LIBRARY OF THE University of California. Class SELECTED SPEECHES OF THE RIGHT HON. Sir William Molesworth, BART., M.P. •U^iUAtr- ^ So-cAer^l./lA . i^^^- !^At M^^.Jlr^ll^^an^ .Jlc^/eM,.or^A.'/i,r/:. //''/' /^^^. selected speeches of Sir William Molesworth, BART., P.O., M.P., ON QUESTIONS RELATING TO COLONIAL POLICY. EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY HUGH EDWARD EGERTON, M.A., AUTHOR OF "A SHORT HISTORY OF BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY" AND "sir STAMFORD RAFFLES." LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1903. BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. / CONTENTS. PAGE ON LORD GLENELG's COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION, MARCH 6, . 1838 I ^ ON THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM OF DISPOSING OF THE COLONIAL LANDS, JUNE 27, 1 839 .... 54 EXTRACT ON COLONIES FROM SPEECH AT LEEDS ON STATE OF THE NATION, FEBRUARY 5, 184O ... 83 ON TRANSPORTATION, MAY 5, 184O 90 X EXTRACT FROM SPEECH ON THE DISCONTINUANCE OF TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN's LAND, MAY 20, 185I ON COLONIAL EXPENDITURE AND GOVERNMENT, JULY 25, 1848 ON A ROYAL COMMISSION TO INQUIRE INTO THE ADMINI- STRATION OF THE COLONIES, JUNE 26, 1849 . ON REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE, APRIL lO, 185I • . • . - . ON INTRODUCTION OF THE BILL TOR ^HE E^tfTT^R iipi^ERNV, MENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES, FEBRUARY 8, ' 1850 291 ON SECOND READING OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, FEBRUARY 18, 185O 306 ON MR. SPENCER WALPOLE'S AMENDMENT TO AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, MARCH 22, 185O . . . 315 ON AMENDMENT TO AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, APRIL 19, 1850 344 2'^ 1589 vi CONTENTS. PAGE MOTION TO RECOMMIT AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, MAY 6, 1850 365 PROPOSED CONSTITUTION FOR NEW SOUTH WALES . . 392 ON THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL, MARCH 5, 1 853 402 APPENDIX. REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, 1838 44I ILLUSTRATIONS. PORTRAIT OF SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH, BART., M.P. FvOUtispiece BUST OF SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH (bY BEHNES) IN THE LIBRARY OF PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA . . To faCC p. I d INTRODUCTION The interest aroused by Mrs. Fawcett's " Life of Sir William Molesworth," published in 1901, showed that the British public, both at home and across the seas, have long memories for those ** who have done the State some service." It has, therefore, been thought that at a time when the problems connected with the future of the British Empire are very present in the minds and thoughts of states- men, and are being mooted in the market-place and wherever men of British race come together, a more select circle of readers may care to have before them in handy form the actual words, wherein one of the most distinguished of colonial reformers put forward his views with regard to the right relations between the Mother Country and the colonies. For such purpose it is necessary to focus the attention upon one aspect of Sir William Moles- worth's public life. He was, of course, much more than a colonial reformer. Besides the conspicuous part which he took in the general politics of his time, Molesworth, by his edition of Hobbes, did yeoman service on behalf of English philosophy. Amongst the most powerful of his speeches was the crushing reply which he made to Mr. Miall, at Southwark, in answer to the charge of having viii INTRODUCTION. countenanced infidelity. Fortunately the passage is set out in Mrs. Fawcett's Life (pp. 252 — 256). Were the object to appraise Molesworth's merits as an orator, another speech, also quoted by Mrs. Fawcett (at p. 304), would require to be given, wherein he showed himself no mean master of invective. It may be, however, that a more lasting memorial to Molesworth's greatness will be found in the speeches wherein he elaborated what was in fact a new system of colonial policy. It may seem a rash thing to republish speeches delivered more than fifty years ago in the House of Commons. Whatever may have been the case with ancient oratory, modern speechifying is, in the nature of things, for the most part ephemeral, and it is significant that the one modern orator whose speeches are a permanent storehouse of political wisdom and philosophy, was known to his con- temporaries as ''the dinner-bell." Nevertheless, the new spirit which animates Englishmen in dealing with colonial questions may lend some interest to the ipsissima verba of one who was, so far as party politicians were concerned, perhaps the most distinguished forerunner and messenger of the new movement. But even after a perusal of Molesworth's speeches the ordinary reader will find it hard to realise the full extent of his superiority to contemporary thought in his view of the right rela- tions between Mother Country and colony. We all know that the paradox of one generation becomes the platitude of the next, and so, unless we read, side by side with Molesworth's speeches, the actual language wherein statesmen of the calibre of Lord John Russell and Lord Stanley, as late as 1837, INTRODUCTION. ix declared responsible government in a colony to be outside the range of possibility, it is impossible to do justice to Molesworth's position. That the Governor of a self-governing colony should stand in a two-fold relation to his Colonial Ministers ; that so far as purely local questions are concerned he should be something in the nature of a constitutional monarch, who only governs through his Ministers, while, at the same time, where Imperial interests are involved, he remains responsible to the Home authorities — such a solution as this, obvious as it now seems to the mere tyro in politics, was not in their hearts accepted by English statesmen till some years after their hands had been forced by the publication of Lord Durham's epoch-making Report. In the same way the view that such local independence would tend not to disintegration but to greater union, by the removal of causes of friction, now seems trite enough : and yet, when fifty years ago local independence was advocated, it was gene- rally with the underlying belief that it afforded a welcome euthanasia for the Imperial connexion. It is curious to compare the present triumph of the ideas and principles of the small group of colonial reformers who in the early thirties under- took the task of finding a new final cause for the existence of colonies, with the ill luck which dogged them in their lifetime. Gibbon Wakefield, the most original and nimble-witted of them all, lived his whole life under the shadow of an early crime, which rendered him for ever impossible in English public life. It is true that with characteristic chivalry we find Molesworth suggesting the obtain- ing for him a seat in Parliament, but efforts in X INTRODUCTION. this direction would, doubtless, have been made in vain. It was at once tragic and ludicrous that the moral force of Lord Durham's mission was in England to some extent weakened by the presence among his advisers, though holding no official appointment, of one of the few men who were capable of giving real help. Wakefield, of course, did valiant service with his pen for the cause of colonial reform, and in the public life both of Canada and New Zealand was able to fight for his principles. Nevertheless the final impression left upon the mind by the singularly fascinating Life of Wakefield by Dr. Garnett is one of disappointment. " The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices Make instruments to plague us." Again, the haughty and difficult temper of Lord Durham, together with his early death, prevented his attaining to the place in public life which was the due of his natural powers and position. The brilliant and generous Charles Duller died just when men were beginning to realise that sterling sense is not always divorced from inexhaustible brilliancy and wit. Sir William Molesworth him- self, throughout his life the victim of ill health, had hardly attained the post wherein it was possible to give practical effect to the views which he had maintained for about twenty years concerning colonial policy, when death again intervened, and the clock of Greater Britain was put back at least thirty years. Although valuable pioneer work had been previously done by books such as Sir Charles Dilke's '' Greater Britain," and above all, Seeley's " Expansion of England," the period of Greater Britain may be said to date from about 1886, but INTRODUCTION. lA it is no disparagement to the distinguished men' who initiated and carried through the Colonial Conference of 1887, to say that it was not till the accession of Mr. Chamberlain to the Colonial Office, in 1895, that the aspirations of Molesworth were really fulfilled and the conception of the Mother Country with her colonies as prima inter pares fully grasped. Considerable discussion has taken place with regard to the rival merits of English political parties in the past, where colonial questions were concerned. To the profane, who inhabit outside the ring of the political wire-puller, such discussion appears a little to savour of '* Short's your friend, not Codlin " ; but in any case the candid reader of Molesworth's speeches will arrive at the conclusion, always assuming that he agrees with Molesworth, that neither political party has very much to boast of in its past record upon colonial questions. What, then, was there special in the attitude of Molesworth and of the colonial reformers, which differentiated them from either Whig or Tory statesmen and which makes good their claim to be the harbingers of a better day ? Briefly, the whole difference lay in the spirit with which colonial questions were approached. That spirit sufficiently appears in the following speeches. The indictment of Lord Glenelg's administration of colonial affairs begins with a positive assertion of Molesworth's own belief in the advantages of a Colonial Empire, and the negative criticism is throughout charged with an underlying confidence in a more excellent way of colonial government. The speeches on transportation, emigration, the dealing with the public lands, colonial expenditure, and the right xii INTRODUCTION. form of colonial government are all parts of a single whole, which is itself quite simple. The golden rule, Molesworth seems to say throughout these speeches, is, *' Do as you would be done by." Treat your colonists as equals, fellow-subjects, fellow- citizens. But if you do this, such a system as that of dumping your moral and social filth upon the colonists' land becomes an impossibility. From an economic standpoint much might be said for transportation, but when once the absolute im- morality and injustice, from the point of view of the colonies, is realised, it stands condemned. But a mere negative attitude is not enough ; it is necessary to see whether the economic advantages of transportation may not be obtained in another way. But here we have ready to hand the Wake- field system of dealing with the public lands, so as to provide a labour fund for the colonies. It is not necessary to enter here into the details of the Wakefield system of disposing of the colonial lands. Few will be found at the present day to deny that the manner in which in the British North American colonies the lands had been recklessly given away was lamentable, and that to provide an emigration fund from the proceeds of their sale was most expedient. The actual amount of the '' sufficient " price, necessary to retain immigrants as labourers for hire for a reasonable time, may be difficult to calculate, and Merivale and M. Paul Leroy- Beaulieu have adduced strong arguments to show that the system is not applicable to every kind of land or in all circumstances ; but it cannot now be denied that the measures advocated by Gibbon Wakefield, Charles Buller, Ward and Molesworth, INTRODUCTION. xiif would, had they received a fair trial, have done much to hasten the growth of the colonies in population and wealth. It is true that something was done in this direction, from the first action of Lord Howick, in 183 1, till the colonies were them- selves allowed the full disposal of their public lands ; but, considering the constant flow of emigration to the United States which went on during the period between 1830 and 1855, and the immense potential resources of the British Empire, it seems certain that a bolder use of the revenue derived from the lands might have diverted a considerable proportion of this flow to British channels. Be this as it may, whatever else he advocated, emigra- tion, both as a remedy for social distress at home and as a means of building up a Greater Britain beyond the seas, was never far from the thoughts of Sir William Molesworth. Thus, discussing the question on which he diff'ered most from the Imperialist of to-day, the question of South Africa, after setting out his views as to the uselessness of Cape Colony to Great Britain, with its endless series of native wars, Molesworth went on : ** If, however, public money is to be spent at the Cape of Good Hope, it would be better both for this country and the colony that it should be spent on emigration. ... If we were to reduce our military force at the Cape by 1,500 men and were to send there in their stead 9,000 emigrants a year, there would in all probability be a reduction in our expenditure on account of that colony ; and the rapid increase of the population would enable the colonists to guard their frontier effectually against the Kaffirs." Had this advice been followed, British xiv INTRODUCTION. preponderance in Cape Colony would have been secured by sheer weight of numbers, and the racial troubles, which later took so dangerous a character, need never have arisen. But if money and energy were to be expended upon the sending forth of people to the colonies, this could only be justified upon the assumption that those sent out remained free citizens, with all the rights and privileges of Englishmen. The fierce crusade carried on by Buller and Moles- worth against the Colonial Office was inspired by the conviction that the system of government through the Colonial Office involved the denial of these elementary rights. It is not necessary to adopt Molesworth's views on past colonial history. He believed — following authorities, who were, it may be contended, equally in error — that under the old English system of colonial government all was for the best in the best of all possible worlds ; until the folly of George Grenville and of Townshend closed the gates of this Paradise, and condemned English colonial policy to an outer world where it became enmeshed in the toils of a meddling Colonial Office. In fact the relations between the Mother Country and the colonies under the old system, so far from being on a basis of equality, were grounded on the most galling of inequalities, viz., restrictions upon trade. So far from being simple in character, such relations were, as any one may satisfy himself by a glance at such a book as Pownall's "Administration of the Colonies," complicated in the extreme. It is true that the old system tolerated local self-government, and so far merited the eulogies of the colonial reformers ; but INTRODUCTION. xv it constantly interfered with purely local matters — as, to give a single instance, by vetoing triennial or septennial bills — and the form in which self- government was given was such as inevitably to lead to friction between the Governor, who became more and more a governor in name, and the Legislature, which more and more invaded the province of the executive. It is curious that in their righteous zeal to obtain for the colonies responsible government the colonial reformers overlooked the moral of the old history, which surely was the danger of conferring power and then denying responsibility. The true argument from the past history would have been more to the purpose than the commonplaces in which, here alone, they indulged. It is interesting to compare the proposals of Sir William Molesworth with regard to the government of the Australian colonies with the practice which now prevails of leaving the self-governing colonies complete independence in the management of their own local concerns. , It should be noted, however, that, even now, the internal constitution of the Canadian Dominion could not be, to any great extent, amended without the intervention of the Imperial Legislature. An Imperial Act would still be necessary were it desired to mend or to end the Canadian Senate, to alter the proportionate repre- sentation ot the Provinces, or to remove the seat of government from Ottawa. Under the Australian Commonwealth Act of 1900, on the other hand, power is given to the colonists themselves to alter their constitution. Any such alteration, before it can become law, must have been approved of by a xvi INTRODUCTION. majority in both Houses, and must have been after- wards sanctioned by a majority of the electors entitled to vote for the House of Representatives. Although the right of disallowing colonial measures remains, so far as the letter is concerned, still in force, '* the truth," according to a work of authority, ''is that the Home authorities will now interfere only in two cases — (i) where, in the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, a colonial enactment is ultra vires; and (2) where, if a colonial enact- ment stands. Imperial interests would be directly prejudiced." It is thus manifest that modern practice very closely corresponds with Molesworth's proposals. Whether it would have been wise to tie the hands of the Home authorities by hard and fast regulations is a question upon which there is room for difference of opinion. It was not unnatural that, with its past record, Molesworth should feel distrust of the Colonial Office, but the Colonial Office of later days has become a very different place from the dismal abode with its sighing chamber denounced by Charles Buller, and at the present time the work of no department is carried on with greater efficiency or tact. The objection to rigid regulations, such as those in Molesworth's Bill, is that, in conceivable circumstances, Imperial issues might be involved in a measure on its face purely local in character. Molesworth, who had never known an English public school education, and who had been brought up at the feet of philosophers, found it hard to tolerate the want of logic and system in English methods of procedure ; but English methods at least possess the qualities of their defects, and the elasticity and insensible INTRODUCTION. xvii movement, which in England rob revolutions of their initial " r," are perhaps cheaply purchased at the expense of some confusion of thought and of difficulty of knowing, at any moment of time, exactly where we stand. Be this as it may, some proposals in Molesworth's Bill were certainly objectionable. His own friend and counsellor, Gibbon Wakefield, has well stated the argument against the proposal that the Governor's salary should be paid by England. '* The obligation of colonies," he wrote, **to defray the whole cost of their internal government would be one security for the preservation of their municipal independence, and would therefore be considered rather a benefit than a burden." Nor, although it would be gene- rally unwise to retain a Governor in a colony against the strong wishes of the colonists, would it have been expedient to enact that an address passed by two-thirds of the whole number of the members of each House of Parliament should involve of necessity the removal of a Governor. These, however, are matters of detail. The impor- tant point was that the Bill was an honest endeavour to put into formal language the theory which Moles- worth had always held, that the colonists were Englishmen, though domiciled across the seas, en- titled to all the rights and privileges of Englishmen. At first sight Molesworth's criticism of the Government measure, which, after all, in the words of its draftsman, "in effect proposed one resolution, viz., that it was expedient to leave the form of their constitutions to be dealt with by the Colonial Legislatures," may seem a trifle ** lurid." On the other hand it should be remembered that there was M. b xviii INTRODUCTION. a serious risk lest, starting on wrong lines, the Australian Constitutions should never regain the right track, and in fact the measure was altered in a popular direction in the House of Lords. Hitherto as the opponent of transportation, the advocate of emigration and of such a mode of dealing with the colonial lands as should promote English population, and lastly as the upholder of the principle of complete self-government in all local affairs, Molesworth is seen to anticipate the views with regard to Greater Britain of a later day. It is true that, compared to the stentorian notes to which we have become accustomed, the trumpet often gives forth an uncertain sound. We hear too much of the United States as still an English colony in the best sense of the term to suit the taste of those who, whatever their respect and affection for the great kindred Power across the Atlantic, still believe that the relations between the different parts of the British Empire must remain something much closer than are the relations between Great Britain and the United States, if Greater Britain is at all to fulfil the promise of its dawn. We must, however, always remember the times in which Molesworth lived, and the difficulty there was then in grasping the idea of Greater Britain. The loss of the American Colonies had seemed the full vindication of Turgot's memorable statement that colonies are Hke fruit, which, when ripe, falls off the parent branch. English states- men held on, it is true, to the old colonial system from loyalty to past traditions or from habit, but there was little enthusiasm, and the gospel of Free Trade, which was no longer preached from the INTRODUCTION. mx philosopher's study, but from the manufacturer's mill, and from the crowded streets of half-starving cities, appeared to point to a new earth, wherein, in the reasonable satisfaction of mutual wants, sentimental and political considerations should be almost forgotten. It is, from the point of view of those who believe in the British Empire as a force making for liberty and justice, to the eternal glory of the colonial reformers that they did not lose faith or hope or allow themselves to be diverted to false ideals. The majority of them strong Radicals where Home politics were concerned, they refused to be absorbed in the new Manchester school of Radicalism which came more and more to the front in the struggle and the triumph of Free Trade. In the special circumstances of the case it was inevitable that their language should sometimes seem halting and uncertain to the modern student, but, on the whole, they would have subscribed cordially to the words of Lord Elgin, '*You must renounce the habit of telling the colonies that the colonial is a provisional existence. You must allow them to believe that, without severing the bonds which unite them to Great Britain, they may attain a degree of perfection and of social and political development to which organised communities of free men have a right to aspire." We have heard much in recent days of Imperial Liberalism. That such a creed is possible was, in the main, the handiwork of Lord Durham, Charles Buller and Sir William Moles- worth. If this is so, it is not for us, to whom the glib commonplaces of Imperialism have become so stale that we almost welcome an Apemantus in the b2 XX INTRODUCTION. shape of Professor Goldwin Smith, to grumble, if at times the faith of Molesworth in the Empire is not apparently as firm as that which is our present heritage. A further article, however, in Molesworth's political creed cannot be so easily dealt with. Whoever reads these speeches will note the stress laid on the necessity for economy in the adminis- tration of the colonies. It would be dishonest as well as foolish to shirk this side of Molesworth's teaching. Molesworth, it cannot be too often repeated, was a strong Radical, brought up in the old creed of Radicalism, *' Peace, Retrenchment, and Reform," when such a creed was a simpler thing to believe in than it has become under the pressure of State socialistic tendencies at home, and economic competition, fostered by political influences, abroad. As a Radical of the Reform Bill period, Molesworth naturally spoke and thought as such. Consequently it is not unnatural to find him using language which, divorced from its context and the general tendency of his teach- ing, would rejoice the heart of the Little Englander. The judicious Imperialist, however, need not quarrel with the denunciation of the " prestige of might." By prestige we merely mean credit, and the credit, which has not, in the last resort, assets behind it, is, we should all allow, a house built upon the sand. Moreover the economist represents a side of the shield which can never with safety be neglected. The most stalwart Imperialist may well be given pause when he reflects on the thousands of pounds expended upon the fortifica- tion of the Ionian Islands, which for present I INTRODUCTION. xxi purposes might as well have been thrown into the Mediterranean Sea. It should further be remem- bered that the ships of the Royal Navy were not propelled by steam before the accession of Queen Victoria, and that, at the time of these speeches, strong coaling stations, though already of import- ance, were by no means the indispensable adjunct of sea power which they afterwards became. One way to apprehend Molesworth's attitude towards colonial expenditure is to compare it with the attitude of the Army reformers of to-day, who are opposed to huge estimates for military purposes, not because they do not realise the importance of military strength, but because they fear an inevit- able reaction if the strain on the taxpayer be made too great. Molesworth, however, arrived at his conclusions on more positive grounds. His con- tention was that the colonies should be treated on a footing of equality ; not as Cinderellas, which had been the old way ; nor as pampered children, which had been the way substituted after the loss of the American colonies. Much depends upon the manner in which a change is made, and the men by whom it is carried out ; and, if the Liberal policy of leaving the colonies to provide for their own local wars had been entrusted to the hands of a Minister who, like Molesworth, appealed strongly to colonial sympathies, it is probable that much future friction and discontent would have been avoided. In one colony at least the policy advocated by Molesworth was boldly adopted by the Colonial Government. There is always the danger of assuming post hoc, propter hoc; neverthe- less the satisfactory manner in which the Maori b • xxii INTRODUCTION. War was ended by General Whitmore with colonial troops afforded strong prima facie evidence of the wisdom of the general policy advocated by Sir William Molesworth. That independence in all local affairs implies responsibility for all local burdens is a sound doctrine, though, when first preached to the colonies, it was far from a popular one. That Molesworth placed it in the forefront of his colonial policy is a clear proof of the simplicity and transparent honesty of purpose which so remarkably characterised him. But though it would be unfair and misleading to shirk this side of Molesworth's teaching, it must be confessed that the wealth of detail and statistics, with which the speeches dealing with colonial expenditure are loaded, makes them hard reading to the modern student. In this matter especially, qiiisque suos manes patimur. Each generation has enough to do in concerning itself with the figures and the facts of its own burden. Here at least the average man is inclined to say, "Let the dead bury its dead." Still, without labouring on figures, there is much in Molesworth's criticism which is even now full of suggestion. The over-hasty individuals, who would end the day after to-morrow the British Empire, if the colonies are not prepared to give the exact contribution to the amount ot the cost of the British Navy which we may consider reasonable, should surely remember the past history, which abundantly shows that it was the Mother Country which fostered the habit in the colonies of dependence in the matter of defence. Rather is it a matter for congratulation that Moles- worth's policy, carried through as it was under I INTRODUCTION. xxiii most untoward circumstances, and by Ministers possessed with a far fainter faith in Greater Britain, still did in the long run justify its wisdom, so that the words spoken by Molesworth fifty years before received their literal fulfilment on the South African veldt. *' In certain cases it would not be unreasonable to expect that the colonies should assist the Empire both with troops and with money, and I feel convinced that if the colonies were governed as they ought to be, they would gladly and willingly come to the aid of the Mother Country in any just and necessary war." It is perhaps fitting that a selection of Sir William Molesworth's speeches on colonial ques- tions should close with the speech, delivered in 1853, on the Clergy Reserves of Canada Bill. That measure was a distinct recognition, on the part of the Ministr}^ of which Molesworth was a mem- ber, of the principle, which he had advocated throughout the whole of his political life, the principle that the colonies should possess full and complete independence to manage their own local affairs in their own way. It was after all an accident that the view taken by the majority ot the Colonial Parliament on this question was a view which commended itself to the judgment of English Radicals. Molesworth at least would not have hesitated to apply the same principle had the circumstances been altogether different. It is amusing to note the manner in which deep-seated beliefs caused English statesmen to hesitate in their adoption to the full of this principle. Thus Sir John Pakington during his short tenure of the Colonial Office had shown remarkable readiness to xxiv INTRODUCTION. allow the colonies the full management of their own affairs. It was not till colonial measures tended to disturb his temper as sound Churchman and upholder of existing rights of property that he cried halt to the application of the principle. Again, Lord Grey deserves great credit for his recogni- tion in British North America of the principle of" responsible government. At the same time it never occurred to him that the application of this, principle involved the recognition of the right, if need were, to go wrong even to the length of over- turning the sacred image of Free Trade which the Home authorities had set up. Molesworth alone of the statesmen of the time anticipated the attitude of the British Ministers of to-day. The present volume contains all the more important speeches delivered by Molesworth upon colonial questions, with the exception of the speech of January 23rd, 1838, on the Canada Bill. That speech, though remarkable for its eloquence and power of invective, has been omitted because Molesw^orth himself afterwards frankly admitted that many of his former views with regard to the Canadian question had been modified by the con- clusions of Lord Durham's Report, and because purely hostile criticism, directed against persons,, has no light or leading for another generation. For the same reason, some omissions have been, made in the speech on colonial expenditure of 185 1 of passages dealing at great length with controversial aspects of the Kaffir Wars. No one who read the delightful autobiography of Sir Harry Smith can suppose that he was the kind of semi- charlatan, semi-firebrand imagined by Molesworth; INTRODUCTION. xxv while the occasional allusions in that book to Molesworth show how ludicrously false was the impression conveyed to Smith of Molesworth's personality. In the Elysian fields one may hope such misunderstandings are cleared up, and the politician and the man of action are able to meet on the common ground of loyal service to their country. Meanwhile it must be admitted that the attitude of Molesworth towards the man on the spot strikes one as sometimes somewhat severe. Official experience and a closer knowledge of the man criticised would, we may be certain, have modified some of his judgments. (The severity of his criticisms was assuredly due to no want of human kindness. The irony of fate, which gave Molesworth every gift of fortune and denied him the health by which alone those gifts could be en- joyed might have embittered him. But the natural sweetness of his nature was strong enough to resist this temptation, and it was only when he had not the opportunity of personal judgment that he seems sometimes a little inclined to err on the side of not making allowances for the difficulties of the man criticised. It must be remembered that Molesworth died in his forty-sixth year, an age when many politicians are entering upon their public life. From 1841 to 1846 he was not in the House of Commons, and nowhere is it truer than in the House of Commons that out of sight is out of mind. Thus in the great speech of Duller in 1843, on systematic colonisa- tion, there is no mention of Molesworth among those who had advocated the principles of Gibbon Wakefield, although Molesworth had been and was xxvi INTROD UCTION. BuWtr's fidtis Achates. How great was the impres- sion made by Molesworth on his parliamentary colleagues in shown by the fact that he was selected at the early age of twenty-eight to act as Chairman of the Transportation Committee, while the justice of that reputation is shown by the manner in which he carried out his duties. Ill health often stood in the way of his attendance at the House of Com- mons. That, in spite of this and of the critical attitude which he often assumed towards the Whig leaders of his party, those leaders found it necessary to invite him to be their colleague, is the best proof of his position in Parliament. It is idle to dwell on what might have been. But it should be remem- bered that from 1855 ^o ^^74 the Liberal party were for the most part in power, that during this time Mr. Labouchere, the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Card- well, Lord Granville and Lord Kimberley were successively Liberal Colonial Secretaries of State, none of whom was especially persona grata to the colonies, while several of them were for various reasons very unpopular. How great would have been the difference, had a single Minister during these years identified himself with colonial ques- tions in the manner of Mr. Chamberlain since 1895, and, as a strong man conversant with his subject, carried with him the convictions of his colleagues. The full measure of the strength added to a British Minister by the fact that the colonies have come to believe in him and to stand by him, the student of recent history has cause to know. Such a Minister might have been Sir William Molesworth, an interpreter between the new colonial democracies, with their strange new aspirations, heretical in I INTRODUCTION. xxvii the eyes of the strict laissez /aire EngHsh Radical, and colleagues on whom the influence of the Manchester school was great. In the amazing good fortune which has hitherto followed the footsteps of Greater Britain no single man would appear to have been indispensable. Nevertheless, in that most sacred and pathetic corner of the Pantheon of history which commemorates the fates of those who, like Marcellus, have been snatched away before the complete fulfilment of their promise, Molesworth will always remain a conspicuous and honoured figure. HUGH E. EGERTON. lutu, 1903. P-.:' i/'W ^^ V ■ » . -• •:. SELECTED SPEECHES OF SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH ON LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. March 6, 1838. [Great excitement was aroused in political circles by this motion. Parties in the House of Commons were fairly evenly divided, and a coalition between Tories and Radicals might have resulted in a defeat of the Ministry. Lord Sandon, how- ever, moved an amendment directed against the Canadian policy of the Government. Upon the original resolution having been withdrawn, this was defeated, on a strict party division, by a majority of twenty-nine. Moles worth abstained from voting, being unable to support or to condemn, on the lines of the amendment, the Government's action with regard to Canada. Although, of course. Sir W. Molesworth's pro- cedure in picking out Lord Glenelg for censure was severely criticised by Ministers on the constitutional ground that the Government as a whole were responsible for the conduct of each single department, we now know from the Melbourne Papers and C. G. Greville's Journal how deep was the dis- satisfaction with Lord Glenelg's administration of colonial affairs felt by his colleagues. In the following February he resigned (" turned out," according to Greville), and was succeeded at the Colonial Office by Lord Normanby.] No member of this House ever more required indulgence than I do on this occasion The subject 2 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. which I have undertaken to bring before the House is of such great importance, and in some respects of so dehcate a nature, that I cannot think of it without being forcibly, not to say fearfully, reminded of my own inability to do justice to it — of my inexperience and want of weight in the House. Such a topic in the hands of one who had acquired personal influence with the House, might well stimulate the speaker to exertions which should add to the respect already felt for him ; but with me the importance and difficulty of the subject have a contrary effect, and only remind me how necessary it is to bespeak a kind allowance for my deficiencies. It is with this feeling of apprehen- sion for myself that I am anxious to disclaim certain opinions with regard to colonies, which, I know not why, have been attributed to me, and which are, justly in my humble judgment, unpopular in this House and in the country. I allude to the opinions of those who think that the best thing that a mother country can do with her colonies is to get rid of them. The saying, ** Emancipate your colonies," means with those who employ it most emphatically, a great deal more than the mere words convey. It is used, by some at least, to express an opinion that a country like this would be better without colonies, and even that it would have been better for us if we had never had colonies. From this sentiment, notwithstanding my respect for some who entertain it, I venture to disagree altogether. What ! are we to repent of having planted the thirteen English colonies of North America, which have expanded into one of the greatest, most prosperous, and 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION, 3 happiest nations that the world ever saw? Are we to regret that the more northern deserts of the American continent, which constitute her Majesty's possessions in that quarter of the globe, are in the course of being reclaimed, cultivated, and filled with inhabitants of our race, whose industry finds an ample reward, and who, having wants like our own, require objects that are produced here, and thus furnish us with continually increasing markets in which to sell the produce of our domestic industry ? Is it a pity that our numerous and profitable markets in the West Indies should ever have existed ? Should we despond over our mighty empire in the East, which has brought to us — let those deny it who would deny the shining of the sun at noon — an incalculable tribute of wealth ? Is our extraordinary trade with the infant colonies of Australasia an evil or a good ? Sir, for my part, I can see no necessary evil, but do see vast and inevitable good, in the possession of colonies. And this is no new opinion of mine, formed by the occasion. Will the House, kindly taking into con- sideration the disadvantages under which I labour, in having been supposed to agree with those who cry " Emancipate your colonies," permit me to offer some proofs (and it shall be done very briefly) of the degree to which I have been misrepresented or misunderstood ? So long as nearly five years ago — a long period in a short life — I took an active part in the foundation of a colony* in which I feel a deep interest on public grounds, and have proved it by incurring personal risk as a trustee responsible for the safety of considerable funds belonging to the * South Australia. Ba 4 SPEECHES OF SIR IV. MOLESWORTH. colony. During last year (long before the revolt in Canada had excited here a new interest in colonies) I had the honour to become one, along with my hon. friend (if he will allow me to call him so) the member for Thetford/ and my hon. friends the members lor Lambeth^ and Caithness,^ of a Colonial Associa- tion whose opinion on the advantages which this country has derived from the possession of colonies was publicly expressed in the following terms, in which I did then, and do now, most cordially agree. '' At the time when Elizabeth granted to the brother-in-law of Raleigh the first charter for British colonisation, the wants of the people, and even of the Sovereign of England, were confined to objects such as would now be considered fitting for only a half-civilised race. The Queen herself trod upon reeds, fastened her clothes with wooden skewers, and fed upon beef, salt fish, and beer. The richer classes could expend their income from land only in a rude hospitality, which consisted but of quantity without variety, and had no other effect than to support retainers in a rough plenty. Nothing could well be coarser than the food and clothing of the great body of the people. But along with the emigration of Englishmen to distant lands, new productions were discovered and sent home in exchange for products of domestic industry. It was then that we began to be a manufacturing and commercial nation. Who shall estimate the influence upon the industry, not only of England, but of Europe, of the cultivation of sugar, tobacco, and cotton, in America ? These are but a few of ' Mr. F. Baring. 3 Mr. B. Hawes. ' Sir G. Sinclair. I 1838.] LORD GLENELG^S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 5 the many new productions arising from colonisa- tion which have gradually, through the stimulus of new desires, so improved the useful arts in England (that of agriculture included), that our population has continually increased, with a continual decrease — the grand test of social advancement — in the proportion of hands employed in raising food for the whole society. Bristol, with her West India trade ; Liverpool, with her trans-Atlantic commerce ; the modern towns of Lancashire, with their manufactures of the raw produce of America — what are these but manifest results of British colonisation. 'Ships, colonies, and commerce!* It is to these that England is chiefly indebted for her pre-eminent wealth, and even for the greatness of our domestic numbers. The old fashion of colonising was, therefore a very good one for this country." The noble lord, the member for Stroud,^ the hon. baronet who may be said to represent in this House the Colonial Department,- and the right hon. baronet opposite,* know how anxious an interest I (as chairman of a Select Committee of this House, whose labours are not yet concluded) have taken in the affairs of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land; not confining myself (as I am sure the noble lord the Secretary at War^ will bear me witness) to the subject of transportation, which is the question specifically before the Committee, but sparing no pains to discover by what means the remarkable productive and commercial prosperity of those * Lord John Russell. « Sir G. Grey. ' Sir R. Peel. ♦ Lord Howick (afterwards Grey). 6 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. colonies may be preserved, when the main cause of that prosperity, a constant and increasing supply of convict labour, shall be abolished for very shame at the continuance of the moral horrors of trans- portation. Further proofs, sir, might be adduced, but these, I trust, are enough ; more especially as one of the complaints I shall presently have to make against Lord Glenelg is, that practically, in one important respect at least, he has sided with those who deny that it is advantageous to preserve and add to our colonies. That opinion, sir, with respect to the disadvan- tage of having colonies, appears to me to have arisen from the want of a distinction, to which I am desirous to draw the attention of some of my hon. friends, and especially the right hon. baronet the member for Dundee.^ The right hon. baronet, in his work on Financial Reform, has said, ''The possession of colonies affords no advantage which could not be obtained by commercial intercourse with independent States." In like manner Mr. Bentham had said, fifty years before, " There is no necessity for governing or possessing any island in order that we may sell merchandise there." Who can doubt the truth of these propositions, so far as they go? But they do not embrace half the subject ; they suppose, or take for granted, that which never existed. They suppose the existence, and the continual increase, of a number of foreign States, whose inhabitants are as skilful in pro- duction, and as desirous to obtain British goods, as if they were of our own race and had re- cently emanated from this country. The doctrine 1 Sir H. Parnell. 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 7 presumes that we could have had the same trade as at present with foreign lands, even though none of our people had gone forth to settle there ; that all the countries which we have peopled and converted into growing markets for the sale of our domestic produce would have been just as useful to us, in a commercial point of view, if they had remained " independent States." The independent State of New Holland before we had planted colonies there ! The independent State or people of America amongst whom William Penn and his followers settled ! Is not Japan, with which we have no trade, one of the right hon. baronet's " independent States " ? Have we such a trade, or anything like such a trade, with Java, as we should have had, if we had retained colonial possession of that most fertile country ? The doctrine of the right hon. baronet rests on the assumption that the world abounds in *' indepen- dent States," able and willing to purchase British goods, and that whatever may be the increase of domestic capital and production requiring new markets, such markets will spring up, just at the moment we want them, in the form of ** independent States." Has that assumption any foundation in fact or reason ? I cannot help thinking that it has none — that at all events it is greatly to the advan- tage of a country like this to plant colonies, and thereby create markets where none exist or are likely to exist by any other means; and that this is pre-eminently the policy of such a country as England, whose power of producing wealth by means of manufacture has no other limit than the extent or number of the markets in which she can dispose of manufactured goods. But supposing this admitted, 8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. and even admitting another great advantage from colonising — namely, the outlet which it provides by emigration for a suq)lus population — still the hon. gentlemen who agree with the right hon. baronet, the member for Dundee, may contend that there can be no advantage in governing colonies ; that the sooner we convert them into ** independent States," the better for them and for us. The sooner the better! but when? Should we, for example, now, at once, confer independence on the last colony founded by England, with its 3,000 inhabitants, giving up to that handful of people the disposal, without the slightest regard to this country, of an enormous extent of unoccupied land, and thus enabling them, if they pleased, to put an end to the whole system of colonisation established there, and even to become a slave-holding State, as they would be strongly tempted to do, if they did put an end to that system ? Or should we not rather maintain that Act of the Imperial Legislature which gives to the labouring classes of this country, by providing them with a continually increasing means of emi- gration from low wages to high wages, a property, a sort of inheritance, in the extensive wastes of that colony ? Should we allow the few, who have departed, to forbid the departure of the many, who would follow, if we do not abandon our dominion over this colony ? Then again, would it be right to emancipate Upper Canada, where, according to all appearances, the great majority of the people wish to preserve their allegiance to the British Crown ? Surely, sir, the emancipation of colonies must be a question of time — a question in each case of special expediency. Might we not say, too, that it is a I 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 9 question which would seldom or never arise between a colony and its mother country, if all colonies were well governed — not less well governed than were the British colonies of New England before our attack on their chartered rights of local self-govern- ment, when they were as loyal, not to say even more loyal — more devoted in their allegiance — than any other portion of the empire ? And this brings me, sir, to what I imagine has given occasion to the unreasonable cry of '* Eman- cipate your colonies." In our possession of colonies there have been, and still are, abuses and evils enough. Surely it was an abuse of colonial posses- sion to appoint Sir Francis Head Governor of Upper Canada ; to give him an opportunity for creating a rebellion by encouraging preparations for it with " folded arms." And undoubtedly the present state of Lower Canada, the necessity of setting up a garrison government there, of bestow- ing autocratic powers on an individual (however worthy of confidence he may be) — this surely is an evil arising out of colonial possession. The Canada timber monopoly is a good example both of an abuse and an evil in colonial possession. It would be easy to multiply examples under each head ; but how long soever the catalogue should be, would it, I ask, be more striking than the one compre- hensive, all-pervading abuse and evil, of subjecting some forty or fifty separate communities to the rule (I will presently show how it is necessarily irrespon- sible) of one so incompetent to discharge such arduous and important functions as the present notoriously incompetent Colonial Minister? The abuses and evils of colonisation — this is indeed a lo SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. fertile theme, but it is one upon which I am not inclined to dwell now, except for the purpose of declaring that, in my humble opinion, comparing the abuses and evils with the uses and advantages, the balance has been, and is, greatly in favour of the uses and advantages. Those who cry "Eman- cipate your colonies" appear to have seen nothing but the abuses and evils ; they have imagined that colonies and jobbing, colonial trade and colonial monopoly, were synonymous terms. Nor is this to be wondered at, perhaps ; for it should be recollected that, until of late years, it was generally and seriously believed that a colonial trade was of no value, unless it was in some way or another a monopoly trade ; and secondly, that colonial mis- government has been far greater and far more obvious in the present generation than it was before. I mean by this to infer that the most enlightened men are apt — and by reason of their hostility to the old system of colonial monopoly — to undervalue and disparage colonial trade itself, confounding the uses with the abuses, which last had got full possession of their minds ; and in the next place, that since we lost, by maltreating them, our colonies in North America, and since we set up in Downing Street a Colonial Office to conquer and to govern the colonies of other nations ; since, in a word, we abandoned the old system of Char- tered Colonies and adopted the new one of Crown Colonies ; since we exchanged our ancient and successful system of colonising — that of allowing to the colony a large share of local self-government, — since we have pursued the Spanish system of governing in all things from a distance by a 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 11 Council of the Indies in Downing Street, — the government of our colonies has been far more objectionable, more ignorant, necessarily so on account of the great distance between the subjects and the seat of all authority; more oppressive, insomuch as local power has been confided to strangers, who have no permanent interest in, or sympathy with, the colony ; and, lastly, more injurious to us at home, by furnishing a larger amount of Government patronage, or, in other words, larger means of parliamentary corruption. A new dislike to the old system of colonial trade, and an impression made by the new system of colonial government, under which the evils and abuses, necessarily belonging to all governments from a distance, had increased and become more obvious — these I believe to be at the bottom of the opinion, which condemns as mischievous and absurd the old fashioned, but (as it appears to me) sound opinion which is expressed by the cry " Ships, colonies, and commerce." Instead of wishing to separate from our colonies, or to avert the estab- lishment of new ones, I would say distinguish between the evil and the good ; remove the evil, but preserve the good ; do not " Emancipate your colonies," but multiply them, and improve — reform your system of colonial government. Sir, I yield to no man in this House in a desire to preserve and extend the colonial empire of England. I wish that our connection with the United States had not been dissolved ; because one may suppose that, if it had been preserved, slavery in America would have been by this time abolished, and the American tariff would never have existed. While, on the 12 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. other hand, I rejoice at the separation, it is only because I prefer the lesser evil ; believing that the colonists, after our tyrannical attack on their local constitutional rights, had no choice but between independence and abject submission to our power ; and that the triumph of our tyranny in America would have been a misfortune to the world. It is, sir, on the same principle, while I wish that our connection with Lower Canada were more intimate and more friendly than it has ever been, that I hope that the people of that country will either recover the constitution which we have violated, or become wholly independent of us. However strong my impressions may be of the advantages of colonial empire, yet I sincerely trust that I shall ever sympathise with a people struggling for their just rights, and heartily wish them success. Sir, there is another disadvantage under which I labour, and from which I hope, with the permis- sion of the House, to relieve myself in a few words. Knowing how distasteful this motion is to some hon. members, especially on my own side of the House — aware, of course, of the difficulty which they will have to refute or even to deny a proposi- tion which every one who hears it must acknowledge to be perfectly true, I expect (unless they should take the more prudent course of silence, relying on the right hon. baronet's protection and guardian- ship when it shall come to the vote), I expect that they may refer to general political opinions, which I have avowed in this House and elsewhere, and may endeavour to represent this motion as having democratic objects and tendencies. This would be a way of making the motion unpopular in this 1838.J LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 13 House. I will, sir, however, endeavour to prevent the success of such a manoeuvre. I declare, then, that in bringing the subject of our colonial adminis- tration, and of the qualifications, or rather dis- qualifications of the Colonial Minister before this House, I have had no regard whatever to any abstract opinions of my own, with reference to the best form of government for an old and much- advanced country like this, that I can hardly conceive a greater absurdity than the proposal to set up democratic institutions in all our colonies, amongst the ignorant and superstitious millions of India, amongst our negro fellow-subjects in the West Indies, or the convict and once convict inhabitants of New South Wales, or amongst the motley and not half or even quarter civilised popu- lation of our territories in South Africa, or even among the labouring rustics for whom Parliament has provided the means of settling in South Australia, most of whom could not tell you the meaning of the word ** democratic " or the word '' institution." Sir, I am convinced that the form of government, which a colony should possess, must depend upon the special circumstances of the case, and that the sort of constitution which was very good for one colony might be very bad for another: that some colonies absolutely require a despotic authority ; that for others an aristocratic power may be most suitable ; and I doubt much whether amongst all our colonies there be more than two or three, in which I should not be very much afraid to try the experiment of a pure democracy. What is the nature of our government of 100,000,000 of people in India ? Fortunately it is not of the nature 14 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of Colonial Office government, but it is anything but democratic. Yet I know not if a better could be devised for the people who are subject to it. What would be the state of India if all the public affairs of that country were confided to the neglect of the Colonial Office ? I hope some hon. gentle- man connected with India will tell us how he should like such an arrangement. The House will, therefore, see that the present motion has no concern with, or relation to, my opinions on govern- ment in general, whatever they may be ; that the motion is no more open to the objection of having democratic objects and tendencies than if it had been proposed by the hon. baronet the member for Tamworth,^ and seconded by the right hon. baronet the member for the University of Oxford.^ Sir, it may be said that I have singled out the noble lord at the head of the Colonial Office for an invidious and spiteful attack ; that he is not more incompetent than some of his colleagues ; that his office has been filled by as incompetent men ; that the whole cabinet are responsible for neglect of duty in each department of the State ; and that the censure of this House should be directed against them as a body. I am not sure, sir, but that there may be some force in the last objection to my motion. Let me, however, explain to the House the reasons which have induced me to call upon them for an expression of want of confidence in Lord Glenelg alone. The Colonial Office differs materially from every other branch of the Govern- ment. All the other departments of the State administer for us, who are represented in this ' Sir R. Peel. 2 sir R. Inglis. I 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 15 House ; the Colonial Office administers for the colonies, not one of which is represented in any assembly, to which that office is in any degree responsible. The other branches of Government administer only, they do not legislate ; but the Colonial Office, besides having to conduct an administration, comprising all the branches of government, civil, military, financial, judicial, and ecclesiastical, an administration rendered still more difficult by the various institutions, languages, laws, customs, wants, and interests of a great variety of separate and widely different communities; besides all this, which the whole administrative force of this country could hardly manage well, besides an administration more varied and difficult than that of this country, of one race, language, and law ; besides this infinite variety of executive functions ; (as if the executive duties were not sufficiently complicated and incongruous) the Colonial Office has further to legislate more or less for all the colonies, and altogether for those colonies, which have no representative assembly, by means either of instructions to Governors, or of orders in Council, or by appointing and instructing some or all of the branches of the Colonial Legis- lature. Such a complication of functions in a single office would be bad enough if all the colonies were close together, and close to England. Let us recollect, however, how widely they are dispersed, and how far from Downing Street is the colony which is nearest to England. As to most of them, several months, and, as to some of them, a whole year, must elapse, before a letter between the Government and one of its subjects can be answered i6 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. by return of post. A petition arrives here. Who is there to press its prayer on the attention of the Colonial Minister ? Who is there to take care that it shall be even read by him ? Whether he ever looks at it must depend on the degree of his diligence, and of his interest in the colony whence it comes. Orders dispatched hence should be adapted, not to the state of things, which existed in the colony, at the date of the Minister's last advices therefrom, but to that, which he may conjecture will exist, when his orders arrive. How can he fail to err without the highest sagacity and foresight ? Besides, in many cases, the very subject of the letter, or petition, or remonstrance, may be worn out before he can even know of its existence. Whatever the difficulties, then, of both legislating and administering for so many different communities, all these are enhanced a thousandfold by the great distance between the subjects and the Government. Let us further reflect, sir, that in addition to all these most ardous functions, we impose upon the Colonial Office no small portion of the task of suppressing the prosperous and increasing slave-trade with Africa, and also a branch of criminal jurisprudence in the administration of a secondary punishment at the antipodes. Forgetting one-half of the duties of the Colonial Office, still it must be at once admitted that the place of Colonial Minister should never be held but by a person in the very highest degree qualified for public affairs ; by the most diligent, the wisest, the most careful and assiduous, the most active and energetic member of the Cabinet ; that the Colonial Minister stands out from the rest of the Cabinet, overcharged with the most arduous duties, 1838.] LORD GLENELC'S COLOI^IAL ADMINISTRATION. 