
American diplomatist to a political friend of mine is not so exagj, crated
as might be supposed : " The United States is watching, and I guess
she'll jnck up everything you let drop^ Not another nation under
heaven is so suicidally regardless of the pillars of its power.

Before such schemes are further elaborated, may not we and the
Australian Colonies judiciously consider what claiais the Imperial
Government, representing the British nation, has upon those provinces ?
Colonial Ministers acting under the Crown have from time to time
constituted small patches of society, excised from our own community,
the absolute owners of property held, in all moral and political honesty,
in trust for the people and Government of these islands ; for it was won
and maintained by our adventure and sacrifice. A slip of an Imperial
pen has unreservedly transferred whole provinces to those casual com-
munities ; but this has been done with the implied trust that they
should be held and used only in harmony with Imperial interests. No
Minister or Government had the power to confer more. These terri-
tories, from which we might have drawn Imperial revenues, ar3 now
administered solely in the interest of the settlers. We exact from them

• I copy the First Report in extenso, from the Launreston Examiner of Nov. 6,
at tha end of these clippinga.

COLONIAL "destiny."

107

[o
li-

no direct pecuniary profit. They have been the gift by which we
meant to reward the enterprise of our adventurous sons. But they
must not suppose that they have the right to divest tliem of the Im-
perial dominium. They hold them as our fellow- citizens, on the basis
of their citizenship, and against the Imperial will they cannot assume
the right of removing them from our sovereignty. Every man, woman,
and child in these islands has a right and voice in the future position
of our Colonies ; the sooner they and we understand it the better for
all. The " unwashed " millions may claim their interest in the matter,
and insist that careless statesmanship and intemperate politics shall hot
jeopardise the enormous stake they have in the integrity of our
dominions.

If anybody should represent that in permitting our Colonies to sepa-
rate from us we and they should be fulfilling our destiny, my retort is
that destiny appears very much to be under the control of men : within
certain limits our destiny is what we make it. . . .

How much we have to gain in time of peace by the consolidation of
Imperial connexions it is needless here at any length to recall. The
arguments used in support of emigration — the proofs adduced of mutual
profit from intercourse and trade — are only strengthened when we con-
sider their bearing under a more organized and complete union.
Should a federal system be devised, whereby every Colony has its
rightful place and representation in the Imperial connexion, whereby to
every Colonist was assured Imperial citizenship, with all its resultant
rights of protection and freedom, it is impossible but that the ideal
distinctions between "Home" and " the Colonies" would vanish away.
Instead of hearing ignorant men among the uninstructed classes, and
unwise men among the instructed classes, speak of an emigrant as " an
exile," and our birthright estates beyond the seas as " foreign lands,'
we should know no difference between England, Scotland, Ireland,
Canada, and Australia, except the divisions of spaee, and no boundary
of " Home " other than the limits of our Empire. . . .

The timidity of wealth, as well as that of thinking labour and per-
sonality, to which I have already alluded, partly arises from the un-
certainty of our relations to our Colonies, which, along with consider-
able ignorance regarding the Colonies themselves, makes the capitalist
hesitate to trust his money in Colonial enterprises. If Canada is likely
to become independent, if New Zealand is any day to go off in a pet,
who can foresee what the value of their securities, or their railways, or
their public works or p'*ivate speculations will be ? But confirmed in
federal union, with ultimate resort to federal courts, with mora con-

108

IMPERIAL BURDENS.

stant intercourse and a permanent official representation at the
Imperial capital — with the whole system of our English business ex-
panded, its banks, trades, companies, agencies, communicating and
acting together within the Empire as they now do within Great
Britain — we foresee in Federalism a promise of development for our
wealth hitherto unconceived by the most dreamy worshipper of Plutus.
And the possibility has been concluded by the steam and telegraph,
which have destroyed the obstacles of distance. The Colonies also
would gain their advantage from the new relation, in the ready inflow
of capital for all purposes of development.