17 incurring obligations the most difficult to perform, eminently, might we not say, if we had any regard for our colonies, peculiarly subject to the inter- ference of this House, and bound by every sense of public and private virtue, if he find himself incom- petent to the task which he has rashly undertaken, to resign his office into abler hands ? I do not now speak of Lord Glenelg, but of any and every Colonial Minister. It is only on account of the peculiar nature of his office that censure of any incompetent individual who may fill it seems to me peculiarly the duty of this House : it is an office the performance of whose duties depends far more than in any other branch of government upon the qualities of the individual by whom the office is held. In every other department of the State the Minister is responsible to this House, where the representatives of conflicting interests have the strongest motives to keep anxious and vigilant watch over the details of his conduct, and unneces- sary delay and inactivity are exposed to constant reproach. Though the Minister be not the most distinguished of statesmen, nor possess personal qualities of a superior description, yet his crude and imperfect notions may be improved in this House by the suggestions of his friends and the corrections of his opponents. This can seldom take place in colonial affairs, except where some grave and extraordinary event, such for instance as a rebellion in one of the colonies, calls public attention to the subject. In ordinary cases this House, in which the colonies have no direct representatives, and few persons thoroughly acquainted with the par- ticulars of colonial affairs, can exercise no control i8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. over the details of the Colonial Office. In the Cabinet, the affairs of the other departments of the State are more or less within the cognisance of all the members of the Cabinet, and each Minister, in his separate department, may be supposed to be responsible to the whole body ; this cannot possibly be the case with regard to the Colonial Minister, whose department embraces all the branches of government of our numerous and widely remote dependencies, with the details of whose affairs it is utterly impossible for his colleagues to be acquainted. Sometimes, indeed, we find that the head of another department comes down to this House, and makes a speech on colonial affairs ; but every one who understands the subject, and listens to the discourse, can easily perceive that it is got up from a brief. In the Colonial Office, where it is so hard to do well, or even to avoid doing ill — over the details of which this House can exercise no control, in which, con- sequently, the Minister is completely irresponsible as to details, personal qualities are all in all. If Parliament will not alter the system which imposes so much upon one person — which gives to that person so great a power for good or evil, it is at least the duty of Parliament to take care that that office is not filled by one of the most incompetent members of the Government. I repeat that this motion is not directed against Lord Glenelg as Lord Glenelg ; that it has no object of personal hostility against him ; and if he appear to be singled out for attack from the rest of the Administration, that has occurred, not from any malignant or even ungenerous feeling towards him, but simply because the branch of Government at the head of 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 19 which he has had the misfortune of being placed, is the only one which absolutely 'requires, for the decent performance of its duties, qualities which the noble lord does not possess. I merely assume, sir, for the present, that he does not possess them ; I shall soon come to the proof of that part of the case. But, on the other hand, there are hon. members on this side of the House who may possibly object to an expression of a want of confidence in Lord Glenelg, on the ground, that if the House should agree to my motion, they would indirectly censure the Government of Lord Melbourne. Hon. members may even say, that under the disguise of affirm- ing a truism with regard to Lord Glenelg, I am endeavouring to undermine the Government, and, to use their own most patriotic phraseology, ** let in the Tories." I at once admit, that the House cannot agree to my motion without censuring the whole Cabinet, who ought to be responsible, not for the particular acts or neglects of Lord Glenelg, but for his continuance in office after the late con- spicuous events have so amply demonstrated his incompetency ; but I deny the supposed charge of disguise ; and in order to satisfy the House that there is no disguise in the matter, I have no hesi- tation in declaring, that I for one should feel no regret if this motion should result in giving us a better Cabinet as well as a better Colonial Minister. Suppose the Cabinet dissolved by a vote of this House on colonial aff'airs, does it follow that the Tories would obtain power ? It would not be as Tories, at all events. I do not believe, sir, that we shall ever again have a Government acting upon 20 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Tory principles, except under circumstances like the present, when a Government professing liberality adopts Tory principles in order to retain office. If the Tories were under the responsibility of office, they would be as liberal as the country ; they would be controlled by the Opposition, just as the present Government is controlled, the only difference being, that whereas the guiding Opposition is at present Tory, it would then be Liberal. That, sir, would be better than the present state of things ; and even better than that might happen, unless we are to conclude that the Liberal party has been so degraded and weakened by its submission to the Tories, that her Majesty would find it impossible to form a vigorous and self-relying Liberal Adminis- tration, if the present Ministers were to let go their grasp of power. Sir, expecting that insidious motives should be imputed to me, I think it best frankly to state to the House what I feel about the Government ; but let me hope that my frank- ness on this head will obtain for me the confidence of the House, when I declare, that in submitting this motion to them, I am no more actuated by hostility to the Ministry than by personal hostility to Lord Glenelg. I cannot be blind to the possible result of such a motion being carried ; but, as far as I am concerned, such a result will be merely] incidental or accidental. I have not had it in view! — that is not my object. My only object, whatever! may perchance or possibly happen besides, is tol relieve the colonies from an imbecile and mis- chievous administration of their affairs — to bring] before the House, at a moment when they will give] attention to such a subject, the critical state of mam 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 21 of our colonies, in various parts of the world — and to establish, for a time at leavSt, some sort of respon- sibility in the Colonial Office. Are these proper objects, supposing the proposition contained in my motion to be true ? All turns, I think, upon the truth of that proposition. Whether or not the proposition be true depends on the answer to certain questions : Are not many of our colonies in various parts of the world in a condition which requires a more than usually wise and vigorous Colonial Minister ? Does not the colonial empire at present exhibit peculiar diffi- culties and dangers ? Is there not at this moment, more than at any previous time, a pressing necessity for placing at the head of colonial affairs a states- man on whose diligence, forethought, judgment, activity, and firmness this House and the country may be able to rely ? Is not the present Colonial Minister — has he not proved it by his acts — peculiarly unfit to deal with the peculiar difficulties belonging to the present state of the colonies ? These are the questions which I beg of the House to examine and to decide upon ; and I will now proceed to state the grounds upon which I am led to believe that the conscience of every member of the House will answer every one of these questions in the affirmative. In bringing before the House the critical condi- tion of several of the colonies, and the peculiar neglect of that critical state by the present Colonial Minister, it matters but little with what colony one should begin. Every quarter of the globe furnishes a case strongly illustrative of the positions contained in my motion. But we must commence 22 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. somewhere. I will begin with a case as to which I can appeal for the confirmation of some of my statements to several hon. gentlemen ; amongst others to the hon. gentleman the member for Newark/ and the right hon. baronet the member for Tamworth. During the last Session of the last Parliament, the House instituted an inquiry into the state of our penal colonies in Australia. The Committee has been revived this Session. The dis- closures made before the Committee represent a state of things which it was hard, even for those who heard the representation, to credit. Not that there could be any doubt either of the knowledge or of the veracity of the witnesses examined, but that they described a state of society, a degree of moral contamination, a condition of national infamy, so revolting, that one was loth to believe in the exist- ence of such horrors. The evidence taken before the Committee of last year is in the possession of hon. gentlemen. No one, I think, who has examined that evidence can doubt, that whatever have been the evils attending upon planting colonies with convicts, those evils have of late years greatly augmented, and have just now attained a pitch which requires some prompt, vigorous, and com- prehensive remedy. Is not the right hon. baronet opposite of this opinion ? The first step to a remedy was ample inquiry. The House will perhaps imagine that the Colonial Minister had some part in the inquiry which has taken place ; that it was suggested by him ; that he was sufficiently acquainted with the great and growing evils in question to have proposed such an inquiry in 1 Mr. W. E. Gladstone. 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 23 Parliament. Not at all ! On the contrary, the country is solely indebted for that inquiry to the noble lord the member for Stroud, from whom, before I moved for a committee, I had the good fortune to obtain a promise that the motion should have his support in the House. Considering the colonial nature of the subject, why did I not, in order to obtain the sanction of Government, address myself to the noble lord at the head of colonial affairs ? Simply, because I believed that such an application would be in vain. I was afraid of the proverbial indecision and supineness of that Minister ; and I believed that the only sure mode of obtaining an inquiry on this colonial subject, was to pass by the Colonial Minister, and apply to another Minister whose department is eminently not colonial. My opinion of the Colonial Minister may have been erroneous ; but it was formed on common report and belief; and the fact therefore is, that so far as I am con- cerned, the important information as to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, now before the House, would not have been obtained if I had not made bold, in seeking a colonial inquiry, to proceed as if there were no such department as that over which Lord Glenelg presides. Sir, if I had wanted any justification for such a course, I should find it in another proceeding, or rather neglect, of Lord Glenelg's, with regard to New South Wales. While the moral and social corruption of that colony exceeds belief, its economical prosperity is equally remarkable. Nothing can be more clearly established by the evidence taken before the Trans- portation Committee, than the fact that both the evil and the good have one and the same cause — 24 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. namely, a regular and increasing supply of convict labourers. If the stream of convict emigration be stayed, the source of the economical prosperity will be dried up, unless indeed some other means be adopted of supplying the colony with labourers. Amongst those most conversant with the subject, there is but one opinion as to the evils which arise from supplying the colonies with labour by means of transportation ; but one opinion as to the neces- sity, if the colony is to be saved from ruin, of promoting the emigration of free labourers. The means, too, of promoting emigration exist to an almost incredible extent ; they were called into existence by the noble lord the Secretary at War, when he was Under-Secretary for the Colonies in the year 1831. The noble lord's regulations for the disposal of waste lands in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land (which did not take effect until the year 1832) have actually produced an emigration fund amounting to about 400,000/. sterling; and persons, on whose experience and judgment the greatest reliance may be placed, estimate the future revenue from the sale of waste lands at 200,000/. a year in New South Wales alone. Here, then, are abundant means of supplying the colony with a substitute for convict labour. Now, what has Lord Glenelg done with this vast emigration fund ? He allowed a portion of it to be placed at the disposal of a private society, who expended the public money in sending out to the colony shipload after shipload of the most abandoned and irreclaim- able prostitutes. He placed another portion of it at the disposal of one Mr. John Marshall, a sort of agent or broker for shipping, who performs (without 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 25 any responsibility) for the Colonial Office the difficult functions of conducting emigration with the public money of the colony. But this is not all. Only a portion of this vast emigration fund has been applied, however improperly, to its proper purpose. The remainder, amounting to no less a sum than 200,000/., is locked up in the public chest at Sydney, lying idle, of no use whatever, although the demand for labour is more urgent than at any previous time, and the colonists have vehemently prayed that the money, which they paid for land, may be expended according to the conditions on which they paid it. And this sum in the public chest is not only useless, but it is worse than useless ; for, since ready money was paid for the land, a great part of the currency of the colony is thus absorbed and locked up in the Government chest. The loud and frequent complaints of the colonists on this subject have fallen upon the ear of the noble lord as if he were stone deaf. This, sir, after transportation, about the horrors of which the noble lord seems to have known nothing until they were brought to light by the Committee of Inquiry, even if he knows anything about them now, this is a subject of the deepest importance to the penal colonies ; and what attention has the noble lord paid to this important question of free emigration by means of the sale of waste lands ? None whatever ! But has he no excuse for his total neglect of this important and urgent colonial subject ? I would put the question to my hon. friend the member for Sheffield,* who, in the Session of 1836, presided with uncommon ability over a 1 Mr. M. (afterwards Sir H.) Ward. 26 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Committee of this House, by which this subject was most carefully examined and which Committee strongly recommended the adoption of a system for giving complete and permanent effect to Lord Howick's regulations, as they are properly termed ; I ask the hon. gentleman the member for Newark, who took a very prominent and very valuable part in that inquiry, what notice has the noble lord taken of the labours of the Committee ? None whatever. The noble lord has treated the Report of the Committee as if it were so much waste paper ; and I am not surprised at it, for I believe that the inquiry of 1836 concerning waste lands and emigration was obtained, like the inquiry on transportation, without any assistance from the noble lord, by the aid of another Minister, as if in truth there were no such Minister as the noble lord at the head of the Colonial Department. I am not therefore the only member of this House who, in seeking for information on a very important colonial subject, has passed by the Colonial Minister as if there were no such person in existence. There is another fact, sir, as to New South Wales, from which the people of that colony might be justified in inferring that there really is no such person in existence as the Colonial Minister, that Lord Glenelg is a merely imaginary personage, a nominal being, without functions to perform, or at least without capacity to perform them. For many years New South Wales has been governed by an Act which expired in the year 1836. That Act established a temporary system and form of govern- ment, a system and form of government suited to 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 27 the time when the Act passed ; that is, when the majority of the inhabitants of the Colony were convicts under punishment. Need I add that this system of provisional government was (necessarily under the circumstances) of a most despotic character; that it neglected altogether the principle of representation, and gave to the colonists no voice whatever in the management of their own affairs ? But since then the circumstances of the colony have altogether changed. The free colonists have become the majority. Those free colonists, naturally desirous to obtain some of the rights of English- men, have looked forward with the deepest anxiety to the period when the New South Wales Act would expire, to the time when Parliament would have to legislate anew on the subject ; and when they might hope that Parliament, in framing a constitution for a free people, would bestow on them some degree of representation, and give them some voice in the management of their own local affairs. To the colonists of New South Wales, therefore, 1836 was a most important year. Was the noble lord, the Colonial Minister, prepared for this very important colonial occasion ? Did he submit to Parliament a new constitution for the colony ? No ; he only asked Parliament to renew the old Act for one year. But in 1837 i^ ^^^^ ^^ supposed, when this Act of a twelvemonth would have expired, that the noble lord was prepared. Not a bit of it ! In 1837 ^^ again asked for and obtained the renewal of the old Act for another twelvemonth. But, perhaps, it may be said that the noble lord believed that the colony was not ripe for any other than the old despotic constitution, and 28 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. that he acted deliberately in renewing the old Act from year to year. Not at all, sir ; for on both occasions the Under-Secretary for the Colonies/ acting undoubtedly on behalf of his chief, gave notice of his intention to propose an entirely new Act for the government of the colony. On both occasions, no doubt, the noble lord intended to relieve the colonists of New South Wales from their anxiety on a subject which must ever be one of the deepest interests to freemen; but on both occasions he only exhibited his own infirmity of purpose. Is he prepared this year ? or are we to renew the old Act for the third time ? Are we for the third time to tell the free people of this colony that we care so little about them as to neglect alto- gether a matter about which they care above all things ? And if we do so, are we to wonder at their resentment? Here, then, sir, as respects one colony, are three great questions, urgently pressing on the unwilling attention of the noble lord. First, a remedy for the terrible evils of transportation ; secondly, a means of saving the colony from economic ruin ; and, thirdly, a new constitution for the colony. Each of these questions is rendered more difficult by the noble lord's neglect of it hitherto. If we are to judge by the past, what are we to expect for the future ? As respects New South Wales, I have only to add further, that this is one of the several colonies of which the Governors have recently resigned, or been recalled, on account of differences between those Governors and the Department over which Lord Glenelg so neglectfully presides. ^ Sir G. Grey. ■iL 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 29 In the neighbourhood of our penal colonies there exist circumstances which, whilst they call for prompt and vigorous action from the Colonial Minister, strongly exhibit Lord Glenelg's inatten- tion and neglect. I allude to the state of many islands in the South Seas, whose inhabitants are subjected to every species of evil from the lawless residence amongst them of British subjects, and especially of convicts who have escaped from our penal settlements. The islands of New Zealand afford the most striking example both of an urgent necessity for some comprehensive measure of pre- vention and of Lord Glenelg's carelessness. And here again I may refer to a Committee of this House, the Committee on Aborigines, which in 1836 col- lected very conclusive evidence on the subject, and of which the Under-Secretary for the Colonies was a member. It appears from the evidence before that Committee, and from other documents recently laid on the table of the House, that not less than 2,000 British subjects have settled in New Zealand ; that so many as 200 of them are absconded con- victs ; that they are not subject to any law or authority ; that they do exactly what pleases them ; that they have pleased to commit crimes towards the natives, at which humanity shudders ; and that, in fact, the native race is rapidly disappearing before them. It is in evidence that our lawless fellow-subjects have excited the native tribes to wars and massacres, in order to obtain tattooed heads as an article of commerce ; that they have taught the natives to employ corrosive sublimate in poisoning their enemies, and have actually sold them that poison for the purpose ; that these out- 30 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. casts from British society have taken an active part in the cruel slaughters of one tribe by another ; that they have introduced the use of ardent spirits and of fast-destroying disease ; and that, as a natural consequence, " the natives are swept off in a ratio which promises at no very distant period to leave the country destitute of a single aboriginal inhabi- tant." The last statement I have given in the very words of Mr. Busby, an officer of the Colonial Department, who resides in New Zealand, for no other purpose, it would appear, than that of writing accounts of these enormities for the use (should I not rather say for the utter neglect ?) of Lord Glenelg. He says further, " District after district has become void of its inhabitants, and the popula- tion is even now but a remnant of what it was in the memory of some European residents." Now, is this a case of urgency ? Is this a matter to be slept over for years, until the native race shall have disappeared altogether ? And further I venture to ask the right hon. gentleman the President of the Board of Trade^ whether he has not received a memorial, signed by a large number of the merchants and shipowners of London, trading to the South Seas, representing that unless prompt measures be taken to establish British authority in New Zealand it is fully to be expected that the lawless British settlers in that country will become a piratical community like the buccaneers of old ; and that even now the greatest danger is to be apprehended to our ship- ping ? What has the noble lord, who should have been most conversant with this evil and this 1 Mr. Poulett Thomson. 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 31 danger, what has he done, either on behalf of the natives of New Zealand, or of our shipping in the South Seas ? What has he proposed ? What has he thought of? He has done, proposed, thought of, absolutely nothing! If it had been a matter in the moon he could not have been more careless about it. The next colony to which I will refer is the Mauritius. Last year the state of that colony was brought under the consideration of this House on a motion for a committee of inquiry. Various facts, proving the very disturbed condition of the Mauri- tius, were stated by an honourable gentleman in- timately acquainted with the subject, I mean the learned civilian, the member for the Tower Hamlets.* Those statements were not contradicted by any one. To this high and unquestionable authority I shall now appeal for the facts I am about to mention. He said, ** The most extraordinary circumstances have been detailed to me (and they are not yet denied) as to the conduct, or rather misconduct, of various Governors of the island of Mauritius, and as to the administration of justice, or rather its mal- administration there." '* Since the year 1810 there has been in that colony a perpetual violation of the statute law of the land. Upwards of 20,000 felonies have been committed (as admitted by Sir G. Murray), and remain unpunished, without one solitary excep- tion ; and up to the present hour these wrongs remain unredressed." The slave trade has been carried on in opposition to the law. When, from time to time, this country has applied to the French * Dr. Lushington (afterwards Judge of the Admiralty Court and Dean of Arches). 32 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Government to enforce the provisions of the Act for the aboHtion of the slave trade, ^' France," said the honourable gentleman, '' taunted us by saying that our power was defied and our laws evaded by our own colonists. This opposition to the law pre- vails up to the present hour ; it has existed in its most malignant form for the last three or four years. I will not consent to throw the veil of oblivion over the conduct of those who avow their crimes and boast of their impunity. What has been the history of the last four years ? Treason has been triumphant in the Mauritius ; thousands of colonists have been banded in arms against the domination and power of England ; manifestoes have been published throughout the colony, in which the wretches who indited them dared to say that the time had comewhen assassination — assassination by the sword, by poison, or by fire — was to be justified. This has been the state of the Mauritius ; these the crimes which have been raging." He likewise asserted that '' 20,000 individuals, who were as much entitled to their freedom as any man in this House, have been kept for the last fifteen years, contrary to both law and justice, in a state of the most cruel slavery." These are a few of the facts adduced by the learned civilian when he demanded last year an inquiry into the state of the Mauritius. The refusal of that inquiry, he said, would be '' a triumph to those who have hitherto rebelled against the British Government, and hopeless misery and despair to those who have been the victims for so many years of this cruel persecution. The free coloured people of the Mauritius, a very numerous and intelligent body, a deputation of whom have 1838.J LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 33 come to this country to seek for justice and inquiry at the hands of a British House of Commons, will sink into despair if inquiry be denied, and they are told to place themselves again at the mercy of those from whom they have already experienced so much injustice and oppression. The deputation will go back believing that they and those whom they repre- sent are devoted victims of the other party." A similar tone was taken by my honourable friend the member for Liskeard.^ Notwithstanding the eloquent complaints, the friendly entreaties of these honourable gentlemen, the inquiry was denied ; and I feel justified in asserting that the state of the Mauritius is most critical. What has Lord Glenelg done, proposed, thought of, with a view to the critical state of the Mauritius ? If information on the subject were required by this House, the return, I fear, would be *'«//.'" It matters not where the emergency may exist, or how great it may be, in every case where decision, activity, energy, is especially required, there we shall find, not that the noble lord has done more than in other cases, but only that his inactivity and supineness are the more to be deprecated and regretted. The next colony to whose critical — might I not say deplorable ? — state I would wish, sir, to call your attention is our settlement in Southern Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope, a territory larger than the whole of the mother country. It was once inhabited by numerous aborigines, rich in flocks and herds ; by the Hottentots and the far superior race of the Kaffirs. The natives have nearly I Mr. C. Buller. M. D 34 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. disappeared, partly massacred, partly driven from their native country ; even now the system of destruction is going on, and in proportion as our frontiers are extended the native tribes are swept away. Sir, I can appeal to the labours of a Com- mittee of this House, the Committee on Aborigines, for a confirmation of my statement. " Any travellers," say they, '' who may have visited the interior of this colony little more than twenty years ago, may now stand on the heights of Albany, or in the midst of a district of 42,000 square miles, on the west side of Graaf Reinet, and ask the ques- tion, * Where are the aboriginal inhabitants of the district, which I saw here on my former visit to this country ? ' without anyone being able to inform him where he is to look for them to find them." What, I ask, has become of them ? They have perished. They were generally exterminated by those execrable military expeditions, commenced by the Dutch, continued by the English, which are termed commandoes. Another cause of the de- struction of the natives is the interminable wars occasioned by the stealing of cattle. The colonists, on the most futile pretexts, have frequently carried off the cattle of the natives. The natives, deprived of the means of subsistence, must either perish or rob. If they rob the whites, they are exterminated by the commandoes ; if they rob their weaker neighbours, these again, thus left to starve, must rob those beyond them or perish. Thus the first robbery by our colonists has given rise to a succes- sion of robberies and native wars which have desolated the most central parts of the continent of Africa. One of the witnesses examined before 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION, 35 the Aborigines Committee says, **It must be obvious that there can be no other limits to the baneful effects of such a system than those which nature may have fixed by seas or natural boundaries ; and it is to be feared that the evil increases as it rolls from one part of this ill-fated continent to another. The mischief we now deprecate is, of all the mis- chiefs which have attended the slave trade, the greatest, and there is not in the centre of Africa at this moment a fragment of society, that has not been dashed to pieces against another, by the cap- ture of cattle in the wars, which have originated in the attempts to procure slaves." Thus, sir, our colonists are producing in Southern Africa, by seizing the cattle of the natives, evils similar to the worst of those created in Central Africa by the slave trade. Besides these evils, which have long existed, and for which it may be difficult to find an adequate remedy at the present moment, the most extra- ordinary events are taking place in the colony, which prove the inability and feebleness of the Colonial Government. A formidable body of Cape Boers, amounting in number, according to the statement of their leader, to no less than 900 armed and disciplined men, carrying along with them their wives and children, sheep, cattle, waggons, household stuff, and farming utensils, have left the colony and set our authority at defiance. Some few of this party alone carried along with them 91,000 sheep and 3,200 head of horned cattle. Their object is to cross the country of the Kaffirs, and fight their way, if needs be, to Port Natal, in the Zulu country, a settlement on the eastern coast, several hundred miles distant D4 36 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. from the frontier of the colony, purchased from the Zulu King, where about 3,000 persons, whites and blacks, are now established. This settlement was long unrecognised ; I know not whether it is even now recognised by the Colonial Office. The settlers there have denied their allegiance to this country, and they have rejected our Agent with impunity. To this point the wandering horde to which I have alluded are now directing their steps, if they have not already reached their destination. They have had the fiercest encounters with the natives, and in ranged battle with one of the native chiefs they have slaughtered at the lowest compu- tation 400 of his followers. The reasons for this strange migration are stated by the leader in a letter to the Governor, dated Sand River, July 21, 1837: he says, ''The undersigned conductor and chief of the united encampments hereby humbly sheweth, that, as subjects of the British Govern- ment, we in our depressed circumstances repeatedly represented our grievances to his Majesty's Gov- ernment, but in consequence of finding all our efforts to obtain redress fruitless, we at length re- solved to abandon the land of our birth, to avoid making ourselves guilty of any act which might be construed into strife against our own Government ; that this abandonment of our country has oc- casioned us incalculable losses ; but that, notwith- standing all this, we cherish no animosity towards the English nation. That, in accordance with this feeling, commerce between us and the British m.erchants, will, on our part, be freely entered into and encouraged, with the understanding, however, that we are acknowledged as a free and indepen- 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 37 dent people." Their object, according to resolu- tions adopted by them at Caledon, on the 14th of August, 1837, is '* ^o establish a settlement on the same principles of liberty as those adopted by the United States of America, carrying into effect, as far as practicable, their burgher laws." No one can tell what disastrous commotions may be pro- duced by this Tartar horde of wandering Boers. The sanguinary conflicts which have already taken place are but precursors of fresh and deadly strug- gles, and hapless the lot of the miserable natives who become subject to these bold and determined men, merciless to their despised fellow-beings. The system of colonial government which has produced these results is well and briefly summed up before the Aborigines Committee by one of the witnesses, in the following terms : — ** It gives satisfaction to neither party on the frontier ; the colonists complain that Government affords them neither protection nor redress, that they are always insecure and always sufferers : the Kafiirs, on the other hand, represent the whole system as founded on false principles, and stained with injustice and cruelty to them ; and the impartial observer soon becomes satisfied that both parties have ground for discontent and alarm." Here then, sir, we have an important colony completely disorganised. The extermination of the natives is rapidly proceeding. Part of the colonists are in open rebellion, or have wandered into the deserts to escape from British authority. Discon- tent prevails on all sides. Whatever the differences amongst her Majesty's subjects there, each party complains of the Government; no party is attached 38 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. to the British Crown. Do I blame Lord Glenelg for this most unhappy state of things? By no means. The present deplorable condition of Southern Africa has been occasioned by our system, or rather total want of a system, of government. For this Lord Glenelg is not particularly to blame ; but see what the want of a system has produced; observe in how very miserable and critical a state the colony is at last ; and then, sir, let us decide whether it be not high time to adopt some system of government there ; to apply a remedy of some sort for such crying evils ? Sir, would an assiduous and energetic Colonial Minister have allowed such evils to grow to such a pitch without proposing some kind of remedy for them ? Can we expect any efficient remedy from the infirm hands of Lord Glenelg? If not, and if the House really care at all about this important colony, then will they agree to my motion ; and more especially, if they should be of opinion, that there are many colonies besides those already mentioned, whose pecuHarly critical state at this moment calls for more than average energy, diligence, and wisdom, in the head of the Colonial Government. I should have added that the Governor of this colony has just been recalled. That makes two ; we shall soon come to more. I proceed, then, to another colony, whose condition is more than usually embarrassing and trouble- some — the anti-slave-trade colony of Sierra Leone. Far be it from me, sir, to cast a shadow of blame on Lord Glenelg for the total failure of this colony as a means, which it was intended to be, of check- ing the slave trade. Nor is it any reproach to Lord Glenelg that we have lavished millions after ■ 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 39 millions upon establishing a settlement which appears to have had no other result than a profuse expenditure of public money and human life. The misgovernment of this colony is proverbial. The peculation, the lavish expenditure, the public plunder, for which it has been notorious, have given it so bad a name that it may be aptly designated as one enormous job. Now, if I am not mistaken, the Governor of that colony has just been recalled; has been driven away from the colony by the jobbers and peculators, who fatten there on the spoil of the public. And, in order that my statement on this subject may be easily corrected if it be erroneous, I will address it in the form of a question to those who are best acquainted with the facts. I would ask the right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer^ if he did not, when occupying Lord Glenelg's present office, appoint the present Governor of Sierra Leone, selecting him on account of his upright, straightforward, and energetic character, as a person well qualified to bring about some reform in that great job in the shape of a colony ? Did not the gentleman in question pro- ceed to Sierra Leone as a reformer ? A reformer in Sierra Leone ! The fate of such a monster need not be told. The reforming Governor of Sierra Leone, though he was eminently successful in attaching and conciliating the natives in the neii^hbourhood, soon gave offence to the small band of official jobbers who call themselves the colony, and was removed accordingly ! If the hon. baronet the member for Davenport'' objects to my statement, let him move for copies of the 1 Mr. T. Spring Rice. ^ Sir G. Grey. 40 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. correspondence between the Colonial Office and the late Governor. If that were done, the House would see that Sierra Leone is another case of colonial trouble and difficulty for which Lord Glenelg is responsible, but for which it is not to be expected that Lord Glenelg will provide a remedy. This, sir, is the third recent case of a Gover- nor's removal on account of differences with Lord Glenelg's Department. Let me now mention a fourth — that of the new colony of South Australia, whose Governor, appointed by Lord Glenelg not more than eighteen months ago, has been just recalled. I have no doubt that this recall may be justified, just like that of Sir F. B. Head; but if so, how does Lord Glenelg justify the appointment? and have not the appointment and the recall together placed the colony in that state which is sometimes called a state of " hot water " ? If we add to these four the resignation of Lord Gosford and the recall of Sir Francis B. Head, there will be no less than six recent cases of the removal of a colonial chief magistrate for extraordinary causes, and under circumstances of extraordinary difficulty and trouble for the colony. Here are six gentlemen at least who have cause to rue the day when they became subordinates of Lord Glenelg, Sir Richard Bourke, Sir Benjamin D'Urban, Major Henry Campbell, Captain Hindmarsh, Lord Gosford, and Sir Francis Bond Head. Here are six colonies at least in a state of " hot water." Surely, sir, my proposition as to the critical state of the colonies and the incompetency of Lord Glenelg cannot but be true. But let us proceed to further proofs and illustrations. 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION 41 Our slave colonies — no, our apprentice colonies — in the West Indies, great and small, insular and continental, Crown and chartered, present a wide and very productive -field of trouble, embarrass- ment, and danger. Sir, in alluding to them, I shall confine myself to subjects which come strictly within the terms of my present motion, being of peculiar urgency at the present time ; nor shall I dwell on all of those subjects. The subject of the gross violation of the Emancipation Act has been exhausted in the other House of Parliament, and Lord Glenelg, though rather late in the day to be sure, has promised to submit to Parliament a mea- sure for giving us that which we thought we had purchased by ;f 20,000, 000 of redemption-money. I would ask what the Colonial Minister has done, or proposed, or thought of, in respect to two other matters belonging to West Indian affairs, which, if he possessed the faculty of attention, would urgently require its exercise. I allude to precau- tions against the time, now very near at hand, when there will be an end to all compulsory labour in the West Indies, and when the negro inhabi- tants of our chartered colonies will claim the right and the power to elect negro members to the local parliaments. So long ago as in January, 1836, Lord Glenelg, or some other person writing in his name, seems to have been struck with the great importance of the former of these subjects and even to have devised a sufficient means of preventing the apprehended evil. In a circular of that date, addressed to the Governors of his Majesty*s posses- sions in the West Indies, Lord Glenelg said, or was made to say : " It must not be forgotten that the 42 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. conditions under which society has hitherto existed will, on the expiration of the apprenticeship, undergo an essential change. During slavery, labour could be compelled to go wherever it promised most profit to the employer. Under the new system it will go wherever it promises most profit to the labourer. If, therefore, we are to keep up the cultivation of the staple productions, we must make it the immediate and apparent interest of the negro population to employ their labour in raising them. There is reason to apprehend that at the termina- tion of the apprenticeship this will not be the case. Where there is land enough to yield an abundant subsistence to the whole population in return for slight labour, they will probably have no sufficient inducement to prefer the more toilsome existence of a regular labourer, whatever may be its remote advantages, or even its immediate gains. Should things be left to their natural course, labour would not be attracted to the cultivation of exportable products, until population began to press upon the means of subsistence, and the land failed (without a more assiduous and economical culture) to supply all its occupants with the necessaries of life." "In order to prevent this it will be necessary to prevent the occupation of Crown lands by persons not pos- sessing a proprietary title to them, and to fix such a price upon Crown lands as may place them out of the reach of persons without capital." Here a great danger is plainly indicated, and the means of prevention as clearly pointed out. The danger is, that the whole of the labouring population of the West Indies should, as soon as they become entirely free, refuse to work for wages, should set up, each 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 43 one by and for himself, on his own piece of land ; and that thus capitalists should be left without labourers, to the certain ruin of the industrj' of those colonies. Sir, I, for one, have no doubt that in all those colonies where land is excessively cheap, the apprehensions of the noble lord will be fully realised ; but along with the expression of his fears, the Colonial Minister suggested a measure of pre- vention. ** It will be necessary," he says, ** to fix such a price upon Crown lands as will place them out of the reach of persons without capital " ; and this plan of preserving labour for hire, by means of rendering the acquisition of waste land more difficult, was strongly recommended to Parliament by the Committee to which I have referred. As the plan could be of no use whatever unless adopted vsome time before the total emancipation of the apprentices, it will be supposed that the noble lord has followed up his important despatch by proposing some general and efficient measure founded on his own views and those of the Committee in question. By no means ; the vsubject remains just where his despatch left it in January, 1836 ; as if, notwith- standing its great importance, it had fairly slipped from the memory of the noble lord. Is this a case of culpable neglect ? I appeal to the hon. gentleman the member for Newark, than whom no member of this House is better acquainted with the subject ; but to this case of culpable neglect I have now to add one, in reference to the same subject, of culpable activity, if the term "activity" may be applied to any proceeding of the noble lord. The planters are impressed, as was the noble 44 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLES WORTH. lord, in January, 1836, with the necessity of taking some precaution against the year 1840, as respects the supply of labouring hands. They have devised a new kind of slavery, and a new kind of slave trade ; and this invention the noble lord has, by an Order in Council, dated the 12th July, 1837, fully sanctioned. This Order in Council authorises the planters of Demerara to import into that colony to serve as labourers — *' indentured labourers " I believe is the term employed — what class of people does the House imagine ? Englishmen or other Europeans who might assert their rights as *' in- dentured labourers " ? No. Freed negroes from the United States, who, being of the same race, and speaking the same language as the present colonial population of British Guiana, might be ''indentured labourers" without becoming slaves? No. But a class of people the most ignorant, the most strange, the most helpless, in all respects the most fit to become slaves, under the name of " indentured labourers." They are called Hill CooHes. The country from which they are to be imported, after being kidnapped, is the East Indies. In New South Wales the same apprehension of a want of labourers (which, as I have already said, the noble lord might have prevented by expending the emigration fund, instead of keeping it locked up in the public chest at Sydney) has led to a similar project for the importation of Hill Coolies. This attempt to establish a new kind of slavery was condemned by the late Governor, Sir R. Bourke, in a despatch now before the House. Should we not condemn the noble lord for having sanctioned a similar attempt in British Guiana ? That new law 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 45 of slavery — that piece of colonial legislation — will surely be repealed now that it has come to the knowledge of the British public. But will this set up the noble lord as a statesman qualified to save the industry, the whole productive power of the West Indies, from total overthrow in the year 1840? The political prospects of the West Indies are not less gloomy than those which relate to productive and commercial industry. In the chartered colonies, above all, which possess local representa- tion, is it to be believed that the two races — the masters and the slaves of yesterday — to-day perfectly equal as to political rights — will sit down peaceably together in the same Legislature ? Will not the blacks, as they may easily do, seek to obtain a majority in the local Parliament ? And will the whites, the haughty masters of yesterday, quietly submit to what they will consider so deep a degradation as being ruled by their recently emancipated slaves ? Let the question be answered by referring to the actual state of political opinion amongst the whites of Jamaica. If ever a colony was rebellious at heart, if ever a colony was in a state of dangerous excitement, this one is ! The whole of the West Indies indeed, economically and politically, are in a most critical state. The state of the West Indies, having reference to 1840, calls especially for forethought, for precautionary measures. Are we to trust to the noble lord for such measures of forethought, of precaution ? Or are we, so surely as we place any reliance on the noble lord's energetic sagacity, to wait quietly — nothing done, nothing proposed, nothing thought 46 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of — till 1840 is upon us ? Sir, may I not say, that the noble lord has neglected to take, and seems incapable of taking, any precautions to render harmless the great revolution, economical, social, and political, which must happen in the West Indies two years hence ! Considering the near approach of 1840, is it fair, is it just, is it commonly humane, towards our fellow-subjects in the West Indies, who, be it always remembered, have no representation in this House, to let the noble lord continue fast asleep at the head of colonial affairs ? According to the treatment of my motion by the House will be the answer to this question. If the House decide uninfluenced by con- siderations altogether foreign to the subject, who can doubt of the result ? The House will, I trust, have observed that neither in referring to the dangerous condition of any colony, nor in questioning the capacity of the noble lord to deal with the existing circumstances of our colonial empire, have I mentioned the subject of the colonial policy of this or any other Adminis- tration. That subject I conceive to be foreign to the question before the House. With this impres- sion I should not, except for the purpose of correcting a misrepresentation as to myself, have even alluded, as I did just now, to the subject of colonial policy in the abstract. Neither general principles, nor particular measures founded upon this or that principle, have anything to do with my proposition as to the actual state of colonial afl"airs, and the incapacity of the present Colonial Minister. The questions which I have submitted to the House are questions of mere fact. I inquire not into the 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 47 causes of the present critical state of colonial affairs. I have no concern on the present occasion with the opinions of the noble lord or of his col- leagues, or of any other person, on the subject of colonial policy. Still less should I be willing to obtrude on the House any opinions of my own with respect to subjects, between which and the question at issue there is no kind of relation whatever. In proceeding, therefore, to say a few words on the condition of our North American provinces, I put aside altogether the differences between the Assem- bly of Lower Canada and the Colonial Office. I stop not to ask which has right or justice on its side, the Office or the Assembly. With a view to the motion before the House, I have not a word to say about the resolutions of last year, or the Act of this year. Against both of those measures I spoke and voted at the time, and should be ready to do so again on a fitting occasion ; but if both of those measures had had my strenuous support, instead of my most determined opposition, such a course would not in the least Jhave precluded me from submitting my present motion to the House. I have the honour of addressing the House on a totally different question. And first, sir, as to the noble lord's manner of carrying into effect the policy of the Government towards Lower Canada. Need I recur, sir, to those wearisome despatches which have impressed upon the country at large a conviction of the noble lord's pre-eminent unfitness for the conduct of difficult affairs ? Need I, following a noble earl in the other House of Parliament* count * Lord Aberdeen. 48 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. over again the long list of promises forgotten, of assurances never fulfilled, of instructions which never arrived until it was too late, of excuses for leaving Lord Gosford without instruc- tions, of postponements without a reason, of apologies and pretexts for delay when prompti- tude was most requisite, of self-contradictions, hesitations, meaningless changes of purpose, and other proofs of an inveterate habit of doing nothing? *' In fact," said the noble earl, '' the system that the noble lord went upon, was that of doing nothing." Doing nothing reduced to a system ! This system of the noble lord has much to answer for. Who will deny that it was the main cause of the revolt and bloodshed in which it ended ? If the recent accounts from Lower Canada make it appear, as I think they do, that the policy of the Government towards that country has fewer or less determined enemies there than was lately supposed, yet those favourable accounts cast still heavier blame on the noble lord's extraordinary system ; tending, at least, to show that the most ordinary degree of decision and promptitude would have prevented the revolt altogether. The easy suppres- sion of the revolt, however, by no means estabHshes that the colony is in so little a critical state as to be fit for the noble lord's peculiar system. So again of Upper Canada. Does not that colony require, particularly just now, from the head of our colonial Government a system very different from that of the noble lord ? Is it probable, is it possible, is it in the nature of things, that the noble lord should so far change his second nature as to conquer the habit of doing nothing ? But it may be said the 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 49 government of our North American provinces has been taken out of the hands of the noble lord, and confided to a noble earl ^ who possesses in an eminent degree the personal qualities in which the noble lord is most conspicuously deficient. I have heard this said, sir, but cannot understand it. I readily acknowledge the statesmanlike qualities of the noble earl, whose personal character seems to qualify him, above most men, for the performance of difficult and arduous public functions. Let me acknowledge the very striking contrast between the habits of the noble earl and the system of the noble lord. But, what then ? From whom is the noble earl to receive, from whom has he already received instructions ? To whom is he to make reports ? Who is to bring before Parliament the legislative measures the noble earl may propose ? Answer to all — the noble lord wedded to his system of doing nothing ? Does it not therefore appear, not only foolish, but almost ridiculous, to make such a person as the noble earl subordinate to the noble lord ? They had far better change places ; for the system of the noble lord is one in which sub- ordinates cannot well indulge, least of all under such a chief as the noble earl ; and it is in the chief, the head of our Colonial Department, that the qualities of diligence, forethought, judgment, activity, and firmness are most required. Sir, I have detained the House too long, and will trouble them with but a few words more. Hon. members, far better acquainted than I can pretend to be with the history of Parliament, will confirm me in saying that this motion is * Lord Durham. M. B 50 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. fully justified by precedent ; but I will not rely at all on this justification. I rely wholly on the truth of my proposition, and the expediency of affirming it. This appears to me to be a case for which we ought to make a precedent, if there be none to direct us in providing a remedy for the evil. Whatever may be thought of the motion, the case, I will venture to say, is without precedent. Were our colonies ever, since we established a central Government for them, in so critical a state before? When did so many and such grave questions press upon the attention of a Colonial Minister ? Is there a single member of the House who will say upon his conscience that the present Colonial Minister possesses any one, or is not deficient in all, of the qualities mentioned in the proposed address to the Crown ? Sir, my proposition is true, and upon that I alone rely ; for if such a proposi- tion be true, who will deny the obligation upon us to provide an adequate remedy for the evil ? Sir, instead of searching after precedents, I point to the millions of our fellow-subjects who are unrepre- sented in this House ; to the great branches of domestic industry which depend upon the well-being of our colonial empire ; to New South Wales, sinking into a state of irreclaimable depravity, with its free emigration fund locked up in the Govern- ment chest, and its oft-promised ConvStitution with- held year after year ; to the Mauritius, with its 20,000 freemen held in bondage by the insolent and would-be rebel planters ; to South Africa, almost denuded of its native inhabitants, distracted by factions who agree in nothing but their curses of the Colonial Office, and its horde of rebels gone 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION. 51 forth into the wilderness to conquer an inheritance of oppression over the helpless natives ; to the ** white man's grave," that job of jobs, which is rejoicing in the recall of a reforming Governor ; to the West Indies, bordering on the ruin of their industry, inventing a new slave trade with the sanction of the noble lord, in order to counteract the noble lord's total neglect of the means which he himself has pointed out as necessary to preserve the use of capital in those fertile lands, grossly evading the Emancipation Act, after pocketing its enormous price, and fast approaching the time when, without a single precaution with a view to that strange event, 800,000 negro slaves will in one day acquire the same political rights as their masters of another race, and with the most im- portant of those possessions in a state little short of open revolt ; and lastly, to the North American provinces, where open revolt has just been sup- pressed, where civil bloodshed has excited the passions of hatred and revenge, where a Constitu- tion is suspended, and martial law is still in force, and where there is no prospect of peace and contented allegiance, but in the prompt settlement of a great variety of questions of surpassing com- plexity and difficulty. I point to all these colonies in a state of disorganisation and danger ; and then to the interests at home, which depend, more or less, on the productiveness of colonial industry, to Birmingham and Sheffield, to Leeds, Liverpool, and Glasgow, and to the great colonial shipping port of London. This done, instead of searching after precedents, I would remind the House of the noble lord's system, as described by his immediate B a 52 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. predecessor in office ^ — the fatal system of doing nothing at all ! If truth and the public interest are to prevail, the House will surely accede to my motion, whether or not it be according to precedent. One word more, and I shall no longer trespass upon the patience of the House. It has been suggested to me that my motion would have been more likely to be carried if it had applied, not to a particular member of the Government, but to the whole Administration. For the following reasons, I have not listened to that suggestion. The subject relates strictly to the Colonial Department, and I wish to confine myself to the subject. It may be true that the whole Cabinet should be held respon- sible for the errors and defects of the Colonial Office; that may be a good constitutional principle, but I am not aware of it. Not being aware of it, I have pursued the plain and simple course of attri- buting to the Colonial Minister alone his own errors and deficiencies. The other course — that of pro- posing a vote of want of confidence in the Ministry on account of the state of a single department — would have been far more agreeable to me in one respect, inasmuch as it would have relieved me from the suspicion (which, however, I trust that none who know me will entertain) of being actuated by personal hostility to Lord Glenelg. On that account alone I should have much preferred moving for a vote as respects the Cabinet ; but I felt that my first duty was to place the subject before the House in the light best calculated to obtain their attention, and therefore have I confined to the Colonial Minister the proposal of a vote of censure ^ Lord Aberdeen. 1838.] LORD GLENELG'S COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION, 53 for matters which are exclusively of a colonial nature. I have very likely erred through inexperi- ence of the usages of Parliament and the Con- stitution ; but I have acted according to the best of my judgment, and throw myself upon the in- dulgence of the House. I conclude by moving, ** That a humble address be presented to her Majesty, respectfully expressing the opinion of this House that in the present critical state of many of her Majesty's foreign possessions in various parts of the world, it is essential to the well-being of her Majesty*s colonial empire, and of the many and important domestic interests, which depend on the prosperity of the colonies, that the Colonial Minister should be a person in whose diligence, forethought, judgment, activity, and firmness this House and the public may be able to place reliance ; and declaring, with all deference to the constitutional prerogatives of the Crown, that her Majesty's present Secretary of State for the Colonies does not enjoy the confidence of this House, or of the country." ON THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM OF DISPOSING OF THE COLONIAL LANDS. June 27, 1839. [The resolutions seconded by Sir W. Molesworth were as follows : — 1. That the occupation and cultivation of waste lands in the British colonies by means of emigration tends to improve the condition of all the industrious classes in the United Kingdom by diminishing competition for employment at home, in con- sequence of the removal of superabundant numbers, creating new markets and increasing the demand for shipping and manufactures. 2. That the prosperity of colonies and the progress of colonisation mainly depend upon the manner in which a right of private property in the waste lands of the colony may be acquired ; and that amidst the great variety of methods of disposing of waste lands which have been pursued by the British Government the most effectual beyond all com- parison is the plan of sale at a fixed uniform and sufficient price, for ready money, without any condition or restriction, and the employment of the whole or a large fixed proportion of the purchase money in affording a passage to the colonies cost free to young persons of the labouring class, in an equal proportion of the sexes. 3. That in order to derive the greatest possible advantage from this method of colonising, it is essential that the per- manence of the system shall be secured by the Legislature, and that its administration should be entrusted to a distinct subordinate branch of the Colonial Department, authorised to sell colonial lands in this country ; to anticipate the sales of lands by raising loans for emigration on the security of the land sales, and generally to superintend the arrangements by which the comfort and well-being of the emigrants are to be secured. i839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 55 4. That this method of colonising has been applied by the Legislature to the new colony of South Australia with very remarkable and gratifying results, and that it is expedient that Parliament should extend the South Australian system to all other colonies which are suited to its operation. The resolutions were finally withdrawn, Mr. Ward recog- nising the impossibility of legislation in that year, and the answers of Ministers (Mr. Labouchere and Lord Howick) not being unfriendly, although they refused to bind themselves to a hard and fast rule in dealing with the lands. It should be noted that a subsequent Act of 1842 gave statutory force to the practice of successive Secretaries of State, in selling the Australian waste lands by auction at a minimum upset price of 20S. per acre. Subject to a charge for cost of survey, half of the gross proceeds were to be spent on immigration to the colony in which the land was sold.] In seconding the motion of my honourable friend, I need not, after his able speech, enter into any lengthened discussion of the principles upon which his motion is founded. My honourable friend pro- poses, first, that in every one of the colonies a certain price shall be affixed to its waste lands, that price to vary according to the circumstances of each colony ; and, secondly, that the net proceeds of the land sales shall constitute an emigration fund, each colony to be furnished with emigrant labour in proportion to its own land sales. The object of these regulations is first, by a fixed price to put an end to the favouritism and other abuses, which have always resulted, and must, in my opinion, necessarily result, from any system of free or conditional grants of land. Secondly, the fixed price ought to be a considerable one, in order to prevent individuals from acquiring large tracts of land without any intention to cultivate them, and merely in the hope that, at some future period, 56 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. they may become valuable by the increase of wealth and population. And here I may remark, that all experience and reason have shown, that such ex- cessive appropriations are most injurious to a new community, by interposing deserts, and cutting off communication between its cultivated parts. And, lastly, the object of employing, in the promotion of emigration, the funds raised from the sale of land, is to afford a profitable field of employment for the surplus population of this country, and to provide the purchasers of colonial land with a steady supply of labour, wherewith to render their land productive, and worth the price put upon it. For land without labour to cultivate it is worthless. It is evident indeed that a few half sterile acres in this densely peopled country are, on account of the facility of obtaining hired labour, far more valuable than millions of the most fertile acres in a place where no labourers can be obtained to reap the fruits of the soil. Now, if the regulations of my honourable friend be adopted, the purchasers of colonial land would not merely purchase a certain number of acres, but would indirectly buy the services of a number of labourers proportioned to the amount of land bought. As the chief object of putting a considerable price on waste land is to obtain a supply of labour, it is evident that the price of waste land ought to be so high as to ensure a sufficient supply of labour to cultivate the appropriated land in the most advan- tageous manner ; that is, to raise from it the greatest amount of produce compared to the number of hands employed : for in that case wages and profits would be high, and the community flourishing. 