Not only in this way would the wealth of the Empire be quickened
into more general circulation, but from the Imperial point of view
Federalism promises to settle in the happiest way the difficulties
arising through the unequal incidence of the burthens of Imperial ex-
pense. I do not here advert to the National Debt — a subject which
would need special arrangements under any system of federation. One
of the prime conditions of federation would be that the charges in
matters of common interest should be equally borne, those of more im-
mediate concern to any member of the confederacy being left to the
adjudication of its local Government. Under this arrangement English-
men in England could no longer complain that they were unfairly taxed
for the benefit of Englishm.en in America, or Africa, or Australia ; for
even granting that at any period any single member of theconfedera-y
should need peculiar assistance, its constant contribution to the Im-
perial exchequer would in the end more than outweigh the temporary
obligation. . . .

Measures of Imperial, national, or Colonial importance are hustled
out of the way by one or two, sometimes, of secondary consequence,
which have happened to engage popular sympathies. Here is the.
secret of Ministerial worship of Drift. Some of the most crying evils
of the day retain their vicious power, some of the most needful reforms
are unaccomplished, because there are limits to legislative time and
human endurance. If this pressure continues in anything like the
present ratio of increase, the Empire must perish of congestion of the
brain. . . .

It is worth while to observe the discrepancy between the numbers
arising out of the three kingdoms. The proportion of English statutes
is too largely in excess of those from Scotland and Ireland to be
accounted for simply by the disproportion of population, wealth, and
prosperity. It must be taken that from either of the lesser provinces
there would, in the event of greater legislative facilities, be more

y *,"

BUSINESS IN PARLIAMENT.

109

legislation, and the activity of legislation is a better sign for a
country tlian its inertness. Conversely, I assume that the deficiency
of legislation of the kind here under discussion, for two countries
like Scotland and Ireland, is, in part, fairly attributable to a deficiency
of fecilitiea for accomplishing it.

Those Acts of a quasi-imperial character termed " Public and
General Statutes," yield the following results, allowing to the descrip-
tion Imperial the widest scope : —

Imperial statutes — e.g., Army, Navy, Revenue,

iX'i/ia iX/C* ••• ••• Sfft ••» ••• * * » ••• •••

Technical statutes — amending laws or affecting
legal questions, &c. (these might be either local

or Imperial)

Local statutes : — England 2G

Ireland IG

Scotland 7

India '^

»
»

• • • • • ■

England and Ireland

Total 1

Hence, had there existed an Imperial Parliament and separate
local Governments in England, Scotland, and Ireland, less than one-
half of the Public General Statutes would have come within the
province of Imperial legislation — that is, 45 out of 97.

The result upon the whole legislation is, that out of 293 Acts there
were —

••• *•• •••

••• ••• •*• •••

Imperial...

Technical

English ...

Irish

Scotch

Indian

England and Ireland together

• * • • • •

• ■ • • • •

»•• ••• •••

• • • • • •

4 • • • • •

«•• ••• •••

... 48
... 15
... 1G6
35
20
9

Total 293

Less than one-sixth in number of all the Acts of last session could

THE COLONIAL OFFICE.

■■ •*^--

■'t

be characterized as Imperial ; the rest w je properly referable to the
localities immediately affected by them.* . . .

An office, presided over by a shifting partizan, however able,
however honest, however industrious — actually conducted by a per-
manent staff, seldom, if ever, selected for any reputation of experi-
ence in colonial life — an office, to visit which is for a Colonist like
reconnoitring an enemy — to negotiate wi^^^h which is like a war
parley, and to assault which needs almost a forlorn hope and a
battery — is, spite of any brilliant abilities existing in it, incapable of
discharging with success the infinitely varied, numerous, delicate,
and d(jtailed duties essential to its business. To every Colony, each
with its own wrongs or rights or difficulties, such an offce is sure to
a])pear unwise or tyrannical, because, in its very constitution, its
aspect is to them foreign. Their delegates do not meet officials from
their own colony — they meet bigoted domestic Englishmen. Not
infrequently, before they can open a negotiation, or even make a
statement, they are obliged to give imperfect instruction in the con-
ditions of the people or places to be the subject of official attention.
This cannot continue long. The Colonies must have better audience
at Whitehall, or they will have done knocking at our doors. , , .

A senate or parliament of representatives from every province,
deliberating in public, and acting on the decision of the majority,
would of necessity satisfy all the objections to the present system.
All other schemes, such as that of a representative Colonial Council,
Colonist Ministers, limited representation in the Imperial Parlia-
ment, and so forth, dwindle before the practical simplicity of federal

union.

* I had niyaelf made a similar analysis for the Sessions 1869 and 1870. It
was not made with great nicety, but is suflEicieatly accurate, and apropos to
Bubjoin :—

Acta. 1869. 1870.

England 49 35

Ireland 10 16

England and Ireland 8 5

United Kingdom 34 38

Man, &c 4

India 9 3

Colonies 4 3

:"!

Private Acts

117
171

112

181

288

293

PBDEBATIO.V NOT A DREAM. m

liberty, anTfosteriti ll r "T"""^ "°''^' P"'^^""^ P^^O""'
of Imperial » ndol r ""'^P''"*""''' ''Wlo in enlarging the scope

I have sl^!° , /'"' '"■""«"' '" ""* P'-'y "f I>»1«™1 loyalty.

trcatmen eno "m,!^ Federation, Without pretence of exhaustive
inq.^ri„T'trroS ' T """" '''" '" P™™ *« ''^«'™W«ty of
impo We*Tf3t ,::[ fr;"""*' '^«''"''«<"' ^o feasible or

I have a^an^ed I "^Z^l .tl'^ Tj'^ *"' ^ f " '"-' '""'
dreamed nlnn,i +i.« Z , , "^^^^ Bismarck ten years ajro

CTondtloth? , "''""■"■"^^ °' "-^^^ wondrous and terrible
ys, would he not have been consigned to some careful asylum ? "

112

''!

FIRST REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION AFrOINTED
BY THE VICTORIA GOVERNMENT.

As this unpleasant, though courteous, document is of great national
interest and importance, I ])roduco it liero in extenso. I put part into
italics, chiefly with u view to call attention to truths grievously mis-
ai)plied : —

* To His Excellency the Right Hon. John Henry Thomas
Viscount Canteruuiiy, K.C B., Governor and Commander-in-
Chief OF THE Colony of Victoria.

"We, the undersigned Commissioners appointed under Letters Patent
from the Crown, bearing date the Gist day of August, 1870, to con-
sider and report upon the necessity of a Federal Union of the Australian
Colonies for Legislative purposes, and the best r,"oans of accomplish-
ing such a union, beg to submit to your Excellency this our first
Report : —

" 1. The two questions referred to the Commission have been care-
fully and separately considered.

" I. — Advantages of a Federal Union.

" 2. On the primary question of a Federal Union of the Australian
Colonies, apart from all considerations of the time and method of
bringing such a union about, there was a unanimity of opinion. The
indispensable condition of success for men or nations is, that they
should clearly understand what they want, and to what goal they were
travelling, that hfe may not be wasted in doing and undoing ; and as
we are persuaded that the prosperity and security of these Colonies
Would be effectually promoted by enabling them to act together as one
people under the authority of a federal compact, they cannot, we
believe, too soon come to an understanding upon this fundamental
point.

" 3. The difference in strength and j^t'esti/je between isolated commu-
nities having separate interests and a National Confederation loith a
national policy/, has been illustrated in the history of almost every

1 . 1-«J.

J ' ' %'i

'»J^J.

TUB VICTORIAN COMMISSION.