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 57 For this purpose the price of land in each colony should be such as, first, to produce a fund sufficient to convey to the colony the number of labourers required ; and, secondly, to prevent the labourers, so conveyed, from passing from the state of labourers to that of landowners, before their place can be supplied by fresh immigrants. These are the objects of the motion of my honourable friend. They are founded upon the self-evident fact that land without labour to cultivate it is worthless. My honourable friend therefore proposes to make the waste lands of the colonies valuable, by making them the means of conveying labour to the colonies. My honourable friend's motion is likewise founded upon the now acknowledged fact, that individuals (particularly from this country) will not labour for hire when they can easily become independent landowners, even though their pecuniary gains as petty land- owners be much less than the wages they could earn as labourers. Therefore, if the price of waste land in a colony be very low, emigrant labourers too rapidly pass from the condition of labourers to that of landowners, and steady labour for hire is unattainable ; consequently, in a colony so circum- stanced there would be very little or no combination of labour, no division of employment, no extensive branches of indUvStry, and no profitable investment for capital ; and this combination of circumstances would ultimately occasion a cessation of any demand for labour, consequently wages and profits would be low, and the community poor and half civilised. The history of colonisation offers but too many instances of such a result having been brought 58 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. about by an excessive facility of acquiring land. On this account, my honourable friend proposes to render the acquisition of waste lands difficult by putting a considerable price upon them. In support of this plan I must observe that experience has shown that (except when accidental circumstances have obstructed in some considerable degree the appropriation of waste land) the only colonies in which there have been from their com- mencement combinable labour and extensive pro- duction, and which have rapidly increased in wealth, have been colonies in which slavery, in some shape or other, has been established; such, for instance, as that of the negroes in the Southern States of America, and in our own West Indian colonies ; of indentured labourers in the early times of Pennsyl- vania, and of convicts in the penal colonies of Australia. As far as production is concerned, the effects of the plan of my honourable friend would be the same as those of slavery ; namely, it would ensure the existence of combinable labour, of extended and profitable production, and of wealth. The moral means by which this result would be brought about would be far different from those of slavery. Under slavery, the labourer is directly compelled to toil by the lash, without any prospect of bettering his condition. Under the plan of my honourable friend the labourer would be indirectly compelled by the price of land to sell his labour, during a certain time, for high wages, with a hope, however, of ultimately not only acquiring landed property, but likewise of becoming an employer of labour himself : and this hope he could not enter- tain were the price of land so low that, in a short 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 5g period of time, the mere emigrant labourer could acquire a sufficient amount of land to maintain himself upon. I will not, after the able exposition of my honourable friend, enter into any further discussion of the principles upon which his motion is founded. Though but recently discovered, the justice of those principles has been acknowledged by most persons well versed in the science of political economy. They were first put forth about the year 1829 by ^Y friend Mr. Wakefield, to whom, as my honourable friend the member for Sheffield most justly obser\^ed, the great merit of their discovery is exclusively due. In 1833 they were fully developed, in an admirable work of Mr. Wakefield's, called " England and America." The preceding year they had been partially adopted by the Colonial Office, in certain regulations, known by the name of Lord Howick's Regulations, to the utility of which, as far as they went, ample testimony has been borne. In 1833 they were embodied in the Act for creating the colony of South Australia, and they constitute the basis of that rapidly flourishing community. In 1836 they were distinctly recognised by Lord Glenelg in a circular addressed to the West Indian colonies, but unfortunately for the industry of those colonies they have since that period been entirely overlooked. In the same year they were carefully in\Lstii;ated and approved of by a Committee of the House of Commons, of which my honourable friend the member for Sheffield was the chairman. Last year they were fully confirmed by the numerous and intclli<;L'nl witncssis examined before the Trans- portation Committee. They form no inconsiderable 6o SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. and by no means the least valuable portion of Lord Durham's Report on Canada. My honourable friend the member for Liskeard^ has adopted them in his able report on the waste lands of the North American colonies. And lastly, within a few weeks, a company, with a capital of ;/^250,ooo, has been established on these very principles, to colonise New Zealand. The facts which I have just stated show how carefully the principles con- tained in the resolutions of my honourable friend have been examined, and how highly they have been approved of by shrewd and intelligent men. I will now, with the permission of the House, attempt to comply with the wish of my honourable friend. My honourable friend has requested me, as having paid much attention to the affairs of the penal colonies of Australia, and having been chair- man of the Transportation Committee, to show to how great and important an extent the principles, upon which his measure is founded, are immediately applicable to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. For that purpose I must first make a few remarks with regard to the history of the industry and production of those colonies. The House is aware that the colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788, as a place of punishment for criminals. For many years after its commencement it was inhabited almost entirely by convicts, their superintendents, and the soldiers appointed to guard the prisoners. The first persons who acquired landed property in that colony were some ofiicers in the regiments quartered there ; some convicts, the period of whose sentences had 1 Mr. C. Buller. 1839] COLONIAL LANDS. 61 expired ; and a very few emigrants. To these persons the Government made grants of land, fre- quently on the condition that they should maintain a certain number of convicts. These convicts became the servants, or rather the slaves, of the settlers, for they were subjected to flagellation and other punishments for neglect of work. They were employed by their masters in cultivating the land, from which they raised a surplus produce. For that surplus produce the Government and convict establishments afforded a most excellent market. By these means, and by others of not so creditable a description, the first settlers rapidly made money ; they obtained more land, and more convict servants, and accumulated capital ; emi- grants arrived from this country, and the colony appeared to be most flourishing. The history of the industry of Van Diemen's Land is nearly the same as that of New South Wales. It was first settled in 1803, as a depen- dency of New South Wales, and in 1825 was made independent of that colony ; it is indebted for its wealth to the slave labour of transported convicts, and to the large sums expended on it by this country. In proof of the rapid progress of these colonies in production and commerce, I will read to the House a few facts which I have collected from Parliamentary returns. The House is aware that wool is the staple produce of Australia. The sheep are chiefly of the Merino breed, with a slight cross of those from Bengal and the Cape of Good Hope. Their fleeces are of the finest quality, averaging about 62 SPEECHES OF SIR W . MOLESWORTH. two and a half pounds weight, and worth from one to three shilHngs a pound. In 1796 the number of sheep in New South Wales was only 1,531 ; during the next year Captain MacArthur (a name which will ever be celebrated in the industrial history of that colony), obtained three rams and four ewes of the Merino breed. He applied him- self to the rearing of fine - wooled sheep ; he obtained at different times considerable grants of land from the Government (in all, 18,000 acres), and a number of convicts as shepherds. His flocks were the best in the colony, and to his exertions in no small degree is to be attributed the extraordinary success of this branch of industry in Australia. About the beginning of this century the number of sheep in New South Wales amounted only to 6,757; in 1821 they were esti- mated at 120,000 ; in 1830 they had reached 500,000 ; in 1834 they were not less than 1,000,000 ; and now they probably exceed 3,000,000. The first return that I am able to find of the quantity of wool exported from New South Wales is for the year 1807 ; it amounted only to 245 lbs. ; in 1815 it had increased to 32,000 lbs. ; in 1820 to 100,000 lbs. ; in 1828 to 834,000 lbs. ; and in the same year from the two colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land 1,574,000 lbs. were exported. Since 1828 the quantity of wool received from those colonies has increased fivefold ; last year it amounted nearly to 8,000,000 of pounds weight, the value of which could not have been less than ;^6oo,ooo, probably somewhat more. Thus the AustraHan colonies, which at the com- mencement of the century did not export a single 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 63 pound weight of wool, now supply us with about one-seventh of the whole quantity of wool imported. And I feel persuaded that in less than another half century, if those colonies be properly managed, our commerce with them in wool alone will exceed our whole trade in that commodity at the present moment. There is known to be, in Australia, an all but indefinite amount of the finest pasturage lands ; on these lands, flocks of sheep, with proper care, will double themselves in every two or three years ; all that is wanted is a sufficient amount of labour, and how, by adopting the principles of my honourable friend, that amount of labour can be obtained, I will presently show. First, however, I will state some other facts with reference to the progress of industry of the penal colonies. The value of the fisheries of Australia has increased with great rapidity. They consist chiefly in the pursuit of the black and sperm whales. In 1828 they produced about 38,000/. ; seven years afterwards, in 1835, they had increased nearly sixfold, to 214,000/. The value of the exports from New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land in 1828 did not exceed 181,000/.; in 1836 they amounted to 1,168,000/., or about 15/. a head for every free person. The value of the imports into these colonies in 1828 was 811,000/. ; in 1836 it had more than doubled, being about 1,795,000/., or 23/. a head for every free person. The shipping of these colonies has likewise doubled during the last eight years. The number of vessels entered inwards in 1828 was 268, with a tonnage of 56,000 tons ; in 1836 the number of vessels entered inwards was 561, with a tonnage of 124,000 tons. In 1828 the 64 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. number of vessels entered outwards was 202, with a tonnage of 44,000 tons ; in 1836 the number of vessels entered outwards was 541, with a tonnage of 116,000 tons. Comparing the trade, revenue, and expenditure of the penal colonies with those of the United Kingdom, I find that, in proportion to their respective populations, the exports of the penal colonies are seven times, the imports ten times, the revenue twice, and the expenditure one and a half times, as great as those of the United Kingdom. For the purpose of showing the great commercial importance of these colonies, and their value to this country, as compared with other portions of our colonial empire, I have instituted a comparison between their trade and that of the larger of our other colonies. I find that in 1836 the commerce (including under that term the sum of the exports and imports) of this country with the penal colonies, whose population did not then exceed 125,000 persons (convicts as well as free), was equal to four-fifths of our commerce with the two Canadas, containing a population of one million ; to three-fourths of our commerce with Jamaica, containing a population of 361,000 ; to nearly double that with the Mauritius, and to one-third of that with our Indian empire. The extent of the market of colonies for the products of the industry of this country may be inferred from the fact that in 1836 the exports of. British produce and manufactures to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land were equal in valu( to about one-eighth of the whole of our exports to] 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 65 the colonial empire, whose population was nearly one hundred millions ; to two-fifths of the exports to the North American colonies ; to three-sevenths of the exports to India ; they were nearly equal to the exports to the West Indian colonies, both insular and continental ; and were four times as great as those to the Mauritius. And, lastly, I must state, as a proof of the wealth of these colonies, that in the immediate vicinity of Sydney the value of land is from 100/. to 1,000/. an acre ; and in Sydney itself it has been sold at the rate of 10,000/. an acre. I wish to direct the attention of the House to the facts I have just stated, in order to impress the House with the importance of the subject which I am now about to discuss ; namely, the causes which threaten the industry of these colonies and the necessity of adopting the principles of my honour- able friend, in order to provide them with the supply of labour requisite to maintain them in their present state. I have already remarked that the rapid progress of these colonies is to be attributed, not to the cir- cumstance that the Government has furnished the settlers with land free of expense, but that it has provided them with the combinable labour which renders that land productive, and which consists in convict slaves, transported at the cost of this country ; and in addition to this, that the Govern- ment has created an excellent market in the form of convict, military, and civil establishments, paid for out of the British estimates. Since the com- mencement of the two colonies, the Government has granted away nearly seven millions of acres, M. F 66 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. only a trifling portion of which, and that during the last three or four years, has been paid for. About 110,000 convicts have been transported, most of whom have been assigned as labourers ; at the present moment there are probably between 30,000 and 40,000 convicts in private service. The amount of British funds expended upon these colonies since 1786 was estimated by the Transpor- tation Committee to have been at least eight mil- lions of pounds sterling ; the sum defrayed out of the public purse for these colonies in 1837 was 461,000/., having increased from 354,000/. iji 183 1. These were the elements of the wealth of the penal colonies ; namely, land well adapted to the growth of wool and other produce ; a steady market at hand ; and a constant and abundant supply of labour. As long as a sufficient supply of labour can be obtained, so long will these colonies prosper ; and this brings me to the consideration of the present state of the Australian colonies, and to the deficiency of the supply of labour which exists at present and will augment, unless means be taken of providing those colonies with labour from other sources than from the gaols of this country, which have of late become inadequate. During the earlier period of these colonies the supply of convict labour exceeded the demand, and the Government granted various indulgences to the settlers, who would take convicts under their charge. At a subsequent period the supply of convict labour only equalled the demand ; then there was no diffi- culty in disposing of convicts, and the strange system of confiding the punishment of ojffenders to the discretion of private individuals (called the 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 67 assignment system) acquired its full extension. At present the supply of convict labour is much less than the demand ; and the competition for labourers is very great. New South Wales, especially, is suffering from this cause. The flocks of sheep, from the want of shepherds, are twice the size they ought to be ; numbers of sheep perish for want of care ; and many proprietors, I have been informed, have been obliged to destroy their lambs. It was estimated last year that no less than ten thousand labourers were required for that colony alone. Every arrival of late from New South Wales has brought complaints of the want of labour. The diminution in the general and in the land revenue last year may in some degree be attributed to this cause, the effects of which will every year become more striking, unless vigorous measures be adopted to remove the disproportion now existing between the demand for and the supply of labour. That disproportion is the result of a variety of causes ; first, of the great increase of capital to which I have already referred, and which has occasioned a great increase in the demand for labour, in order to render that capital productive. Secondly, the deficiency of labour may be partly attributed to the manner in which the Australian colonies have been peopled ; namely, chiefly by convicts, with a very unequal proportion of the two sexes. Population has, in consequence, increased very slowly ; as the convicts, who die, rarely leave behind them children to supply their places. The fresh importations of convicts does little more than fill up the void occasioned by deaths, and by the secession of convicts from the class of labourers. F 2 68 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Thus the transportation of convicts does not actually afford any additional supply of labour to the settlers in New South Wales, nor enable them to extend their field of production, in proportion to the extension of their capital. Thirdly, the employment of criminals as labourers has made various descriptions of labour discredit- able for persons who have not been convicted. The free emigrants, who of late years have arrived in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, are therefore disinclined to adopt occupations similar to those performed by convicts ; they are unwilling to labour in company, and thus to confound them- selves with criminals under punivshment. Precisely the same feelings act upon free persons in the penal colonies as operate upon the white population in the Southern States of America, and which make it disgraceful for a white man, and cause him to be stigmatised as a mean white, if he consent to work in those kinds of industry which are the usual employments of the black race. And, lastly, this disinclination to labour for another is strengthened in the Australian colonies by the facility with which land can be obtained. For the price of the land is so low that any person, who has obtained a small sum of money, can set up for himself; and even the mere emigrant labourer can in a short time, by the savings from his high wages, become the independent proprietor of a small plot of land. These are the main causes of the disproportion between the supply of and the demand for labour in New South Wales. In Van Diemen's Land the same causes do not operate to the same extent, 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 69 because the territory of that colony is comparatively limited, and most of the fertile land is already occupied. In Van Diemen's Land, therefore, the yearly importation of convicts from this country is nearly sufficient for the labour market of that colony. In New South Wales this is not the case. If, however, that source of labour be cut off, without new channels of supply being opened, the want of labour would be most intensely felt in both colonies. Now I feel convinced that no Government can long permit the existence of the present system of transportation. The employment of convicts as slaves (that is the assignment system) has been condemned by every authority, as a most unequal and improper punishment. It was allowed, even by those most interested in the economical pros- perity of the penal colonies, to be the source of innumerable and incalculable moral evils ; and to have produced communities as depraved as they are wealthy ; in both respects without parallel in the world. Its discontinuance has been recom- mended by the noble lord the member for Stroud and by the late Secretary of State for the Colonies.* Orders have been transmitted to the Governors of these colonies to the effect that no more convicts shall be assigned to settlers. Whether or not con- victs should continue to be sent to these colonies to be punished in gaols or penitentiaries is, (though in itself a question of great importance), one that I will not now discuss. I shall call the attention of the House to this subject on a future, and I trust early, occasion, when I shall bring under the con- sideration of the House the report and resolutions * Lord Normanby. 70 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of the Transportation Committee. It is the con- tinuance or discontinuance of convict slavery ; that is, of the assignment system, which affects the pecuniary interests of the penal colonies. The colonists want convicts to rear their flocks, and till their fields, and for no other purposes. Their present prosperity will vanish if they be deprived of their present supply of convict labour, unless they obtain labour from some other source. They will cease to flourish, especially in New South Wales, even if they retain the present supply of convict labour, unless an additional quantity of labour be procured from other quarters. How, I ask, can such a supply of labour be obtained as will compensate for the abolition of transportation, or at least of the assignment system, and will furnish a regularly increasing amount of labour in proportion to the increase of the field of production ? So severely was the want of labour felt in New South Wales that it was proposed to import Hindoos, as indentured labourers, who were to be returned to their native country, at the end of a certain period of time. With regard to this plan, I must observe that experience has fully shown that it is impossible to enforce bonds of indenture without a system of punishment that would make the indentured labourer almost a slave. It has generally happened, when the indentured labourer was of the same race as his master, and equal to him in intelligence, that he has broken his indenture and sold his labour to the highest bidder for it. On the other hand, when the labourer was of an inferior race, he was first entrapped, and subsequently reduced by his master to a state of 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 71 bondage. Now, every one, who is aware of the ignorance and helplessness of the Hill Coolies (the particular caste of Hindoos proposed to be imported as indentured labourers), must at once perceive that this mode of supplying New South Wales with labour would, in reality, establish a species of slavery in that colony. The Colonial Office has, therefore, very properly refused to assent to such a proceeding. Moreover, if the indentured labourers were to be ultimately sent back to their own country, the importation of a few thousand Hindoos annually would be a mere temporary expedient wholly inadequate to that extension of industry of which New South Wales is capable. On the other hand, if they were permanently to settle in the colony they would form a separate class, distinct in colour, language, and religion ; and a state of society would ensue, such as, I think, no statesman would desire to produce in Australia, after the ample experience, which we have had, of the pernicious consequences of a similar state of society in our West Indian colonies and in the Southern States of America. Emigration from this country is, therefore, the only source from which labour can be advan- tageously supplied to New South Wales. But here several difficult questions arise. If trans- portation continue, the emigration of free labourers to the same place where criminals are sent to be punished is most objectionable ; first, because it would destroy a great portion of the terrors of transportation, inasmuch as the condition of a labourer in the penal colony is represented to be better than that of one in this country ; and the 72 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. mere banishment, which is generally considered to be the greater portion of the punishment, would, in consequence be considered rather in the light of a benefit than of an evil. Secondly, because trans- portation has produced, and tends to perpetuate, in the penal colonies a state of morality worse than that of any other community in the world. This has been amply proved by the report of the Trans- portation Committee. I entertain, therefore, the most serious doubts whether the Government is morally justified in encouraging the industrious classes of this country in emigrating to a commu- nity, where it is all but certain that their moral principles will be subverted by association with the criminals, who are compelled to accompany them. To send 5,000 criminals and as many free emigrants to labour together in the same place is an anomaly in legislation, in defence of which no arguments of any validity can be urged. If transportation continue, it would be far better to circumscribe the penal colonies, to allow none but offenders to dwell in them, and to make them nothing else than large gaols, such as was the condition of Van Diemen's Land under Sir George Arthur. New South Wales should then be limited to the territory which is now occupied. And the remainder of it, especially Port Phillip, and the surrounding district of most fertile land, called Australia Felix, should be established into a new colony, untainted by convicts, and inhabited only by free, industrious, and intelligent emigrants. Such a colony would in a short time afford a market for the productions of this country, and a commerce as extensive as those of the present 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 73 penal colonies. It is true the penal colonies would still be the sinks of iniquity and vice they now are ; they would not become worse : that is impossible. They would not, however, contaminate the whole of that vast and fertile district which at present is included within the boundaries of New South Wales. Undoubtedly this proposition is one highly injurious to the interests of the free settlers of New South Wales. But it is the only alternative which, in my opinion, the continuance of transportation permits. Some of the inhabitants of New South Wales claim a vested interest in the labour of the criminals of this country ; if so, they must take it with all its consequences. They have selected a gaol as their abode, they must submit to its incon- veniences and sufferings. They have chosen to dwell amongst offenders, they must not expect that the Legislature will encourage, or even permit innocent men to become their companions. For I consider the Legislature to be equally bound to guard over the moral as well as the economical interests of its subjects. It ought to prevent those over whom it exercises authority from sacrificing their dearer and more important, though remoter, interests, for the sake of some minor, though im- mediate, advantage; especially when such persons are liable to act in ignorance, as is the case with the greater portion of the emigrant labourers. I myself cannot conceive how any virtuous, any high- minded man, any person in whom the desire of pecuniary gain has not obliterated every other and better feeling, can consent to become an inmate of these colonies, if transportation continue, unless under the most erroneous impressions of the 74 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. consequences of that system of punishment. Indeed, I feel firmly convinced that, with the continuance of transportation, all the better portion of the inhabitants of these colonies, and of the emigrants, will remove to the other Australian communities, that are now springing up, where similar descrip- tions of industry are carried on, where a better state of society exists, and where free institutions will soon be established, which can never be the case in the penal colonies, as long as convicts are transported. Sir, if transportation be abolished, I see no obvious difficulty in maintaining the present econo- mical prosperity of these colonies, and in purifying them. The motion of my honourable friend points out the means ; all that is required is the incHna- tion and the determination on the part of the Government vigorously to adopt those means. In order that New South Wales and Van Die- men's Land may continue in their career of wealth, the place of the 30,000 or 40,000 convicts, who are now labourers in the penal colonies, must be suppHed by a similar number of free labourers. And here I must remark that 40,000 free men will produce far more than 40,000 convicts ; for there was no fact better established before the Trans- portation Committee than that, even at the present high rate of wages, free labour, when it can be obtained, is more profitable to its employer than the compulsory labour of unpaid convicts. And, likewise, I should observe, that the whole of this amount of labour would not be required at once ; for a certain period of time must elapse before the whole of the convicts, who are now employed as 1839.1 COLONIAL LANDS. 75 labourers, can be withdrawn from private service, or could become free by the expiration of their terms of punishment. This period should, in my opinion, not exceed four or five years ; after which no persons should be permitted to be owners of convict labourers. In addition to these circum- stances, it should be remarked that a considerable portion of the new convicts would, on becoming free, become labourers. It is therefore evident that the emigration, during the next four or five years, of 40,000 labourers would fully compensate for the abolition of transportation. But, as I have already observed, the present supply of convict labour is insufficient for the demand for labour in New South Wales, therefore some additional free emigration would be required for that colony, in order to prevent any check to the progress of its industry. It is all but impossible accurately to calculate what that additional emigration ought to be. I feel persuaded that if these colonies were provided during the next four or five years with 100,000 emigrants, of equal proportions of men and women, not only would the cessation of the assignment system, and of the supply of convicts from this country, not be felt on the industry of these communities, but they would be amply fur- nished with labour, and with a population which, unlike the present one, would rapidly increase. So far with regard to the effects of such an amount of emigration on the industry and production of these colonies. Its moral effects would be still more striking. Whereas at present with a small free emigration, a considerable transportation of convicts demoralises the free emigrants, and is a 76 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. perennial source of vice, a large free emigration and no transportation would soon swamp the remainder of the convict population, and establish a new standard of morality. At the last census, in 1836, the population of these colonies consisted of 120,000 persons, half of whom were, or had been, convicts. Now, it is no exaggeration to sup- pose, that if 100,000 emigrants were carried out free of expense during the next five years, what with those who would emigrate at their own expense, and with births, the population of these colonies would at the end of that period be not less than 300,000 souls, of whom not more than one-seventh, or between 40,000 and 50,000, would have been convicts. This result, the House must acknowledge, would be a most desirable one ; the permanent prosperity of these colonies would be ensured ; an increasing trade with this country would be certain ; and their population would be constituted of such materials as would fit them for receiving those free institutions and that self-govern- ment, without which good colonial government is impossible. It will be asked. What would be the cost of such an amount of emigration, and how could the money be raised ? Twenty pounds a head would, under a proper system of management, more than cover the expenses of passage, of salaries to the agents of emigration, and of all incidental expenditure. For I find that the cost to the Government for the passage of convicts to the penal colonies was between thirteen and fourteen pounds a head in 1836. Seventeen pounds a head were allowed by the Government to the Committee for Female 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 77 Emigration to Australia ; and that Committee con- tracted with their own secretary, Mr. John Marshall, to procure women and convey them to Australia for sixteen pounds a head, out of which he is said to have made a very large profit. According to the Commissioners of Colonisation for South Australia, the whole cost of emigration to that colony was about eighteen pounds for every adult. For these reasons it appears to me that twenty pounds a head would be more than sufficient to defray all the expenses of the emigration which I have proposed. At this rate two millions would be required for the emigration of one hundred thousand persons ; and this sum, spread over a period of four or fivQ years, would amount to between four or five hun- dred thousand pounds a year for the next four or five years. How can this sum be raised ? I think, if it were necessary, that a good case could be made out for calling upon this country to contribute a portion of the money, in consideration of the evils which it has inflicted upon these colonies, by making them an abode of criminals, and in consideration of the enormous extension of commerce which such an emigration would undoubtedly occasion. It is not, however, in my opinion, in any way necessary that there should be any call upon the public purse for this object. The resources of these colonies are amply sufficient for the purpose of carrj^ng on that amount of emigration. The sum required might easily be raised on the security of the sales of waste lands. In proof thereof, I wish to call the attention of the House to the amount of the sales of waste land in the penal colonies. In 1832 the system 78 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. commenced of selling waste land at the upset price of 55. an acre ; in that year 27,000/. were raised from the sale of land ; in 1833, 33,000/. were obtained ; in 1834, 48,000/. ; in 1835, 104,000/. ; in 1836, 160,000/. This large sum has been raised at the upset price of 55. an acre, a price universally acknow- ledged to be far too low ; in consequence this year the Government has raised the price of land to I2S. an acre. I believe that i/. an acre, the price recommended by the Transportation Com- mittee, would not be too high. For the fixed price of land in the neighbouring colony of South Australia is i/. an acre, and it appears from a statement, with which the Colonisation Commis- sioners of South Australia have favoured me, that that price has not been found to be exorbitant. Since the commencement of that colony in 1836 the Commissioners have sold 133,195 acres; the first 58,995 acres at 12s. an acre, the remainder at i/. an acre ; they have received for the sales of land 109,597/.; they have sent out 7, 1 15 emigrants in sixty-six vessels, containing 36,294 tons ; the whole amount of population is not known, but I believe, what from births and from the emigration from the other Australian colonies, it is not at present less than 10,000 souls. In October last the number of sheep and lambs were 22,500, and of horned cattle 2,175. The future sales of land this year, taking as a guide the land which has been sold since the commencement of 1839, ^^e estimated at not less than 5,000 acres a month, and the number of emigrants this year will be more than 5,000 persons. These facts, I think, cannot fail to 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 79 produce the conviction that i/. an acre is by no means too high a price for the wealthy communities of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. At this price the land revenue of the penal colonies would greatly increase if it be entirely employed in emigration. At the present moment the sale of land is limited by the deficiency of labour, arising partly from the small emigration — for only an inconsiderable portion of the existing land fund has been devoted to emigration — and partly from the low price of land, which has tempted many of the emigrants immediately to become small proprietors. Now, if there were the security of an Act of Par- liament that the price of land would not be lowered, as might be the case, according to the whim and caprice of every honourable gentleman who becomes Colonial Secretaiy ; if the regulations of my honour- able friend were confirmed by the Legislature, and if a facility be given to the disposal in this country of colonial lands by the sale of land warrants, I am convinced that I do not exaggerate when I suppose that, with an emigration of 20,000 persons annually, and with a price on waste lands from 12s. to i/. an acre, the land revenue would soon increase from 160,000/., the amount in 1836, to above 200,000/. a year. Therefore, I conceive that upon the security of those sales a sum of two millions could easily be raised, at less than the colonial rate of interest, namely, 10 per cent. ; still more easily could the sum of four or five hundred thousand pounds be raised every year for the next four or five years, at the same rate of interest. But this amount of interest would be excessive, and would put the colony to an unnecessary expense. If the 8o SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Government would guarantee a loan, it is evident that the sum of two millions could be raised at a very small premium on the rate of Government securities, say between three and a half and four per cent. ; at this rate the interest upon the loan of two millions would be between seventy-five and eighty thousand pounds, or about one-half of the amount of the land revenue of these colonies in 1836, leaving, therefore, even if the land revenue did not increase (an extravagant supposition), a considerable sum for gradually paying off the debt. I think the House must perceive that in every one of these statements I have put the cost of emi- gration, the number of emigrants required, and the expense of the loan at the highest amount. I am, therefore, warranted in concluding that there would be no difficulty in carrying into effect the plan I have proposed. This plan is the result of much and careful con- sideration on my part. It has unexpectedly received the strongest confirmation of which it is susceptible. I have within a few days obtained from New South Wales the report of the Committee of the Legisla- tive Council on emigration, which Committee sat towards the close of last year. From that report it appears that a plan precisely similar to my own, namely, of raising 200,000/. on the security of waste lands, to be expended on emigration, has been submitted to the Legislative Council ; and that a letter had been addressed to the Council, giving the sanction and approbation of numerous persons of property and intelligence to the proposal in question. I understand the Committee referred this proposal to eighty-four of the most intelligent 1839.] COLONIAL LANDS. 81 and extensive proprietors in the colony ; that fifty- eight expressed themselves in terms of the highest approbation of the measure ; eight only declined to give an opinion, and eighteen objected to it, chiefly from the fear of its becoming a job, and that there was no security that the whole money would be applied to immigration, as the Colonial Govern- ment had already applied a considerable portion of the proceeds of the land sales to other purposes than those of immigration. If the motion of my hon. friend were carried, the only objection to this plan would therefore be removed, and I am assured that the colony would be unanimous in its support. To conclude, I entreat the earnest consideration of the House and of the Government to this subject, as the only means of abolishing transportation with- out endangering the prosperity of the penal colonies ; as the only means of continuing that prosperity, and improving the moral state of these communities. It is a means, likewise, of aff'ording, without any expense to this country, the most extensive fields for the employment of our surplus population. It would create a commerce so vast that the imagina- tion could hardly form a conception of what in a brief period it might not become. I am profoundly convinced that the southern regions of the globe, Australia, New Zealand, and the myriads of islands of the Polynesian Sea, might ere long form the most important markets for the productions of the industry of Great Britain, and amply compensate for those markets which we are on the eve of losing in the old world ; provided those fair and fertile portions of the earth's surface were peopled with 82 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. men of the British race, with wants, feelings and desires similar to our own ; and this I firmly believe might be accomplished by that plan of systematic emigration which was proposed by my honourable friend and to which I give my most cordial support. EXTRACT FROM SPEECH AT LEEDS ON THE STATE OF THE NATION. February 5, 1840. [The speech from which the following is an extract was delivered at a political dinner. It is noteworthy as containing a popular presentment of Molesworth's views on colonial questions. He had given offence to some of his supporters by his opposition to the Whig Ministry, and although the proceed- ings at this dinner appear to have shown much enthusiasm, he alienated a further section by his attitude on behalf of peace with France in the autumn of the same year, and retired from Parliament at the General Election of 1841.] Gentlemen, the second set of measures/ by which, I said, the condition of the bulk ot the population might be improved, is the extension of our commerce in every portion of the globe, colonisation and emigration. To the two last subjects I have especially turned my attention. I am convinced that colonies are of the greatest advantage to a commercial country like this, and that the wealth of this country is mainly to be attributed to the fact that it has established numerous colonies. Those colonies, being inhabited by men of our own race, with wants and inclina- tions similar to our own, have become the best markets for our industr}', consuming our manu- factures, and sending us back, in return, the peculiar products of their various climates. In 1 The others were Free Trade and National Education. oa 84 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. proof of this, I need only refer to our commerce with the United States, which were planted by Englishmen, and still are, properly speaking, colonies of this country. For the use of colonies does not consist, as was formerly supposed, in governing them as subjects, but in trading with them as equals. We derive benefit frorn them, not by extending the bounds of our empire, but by augmenting the number of our markets. Every new colony is, therefore, of the same advantage to the whole empire, as a new and valuable customer to a tradesman in business. Having made these brief observations with regard to the general use of colonies, I will say a few words with regard to the most important of our colonial possessions. The unhappy events which occurred in Canada are well known to you. They were brought about, in a great degree, by the mismanagement, misgovernment, and ignorance of the authorities of this country. I trust the affairs of Canada are now in a fair way to be satisfactorily settled, and that the people of that province will be reduced to a state of contented allegiance. Lord Durham has pointed out, in his able Report, the means of accomplishing this object, namely, by uniting the two provinces on fair and equal terms, leaving them to manage their own local concerns, and giving them responsible government. I will here observe that that Report of Lord Durham was one of the most liberal and states- manlike productions which I ever read, and I confess, that, though I had studied almost every paper with regard to Canada, which had been laid before the House of Commons, till I read that 1840.] \i fit COLONIES. 85 Report I never fully understood the condition of those colonies, and had fallen into errors which it has enabled me to correct. I am glad to find that Lord John Russell, as Colonial Secretary, and Mr. Poulett Thomson, as Governor-General of Canada, are both inclined to act in accordance with the principles of Lord Durham's Report ; and if they do so, I for one shall be most ready to give them my support in Parliament. The only other colonies of which I wish to say a few words are those of Australia, namely, New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. Having been chairman of a Committee appointed to inquire into their condition and the effects of the punish- ment of transportation upon their moral state, I have been deeply impressed with the great defects of that punishment, and with the enormous, the frightful moral evils which it has produced. I dare not now enter into the horrid and disgusting details connected with this subject. It is sufficient to say that it has been proved by indisputable authority that transportation has made those colonies per- haps the most depraved communities of civilised men in the universe. This is a lamentable fact, when the immense resources of those colonies are known ; when their rapid progress in wealth, and their capability of becoming almost the best markets for the production of our industry are considered. I have no doubt, however, if proper steps were taken, the present unhappy state of those colonies might be amended, and they might in a short time be completely purified. The measures which I think are necessary' for this purpose are the immediate abolition of transportation, and so large 86 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. an emigration of persons from this country as would entirely swamp the convict population. This can easily be done without expense to this country. I will not, however, trespass upon your patience with regard to this subject, as I intend to bring it under the consideration of Parliament at as early a period of this Session as I possibly can. I will now proceed to make a few observations with regard to emigration. We are, by nature, I may say, an emigrating people. Our ancestors came from the remotest East, and settled them- selves in this country. Our relations and descen- dants from the same stock have already conquered large tracts of the wilds of America, and to them, I feel convinced, will ultimately be given the sovereignty of that vast continent from the Arctic circle to the furthest South. Men of our own breed are already scattered over the plains of Australia, rearing sheep, and that great island, not much less in size than the whole of Europe, will become the possession of tens of millions of the Anglo-Saxon race. Again, only last year, an expedition sailed from this country to found, what will be a thriving empire, in a fair and fertile island almost at the opposite side of the globe — I mean New Zealand. My brother^ has the honour of being one of the intrepid men who formed that expedition, and who have departed on the arduous task of waging war with the wilderness, and render- ing it productive — productive of objects of exchange with us. He did it at my advice. He was a 1 Francis Alexander, born 1818, died 1846, from the result of an accident in New Zealand, when cutting down a tree. '* He was the first cultivator in New Zealand." 1840.] COLONIES. 87 young man in want of some occupation, and unwilling to live in idleness. I told him all employ- ments, all occupations, are here overstocked ; in every branch of industry, in every description of trade, in all the professions competition is exces- sive. " Go then," I said ; ** imitate the example of your ancestors, and make for yourself a career in a new world of your own creation, and be assured that in seeking in this manner to advance your own interests, you will confer a great and lasting benefit upon your native country." And this advice which I have given him I give to all persons who are suffering from a want of employment, and who find this island too thickly peopled for them. As long as vast and fertile regions, as long as great portions of this globe are either uninhabited, or uncultivated, it is our own fault if we suffer from an excess of population. The only objection which I have ever heard to emigration is on the score of expense. It has been asked, how can poor men, who can scarcely support themselves from day to day, pay for a passage to Australia or Canada ? And what enormous sums would be required out of the public purse to defray the expense of an extensive system of emigration ? This was a valid objection to emigration, but it is no longer so, as all persons who have examined the subject must acknowledge. The means of carrying on the most extensive emigration without any expense to this country have been discovered by one of the greatest and most original thinkers of the present day, and whom I am proud to be able to call my friend — I mean Mr. Wakefield. His principles have been established by the careful 88 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. examination of a Committee of Parliament. They have been recognised by Lord Durham in his Report. The flourishing colony of South Aus- tralia has been founded upon them. They have been partly applied to New South Wales, and the inhabitants of that colony are unanimous in the wish of having them strictly adhered to. They were brought last year under the consideration of the House in one of the most able speeches I ever heard in it, by my friend Mr. Ward, the member for Sheffield, in a motion which I had the honour to second, and which no person dared to oppose. The principles of Mr. Wakefield's plan are simply these. Instead of giving away or jobbing the lands in the Colonies, he proposes to sell them, and to apply the money so obtained to the purpose of carrying out emigrants from this country. By carrying out labourers the lands of the colonies can be cultivated, become valuable, and will fetch a price in the market ; and in this manner, in proportion to the extent of the emigration, the sales of land would increase, and the whole system would work more easily. It is impossible to enter into any further details upon so extensive a subject as this. I will only say one word more with regard to emigration. Its benefits are not confined only to the colonies or to the emigrants. For every new emigrant becomes a customer of this country for the productions of our industry, and purchases them by the fruits of his labour in his new country. Thus New South Wales sends us wool. New Zealand will send us flax and timber, Canada furnishes us likewise with timber, the United States sell us their cotton, and would willingly sell 1840.] COLONIES. 89 US corn, were it not for our unwise laws. The West Indies produce for us sugar and coffee, and the other produce of intertropical climates. All of them receive in return the woollens of Yorkshire, the cottons of Lancashire, the cutlery of Sheffield and Birmingham. Thus every emigrant from this country not only finds employment for himself, but furnishes employment for numbers at home ; and enables a greater quantity of persons to live in comfort upon the British soil. Gentlemen, we possess incalculable and inexhaustible means of production and purchase; all we require is markets and customers. For this purpose, I repeat, we must repeal our corn laws, extend our commerce in every portion of the globe, and promote colonisation and emigration. ON TRANSPORTATION. May 5, 1840. [To this motion Lord John Russell moved the previous question. It is significant of the temper of the time when colonial questions were concerned that Sir W. Molesworth's great speech and Lord John's defence were addressed to almost empty benches. Sir W. Molesworth, in reply, said that " as the noble lord had not decidedly said that a time might not come when transportation should be abolished, he trusted the time was not far off. He would not divide the House, but would be contented with having his motion recorded on the votes."] Sir, — In submitting to the consideration of the House the motion of which I have given notice, the task which I have to perform is both difficult and painful ; difficult on account of the extent of the subject ; painful on account of the nature of many of the facts to which it will be my duty to refer. I assure the House, however, that I do not approach this subject without having long and carefully studied it, or without having carefully examined and weighed every opinion and every fact connected with it. I therefore presume to solicit a patient and attentive hearing. The report of the Committee to which this motion relates was laid on the table at the end of the Session of 1838. Two reasons prevented me last year from bringing the topics contained in that report before Parliament. First I entertained the 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 91 hope that the executive Government would have come forward with some general measure founded upon that report, which would have rendered any motion unnecessary. I was unwilling, therefore, to embarrass the Government, in a matter which is one of great difficulty, by any premature steps. Secondly, as that report contained many facts reflecting on the moral character of the penal colonies, I was earnestly entreated, by several per- sons connected with those colonies, not to call upon Parliament for an opinion, before an opportunity could be afforded to the colonists to peruse those statements, and to contradict them if incorrect. Now that full time has been given both to the Government to mature their plans, and to the colo- nists to reply to any mis-statements, there can be no objection to asking Parliament to consider the subject of this motion. The Committee in question, and of which I had the honour to be chairman, was appointed for the threefold purpose, first, of inquiring into the efficacy of transportation as a punishment ; secondly, of ascertaining its moral effect on the penal colo- nies; and lastly, the Committee were directed to consider of what improvements the existing system was susceptible. A very few words would be suf- ficient to state the result of those inquiries if I could suppose that honourable members had read any considerable portion of that report; but as it cannot be supposed that such has been the case, I must endeavour, as briefly as I can, to state the grounds upon which the Committee came to their conclusions. The materials from which the Committee formed 92 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. their opinions were of the best possible description. They were chiefly official documents, furnished by the Colonial Office, consisting of despatches, reports to and from the Governors of the penal colonies, and criminal returns. Numerous* witnesses were examined ; but in order to avoid any cavil as to the credibility of those witnesses, not one fact of any importance has been stated by the Committee in their own report which is not corroborated by official documents. And for the same reason, in the observations which I shall make to-night, I shall confine myself almost entirely to those documents. The first subject of which I shall speak is the nature of transportation, and the condition of the convict under that punishment. Transportation is a compound punishment, consisting of three distinct elements: banishment from this country; com- pulsory labour in a penal colony; and the various punishments by which that compulsory labour is enforced. It is not necessary at present to say anything of the effects of mere banishment ; I will proceed at once to describe the condition of the convict in the penal colonies. The penal colonies of Great Britain are, first, and largest. New South Wales, founded in 1787. To this place 75,200 criminals have been transported ; and in the year 1836 the number of offenders under punishment there were, men 25,254; women 2,577. '^^^ ^^^^ in magnitude is Van Diemen's Land, founded in 1804 ; to which, since 1817, 27,759 convicts have been sent; and of which the criminal population, in 1835, consisted of 14,914 men, and 2,054 women. The third is Norfolk Island, a dependency of New 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 93 South Wales, which contains about 1,200 convicts. The last which must be mentioned is Bermuda, containing about 900 convicts. Bermuda need not again be referred to, as the condition of the convicts there is nearly the same as that of convicts in the hulks ; my observations will, therefore, be confined to the Australian colonies. The greater portion of the punishment of the convicts in these colonies consists in compulsory labour ; that labour is either enforced by officers of the Government or by private individuals, to whom the convicts are assigned as servants. I will first speak of the latter class, which is by far the most numerous one, as it contained in 1836 about 29,000 convicts. A convict is said to be assigned when the right of the Government to the labour of the convict is made over to some private individual, who becomes his master. The master determines, according to his will and pleasure, the nature and amount of labour to be exacted from his convict servant ; therefore, as the House must at once perceive, the condition of an assigned convict depends entirely upon the character, temper, position in society, and occupation of his master, and is, consequently, as uncertain as those circumstances are uncertain. For instance, some convicts become domestic servants, and frequently receive wages ; others, if possessing mechanical skill, are employed in various trades, and are highly prized ; the greater portion, however, are occupied either in agriculture or in tending flocks and herds. In the families of some settlers convicts are as well treated as ser- vants ordinarily are in this country. In other families their fate is far different ; they may be 94 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. considered to be slaves; for the power of the master to cause punishment to be inflicted on his convict servant is very great, and the punishments, even for trifling offences, are very severe. In proof of this, the words of the law may be cited, by which it will appear that a convict may be summarily punished for "drunkenness, disobedience of orders, neglect of work, absconding, abusive language to his master or overseer, or any other disorderly or dishonest conduct, by imprisonment, solitary confinement, labour in irons, or fifty lashes." And this law is by no means inoperative. In 1835 the convict population of New South Wales did not exceed 23,000 ; the summary convictions, chiefly for the ofl'ences just mentioned, amounted to 22,000 ; and the number of lashes inflicted exceeded 100,000. In Van Diemen's Land, in 1834, the convict popu- lation was about 15,000 ; the summary convictions were nearly 15,000; and the number of lashes inflicted there exceeded 50,000. On the other hand, it should be remarked that a convict, if ill-treated by his master, may apply to a bench of magistrates for redress ; but then the majority of those magis- trates are generally owners of convict labour. Instead of troubling the House with any obser- vations of my own on the general effects of the assignment system, I will read a few short extracts from the written opinions of the persons who must necessarily have been best acquainted with this subject, and whose authority will have the greatest weight with the House. Sir George Arthur, late Lieutenant-Governor of V^an Diemen's Land, has given a most graphic description of the assignment system, in a despatch which is 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 95 inserted in the report of the Committee. He says : ** You cannot have an idea of the vexations which accompany the employment of convicts, or of the vicissitudes attendant on their assign- ment. Their crimes and misconduct involve the settlers in daily trouble, expense, and disappoint- ment. There is so much peculation, so much insubordination, insolence, disobedience of lawful orders, and so much drunkenness, that reference to the magisterial authority is constant. There can be no doubt things appear better in the colony than they really are." Such are the state- ments of the Lieutenant-Governor of the one penal colony as to the general conduct of assigned convicts. I will now quote the opinion of the Lieutenant-Governor of the other colony as to the great inequality of this punishment. Sir Richard Bourke states, as the result of his own experience, that ** it is one of the most apparent and necessary results of the system of assignment, to render the condition of convicts, so placed, extremely unequal, depending, as it must, on a variety of circumstances over which the Govern- ment cannot possibly exercise any control. It would be quite impracticable to lay down regula- tions sufficient to remedy this inequality." The only other authority which it is necessary to quote is that of Captain Maconochie, secretary to Sir J. Franklin, the present Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land. Captain Maconochie describes, from his own careful observation, the moral effects of assignment in the following terms : ** The practice of assigning convicts to masters is cruel, uncertain, prodigal ; ineffectual 96 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. either for reform or example, and can only be maintained in some degree of vigour by extreme severity. Some of its most important enactments are systematically broken by the Government itself; they are, of course, disregarded by the community. The severe coercive discipline, which is its principal element, is carried so far, as to be at issue with every natural, and in many cases even every laud- able, impulse of the human mind. It defeats, in consequence, its own most important objects ; instead of reforming, it degrades humanity." And, in confirmation of these statements. Sir F. Forbes, the late Chief Justice of Australia, declared that, under the assignment system, '' it frequently happens that lesser offenders against the law come to be punished with disproportionate severity, while greater criminals escape with comparative impunity." It would be useless for me to attempt to add anything to these emphatic condemnations of the assignment system, coming, as they do, from persons of the highest authority on these matters, and which remain unimpugned and uncontra- dicted. It is stated that the Government intend to put a stop to the assignment of convicts : I trust they will persevere in that intention ; and will discontinue a system which confides one of the most important and difficult functions of an executive Government, namely, the task of punish- ing offenders, to the uncertain interests and capricious feelings of private and irresponsible individuals. I said there are two classes of convicts : one composed of convicts in assigned service, the other 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 97 of convicts under the superintendence of officers of the Government. I will now speak of the latter class, which will be the only one if the assignment system be abolished. The Government convicts are employed on various public works, in the gaols, on the roads, in the marine and survey depart- ments ; and, as the House will be surprised to hear, in Van Diemen's Land they are appointed constables in the police. I think I may, without exaggeration, describe the Government convicts as the most profligate and desperate portion of the criminal population of the penal colonies. They are generally collected together in a narrow space, without any attempt at classification or separation. They have full opportunities of com- municating with each other; they perform very little labour, and are subject to a very lax superintendence. Gangs of these convicts, called "road parties," were once scattered over the colony of New South Wales, for the purpose of making roads, and were little better than so many bands of robbers. I do not reproach either the general or the Colonial Government for the management of these convicts ; for it was utterly impossible to obtain in those colonies the requisite amount of efficient superintendence ; and without efficient superintendence penal discipline is im- possible, even in the best constructed prisons. How much more must this have been the case when the greater portion of the Government convicts can hardly be said to have been confined in a prison at all. The utter impossibility of obtaining efficient superintendence is proved by the fact, to which I have referred, that it was 98 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. found necessary to establish a police composed of convicts ; and Sir George Arthur declared that convict police were better than any police of free men he could obtain in the colony of Van Diemen's Land. I wish to call the especial attention of the House to these facts, because it has been proposed to continue transportation, and to place all convicts under the superintendence of the Colonial Government. If this be done, transportation will become, in some respects similar to the punishment in the hulks and gaols at home, but, with this important difference, that on account of the cost of transport and of proper superintendence, it would be more expensive than the most perfect system of prison discipline in this country. This is the opinion which the Committee have recorded in their report, after a most careful examination of all the facts. I shall return again to this subject when I speak of the expense of transportation. From the want of efficient superintendence, from the nature of the assignment system, and from other causes, hardly any of the means which have been devised to prevent misconduct amongst offenders during the period of their punishment were applicable to transportation. In order to preserve some degree of discipline amongst the convicts, a vain attempt has been made to terrify them into good behaviour : for this purpose, minor offences have been converted into crimes, and severely punished ; and the convict code of the penal colonies has not its equal in severity, at least in the civilised world. Captain Maconochie, speaking of these punishments in Van Diemen's 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 99 Land, says: ''They are severe, even to excessive cruelty. Besides corporal punishment, to the extent of fifty to seventy-five lashes, and even, in some rare instances, a hundred lashes, solitary confinement, and months, or even years, of hard labour in chains (on the roads, or at a penal settle- ment), are lightly ordered, for crimes in themselves of no deep dye : petty thefts (chiefly in order to obtain liquor), drunkenness, indolence, disobedi- ence, desertion, quarrelling among themselves, and so forth." It is necessary to make a few observations with regard to these punishments. I have already referred to the great amount of flogging in the penal colonies. There is ample proof, in the documents laid before the Committee, of the severity with which it is inflicted. It is the favourite punishment with the masters of convicts, for it does not deprive them of the services of their servants, as is the case when they are sent to the chain gangs. The punishment of the chain gangs, according to Sir George Arthur, '' is as severe as can be inflicted upon man." The number of convicts suff'ering this punishment was about 1,700 in the two colonies. They are described by competent witnesses as being ** locked up, from sunset to sunrise, in caravans or boxes which hold from twenty to twenty-eight men ; but in which the whole number can neither stand upright nor sit down at the same time (except with their legs at right angles totheir bodies), and which in some instances do not allow more than eighteen inches in width for each individual to lie down upon the bare boards ; they are kept to work under a H a 100 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. strict military guard during the day, and liable to suffer flagellation for triflingoffences, such as an exhi- bition of obstinacy, insolence, and the like." This description fully bears out the statement of Sir R. Bourke, that the condition of these convicts is one of great privation and unhappiness. Connected with the subject of the chain gangs, I would direct the attention of the House to the evil effects upon the discipline of soldiers which ensue from employ- ing them in guarding convicts. Colonel Breton, an officer in command of a regiment in New South Wales, told the Committee that his regiment was greatly demoralised by this description of duty, and likewise by association with the convicts, amongst whom the soldiers not unfrequently found near relations. I observed last year in a Sydney newspaper that at one time, December 14, 1838, a lieutenant and twenty-one soldiers were confined in the gaol at Sydney on criminal charges. The last and greatest in the scale of these punishments is the penal settlements. In speaking of them I must entreat the indulgence of the House ; for it will be my painful duty to state horrible and appalling facts, which I could not have credited, which I could not have believed that a Christian country would have permitted, were they not proved beyond doubt by the concurrent testimony of governors, judges, and ministers of religion. The penal settlements to which, as I have already remarked, convicts are frequently sent for offences of no very great magnitude, are two in number ; the one Norfolk Island, a dependency on New South Wales ; the other Port Arthur, in Van 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. ' ' ' xdf ' Diemen's Land. In these places there are about 2,000 convicts, who, with their guards and keepers, constitute the sole inhabitants. According to the authority of the superintendent of convicts in Van Diemen's Land, '* the work appointed for these offenders is of the most incessant and galling description the settlement can produce, and any disobedience of orders, turbulence, or other mis- conduct, is instantaneously punished by the lash." Sir Francis Forbes, Chief Justice of Australia, the most unquestionable authority on such a subject, declared in a letter to the Law Reform Commissioners that ** the experience furnished by these penal settlements has proved that transportation is capable of being carried to an extent of suffering such as to render death desirable, and to induce many prisoners to seek it under its most appalling aspects." The same learned judge, in his examina- tion before the Committee, gave the following remarkable evidence. He said : ** I have known cases in which it appeared that men had committed crimes at Norfolk Island for the mere purpose of their being sent up to Sydney to be tried, and the cause of their desiring to be sent was to avoid the state of endurance under which they were placed in Norfolk Island. I think they contemplated the certainty of execution, from the expressions used by them. I believe they did deliberately prefer death, because there was no chance of escape, and they stated they were weary of life, and would rather go to Sydney and be hanged." And, in reply to a question from my honourable friend the member for Liskeard, Sir F. Forbes said : **If it were put to myself, I should not hesitate a moment lox SPEE'CB'ES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. in preferring death, under any form that you could present it to me, to such a state of endur- ance as Norfolk Island." In confirmation of these statements, the authority of Sir R. Bourke may be quoted. That gentleman, during the period of his government of New South Wales, was obliged to apply for an Act of Parliament to establish a criminal court in Norfolk Island, and he did so on the express grounds that, if criminals were tried and executed on the spot, it might tend to prevent the commission of the crimes to which I have alluded. The statute required was passed in 1834. It is not to be wondered at that, driven to des- peration, as these convicts are, they have not un- frequently attempted to mutiny. In 1834 an attempt of this description was nearly successful. Nine convicts were killed in the struggle which took place ; twenty-nine were condemned to death, and eleven executed. Mr. Justice Burton was sent to Norfolk Island to try them : on his return he told the jury of Sydney that '' it was painful in the extreme to see the convicts in this place, herding together, without any chance of improvement." A Catholic priest, of the name of Ullathorne, went to Norfolk Island to afford religious consolation to the convicts, who, I said, were condemned to death for mutiny. He was examined before the Committee ; and in his examination he gave the following account of the strange scene he witnessed, when he first made known to the condemned the names of those amongst them who were to be executed and of those who were to be reprieved. The following- are his own expressions : — '' I said a few words to induce them to resignation ; and I then stated the i840.] TRANSPORTATION. 