113

*',

great State in the world, and conspicnoiisly in tlio history of States of
which we share the blood and traditions. The effects of such a Con-
federation, when it is vohmtary and equal, are felt throup^hout all the
complicated relations of a nation's life, ai' 'inj;^ immensely to its
material and moral strength. By its concentrated power it exercises
an increased gravitation in attractiwj jwpuhdion and commerce. It
multiplies the natioiuil wealth by putting an end to jealous and wasteful
competitions, and sul)stituting the wise economy of power which teaches
each district to ui)ply itself to the industries in which it can attain the
greatest success. It enlarges tlie, home market, tohich is the nursiiuj
mother of native manufactures. It forms larger designs, engages in
larger enterprises, and by its increased resources anil authority causes
them to be more speedily accomplished. It obtains additional security
for peace by increasing its means of defence; and, hij crcatimj a
nation, it creates alomj with it a sentiment of nafiomditij — a sentiment
which has been one of the strongest and most beneficent motive powers
in human alTalrs. The method, indeed, by which States have grown
great is almost uniform in history : they gathered popidation and
territori/, and on these wings rose to material jwwer ; and with the
sense of a common citizenship there speeclili/ came, like a soul to the
inert body, that public sjnrit b>i whose inspiration dangers are roillinglg
faced and privations cheerfully borne in the sacred name of country.

" 4. We cannot doubt that it is the destiny of the Australian Colonies
to 2^ursiie a similar career, and their ditty to prepare for it. They
possess resources and territory which fit them to become in the end a
great Umpire; they are occupied by a poi)ulatioii already larger than
the population of many sovereign States, and they yield a revenue
greater than the revenue of six of the Kingdoms of Europe ; and we
believe they share the sentiments, which may be noted as among the
most subtile and pervading influences of (jur century, the desire to
perfect the union ami autonomy of peoples of the same origin.

" II. — Best Means of Effecting a Union.

" 5. The form which a Federal Union ought to assume, and the
time at which it ought to be brought into operation, are subjects which
must be reserved for a Conference of Colonial Delegates accredited by
the respective Governments and Legislatures concerned.

" 6. In approaching tho second question referred to us, however —
the best means of effecting a union — it is necessary to point out that a
federal compact for Legislative purposes may represent widely different
ideas and measures of power. The Canadian Dominion furnishes the

114

FIRST REPORT OF

most perfect example of Fodornted Colonies. Canada, Nova Scotia,
Now IJrunswick, and rrinco Edward's Fsland enjoyed constitutions
substantially the some as ours, and wore, consequently, under the
control of Governments responsible only to the local Legislatures.
For the [mrpose of attaining the incro;ised vigour and authority which
result from union, those Colonies agreed to abandon some of the powers
enjoyed by the local Ijcgislatures in favour of a general Parliament
and Government authorized to act on behalf of all the Confederated
Colonies. A constitution was framed accordingly, under which each
Colony retains a local Legislature, possessing complete control over
purely local interests, and over the public lands of the Colony, while
the Parliament and the Executive of the Dominion are charged with
what may bo distinguished as national interests. We have printed in
an Appendi.K the principal clauses of the Act of the Imperial Parlia-
ment creating the Dominion of Canada, from which the functions of
the local and general Legislatures respectively may bo seen in detail.
On the other hand, there have been examples of a Federal Council
having authority only on a few specified subjects, and on such other
subjects as were afterwards from time to time referred to it by the local
Legislatures. And there have been intermediate methods of more or
less perfectly organized union. Opinion in the Colonies seems to be
divided between these methods ; and a decision can only be arrived at
after much debate and negotiation.

" 7. But there is a preliminary work to be done, upon which there
would probably be a little difference of opinion. To effect a union of
any kind, binding alike upon all, an Imperial Act is necessary. Such
an Act might be a permissive one, and might authorize the Queen, by
proclamation, to call into existence a Federal Union of any two or
more of the Australian Colonies as soon as they passed Acts in their
respective Legislatures providing, in identical terms, for the powers
and functions to be xercised by the General Legislature, and the
distribution of seai^j md for the adjustment of the Colonial debts in
case the nature of the union should render an adjustment necessary.
The bases of these identical Acts would, of course, be determined by
Conference between the Colonies.

"8. The Permissive Act ought to provide for the admission of
Colonies not joining the Union in the first instance, and might also
provide a mode of withdrawal upon certain notice for any Colony
dissatisfied.

" 9. We are distinctly of opinion that ' the best means of accomplish-
ing a union ' is to remove, by such an act, all legal impediments to it

THE VICTORIA COMMISSION.

115

loro

11 of

Inch

leir

ers

;he

iby

without delay, and leave the Colonies to determine, by negotiation
anionj^ theinvsc'ves, how far, and how soon, they will avail themselves
of the power thus conferred on them.

" 10. The Conunission are disposed to re/javd it as part of tJie duty
committtul to them to prepare a bill Jor transminsioH to the Imperial
Parliament of the nature which they have indicated, and to ascertain
by communication with the leiuliuf? public; men in the other Colonies
whether they are disi)osed to co-operate in securinjji; the sanction of the
Imperial "arliament for it. While all (picstions of Intercolonial rela-
tions must be reserved for a Colonial Conference, it seems [plain that,
unless those who make a proposal of this nature }]^ive it practical s!iai)0
and take means to ascertain how f.v it will be acceptable, it may prove
as barren of results as many proposals on the same subject which have
preceded it. They intend, therefore, to jii'int such a bill tvith their
second Meport,

" III. — Tub Neutrality of the Colonies in War.

"11. A cognate question has been l)rought under the consideration
of the Commission, as belonging to its general object — the existing
relation of the Colonies to each other and to the Mother Country.

*' 12. The British Colonies from which Imperial troops have been
wholly loithdraxon j)resent the unprecedented jihenomenon of responsi-
bility without either corresponding authority or adequate 2)rotection.
They are as liable to all tiie hazards of war as the United Kingdom ;
but they can influence the commencement or continuance of war no
more than they can control the movements of the solar system; and
they have no certain assurance of that aid against an enemy upon which
integral portions of the United Kingdom can conlidently reckon. This
is a relation so wanting in mutuality that it cannot safely be regarded
as a lasting one, and it becomes necessary to consider how it may be
so modified as to afibrd a greater security for 2Jcrmanence.

" 13. It has been proposed to establish a Council of tlie Empire,
whose advice must be taken before toar was declared. But this mea-
sure is so Joreign to the genius and traditions of the British Constitu-
tion, and presupposes so lar^^e an abandonment of its functions by the
House of Commons, that we dismiss it from consideration. There
remains, however, we think, more than one method by which the
anomaly of the present system may be cured.

" 14. It is a maxim of international law, that a sovereign State cannot
be involved in war without its own consent, and that while two or more

116

VICTORIAN COMMISSION ON

States are subject to the same Crown, and allies in peace, they are not,
therefore, necessarily associates in war if the one is njOt dependent on
the other.

" 15. The sovereignty of a State does not arise from its extent, or
power, or pojmlation, cr form of govefnment. Morf than a century
ago Vattel formulated the principle now universally accepted, that a
small community may be a sovereij^n State no less than the most
powerful Kingdom or Empire, and that dl sovereign States inherit the
same rights and obligations.

"16. ' Two sovereign States,' says Yattel, 'maybe subject to the
same prince without any dependence on each other, and each may
retain its rights as a free and sovereign State. The King of Prussia
is Sovereign Prince of Neufchatel in Switzerland, without the princi-
pality being in any manner united to his other dominions ; so that the
people of Neufchatel, in virtue of their franchises, may serve a foreign
Power at war with the King of Prussia, provided that uhe war be not
on account of that principdity.'

" 17. Wheaton and other modern public jurists have illustrated the
same principle by the case of Hanover and England, which, though
they were allied by personal union under the same Crown, were not
necessarily associates in war, or responsible for each other. And the
latest writers on international law cite the more modern and analogous
case of the Ionian Islands, a State garrisoned by British troops, and
having as chief magistrate a Lord High Commissioner appointed by
the Queen, ond which was, notwithstanding, adjudged before the
British Court of Admiralty (on a private question arising) to consti-
tute a sovereign State not associated with the United Kingdom in the
Crimean War. The last chief magistrate but one of this sovereign
State was since promoted to the Governorship of the Colony of New
South Wales, and thence to the Governorship of the domain of Canada.
The last Lord High Commissioner was transferred to the Governor-
ship of the Dependency of Jamaica.