103 names of those who were to die ; and it is a remarkable fact that, as I mentioned the names of those men who were to die, they, one after the other, dropped on their knees, and thanked God that they were to be deUvered from that terrible place, whilst the others remained standing mute. It was the most horrible scene I ever witnessed. Those who were condemned to death appeared to be rejoiced." Sir, a human being cannot be made unutterably wretched without becoming in an equal degree depraved. The extremes of misery and of im- morality are generally found existing together. In both respects Norfolk Island has not its parallel in the world, except perhaps at the kindred settlement of Port Arthur. In proof of this I will refer to the official report on the state of Norfolk Island, which was drawn up by officers resident there, at the order of Lord Glenelg. The Rev. R. Stiles, the resident chaplain, stated that ** blasphemy, rage, mutual hatred, and the unrestrained indulgence of unnatural lust, are the things with which a short residence in the prison wards of Norfolk Island must necessarily familiarise the convict." Mr. Arnold, the deputy assistant commivssary-general, stated in his report that "it is much to be feared that that horrible crime which brought down fire from Heaven on those devoted cities of Scripture, exists, and is practised here to a great extent ; indeed, I have been informed by one who has the best opportunity of judging of the truth of the information (the colonial surgeon), that actually, incredible as it may appear, feelings of jealousy are exhibited by those depraved wretches if they 104 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. see the boy or young man with whom they carry on this abominable intercourse speak to another person. Crimes, too, of a bestial nature, it is also to be feared, are too frequent. The dying con- fession of an unfortunate being, who was executed some time ago, proves the truth of this." These are statements from official documents in which the most implicit reliance can be placed. Similar statements were made by Sir F. Forbes and Dr. Ullathorne. The latter gentleman considered that two-thirds of the convicts in Norfolk Island were guilty of unnatural offences. And, lastly, Messrs. Backhouse and Walker, two members of the Society of Friends, who had been for five years in the penal colonies investigating the effects of trans- portation, have declared in their report that, "by the acknowledgment of the persons themselves, those crimes were extremely prevalent auiong them." With reference to Port Arthur, the penal settle- ment of Van Diemen's Land, Sir George Arthur stated that he had known instances of prisoners at that place actually committing murder, "in order to enjoy the excitement of being sent up to Hobart Town for trial, though aware that in the ordinary course they must be executed within a fortnight after arrival." I will not, however, revolt the House by repeating with regard to Port Arthur horrid details similar to those which I have stated with respect to Norfolk Island. The only other class of convicts, which must be mentioned, includes those who have obtained indulgences, consisting in a remission of penal labour. A convict generally at the end of four, 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 105 six, or eight years, according to the length of his punishment, obtains what is termed a ticket of leave, unless he has committed in the colony some considerable offence. A ticket of leave enables the convict who holds it to work on his own account ; and, as there is a great demand for labour in the penal colonies, the holder of a ticket of leave can easily obtain good wages. As this indulgence is liable to be taken away in case of misconduct, it is on the whole a considerable inducement to good behaviour ; and it appears to me to be by far the least objectionable portion of the transportation system. At the same time it cannot be denied that the greatest abuses have existed in granting of tickets of leave. But it is not my intention, indeed it would be impossible within the limits of a speech, to mention the various and complicated abuses which have existed in connection with transportation. My object is to describe that system as a whole, supposing it to be administered in the best possible manner, and omitting from my consideration those defects in the existing system to which it is asserted that remedies can be applied. And upon this description I call upon the House to pronounce an opinion in favour of the discontinuance of that punishment. With this object in view, I now ask : Does trans- portation fulfil the conditions of a good punishment? I answer : It does not, for reasons I will immediately state. The object of punishment is to prevent crime. For this purpose the Legislature threatens to inflict certain punishments for certain offences. When an offence is committed, then the Legislature is bound to punish the offender, not for the sake of io6 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. revenge, but in order to fulfil its promise, and to prove that its threats are not vain and empty menaces. By this means it endeavours to supply an additional motive fi'om without, which may restrain the evil-disposed and inspire them with apprehension. At the same time, it gives to the community the best security in its power against the commission of acts noxious to its well-being, and allays that general alarm which would be the consequence of the impunity of crime. The chief aim of punishment, therefore, is to produce terror by the example made of offenders. ^^ Poena in paucos ut metus in omnes,'' is the basis of all good penal legislation ; and to this consideration every other is subordinate. It is equally evident, how- ever, that the great object of punishment, namely, terror, should, as far as possible, be attained with the least amount of human suffering. For it can- not be too often repeated that the end of punish- ment is not to make an offender suffer, but to warn others from imitating his example. Therefore, if more than the amount of suffering requisite for this purpose be inflicted, the punishment becomes a cruelty. Indeed, the ideal but impossible perfection of punishment would be found in such an one as would appear to mankind clothed with all the horrors of Tartarus, yet would conduct the offender to Elysium. At all events, however, a punishment is bad when it causes much more pain than is either threatened in the law, or generally believed to be inflicted. For then superfluous pain, that is, pain not producing terror, not accomplishing the object of the law, is inflicted. If transportation be tested by these principles. 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. loj its defects, as a punishment, are at once apparent. For what is the amount of apprehension it pro- duces ? What are its effects on the minds of the criminal population in inspiring terror ? The sentence of a judge, in condemning an offender to be transported, may be summed up in the follow- ing words. He says to the culprit : ** You shall be removed from the land of your birth to a country with which you are unacquainted." *' You shall be separated for many years, perhaps for ever, from your friends and relations." And lastly, ** You shall be compelled, in your new dwelling- place, to toil for the benefit of others." The two first threats, of banishment and separation from friends (whatever might have been their effect in former times), have gradually lost the greater portion of their penal terror. Because convicts are no longer transported to an unknown and strange land, but to countries inhabited by thou- sands of their companions in guilt, and to which tens of thousands of voluntary emigrants have been hastening, as to a land of promise. It not unfrequently happens that whilst a judge is ex- patiating on the miseries of exile, at the same time, and perhaps in the same place, some active agent of emigration may be found magnifying the advan- tages of the new country ; lauding the fertility of its soil and the beauties of its climate ; telling of the high wages to be obtained, the enormous fortunes that have been made ; and offering to eager and willing listeners, as a boon and especial favour, the means of conveyance to that very place to which the convict in the dock has been sentenced by the judge for his crimes. During the last and io8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. preceding year, 10,000 free emigrants and 5,000 criminals were landed on the shores of the penal colonies ; many of them became servants in the same families, labourers in the same fields ; innocent and guilty were thus confounded together, to the subversion of all notions of punishment, and to the destruction of all morality. Can any- thing be said in defence of such an anomaly in legislation as this ? To return to the subject of the apprehension produced by transportation. It must be borne in mind that punishment is meant to operate chiefly upon those persons who are inclined to commit crimes. It is comparatively useless to persuade the well-disposed that a punishment is a severe one. It is upon the minds of the criminal population that such a conviction ought to be impressed. Now, except in a few cases, all that the latter class can apprehend from such a punish- ment as transportation must consist in the penal labour and privations to which they may be subjected in the colonies. But who can tell before- hand what will be the amount of that labour, or the nature of those privations ? It has been shown that the condition of a convict is the merest chance ; that it ranges between the two extremes, of a servant subject to trifling restraint and of a slave enduring long and tedious misery. My conviction is that much more suffering is inflicted in the penal colonies than is credited in this country ; suffering, therefore, unknown ; unpro- ductive of good ; pure, gratuitous, evil. Nor, from the remoteness of those places of punishment, is it possible to make the criminal population 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 109 understand the actual condition of a convict. The accounts which they receive are generally from convicts who have been fortunate in this lottery of punishment, and are therefore too favourable. On the other hand, in the very few cases in which the unfortunate communicate with their acquaintances in this country, it is proved that they generally deny their sufferings, prompted thereto partly by a desire to bring the laws into discredit, and thus to revenge themselves upon the law-makers and their punishers ; partly by a wish, common to such degraded beings, to have companions in misery. In the despatches of Sir George Arthur many in- stances of this kind are stated ; and that gentleman proposed (with a view to obviate the misapprehen- sions arising from these sources) that statements of the actual condition of convicts should be pub- lished and circulated by the Government. It is evident that this means would prove ineffectual ; for the criminal population would place but little reliance in official statements as compared to their own sources of information. If, however, they were better acquainted with the nature of trans- portation than, in my humble judgment, they are or can be, still, all they would learn is that transporta- tion is a most unequal and uncertain punishment; that it is (as I have already said) a mere lottery, in which there are both many prizes and many blanks. And, judging from all experience with regard to such persons, the hope of obtaining the prizes would with them, as with gamblers, more than counterbalance the fear of the blanks. For these reasons, and supported by the testimony of most persons acquainted with the feelings of the no SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. criminal population, I do not hesitate to assert that transportation produces very little apprehension, far less than that which should correspond to the actual suffering inflicted. Independent of the production of terror amongst the evil-disposed generally, which is the main object of punishment, there are other but subor- dinate objects, which a good punishment should effect with regard to the offender himself. I will merely enumerate them. It should make it difficult, if not impossible, for a criminal to commit crime during the period of his punishment. It should so improve his moral character as to render crime distasteful to him ; or, if it does not improve him, it should at least, by the experience of the suffering endured, deter him from fresh crimes after the termination of his punishment. And, lastly, it should, if possible, ultimately place him in a position in which he would not be exposed to strong temp- tations to relapse into vicious habits. In every one of these respects transportation is inefficient. The immense number of summary convictions of which I have already spoken, and the other criminal returns to which I shall presently refer, prove that crime is very common amongst convicts both during their period of punishment and subsequently. Even the tortures of Norfolk Island and Port Arthur do not deter them from committing crimes which cause them to be sent to those places a second and a third time. And this is not extra- ordinary ; because such punishments degrade the human being into a brute, destroy his reflecting faculties, and leave him no other thought or wish but the immediate gratification of his appetites. 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. iil With regard to the reformation of the offender by transportation, Mr. Stephens, the late Attorney- General of Van Diemen's Land, has declared " at all events, if that be one of the objects of punish- ment, it is on the present plan of transportation hopeless ; in the existing state of things nearly all the tendencies of the plan are the other way." And Captain Maconochie asserts, *' by transportation the prisoners are all made bad men instead of good; it is shown," he says, ** by the official, reports transmitted with his papers, that scarcely any are reformed ; and human nature does not stand still : if not improved, it gets worse." Every witness examined, every document laid before the Committee confirmed these positions. My examina- tion of the effects of transportation as a punish- ment may be concluded with the observation that the offender at the expiration of his sentence is left in a community where I may say without exaggeration that vice is the rule, and virtue the exception. This brings me to the next question : What has been the moral influence of transportation on the state of society in the penal colonies ? An answer is afforded by their criminal returns, which demon- strate that an enormous amount of crime is commit- ted in those colonies, the greater portion of which may be attributed to transportation. For it is evident that in communities like those of Australia, where there is a great demand for labour, where wages are high, where every man who is willing to work can easily obtain a comfortable subsistence, a large amount of crime can only be ascribed to the depraved character of the population, and not to 112 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. those economical causes which produce misery, want, and immorality, in old and densely peopled countries. In order that the House may form a notion of the amount of crime in those colonies, I will first refer to the summary convictions in Van Diemen's Land in the year 1834. I select that year because there are materials in the despatches of Sir George Arthur from which a more accurate estimate can be formed of the convictions in that year than in any other. The House should bear in mind that the community of Van Diemen's Land was then a very small one. Its population in 1834 did not exceed 40,000, of whom 16,000 were convicts, 1,000 soldiers, and 23,000 free inhabitants ; what proportion of the latter had been convicts it is impossible to say. In this small community the summary convictions amounted to about 15,000 in the year in question, amongst which there were about 2,000 for felony, 1,200 for misdemeanour, 700 for assaults, and 3,000 for drunkenness. Eleven thousand of these convictions were of convicts who are summarily punished for all offences to which the penalty of death is not attached. Some of their punishments were very severe, as about 260 convicts received extension of sentence, about 100 were condemned to the penal settlements, 1,000 to the chain gangs, 900 to the road parties, goo to solitary confinement or the treadwheel, and 1,500 were flogged and received about 51,000 lashes. Amongst the 23,000 free inhabitants, the summary convictions were between 3,000 and 4,000. About 2,200 (that is, nearly one-tenth of the free population) were in one year fined for drunkenness ; 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 113 200 were fined for assaults, and 800 for offences under colonial Acts. In New South Wales the summary convictions were nearly the same in proportion to population as in Van Diemen's Land. In order to complete the account of the state of crime in these colonies, I must next refer to the criminal trials before the Supreme Court and quarter sessions. It should be remembered that convicts are not tried before these courts except for offences to which the punishment of death is attached. Therefore a great portion of the following convic- tions must have been of free persons. On the average of the seven years from 1829 to 1835, both inclusive, these convictions amounted every year to about one in a hundred of the whole population ; an enormous proportion ; as convictions in England are about one in a thousand, and in Scotland about one in thirteen hundred of the population. A large portion of these convictions were for offences of the greatest magnitude. This appears from the fact that, during the period of which I have spoken, whilst the average population of the penal colonies did not exceed 90,000, the annual number of convictions for murder and attempt at murder were about 34 ; for rape, seven ; for highway robbery and bushranging, 66 ; for burglary, 50 ; for forgery, 13 ; for sheep and cattle stealing, 53 ; for larceny and receiving stolen goods, 367. The average num- ber of sentences of death were 132 a year ; of executions, 52 ; and of sentences of transportation, 369. Thus in seven years, in these communities, whose population did not exceed one-half of that of Westminster, 923 persons were condemned to 114 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. death, 362 executed, and 2,586 transported, without including the convicts who were summarily trans- ported or had their sentences extended, and who probably amounted to twice as many more. And it may be stated, on the authority of Captain Maconochie, Mr. Justice Burton, and of the criminal returns, that crime has gradually increased in those colonies in a greater proportion than population. In order to give the House a more accurate notion of the state of crime in the penal colonies than these figures will of themselves convey, I will read a short extract from the report of the Commit- tee, in which they calculate what would be the amount of crime in this country if our criminal statistics were similar to those of the penal colonies. They state " that in proportion to the respective population of the two countries, the number of convictions for highway robbery (including bush- ranging) in New South Wales exceeds the total number of convictions for all offences in England ; that rapes, murders and attempts at murder are as common in the former as petty larcenies in the latter country. In short, in order to give an idea of the amount of crime in New South Wales, let it be supposed that the 17,000 offenders who were last year tried and convicted in this country for various offences before the several courts of assize and quarter sessions, had all of them been condemned for capital crimes ; that 7,000 of them had been executed, and the remainder transported for life ; that, in addition, 120,000 other offenders had been convicted of the minor offences of forgery, sheep- stealing, and the like ; then, in proportion to their 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 115 respective populations, the state of crime and punishment in England and her Australian colonies would have been precisely the same." In addition, it should be observed that the Committee have omitted entirely from these calculations any reference to the immense number of summary con- victions (some of them for very grave offences), to which I have already referred. That these statements are not in the slightest degree exaggerated may be proved by the testimony of Judge Burton, who, in the charge already mentioned, gave the following fearful picture of New South Wales. He said : ** It would appear to one who could look down upon that community, as if the main business of them all were the com- mission of crime and the punishment of it ; as if the whole colony were in motion towards the several courts of justice ; and the most painful reflection of all must be, that so many capital sentences and the execution of them had not had the effect of preventing crime by the way of example." It may likewise be stated upon the same incon- trovertible authority that there are a great number of crimes committed in New South Wales the authors of which are never discovered. That much crime should escape detection is a fact not to be wondered at when it is known that the limits of location in New South Wales embrace an area greater than the whole of England, and that over this vast territor}' some thousands of convict shepherds and stockmen roam at large, generally with arms in their hands. I hardly ever take up a newspaper from New South Wales in which there ii6 SPEECHES OF SIR W . MOLES WORTH. is not some account of bushranging. For instance, it not unfrequently happens that a runaway convict, mounted and armed to the teeth, will ride up to the residence of a remote settler, and commit a robbery in the middle of the day, the convict servants generally standing by as idle spectators, and refusing to assist their master in any attempt to resist or arrest the robber. The most atrocious and wanton cruelties are frequently perpetrated by the convict shepherds on the natives. I will mention, as an example, one case which occurred the year before last. In the vicinity of one of the remote cattle stations of New South Wales a body of natives, amounting to about fifty in number, had been residing for a considerable period of time in perfect tranquillity, molesting no one. On a sudden there arrived at this place some eleven convicts. The}^ seized thirty of the unoffending natives, tied them together with a rope, led them away a short distance from the station, and then put every one of them, men, women, and children, to death, with the exception of one woman, whom, on account of her good looks, they kept as a concubine for one of their comrades. The murderers were subsequently apprehended and tried. The first jury refused to convict, though the evidence against them was conclusive. They were tried a second time for the same, though technically a different, offence, and on the same evidence ; they were convicted, condemned to death, and seven of them were executed. It may be remarked, as illustrative of the state of feeling in the penal colonies with regard to the natives, that not only did the first i840.] TRANSPORTATION. 117 jury refuse to convict, but the second jury signed a petition in behalf of the murderers. Petitions likewise were presented in their favour from a considerable body of colonists. Some of the colonial newspapers loudly condemned the Governor (to use their own words) "for putting white men to death for having killed a few black cannibals." And the condemned themselves, in their last moments, declared that they were not aware at the time that they were committing any offence in destroying the blacks, as similar acts had been frequent in the colony ; and of the truth of this assertion there can be no doubt. In Van Diemen's Land, likewise, similar atrocities have been com- mitted by the convicts. It is recorded that in many instances they killed or castrated the native men, in order to obtain possession of their women. These outrages led to repeated attacks from the natives on the persons and property of the colonists, which at one time threatened the existence of that colony. The settlers found it necessary, in self- defence, to hunt down the natives as if they had been so many wolves. And, as the House is probably aware, the aborigines of Van Diemen's Land are now exterminated, with the exception of a few, who have been removed to perish in Flinder's Island. Throughout the whole of the Southern Ocean, New Zealand, and the islands of the Polynesian Archipelago, traces are to be found of the cruelties practised by escaped convicts on the aborigines, which have produced amongst them the greatest antipathy to our race, and have been most injurious to our commerce. Sir, though the amount of crime of which I ii8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. have been speaking appears enormous, yet a moment's reflection on the nature of the materials of which these communities are composed must dispel all astonishment at its extent. Fifty years ago, when New South Wales was founded, one of the greatest and most original thinkers that this country ever produced, I mean Bentham, foretold the consequences of planting a colony with criminals, subject to a punishment which had no tendency to improve their character ; and the result is in vStrict conformity with his anticipations. Up to the year 1836, 100,000 convicts had been transported, whilst the number of free emigrants to the penal colonies could not have exceeded 60,000. It is evident, even without the confirma- tion of the facts just stated, that this almost equal admixture of innocent and guilty could conduce but little to the improvement of the latter, whilst it must have tended greatly to the deterioration of the character of the former. Independent, however, of the pernicious conse- quences of assembling so many criminals in the same place, where they can form a criminal class, and keep each other in countenance, transportation has operated injuriously to the moral well-being of those communities in another manner. It has caused a great disproportion of sexes. Of the 100,000 convicts of whom I have spoken, not 13,000 were women. According to the last census, the proportion of men to women in the whole population of the penal colonies was as five to two; amongst the convicts in the towns, as seven to two ; and in the agricultural districts, where the convicts chiefly reside, it was seventeen to one. 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 119 The question may be asked, why have so few women been transported, when the deplorable consequences of such a disproportion of the sexes are self-evident? The answer puts in the strongest light the great imperfection of transportation as a punishment. The answer is this : that the colonial authorities were generally opposed to the transportation of any considerable number of women because they found it impossible to devise any means of punish- ing them which were not liable to the most serious objections. The conduct of female convicts was so invariably bad that respectable settlers were generally unwilling to receive them as assigned servants in their families, and preferred the services of men in those domestic occupations which are usually performed by women. In some families in which they were received the most lamentable results ensued from the corruption of young children entrusted to their charge. And it is needless for me to describe what were the conse- quences of their being assigned to the lower description of settlers ; they were such as the colonial authorities could neither sanction nor overlook. Lastly, the women who were assigned, were constantly returned to the Government to be punished for misconduct, and the Government was, as I have already observed, utterly at a loss what to do with them. Sir, penitentiaries are the only modes of punishment suitable for women. But in the penal colonies there were no means of establishing a good penitentiary system. Indeed, for a considerable period, the penitentiary in New South Wales was little better than a brothel and a lying-in hospital. As the only means of disposing I20 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of female convicts, marriages were encouraged be- tween them and the free and convict populations; and numerous marriages did take place. Though, this plan of dealing with female offenders is at variance with every notion and object of punish- ment, yet I do not hesitate to declare my opinion that it was the best and wisest under existing circumstances. In support of this position, the high authority of Captain Maconochie may be quoted, who has had the best means of ascertaining the moral effects of transportation. That gentleman thought it would be desirable to give the greatest possible extension to the marrying of female convicts ; and for this purpose he even proposed that ''convict married women, whose husbands refused after a given time to join them, should become free to form fresh connections." And Captain Maconochie asserted that he could "prove the expediency of this plan by statements of the consequences of the want both of husbands and wives in the penal colonies, as would make the blood curdle." It is not necessary to make any observations as to the propriety or impropriety of such a plan ; but I ask the House to consider what must have been the impression made upon the mind of a highly intelligent gentleman, by the disproportion of sexes in the penal colonies, which could induce him to recommend a scheme so utterly inconsistent with the ordinary notions with regard to marriage. The difficulties which beset the question of female transportation appear to me to constitute most grave and valid objections to the whole system of transportation ; but, in my humble judgment, they are not sufficient to justify the 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 121 discontinuance alone of female transportation. For if this country continue to send thousands of its worst offenders to become, first slaves, then citizens in Australia, they must be accompanied by women ; otherwise those disgusting vices, which there is every reason to believe prevail among the convict population, will fearfully increase, and spread their contamination throughout the whole community. A short time ago an attempt was made to render the proportion of sexes in the penal colonies more equal by means of free female emigration. This attempt completely failed ; partly from mismanage- ment. It was undertaken by some benevolent individuals, who were very ill qualified for the task. They formed a committee for the purpose, and obtained a grant of money from the Government. Their secretary was one Mr. John Marshall, who at the same time undertook the incongruous functions of chief agent for the selection of emigrants and contractor for their conveyance to the colonies. In short, he became the committee itself. The result was, that the streets of Sydney and Hobart Town were crowded for a time with female prosti- tutes, and vice became, perhaps less disgusting, but more apparent. In this manner some forty or fifty thousand pounds of public money were expended. It is vain to think of altering the proportion of sexes in the penal colonies by means of good female emigration as long as transporta- tion continues, because respectable women will not consent to go alone to dwell among convicts. Attempts have been made in the penal colonies to deny the demoralising effects of transportation on the state of their societies, and resolutions to 122 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. that effect have been passed at meetings composed of persons who considered that they had a deep pecuniary interest in the continuance of convict slavery. Such resolutions, unsupported by facts, and in direct opposition to the undoubted facts which I have stated, are of little value, unless they may be considered as evincing the moral insensibility of those who agreed to them, and thereby proving the contrary of what was intended to be proved. There are, undoubtedly, amongst the officers of the Government and the higher class of settlers many very respectable- individuals ; nevertheless, it appears to me that the pernicious moral influence of transportation must be felt by all persons resident in those colonies. Let honour- able gentlemen picture to themselves the life of a settler in a community where three-fifths of the population have been convicted of transportable offences ; where, to use the words of Mr. Justice Burton, the main business ot all seems to be the commission of crime and the punishment of it ; where some of the wealthiest inhabitants, the greater portion of the tradesmen, publicans, and innkeepers ; where almost all the servants in private families, the labourers in the fields, and the workmen on the roads ; where the police (as in Van Diemen's Land), the superintendents of the convicts, the gaolers, witnesses in the courts of justice, members of the jury on the trial, and even at one time magistrates on the bench, and instructors of youth in the schools, were or had been convicts. Thus, at every moment, and in every occupation of life, the settler is brought into contact with criminals. He is surrounded by crime, 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 123 and haunted by the spectacle of cruel and degrading punishment. On the roads and in every public place he constantly meets gangs of wretched beings in chains, displaying all the outward tokens of misery. The shopkeeper with whom he deals has probably been convicted of swindling. The servants who attend upon him are all convicts ; the women, at best, drunken prostitutes ; the men hardened ruffians ; in order to make them work, he must either connive at their vicious conduct, disobey the regulations of the Government and pay them wages, or he must have constant recourse to a magistrate and to the infliction of the lash. Let honourable members reflect upon what may be the consequences of all the servants in a family being criminals, some- times of the worst description. A gentleman, long resident in one of those colonies, informed me that he had on his establishment four convict servants ; and on inquiry he found that one had been trans- ported for forgery, another for burglary, the third for an attempt at murder, and the fourth for some bestial offence. He was obliged to retain them in his service because he could get no others ; and his friends were no better off" than himself. It is easy to imagine what may be the consequences of such an establishment of servants ; and that crimes, unparalleled in this country, are sometimes per- petrated in the interiors of the most respectable families. I will mention a horrid case, which occurred in the family of a wealthy and respectable settler in Van Diemen's Land. It was discovered that his two daughters, one an infant of five years old, the other a girl of thirteen, had had repeated connection, not with one, nor with two, but with all 124 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the convicts in their father's estabhshment, which was a large one. Three of the offenders were hung for rape on the infant, and all of them would have been executed had their master brought them to trial. Such was the statement made to the Com- mittee by a gentleman who was on the jury. He gave the details of the case, over which the decencies of the House compel me to cast a veil. To conclude the description of the life of a settler in the penal colonies. In Van Diemen's Land the convict police may break into his residence at any hour of the night, on pretence of searching for a runaway convict ; and may even arrest him on the public road, on suspicion of his being a prisoner of the Crown. In New South Wales, if he be summoned to attend on a jury, he frequently finds that some of his fellow-jurymen have been convicts ; that they sympathise with the criminal in the dock, and are determined at all events to acquit him. If he be a magistrate, his constant occupation is to order the infliction of the lash for trifling offences, and, in some instances, by personal inspection, to ascertain that the convict scourger does his duty with suflicient severity. In short, he dwells in a vast and ill-regulated gaol. He is himself, to all intents and purposes, a gaoler, and of the worst description, because induced to undertake that revolting task, not by any peculiar mental or moral fitness for its due performance, but by the insatiate desire of wealth. His object is not to execute the threats of the law, or to improve the ofl'ender entrusted to his care, but to extract the greatest amount of labour from a slave. This description of the position of a free settler in a 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 125 convict colony is as true as it is disgusting. What must be its effect upon his character ? All experience proves that slavery of every kind has a bad effect on the character of the master ; that it tends to make him harsh, cruel, and tyrannical ; yet in ordinary slavery, as, for instance, in the United States, there are many causes which tend to mitigate its evil effects : such as the permanent interest of the master in the slave ; the circumstance that master and slave are frequently brought up together in childhood, and the kindly feelings which thence ensue. None of these causes, however, can operate when the slave is a criminal and the master has no permanent interest in him. The feelings on one side must be those of distrust and apprehension, on the other of hatred and fear. Hence it may reasonably be inferred that convict slavery must be the most injurious of all to the character and temper of the master. It can hardly be doubted that it must be equally injurious to his children. Yet, strange to say, the contrary opinion has been held. It has been maintained that transportation encourages the virtuous sensibilities of the rising generation of the penal colonies ; that, as of old the Spartans were wont to intoxicate their Helot slaves in order to impress upon their offspring the hideousness of drunkenness, so, it is said, the per- petual spectacle of crime and punishment stimulates the moral energies of the youth of Australia, and renders them peculiarly averse to dishonourable and disgraceful conduct. This absurd doctrine, according to which a gaol would be the fittest place for the education of children, has been pro- pounded in sober seriousness by some of the 1556 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. interested advocates of transportation. I need not stay to refute it. But let me now ask honourable members what benefit of any kind, sort, or description, is derived from such a system as transportation ? Does it prevent crime ? Certainly not ; for it produces very little apprehension. Does it improve the character of the culprit ? On the contrary ; it leads to his utter demoralisation. Does it diminish the number of offenders ? No ; the abode of some of them is changed at an enormous expense, and a small portion of our burden of crime is transferred from England to be increased a hundredfold in Australia. Is it, then, a punishment of which a civilised nation may boast ? Sir, it is unequal, uncertain, productive of more pain than terror, cruel, tyrannical, and disgraceful. Bad as it is as a punishment, it is still worse as a means of coloni- sation, for it has given birth to the most depraved communities in the universe. I may therefore, without presumption, assume that some change at least must be made in the existing system. The question still remains, can any such altera- tions be made in transportation as shall render it a good punishment, or should some other punish- ment be substituted in its stead ? In my humble judgment the latter alternative ought to be adopted, and transportation should forthwith be abolished. In holding this opinion I am sorry to be obHged to disagree with the noble lord the Secretary of State for the Colonies,^ who has suggested the continuance of a portion of transportation. I say he has merely suggested it, 1 Lord J. Russell. 1840.] TRA N SPORT A TION. 127 because he has not pronounced a decided opinion on the subject ; and I cannot help hoping that he may be induced to reconsider that opinion. The plan of the noble lord is contained in a letter from him to the late Secretary of State for the Colonies, which was laid, at the end of last Session, on the table of the House. In that document the noble lord states, with great force and ability, all the arguments against transporta- tion, and concludes with recommending, first, the immediate discontinuance of the assignment system ; secondly, that convicts sentenced to seven years' punishment shall cease to be transported. So far I entirely agree with him. But, lastly, he proposes that convicts sentenced to more than seven years' punishment shall be transported to Norfolk Island, where they are to undergo the severer portion of their punishment, subsequently they are to be removed to the public works in New South Wales. This plan is Hable to the same objections which have been urged against the existing system of transportation, and of this the noble lord is well aware, for in the paper to which I have referred he has stated one of the most serious of those objections in the most explicit terms. In the twenty-first paragraph he says, besides other objections to the sending of convicts to Norfolk Island, there is this defect in the proposal, ** that it would leave the main evil of transportation in full vigour. No one would advise the transport of criminals to the distance of Norfolk Island with the intention of bringing them back at the expense of the public to England. The consequence must be that at the expiration of 128 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. their sentences they will flock to the Australian colonies, and render that noxious atmosphere more foul by the addition." And in the next paragraph he calls this a ^' fatal objection." It does, indeed, seem a fatal one, and I, therefore, presume to beseech the noble lord to reconsider this portion of his plan. But there are other, and equally fatal, objections to it. I ask what description of punish- ment is to be inflicted upon convicts in Norfolk Island ? Is the existing system to be continued there ? I hope not, after the description I have given of it, and after the emphatic condemnation of it by the noble lord himself. But what other system can be CvStablished, which will preserve discipline among the convicts in those settlements ? Herein consists the difliculty. The cruel system of the penal settlements did not result from any love of cruelty on the part of the officers who managed those settlements, but from the attempt to enforce discipline by means of coercion alone ; hence frequent and severe punishments for the most trifling offences, and a state of things worse than death. But if severe coercion be not employed all experience shows that the only other means of preserving discipline among large numbers of offenders is by well-constructed gaols or peniten- tiaries. Will you build gaols and penitentiaries in Norfolk Island ? Who are to build them ? The convicts ? But how is discipline to be pre- served amongst those convicts while the gaols are building ? You cannot even have a hulk at Norfolk Island, for there is no harbour there ex- cept for boats. Discipline must, therefore, still be preserved by the lash Then the horrors of Norfolk 1840.] TRANSPORTATION, 139 Island will have to continue for an indefinite period of time, and this I cannot believe that either the noble lord intends or that the House will sanction. But I will suppose that it is your intention to build gaols and penitentiaries in Norfolk Island. Have you calculated the expense of building them in a small island without timber, without harbours, in the midst of the Southern Ocean, one thousand miles from the abode of civilised man ? The history of convict labour in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land proves that it is only the com- monest description of labour, and a very small quantity of that, which can be extracted from a criminal by punishment. In order to build, you must therefore have free skilled labourers of various descriptions, superintendents acquainted with build- ing, and artificers of every sort. How will you get them, except at an enormous expense ? And when you have got them, how will you persuade them to remain in your convict island, with the labour market of New South Wales, South Australia, and New Zealand open to them, offering to them the highest wages, and temptations which you cannot permit in your penal settlement, without a subversion of penal discipline ? In short, what inducements can you offer which shall tempt them to reside in a place where life is so miserable that even your own soldiers have lately risen in revolt ? For these reasons I feel persuaded that the cost of building penitentiaries in Norfolk Island with the assistance of convict labour would far exceed the cost of building better penitentiaries in this country, and of maintaining, at the same time, the convicts, if necessary, in idleness. M. K I30 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Again, how are the home authorities to exercise the requisite degree of vigilant superintendence over these remote places of punishment ? Why, I ask, have you lately appointed inspectors of prisons in this country, and directed them annually to report to Parliament ? Because you have become aware that without constant inspection you cannot enforce proper penal discipline even at home, that you can- not trust to unobserved authority even at your own doors. Have you any reason for placing greater confidence in gaolers at Norfolk Island, or will you send inspectors yearly to the antipodes ? And even then a year must elapse before a remedy can be applied to the best proved abuse. Again: will you send women to Norfolk Island, or is it to be inhabited only by men ? Have you well considered this matter ? Is it necessary to repeat the statements of the highest authorities, that wherever large numbers of male offenders are collected together in the penal colonies, there un- natural crimes are fearfully prevalent ? The only means of preventing those crimes is by the complete separation of prisoners ; and this cannot be effected till gaols are built. What can be said in reply to these objections ? The only argument I have ever heard in favour of the Norfolk Island plan is, that that island is said to possess the average degree of fertility common to places in the vicinity of the tropics ; hence it is supposed that convicts might there raise the greater portion of their own subsistence, and that their punishment would be an economical one. Passing by the fatal objection to this plan, that it would require the employment of large bodies of convicts] 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 131 together in the fields, and consequently a system of coercion analogous to the present one, I utterly disbelieve that the attempt, if made, would be successful. First, because all similar attempts have hitherto failed ; secondly, because the island in question is a very small one, not containing above 17,000 acres, most of which is dense jungle, and unfit for the growth of corn. But if this attempt do fail, or only partially succeed, reflect what will be the cost of conveying supplies of food from Sydney to this place, which by nature is almost inaccessible. Remember, likewise, that the cost of subsistence and of every necessary in Sydney is always much higher than in England. Judging from experience, a notion may be formed of what the expense of such a settlement is likely to be. In 1836, when the number of convicts did not exceed 1,000, the rations of salt meat alone in Norfolk Island cost 12,500/. ; and, according to the commissariat officer resident there, the expense of that settlement to this country has been 30,000/. a year, or about 30/. a head for each convict. Now, estimating the average duration of each convict's punishment there to be four years, and the cost of transport to and from Norfolk Island not to exceed 25/., the whole expense for the punishment of each convict would be 145/., which is one-half more than the sum for which the noble lord estimates that convicts could be kept in the most expensive penitentiaries, like that of Millbank. I, therefore, again presume to ask the noble lord to reconsider this portion of his plan: for I feel con- vinced that if it be adopted it must ere long be abandoned, after a worse than useless expenditure of public money ; because after an exhibition on a 133 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. larger scale of that portion of the existing system which all authorities concur in condemning as most foul and disgraceful. It is necessary to say one word with regard to a totally new mode of punishment which is suggested in the noble lord's letter to the late Colonial Minister. I mean what is called the social system of Captain Maconochie. According to that system criminals are to be associated together in small parties of seven or eight individuals, each of whom is to be held responsible, not for his own conduct, but for that of all the others with whom he may be associated. And thus it is expected, that with the usual opportunities for crime which attend on being at large under the transportation system, offenders would be induced to abstain from crime by their mutual regard j'or one another. This curious pro- posal outrages every law of human motives ; it is in direct opposition to every principle of punishment, as a check to crime ; it would almost seem to have been intended for a purpose of mockery. It is like bestowing riches on the profuse at the expense of the thrifty; like rewarding the reckless with the deserts of the careful. It is, in fact, to all intents and purposes, punishment of the innocent for the crimes of the guilty. Sir, in recommending the immediate abolition of transportation the House will expect that I should offer some substitute in its stead. This I will now endeavour to do, entreating the House, however, to make allowance for the imperfect manner in which I am afraid I shall execute this attempt. I propose that convicts, instead of being transported, shall be punished in hulks, gaols, or^ t840.] transportation. 133 penitentiaries to be built for that purpose. It is true that the hulks are not the best description of punishment, but they would afford an immediate substitute for transportation till penitentiaries can be built. They are, however, positively preferable to transportation; because they produce much more apprehension, because convicts in the hulks can be subjected to much more efficient superintendence and inspection than in the penal colonies ; and lastly, because they are somewhat less demoralising, and, as I will presently show, a less expensive punishment than transportation. The ultimate and permanent substitute for trans- portation should be one or more forms of the penitentiary system. Experience has shown that the best form is that which was first suggested by Mr. Bentham, and recommended by him in pre- ference to the formation of the penal colony of New South Wales. I mean the separate system. According to that system, offenders are kept entirely apart, and never allowed to associate together or to become acquainted ; they are visited by persons appointed for the purpose, whose duty it is to afford them religious and moral instruction ; and they are permitted, not compelled, to work. This description of punishment has most of the qualities of a good punishment. It produces a great degree of terror. It is certain and equal. It is easily apportioned to various degrees of crime. It renders the commission of crime during the period of punishment almost impossible. It pre- vents the formation of those acquaintances amongst criminals during punishment which are found to be one of the greatest sources of crime, and which 134 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. generally lead to the permanent demoralisation of the culprit. It entirely severs for the period of punishment all connection between the offender and the rest of the criminal population, and thus breaks through his vicious habits. It tends, by the oppor- tunity afforded for reflection, and by intercourse with properly chosen instructors, to improve, as far as possible, the moral character of the offender. And, lastly, arbitrary punishments are not required in order to preserve discipline or enforce labour : labour, therefore, becomes a source of enjoyment instead of pain, and the culprit is thus best fitted for a subsequent life of honest industry. It appears to me, however, that a system of punishment is incomplete which does not make some provision for the future career of the culprit at the termination of his punishment. The ques- tions, ''What is to be done with offenders at the expiration of their sentence ? " '' How are they to be prevented from returning to criminal pursuits ?" are undoubtedly questions of considerable difficulty. Some persons consider that transportation solves these questions. This I deny. The effect of transportation is merely to remove offenders from England and ultimately to turn them loose, unre- formed, in Australia, where they find a large class of criminals to associate with, and where, as has already been shown, they commit innumerable offences. What benefit, then, from such a system ? No one would consider that any advantage would be obtained if the means employed in diminishing crime in Cornwall, for instance, augmented in a greater degree the number of offences in Yorkshire. This is, however, precisely the effect of transporta- 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 135 tion with respect to England and Australia. By this proceeding the sum total of offences in the British dominions is certainly not lessened but considerably augmented, and the Legislature fails in obtaining the great object of punishment, which is to prevent crime, not merely to change the place where it is committed. In order to prevent a criminal from perpetrating fresh offences, when the period of his punishment is over, his moral character ought to be improved by it, and he should be placed in a position in which he would not be exposed to strong tempta- tions to relapse into criminal habits. In both these respects the inefficiency of transportation has been demonstrated. On the other hand, it is acknow- ledged by every person conversant with the subject of penal discipline, that the separate system tends, more than any other punishment, to improve the moral character of an offender. It cannot, how- ever, be denied that if at the expiration of his sentence a prisoner were turned loose in this country, with a character blasted by punishment, he would have great difficulty in finding employ- ment, and might, in many cases, be compelled to maintain himself by crime. To meet this difficulty a plan has been proposed by the Archbishop of Dublin. The House is aware that the Archbishop of Dublin has been of late years the great opponent of transportation ; in his steps I have endeavoured humbly to follow, and to him I feel most deeply indebted for the advice which he has kindly and graciously afforded me with regard to this subject. The plan of the Archbishop of Dublin is contained in a letter inserted in the report of the Committee. 136 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. It is simply this : that Hberated offenders, who would consent to emigrate, should be furnished with the means of conveyance to portions of the globe where they would easily find employment, and where their previous career would be unknown. They should on no account be all sent to the same place, because they would there form a criminal class, and thus reproduce many of the worst effects of transportation, and for this reason they should not be permitted to go to the penal colonies for the next fifty years. By being dispersed amongst the moral and industrious, far removed from the scene of their transgressions, and without any known taint on their character, the good feelings and habits acquired in confinement would be strengthened, and a new career would be opened to them, which cannot be the case under the existing system of transportation, or any of its proposed modifica- tions. This plan, or some analogous one, seems to me to be a necessary accompaniment to a good system of punishment. It would entail an ad- ditional expense of about 15/. a head, at the utmost, for every prisoner who would consent to emigrate. How many would consent so to do it is impossible to estimate ; but supposing all the 4,000, who it may be considered would annually become free, were to consent, their emigration would cost the country about 60,000/. a year. I do not deny that penitentiaries might be expensive, but only assert that they would be less expensive than any of the proposed alterations in the existing system of transportation. I do not recommend them merely as being cheap punish- ments. I entreat the House not to be led away by 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 137 any notion of an economical punishment ; for, by its nature, punishment must be an expensive thing. All our attempts at economical punishment have hitherto signally failed ; and the result has been bad and expensive punishment. It is a matter for sorrowful reflection that, if at the end of last century we had listened to the voice of that great philosopher, Bentham, we might ere this, for a less expense than transportation has cost us, have had the best system of prison discipline in the world, and our secondary punishments would have been a model for mankind, instead of being, as now, a deep reproach to the empire. As a great change must immediately be made in our system of punish- ment, I implore the House to take warning from our predecessors, and not to commit errors similar to theirs, which would entail disgrace upon us with posterity. The question may still be asked : What is to be done with the convicts in the penal colonies ? This is a mere question of time. So much of the present penal system must be retained as is necessary for the punishment of the offenders now in the colonies. By the termination of four years after the abolition of transportation a very considerable portion of the convicts would either have become free or half free by obtaining tickets of leave. The remainder should be withdrawn from assigned service ; the worst characters should be punished in the gaols or public works ; and the well-conducted might be permitted to be at large under certain restrictions. These are questions, however, of mere administra- tive detail, which a person on the spot could easily solve. Send out a Governor well acquainted with 138 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the subject ; arm him with sufficient powers ; make him responsible for bringing the existing system to a satisfactory termination, and four or five years would enable him to accomplish the greater portion of his task. Amongst the great evils of having once adopted any bad system is the difficulty which attends the getting rid of it, the length of time which must elapse before all its pernicious conse- quences can be rooted out, and the excuse which is thus afforded for hesitation and delay. Remember, however, that in this case delay will only increase the difficulties of those who will have ultimately to abolish transportation ; and every shipload of convicts which you send to those colonies will render (to use the noble lord's own expression) ''their noxious atmospheres more foul," and consequently, their period of purification more remote. I will conclude with a few observations on the effects of the abolition of transportation on the wealth of the penal colonies. The House is, with- out doubt, aware of the extraordinary and unparal- leled rapidity with which those colonies have advanced in wealth ; and that that progress is mainly to be attributed to the fact that the settlers have been abundantly supplied with convict slaves, who have enabled them to pursue various profitable branches of industry. Now that the Government has determined to abolish the assignment system, the settlers will, in a short period, be deprived of convict servants, and the prosperity of those com- munities will terminate unless they be supplied with labour from other sources. The only source from which they can be beneficially supplied with labour is by free emigration from this country. 