" 18. Without overlooking the distinction between Colonies con-
sisting of men of the same origin as the population of the United
Kingdom, and States inherited by the Crown, like Hanover, or
obtained by treaty, like the Ionian Islands, it is suggested fOi." con-
sideration whether the rule of international law under which they are
declared neutrals in war would not become applicable to Colonies
enjoying self-government by a single addition to their present power.

{

INDEPENDENCE AND SOVEREIGNTY.

117

pign

I New

»ada.

lor-

lited
or

Icon-
are

bnies

" 19. The Colony of Victoria, for example, possesses a separate
Parliament, Government, and distinguishing flag ; a separate naval
and military establishment. All the public appointments are made
by the local Government. The only oflBcer commissioned from Eng-
land who exercises authority within its limits is the Queen's repre-
sentative ; and in the Ionian Islands, while they were admittedly a
sovereign State, the Queen's representative was appointed in the same
manner. The single function of a sovereign State, as understood in
international law, which the Colony does not exercise or possess, is
the power of contracting obligations with other States. The want of
this power alone distinguishes her 2>osition from that of States un-
doubted li/ sovereign.

"20. If the Queen were authorized by the Imperial Parliament to con-
cede to the greater Colonies the right to make treaties, it is contended
that they would fulfil the conditions constituting a sovereign State in
as full and perfect a sense as any of the smaller States cited by public
jurists to illustrate this rule of hmited responsibility. And the notable
concession to the interests of peace and humanity made in our own day
by the Great Pov)ers with respect to privateers and to merchant ship-
ping renders it probable that they would not, on any inadequate
grounds, refuse to recognize such States as falling under the rule.

" 21. It must not be forgotten that this is a subject in which the
interests of the Colonies and of the Mother Country are identical.
British statesmen have long aimed not only to limit more and more the
expenditure incurred for the defence of distant Colonies, but to with-
draw more and more from all ostensible responsibility for their defence ;
and they would probably see any honourable method of adjusting the
present anomalous relations with no less satisfaction than we should.

" 22. Nor would the recognition of the neutrality of the self-governed
Colonies deprive them of the power of aiding the Mother Country in
any just and neccesary war. On the contrary, it would enable them to
aid her unth more dignity and effect ; as a sovereign State could of its
own free will, and, at whatever period it thou flU proper, elect to be-
come a party to the war.

" 23. We are of opinion that this fubject ought to be brought under
the notice of the Imperial Government. If the proposal should receive
their sanction, they can ascertain the wishes of the American and
African Colonies with respect to it, and finally take the necessary

118

VICTORIAN COMMISSION.

(L.S.)

ZZZT""' "™^"'""" - >""■' «f '"e p„,„e ,awof the

THO. HOWARD FELLOWS.

(As to Parts I. and II )
C. M'MAHON.
JOHN MACGREGOR
J. F. SULLIVAN.
EDWARD LANGTON.

(ExcGDt as to Part III )
J- J. CASEY.
O. B, KERFERD.
GRAHAM BERRY.
JAS. GRAHAM."

»>
»

((

Town Hall, Melbourne, October 3, 1870.

INDEX.

Act 18 and 19 Vic, c. 54

African Colonies ... vii, 41, 66,
Aggregative Tendency of the Age 19,
Agriculture's Advantages to a Nation
compared with Export Trades 6, 32,

Alienirlng iv, 4,

Allegiance 63,

Anti-Ininiigration League

Armaments ... 27, 36, 52, 76,

"Atlantica"

AusTKALiA 19, 22, 41, 67, 67, 70,

71, 73, 78, 79, 80,

82, 9'6, 99, 1U6,

,, Royal Commission 50,

106,
„ Conference ... 19, 42,

„ Emigrants to

Bacon, lord

Bent'iam, Jereviy

Board, A Colonial ... 11,16,

Bombay

Butler, General

Canada ... viii, 4, 18, 41, 50, 51,
53, 67, 77, 95, 97, 103, 105,

Cape Route

10,

page
81
117

Capital

Carlyle

" Cavete canes "
Celtic Element
Citizenship
Coaling Stations
Colomb, Captain
Colonial Office
Colonial Questions
Colonies are Co-Partners ... 13j
„ Benefits they confer 73, 75,

25,
2,

10, 15, 27, 82,

96
92
74

79
97

117

112

68
87
62
72
56
54
vi

113
vii

107
73
43
25
4
54

Z'^

110
95
64
94

Benefits they receive 9, 35, 76, 94

Claim of vi, 14, 43, 46,

Cost of

Equalizing with Mother
Country ... 12,34,

E.xpectations from ... iii,
Fears of ... 18,49,

Improved Admini.stration of
Loyalty of the 18, 33, 45,

Neutiulity of

Parties in the

Representation in Cabinet...
„ "Tributarj- States"

Cobnisat'on 58, 68, 70,

„ Object

Grekk 68,

Roman...

,, United States
Colonists, How Welcomed ... 10,
„ in London ... 88,
" Colony " Defined

>»

50
77

65
37
98
63
98

115
93
16
81
72
61
70
69
69

110
84
60

Columbia, British

" Coming Event, The," by Dr. Lang

Commission at Melbourne

Conference at Melbourne 19, 42,

Contemporary Review

Crown Rights

Council of the Empire 16, 40, 84,

Daily Revieto

Debt, National 31, 35, 36, 75, 92,
Defence of Colonies vii, 19, 46, 52,

>>
>>

PAGE
61
48
50
58

101
80
85
97

108
83

101

113
76

108
48

107

101

112

103

Dismemberment ... 21, 47, 66,

Disloyalty 63, 105, 106,

Dominance .. 65,

"Drifting" 101,

Edinburi)h Review

Emigration ... iv, 10, 23, 33, 78,

80, 82, 87, 91, 94, 101

„ Fxmdfor ... 78,81,

„ Report on

" Empire " Defined

Unification 35, 56,

Council of the ... 16,
Integrity of the 34, 41,

too Extensive"

„ "Weal of. True Policy 2,
England, Love Towards ... 50,

English Emigrants

Fawcett, Professor, M.P

Federation 16, 43,

„ Australian 42, 83, 84, 103,

„ Canadian

We.st Indian

of Empire viii, 43, 65,

70, 84, 101
„ of Engli.sh-8peaking

Countries 78

Fiji 58, 69

Foreign Emigrants 87

Fortresses 9, 18

France ... 9, 10, 19, 22, 23, 25, 43, 72

,, Colonies of 72

Franklin, Bei}jamin 72

Free Trade 9,21,33, 94

" Friends in Council," Author of ... 56

Froiulc, Mr 82

Future, The 10,25, 96

Gambia vii

(hizettc, British Columbia 51

Germany 9, 10, 19, 25, 30, 43,

60, 85, 104

Ginx's Baby, k\xi\\or oi 101

Gladstone, Right Hon. W, E. vii,

47, 93 105
Glasgow, Sitvte of, and a Warning

from 66

Good Words 56

Government, The ... 18, 41, 47, 67

120

l^xJEX.

Qrahville, Earl ... 41, 97, P8,

Great Nations iii, 19,

Orey, Earl 75,

Orotius

Hansard v.

Helps, Arthur, Mr

Honours 12,

" Imperial," The Word
Improved Administration of Colonies
Independence ... viii, 14, 19, 42, 43,
48, 50, 57, 63, 70, 93,

India 20, 22,

Institute, Royal Colonial

Ionian Islands

Irish Emigrants

Ireland, Legi-slation for

Isolation of Portions of the Empire

20,
Johnston, Rev. Jas., Glasgow

Land at Home

„ Exchanging British for Colonial

„ Grants Among Romans

„ „ Requisite to Attract

Immigrants

„ Sale ^ avenue from

„ Soutu "lian

„ Transfei olonies

„ Condition implied ... 3,

„ Waste 23, 3'2, 38, 70, 78, 80,

„ „ Return, Parliamentary

Land, Rev. Dr. ... viii, 48,

Leith

Leith Herald

Lewis, Sir George

Liverpool as an Emigration Port iv,
M'Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce

Manchester, Duke of

Melbourne Age

Melbourne Argus

Merivale, Mr.