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 139 There are, however, several difficulties which beset the question of free emigration. Persons who are inclined to emigrate have of late become acquainted with the unfortunate moral state of the penal colonies : many of them are, in consequence, un- willing to confound themselves with convicts by going to a convict settlement. I am not surprised at it. I cannot conceive how any respectable or virtuous man, how any person who is or intends to become the father of a family — in short, how any individual in whom the thirst of gain does not out- weigh every other and better consideration — can consent to become an inmate of one of these communities of felons as long as there is any doubt as to the total discontinuance of transportation. To the honour, be it said, of the poorer classes of this country, there is a great and growing dis- inclination amongst them to emigrate to these colonies. This feeling prevails especially in Scotland. It exists in England, and has been excited in Ireland through the exertions of the Archbishop of Dublin, who has felt it to be his religious duty to discountenance emigration to New South Wales. Therefore, with the discontinuance of the assignment system, the industry of the penal colonies will be materially injured, if not subverted, unless transportation to them be entirely abolished. And even this will not be sufficient, if the Norfolk Island system be adopted, and convicts be ultimately turned loose in New South Wales, a project to which, I may assert, the colonists are unanimously opposed, as perpetuating all the moral evils of the existing system, without any of the economical advantages of convict slavery. 140 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Abolish transportation, and there will be no diffi- culty in procuring emigrants for those colonies. But still it may, and not unjustly, be objected to me by some persons who might ask: "Would you promote emigration to communities which you have described as so demoralised ? Would you send innocent persons to places where they would be almost certain to be contaminated by intercourse with the guilty ? " I answer, that the amount of emigration should be such as would, within a very short period, entirely swamp the convict population, and completely alter the moral character of those communities. If only a few thousand emigrants were sent out every year, a considerable portion would, in all probability, be demoralised. If, how- ever, their numbers were to be reckoned by tens of thousands, the convict portion of the population would soon become an inconsiderable minority. As this subject was discussed last year in a debate on the motion of my honourable friend the member for Sheffield I will not repeat the calculations, from which I inferred that if (supposing transportation abolished) 100,000 persons were to emigrate during the next four years to the penal colonies those communities would be completely purified and amply provided with labour. They would then take their proper station amongst the colonies of Eng- land. They would be qualified to receive those free institutions without which they can never be well governed, but which it would be absurd to bestow upon them as long as they are gaols, or one-half of their population is composed of offenders. The expense of such an amount of emigration would probably be 1,500,000/. ; estimating, in 1840.] TRANSPORTATION. 141 accordance with the returns of the Emigration Commissioners, that 15/. a head is the average expense of emigration to New South Wales. I will, however, suppose that 2,000,000/. would cover all possible expenses. This sum could easily be raised at 4 per cent, on the security of the sales of waste lands, provided there were the guarantee of an Act of Parliament that it should all be expended in emigration. There would be ample security for the payment of the interest (which would amount to ;f 80,000 a year) out of the yearly sales of land, for during the last three years the Land Fund of New South Wales has exceeded 130,000/. a year and no one can for a moment doubt that it would greatly increase, if emigration were carried on to the extent proposed. In support of this plan I refer honourable members to last year's report of the Emigration Commissioners, in which they will find that a similar plan of borrowing 2,000,000/. for the purposes of emigration, has been proposed and approved of by a large body of the most intelligent and extensive proprietors in New South Wales. It is necessary that there should be the guarantee of an Act of Parliament that the whole of the loan should be applied to the purposes of emigration. First, because the perpetual changing of the Colonial Minister (we generally have a new one, unacquainted with his business, ever}^nine months) renders it impossible to place any reliance in promises which his successor is not bound to keep. Secondly, because the Land Fund, which it was always supposed in this colony, and generally be- lieved in this country, to be intended for emigration, 143 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. has been appropriated by the Government to other purposes. And the colonists most loudly and, in my opinion, most justly complain of this act as a most grievous abuse, as a sort of robbery. From the commencement of the sale of lands in 1832 to the end of 1838, 571,000/. has been paid into the Land Fund. Of this sum not above 171,000/. have been employed in emigration. Of the remainder, 138,000/. may have been expended in the sale, management, etc., of the land. The residue, amounting to 262,000/. has been alienated from the purposes originally intended, and appHed by the Government to the support of the enormous police and gaol establishments, which transportation has rendered necessary, and which the colonists, with no small show of justice, contend ought to be defrayed by this country. Such was the state of the Land Fund in the beginning of 1839. Since that period the same system has been pursued, and I am credibly informed that the Land Fund has been completely exhausted by the drains upon it by the Government. Indeed, in the middle of last year the noble lord, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, was obliged to order the discontinuance of emigration to New South Wales. Therefore, unless a loan be raised, emigration to New South Wales must stop, to the most serious injury of that colony, as every person well acquainted with this subject will readily acknowledge. I now thank the House for the patient manner in which it has listened to me. I have been obliged, for fear of wearying the House, to pass over many points of considerable importance. I hope, how- ever, that I have succeeded in proving the following i840.] TRANSPORTATION. 143 positions. That transportation is a very bad punishment. That it is not susceptible of any improvement. That it ought, therefore, to be aboHshed. That the best substitute for it is peni- tentiaries. That the penitentiary system would be less expensive than any of the proposed modifica- tions of transportation. That a large additional outlay of public money would not be required in order to establish penitentiaries, and to bestow upon this country the best system of secondary punishments in the world. And, lastly, for the sake of the moral well-being and economical prosperity of the penal colonies, that systematic emigration should be carried on in the manner I have proposed. I will conclude by moving : **That the punish- ment of transportation should be abolished, and the penitentiary system of punishment be adopted in its stead as soon as practicable " ; and : '* That the funds to be derived from the sales of waste lands in New South Wales and Van Diemen*s Land ought to be anticipated by means of loans on that security, for the purpose of promoting extensive emigration to those colonies." EXTRACT FROM SPEECH ON THE DISCONTINUANCE OF TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. May 20, 1 85 1. [The discontinuance of transportation to New South Wales after 1840 caused a severe strain upon the resources of Van Diemen's Land as a receptacle for convicts. Parliament was opposed to the policy of dealing with criminals in England, so that there was a continuous stream of convicts to Van Diemen's Land. A scheme of Mr. Gladstone to found a new convict colony in the north-east of Australia came to nothing, and an attempt to reintroduce a modified system of transportation into New South Wales also ended in failure. The case for the British Government, in its attempt to run counter to the feelings of the colonies, is well stated by Lord Grey in his " Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's Administration," but it was doubtless fortunate for the Empire that the Colonial Office passed, in 1852, into the more pliant hands of Sir John Pakington, who at once discontinued transportation to Van Diemen's Land. The following extracts are added to com- plete the story of Sir W. Molesworth's Parliamentary con- nection with the subject of transportation. After a reply from Sir George Grey, and other speeches, the debate came to a premature close by the House being counted out.] After dealing with the moral and social evils resulting from transportation to Van Diemen's Land, and the breach of faith involved in its continuance after the announcement by Sir W. Denison of its abolition. Sir W. Molesworth continued : In April, 1850, an event occurred which doubled the excite- ment in Van Diemen's Land against transportation. It was the arrival at Hobart Town of the ship Neptune, with its cargo of convicts, which the colony of the Cape had rejected. This event produced the deepest indignation amongst the colonists 1851.] TRANSPORTATION TO. VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 145 of Van Diemen's Land. They looked upon it as an insult as well as an injury. They had heard of the circular which had been issued by the Colonial Office, on the 7th August, 1848, to the Cape of Good Hope, New South Wales, and the other Australian colonies, with the exception of Van Diemen's Land. In that circular the Colonial Office had laid down the rule that no convicts were to be transported to any one of those colonies without the consent of their inhabitants. Van Diemen's Land had been excepted from that rule, on the special plea that it was a penal colony. Its inhabitants held that plea to be a most unjust and tyrannical one ; for they argued that the only difference between their colony and New South Wales had been occasioned by a breach of faith on the part of the Colonial Office, in not fulfilling the promise to abolish transportation ; and that, if that promise had been fulfilled, transportation could not have been resumed in opposition to their wishes without a violation of the rule laid down by the Colonial Office. The arrival of the Neptune showed them how successfully the colony of the Cape had resisted an attempt to violate that rule, and gave them ocular demonstration of two important facts — first, that it was the deliberate intention of the Colonial Office to make their colony a huge cesspool, in which all the criminal filth of the British Empire was to be accumulated ; secondly, that it was in the power of the people of a colony, by combina- tion, vigour and self-reliance, to defeat the intentions of the Colonial Office, and to compel it to keep faith. I am convinced that the arrival of the Neptune will here- after be a memorable epoch in the history of the abolition of transportation to Van Diemen's Land. The free colonists immediately protested against the landing of the convicts from that ship. They have made similar protests on the arrival of every subsequent convict ship ; and with every protest their anger was increased, till their wrath was incensed to the highest degree by the arrival of the report of a speech said to have been delivered last year by the noble lord the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in another place. In that speech the noble lord was reported to have expressed himself to the effect that the Imperial Government had created the colony of Van Diemen's Land for convicts, that the free settlers had established them- selves there with their eyes open to the present state of things, and had no right to complain. At all their public meetings 146 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. they have denied the accuracy of that statement ; they said that they had emigrated to Van Diemen's Land before it had been made the sole penal colony of England ; that the Imperial Government had encouraged them to emigrate, and sold them lands, and by so doing had entered into a tacit compact with them that it would not so abuse its power of transportation as to drive out the free inhabitants and render the possession of their lands intolerable. In the same speech the noble earl was reported to have said that the free colonists had become less adverse to transportation than they were in 1847. They have flatly contradicted the noble earl ; they asserted that the noble lord, like his predecessor. Lord Stanley, was ignorant of the state of the colony; that, living on the opposite side of the globe, he was liable to be misinformed by officials, who have a deep pecuniary interest in the continuance of transportation, whose salaries depended upon upholding transportation, and who boldly invented and repeated fictions, knowing almost a year must elapse before they could be contradicted. Sir, as I have already said, the Bishop, the clergy, and the free colonists of Tasmania, have declared, in contradiction of the statement of Lord Grey, that they are utterly hostile to receiving convicts under any system ; and with the view of proving Lord Grey's assertion to be erroneous, in each of the three districts of the colony, large pubhc meetings were held last autumn. First, on August 9 last, in the northern district ; from this meeting I have presented this year a petition with 1,519 signatures, including those of the Bishop of Tasmania and the Archdeacon of Launceston. Secondly, on September 12, a meeting was held in the southern district, from which I have presented this year a petition with 2,625 signatures. Thirdly, on September 17, a meeting was held in the central district, from which a memorial was addressed to Earl Grey. At one of these meetings Mr. Weston, a justice of the peace, a well-known and respectable gentleman, one of the oldest settlers in Van Diemen's Land, moved a resolution contradicting the statement that they had become reconciled to transportation. In so doing he drew, amidst the cheers of the meeting, a striking picture of the social state of the colony. He spoke to this effect : — " I think that, generally speaking, noble lords and English gentlemen know nothing about the state of our colony. It has occurred to me 1851.] TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 147 that if they could have the subject practically elucidated to them in their own persons and families they would immediately understand why we are so utterly hostile to receiving convicts under any system. Were I in England and had a talk with any English gentleman about transportation to Van Diemen's Land I would endeavour to make him realise our condition by placing himself and family in a position similar to that of respectable families in this colony. I would say to him, allow me to propose that you should remove your family from Belgravia to the worst part of St. Giles, where thieves, burglars, prostitutes, and all kinds of infamous characters abound. You shall have a commodious house, comfortable carriages, plenty of servants, a governess for your daughters, a tutor for your sons, and a secretary for yourself, but you must select every one of your attendants from the population of St. Giles's. Then the lowest prostitutes would be your housemaids and nurserymaids, from the flash women you might select your ladies' maids, a cast-off mistress would be an accomplished governess for your daughters, you might fill your pantry and your stables with burglars, thieves, and pickpockets, a Greek, well versed in all the arts and vices of Greece, would be ready to accept the office of tutor to your sons, and you might complete your establishment with a secretary so skilful as to save you the trouble of writing your name to a cheque, and then you would have a tip-top establishment after the fashion of Van Diemen's Land. I think," said Mr. Weston, •♦ English gentlemen would look rather amazed at such a proposal, and that a slight taste of transportation would destroy their taste for transportation." I entreat honourable members to endeavour to place them- selves mentally in the position of Mr. Weston, before they give their vote to-night, and they will well understand why the Bishop, the clergy, the fathers and mothers of families in Van Diemen's Land are so utterly hostile to the continuance of transportation to that colony. From these meetings there emanated petitions to the other House of Parliament, and addresses to the Queen. I began by stating to the House the contents of those petitions, and the grave and serious allegations which they contained, and which 1 have endeavoured to sub- stantiate ; I will only therefore call the attention of the House to two addresses to the Queen, which are not contained in the La 148 SPEECHES OF SIR W , MOLESWORTH. papers on the table of the House — one signed by the wife of the Bishop of Tasmania, and 1,400 women of Van Diemen's Land. They appealed as wives, mothers, and daughters to her Majesty's maternal sympathy, stating, " That in the course of the last ten years 30,000 prisoners had been landed in the colony, which contained 20,000 young persons, the greater portion of whom were under fourteen years of age." The other address was from the Bishop, archdeacons and clergymen of the United Church of England and Ireland in Tasmania. This deserves the especial attention of the House: for the noble lord relied mainly on the clergy to give efficacy to this scheme of transportation ; they have assured her Majesty that the majority of all classes in Van Diemen's Land are opposed to trans- portation ; " that convicts can no longer be introduced into the colony with real advantage to themselves or to the community " ; that "any lucrative return to be derived from convict labour is beyond calculation outweighed by the frightful evils of the convict system " ; and they have earnestly prayed her Majesty on behalf of those for whom they are put in charge to discontinue transportation to Van Diemen's Land. At all the meetings to which I have just referred resolutions were agreed to in favour of an Anti-Transportation League. In this agitation Launceston and the men of Cornwall, as usual, led the way. They issued a circular to the Australian colonies inviting their co-operation to secure the abolition of transporta- tion to Van Diemen's Land. Everywhere they have met with sympathy and support, for the Australian colonies are and feel themselves to be deeply interested in the question of the continuation of transportation to Van Diemen's Land. In fact, the collective transportation of the convicts of the British Empire to Van Diemen's Land is equivalent to transportation to all the Australian colonies. For there are two causes in operation in those colonies, one attracting the convict when he becomes free to the continent of Australia, the other repelling the expiree from Van Diemen's Land. The first cause is the boundless extent of unoccupied land in Australia of the best quality, containing millions of fertile acres, naturally cleared, waiting only for hands to cultivate them ; the demand for those hands attracts labourers from every quarter, and especially from the nearest point, namely. Van Diemen's Land, where a large portion of the limited extent of the best land is already 1851] TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 149 occupied. The second cause which repels the free labourer from Van Diemen's Land is the perpetual influx of convict labour, which has already overstocked the labour market of Van Diemen's Land. Therefore every fresh convict who arrives in that colony still further depresses the labour market, and tends to drive out a free settler or an expiree ; and this process has been so long carried on that in 1847 three-fourths of the adult male population of Van Diemen's Land were, or had been, convicts ; at present, probably four-fifths of the adult male population have been convicted of crime, for Sir William Denison assured Lord Grey that the loss to the population of Van Diemen's Land by the emigration of free settlers had been more than compensated by the number of convicts lately imported. In consequence of this preponderance in numbers the felonry of Van Diemen's Land have become rampant and insolent. Relying on the authority of Lord Grey, they claim that colony as the patrimony and freehold of the convicted felons of England, and the paradise of thieves. Through their organs in the colonial press, I see that they threaten " to kick out of the colony the free settlers," whom they denounce as intruders and ** puritan moralists." In opposition to the Anti-Trans- portation League, and in support of Lord Grey, the felonry have formed a criminals' aid society, or Tasmanian League. They have rallied round the Government ; and, in fact, the only devoted friends and staunch allies upon whom the Colonial Office can count throughout Tasmania, or even Australia, are the felonry of Van Diemen's Land, under the leadership of the insane rebels from Ireland. Sir, if we continue much longer to transport convicts to Van Diemen's Land, we shall be able to add to our national Exhibition an unrivalled specimen of a Red criminal republic, with liberty for crime, equality in infamy, and fraternity in vice. Not content with Van Diemen's Land, the felonry have migrated in shoals to the continent of Australia. There they pursue their old professions — the thief thieves, the burglar commits burglaries, the swindler swindles, and each after his habit indulges in his vicious propensities. The presence of these persons in the Australian colonies affords the only explanation of the otherwise inexplicable fact, that in these colonies, where the economical causes of crime scarcely exist, the proportion of crime to population is greater than in I50 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. old countries, where the economical causes of crime are most potent. It is an unquestionable fact that almost all the crime committed in the Australasian colonies is committed by persons who have been transported from this country. The courts of justice of New South Wales, Victoria, Southern Australia, and New Zealand are filled with these persons. The Legislature of New South Wales attempted to protect that colony against the expirees from Van Diemen's Land, by certain police regulations called the Vagrancy Act. That Act the Colonial Office has vetoed, to the intense disgust of the people of New South Wales, because it tended to prevent the free circulation of free criminals throughout Australia. The Governor of New Zealand has asserted that the greater portion of the large amount of crime in that colony is committed by expirees. Thus, sir, the foul stream of crime rising in England, at first somewhat purified by passing through Pentonville and other penitentiaries, becomes foul again as it flows through the public works at Gibraltar and elsewhere, then traverses the moral swamps of Van Diemen's Land, acquiring fresh corruption, and pours its foetid waters over the continent of Australia, whence its pestilential exhalations reach New Zealand and the remotest isles of Polynesia. The inhabitants of the Australian colonies know full well that the collective transportation of our criminals to Van Diemen's Land is ultimately transportation to them. They have been told it over and over again by the Colonial Office, and the persons who have endeavoured to persuade them to receive convicts from England. The staple argument of those gentlemen was, that it would be far better to receive convicts directly from England, with the pecuniary advantages which England had offered to those who would take her criminals off her hands, than to receive convicts, indirectly through Van Diemen's Land, without those pecuniary advantages. The answer of the Australian colonies has been, that they will not have convicts, either directly or indirectly. With this intention, they have adopted the idea of the Colonial Office, and formed an Australasian League. The motto of that league is abolition of transportation to Van Diemen's Land. Last autumn numerous anti-transportation meetings were held throughout New South Wales and Victoria. From these meetings emanated petitions to the Legislative Council of New South Wales against transportation, signed, I am informed, by 1851.] TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN*S LAND. 151 35,000 persons, including the three bishops and all the clergy of that colony. At all these meetings resolutions were passed in favour of assisting Van Diemen's Land in its efforts to abolish transportation, and similar sentiments were expressed in all the petitions to the Legislative Council of New South Wales. An anti-transportation association has been formed at Sydney. I have its report, dated January 6 last. Accord- ing to that report it has petitioned the Queen and Parlia- ment for the aboUtion of transportation to Van Diemen's Land. It has opened communications with all the principal towns and districts of New South Wales, Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South Austraha, and New Zealand ; it has had the most encouraging answers from all these places ; it has prepared a petition from all the Australasian colonies for the cessation of transportation to Van Diemen's Land, which petition I expect to have the honour of presenting to the House on some future occasion, with 50,000 signatures attached to it. Sir, t)efore I sit down, I wish to put one question to her Majesty's Ministers. Last year you gave representative institutions and self-government to Van Diemen's Land. What did you mean by so doing ? How did you mean that the inhabitants of that colony should govern themselves ? Did you mean that they should govern themselves in the manner which they think best for their interests, or in the manner which you think best for the interests of this country ? Now, on the subject of transportation, there is a conflict between the alleged interests of this country and those of Van Diemen's Land. You think that it is for your interest to transport your convicts to Van Diemen's Land, and to cast forth your criminal filth on Van Diemen's Land. The inhabitants of that colony think that it is for their interest not to receive your felons, and not to continue to be your cesspool. Which of these two interests ought the representatives of the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land to prefer ? Ought they to prefer the interests of their constituents or of your constituents ? They will without doubt prefer the interests of their own con- stituents. They are bound to do so by every recognised principle of constitutional government. They will do so. I believe not one man will l)e elected a member of the House of Assembly of Van Diemen's Land who is not pledged to resist 153 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. transportation by every means in his power. What will you do ? Discontinue transportation or repeal the Constitution of Van Diemen's Land ? You must do one of these two things. For free institutions and transportation cannot co-exist in Van Diemen's Land as long as the feelings of the inhabitants of that colony are such as they are at present. I beg the House to observe that the question upon which I ask for a decision to-night is not whether there shall or shall not be such a punishment as transportation ; upon that question I have repeatedly expressed opinions which are unchanged. The question for the House is not whether any more convicts shall be transported to any colony, but whether any more convicts shall be transported to Van Diemen's Land without the con- sent of its inhabitants. You have laid down the rule with regard to your southern colonies, that no convicts shall be sent to any one of them without its consent. You say that Van Diemen's Land shall be the one exception to that rule, that you created that colony for convicts, that you have a right to use and abuse your creation ; that Van Diemen's Land has been, is, and shall continue to be, a penal colony. Then I say you have committed an act of insanity in giving to the in- habitants of Van Diemen's Land free institutions, and arming them with the best weapons to resist your will. I call upon you to keep faith with them, and to extend to them the rule that no convicts shall be transported to them without their consent. I have proved that all classes of free settlers in Van Diemen's Land, that Bishop and clergy, magistracy and gentry, tradesmen and labourers, fathers and mothers, are utterly hostile to the receiving of convicts under any system. I have shown that accumulated and appalling evils, moral, political, and social, have resulted from transportation to Van Diemen's Land ; that in consequence of the existence of those evils, which you have repeatedly acknowledged to exist, the Colonial Office did promise, first, in 1846, to suspend transportation to Van Diemen's Land for two years ; secondly, in 1847, to dis- continue transportation altogether to that island ; thirdly, in 1848, that the additions to be made from this country to the population of that colony should not consist principally of convicts. I have proved from your own despatches that every one of these promises has been distinctly made, and not one of them has been kept; that in 1846 you did not suspend i85i.] TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN*S LAND. 153 transportation to Van Diemen's Land ; that in 1847 you did not discontinue transportation to that colony, and that since 1 848 you have poured into Van Diemen's Land four times as many convicts as free emigrants. I have shown from resolutions agreed to at numerously-attended public meetings, and by petitions signed by every one of note and respectabiHty in Van Diemen's Land, that your faithless and vacillating conduct has produced throughout the whole of Tasmania and Australia the deepest indignation and discontent, that it is destroying the attachment of Van Diemen's Land to this country, and is producing an Australasian League against transportation. I believe such a league amongst colonies with free institutions, situated at the antipodes, cannot be resisted. It appears to me, therefore, that it would be not only just but wise and prudent to take steps to bring about as speedily as possible the discontinuance of transportation to Van Diemen's Land. I exhort and warn the House to suffer no delay in this matter if it hold dear our Australasian dependencies. For many years I have taken the deepest interest in the affairs of those colonies. I am convinced that they are amongst the most valuable of our colonial possessions, the priceless jewel in the diadem of our colonial empire. I believe they can be easily retained, with a little common sense and judgment on our part ; that, well governed they would cost us nothing, but offer us daily improving markets for our industry, fields for the employment of our labour and capital, and happy homes for our surplus population ; that Australian empire is in peril from the continuance of transportation to Van Diemen's Land ; and therefore I move that " An address be presented to her Majesty praying for the discontinuance of transportation to Van Diemen's Land." ON COLONIAL EXPENDITURE AND GOVERNMENT. July 25, 1848. [The resolution was seconded by Mr. Hutt, one of the small band of colonial reformers. Mr. Hawes, the Under Secretary for the Colonies, who replied, while traversing many of Molesworth's statements, "had not the least objection to the motion, which only carried out that course of policy which he had endeavoured to describe. He thought that the passing of the resolution would strengthen the hands of his noble friend, and enable him to proceed still further in the prosecution of the views which he entertained." The debate, however, stood adjourned.] Sir, — In submitting to the consideration of the House the motion of which I have given notice, I must entreat the indulgence of the House ; for the nature and extent of the subject will compel me to trespass at some length upon its patience. My object is, in the first instance, to call the attention of the House to the amount of the colonial expenditure of the British Empire ; and in so doing I shall endeavour to establish the following positions : First, that the colonial ex- penditure can be diminished without detriment to the interests of the empire ; second, that the system of colonial policy and government can be so amended as to ensure more economical, and altogether better, government for the colonies. And lastly, that by these reforms the resources of 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 155 the colonies would be developed, they would become more useful, and their inhabitants more attached to the British Empire. In speaking of colonies, I do not intend to include under that term the territories which are governed by the East India Company, but shall confine my remarks to those foreign possessions of the Crown which are under the jurisdiction of the Colonial Office. Notwithstanding this limitation, the colonial empire of Great Britain contains between four and five millions of square miles, an area equal to the whole of Europe and British India added together. Of this vast space, about one million of square miles have been divided into forty different colonies, each with a separate Government : four of them are in Europe, five in North America, fifteen in the West Indies, three in South America, five in Africa and its vicinity, three among the Asiatic islands, and five in Australia and New Zealand. The population of these colonies does not exceed 5,000,000: of this number about 2,500,000 are of European race, of whom about 500,000 are French, about 350,000 are lonians and Maltese, a few are Dutch or Spaniards, and the remainder, amounting to about 1,600,000, are of English, Irish, or Scotch descent. Of the 2,500,000 inhabitants of the colonies who are not of European race, about 1,400,000 are Cingalese, and other in- habitants of Ceylon, and 1,100,000 are of African origin. In 1844 (the last complete return) the declared value of British produce and manu- factures exported to the colonies amounted to about 9,000,000/. sterling. The whole colonial expenditure of the British Empire is about 156 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. 8,000,000/. sterling a year ; one-half of which is defrayed by the colonies and one-half by Great Britain. That portion of the colonial expenditure which is defrayed by Great Britain consists of mili- tary, naval, civil, and extraordinary expenditure. First. The net military expenditure by Great Britain, on account of the colonies (including ordnance and commissariat expenditure) was returned to Parliament for the year 1832 at 1,761,505^-; for the year 1835-36 at 2,030,059/.; and for the year 1843-44 (the last return) at 2,556,919/., an increase between 1832 and 1843 of 795,414/. The present military expenditure is probably about the same as it was in 1843-44; for the military force in the colonies amounts at present to about 42,000 men (exclusive of artillery and engineers), or to about three-eighths of the whole military force of the British Empire (exclu- sive of the army in India). For this amount of force we shall have to vote this year, first, in the army estimates for the pay, clothing, etc., of 42,000 men, and for the foreign staff, about 1,500,000/.; secondly, in the ordnance estimates for the pay of the artillery and engineers (which I will suppose to be the same as in 1843-44), for ordnance establish- ments, barracks, fortifications, and stores in the colonies, about 550,000/. ; and thirdly, in the com- missariat estimates for commissariat services, provisions, forage, fuel, light, etc., in the colonies, about 450,000/. ; in all, about 2,500,000/., which will be the direct miUtary expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies for this year. To form a fair estimate of the whole military expenditure by Great Britain on account of the 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 157 colonies for one year it would be necessary to add to this sum of 2,500,000/., a very considerable sum, on account of reliefs, military establishments at home, and other matters, which are in part required in order to keep up so large a military force in the colonies. It is evident, therefore, that I shall under-estimate the military expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies when I set it down at only 2,500,000/. a year. Secondly, with regard to the naval expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies. At present we have about 235 ships in commission, with a complement not much short of 40,000 men. Of these ships, about 132, with a complement of about 25,000 men, are on foreign stations: some in the Mediterranean, some on the North American and West Indian station, some off the west coast of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, others in the Chinese and Indian seas, or protecting our interests in New Zealand. Now the House will remember that in every debate that has taken place this year on the Estimates the extent of our colonial empire, and the new colonies which are springing up in Australia, New Zealand, and the Chinese and Indian seas, were among the chief causes assigned by the noble lord the member for the City of London,^ and the honourable gentleman the member for Sheffield,^ for the enormous amount of the naval force of Great Britain, and for the increase of that force, which has doubled both in magnitude and cost during the last thirteen or fourteen years. I may, therefore, without exaggera- tion, assume that at least one-third of the ships on 1 Lord J. Russell. 2 Mr. T. Ward, 158 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. foreign stations — that is, one-fifth of the ships in com- mission — or forty-five ships, with a complement of about 8,000 men, are maintained on account of the colonies. Now, I infer from the estimates, and from the returns presented to the House, that these ships will cost the country annually, for wages and victuals of crews, wear and tear of vessels and stores, more than 700,000/. In addition to this sum, we shall have to vote this year, in the navy estimates, 65,000/. for naval establishments in the colonies, another 65,000/. for naval works and repairs in the colonies, and 181,000/. for freight and other matters connected with the conveyance of troops to the colonies. These sums, added together, will give a total of above 1,000,000/. sterling as the direct naval expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies for one year. To form a fair CvStimate of the whole naval expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies for one year it would be necessary to add to this sum of 1,000,000/. sterling a very considerable sum on account of reliefs, and of building new ships, likewise a portion of the cost of the naval establishments at home, and Ukewise a portion of the expense of the packet service to the colonies, which last item alone costs 418,000/. a year. It is evident, therefore, that I shall very much under-estimate the naval expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies when I set it down at only 1,000,000/. sterling a year, or at one-eighth of the whole naval expenditure of Great Britain. Third. The civil expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies is chiefly defrayed by sums annually voted in the miscellaneous estimates, 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 159 under the head of colonial services; some portion of it, however, is paid for under Acts of Parliament. It may be estimated this year at 300,000/. It consists of numerous items, to some of which I shall have presently to refer. I will now only mention that we pay 27,000/. a year for the Colonial Office, 20,000/. a year for ecclesiastical establishments in the West Indies, between 11,000/. and 12,000/. a year for the clergy of North America, and that last year we divided the diocese of Australia into four bishoprics, erected a bishopric at Cape Town, and conveyed the right reverend gentlemen who held these sees to the colonies, at the expense of this country. Lastly, under the head of extraordinary expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies, I put down such items as the insurrection in Canada, for which, in the interval between 1838 and 1843, there were special grants to the amount of 2,096,000/. ; as the Kaffir War, on account of which there is a special grant this year of 1,100,000/., and for which we shall have probably to pay 800,000/. or 900,000/. more ; as the Maori War in New Zealand, which, at a low estimate, will cost half a million ; as 214,000/. for the payment of the debts of South Australia in 1842 ; as relief of sufferers by fire and other disasters in the colonies, for which we gave 50,000/. in 1846 ; as the risk of non-payment of loans, such as 236,000/. to the New Zealand Company, and 716,000/. to the West Indian planters ; and innumerable other items. On the average of the last ten years, 200,000/. a year would have been wholly inadequate to cover the extraordinary expenditure by Great Britain on i6o SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. account of the colonies. I will put it down, however, at 200,000/. a year, and I will omit all mention of the sums paid for emancipating the negroes in the colonies, and the civil expenditure on account of our attempt to suppress the slave trade, which many persons would charge to the account of extraordinary colonial expenditure. If the four sums which I have just mentioned be added together, namely, 2,500,000/. for the army, including ordnance and commissariat, 1,000,000/. for the navy, 300,000/. for civil services, and 200,000/. for extraordinary expenses, the total direct expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies would amount to at least 4,000,000/. a year; and I am inclined to think that this is very much less than the actual annual cost of the colonies to Great Britain. Now, I beg the House to observe that the declared value of British produce and manufactures exported to the colonies in the year 1844 was 9,000,000/. sterling, including the one million's worth of exports to Gibraltar, which are sent to Gibraltar to be smuggled into Spain. Therefore the expenditure of Great Britain on account of the colonies amounts to nine shillings in every pound's worth of its exports ; or, in other words, for every pound's worth of goods that our merchants send to the colonies, the nation pays nine shillings ; in fact, a large portion of our colonial trade consists of goods which are sent to defray the expenses of our establishments in the colonies. What are the advantages which we derive from our colonial possessions in return for this expenditure ? Colonies are supposed to be useful either for political or commercial purposes, 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 161 and with reference to these objects they should be divided into two classes, which should be con- sidered separately ; first, military stations, acquired chiefly for political purposes ; secondly, colonies, properly so-called, supposed to be of value chiefly for commercial objects. Our military stations are Heligoland, Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Bermuda, the stations on the west coast of Africa, St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, the Mauritius, Hong Kong, Labuan, and the Falkland Islands. What do these stations cost us ? Of what use are they to this country ? They are called the outposts of the British Empire, and they are supposed to be useful in periods of war, for purposes of aggression. But it appears to me that most of them are so far removed from the centre of the empire that in time of war they would be sources of weakness and not of strength ; for they would compel us, contrary to every sound principle of warfare, to scatter instead of concen- trating our forces. Therefore, in the event of a really serious struggle, they would, like other outposts, in all probability, be abandoned to their fate. Moreover, it is evident that we can only retain possession of them as long as we have the dominion of the seas ; but having the dominion of the seas, I cannot see why we should cover all of them with fortifications, and fill all of them with troops. I believe a wiser generation will hold wiser opinions with regard to the utility of these possessions. I will, however, for the present, suppose that some of them are of some use to the country, and proceed to tell the House what they cost us. i63 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. First, Gibraltar and Malta : in 1843-44 the total expenditure incurred by Great Britain on account of these stations was 366,000/. About the same sum is expended upon them every year, for their garrisons consist of between 5,000 and 6,000 men (exclusive of artillery and engineers), and considerable sums are annually expended on building and repairing fortifications, naval works, etc. It is stated in the navy and ordnance estimates of this year that the works now in pro- gress in these two colonies will cOvSt us 460,000/. I will not ask whether they are worth the price we pay for them. But I do question the utility of protecting the Ionian Islands with 2,500 troops, at a cost to this country of about 130,000/. a year, which is somewhat more than the declared value of our exports to those islands in 1844. When England first became the pro- tecting sovereign of the Ionian States it was on the express condition that a portion, at least, of their military expense should be borne by the States ; the sum to be paid was subsequently fixed at 35,500/. a year. In 1842 the Ionian States were 122,000/. in arrear, and I believe the arrears are still greater at present. We have spent large sums on military works at Corfu, and a grant of 12,873/. is to be proposed this year to complete some of these works. Therefore our military stations in the Mediterranean require about 8,000 troops, and they cost us at least half a million a year, exclusive of any portion of the expense of the fleet in the Mediterranean. That fleet, on the average of the last five years, has consisted of twenty-three ships, with a complement of 5,000 men, the expense of I 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 163 which, for wages, victuals, wear and tear, may be reckoned at half a million a year. The declared value of our exports to these stations is about 1,400,000/., of which nearly a million is a smuggling trade through Gibraltar into Spain. I next proceed to the Bermudas. Since the peace we have expended there upwards of 600,000/. (exclusive of the cost of convict labour) on navy and ordnance works alone ; and it is now estimated that to complete these works a further sum of 160,000/. will be required. At the Bermudas there is a garrison of 1,200 men, at a cost (exclusive of the expense for convicts) of about 90,000/. a year. Now, what is the use of such costly establishments and fortifications on these worthless rocks ? It is said that the Bermudas are useful as a means of aggression against the United States, and that we have garrisoned them and fortified them lest the United States should take possession of them. I believe the United States would not accept of them as a gift. They are chiefly used as a comfortable residence for the admiral on the North American station, for whom it is proposed to build a house at a cost of about 15,000/. I next proceed to St. Helena, which costs us in civil and military expenditure about 40,000/. a year, and to the colonies on the western coast of Africa, which in a similar manner cost us about 52,000/. a year. These colonies are not, strictly speaking, military stations, nor are they of much commercial importance ; their main object is to impede the slave trade. The fleet which we had last year upon this station consisted of twenty-four ships, with 259 guns, and a complement of 2,781 men, M 2 i64 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. and its cost was returned to Parliament for wages, victuals of crews, and wear and tear of ships, at 301,628/. a year. Besides these sums we generally expend about 80,000/. a year on other matters connected with what is called the suppression of the slave trade. Therefore, at least half a million a year is the direct expenditure by Great Britain in the vain attempt to put a stop to that traffic. It may not be proper to include all this under the head of colonial expenditure ; but, nevertheless, I may be permitted to express my belief that it is a most useless expenditure, and to recommend Parliament to abandon it, together with the colony of Sierra Leone, and the other stations on the west coast of Africa, and thus to save the country an outlay of at least 450,000/. a year. I now arrive at the colony of the Cape of Good Hope (the area of which is considerably larger than that of the United Kingdom). It may be looked upon as a commercial colony as well as a military station. As a commercial colony it is not of much importance. In 1844 the declared value of our exports to it was only 458,000/., and our imports from it were 258,000/. The difference was made up by the military expenditure of Great Britain, which for 1843-44 amounted to 294,000/., or more than 50 per cent, on our exports. In that year the number of troops in the colony was 2,951 rank and file ; last year the number was at one time 5,470 rank and file. This increase was in consequence of the Kaffir War ; and for the same reason the fleet on this station was increased to nine ships with a complement of 1,700 men, which fleet must have cost this country at the rate of 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 165 170,000/. a year. For that war we have already paid 1,100,000/., and in all probability 800,000/. or 900,000/. more will be required to close the account. The House will not be astonished at this expenditure when it is informed, in the words of Sir Harry Smith, ** that in the last bit of a brush with a Kaffir chief called Sandhilli 56,000/. were expended in waggon hire alone." One word with regard to that war ; for it is a striking instance of the pranks that Colonial Governors can play, of the little control that the Secretary of State for the Colonies can exercise over them, and of the danger to which this country is perpetually exposed, under the present colonial system, of having vast sums of money expended upon a worthless colony. The Cape of Good Hope is the Algeria of England. The Kaffir War which has just terminated was, I believe, the fourth in the last thirty years. The one which preceded it is said to have cost this country half a million sterling. All these wars have originated from nearly the same cause, namely, cattle stealing along a frontier of upwards of 700 miles. Sometimes the Kaffirs stole, or were accused of stealing, the cattle of the colonists ; the colonists retaliated ; then they came to blows ; blood was shed ; the Colonial Government inter- fered ; a large expenditure of public money ensued, to be paid for out of the Imperial treasury. This was the case in the last war. With regard to the origin of that war, there is a great difference of opinion. Some persons, apparently with great reason, ascribe it to the discontinuance of the system of Sir B. D'Urban, and the adoption of the mistaken policy of the missionaries ; and they i66 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. maintain that the war was inevitable, and only too long delayed by attempts to conciliate the Kaffirs. Other persons, with much vshow of reason, ascribe its origin and its ill success to the haste and in- discretion of the Governor, Sir P. Maitland. How- ever this may be, the immediate cause of the war was this : a Kaffir on the frontier stole an axe. He was arrested and sent off to prison. On the road a rescue was attempted ; a conflict ensued ; on the one side a Kaffir, on the other side a Hottentot constable were slain, and the prisoner was rescued. Application was then made to certain Kaffir chiefs to give up the offenders. They refused, on the grounds that the colonial authorities were not entitled by treaty to send a Kaffir to prison for such a trifle as stealing an axe, and that the blood of the Hottentot had been paid for in the blood of the Kaffir first killed ; and they entreated the Governor not to be in haste with forces, but to have a talk about the matter and try to understand it. How- ever, the Governor at once hastened to the frontier ; by his orders Kaffirland was invaded ; but every arrangement was so ill made that our troops were repulsed ; twice our baggage-waggons were cut off ; and the victorious Kaffirs, in their turn, invaded the colony. For months Sir P. Maitland lived in the bush, enduring (according to his own account) unheard-of hardships, when he was, very properly, superseded. Great was the amazement and indignation of his successor, Sir Henry Pottinger, at the state of affairs which he discovered in the colony. He declares that he cannot give an '' adequate idea of the confusion, unauthorised expense, and (as he believed) attendant peculation 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 167 which had obtained." In that peculation it is rumoured that men of high station were implicated. Numerous instances of reckless expenditure are stated in Sir Henry's despatches. One of a settle- ment on the Kat River, where the few inhabitants were, on the plea of defending the frontier, receiving rations at the rate of 21,000/. a year. Another, in the vicinity of a station called Block Drift, where rations had been regularly given to a number of Kaffirs who had been fighting against us. Sir Henry attempted to put a stop to these abuses, and the war seemed to be drawing to a close, when, unfortunately, fourteen goats were lost. They were tracked across the frontier into the territory of a Kaffir chief ; he was required to restore them, and to give up the sup- posed thief. Twelve of the goats were immediately sent back, but the chief denied all knowledge of the other two, and of the thief, if there were one. Sir Henry Pottinger was not satisfied. He ordered a secret expedition into Kaffirland, to surprise the chief in question. The expedition, as usual, failed ; the chief escaped; the troops retreated, after having killed a few Kaffirs, and carried off some head of cattle ; and the war was kindled afresh. Throughout, Sir Henry Pottinger was thwarted by a divided command, and the greater portion of his troops were unsuited for the service which they had to perform. For instance, old officers of the Peninsula War, accustomed to regular warfare, were intent upon displaying their strategic skill in a contest with savages ; heavy dragoons, mounted upon chargers, armed with rifles impossible to load on horseback, and English regiments, with their i68 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. ordinary clothing and accoutrements, had, under the burning sun of Africa, to attack Kaffirs skulking in a bush all but impenetrable to Europeans. In such a war, seven British regiments, with artillery and engineers, were not a match for half the number of naked savages armed with assegais. The war would never have been brought to a close had it not been for the colonial corps, who, composed of Hottentots, led on by brave and energetic young English officers, followed the spoor of the Kaffirs, captured their cattle, and hunted them down like wolves. By these means Sir Henry Pottinger brought the war to a close just as he was succeeded by Sir H. Smith. Sir H. Smith, in addition to other marvellous feats, has made the Kaffir chiefs kiss his foot, has proclaimed himself their only Inkosi Inkulu (great chief), and has added, on the north of the colony, some 40,000 square miles (about the size of England) of as barren a desert (to use the words of the Surveyor-General) as is to be found upon the earth's crust. Thus the loss of one axe and two goats on the frontier of the Cape of Good Hope has cost this country a couple of millions sterling. I attach no blame to Lord Grey or his predecessor on account of this war ; it is clear from their despatches (I trust they will pardon me for saying it) that they were helpless and igno- rant ; and I believe Lord Grey was as much aston- ished as any man when he heard the amount of the bill to be paid. I warn the House, however, that, under the existing system, there is no reason what- ever why, every four or five years, there should not be a similar war, with a similar bill to pay. For, with a frontier of about 700 miles in extent, causes 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 169 of war with the neighbouring savages will per- petually recur. In the colony such a war is most popular, and is wished for on account of the lavish expenditure of Great Britain ; and every effort is made to prolong its duration. There is but one means of securing our purses for the future, namely, by withdrawing our troops from the frontier, and letting the colonists distinctly understand that they must defend themselves, and pay the cost of such defence. Then they will have the strongest motives to prevent the commencement, and to hasten the termination, of a Kaffir war. In return for so doing they should receive free institutions, and have com- plete control over their own expenditure. Then a thousand troops would be a sufficient garrison for Cape Town ; and, in ordinary years, there might be a saving at the Cape, in military expenditure alone, to the amount of at least 200,000/. a year. If, however, public money is to be spent at the Cape of Good Hope, it would be better both for this country and for the colony that it should be spent on emigration. I believe that about 10/. a head is sufficient to defray the expense of sending emigrants to that colony. Now, the direct military expenditure by Great Britain on account of the colonies is at the rate of 60/. a year for each soldier in the colonies. Therefore, if we were to reduce our military force at the Cape by 1,500 men, and were to send there, in their stead, 9,000 emigrants a year, there would, in all probability, be a reduc- tion in our expenditure on account of that colony ; and the rapid increase of population would enable the colonists to guard their frontier effectually against the Kaffirs. 170 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. From the Cape of Good Hope I proceed to the Mauritius, which may likewise be looked upon, to a certain extent, as a commercial colony. The declared value of the exports to it of British produce was 285,000/. in 1844. The whole expenditure by Great Britain, in 1843-44, on account of this colony was 92,000/. ; I should think that it costs somewhat more at present, for we have about 2,000 troops at the Mauritius, and we are going to improve the defences of the island, at the estimated cost of 150,000/. Where is the necessity for keeping this amount of military force at the Mauritius ? Is it in order to keep down the planters ? It is true they are discontented and overburdened by taxa- tion ; but the best plan would be to bestow upon them free institutions, and to give them complete control over their expenditure ; then a thousand men (which was about the amount of the military force in that colony in 1826) would be an ample garrison. From the Mauritius I should proceed to Hong Kong ; but first I will stop for a moment at Ceylon. As Ceylon is neither a military vStation nor a colony properly so called, but is a subjugated territory of the same kind as our possessions in India, it appears to me that it would be better governed by the East India Company than by the Colonial Office, in which case we should have nothing to pay for the troops in that island. In 1843-44 the military expenditure by Great Britain amounted to 110,000/., in addition to a military expenditure by the colony of nearly 70,000/. At present the military force in Ceylon consists of 4,000 troops, including colonial corps. Now, 110,000/. a year is a heavy price to 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE, 171 pay for a colony the declared value of our exports to which did not exceed 240,000/. in 1844; it is true, however, that the import trade from Ceylon, especially of coffee, is rapidly increasing in value. I now arrive at Hong Kong. From May i, 1841, when we took possession of that island, up to September 30, 1846, we have expended upon it 314,000/., exclusive of the sums derived from the local revenue. I find in the navy, ordnance, commissariat, and miscellaneous esti- mates for this year that Hong Kong appears under sixteen different heads, for sums amounting in all to 94,514/. ; to which must be added the expense of paying, clothing, etc., of 1,200 troops, which must amount to at least 40,000/. a year. Therefore Hong Kong bids fair to be a costly colony, as, indeed, it ought to be, when the salary of the Governor is 6,000/. a year. I should likewise observe, that to the account of Hong Kong should be added a portion of the expense of the fleet in the Chinese and Indian seas, which consists at present of about twenty-five ships, with a complement of about 4,500 men, and which must cost at least 450,000/. a year. Therefore the total direct expen- diture by Great Britain in the Chinese and Indian seas cannot be less than 600,000/. a year. As the East India Company has a fieet of its own to defend its own possessions, the greater portion of this expenditure is on account of the trade with China, which, on the average of the last four years, did not exceed 2,000,000/. a year in British produce and manufactures. Next, I have to inform the House that Labuan appears this year for the first time in our estimates, lya SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. as yet only in the miscellaneous estimates, for the sum of 9,827/., 2,000/. of which is the salary of his Excellency the Rajah Brooke, of Sarawak, to whose dominions in Borneo we have this year appointed a Consul at the salary of 500/. a year. Now, as m these matters the first step is all the difficulty, we may expect in a year or two to see Labuan, Sarawak, and perhaps in their train some half-dozen other Bornean principalities, holding conspicuous places in the army, navy, ordnance, as well as miscellaneous estimates. Then we shall build barracks and forti- fications, and garrison them with a few troops. The troops will create a demand for a small quan- tity of British produce and manufactures. To protect the trade thus arising, a ship or two of war will be stationed in the neighbourhood. Thus, in proportion to the increase of the public expenditure will be the increase of the traffic, till at length we shall be informed that the British merchant is carrying a flourishing commerce with these settle- ments, at the usual cost to the nation often shillings in every pound sterling of her exports. This is the most approved Colonial Office fashion of colonising and creating a colonial trade, very different from the old English mode. I will now conclude the catalogue of the military stations with the Falkland Islands. On that dreary, desolate, and windy spot, where neither corn nor trees can grow, long wisely abandoned by us, we have, since 1841, expended upwards of 35,000/.; we have a civil establishment there at the cost of 5,000/. a year ; a Governor who has erected barracks and other *' necessary" buildings, well loop-holed:] for musketry: and being hard up for cash he issued 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 173 a paper currency, not, however, with the approbation of the Colonial Office. Thus it appears that our twelve military stations and Ceylon contain about 22,000 troops ; and that portion of their civil and military expenditure which is defrayed by Great Britain amounts to at least 1,300,000/. a year, exclusive of extraordinary expen- diture for Kaffir wars, etc., which, on the average of the last ten years, may be put down at much more than 100,000/. a year. To these sums must be added a portion of the cost of the four large fleets which are stationed at or in the vicinity of the military stations, namely, on the Mediterranean, the African, the Cape, and the Chinese stations. These fleets consist at present of ninety-three ships, with a complement of 18,000 men, and must cost a million and a half a year for wages and victuals of crews, and wear and tear of vessels. What I propose to the House is this: to withdraw our military protection from the Ionian States ; to dispense with our stations and fleet on the west coast of Africa ; to reduce our establishments at the Cape and the Mauritius, and to bestow upon those colonies free institutions ; to transfer Ceylon to the East India Company ; to keep a sharp watch over the expenditure for Hong Kong, Labuan, and Sarawak ; and to acknowledge the claim of Buenos Ayres to the Falkland Islands. Then 10,000 men, instead of 22,000, would be sufficient to garrison the military stations in the following manner: 6,000 for Malta and Gibraltar; 4,000 for Ber- muda, the Cape, the Mauritius, and Hong Kong. If this were done, there would be a reduction in military and naval expenditure to the amount of 174 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. at least a million a year for the military stations alone. I now come to the colonies, properly so called, which have been planted in North America, the West Indies, and Australasia. For what purposes, I ask, were colonies originally planted by England ? What benefit does this country derive from her dominion over her colonies ? Our ancestors would have answered these questions in the following manner. They would have told us how a little more than two centuries ago some of the inhabitants of this island, being uneasy at home, had migrated to America ; they were prudent and energetic men, of the true Anglo-Saxon breed, which is best fitted to wage war with the savage and the forest ; and being left alone, they flourished ; and in the course of a few years, without costing one farthing to this country, they became a numerous and a thriving people. Then the shopkeepers and other traders of England wished to secure their custom, and, according to the notions of the day, they petitioned Parliament that the colonists should be confined to the English shop ; first, for buying all the goods they wanted in Europe ; secondly, for selling all such parts of their colonial produce as the English traders might find it convenient to buy. Parliament acceded to this request. Thence the old system of colonial monopoly, which was the sole end and aim of the dominion which England assumed over her colonies. To maintain that monopoly and that dominion, vast sums were expended, costly wars were waged, and huge military and naval establish- ments were kept up ; but it was always supposed that the expense thus incurred was repaid by the 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE, 175 benefits derived from the monopoly of the colonial trade. I will not attempt to strike the balance of past profit or loss. It is evident, however, that with the abandonment of colonial monopoly, the arguments in favour of colonial dominion, which were derived from that monopoly, must likewise be abandoned. Now to monopoly free trade has succeeded, and the last relic of the colonial system, in the shape of the navigation laws, is about to perish. Our colonies are free to trade with whom they will, and in what manner they will. There- fore they will only trade with us when they can do so more profitably with us than with other countries. Therefore, as far as trade is concerned, the colonies have become virtually independent states, except that they may not enact laws to restrain their inhabitants from buying from us, or selHng to us, if it be for their interest so to do. It is evident, however, that if the colonies were independent states they never would be so foolish as to prevent their inhabitants from selling to us ; but it may be said that they might be so foolish as to prevent their inhabitants from buying from us. If this be all the mischief which, as far as trade is concerned, is to be appre- hended from the colonies becoming independent states, then it follows that all the benefit which, as far as trade is concerned, we derive from the sums which we expend on colonial dominion, consists in the power which we thereby possess of averting the possibility of the colonies enacting hostile tariffs against our produce and manufactures. The amount of this benefit must evidently depend upon the value of our export trade to the colonies. Now, the declared value of the export of British produce 176 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. and manufactures to the North American, West Indian, and Australasian colonies for the year 1844 (the last complete return) was about 6,000,000/. ; the direct expenditure by Great Britain, on account of those colonies, cannot be less than two millions sterling a year. I ask, is it worth our while -to spend a couple of millions a year to guard against the possibility of a diminution in an export trade of 6,000,000/. a year ? I put this question to any mer- cantile man : Would it be worth his while to pay 6s. Sd. in the pound, on the value of his goods, to secure that those goods shall freely compete with the goods of other nations in the markets of the North American, West Indian, and Australasian colonies ? And if it be not worth his while, is it worth our while to pay it for him ? This is undoubtedly a great and marvellous empire, in many respects unparalleled in history, but in no respect more marvellous than with reference to its colonies. Every other nation has attempted, in some shape or form, to draw tribute from its colonies ; but England, on the contrary, has paid tribute to her colonies. She has created and main- tained, at an enormous expense, an extensive colonial empire for the sole purpose of buying customers for her shopkeepers. This (as Adam Smith has justly observed) was the project, not of a nation of shopkeepers, but of a Government influenced by shopkeepers. It may be said that I have omitted to consider the value of the import trade from the colonies, which is equal to the value of the export trade ; but no one fears that the colonies would, if they became independent states, refuse to sell to us ; they would only be too happy 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 177 SO to do. We do not, therefore, require colonial dominion in order to buy from them ; and, in fact, we do not really require colonial dominion even to sell to them ; for if we buy from them, it would be for their interest to receive payment in our produce and manufactures, if cheaper than those of other countries, and that interest would in the long run prevail. It does appear to me, therefore, to be a manifest absurdity to spend vast sums of money on colonial dominion, for the purpose of securing free trade with the colonies. I now ask, is this large colonial expenditure by Great Britain necessary in order to maintain the connection between Great Britain and her colonies, which shall secure free trade between them, and the other benefits which I do believe Great Britain may derive from her colonies ? I must be permitted to consider these questions separately with regard to each of the three great divisions of the colonies. In the North American colonies the military force amounts to about g,ooo men. The military expenditure by Great Britain for the year 1843-44 was 698,000/. The civil expenditure by Great Britain for the same year was 34,000/. ; this sum included an annual charge of about 12,000/. for the North American clerg)% and of about 15,000/. for the Indian Department. The whole direct expendi- ture by Great Britain for that year was returned to Parliament at 736,691/. To this sum must be added a portion of the expense of the packet service, which costs 145,000/. a year; and a portion of the expense of the fleet on the North American and West Indian station, which, on the average of the last ten years, must have cost 300,000/. a year. When it is M. N T78 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. remembered that, in addition to these sums, ParHa- ment specially granted, in the interval between 1838 and 1843, 2,096,046/. on account of the invsur- rection in Canada; in 1846, 50,000/. to sufferers by fire at Quebec and St. John's ; and in other years, smaller sums on account of the Rideau Canal, canal communication in Canada, Militia and Volunteers in Canada, etc., etc., which in the interval between 1835 and 1847, amounted to 193,174/., it follows that the North American colonies have cost Great Britain at the rate of at least a million sterling a year during the last ten years, and at present they must cost at least 800,000/. a year. Now, on the average of the five years ending with 1844, the declared value of British produce and manufactures exported to the North American colonies was 2,600,000/. a year. Is it worth our while to pay 800,000/. a year, that is, 30 per cent, on these exports, to guard against the possibility of some diminution in that trade ? For what purpose do we keep 9,000 troops in North America ? Is it to pro- tect the colonists against the United States ? But if they are loyal at heart they are strong enough to protect themselves ; if they are disloyal, twice 9,000 men will not keep them down. But suppose they were to separate from us, and to form indepen- dent states, or even to join the United States, would they not become more profitable as colonies than they are at present ? The United States of America are, in the strict signification of the word, still colonies of Great Britain, as Carthage was a colony of Tyre, and the cities of Ionia and Sicily were colonies of Greece ; for the word colony does not necessarily imply dependency, but merely a I 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 179 community composed of persons who have removed from one country and settled in another, for the pur- pose of cultivating it. Now, our colonies (as I will term them) of the United States are in every point of view more useful to us than all our other colonies put together. In 1844 we exported to the United States produce and manufactures to the value of 8,000,000/., an amount equal to the whole of our real export trade to all our colonial dominions, which we govern at a cost of 4,000,000/. a year ; while the United States cost us for consular and diplomatic services not more than 15,000/. a year, and not one ship of war is required to protect our trade with the United States ; in fact, a British ship of war is very rarely seen off the coasts of the United States. Again, more emigrants go directly from this country to the United States than to all our other colonies put together. In the last ten years, according to the returns of the Emigration Com- missioners, 1,042,000 emigrants left this country, of which number 552,000 went directly to the United States ; how many went indirectly through Canada I cannot undertake to say. Last year 251,000 persons emigrated from Great Britain to North America, 142,000 of whom went directly to the United States, the remaining 109,000 to the colonies. At present it is considered that colonies are chiefly useful as affording markets for our pro- duce and outlets for our population. It is evident that in both these respects independent colonies are as useful as dependent ones. I do not, how- ever, propose to abandon the North American colonies ; but if we are compelled to choose between the alternative of the continuation of the present N a i8o SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. vast expenditure and that of abandoning these colonies, it is evident that the latter alternative would be the more profitable one from an economical point of view. But I maintain that if we govern our North American colonies as we ought to govern them, follow out rigorously the principle of responsible government, and leave them to manage their own affairs, uncontrolled by the Colonial Office, we may with safety diminish our military force and expenditure, and they will willingly continue to be our fellow-subjects. In the West Indies the military force amounts to about 6,000 men. In the year 1843-44 the military expenditure was 513,386/. ; the civil expen- diture was 74,462/. This civil expenditure consists of an annual charge of 20,300/. for ecclesiastical establishments ; of about 18,000/. for the salaries of governors ; and of about 35,000/. for the salaries of stipendiary magistrates. The total amount of the direct expenditure incurred by Great Britain on account of these colonies for 1843-44, has been returned at 593,834/., or within a trifle of what it was in 1835-36. But in order to form a fair estimate of the whole cost of these colonies, we should add to this direct expenditure a portion of the expense of the fleet on the North American and West Indian station, which fleet, as I have already stated, must cost the country at least 300,000/. a year ; a portion likewise of the expense of the packet service to and from the West Indies, which is contracted for at 240,000/. a year ; likewise something on account of the risk of the non-repayment of loans, such as 50,000/. this year on account of the hurricane in 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 181 Tobago; 166,000/. which the Colonial Office, somewhat usurping the ordinary functions of Parliament, promised without consulting Parlia- ment to British Guiana and Trinidad in February last ; and the 500,000/. with which the noble lord the member for the City of London has vainly hoped to appease the West Indian interest. How much of these loans will ever be repaid ? And we must likewise add the cost of landing captured negroes free of charge in the West Indies ; I have already mentioned the cost of capturing them. I am afraid, therefore, that our West Indian colonies will in future cost this country directly much more than 700,000/. a year, which is just one-fourth of the declared value of our annual exports to these colonies, on the average of five years ending 1844. And that export trade is decreasing, and will decrease ; for there can be no doubt that the value of West Indian property has greatly diminished. I will not trespass on the patience of the House by making any observations on the state of the West Indies, as that subject was so fully discussed a short time ago. I will merely remark that some West Indian proprietors have said that we must either restore the value of their property by pro- tecting their sugar or they will throw off our dominion. Now, if we must choose between these alternatives, there can be little doubt which would be the cheaper. For if we were to abandon those colonies there would be a direct saving of 700,000/. a year, and no protecting duty on sugar. In fact, if we were to make them a present of ten millions sterling, on condition of their becoming inde- pendent States, we should be gainers thereby to the i82 SPEECHES OF SIR \V. MOLESWORTH. amount of at least 350,000/. a year. Though I utterly disbelieve that the West Indian colonies can ever be of the slightest value to this country as colonies, for their climate is quite unsuited to our race, and they will, in all probability, become negro islands, like Haiti ; though they have been the most costly, the most worthless, and the worst managed of our colonies — a perpetual drain on the pockets of the people of England — ^yet I do not propose to abandon them, except at the express wish of the colonists. I should merely propose to reduce our military force to half its present amount, and to effect a saving of about 300,000/. a year. In the Australian colonies, including New Zealand, the number of troops must at present be about 5,000 men ; and the military expenditure by Great Britain must amount to about 270,000/. a year. The civil expenditure by Great Britain for this year, according to the miscellaneous estimates, will be about 30,000/. Therefore, the direct expen- diture by Great Britain on account of these colonies must amount to at least 300,000/. a year, exclusive of such items as 15,402/. for the abandonment of Lord Stanley's colony of North Australia ; 214,936/. which we first lent, and then gave, in consequence of Colonel Gawler's extravagancies in South Aus- tralia ; and I know not how much for the follies of Captains Hobson and Fitzroy in New Zealand, who involved us in a war with the natives which is still going on. The bill has not yet been sent in. Will 500,000/. cover it ? I am afraid not ; for ., portions of three regiments are quartered in that |l colony ; and there are three or four ships of war, with a complement of about 800 men, 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 183 stationed off the coast ; • these ships must cost for wages, provisions, wear and tear, etc., about 80,000/. a year. Now, the declared value of our exports to the Australian colonies, on the average of the five years ending 1844, was only 1,000,000/. a year ; putting down our expenditure only at 300,000/. a year, that expenditure would amount to 30 per cent, on the value of our exports. Now it is certain that not one single soldier is required in Australia except to keep the convicts in order ; nor would one soldier have been required in New Zealand had it not been for the preposterous mis- management of that colony by the Colonial Office. Supposing, however, that 2,000 men were required for the convict service in Van Diemen's Land, and 1,000 men for New Zealand, the military force in the Australian colonies might be reduced to 3,000 men. Thus it appears that the military force in the North American, West Indian, and Australian colonies amounts to about 20,000 men, and the direct expenditure by Great Britain, on account of these colonies, to about 2,000,000/. a year. I should propose to reduce that force to 10,000 men, whereof 4,000 men would be sufficient for North America, 3,000 for the West Indies, and 3,000 for Australia ; and then, in my opinion, less than 1,000,000/. a year would suffice to defray the ex- penses of those colonies to Great Britain. Therefore the whole reduction which I should propose at present to make in that portion of the colonial expenditure which is defrayed by Great Britain is 2,000,000/. a year. I should effect that saving partly by a reduction of 22,000 men in the i84 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. military force in the colonies ; partly by a reduction of the naval and civil expenditure on account of the colonies ; and partly by removing the causes which have led to Canadian rebellions, Kaffir and New Zealand wars, and the like. If this were accompHshed, still, however, the colonies would continue to cost the large sum of 2,000,000/. a year ; but I believe that a further reduction might ultimately be made on account of the com- mercial colonies ; indeed, they might cost us next to nothing if we gave them complete control over their own affairs, on condition that they should pay their own expenses. The military stations, however, must always be a source of great expense, and if we retain them we must be content to pay dearly for our whistle. Before I leave this subject I must call the attention of the House to a Treasury minute of June 10 last, in which my Lords of the Treasury complain of the delay in rendering, and especially in auditing, colonial accounts. My Lords instance those from Ceylon, the Mauritius, the Falkland Islands, Van Diemen's Land, and New South Wales ; and the commissariat accounts from China, the Cape of Good Hope, Van Diemen's Land, and New South Wales, to which I will add those from St. Lucia, South Australia, and Western Australia. My Lords state that these accounts are so much in arrear that they cannot admit the sufficiency of the reasons assigned for that delay. The delay has certainly been very extraordinary. I find that there are at present in the Audit Office the unaudited accounts of ten years from the Mauritius ; of eight years from the Cape of Good 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 185 Hope ; of six years from Ceylon ; and of four or five years from the other colonies to which I have referred. It is evident that with such delay it is impossible to exercise an effectual check over colonial expenditure. I shall now proceed to the consideration of that portion of the colonial expenditure of the British Empire which is defrayed by the colonies them- selves. A return has just been presented to the House of that expenditure for the last year in which it could be made up. In most instances it is for the year 1845. It is not materially different from the returns for previous years. I may, therefore, without any considerable inac- curacy, assume that it represents the ordinar^^ annual expenditure by the colonies, and especially for the year 1845. From that return it appears that the total expenditure by all the colonies (excepting Ceylon and the stations on the west coast of Africa, for reasons which I will presently state ; and likewise the Ionian Islands, from which there was no return), was about 3,350,000/. for the year 1845. The population of these colonies was about 3,400,000 ; therefore the annual ex- penditure was at the rate of 19s. 8^. per head of the population. The rate of expenditure, however, varies considerably in different colonies, according to the form of local government. It is greater or less, according as the colonists have less or more control over their own expenses. This is a most important fact, to which I wish to call the especial attention of the House. I have instituted a com- parison between the rate of expenditure of those colonies which have and those which have not i86 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. representative assemblies. From that comparison I have omitted Ceylon, because Ceylon is not a colony properly so called, but belongs to the class of our Indian possessions, and it is evident that a rate of expenditure which might be considered trifling for a population composed chiefly of Euro- peans might be excessive for a population of the Cingalese and Veddahs of Ceylon. I have like- wise omitted the colonies on the west coast of Africa ; for there is no account of their population on which any reliance can be placed ; and the Ionian Islands have also been omitted, because, as I have already said, their expenditure has not been returned to Parliament in the return in question. With these omissions, I find that the rate of expenditure of the colonies with represen- tative assemblies is less than one-half of the rate of the expenditure of the colonies without repre- sentative assemblies. The colonies with repre- sentative assemblies have a population of about 2,580,000, and their expenditure in 1846 was 1,930,000/., or at the rate of 145. iid. per head of their population. On the other hand, the population of the colonies without representative assemblies was about 820,000, and their expen- diture in 1845 was 1,420,000/., or at the rate of i/. 14s. a head of their population, or i8s. yd. a head more than in the colonies with repre- sentative assemblies. I am convinced that this great increase of the rate of expenditure in the Crown colonies is mainly to be attributed to the want of self-government ; for it is most apparent when the rate of expenditure in each class of colonies is examined and considered separately. 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 187 The rate of expenditure is the lowest in the North American colonies, where there is the greatest amount of self-government. In fact, since the last insurrection in Canada, and the establishment of the doctrine of responsible government, Canada has become, in most respects, an independent state, except as far as the civil list is concerned, and except that it is now and then subjected to some mischievous and foolish interference on the part of the Colonial Office. Now the expenditure of the North American colonies in 1845 was 1,134,000/., their population was 1,700,000; therefore the rate of expenditure was 135. 4^. per head of the popula- tion, or IS. yd. less than the average rate of the colonies with representative assemblies. But it should be remarked that of the 1,134,000/. expended in 1845 by the North American colonies, 500,000/. was an extraordinary expenditure by Canada, on account of new works and buildings, a large portion of which was defrayed by a loan. If a portion of this loan be omitted, as it ought to be, from the annual expenditure, then the rate of expenditure by the North American colonies for the year 1845 would have been nearly the same as it was for the year 1842, when it amounted to about 95. a head of the population. Though this rate of expenditure is low as compared to our other colonies, yet it is about 30 per cent, higher than that of the United States for similar purposes. The difference mainly arises from the high scale of salaries paid to the higher functionaries in the North American colonies. Generally speaking, those functionaries receive from three to four times the amount of the salaries of similar functionaries in the United States. For i88 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. instance, in the Canadas, with a population of 1,200,000, the governor is paid 7,000/. a year ; in the United States the President has only 5,000/. a year, and no governor has more than 1,200/. a year ; in the State of New York, with a population of 2,600,000, the governor only receives 800/. a year. Again, the chief justices of Upper and Lower Canada are paid 1,500/. a year each, while the Chancellor and chief justices of the State of New York receive only 800/. a year each. The puisne judges of Canada receive 1,000/. a year each; those of New York only 200/. a year each. The Governor of Nova Scotia is paid 3,500/. a year ; the Governors of New Brunswick and Newfoundland are paid 3,000/. a year each. In Massachusetts, with a population much larger than that of the three last colonies added together, the salary of the governor is only 500/. a year. In fact, the four North American colonies which I have just mentioned pay 2,500/. a year more for the salaries of their four governors than the thirty States of the Union do for their thirty governors. Now, in the colonies the salaries are fixed by the various civil lists. These civil lists, being removed for a series of years from the control of the representative assemblies, are perpetual causes of quarrelling and discontent ; and there is always a dispute going on between the Colonial Office and some colony or other on this subject, which frequently leads to the most unpleasant results. For instance, the dispute about the civil list of Canada was one of the causes which ultimately led to the insurrection in that colony; and at present the Colonial Office is involved in a civil list quarrel with British Guiana. 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 189 In all these quarrels the object of the Office is to keep up the pay of its functionaries, and the object of the colonist is a reduction of expenditure. There can be no doubt that the salaries of the higher functionaries in the colonies are excessive, as compared to the standard of the United States, which is the usual standard of comparison in the colonies. For the salaries of the governors of the thirty States of the Union amount in all to but 14,000/. a year ; therefore the average is 460/. a year for the salary of each governor. Now there are eighteen British colonies which pay for their own governors ; their salaries amount in all to 72,000/. a year ; therefore the average is 4,000/. a year for the salary of each of these governors — or nearly nine times the rate of pay in the United States. In fact, nine out of the eighteen governors in question receive as much as, or more than, the President of the United States. For instance, the Governors of Canada, the Mauritius, and Ceylon, receive 7,000/. a year each ; the Governor of Jamaica has 6,500/. a year ; and the Governors of Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Isles, the Cape of Good Hope, and New South Wales have 5,000/. a year each. I do not think this rate of pay is too high for noble lords and other gentlemen of rank and connection when they undertake the duties of governors of the colonies, but, if we are determined to employ such persons in the colonies, we ought to pay for them ourselves. On the other hand, if we insist upon the colonies paying their governors, it appears to me that, with the exception of the military stations, we should permit the colonies to elect their own governors and other functionaries, and to pay them igo SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. what salaries they think fit. Such was, in olden times, the convStitution of our colonies of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. And the honour and distinction attached to the office of governor would induce the best men in the colonies to serve for moderate salaries. If, however, the colonists were to choose, in any particular case, a person unfit to be a governor, they would be the sufferers ; they would have no one but themselves to blame ; but, as I will presently show, it would be difficult for them to make a worse choice than the Colonial Office generally makes. To return to the question of the comparative rates of expenditure in those colonies which have and those colonies which have not representative governments. In the West Indies the colonies with representative assemblies are Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands (with the exception of St. Lucia), and the Bahamas. Their population is about 700,000 ; their expenditure in 1845 was 450,000/., or at the rate of 125. lod. per head of their population ; the rate of Jamaica was 13s. Now compare this rate with that of the West Indian colonies without representative assemblies, namely, St. Lucia, Honduras, Trinidad, and British Guiana (the Combined Court of which cannot with any propriety be termed a representative assembly) ; their population is about igo,ooo ; their expendi- ture, exclusive of the cost of immigration, was 284,000/., or at the rate of i/. 95. a head, or more than twice as much as that of the West Indian colonies which have representative assemblies. The salaries of the higher functionaries in the West Indian colonies are all excessive, as compared 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 191 with the standard of the United States. Twelve governors and lieutenant-governors receive 29,000/. a year, 16,000/. of which are paid by the colonists to five governors. As I have already observed, the Colonial Office is involved in a civil list dispute with British Guiana. In consequence of the dis- tressed condition of that colony, at the close of last year the elective members of the Court of Policy proposed a reduction of 25 per cent, upon all salaries above 700 dollars a year. The Colonial Office refused to accede to this proposal ; and the governor carried the estimates for the year in the Court of Policy by the exercise of his double vote. The Combined Court then refused to vote the supplies for the period required by the governor. The Colonial Office has retaliated upon them for this conduct by stopping immigration to British Guiana, and by refusing the usual licences to carry liberated negroes from Sierra Leone to that colony. This unexpected proceeding has occasioned con- siderable inconvenience and loss to various ship- owners in this country, who complain that no reliance can be placed upon the Colonial Office with its perpetually shifting regulations. The Cape of Good Hope and the Mauritius have each of them about the same population, namely, 160,000, and being Crown colonies, their rate of expenditure is about the same as that of the Crown colonies of the West Indies, namely, i/. ys. a head ; they are grievously taxed, especially the Mauritius. As I have already said, the Governor of the Mauritius has 7,000/. a year, and the Governor of the Cape has as much as the President of the United States. iga SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. It may be said that the rate of expenditure is higher in the Crown colonies, because, generally speaking, those colonies are more thinly peopled than the colonies with representative assemblies. It is perfectly true, that everything else being the same, the rate of expenditure in a thinly-peopled territory will generally exceed that of a thickly- j peopled one. But the Crown colony of the Mauritius is four times as densely peopled as Jamaica, yet the rate of expenditure in Jamaica per head of the population is less than one-half what it is in the Mauritius. Again, the Crown colony of Malta is one of the most densely-peopled spots on the face of the earth, yet the rate of expenditure is 165. dd. a head of the population, or 20 per cent, more than that of the planta- tions in the West Indies ; or nearly double the ordinary rate of expenditure in the thinly-peopled North American colonies. Again, Malta is more than twice as thickly peopled as the Ionian States, but those States have a certain amount of self- government, and their rate of expenditure in 1840 (the last return which I have been able to get at) was 145. 2fd. a head, or 2S. ^d. a head less than that of Malta. Ceylon is the only apparent exception to the rule that the rate of expenditure of colonies governed by the Colonial Office is greater than that of the self-governed colonies. According to Sir Emerson Tennent the population of Ceylon in 1846 must have amounted to 1,500,000, and the expenditure in that year was 498,000/., or at the rate of 65. yd. a head of the population. It is true this rate of expenditure is lower than that of 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE, 193 any other colony, yet I believe it will be found to be extravagant when the nature of the popula- tion is considered. For it ought to be compared with that of the territories governed by the East India Company, which are inhabited by an analogous population, but are locally governed by men care- fully selected on account of their special aptitude. The population of those territories is said to be about 93,000,000, and the expenditure on the average of the five years ending 1844 was 20,000,000/. sterling, therefore at the rate of 4s. ^d, a head of the population, or one-third less than that of Ceylon. There can be no doubt that if Ceylon were transferred, as I propose, to the East India Company, it would be more economically governed than it is by the Colonial Office. Lastly, with regard to the Australian colonies. New South Wales is the only one which has a representative assembly of any kind. It commenced its existence in 1843, and immediately caused an extraordinary diminution in the expenditure. In 1 84 1 the free population of New South Wales amounted to about 102,000, and the ordinary expenditure, exclusive of immigration, was350,ooo/., or at the enormous rate of 3/. 4$. a head of the population. In 1843 the representative assembly at once diminished the expenditure for the subse- quent year by 60,000/. ; and in 1846, when the free population amounted to 178,000, the expenditure was only 254,000/., or at the rate of i/. 8s. a head of the population. This extraordinary reduction in the rate of expenditure may be attributed, to a certain extent, to immigration ; but the reduction in the positive amount of expenditure can be distinctly 194 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. traced to the commencement of local self-government in 1843. Compare the rate of expenditure of New South Wales with that of the neighbouring colony of Van Diemen's Land, which has in vain petitioned for a representative assembly. In 1842 the free popu- lation of that colony amounted to 37,000, and on the average of the four years ending with 1844 the expenditure, exclusive of immigration, was 161,000/., or at the enormous rate of 4/. 65. a head. This rate of expenditure was not very different from that of the kindred colony of New South Wales prior to the establishment of representative government ; but it was more than three times that of New South Wales after the establishment of represen- tative government. It must, however, be acknow- ledged that the difference in the rate of expenditure of the two colonies may be attributed in part, though certainly not altogether, to the abolition of transportation to New South Wales, and to its continuance in its worst form to Van Diemen's Land. The House may remember the appalling description which was given last year of the loath- some moral state of the convict population of that colony and its dependency, Norfolk Island ; of their hideous crimes ; of their frightful diseases ; and of their atrocious murders. It was shown that the unhappy state of that colony was brought about partly by the negligence of the then Secre- tary of State for the Colonies, Lord Stanley ; partly by the mismanagement of the then Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir Eardley-Wilmot ; and partly by the misconduct of the then Commandant of Norfolk Island, Major Childs. In consequence 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 195 of these horrid disclosures, it was announced last year to the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir W. Denison, that it was the intention of the Government that transportation should be discon- tinued altogether, and that announcement was received with great satisfaction in the colony. Unfortunately, it now appears that transportation is to be renewed to Van Diemen^s Land, though in a mitigated form. The colonists will be bitterly disappointed and exasperated when they receive this information. At present they are discontented, for to meet the vast expenditure of the colony taxes have been imposed which the judges have pronounced to be illegal ; and one of the judges so deciding has been amoved by the Governor, as the colonists believe, in consequence of his decision ; a belief which, from the statements made to the House by the honourable gentleman, the Under- Secretary of State for the Colonies, appears to be unfounded. The colonists, however, will have every reason to be dissatisfied with the renewal of transportation, which will mar their prospects, and make them for ever the plague-spot and reproach of Australasia. In the other Australian colonies which have not representative governments I am unable to state with accuracy the rate of expenditure per head of the population. In South Australia, at one time, it exceeded 10/. a head per annum ; and the colony became utterly bankrupt through the extravagance of its Governor, Colonel Gawler. We had to liquidate its debts, partly by a gift in 1842 to the amount of 214,936/., and by a loan of 85,000/. This loan will be repaid, because South Australia oa 196 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. is becoming rich, in consequence of the discovery of mines. With regard to these mines, it is said that the Colonial Office has created great dissatis- faction in this colony by reserving a royalty of one- fifteenth of their gross produce. The House is probably not aware that almost every year the Colonial Office makes some change in the manage- ment of the waste lands of the Australian colonies, which affects to a greater or less extent the value of all landed property in those colonies. For instance, with reference to minerals. Originally all minerals were reserved to the Crown, and only the surface of the soil was conveyed to the purchaser. In one instance, however, Lord Bathurst, when Secretary of State for the Colonies, gave all the coal in New South Wales to one company. In consequence of these reser- vations, no one had any interest in searching for or in discovering mines, therefore no mines were discovered, or, if discovered, they were carefully concealed. When, however, the noble lord the member for the City of London became Secretary of State for the Colonies he, with his usual good sense, at once perceived the impolicy of such reservations, and under his rule all minerals were, conveyed to the purchaser of the soil. The mines] were discovered, especially in South Australia ; an( then, to the astonishment of most persons, th( Colonial Office determined upon reserving a royalt] upon all future mines. The consequence is, that the previously-discovered mines, which are nearei the coast, and therefore can be worked with lesj expense, will have to pay nothing, whiLst th( subsequently-discovered mines, which are furthei 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 197 from the coast, and therefore more expensive to work, will have to pay a royalty of 6| per cent, on their gross produce. Such a measure is bad on economical grounds, and bad also in policy. For sound policy requires that this country should interfere as little as possible in the internal affairs of its colonies, and, above all, as little as possible with their pockets. The policy of the noble lord (the member for the City of London) was the right and statesmanlike one ; sell your land to the colonists and have done with it. Seigneuries and royalties are relics of feudalism, wholly unsuited to colonies. Their establishment is another instance of the utter ignorance of men and things which the Colonial Office generally displays in its adminis- tration of the colonies ; and, to crown the absurdity, the Emigration Commissioners report that these royalties are, at present, not worth collecting in South Australia. Swan River, alias Western Australia, has a delicious climate, much good land, plenty of coal, and is well situated for commerce ; it might have proved a flourishing colony by this time, but it was over-laid at its birth by the Colonial Ofiice. Its expenditure exceeds its income, and we have to pay 7,000/. or 8,000/. a year for its civil government. Lastly, New Zealand. I do not know the rate of expenditure per head of the population in that colony. Its expenditure, however, far exceeds its income. We annually vote between 20,000/. and 30,000/. a year for its civil government, exclusive of the bill which we shall have to pay for Maori wars. In the course of the last two years we have voted that 236,000/. shall be lent to 1 98 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH, the New Zealand Company, which I hope will be repaid some day or other. In that colony, what with imbecile governors in the beginning, what with constitutions proclaimed and suspended, what with quarrels with the natives, what with mission- aries and land sharks, there has been a state of the most extraordinary confusion; yet, I believe, through the indomitable energy of our race. New Zealand will ultimately become a flourishing colony, the Britain of the Southern Seas. The House may remember that in 1846 the Colonial Office imagined a nondescript constitution for New Zealand, and sent it off post haste to that colony. It was to divide New Zealand into two provinces. New Ulster and New Munster. Each was to have a representative assembly. When the constitution arrived Governor Grey refused to bestow it on New Ulster, on the grounds that it would enable the British population to legislate for and tax the i^ natives. Therefore Governor Grey suspended the constitution of New Ulster till he could receive further instructions ; but he expressed his opinions in very strong terms that the inhabitants of New Munster were fit for a constitution. When this intelligence reached the Colonial Office Lord Grey immediately proposed to Parliament a Bill (which was passed about three or four months ago) to suspend the constitution of both provinces. Now I infer, from late accounts from the colonies, that New Munster has obtained its constitution ; and perhaps its representatives will be assembled, and will be hard at work legislating, when orders will arrive from England to suspend their constitution and to dismiss them with ignominy. A curious 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 199 farce is the history of the management of this colony by the Colonial Office. This same nonde- script New Zealand constitution was sent by the Colonial Office to New South Wales for the colonists to inspect, and to see how they would like a similar one. They have rejected it with scorn and contempt. I am afraid, sir, that the present Secretary of State for the Colonies, notwith- standing his very great abilities, will not be renowned in future history as either the Solon or Lycurgus of Australia. I think I have sufficiently established my position that, in every portion of the globe, the British colonies are more economically and better governed in proportion as they are self-governed. In North America the various States of the Union govern themselves 25 per cent, cheaper than the Canadas do, which are to a certain extent under the control of the Colonial Office. In the West Indies the Crown colonies, which are governed by the Colonial Office, are twice as heavily taxed as the plantations ; and in Australia, and in the Mediterranean, the same rule holds good. These facts justify the conclusion at which I now arrive, that the greater the amount of local self-govern- ment, and the less the Colonial Office interferes in the internal affairs of the colonies, the more economically and the better the colonies will be governed. In the course of the last ten years petitions, complaining of Colonial Office govern- ment, and praying for representative government, have been presented from the Cape of Good Hope, New South Wales, Van Diemen*s Land, Western Australia, South Australia, New Zealand, British aoo SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Guiana, Trinidad, St. Lucia, and Malta. The prayer of only one of these petitions has been acceded to. New South Wales has obtained a mongrel form of representative government, which must soon be amended, though not in the fashion proposed by the Colonial Office. All the other petitions have been rejected. Now I do not assert that each of these colonies would derive the same amount of benefit from free institutions ; but I am prepared to maintain that with representative government every one of them, not excepting the Mauritius, would have been more economically and better governed than they have been or are governed by the Colonial Office. In saying this I do not mean to speak with dis- respect either of past or present Secretaries of State for the Colonies ; but there is no essential difference between them ; the system is throughout the same, whoever may be the nominal chief. Of that system, however, I do intend to speak with disrespect ; and I can quote in justification of my so doing some high authorities on this side of the House, who have carefully studied the subject. I mean my honourable friend the member for Liskeard,^ the hon. gentleman the member for Sheffield,^ and the noble earl at the head of the Colonial Office,^ before he became Secretary of State for the Colonies. As long as that system exists the majority of the colonies must be ill- governed, and their inhabitants discontented ; for the Colonial Office undertakes to perform an impossible task. It undertakes the administration, civil, military, financial, judicial, and ecclesiastical 1 Mr. C. Buller. 2 Mr. T. Ward. ^ Lord Grey. 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. aoi of some forty different communities, with various institutions, languages, laws, customs, wants, and interests. It undertakes to legislate more or less for all these colonies, and altogether for those which have no representative assemblies. It would be difficult enough to discharge all these functions in a single office, if all the colonies were close together and close to England, but they are scattered over the surface of the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic pole. To movst of them several months must elapse, to some of them a whole year must elapse, before an answer to a letter can be received, before a petition can be complied with, or a grievance redressed. Therefore, orders which are issued from the Colonial Office in accordance with the last advices from a colony are, in innumerable instances, wholly unsuited to the state of the colony when the orders arrive ; in some cases, questions which time has settled are reopened, forgotten disputes are revived, and the tardy interference of the Colonial Office is felt to be a curse even when a wrong is redressed. In other cases, the instructions of the Colonial Office are wisely disregarded by the governors, or rejected with derision by the colonial assemblies, who marvel at the crass ignorance of their transatlantic rulers. In addition to its other arduous functions, the Colonial Office is required to assist in the vain attempt to suppress the slave trade with Africa ; and it has likewise the difficult task of administering a secondary punishment in a penal colony at the Antipodes. Now, if it were possible for any mortal man to discharge the duties of such an office, it is evident that he ought to possess, not merely great 202 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. mental powers, but a long and intimate acquaint- ance with the affairs of the different colonies ; he should be brought up to the business, it should be the study of his life, and he should be appointed on account of his special aptitude to conduct such business. Is this the rule for selecting Secretaries of State for the Colonies ? Nothing of the kind. They are generally chosen haphazard from the chiefs of the two great political parties in this or the other House of Parliament ; and they retain their office, on the average, some eighteen months or so. During the last nine years there have been no less than six Colonial Secretaries — namely. Lord Glenelg, Lord Normanby, Lord John Russell, Lord Stanley, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord Grey ; all of them, I acknowledge, are men of great ability ; all of them, I believe, most anxious to use their abilities for the benefit of their country and of the colonies ; but I feel persuaded that one-third of them had little or no acquaintance with colonial affairs prior to their acceptance of office ; just, therefore, as they were beginning to learn the wants and interests of the more important colonies, and to acquire the first rudiments of colonial lore, they were succeeded by some other statesman, who had to commence his lessons as Secretary of State for the Colonies, and to try his hand in the despotic and irresponsible government of some score or so of dependent states. In fact, the colonial government of this country is an ever-changing, frequently well-intentioned, j but invariably weak and ignorant despotism. Its] policy varies incessantly, swayed about by opposite] influences ; at one time directed, perhaps, by the] 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 203 West India body, the next instant by the Anti- Slavery Society, then by Canadian merchants, or by a New Zealand company, or by a missionary society : it is everything by turns, and nothing long ; saint, protectionist, free-trader, in rapid succession ; one day it originates a project, the next day it abandons it, therefore all its schemes are abortions, and all its measures are unsuccessful ; witness the economical condition of the West Indies, the frontier relations of the Cape of Good Hope, the immoral state of Van Diemen's Land, and the pseudo-systematic colonisation and revoked consti- tution of New Zealand. Such a government might suit serfs and other barbarians ; but to men of our race, intelligent and energetic Englishmen, accustomed to freedom and to local self-government, it is one of the most hateful and odious governments that can well be imagined. It is difficult to express the deep- seated hatred and contempt which is felt for the Colonial Office by almost every dependency subject to its sway. If you doubt this fact, put the question to the West Indies and the Mauritius ; put the same question to Van Diemen's Land, to New South Wales, to New Zealand, and your other Australian colonies ; from all of them you will receive the same answer, and the same prayer to be freed from the control of the Colonial Office. Even the Canadas are not content, though they have responsible government ; and though, in most respects they are virtually independent of the Colonial Office, yet every now and then the Colonial Office contrives to produce irritation by stupid interference in some question of minor importance, 204 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. such as the regulations of a banking bill, or the amount of a petty salary. Though the colonies have ample reason to com- plain of the manner in which their affairs are administered by the Colonial Office in this country, they have still greater reason to complain of the governors and other functionaries who are sent by the Colonial Office to the colonies ; for, generally speaking, they are chosen, not on account of any special aptitude for, or knowledge of, the business they will have to perform, but for reasons foreign to the interest of the colonies. For, instance, poor relations, or needy dependents of men having political influence ; officers in the army or navy who have been unsuccessful in their professions ; briefless barristers ; electioneering agents ; im- portunate applicants for public employment, whose employment in this country public opinion would forbid ; and at times, even discreditable partisans whom it is expedient to get rid of in the colonies ; these are the materials out of which the Colonial Office has too frequently manufactured its governors and other functionaries. Therefore, in most cases they are signally unfit for the duties which they have to perform, and being wholly ignorant of the afl'airs of the colony to which they are appointed, they become the tools of one or other of the colonial factions ; whence perpetual jealousies and never- ending feuds. The governors, the judges, and the other high functionaries are generally on hostile terms. The governors amove the judges, the judges appeal to us for redress ; every year a petition or two of this kind comes under the con- sideration of Parliament. To settle such questions 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 305 the Colonial Office has just created a new tribunal,' composed of an ex-Indian judge and railway com- missioner,'^ and of an ex-permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies ;^ the one with little know- ledge of colonial affairs, the other famed for years as the real head of the colonial system, and there- fore reputed to be the evil genius of the colonies. It would be easy to cite instances which have occurred during the last ten years which would illustrate every one of these positions. I forbear, however, from mentioning names, as the facts are notorious to every one who has taken any interest in colonial affairs. It is no wonder that the colonies are discontented, and that they are badly and expensively governed. Is there any remedy for this state of things ? I have traced the evil to its source in the colonial system of the colonial office. Can that system be amended ? It appears to me that the Colonial Office as an instrument for governing the colonies must always be far inferior to any mode of self- government by the colonists. For it is evident that at least in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred the colonists, the men on the spot, must be better judges of their own interests than honourable gentlemen far away in Downing Street can possibly be. It is evident, likewise, that (though the empire at large has a deep interest in the good and economical government of the colonies ; though all of us here present are most sincerely desirous that * Lord Grey revived the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade and Plantations. • Sir E. Ryan. ' Sir J. Stephen. 2o6 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the colonies should be contented and happy), yet we have other things to do besides studying colonial affairs and looking after the Colonial Office. There- fore, the Colonial Office is virtually irresponsible ; it may play what pranks it pleases ; it is only when we have to pay for a Canadian insurrection, or a Kaffir war, that an outcry is raised, and the Colonial Office is called to account, and then there is not above a score of us who know anything about the subject, even after a laborious study of the docu- ments carefully prepared for the purpose by the Colonial Office. Remember, likewise, that implicit reliance cannot be placed on those documents. Some, for instance, are long didactic despatches, written for the sole purpose of being presented to Parliament, not intended to produce any specific results in the colonies ; but full of well-turned periods, containing lofty sentiments and apparently statesmanlike views, calculated to gain credit for the Office, and to satisfy the minds of honourable, ignorant, and confiding members, who soon after- wards forget all about the matter. Again, as a col- lection of materials for enabling the House to form a judgment with regard to colonial aff"airs, those documents are not to be trUvSted, for, generally speaking, they are tainted with partiality, and necessarily so ; because they are selected out of a vast mass, on account of their supposed import- ance. Of that importance the Colonial Office is the sole and irresponsible judge : it determines without appeal what shall be produced and what shall be suppressed. In so doing, it must obey; the unchanging laws of human nature, and attach greater importance to those documents which 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 207 confirm its views, and less importance to those which are adverse to its opinions. The former, therefore, obtain its special care, and are sure to be produced ; the latter are comparatively neglected, and liable to be forgotten and suppressed ; the result is in- evitable, namely, partial statements ; instances of human fallibility, affording incontestable proofs of the impossibility under which this House labours of forming a correct judgment with regard to colonial affairs. For similar reasons the Colonial Office labours under a similar difficulty, because the statements made to it by the colonial authorities must frequently be of a partial character, and at times wholly untrustworthy ; yet always months, and sometimes whole years, elapse before any explanation of those statements can be obtained. Therefore ignorance and irresponsibility are the characteristic defects of our present mode of governing the colonies. For these defects there is no remedy but local self-government. Hence I come to the conclusion that we should delegate to the colonies all powers of local legisla- tion and administration which are now possessed by the Colonial Office, with the reservation only of those powers the exercise of which would be abso- lutely inconsistent with the sovereignty of this country, or might be directly injurious to the interests of the whole empire. It appears to me that the powers that ought to be so reserved, are few in number, and could easily be defined. To determine them, it would be necessary merely to con- sider what are the benefits which this countrj' may derive from the colonies, and what is requisite to secure the continuous enjoyment of those benefits. 208 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Colonies are useful either as affording markets for our produce or outlets for our population. To prove their utility as markets, my honourable friend the member for Liskeard, in his most able and admirable speech in 1843, on systematic colonisa- tion, showed that the rate of consumption of British produce and manufactures, per head of the popula- tion, was very much greater in colonies than in other countries. Of the correctness of this position there can be no doubt. In 1844, Continental Europe, with a population of about 220,000,000 of inhabitants, did not consume more than 24,000,000/. worth of our produce and manufactures ; whilst our colonies (including the United States), with a population not exceeding 25,000,000, consumed 16,000,000/. worth of our goods. Therefore, while the rate of consumption of our goods did not exceed 2S. 2d. a head in Continental Europe, it amounted to 85. a head in the United States, and i/. 125. a head in our other colonies. It must, however, be admitted, that a considerable portion of our trade with our subject colonies consists of goods sent to defray the cost of our establishments there. Making, however, every fair deduction on that account, still it cannot be denied that they are excellent markets for our goods. It is very unfor- tunate, therefore, that they cost us so much as i6s. a head of their population for government and defence, as that sum must absorb the greatefj portion of, if not all, the profit of our trade witl those colonies. To show the utility of colonies as outlets for oui population, I may refer to the reports of th< Emigration Commissioners, from which it appears 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 209 that in the course of the last twenty years, 1,673,803 persons have emigrated from this country, of whom 825,564 went to the United States, 702,101 to the North American colonies, 127,188 to the Australian colonies, and 19,090 to other places. It would be interesting to know what has been the cost of this emigration, and how it has been defrayed. I cannot put it down at less than 20,000,000/. sterling, of which about 1,500,000/. were paid out of the proceeds of land sales in the Australian colonies. This emigration has varied considerably in amount from year to year ; from the minimum of 26,092 persons in 1828, to the maximum of 258,270 persons last year. If averages of five years be taken, it appears to have gone on steadily increasing in amount ; for on the average of the five years ending with 1832 it amounted to 60,000 persons a year; ending with 1837, ^^ 66,000 persons a year; ending with 1842, to 86,000 persons a year; and ending with 1847, *o 121,000 persons a year. Therefore, the habit of emigrating is confirmed, and becoming more powerful every day ; and therefore colonies are becoming more useful as outlets for our population. In this state of things free trade with the colonies, and free access to the colonies should, in my opinion, be the sole end and aim of the dominion which Great Britain still retains over her colonies. By keeping these two objects distinctly in view, by bestowing upon the colonies all powers of local legislation and administration which are not abso- lutely inconsistent with these objects and the sovereignty of this country, I believe that our colonial expenditure might be greatly diminished in 3IO SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH, amount, and that our colonial empire would flourish and become of incalculable utility to this country. I do not propose to abandon any portion of that empire, I only complain that it is so little use to us ; that it is a vast tract of fertile desert, which costs us 4,000,000/. sterHng a year, and yet only contains a million and a half of our race. Would it not be possible to people this desert with active and thriving Englishmen ? To cover it with com- munities composed of men with wants, habits, and feelings similar to our own, anxious to carry on with us a mutually beneficial trade ? In this country, every trade, every profession, and every branch of industry are overstocked ; in every quarter there is a fierce competition for employ- ment. On the contrary, in the colonies, there is an equally fierce competition for labour of every kind. Now, is there any mode of bridging over the oceans that intervene, so that our colonies may be to the United Kingdom what the backwoods are to the United States ? If such a plan could be devised, if it could be carried into execution, it might tend to solve the most difficult economical problems of England and of Ireland. To carry such a plan into execution, two things would be requisite. First, funds wherewith to convey the poorer classes to the colonies. How could such funds be obtained ? The hon. gentle- man the member for Sheffield, the hon. gentleman the member for Gateshead,^ and my hon. friend the member for Liskeard have, in their numerous and able speeches upon this subject, told us that sufficient funds could be obtained by the sale of Mr. W. Hutt. 