Misleadirg Impressions 18, 34, 58, 67,

Montreal Gazette

Mortality in Steamships

" Mother Country "

Monsell, Right Hon. Wm., M.P. ...

*' Mutuality Awanting"

National Spirit ... ix, 10,

Nationality 63, 85,

,, Australian ... 58,

Negotiations 27,49,55,

Neufchatel

New South Wales Land Sales ...

„ ,, Constitution

Nero York Herald

New Zealand 49, 59, 66, 67, 97,
Nobility, their Duties ... 11,

Nova Scotia

Northcote, Sir Stafford, M. P.

Ocean Highways 46,

Pall Mall Gazette

Parliament V, 14, 15, 17, 27, 36,

37, 42, 108,

Parnell, Sir Henry

Party Question, Colonial is not 1,
Pauperism, its Increase

PAGE

106
85
84
71
85
66
39
40
63

104
35
93

116
87

viii

30
96
iv
39
69

iii

, 69

115

112

116

104

105

115
77
47
96

PAOR

Policy, Mistakes in 7, 32, 35, 38, 68, 102
Poor, their Interests Neglected 38,

66, 107

Population ... 9, 24, 30, 35, 43, 78

Pojmlar Opinion ... 68,85, 104

Protection, Adverse in Colonies ... iii

Quarterly Review 50

Qukensland 41, 90

Roebuck, Mr 70

Royalty, its Opportunities 11

Russell, Earl 81

Russia ... 9, 20, 22, 23, 25, 30, 43

Sandon, Lord, M.P 85

Scotch Emigrants 87

Secretary and Under-Secretary of

State for the Colonies 47

Separation 17, 42, 46, 49, 57, 66,

74, 75, 83, 93, 113
„ Loss to United Kingdom

by 84

Smith, Adam 71, 76

Social Science Association ... 1, 30

South Australia 89

" Sovereign State," A 115

Steamships for Emigrants 86

Strength, National, Whence 19, 30

Supply and Demand 8

Tariffs, Hostile 5

Times, The ... 45, 52, 67, 68, 93, 99

Trade, Evils and Crises ... 6, 96

„ Its Instability 5

„ with the Colonies ...22,77, 94

„ Undue Favour for Export ... vi

„ Value of Home ... 5, 112

"Trpison" 105

Troops, Withdrawal of 8, 50, 59, 67, 115

United Kingdom, Duties of 26, 35

„ Place of 24, 75, 85, 95

"Pride "of 33, 66

Rights of 38, 73

Rule of, Generous 3

„ Self-indnigence ... 31

,, Wishes ... 58, 59

Un)CZD States 9, 10, 20, 23, 24,

30, 33, 36, 43, 56, 60,

S3, 95, 98, 106, 113

„ Colonisation 69,. 71

„ Congress 72

„ Emigration to 77, 87

„ Facilities there ... 4

National Spirit ... 10

Relations with ... 24
their Separation a

National L./Ss ... 77

Value of Emigrants iv, 91

Vattel 116

Victoria Commission v, 50, 106, 112

Wakefield, Mr. ... 65, 75, 78

War ... 21, 31, 45, 49, 60, 78, 82

Wellington Independent 49

West garth, Mr 93

Wodehome, Sir Philip 86

Working Classes 4, 85

i'oul, Mr. A. 84

LONDON : W. J. JOHNSON, I-BTNTER, 121, FLEET STREET, E.C,

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107

i3,

!5,

104

. ..

iii

. ••

i).'

113

•»

, ,

115

, ,

)

112

105

115

35,

6(5

113

•T*'

116

112