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. an waste lands, according to the well-known plan of Mr. Wakefield. I hold the same opinion. I firmly believe that with continuous and systematic emigra- tion, sufficient funds could be so obtained. But I will suppose, for the sake of argument, that they must be obtained, for the present, from some other source. Now, I ask the House to consider, first, that we spend four millions sterling a year in the colonies on army, navy, ordnance, commissariat, Kaffir wars, Canadian rebellions, and the like ; secondly, that for half four millions (the sum which I propose to save by a reduction of colonial expen- diture) we might send annually to Australia 150,000 persons, and to Canada twice that number. I ask the House, at the expiration of ten or fifteen years, from which of these two modes of expending the public money would the nation derive the greater benefit ? Our army, navy, and ordnance cost us at present from six to seven millions sterling a year more than they did in 1835, when their force was ample for the defence of the empire. What have we to show in return for this enormous increase of expenditure ? A Canadian insurrection suppressed, a Kaffir war terminated, barren trophies in India, the gates of Somnauth, Hong Kong, Labuan, and the Falkland Islands. What should we have had to show for it had only a portion of it been expended on colonisation ? A third part of it (the two millions a year, which I affirm can be spared from our colonial expenditure) would have been sufficient in ten years to double or triple the British population of our colonial empire. For instance, that sum would in ten years have conveyed a million and a half of our fellow-citizens p 2 212 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. to Australasia ; where the cHmate is so peculiarly suited to our race, where abundance of food can easily be obtained ; there, flourishing and contented, they would have been anxious to purchase our produce and manufactures ; wealthy states, worthy of the British name, would have been generated, carrying on with us an enormous trade ; self- governed, they would have needed neither army nor navy to protect them, and would have gladly defrayed every local expense. That would have been a colonial empire to boast about ! Again, the same sum of two millions sterling a year would, in ten years, have conveyed to North America some three millions ; say, of Irishmen. With that sum I believe you might have created beyond the Atlantic a new and happy Ireland, so attractive to the Celtic race that they would have migrated in shoals from the old and unhappy Ireland, and thus, perhaps, have enabled you to solve that fearful problem, which neither gagging Bills, nor coercion Bills, nor alien Bills, nor even a repeal of the Union will ever solve. That indeed would have been a feat for a great statesman to accomplish, and would have covered his name with immortal renown ! I do grudge the four milHons a year which we squander upon our colonies, when I consider what might be done with half that sum for the benefit of this country, and of the colonies, by means of systematic colonisation. But to colonise beneficially it is necessary that the higher and richer, as well as the poorer classes, that the employers of labour as well as the em- ployed, that all classes of society should migrate together, forming new communities, analogous to 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 213 that of the parent state. On such principles alone have successful colonies been founded in ancient or modern times. On such principles the colonies of Greece and of New England were founded. For instance, from the overcrowded cities of Greece the colonivSts departed under the guidance of their foremost men ; they carried along with them the images of their heroes and their gods, whose common worship linked them for ever to their ancient home. Arrived at their destination, they formed states after the model of the parent city ; they flourished in wealth, excelled in all the arts of civilised life, extended the empire, and added to the renown of the Dorian or Ionian name. Not dissimilar in principle was the old English mode of colonising, except that our colonies, instead of commencing their existence as independent states, professed their allegiance to the mother country ; but their charters gave them all the essential powers of self-government, and complete control over their internal affairs. They flourished rapidly, were most loyal, and sincerely attached to our empire, till we drove them into just rebellion by our new colonial system. Very diff'erent from these successful modes of colonising has been that of the Colonial Office. It has been either a shovel- ling out of paupers or a transportation of criminals, whereby some of the fairest portions of the British dominions have been converted into pest-houses of pauperism, or sinks of iniquity, polluting the earth with unheard-of diseases and unmentionable crimes. No gentleman, no man of birth or education, who knows anything about the matter, would ever think of emigrating to a colony, to be under the control 314 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of the Colonial Office. But if the colonies were properly planted, and self-governed according to the old fashion, then our kinsmen and friends, instead of overstocking the liberal professions, instead of overcrowding the army and navy, where no career is open for them, would seek their fortunes in the colonies and prosper. For we are by nature a colonising people. The same destiny that led our forefathers from their homes in the farthest East still urges us onwards to occupy the un- inhabited regions of the West and the South ; and America, and Australia, and New Zealand anxiously expect our arrival to convert their wastes into happy abodes of the Anglo-Saxon race. In making these observations I wish merely to show that if vast sums of money are to be expended on the colonies they can be expended in a manner far more beneficial to the interests both of the colonies and of the rCvSt of the empire than they have been hitherto expended. I do not, however, intend to propose to the House any plan of systematic colonisation, or any grant of public money for that purpose. My only objects, at present, are reduction of useless expenditure and reform of bad colonial government, which are things good in themselves without reference to any ulterior measures. But I will presume to express my belief that there is a great and noble career open for any statesman who, possessing the power, shall with firm and vigorous determination, curtail that expenditure, reform that system of govern- ment, and, at the same time, promote systematic colonisation. In what manner colonial expenditure can be curtailed without detriment to the interests 1848.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 315 of the empire, in what manner the system of colonial government can be amended for the benefit of the colonies, I have attempted to show ; and in the hope that I have succeeded in proving that that expenditure ought to be curtailed, and that system of government ought to be amended, I take the liberty of moving the resolution : — ** That it is the opinion of this House that the colonial expenditure of the British Empire demands inquiry, with a view to its reduction; and that to accomplish this re- duction, and to secure greater contentment and prosperity to the colonists, they ought to be invested with large powers for the administration of their local affairs." And if the Government will accede to this motion I give notice that next Session I shall follow up this subject by moving for a committee of inquiry. ON A ROYAL COMMISSION TO INQUIRE INTO THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE COLONIES. June 26, 1849. [This motion was seconded by Mr. J. Hume, and sup- ported by Mr. Gladstone. It was opposed by Mr. Hawes and Mr. Labouchere, and on a division was defeated by a majority of 74 ; 89 voting in its favour, 163 against.] Sir, — Before I ask the House to consider the motion which I intend to make, I wish to present a petition which I received yesterday from WelHng- ton, in New Zealand. It is signed by a large portion of the adult population of that settlement. The petitioners state that their reasonable expecta- tions of obtaining representative institutions have been disappointed, that their Governor has estab- lished a form of government repugnant to their feelings, and inefficient for good government ; and they pray that Parliament will not sanction any measure which will delay the introduction of repre- sentative government into the southern settlements of New Zealand. I heartily support the prayer of i this petition : because I believe that the petitioners^ are in every way well qualified to enjoy representa-j tive institutions, and that with representative insti- tutions New Zealand would soon become one of thej greatest and most flourishing colonies of the British^ Empire. 1849] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 217 I now proceed to move that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying that her Majesty will be graciously pleased to appoint a commission to inquire into the administration of her Majesty's colonial possessions. I make this motion because I share in the belief, which now prevails, that our system of colonial government is in many respects faulty, and ill-suited to the present state of Great Britain and of the colonies. There- fore I maintain that it requires revision ; and for the purpose of revision I ask that a searching inquiry should be made into the colonial polity of the British Empire. With the permission of the House, I will state, as briefly as I can, what, in my opinion, should be the nature of the inquiry, and to what subjects it should be directed. But first, in order to satisfy the House that there ought to be an inquiry, I will endeavour to show what has produced the general conviction, that there are grave errors and defects in our colonial polity. What I mean by the term ** colonial polity of Great Britain " is of recent date, not more than three-quarters of a century old. For, when we began to colonise, the Government had little or nothing to do with it, and, strictly speaking, there was no colonial polity. Our first colonies were planted by adventurers, who left this country for various reasons : some in search of the precious metals ; others to escape from intolerance at home ; and others to enjoy intolerance abroad. They settled on the shores of America with the nominal sanction of the Crown. Fortunately for them, civil conflicts in England, and the weakness of the executive, left them for many years unmolested 2i8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. in full enjoyment of virtual independence. They flourished ; their numbers increased rapidly ; they became wealthy and powerful. Meanwhile, the executive in this country gradually acquired strength ; its attention was directed to the pros- perity of the colonies ; it attempted systematically to interfere in their government ; the colonies resisted ; some rebelled and became independent ; the remainder submitted ; and the present syvStem of colonial government was founded upon the ruins of our old colonial empire. By far the greater portion of our modern colonial empire is of recent acquisition ; all of it, with the exception of the plantations in the West Indies and two or three old colonies in North America, has been acquired within the last ninety years, most of it within the last fifty years ; for instance, the Canadas in 1759 ; Trinidad and other West Indian islands, Ceylon, and New South Wales, in the interval between 1763 and 1797 ; the rest of Australasia, New Zealand, the whole of South Africa, British Guiana, the Mauritius, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Heligoland, Hong Kong, and Labuan, are not (as the noble lord the Prime Minister once called them) precious inheritances from our noble ancestors, but have been added to the British dominions since the beginning of this century. These colonies have been acquired for various reasons. Some we con- quered because we grudged the possession of them to rival Powers, and fancied that the might of a nation was in proportion to the extent of its terri- tory ; others we held as outposts, on the plea of protecting our own trade, and injuring the trade of other countries ; and others we occupied as places 1849.1 ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 219 of punishment for our criminals. Thus our colonial empire consisted chiefly of conquered provinces, garrison towns, and gaols. Their government was entrusted to a central authority in England. The invariable tendency of such an authority is to grasp as much power as possible, and to resist every measure which seems likely either directly or indirectly to diminish that power. In conformity with these tendencies the colonial polity of Great Britain was framed ; and the Colonial Office laid claim to omnipotence and infallibility in all matters concerning the colonies. That claim was long recognised in this country, and scarcely disputed in the colonies. But of late years it has been con- tested not so much within as without the walls of this House ; and every colony has repeatedly and energetically protested against it ; and now the conviction is daily gaining ground throughout the empire that our colonial system is not well suited either to the State of Great Britain or of the colonies. The conviction that our colonial polity is faulty has acquired strength in this country in proportion as public opinion has been more and more directed to colonial questions, and of late years greater attention has been paid to those questions for various reasons. First, because within the last quarter of a century Great Britain has begun again to colonise, and on a much greater scale than ever before. For, during that period, at least 2,000,000 of persons have migrated from this country ; half of them have gone directly to our independent colonies of the United States ; the other half to our dependent colonies, whence a large portion of them have 220 SPEECHES OF SIR IV. MOLESWORTH. re-emigrated to the United States. This great emigration, though chiefly directed to our inde- pendent colonies, has made the subjects of coloni- sation and colonial government matters of deep and increasing interest to a large portion of the communit}^ especially to the humbler and middle classes : for there is scarcely one amongst them who has not some acquaintance, friend, or relation in one of the colonies or about to emigrate ; and also many of the aristocracy and gentry have friends or kinsmen residing in the colonies as governors, or in other situations of trust and profit. In consequence of this great emigration, the rela- tions between Great Britain and her dependencies have been profoundly changed ; and there ought to have been a corresponding change in her colonial polity, which was framed without reference to any emigration except that of convicts. Secondly, public attention has been very much directed of late years to colonial quCvStions by the writings of distinguished men, who have carefully investigated the economy of new societies, examined into the principles of colonial government, and attentively studied the subjects of colonisation and emigration, with the view of relieving the economical difficulties of the United Kingdom and of planting the uninhabited portions of the globe with com- munities worthy of the English name. Of these writers Mr. Wakefield is the most eminent ; by his writings he produced a profound impreSvSion on the minds of some of the ablest men of our day, as, for instance, John Mill, Grote, and others ; and there are few persons in this country, who have paid much attention to colonial questions, who will 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 221 not readily acknowledge, even when they do not adopt all Mr. Wakefield's conclusions, that they are deeply indebted to that gentleman for a con- siderable portion of their most valuable knowledge of matters relating to the colonies. Thirdly, public attention has been much directed of late years to colonial questions in consequence of the discussions which have taken place with regard to free trade and the navigation laws, and which have led to a great change in our commercial polity. For most of the statesmen of this country have maintained that there is an intimate connection between the colonial and commercial polities of Great Britain. They have generally defended the acquisition of new colonies, on the plea that such foreign possessions afforded markets for the exclusive benefit of our manufacturers, and pro- duced a trade for the exclusive profit of our merchants and shipowners ; and they persuaded the nation that, in return for these privileges, it was worth our while to pay vast sums of money for protecting and governing the colonies. These privileges being abolished, the question seems very naturally to arise, Why are we to continue to pay for them ? The colonies are free to trade with whom they will, and in what manner they will. Therefore they will only trade with us and employ our shipping when it is most profitable for them to do so. Therefore, as far as trade is concerned, they are become virtually independent states. And this revolution in our commercial polity has directed public attention to the question whether there ought not to be a corresponding change in our colonial polity. 222 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Fourthly, the attention of ParHament and of the country has of late years been constantly occupied with colonial questions, in consequence of a series of remarkable events in the colonies, which have annually occasioned heavy demands to be made on the public purse. In the course of the last fifteen years the colonies have directly cost Great Britain at least 60,000,000/. in the shape of military, naval, civil, and extraordinary expenditure, exclusive of the 20,000,000/. which were paid for the abolition of slavery. Therefore, the total direct cost of the colonies has been at least 80,000,000/. in the last fifteen years. Now, if honourable members would merely take the trouble of recalling to their minds the chief events which were taking place in the colonies whilst this money was being expended they must at once admit, that the result of the expendi- ture has been far from satisfactory, either to the United Kingdom or to the colonies ; and I think that they will likewise admit that there must be something essentially faulty in a polity which, at such an enormous cost, produces the results which I will briefly enumerate to the House. In the first place, in our North American depen- dencies, within the last fifteen years, there has been a conflict of races, ending in civil war ; two rebellions — one in Upper Canada, one in Lower Canada — suppressed at a great cost to this country ; various constitutions destroyed or suspended ; two hostile provinces united by means of intrigue and corruption ; and now, it is said, I hope most untruly, that the war of races is about to be renewed ; if this should happen, and should lead to civil strife and rebellion, and if Great Britain 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 223 should, unhappily, attempt to suppress it by force of arms, that attempt, if successful, will cost many millions more than the former rebellion ; for the rebels will be not the poor, ignorant inhabitants of Canada, but the fierce and energetic Anglo-Saxon population. Secondly, in the West Indies, within the last fifteen years, a proposal to lend fifteen millions was converted into a gift of twenty, millions, and followed by the universal ruin of the planters ; in one colony, Jamaica, the constitution was pro- posed to be suspended ; in another colony, British Guiana, the supplies were stopped ; and now again in British Guiana, and also in Jamaica, the supplies are stopped ; in Santa Lucia there are insurrectionary riots ; and in all the other sugar plantations there is discontent bordering on despair. Thirdly, in South Africa, within the last fifteen years, perpetual border feuds with rapacious and warlike savages, whom the Colonial Office, with characteristic ignorance, one time mistook for peaceful and harmless shepherds ; with these savages two fierce wars, with lavish expenditure, enormous peculation, and no accountability ; three rebellions of the Boers, ever striving in vain to escape from our hated tyranny, and preferring to dwell amidst wild beasts and wilder men, to the detested dominion of the Colonial Office ; and, finally, the acquisition of a huge, worthless, and costly empire, extending over nearly 300,000 square miles, chiefly rugged mountains, arid deserts, and barren plains, without water, without herbage, without navigable rivers, without harbours — in 224 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. short, without everything except the elements of great and increasing expense to this country. Fourthly, in Ceylon, abuse of patronage, official ineptitude and excessive expenditure ; ignorance on the part of the Colonial Office augmenting financial embarrassment, and leading to inju- dicious taxes ; riots and martial law ; military executions and punishments disgraceful to the British name. Fifthly, in Australasia, communities, the offspring of convict emigration, more hideously vicious than any recorded in sacred or profane history ; that convict emigration one day abolished, to the joy of the colonists of Tasmania, the next day renewed, to their horror and amazement. Sixthly, in New Zealand, imbecile governors, discreditable functionaries, and unnecessary wars with the natives ; unfortunately successful efforts to mar the fairest scheme of colonisation, and to dis- appoint the hopes of the choicest emigrants ; and, finally, a constitution proclaimed one day and suspended the next. Seventhly, on the north-west coast of America, Vancouver's Island — but I will not weary the House with more on this subject. I will only beg the House to observe that all these events, and many more of a similar character, have occurred in the course of the last fifteen years. In that short period of time Great Britain has paid directly, as I have already said, at least 80,000,000/. on account of the colonies, a sum ofj money quite sufficient to have conveyed 4,000,000 emigrants to Australia, or the whole of the Celtic population of Ireland to North America ; yet, atj 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 225 the present moment, all our colonial dependencies do not contain more than 1,500,000 persons of British or Irish descent (there are as many persons, by birth British subjects, in the United States at the present moment), and our export trade of pro- duce and manufactures to all our subject colonies (including Gibraltar), does not exceed 9,500,000/. a year, or about 1,500,000/. less than our export trade, in 1847, ^^ our independent colonies of the United States, which cost us nothing. Therefore, comparing the result of our colonial system with the cost, it can scarcely be denied that the result, with regard to trade and emigration, has been paltry and insignificant ; and that the most mani- fest consequences of our colonial polity have been wars, rebellions, recurring distress, general dis- content, and enormous expenditure. Therefore, judging of the tree by its fruits, it is not unfair to infer that there are grave errors and defects in the colonial polity of the British Empire. To this conclusion all our colonial fellow-subjects have long ago arrived, and a large portion, both of the thinking and practical men of this country, are in the act of arriving. Our colonial polity has few defenders out of this House ; no defenders in it, except official ones ; for whenever the honourable gentleman the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies rises, and, with matchless courage and dauntless determination, maintains that nothing can be more perfect than our colonial polity ; that nothing can be more judicious than the conduct of the Colonial Secretary ; and that nothing can be more praiseworthy than all the appointments made by his noble friend — a solemn silence reigns M. g 226 SPEECHES OF SIR W, MOLESWORTH. around him, scarcely, if ever, interrupted by a faint cheer. For the House, reflecting on the history of the colonies since the year 1846, cannot fail to remember that many of the most important events to which I have just referred as indicating colonial mismanagement have occurred since the present Secretary of State for the Colonies took office ; for instance, the alleged renewal of the war of races in Canada ; the stoppage of the supplies in British Guiana and Jamaica ; the mismanagement of the Kaffir War, with peculation, extravagant expen- diture, and no accountability ; the rebellion of the Boers, with the foolish extension of our empire in South Africa ; the hasty transportation of convicts to the Cape of Good Hope ; the strange ignorance of the financial condition of Ceylon, with its lamentable and disgraceful consequences ; the abandonment and the renewal of transportation to Van Diemen's Land ; the blunders about the constitution of New Zealand ; and the transfer of Vancouver's Island to the Hudson's Bay Company — the honour of all these events belongs to the administration of the present Secretary of State for the Colonies. Therefore, public opinion can make no exception in his behalf when it condemns the colonial polity of Great Britain, distrusts the Department that conducts that polity, and puts no faith in its recognised organs in either House of Parliament. Whether right or wrong, this notorious state of public opinion is dangerous, and much to be regretted. It forms one of my chief arguments for the inquiry which I propose to the House. I think the House ought to assent to my motion, because, in fact, it is the legitimate sequel to 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 227 various motions with reference to the colonies, which during the Session have met with the favour- able consideration of the House. I refer to the motion of the honourable gentleman the member for Inverness-shire,^ with regard to British Guiana and Ceylon ; to that of the honourable gentleman the member for North Staffordshire,^ with regard to convict emigration to the Cape of Good Hope ; and to that of the noble lord the member for Falkirk,^ with regard to Vancouver's Island, which would have been carried but for a manoeuvre/ Each of these motions implied censure of something which had been lately done in the colonies ; each of them met with the general approbation of the House ; and each of them raised colonial questions of great importance, well worthy of further consideration and of serious inquiry. In addition to these motions, which were virtually carried, two other motions condemnatory of our colonial polity have this Session received the support of considerable minorities : I mean the motion of the honourable gentleman the member for Berwickshire,*^ for a com- mittee of inquiry into our colonial system, and the motion of the honourable gentleman the member for Sheffield,' for leave to bring in a Bill to amend that system ; and also notices have been given of two other motions impugning portions of our colonial system, one by the honourable gentleman » Mr. H. J. Baillie. * Mr. C. Adderley (the present Lord Norton). * Lord Lincoln (afterwards Duke of Newcastle). * The Government was accused of having brought about a count out. » Mr. H. F. Scott. « Mr. Roebuck. 0« 228 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the member for Montrose/ the other by the right honourable gentleman the member for the Univer- sity of Oxford.^ These events indicate the state of public opinion with regard to our colonial polity ; and that state of opinion existing in this House, throughout the country, and throughout the colonies, together with the events which have lately occurred in the colonies, appear to me to constitute good Parliamentary grounds for the inquiry which I propose to the consideration of the House. I will now state what, in my opinion, should be the chief subjects of inquiry. They may be arranged under the three heads of Colonial govern- ment. Colonial expenditure, and Emigration or Colonisation. First. An inquiry should be made into our system of colonial government, with the view of removing the main causes of colonial complaint. Now, the one great cause of colonial complaint is irresponsible government from a distance. The faults inherent in our government of the colonies have been forcibly described in words which I will read to the House, and to which I am sure hon. gentlemen will listen with attention, in memory of a late distinguished member of this House. That system "has all the faults of an essentially arbi- trary government, in the hands of persons who have little personal interest in the welfare of those : over whom they rule ; who reside at a distance from them ; who never have ocular experience of their condition ; who are obliged to trust to second- hand and one-sided information, and who are 1 Mr. J. Hume. ' Mr. Gladstone. 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 229 exposed to the operation of all those sinister influences which prevail wherever publicity and freedom are not established." The power of these persons " is exercised in the faulty manner in which arbitrary, secret, and irresponsible power must be exercised over distant communities. It is exercised with great ignorance of the real condition and feelings of the people subjected to it ; it is exercised with that presumption, and, at the same time, in that spirit of mere routine, which are the inherent vices of bureaucratic rule ; it is exercised in a mis- chievous subordination to intrigues and cliques at home, and intrigues and cliques in the colonies. And its results are a system of constant pro- crastination and vacillation, which occasions heart- breaking injustice to the individuals and continual disorder in the communities subjected to it. These are the results of the present system of colonial government, and must be the results of every system which subjects the internal affairs of a people to the will of a distant authority not responsible to anybody." These were the words of my late friend, Mr. Charles Buller. They expressed his deliberate and unchanged convictions, and are deserving of the utmost respect ; for no one had more carefully or more profoundly studied colonial questions, no one had brought greater talents to bear on those ques- tions, no one was more anxious for the well-being of the colonies, no one was better qualified as a statesman to govern the colonies ; and those who knew him well, and loved him, did fondly hope that the time would arrive when he would be placed in a position to be a benefactor to the colonies, and 230 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. to make a thorough reform of the colonial system of the British Empire. But, alas! Providence has willed it otherwise. Our colonial system is essentially the same as it was when Mr. Charles Buller wrote the words which I have just read. In reply to this assertion, the honourable gentleman the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies will in all probability boast again, as he has boasted before, that of our forty- three colonies, twenty-seven have had represen- tative institutions conceded to them. But the honourable gentleman must acknowledge that, of these twenty-seven colonies, eight have only had the promise of representative institutions ; and that the remaining nineteen had representative institu- tions long ago, when the noble lord, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, was an energetic assailer of Colonial Office government. In consequence of those assaults upon our colonial system it was expected that, as soon as the noble lord came into office he would hasten to bestow representative institutions on many colonies which were well deserving of them. But what has he accomplished in this respect during the last three years ? He has imagined a nondescript constitution for New Zealand, and immediately suspended it ; he then sent it to New South Wales for inspection, and New South Wales rejected it : having failed to reform the constitution of New South Wales, he now, at a late period of the Session, introduces a Bill to bestow the unreformed constitution of New South Wales upon the other Australian colonies ; and finally, he has commissioned the renowned Sir Harry Smith, the great Inkosi Inkolu 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 231 of the Kaffirs, to devise a constitution for the Cape of Good Hope. I will not venture to anticipate the results of these measures. I hope and trust they will be productive of benefit to the colonies concerned ; but, in order that they may be as beneficial as possible, I maintain that they ought to be accompanied by a thorough revision and reform of our colonial polity. Under the existing colonial system, in most of our colonies (I may, indeed, say in all of them with the exception of Canada) representative institutions are rather shams than realities, for they ^seldom lead to the legitimate consequences of representa- tive government, namely, responsible government according to the will of the majority of the repre- sentatives of the people. In almost all the repre- sentative colonies the Colonial Office generally attempts to carry on the government by means of a minority of the representative aSvSembly, with the assistance of a legislative assembly composed of the nominees of the Colonial Office. The con- sequence is a perpetual struggle between the majority of the representative assembly and the party of the Colonial Office — a struggle carried on with an intensity of party hatred and rancour happily unknown to us — each party rejects or dis- allows the measures of the other party ; thus legis- lation stands still, and enmity increases ; after a time the supplies are stopped, and a deadlock ensues ; then the Imperial Parliament is called on to take the part of the Colonial Office, and a con- stitution is sometimes suspended ; next, to preserve order or to put down rebellion, the military force is augmented ; and, finally, a demand is made upon 232 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the purses of the British people, who have invari- ably to pay the piper at every colonial brawl. Within the last fifteen years events of this kind have taken place in most of our largest colonies ; for instance, in both the Canadas, in Nova Scotia, Jamaica, and British Guiana ; and they seem likely to be repeated in Jamaica and British Guiana. Thus, both in the colonies which have representative assemblies and in those which have them not, the one great cause of complaint is irrCvSponsible government from a distance ; that is, government by rulers who are necessarily ignorant of the state of their subjects ; who, sometimes with the very best intentions, propose and insist upon the very worst measures. It would be easy to take colony after colony and show in each a series of lament- able blunders which have been committed by the Colonial Office. For instance, how the war of races was stimulated in Canada ; how the ruin of the planters was made inevitable in the West Indies ; how a valuable portion of our fellow- subjects in South Africa were driven into the desert and became rebels ; how the immorality of Van Diemen's Land was fearfully augmented ; how the colonisation of New Zealand was spoilt ; how Vancouver's Island was thrown away — all through the ignorance, negligence, and vacillation of the Colonial Office. Ignorance, negligence, and vacillation are three inseparable accidents of our system of colonial government. Ignorance is the necessary conse- quence of the distance that intervenes between the rulers and the ruled ; negligence is the invariable result of the want of efficient responsibility, and the i849] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 233 responsibility of the Colonial Office to Parliament is merely nominal, in consequence of the ignorance of Parliament with regard to colonial affairs. And whenever there is either ignorance or negligence there vacillation must also exist. To illustrate these positions by events of recent occurrence, I will cite, as a case of negligence, the Act of the 5th and 6th Victoria, c. 76, which was passed in 1842, for the purpose of bestowing a constitution on New South Wales. One of the chief objects of that Act was to create district councils in that colony. Much importance was attached to the establishment of those councils, therefore great care ought to have been taken in framing the clauses with regard to them ; on the contrary, there was the greatest negligence : when the Act reached the colony, after a journey of six months, the Governor discovered that the 48th clause, which ought to have contained an important provision with regard to the district councils, was without assignable object or discoverable meaning — in fact it was utter jargon : the consequence was, that the district councils were still-born. Their premature decease is not to be regretted, for though they were favourite children of the present Secretary of State for the Colonies, they were begotten in ignorance of the wants and feelings of the inhabitants of New South Wales. As an instance of vacillation I will cite the recent conduct of the Colonial Office with regard to transportation to Van Diemen's Land. The House may remember that in 1846 it was dis- covered that a state of almost incredible immorality existed among the convicts of that colony, arising 234 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. from the negligence and mismanagement of the Colonial Office and the colonial Governor. The Colonial Office, therefore, determined to suspend transportation for two years, and sent a new governor to the colony, to improve the system of convict discipline prior to the renewal of transpor- tation. A few months afterwards, in February, 1847, ^^^ Colonial Office changed its mind, and announced to Parliament that transportation to Van Diemen's Land was not to be renewed. This intelligence was received in the colony with the greatest joy and delight. Unfortunately, however, not long afterwards, in the beginning of 1848, the Colonial Office changed its mind for the second time, and determined upon the renewal of transpor- tation to Van Diemen's Land. The joy of the colonists was converted into sorrow— the more intense in proportion as their hopes had been unnecessarily excited, and cruelly disappointed, by the vacillation of the Colonial Office. As a recent instance of ignorance on the part of the Colonial Office, I will remind the House of the case of Ceylon. In 1847 ^^^ present Secretary of State for the Colonies appointed a committee, consisting of the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies and other gentlemen of distinguished abilities, to investigate the financial condition of| Ceylon, with the view of proposing measures to promote the economical prosperity of that Colony. After much labour, those gentlemen drew up a report,] which received the sanction of the Secretary of Stat( for the Colonies. Now it has been proved in thi? House — and no one will venture to contradict nr statement — that the chief data furnivshed by th( 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 235 Colonial Office, upon which that report was founded, were incorrect; that the most important con- clusions to which the Committee arrived were erroneous ; that they mistook liabilities for assets, a bankrupt exchequer for a full treasury, and a deficit for a surplus of income over expenditure ; that, in consequence of these mistakes, they recom- mended a reduction of taxation when they should have recommended a reduction of expenditure ; that the Secretary of State for the Colonies, not being better informed than his Committee, adopted their recommendations, and instructed the Governor^ of Ceylon to give effect to those recommendations. These instructions were obeyed by the unlucky Governor — a nobleman who had been appointed on account of his skill in agriculture and in railroad finance, but who was not better acquainted with the affairs of Ceylon than either the Secretary or Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. The consequence was, financial embarrassment, which led to the imposition of taxes so injudicious that, though they were approved of by the Colonial Office, within a year it was necessary to repeal them. I refer to these cases, not in order to impute blame to individuals, but to illustrate my position, that ignorance, negligence, and vacillation are vices inherent in our system of colonial govern- ment, by whomsoever administered. My object is to prove that our colonial polity works ill, and produces discontent and complaint in the colonies, not because it is specially maladministered, but because it is an essentially faulty system, which ^ Lord Torrington. 236 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. cannot be well administered. It is difficult to censure a system without appearing to censure the persons connected with it. In order to overcome this difficulty, I declare that my object is not to censure any person. My motion may be con- sidered to be a vote of censure on our colonial system, but it is not intended to be a vote of censure on the Secretary of State for the Colonies. For, in my judgment, the colonies have not been worse governed by the present Secretary of State for the Colonies than by any one of his pre- decessors who have had equal opportunities of so doing. I know that a different opinion on this subject prevails both in this country and in the colonies ; that, in consequence of former speeches made by the present Colonial Minister, very ex- aggerated expectations were formed of what he would do when in office ; that those exaggerated expectations have been disappointed ; that that disappointment has been embittered by the inju- dicious praises of friends and subordinates ; and that hence his name is most unpopular. But, in my opinion, it would be a great mistake to suppose that either his removal from office or any mere change in the staff of the Colonial Office, would be of any real benefit to the colonies. The fault is in the system. The wonder to me is, not that the system works ill ; not that it produces discontent and complaint ; but that it works no worse than it does. Consider, sir, for one moment, the nature ofj its working machinery. To govern our forty- threel colonies, scattered over the face of the globe,! inhabited by men differing in race, language, andj religion, with various institutions, strange laws,^ 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 237 and unknown customs, the staff of the Colonial Office consists only of five superior and twenty- three inferior functionaries. The superior func- tionaries are : the Secretary of State, the two Under-Secretaries, the Assistant Under-Secretary, and the Chief Clerk. The Secretary of State and the Under-Secretary leave office with the Govern- ment, and rarely retain office for more than two years at a time ; they are the ostensible heads of our colonial system, and are responsible to Parlia- ment for the government of the colonies. The three other superior functionaries, being permanent, are the real heads of our colonial system ; they are screened from responsibility by the political func- tionaries; they are unknown to Parliament, scarcely known to the public by name, but have become cele- brated of late years under the witty designation of Mr. Mother-country, applied to them by Mr. Charles Buller. Subordinate to these gentlemen there are twenty-three clerks, making in all twenty-eight per- sons for the government of forty-three colonies. Therefore, even with an equal division of labour, there would not be one official for the government of each colony. But no such division of labour is practicable. The Secretary of State for the Colonies is responsible to Parliament for the government of every colony. It is his duty, therefore, to be acquainted with the affairs of each of the forty-three colonies ; to read and study every despatch, and to be prepared to answer, either in his own person, or by his Under- Secretary, every question which may be put to him, in either Houses of Parliament, with regard to the colonies. If he could divide his time equally between 238 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the colonies, as there are forty-three of them, he could give about a week a year to the affairs of each separate colony ; but to no single colony could he at one time spare a week of continuous attention ; for every colony, more or less, requires his attention simultaneously. At one time he can only give a few hours to one dependency, then a few hours to another, and so on, turn and turn about, traversing and retraversing, in his imagination, the terra- queous globe ; flying from the Arctic to the Ant- arctic pole ; hurrying from the snows of North America to the burning regions of the tropics ; rushing across from the fertile islands of the West Indies to the arid deserts of South Africa and Australia ; like nothing on earth, or in romance, save the Wandering Jew. For instance, one day the Colonial Secretary is in Ceylon, a financial and a religious reformer, promoting the interests of the coffee planter and casting discredit on the tooth and religion of Buddha ; the next day he is in the West Indies, teaching the economical manu- facture of sugar ; or in Van Diemen's Land, striving to reform the fiends whom he has transported to that pandemonium. Now he is in Canada, dis- cussing the Indemnity Bill and the war of races ; anon he is at the Cape of Good Hope, dancing a war dance with Sir Harry Smith and his Kafiir subjects ; or in New Zealand, an unsuccessful Lycurgus, coping with Honi Heki ; or at Natal treating with Panda, King of the Zulus ; or in Labuan, digging coal and warring with pirates; or in the midst of South Africa, defeating Pretorius and his rebel Boers ; or in Vancouver's Island, done by the Hudson's Bay Company ; or in Victoria, alias i849,] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 239 Port Phillip, the chosen representative of the people; or in the Mauritius, building fortifications against a hostile population ; or in the fair isles of the Ionian Sea, enjoying, I hope, for the sake of my dear friend Mr. Ward,^ a life of luxurious ease and perfect tran- quillity. Thus the most incongruous events succeed each other, and are jumbled together in the brain of the unfortunate Secretary of State for the Colonies, as in the wild dream of a fevered imagination ; and ere the unhappy man has had time to settle one grave colonial question, anotherofequal importance presses on his wearied and worn-out attention. I repeat, that the wonder is, not that our system of colonial government works ill, but that it works no worse than it does. I maintain, therefore, that that system requires revision. To ascertain in what manner it ought to be revised, how the machinery of the Colonial Office can be improved, and whether more local government and more self- government ought to be given to some or all of the colonies, should, in my opinion, be the first great subjects for the inquiry which I propose to the con- sideration of the House. In pursuing this inquiry, the Commission should draw a broad distinction between those colonies which have or ought to have representative institutions and those of the Crown colonies which are unfit for free institutions. Because the line of inquiry, the questions and the conclusions with regard to the best mode of governing the one class of colonies, will be very different from those with regard to the other class of colonies. In both cases the more the govern- ment is local the better I believe it will be. It * He had been made in this year Goveraor of the Ionian Islands. 240 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. will, therefore, be an important subject for inquiry by the Commission, what is the best form of local government for those Crown colonies which are unfit for free institutions. The second head of inquiry which I propose for the Commission is colonial expenditure. I have calculated that, on the average of the last fifteen years, the direct cost of the colonies to Great Britain, under the four heads of civil, naval, military, and extraordinary expenditure, has amounted to at least 4,000,000/. a year, exclu- sive of the sums paid for emancipating our slaves. The civil expenditure has been between 200,000/. and 300,000/. a year ; the naval expenditure, I believe, I have under-estimated at 1,000,000/. a year. The military expenditure must have exceeded 2,500,000/. a year; and at least 200,000/. a year have been required, on the average of the last fifteen years, to cover the extraordinary expenses of Canadian rebellions, Kaffir wars, etc. I believe that, with a reform of our colonial system, and with a searching inquiry into the cost of our colonies, a large reduction could be made in colonial expendi- ture, especially in military expenditure. Last year the military force of the colonies con- sisted of forty-seven regiments of the line, nine colonial corps, one regiment of cavalry, thirty- eight companies of artillery, about 800 sappers and miners, and about 100 engineer officers ; in all about 45,000 men of all ranks. The cost of these troops for pay and commissariat expenses alone has been returned to ParHament for the five years ending March 31, 1847, ^^ 9,742,000/., and at the rate of 1,948,000/. a year, exclusive of I I 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 241 ordnance or other expenditure. These troops are scattered about in various stations, over thirty- seven colonies. In the ordnance estimates of this year reference is made to fifty-four military stations, in which there are either barrack or ordnance estab- lishments, generally both, with barrack masters, barrack sergeants, storekeepers, deputy store- keepers, clerks of the works, etc. This year the sum of 197,000/. is required for the salaries of the officers and the wages of the workmen belonging to these establishments. The vStorehouses of these stations contain stores of the estimated value of 2,500,000/., a sufficient amount of stores, if they do not perish of themselves, for about twenty years* consumption during peace. In most of these stations considerable sums have been annually expended on fortifications and other ordnance works. The sum required for these purposes in the estimates of this year is 216,000/. ; and the total sum expended upon them in the course of the nineteen years from 1829 to 1847 h^s amounted to 3,500,000/. For instance, during that period we have expended in North America on ordnance works, at Kingston, 342,000/.; at Quebec, 330,000/. ; at Montreal, 186,000/. ; at Toronto, 65,000/. ; at the Rideau Canal, 67,000/. ; at Halifax, 215,000/. ; in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, etc., about 100,000/. ; making in all about 1,300,000/. spent on ordnance works in North America within the last nineteen years. Many of these works are uncompleted, and to complete them large sums of money will still be required ; for instance, at Kingston, 140,000/. Much of this expenditure has, I believe, been unnecessary ; some 242 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of it absurdly so. For instance, in 1846 an estimate was presented to Parliament by the late Govern- ment for certain ordnance works in Canada. Those works were supposed to be wanted because the dispute with America concerning the Oregon was not settled. However, before the estimate was voted the late Government left office, and its last act was to announce the settlement of the Oregon question. The present Government adopted the estimates of their predecessors ; they never thought of examining those estimates, but passed them in a heap, military works in Canada included. The money being voted was spent ; and after it was spent it was discovered that the works had been commenced after the reason for commencing them had ceased ; that is, the works supposed to be required because the Oregon question was not settled were commenced after the Oregon question was settled. The money so thrown away has amounted, I beheve, to about go, 000/. It is lucky that a larger sum was not expended, for I can discover no existing check upon this expenditure. In the West Indies 601,000/. have been expended on ordnance works in the interval between 1829 and 1847. During the same period 313,000/. have been expended for similar purposes at Malta andi Gibraltar, and it was estimated that a further sum! of 250,000/. would be required to complete the] ordnance works in progress in those colonies. During the same period we have expended ii Bermuda 183,000/. on ordnance works ; to complet( them another 100,000/. will be required. I under- stand, however, on good authority, that the intro-| duction of steam has made these works of litth 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 243 value for purposes of defence ; and to defend those works it is said that a flotilla composed of small steamers drawing little water will be required. Before I proceed to the Mauritius I must observe that, according to the highest authorities, our colonies should be divided into two classes with reference to military works ; the one class consist- ing of colonies conquered from the French, Dutch, and other nations, and the other class consisting of colonies planted by our own people. The latter may at times be very much dissatisfied with Colonial Office government, but being inhabited by Englishmen, they always prefer our dominion to that of a foreign nation. Therefore, in the event of a war, they may be safely entrusted with their own defence. For instance, troops and military works are not required in Australia ; it is true that a hostile Power might destroy Sydney, burn Melbourne, and commit other acts of vandalism, but it could never keep permanent possession of New South Wales, or Victoria, against its English inhabitants. On the contrary, in our conquered colonies we cannot trust the population ; and in those colonies troops or military works are required more against our own hostile subjects than against foreign enemies. This is said, on high authority, to be the case of the Mauritius. It is said that in the event of a war if Port Louis were not well fortified it would be difficult for us to retain possession of it ; and if we were to lose it, it would be difficult for us to regain possession of it ; in both cases for the same reason, because an influential portion of the population are hostile to us. Now, it is said that the Mauritius is an important military K4 244 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. station ; that in the last war, before we took pos- session of it, prizes of the value of 7,000,000/. were carried to it. Hence the supposed necessity for extensive ordnance works in that island, both on the seaside against foreign enemies and on the land side against domestic foes. On those works above 200,000/. have been expended since 1829. To complete the defences on the side of the sea at least 200,000/. more will be required, exclusive of the cost of the land defences. However, it is pro- posed to expend only 5,000/. a year on these works ; therefore, at least forty years will elapse before they can be completed ! May we be at peace and never require the use of them till they are finished ! In the Ionian Islands nearly half a million has been expended on ordnance works since the peace. The case of the Ionian Islands is a capital instance of the manner in which public money has been thrown away upon worthless colonies, on the absurdest pleas. In 1815 the great Powers of Europe, not knowing what to do with the free and independent States of the Ionian Islands, placed them under the protection of Great Britain. Lord Lansdowne and other distinguished statesmen remonstrated, on the grounds that such possessions would be burdensome, expensive, and of no use ; but Lord Bathurst maintained that they would be most valuable ; that the country would gain immensely by them ; and that they would defray all expenses incurred on their account. On such nonsensical pleas our colonial empire was extended. What, however, have been the facts ? Our export trade to the Ionian Islands has not, on the average of the last ten years, exceeded 122,000/. a year; 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 245 and the Ionian States have been wholly unable to fulfil their pecuniary engagements to this country. They have cost us 130,000/. a year on the average, or about 4,500,000/. since the peace. We have built fortifications at Corfu, the original estimate for which, as sanctioned by the Duke of Wellington in 1824, was 182,000/. ; this estimate was increased in 183 1 to 227,000/. ; in 1834 to 240,000/. ; in 1839 to 340,000/. ; that sum having been expended, we voted last year 12,873/. ; we are to vote this year 9,206/. for these same works ; then to complete them at least 50,000/. more will be required ; and when these works, originally estimated to cost 182,000/., shall be completed, at a cost of above 400,000/., they will be so extensive that in the event of a serious war it would hardly be expedient to spare forces sufficient to man them ; and the wisest plan would be to blow up the fortifications, to abandon the islands, and to concentrate our forces at Malta and Gibraltar. For as long as we retain the supremacy of the ocean we could always reconquer them for a trifle, provided there be no fortifications to resist us ; and were we to lose the supremacy of the ocean, with the best fortifications, we could only keep possession of them for a few months. In South Africa we spent, between 1829 and 1847, 271,000/. on ordnance works. A considerable portion of this sum has been expended on the eastern frontier of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, in bridges over unknown rivers, and various works, offensive and defensive, against the Kaffirs. Our ordnance expenditure in South Africa is, how- ever, only commencing. For we have lately 246 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. advanced our eastern frontier, and taken military possession of a portion of Kaffraria. If, in addition to this, we are to defend the frontier of Natal, against the Kaffirs on one side, and the Zulus on the other ; if military stations are to be established in the interior among the insurgent Boers ; if our newly-acquired frontier on the Yellow River is to be guarded against the Bechuana tribes of Central Africa ; then, in future years, large sums will be required for ordnance works, our military force must be greatly augmented, and our expenditure on account of South Africa will probably be increased from 300,000/. a year to twice that sum or more. The Kaffir War which has just terminated is a sample of what we may expect frequently to happen in our South African dominions. By the time all the bills are paid that war will probably have cost us a couple of millions sterling. How has this money been expended ? Nobody knows, or rather, nobody seems inclined to tell. A very curious return has been lately presented to the House on this subject. It is an answer from the Com- missioners of Audit to a letter from the Treasury, in which the Commissioners are directed to report upon the expenditure occasioned by the late Kaffir War. In reply they state that they can do nothing of the kind, for no accounts have been furnished to them. In fact, it appears that no accounts have been kept, and that the persons whose duty it was to keep the accounts neglected their duty, and disregarded the orders both of the Treasury and of the Colonial Office. All that is certain is, that our money has been spent. There can be little doubt that Sir H. Pottinger was right in suspecting the existence of 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 247 gross peculation. And Sir H. Smith has assured us that many persons have amassed large sums of money by the late war ; that there is a redundancy of money at the Cape, with general prosperity and a tendency to over-speculation. In fact, a Kaffir War is a godsend to the inhabitants of the Cape, and I believe they pray for it as a means of extract- ing money out of the pockets of the wise men of England. And if it be our sovereign will and pleasure that Sir Harry Smith shall proclaim himself paramount chief of Kaffraria, with strange rites and wonderful discourses ; if he is to add desert after desert to our barren empire in South Africa, till it become as large as the whole of the Austrian dominions ; if he is to cross the deserts which are the natural boundaries of the colony of the Cape, and to acquire a new frontier as long as from here to Naples, exposed, for many hundred miles, to the ravages of fierce, warlike, and rapacious barbarians ; if he is to hunt across the plains of Central Africa, the Boers, ever flying from our hated dominion — why the people of Great Britain must make up their minds to pay dearly for their whistle ; and a more worthless one has never been acquired by force of British arms. Thus, actuated by an insane desire of worthless empire, into every nook of our colonial universe we thrust an officer with a few soldiers ; in every hole and corner we erect a fortification, build a barrack, or cram a storehouse full of perishable stores — and for what purpose ? Because the military and naval sages, who are the authority in these matters, maintain that we ought to be always prepared for war. In the opinion of those philosophers, the 248 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. natural state of the civilised man is an universal war of nations ; therefore, in anticipation of their coming millennium of perpetual strife, they demand that Great Britain should, regardless of expense, be ready on every point, at every moment, to combat with every one for the whole of her vast colonial domain. It has been said over and over again, without as well as within this House, by the noble lord, the Prime Minister, and others, that we have inherited from our ancestors numerous colonies, which it is our interest, our duty, and our policy, to maintain and defend : for that Great Britain with- out her colonies would in size be but a petty kingdom ; but that, with her colonies, she has, in extent of surface, the semblance of an enormous empire. And it is said, that this semblance of enormous empire, arising from a vast colonial domain, overawes foreign nations, impresses them with a prestige of our might, causes the name of England to be a real and a mighty Power, converts the mere sound of that name into a force greater than that of numerous fleets and costly armies ; and thence it is argued that colonies are the cheapest and most politic means of maintaining our position amongst the nations of the earth. This argument is well known by the name of the '' prestige of might " argument. It has formed the staple of every speech in which the noble lord the Prime Minister has replied to every proposal for a reduction of our colonial and military expenditure. What is the value of this argument ? It reminds me somewhat of the old fable of the animal who clothed himself with the skin of the lion, and fancied that then the rest of the brute creation would 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 249 mistake him for their natural king. Now, accord- ing to the "prestige of might" argument, our colonial empire is our lion's skin. Does it augment our strength for the combat ? Certainly not. In the event of a serious struggle with a power of nearly equal force, our colonies would be a serious incumbrance. To defend them, we should have to scatter our forces over the face of the earth ; and, contrary to every sound principle of warfare, we should run the risk of being destroyed in detail. In the event of such a conflict the wisest plan would be to withdraw our troops, to recall our fleets, and to concentrate our forces ; in short, to disencumber ourselves of our lion's skin, to take it up again when the combat is over. But the argument is, that the fear of the sham lion would prevent the combat from ever taking place. So thought the animal in the fable, presuming upon the ignorance of his fellow-beasts, and wofully was he mistaken. Now, does any one fancy that in these days we can impose upon mankind by such a sham ? That we can, for instance, persuade the statesmen of Europe that by acquiring an empire in South Africa as large as the Austrian dominions we have added the might of old Austria to that of Great Britain ? On the contrary, those statesmen will be much more likely to fancy that there are young Hungaries springing up both in Canada and in the land of the Boers. Therefore this *' prestige of might " argument should rather be termed the *' sham-lion" fallacy. And a dan- gerous fallacy it has been ; for it has many times led us to commit the great and costly mistake of trusting more to military force than to good 250 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLES WORTH. government for the maintenance of our colonial empire. Now, it appears to me that if the Commission which I propose should be appointed it should in- quire to what extent it is necessary or politic for us to keep troops, or build fortifications, in our colonies ; whether we ought to do so in any colonies, except in our strictly military stations ; what colonies should be considered to be military stations ; and what is the best mode of checking and controlling our huge ordnance expenditure in the colonies, which, at the present moment, is without check or control. This inquiry appears to me a very important one ; for I feel persuaded that, without a very considerable reduction in the military and naval expenditure on account of the colonies, no considerable reduction can be made in the cost of the colonies ; or, in fact, in the general expenditure of the British Empire. I also think that if a Commission be appointed, in addition to inquiring into the cost of the colonies to Great Britain, it might with some advantage inquire into the cost of colonial government to the colonies themselves. On a former occasion I attempted to prove to the House that in those colonies which have a greater amount of self- government the rate of expenditure per head ofl the population is generally less than in those] colonies which have a less amount of self-govern- ment ; and I inferred that this difference in th( rate of expenditure arose from the difference in th( amount of self-government. If this inference b( correct, it follows that the best mode of ensuring wise economy in the colonies is by giving thei 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 251 greater control over their own finances. Govern- ment from a distance is apt, from ignorance, not only to be lavish in expenditure when it ought to be economical, but also to be niggardly when it ought to be generous. It would not be difficult to adduce various instances of niggardliness, in which the Colonial Office, not understanding the impor- tance of a particular expenditure to a colony, has withheld its sanction to that expenditure to the detriment of the colony. Such cases are, however, rare, as compared to those of lavish expenditure, of which the colonial civil lists have generally been striking instances. As those civil lists have chiefly had reference to functionaries who have been sent out from this country, their salaries have generally been fixed rather with reference to the standard of wealth in this country than in the colonies. For instance, the salaries of governors : there are eighteen British colonies which pay for their own governors ; their salaries amount in all to 72,000/. a year ; therefore the average is 4,000/. a year, or nearly nine times the average salary of a governor in the United States. In fact, the total amount of the salaries of the thirty governors of the thirty States of the Union is less by 2,500/. a year than the total amount of the salaries of the four governors of the British North American provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Therefore there is a general opinion in the colonies that the salaries fixed by the civil lists are excessive ; and those civil lists have been subjects of perpetual disputes between the colonies and the Colonial Office. Now, it appears to me that it would be a question for the consideration of the Commission, 252 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. whether all or some of the colonies which pay for their governors should not be permitted to elect their own governors and to determine the amount of their salaries ; or, on the other hand, if it be deemed expedient that all the governors should be appointed by the Imperial Government, whether the}^ ought not to be paid out of Imperial funds ? In those colonies which have, or ought to have, free institutions, the representatives of the people are the best guardians of the public purse. But in those Crown colonies which are unfit for free con- stitutions it would be for the Commission to ascer- tain what checks exist, or ought to exist, against lavish expenditure. Lastly, I propose that if a Commission be appointed it should inquire into the subject of emigration and colonisation. It would be easy to show that the colonial policy of this country has not directly tended to encourage any emigration except that of convicts, and that by encouraging convict emigration it has indirectly tended to dis- courage the best kinds of emigration ; for no good and respectable man, especially if he be the father of a family, or intend to be one, would ever think of going to a convict colony unless he be in complete ignorance of the moral consequences of convict colonisation. Therefore it is of the utmost impor- tance to the colonies that the question should be settled, whether convict emigration is or is not to continue to be a portion of the colonial polity of the British Empire. There can be no doubt that con- vict emigration is a good thing for the people of Great Britain ; it saves them much money, much time, and much trouble in punishing over and over 1849] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 253 again the same criminals. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that it is a bad thing for the people of the colonies ; it increases (in some in- stances it creates) their criminal population, and augments the amount of their penal expenditure ; it is offensive to the feelings of the better portion of the colonists, and injurious to the character of all of them ; and though some of them may consent to it for the sake of pecuniary gain, yet that consent is a proof of moral degradation, likely to be in- creased and rendered permanent by contact with criminals. The question, therefore, is, whether the benefit to Great Britain from convict emigration so far exceeds the injury to the colonies that the empire as a whole is a gainer thereby. Now, the benefit to Great Britain consists primarily in getting rid of its criminals ; they are a very great nuisance here ; they constitute a dangerous class ; in former times they were got rid of by the simple process of hanging ; when hanging became dis- gusting, then transportation was adopted by the humane people of England as the easiest mode of ridding themselves of their criminals, without shocking their sensibilities. It is evident, there- fore, that the benefit to Great Britain from convict emigration is in direct proportion to the number and wickedness of the criminals exported. On the other hand, it is equally evident that the evil to the colonies from convict immigration is also in direct proportion to the number and wickedness of the criminals imported. Therefore the gain to the one is equivalent in amount to the loss to the other; and the result to the empire as a whole is an expen- sive shifting of the burden of crime. Now, if Great 254 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Britain be entitled to transfer its criminals to the colonies, if that transfer be for the benefit of the whole empire, then it is evident that every one of the colonies should be required to make the same sacrifice for the public good by receiving convict immigrants. Accordingly a considerable change has been lately proposed and attempted to be made in the distribution of convicts in the colonies. Under the old system of distribution the moral filth of Great Britain was accumulated in vast and fer- menting masses in the penal colonies, whence moral typhus, plague, pestilence, and all manner of hideous disease ; and the British pest-houses of Australia stank in the nostrils of mankind. Under the present system of distribution that filth is to be spread out evenly over the surface of the colonies, and the colonists are to be told that it will be a fertilising manure, which will increase their material wealth and prosperity. To the old system it is impossible to return. The new system, I believe, contains within itself the germs of sure and speedy decay. For it was admitted in the case of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope (thanks to the exertions of the honourable gentleman the member for North Staffordshire), that convicts are not to be sent to any colony which protests with sufficient energy against convict emigration. The example of the Cape of Good Hope is being followed by New Zealand and Van Diemen's Land, and will be followed by all our other colonies ; for, in proportion as they acquire wealth and their population increases, they will feel more acutely] the stigma which justly attaches to them as con- vict colonies, and will spare no effort to remov( 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 255 that stigma. Therefore, I believe that convict emi- gration cannot have a permanent existence as a portion of the colonial polity of Great Britain. May it not continue in existence so long as to engender such feelings of hatred and discontent as might tend to subvert our colonial empire ! On a former occasion the noble lord the Prime Minister thought proper most unjustly to accuse me of a wish to get rid of our colonial empire. He described that empire as a glorious inheritance which we had received from our ancestors, and declared that he was determined, at all risks, to maintain it for ever intact. Now, I ask him, how do we treat that precious inheritance ? By transportation we stock it with convicts ; we convert it into the moral dung- heap of Great Britain ; and we tell our colonists that thieves and felons are fit to be their associates. Is this the mode and manner to inspire the inhabi- tants of our colonies with those feelings of affection and esteem for the mother country, without which our colonial empire must speedily crumble in the dust, nothwithstanding our numerous garrisons ? Now, if the magniloquent words of the noble lord were not mere empty vauntings, to raise a cheer and gain a momentary triumph in a debate ; if the noble lord be sincere and earnest, as I am, in the wish to maintain that empire intact, and to hand it down great and prosperous to posterity, he will cordially unite with me in the effort to put an end to convict emigration. I maintain that we have no moral right to relieve ourselves of our criminals at the expense of the colonies, and that the desire to make a scapegoat of our colonies, by whomsoever enter- tained, whether by members of this House, or by 256 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. magistrates of quarter sessions, or by judges on the bench, is a mean and selfish feehng, of which, as citizens of this great empire, we ought to be heartily ashamed. With reference to free emigration, I do not recommend that the Commission, if it be appointed, should inquire into the expediency or practicability of the great schemes of emigration or colonisation which have been lately proposed, with a view of relieving the economical difficulties of the United Kingdom. I recommend that the inquiry should be confined to ascertaining the nature of the obstacles which stand in the way of individual enterprise in colonising, and which impede emi- gration to the colonies. The existence of such obstacles will be acknowledged by every one who is conversant with the history of the attempts which have been made of late years to found colonies in Australia and New Zealand. Having been concerned in one of those attempts, experience has satisfied me that under our present system of colonial government no gentleman, no man of birth or education, ought to think of emigrating to any one of the British dependencies. I feel satisfied that if our colonial system continue unre- formed the better class of emigrants who wish to seek their fortunes in a new world, where there is less competition, and a more open field for youthful energy and enterprise, will be more and more apt to direct their steps to the United States of America, where they will enjoy institutions and self- government of English origin, and will not be liable to have their prospects marred by the ignorant and capricious interference of distant and irresponsible I 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 257 authorities, or of their ill-selected instruments. Within the last five-and-twenty years, as I have already said, about two millions of persons have emigrated from this country. One million have gone directly to the United States of America ; about 800,000 to our North American colonies ; of the latter more than one-half have re-emigrated to the United States. Therefore, in all probability, three-fourths of the emigration from this country during the last five-and-twenty years has been to the United States (in fact, last year three-fourths of the emigrants from this country, 188,000 out of 248,000, went directly to the United States). It is not improbable, therefore, that the number of persons now living in the United States who were born British subjects is as great as the whole number of persons of British and Irish descent in all our dependencies. I ask. Why do emigrants prefer the United States to the British colonies ? I ask this question not from any feelings of jealousy of the United States. I look upon those States as the greatest, the most glorious, and most useful children of England ; for their inhabitants I enter- tain the strongest regard and affection ; I rejoice that we are assisting them in peopling their Far West ; I rejoice at everything which promotes their interests and redounds to their honour ; I believe these feelings are entertained and returned by the instructed and reflecting men of both countries ; I believe that trade, emigration, and similarity of institutions are daily strengthening the ties between Great Britain and her independent colonies; thence I augur the happiest consequences to our race. And in the same manner as I might ask why 258 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. emigrants prefer one British colony to another, so I do ask what turns the tide of emigration from our dependent to our independent colonies ? I answer, Colonial Office government, convict emigration, and other causes, which a Commission would be able to ascertain and point out to the House. I have now stated what, in my opinion, should be the three chief heads of inquiry by a Commission, namely : colonial government, colonial expenditure, and emigration or colonisation. Under each of these heads the Commission should inquire what questions should be considered as Imperial ones and what questions should be looked upon as local ones. It should attempt to ascertain what powers the Imperial Government ought to reserve for the benefit of the empire at large, and what powers ought to be delegated to the colonial legislatures. It appears to me that it would not be difficult to classify and define the powers which ought to be reserved as Imperial ones ; and then all other powers not so reserved should be held to be local powers. The advantages of such a classification, if sanctioned by the Imperial Legislature, are self-evident. It would enable the colonial legisla- tures to know precisely what they are entitled to do and what they must abstain from doing. It would thus greatly diminish the chance of hostile collision between those legislatures and the Imperial Government ; and last, and not least, it would spare us many a useless debate about colonial questions with which it is impossible for us to be well acquainted. I have now assigned my chief reasons for the I849-] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 259 motion which I have proposed. I have shown that there is a growing conviction in this country, and an intense conviction in the colonies, that there are grave errors and defects in the colonial polity of the British Empire. I have thence inferred that that polity requires revision. For the purpose of revision I have asked that a searching inquiry should be instituted ; first, into our system of colonial government, with the view of removing the causes of colonial discontent and complaint ; secondly, into colonial expenditure, with a view of diminishing the cost of the colonies ; and thirdly, into the subjects of emigration and colonisation, with a view of affording free scope for individual enterprise in the business of colonisation, and of removing the obstacles which stand in the way of emigration to our dependencies. If this inquiry be properly conducted, it will furnish the means of settling the great practical questions of colonial government ; for instance, what colonies ought to have free institutions; what is the best form of self-government for colonies with representative institutions ; what is the best kind of local govern- ment for colonies unfit for self-government; what defences are needed for what colonies ; what should be the nature and amount of imperial expenditure for the colonies; what would be the best checks both on imperial and local expenditure in the colonies ; to what colonies, convict emigration, if not abolished, would be least mischievous ; for what colonies free emigration, and of what kind, would be most beneficial ; what rules should be adopted for the disposal of colonial lands, and by whom those rules should be framed ; and lastly, S 2 26o SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLES WORTH. with regard to the settlement of all these questions, and of many others of equal importance to the colonies, and with reference to each class of colonies separately, what powers should be reserved to the Imperial Government, and what powers should be delegated to the local authorities ? I am convinced that upon the practical settlement of these questions the maintenance of our colonial empire mainly depends. I believe that the stability of that empire is in imminent danger from their non-settlement ; first, in consequence of the colonial discontent engendered thereby ; secondly, in con- sequence of the opinion, which I am sorry to say is thence gaining ground in this country, that these colonial questions are insoluble ; therefore that good colonial government is impossible; therefore, that colonies are nuisances and burdens ; and therefore, the fewer they are in number, and the sooner they are got rid of, the better. I lament the growth of these opinions. I am satisfied they will spread and acquire strength in proportion as the settlement of the questions to which I have referred is delayed. To settle those questions without inquiry and assistance Parliament is at present utterly incompetent. The experience of this Session has shown that a debate on a colonial question is confusion worse confounded, wherein scarcely any two speakers agree ; the few listeners are puzzled by the conflicting opinions of pretended authorities ; and the House, in utter despair of understanding the subject, generally gives a reluc- tant and distrustful vote of confidence in the Colonial Office. The results of that confidence I have displayed to the House, in the shape of 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 261 wars, rebellions, recurring distress, perpetual dis- content, and enormous expenditure ; the necessary consequences of the ignorance, negligence, and vacillation, which I have shown to be inseparable from our system of colonial government. Not as a cure for these evils, but as the necessary pre- liminary step towards a cure, I ask for the inquiry, the nature of which I have just described. It is evident that the good to be obtained from an inquiry will depend upon the manner in which it is conducted, and the persons to whom it is entrusted. On a former occasion the honourable gentleman the member for Berwickshire proposed that a similar inquiry should be conducted by a committee of this House. Though I voted for his motion, I was compelled to acknowledge that the inquiry would be too vast and too complicated for a committee. I voted for his motion because I felt satisfied that, if a committee were appointed, it would soon discover its inability to perform its allotted task, and would recommend that the in- quiry should be conducted in the manner which I now propose, that is, by a Royal Commission. If the House should accede to my motion, and her Majesty should be graciously pleased to appoint a Commission, I should presume to recommend that it should consist of not more than five persons; that the Commission should report from time to time to her Majesty ; that their reports should be laid before Parliament ; and if approved of by Parliament they should be the bases of colonial legislation, and of a reform of our colonial polity. The task which the Commission would have to per- form would be an arduous as well as an important 262 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLES WORTH. one. The questions will be asked, To whom should the performance of such a task be entrusted ? What should be the qualifications of the members of such a Commission ? It may, perhaps, be maintained that the inquiry which I propose should be conducted by the Department to which the management of our colonial affairs is entrusted. And if the inquiry were to be merely into the details of colonial administration, into the machinery of the Colonial Office, into the number of functionaries which are required in that Office, and into the best division of labour between them, I might then admit that such an inquiry might be left to the management of the Colonial Office. But the inquiry which I propose is a much more extensive one, namely, into the whole colonial polity of the British Empire. Now, first, the functionaries of the Colonial Office are too much occupied with the daily administration ot colonial affairs to be able to spare time for so extensive an inquiry as that which I contemplate. And, secondly, I must say, without any intentional disrespect for those gentlemen, that having been accustomed to the existing system, they would, in my opinion, be apt to look upon that system with too favourable an eye. Therefore I object to entrusting this inquiry to the Colonial Office. To whom, then, should this inquiry be entrusted ? It is evident that it ought not to be conducted in a party spirit ; and, in fact, it is not a party question ; for each party is equally interested in the good government of the colonies, in the reduction of unnecessary colonial expenditure, in the promotion of colonisa- tion and emigration, and, in short, in everything! which can conduce to the prosperity of our colonial 1849.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COLONIES. 263 empire, and to the happiness of our colonial fellow- subjects. Therefore, if a Commission be appointed, I should recommend that it be fairly chosen from the four divisions of this House ; for example, one member should be appointed from the Ministerial benches — such a person, for instance, as my honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department;^ one member from amongst the friends of the right honourable baronet the member for Tamworth — as, for instance, either the right honourable baronet the member for Ripon^ or the right honourable gentleman the member for the University of Oxford,^ or the noble lord the member for Falkirk ; one member from the ranks of the Protectionist Party ; and one from the section of the House to which I belong. To the four members so selected I would recommend that there should be added one of our most distinguished economical and political writers — such, for instance, as Mr. John Stuart Mill. I think a Commission so constituted, with full powers of inquiry, would deserve and obtain the confidence both of this country and of the colonies, and would lead to the most important results. I hope that I have succeeded in giving the House a clear notion of what is the object of my motion, and that I have satisfied the House that I am actuated by the desire of promoting the well-being of the colonial empire. In conclusion, I must beg the House to observe that by agreeing to my motion the House will not pledge itself to any specific principles of colonial polity, or to any 1 Mr. (afterwards Sir G.) Cornewall Lewis. * Sir J. Graham. * Mr. Gladstone. 264 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. positive legislation, but only to the position that there ought to be a searching inquiry into our system of colonial administration. Can any one deny that such an inquiry is desirable, and that it may produce great benefits both to Great Britain and the colonies ? Therefore, in the firm conviction that my motion is both a practical and a useful one, worthy of the consideration and approval of the House, I now beg leave to move that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, pray- ing that her Majesty will be graciously pleased to appoint a Commission to inquire into the adminis- tration of her Majesty's colonial possessions, with the view of removing the causes of colonial com- plaint, diminishing the cost of colonial government, and giving free scope to individual enterprise in the business of colonising. ON REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. April io, 1851. [The resolutions were seconded by Mr. Urquhart. The previous question was moved by Mr. Hawes, but the debate stood adjourned before a division could be taken.] Sir, I must apologise to the House for again bringing under its consideration a subject to which I have repeatedly called its attention in the course of the last two or three years — I mean the amount of the expenditure of this country on account of the colonies. One of my chief reasons for asking the House to reconsider this question is, that there IS a strong desire amongst various classes of the community that certain obnoxious taxes should be repealed ; in order to repeal them, there is a great wish that our national expenditure should, if possible, be diminished. Can any reduction be made in that expenditure without injury to the interests of the British Empire ? The greater portion of that expenditure is on account of the interest of the National Debt, and in that no reduction can be made. The remainder of the national expenditure is on account of the government of the united king- doms and of the colonies. I will not now express any opinion whether any considerable reduction can be made, and ought to be made, in the ex- penditure on account of the united kingdoms ; but 266 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. I must say that I entertain a strong conviction that a considerable portion of our expenditure on account of the colonies is excessive, and that it can be diminished without injury to the interests either of the united kingdoms or of the colonies ; and, therefore, I think that steps should be taken to relieve the people, as speedily as possible, from a portion of that burden. In order to sustain these positions, I will first state, as correctly as I can, the amount of the annual expenditure of this country on account of the colonies. I am sorry that I cannot do so com- pletely and correctly for any period later than the year 1846-47 ; because no later returns upon which I can rely have been presented to Parliament. Since that period some reductions have been made in our colonial expenditure, for which the Colonial Office deserves credit ; but I believe they have been inconsiderable in amount compared to those which, in my opinion, could be made. In the year 1846-47 the expenditure of this country, on account of the colonies, amounted to 3,500,000/. It consisted chiefly of two items : namely, civil expenditure about 500,000/., and military expenditure about 3,000,000/. I will begin with the military expenditure, under which head I include ordnance and commissarial expenditure. This expenditure has increased ver rapidly in the last twenty years. In 1832 it wasj only 1,800,000/. ; in 1835 it became 2,000,000/. ; ii 1843-44 it amounted to 2,500,000/. ; and in 1846-4; to 3,000,000/.; an increase of 1,200,000/. in th( interval between 1832 and 1846-47. The sum oi 3,000,000/. did not by any means represent th( 1851.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 267 whole military expenditure of this country on account of the colonies for the year 1846-47 ; it was merely the effective expenditure ; that is, the sum actually paid by this country for military services then being performed in the colonies ; or, in other words, the sum required for the pay, clothing, maintenance, and establishments of the 45,700 regular troops, artillerymen, and engineers then serving in the colonies. Besides the effective military expenditure, there is non-effective military expenditure on account of the colonies ; that is, the sum annually paid for military services which have been performed in the colonies ; I mean the sum paid in the shape of half-pay, pensions, and retiring allowances to the soldiers who have served in the colonies ; or, in other words, that portion of the dead-weight which has been produced by the military force which has been maintained on account of the colonies. Therefore, to estimate the whole military cost of the colonies to this country, I must add to 3,000,000/. of effective military expenditure a proportionate amount of the dead-weight. Now, in the year 1846-47, our whole military expenditure, including ordnance and com- missariat, amounted to 9,000,000/. ; of this sum 6,600,000/. were effective expenditure and 2,400,000/. non-effective ; of the 6,600,000/. of effective ex- penditure I have already said that 3,000,000/., or 5-iiths, were on account of the colonies; I am therefore entitled to infer that 5-iiths of the dead- weight, or about 1,000,000/. of it, were also on account of the colonies. So that the whole military cost of the colonies to the united kingdoms in the year 1846-47 must have amounted to 4,000,000/. 268 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. To this sum I should be entitled to add a further sum on account of the extra troops which are required to be kept in this country for the purpose of relieving the troops in the colonies ; and I will quote high authorities for so doing. The late Sir R. Peel, in making his financial statement for 1845, said : — ** The main expense on account of the army is caused by the extent of our colonial possessions. To make no provision for the relief of the troops serving in them would be inconsistent with humanity in the first place, and with prudence in the second. . . . You have thirty-five battalions at home, not, as it is supposed, for the purpose of restraining the population, but for the purpose of maintaining the system of relief for your regiments serving abroad. Your rule is five years at home and ten years abroad for your regiments." The other night the Secretary at War,^ on pro- pOvsing the army estimates, stated that one of his great arguments for keeping up an effective military force at home was to maintain the system of relief established by Sir R. Peel's Government. Accord- ing to that system, for every two regiments serving in the colonies one regiment would be required to be maintained at home to afford relief. Last year the military force in the colonies, exclusive of colonial corps, which do not require to be relieved, amounted to about 30,000 men, and that force would consequently require 15,000 men in this country for their relief. I should likewise be entitled to charge to the colonial military account a considerable sum for native wars, rebellions, and 1 Mr. Fox Maule. 1851.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 269 Other extraordinary events. If I put nothing down for these two items, I can scarcely be accused of over-estimating the military cost of the colonies to the united kingdoms when I reckon it at not less than 4,000,000/. a year ; a sum amounting to about 95. in the pound sterling on our exports to the colonies in 1849 ; exceeding by 600,000/. the whole of the local revenues of the colonies for that year, and equal to the sum collected from the window- tax and the excise duties on soap, paper, and hops. Can any reduction be made in this expenditure ? It is evident that no immediate reduction can be made in the 1,000,000/. of dead-weight, for that depends upon the number of troops which have been maintained in the colonies. If, however, the military force there were permanently reduced, ultimately the dead-weight would be reduced. It is only, then, in the 3,000,000/. of effective expendi- ture that any immediate reduction can be made. How is this sum expended ? The greater portion of it is spent on the pay, clothing and maintenance of the troops in the colonies. In the year 1846-47 the military force there consisted of 42,000 regular troops, 3,000 artillerymen, and about 700 engineers, in all 45,700. At present, I believe, the number is about 43,000, exclusive of the reinforcements which have been sent to the Cape of Good Hope. In 1846-47 the pay, clothing and maintenance of the troops in the colonies cost this country about 2,100,000/. These troops were scattered over thirty-seven colonies ; in each colony there is one or more stations ; in each station there is a com- missariat, ordnance, or barrack establishment, and, generally, all three ; to these establishments are 270 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. attached commissariat officers, barrack-masters, storekeepers, clerks of the works, and sundry work- men. The salaries of these persons cost this country, in 1846-47, 280,000/. In each station there is a storehouse ; in each storehouse there is a quantity of stores ; according to a return pre- sented to the Committee on Ordnance Expenditure, the value of the stores in the colonial storehouses in 1846-47 amounted to 2,500,000/. — a quantity of stores sufficient for twenty years' consumption during peace, if they do not perish previously ; yet in that year we spent in ordnance stores for the colonies 140,000/. In connection with these stations there are generally either fortifications, or ordnance works, or other military buildings ; these buildings have been erected at a great expense, and cost this country annually a large sum for improve- ments and repairs. We expended in the interval between 1829 ^^^ 1847, 3>5oOjOOo/. on these buildings ; and in 1846-47 we paid 330,000/. for improvements and repairs to these buildings. The last item I will mention is the transport of troops and stores, which in 1846-47 cost 110,000/. Adding these items together, their sum is about 3,000,000/. It is evident that the cost of all these things must, in a series of years, be in proportion to the number of troops we maintain in the colonies. For if we keep a large body of troops in the colonies they must be well paid, fed, and clothed ; there must be barracks for them to dwell in, stores for them to consume, fortifications for them to defend, ships to transport them to and from the colonies, and, finally, half-pay and pensions for them when unfit for service. I will not deny that some saving i85i.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 271 might be made in the details of this expenditure, but that saving cannot but be trifling compared to the whole sum expended, as long as we maintain the present amount of military force in the colonies. Therefore, if we wish to make a reduction in the military cost of the colonies we must begin by making a reduction in the military force maintained there at our expense. Can we reduce the military force in the colonies without injury to the interests of the British Empire ? Do we require that 45,000 troops should be maintained in the colonies at the expense of the United Kingdom ? And if so, for what purposes and how are they employed ? In 1846-47 about 3,000 men were serving in the convict colonies of Bermuda and Van Diemen's Land ; about 16,700 men kept garrison in the military stations, includ- ing Ceylon ; and the remainder, amounting to about 26,000 men, were stationed in the colonies, properly so called. I will say nothing on the general question of convict colonies, except that in such colonies troops must be kept to preserve order among the convicts. In Bermuda, in 1846-47, the military force amounted to 1,361 men, and cost about 74,000/. ; in Van Diemen's Land, in the same year, the military force amounted to 1,500 men, and cost about 93,000/. With regard to Van Diemen's Land, I have given notice that on an early occasion I will move an address, praying her Majesty to comply with the prayers of the inhabitants of that colony by dis- continuing transportation to it. If their universal prayer be listened to, and transportation discon- tinued, the troops might be ultimately withdrawn 27a SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH, from Van Diemen's Land, with a saving in the effective military expenditure of this country to the amount of about 93,000/. a year. I next proceed to the mihtary stations. Omitting those which are situated within the boundaries of the colonies properly so called, our chief military stations are Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, the stations on the west coast of Africa (including the newly-acquired Danish forts), St. Helena, the Mauritius, Hong Kong, Labuan, and the Falkland Islands ; and to these I will add, for the sake of brevity, Ceylon. The military force in these stations in 1846-47 amounted to about 16,700 men, and they cost about 710,000/. I will not now inquire whether we ought to maintain a garrison in every one of these places. On a former occasion I attempted to prove that it was not worth while to keep about 3,000 troops in the Ionian Islands at the cost of about go,ooo/. a year ; that we had thrown away about 400,000/. on fortifications at Corfu ; and that the fortresses of Malta and Gibraltar, which we were then repairing and im- proving at an estimated cost of about 460,000/., were sufficient for all the wants of Great Britain in the Mediterranean. I also attempted to prove, with regard to the stations on the west coast of Africa, that, by abandoning our crusade against the slave trade, these stations might be dispensed with, and that, by so doing, and also withdrawing the African squadron, a saving might be made in the military and naval expenditure of this country to the amount of 450,000/. a year. I also remarked that Ceylon properly belonged to our East Indian system of states ; that, in all probability, it would I85I.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 273 be better governed if it were transferred to the East India Company, and that a saving might thus be made of about 83,000/. a year. Sir, I must observe that the motives which have led this country to acquire miHtary stations are very different from those which have induced us to promote the plantation of colonies ; and that our policy with regard to military stations is quite of a different character from our policy with regard to colonies properly so called. The motives under the influence of which this country has acquired military stations may be stated in a very few words. Great Britain has long been, and in the opinion of its statesmen, its Parliaments, and its people ought to continue to be, essentially a naval Power. It aspires to be the first naval Power on the earth, to carry on commerce in every portion of the globe, and to protect that commerce with its fleets. It desires that those fleets should patrol the ocean, and be the maritime police of mankind. In order to refit those fleets, to afford shelter to them, and to give protection to its merchant ships when war is raging, it has been the policy of the statesmen of England, with the consent and approbation of the people and Parliament, to take military pos- session of harbours in various parts of the world. Assuming this policy to be a sound one, I ask, what are the rules which should determine the number of our military stations, and the selection of their sites ? I think the rules should be that, subject to the condition of accomplishing the objects of the naval policy of Great Britain, our military stations should be as few in number as possible, and that each station should be selected 274 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. SO as to cost as little as possible. They should be as few in number as possible ; for every military station must cost a considerable sum of money annually; therefore every superfluous military station is a permanent source of unnecessary expense. It is also a cause of weakness ; for an empire is strong, ceteris paribus, in proportion as it has fewer points to defend ; for the fewer points it has to defend, the more it can concentrate its forces, and therefore the more powerful it is either for offence or defence. In order that our military stations may be as few in number as possible, consistently with the attainment of the objects of the naval policy of Great Britain, it is evident that they should be carefully chosen, so as most readily to afford shelter and protection to our ships. Therefore they ought to be situated as near as possible to the great commercial highways of the ocean. Secondly, each military station should be selected with the view of costing as little as possible. Now, the cost of a station depends chiefly upon the number of troops required to defend it ; and that number depends upon the military strength or weakness of the position of the station ; therefore, the best place, ceteris paribus, for a military station is one which can with difficulty be attacked, and can easily be defended by a small garrison. It is evident that these conditions are best fulfilled by small islands, or peninsular extremities of continents ; the less connected with the adjoining land the better. I think, therefore, that the true policy of this country, with regard to military stations, is to occupy only a few com- manding positions with good harbours. They 1851.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 275 should be small, isolated, salient points ; easily defended, and close to the beaten paths of the ocean. I hold it to be quite contrary to the true policy of Great Britain to take military possession of large islands or vast portions of continents. I consider it to be utterly absurd for an essentially naval Power to attempt the military defence of extensive coasts or long lines of frontier. That attempt has been made in South Africa with disastrous and costly results. If similar attempts be made, and vast, numerous, and costly military stations be occupied by this country, I fear much that the result will be that the extremities of the empire will gradually drain it of its wealth and vital powers, that the centre will thus become paralysed, and that finally the empire will fall abroad and perish of exhaustion. I think that amongst our military stations those which best fulfil the condi- tions of good military stations are Gibraltar, at the mouth of the Mediterranean ; Malta, near its centre ; Bermuda, in mid-Atlantic ; Halifax, com- manding the coast of North America ; Barbados, amongst the Islands of the West Indies ; the peninsular extremity of South Africa, on the route to India ; the Mauritius, on the same road, and commanding the Persian Gulf; Singapore, at the entrance of the China seas ; and perhaps Hong Kong, amidst those seas. I have named these nine stations because I am inclined to believe that it is not necessary, for the attainment of the objects of the naval policy of Great Britain, that we should keep militaiy possession of more than these. To garrison them (apart from Hong Kong) as they were garrisoned in 1846-47, a military force 276 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of 17,000 men would be sufficient ; and they would cost about 850,000/. a year in effective military expenditure. This is not much more than the sum which the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, with its Kaffir wars, annually costs us on the average of years. I think that this fact illustrates, in the most striking manner, the importance of the rule which I have laid down with regard to the selection of military stations. For if we consider, as some persons do, the whole colony of the Cape of Good Hope to be merely a military station, then the expense of this one ill-chosen station would be equal to the expense of our eight best-chosen stations ; and the sum of money which we lavish upon the Cape of Good Hope would, in my opinion, be sufficient to defray the military ex- pense of all the stations which our naval policy requires. I will now proceed to the colonies properly so called. I mean the North American colonies, the West Indian plantations, the Australasian colonies, with the exception of Van Diemen's Land, and our South African empire. The military force in these colonies in 1846-47 amounted to about 26,000 men, and they cost about 2,000,000/. in effective military expenditure. If to this sum be added a proportionate amount of the dead-weight, the whole military cost of these colonies to the united kingdoms would amount to about 2,600,000/. a year. The sum is equal to 85. 6^. in the pound on our exports to these colonies in 1849, and was as large as the whole amount of their local revenues in that year. I have heard some persons who take merely a commercial and economical view 1851.J REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 277 of these questions, ask, why do we retain dominion over these colonies ? Would it not be better for us if they were independent ? Our independent colonies of the United States, say these gentlemen, cost us only about 10,000/. a year for consular and diplomatic services, and we sent them in 1849 12,000,000/. of exports, or twice the value of our exports to colonies which are costing us 2,600,000/. a year, or 260 times as much as the United States. Now, I answer, that the greater portion of this expenditure is unnecessary, or may ultimately be rendered unnecessary. I maintain that if these colonies were governed as they ought to be governed no troops ought to be maintained in them at the expense of the united kingdoms, except for strictly imperial purposes, and that the expenses of all troops required for local purposes ought to be paid by the colonies. And, if these views be correct, it appears to me that the military force maintained in the colonies at the expense of this country might ultimately be reduced to the men required for the military stations. With the permission of the House, I will explain, as shortly as I can, the reasons which have led me to the conclusions which I have just stated. I have said that the policy of this country, with regard to its true colonies, is of a very different character from its policy with regard to military stations ; for the motives which have induced it to plant colonies are quite different from those which led it to occupy militar}' stations. We all know that, ever since the new world was discovered, it has been the unceasing desire of England to plant that new world with new Englands. It was the ardent wish 278 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of thivS country that its children should occupy the uninhabited portions of the earth's surface, and carry along with them to their new homes the laws, the institutions, and feelings of Englishmen ; that they should there become bold, energetic, and self-relying men, capable and willing to aid their parent in times of need, and not weak, puling infants, ever crying to their mother for assistance and emptying her purse. Now, it is as true of bodies of men as it is of individual men, that the best mode of developing in them energy, courage, and self-reliance is not to coddle and fondle them, and to tie them to a mother's apron, but to throw them upon their own resources, and to let them rough it and battle it with the world. Therefore, it was the old polity of this country, with regard to plantations, and it still is the recognised constitutional doctrine with regard to them, that their inhabitants should take care of themselves and manage their local affairs, and govern themselves by representative institutions. Now, most of our colonies, properly so called, do possess representative institutions, and all of them are about to possess those institutions. With such institutions no taxes can be levied in these colonies without the consent of the representatives of the people ; and their inhabitants cannot be constitu- tionally compelled to contribute out of their taxes to the revenues of the united kingdoms. Therefore, reciprocally, the people of the united kingdoms ought not to be called upon to pay out of their own taxes any portion of the local expenses of such colonies ; and, consequently, in such colonies all expenses for local purposes should be paid out of local revenues, while all 1851.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 279 expenses for imperial purposes should be paid out of imperial revenues. I will now proceed to apply the principles which I have laid down to answering the question, Who ought to pay for the military force which is main- tained in a colony ? To do so I must first endeavour to determine, among the various purposes for which a military force may be required in a colony, what are those which ought to be considered as imperial purposes and what are those which ought to be considered as local purposes ? In answer, I say there are only two objects for which a military force can be required in a colony ; namely, either for war with external foes or to preserve order and tranquillity within the colony. First, with respect to war with external foes : a military force may be required in a colony in consequence of its being engaged, or likely to be engaged, in war with a foreign potentate (with a lawful Power, to use the language of the law of nations), or a military force may be required in a colony for war with savage tribes on its frontier. Now, it is evident that a colony cannot be lawfully engaged in war with a lawful Power without the empire of which it is a part being also engaged in that war. Therefore, every such war is, necessarily, an imperial war ; the troops employed in it are employed for imperial purposes, and, consequently, their expenses ought to be paid by the imperial Government; though, in certain cases, it would not be unreasonable to expect that the colonies should assist the empire both with troops and money ; and I feel convinced that, if the colonies were governed as they ought to be, they would gladly and willingly come to the aid 28o SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of the mother country in any just and necessary war. They would do as the men of our old North American plantations did during a war with France, when they willingly bore a large portion of the burden of the contest with that monarchy and its Indian allies, and in every way proved themselves to be the hardy and generous sons of England. I will next speak of wars with savage tribes on the frontier of a colony. The answer to the question whether such wars ought to be considered as strictly local wars or not ; whether any portion of the expense of such wars ought to be defrayed by the local Government or not — the answers to these questions depend upon the nature of the govern- ment of the colony. If the inhabitants of a colony have representative institutions, and the manage- ment of their local affairs, and if the relations between them and the frontier tribes be conducted by local officers, then the local Government must be held responsible for the result ; and if the result be war, and that war be conducted by local officers, and the expenditure on account of it be under local control, then I think that it is quite clear that the whole expense of that war should be paid by the colony, and no portion of it by the united kingdoms. And I feel convinced that if the local Governments had to pay the expense of native wars those Govern- ments would take care not rashly to engage in war ; and, when engaged in it, it would be for their interest to bring the war to a termination as speedily as possible, and at the least possible cost. Unfortunately it is quite different when the imperial Government has to pay for a native war. Then it is the interest of many persons in the 1851.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 281 colony that the war should be made as expensive as possible. Now, it is very difficult for the im- perial Government at home to exercise any efficient control over such expenditure. For instance, no one in this country has a distinct idea how 2,000,000/. were spent in the last Kaffir war. Sir Henry Pottinger told Lord Grey that it was impossible to convey an adequate idea of the confusion, the unauthorised expense, and the attendant pecu- lation which prevailed during that war. And the Commissioners of Audit have reported that they could not audit the accounts, for no accounts had been kept. I believe that it is almost im- possible for the imperial Government at home to exercise any real check over such expenditure ; and I believe that it is also very difficult, if not impos- sible, for the imperial officers in the colony to resist the claims poured in upon them from every quarter ; for, the imperial purse being considered inexhaustible, every one in the colony is intent either upon picking it himself or assisting others in picking it, whenever a fair opportunity like a native war occurs. On the other hand, the resist- ance offered by the imperial officers in a colony is generally languid, for they have no clear and permanent interest in offending those around them by keeping down imperial expenditure, provided it does not become so extravagantly great as to cause a great outcry in this House ; and, generally speak- ing, honourable members know nothing about the matter till two or three years after the money has been spent. Then it is too late ; fair promises are made, which are invariably broken. It appears to me to be of the utmost importance that we should 282 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. not, if possible, be made liable for any bill on account of native wars ; for such a bill will always be a most extortionate one ; and yet in no one case that I remember were the extortioners con- tented, but invariably accused us of being mean, shabby, and not paying enough. If in any excep- tional case it should be deemed expedient to assist a colony possessing self-government in a native war, I am inclined to think that the wisest plan would be to give the colony a round sum of money, and let the local government employ it in the manner which it deems best. On the other hand, I must admit that if the inhabitants of a colony do not possess representative institutions, if they have no voice in the management of their local affairs, if they are governed by the Colonial Office, and if the relations between them and the native tribes are conducted by officers responsible to the Colonial Office, then the Colonial Office, that is, the imperial Government, must be held responsible for the result, and if the result be war, as the war will be conducted by imperial officers, as the expenditure on account of it will be under imperial control, as such wars are apt to be hastily produced, unnecessarily prolonged, and conducted with lavish expense, it would not be just to throw the whole burden of such wars on the colony, but a portion at least of the expense ought to be paid by the imperial Government. I will now proceed to the question, Who ought to pay the expense of the troops which may be required in a colony to preserve internal order and tranquillity ? I think the answer to this question depends, also, upon the nature and form of the i85i.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 283 government of a colony ; for disorder, riots, and insurrections are almost invariably the conse- quences of bad government. Therefore, if the inhabitants of a colony have representative insti- tutions, and the management of their local affairs, and if they mismanage those affairs, then they should be held responsible for the result ; and if the result be riots and insurrections, then it is clear that the expense of the troops, required to preserve internal order and tranquillity in the colony, ought to be paid by the colony. On the other hand, if the inhabitants of a colony do not possess representative institutions, but are governed by the Colonial Office, then the Colonial Office, that is, the imperial Government, should be held responsible for the result ; and therefore, if troops be required to preserve internal order and tran- quillity, the expense ought to be paid by the imperial Government. For the Colonial Office is responsible to Parliament ; therefore, if the Colonial Office misgovern a colony, Parliament is to blame, and it is but just that the people of this country should pay the penalty. It is also a good thing that they should every now and then be severely fined on account of Colonial Office misgovernment. Because, generally speaking, little attention is paid in this House to the grievances of the colonies, and little redress given, unless those grievances are likely to be presented to us in the shape of a long bill for a war, or a rebellion, or something else of the same kind. For instance, Canada obtained responsible government by sending us in, according to my honourable friend the member for Montrose,* » Mr. T. Hume. 284 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. a bill of 5,000,000/. for a rebellion. The last Kaffir war, with a bill of 2,000,000/., set us all a-thinking about representative institutions for the Cape of Good Hope ; and I have no doubt that the present Kaffir war, with another bill of 2,000,000/., will convert us all into Lycurguses and Solons, so far as that colony is concerned. Sir, if the arguments which I have used are sound, they lead to the conclusions — first, that no troops ought to be maintained at the expense of the united kingdoms in any one of our true colonies after it has obtained self-government, either for war with native tribes or to preserve internal peace and tranquillity ; second, that when the British Empire is engaged, or likely to be engaged, in war with a foreign potentate, then the expense of the troops required to defend the colony should be paid by the imperial Government ; and, thirdly, if it be expedient, for imperial purposes, to garrison certain fortresses or naval stations, situated within the boundaries of our true colonies, then the expense of those garrisons ought also to be paid out of the imperial revenues. Sir W. Molesworth then proceeded to consider separately each group of colonies. In the North American colonies : ^' According to the principles which I have laid down, no troops ought to be maintained except for strictly imperial purposes. I have sometimes heard it said that we must keep a military force in these colonies to prevent annexa- tion to the United States ; but there is no danger of annexation to the United States, unless the majority of the inhabitants of these colonies desire annexation ; and, if they were to desire it, it would 1851.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 285 be great folly to attempt to resist annexation by force of arms ; for such an attempt would certainly be unsuccessful, and the presence of a body of troops would only tend to lead to a disastrous, fruitless, and costly struggle. But I believe that there is and will be no wish to separate from us, as long as the wise and prudent policy of Lord Grey towards these colonies be adhered to." With regard to the West Indies : *' There is no danger of aggres- sion from the United States, unless the majority of the colonists wish to separate from us ; and, if they were to entertain such a wish, I maintain that it would not be worth our while to retain them by force of arms." In Australia, Lord Grey was already acting upon the lines proposed, while *' if we were to give to the colonists of New Zealand free institutions and the management of their local affairs we might withdraw our troops from New Munster^ at least, and the colonists would be able to defend themselves, and would take care to be on good terms with the natives." After dealing at considerable length with the affairs of South Africa, Sir William Molesworth continued : I have now concluded my observations with regard to the military expenditure of Great Britain on account of the colonies, which are neither military stations nor convict settlements. I have attempted to prove that no troops ought to be maintained at our expense in any one of those colonies after it has obtained free institutions, except for strictly imperial purposes ; and that it is not just to call upon the people of this country to defray out of their taxes any portion of the expense ^ South Island. 286 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of the troops required for local purposes. I have endeavoured to show that by applying these principles to our North American colonies and West Indian plantations a considerable reduction might immediately be made in the amount of force which we maintain in these colonies, with an ultimate reduction in our effective military expendi- ture on account of them to the amount of about 650,000/. a year. I have also attempted to show that if we were to give self-government to our colonists in New Zealand and South Africa a very considerable reduction might ultimately be made in the amount of force which we maintain in these colonies, with an ultimate saving to this country of about 550,000/. a year in effective military expendi- ture. Therefore, the total saving which I now propose for the consideration of the House would amount to about 1,200,000/. a year in effective expenditure ; if to this sum be added a propor- tionate amount of the dead-weight, the whole saving would in course of time amount to about 1,600,000/. a year. If my views with regard to military stations be correct, and were to be acted upon, then a much larger reduction than that which I have mentioned might be made in our colonial military expenditure. I have still to mention the civil expenditure of this country on account of the colonies. On this subject I have very little to say, for it is evident that the principles which I have laid down with regard to colonial military expenditure are equally applicable to colonial civil expenditure ; and if they are correct, it follows that whenever a colony which is neither a military station nor a convict 1851.] REDUCTION OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 287 settlement has representative institutions all civil expenses for local purposes ought to be paid by the colony, while all civil expenses for imperial purposes ought to be paid by the united kingdoms. In 1846-47 our colonial civil expenditure was 500,000/. Of this sum about 300,000/. were for the clothing, maintenance and transport of convicts; and 70,000/. were expended on the military stations; these two sums, therefore, were required for imperial purposes, and it was proper that this country should pay them. Of the remaining 130,000/., 11,000/. were paid to the North American clergy — that charge will cease with the lives of the present clergy ; 14,000/. were paid in the shape of presents to the Indian tribes in Canada; about 80,000/. were spent in the West Indies in salaries to clergymen, stipendiary magistrates, and gover- nors ; and, lastly, about 20,000/. were spent in New Zealand. It appears to me that the whole of this sum of 130,000/. ought, according to my principles, to be ultimately saved, with the exception of the sum required for the salaries of colonial governors ; for, in my opinion, as long as colonial governors are appointed by the imperial Government they should be looked upon as imperial officers, and therefore their salaries should be paid by the united kingdoms. In concluding my observations on our colonial expenditure I must remark that in every colony there are many persons who have a strong sinister interest in the amount of imperial expenditure. These persons have made, or expect to make, large gains by contracts, jobs, and by the innumerable other modes of robbing the mother country. They 288 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. rejoice on every increase of imperial expenditure. To them a Kaffir or a Maori war or a rebellion is a godsend. I have heard on good authority that in the Canadian rebellion the enormous gains of these persons were equal to the losses of the rest of the community, and that they have been heard to toast the good old times of that rebellion, and the speedy commencement of the next. Sir H. Smith has stated in one of his despatches that during the last Kaffir war many persons amassed large sums of money ; that the consequences were a redun- dancy of money at the Cape of Good Hope, with general prosperity, and a tendency to over-specula- tion. I have heard similar statements with regard to New Zealand. And it is self-evident that, with an imperial expenditure many times greater than the local revenues of a colony, there must be a fine harvest for the jobbing and peculating tribe, and that noxious race must flourish and multiply. To this class, and it is not an uninfluential one, in our modern colonies, any proposal for a reduction of imperial expenditure is in the highest degree distasteful. Corrupted by that expenditure, they have not the feelings of self-reliance and self- respect which, according to the just remark of Lord Grey, our old colonies displayed in their conflicts with the Indians, and even with the might of France. Many of these unworthy Anglo-Saxons would, in their hearts, prefer Colonial Office des- potism, with huge imperial expenditure, to the freest institutions with imperial economy. We are to blame for this degeneracy, which every high-minded and every right-minded colonist deplores. We are to blame for having departed from our old colonial l85i.] reduction OF COLONIAL EXPENDITURE. 289 polity, and demoralised our colonial children by our waste and extravagance. The sooner we return to the old polity the better for them morally, for us pecuniarily ; their character will be elevated and ennobled by becoming self-reliant, and obtain- ing self-government ; and our money will be saved by bestowing upon them the freest institutions, and strictly enforcing the maxim — no imperial expenditure for local purposes. That maxim is the vsum and substance of my first resolution. These resolutions express my idea of the true colonial policy of Great Britain, which is self-government for true colonies, and no imperial expenditure except for military stations. With that policy the more true colonies we have, and the fewer military stations we have need of, the richer and more powerful the British Empire will be. I move these resolutions in no hostile spirit to the Government, but, on the contrary, to encourage them to pursue boldly and vigorously the policy which they have commenced on the continent of Australia. I ask them to assent to this motion. I ask all honour- able members to support it who wish to reduce the national expenditure ; for if there be any portion of that expenditure in which a considerable reduction can be made without injury to the empire, that portion is our colonial expenditure ; and that expenditure can only be reduced by acting in conformity with the principles contained in the resolutions which I now beg leave to move : — I. " That it is the opinion of this House that steps should be taken to relieve this country, as speedily as possible, from its present civil and military expenditure on account of the colonies, with the M. u 290 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. exception of its expenditure on account of military stations or convict settlements." 2. '* That it is expedient, at the same time, to give to the inhabi- tants of the colonies, which are neither military stations nor convict settlements, ample powers for their local self-government, and to free them from that imperial interference with their affairs which is inseparable from their present military occupation." ON THE INTRODUCTION OF THE BILL FOR THE BETTER GOVERNMENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES. February 8, 1850. [The resolutions proposed by Lord John Russell before the introduction of the Australian Government Bill were as follows : 1. That provision be made for the better government of Her Majesty's Australian colonies. 2. That the Governor and Legislative Council of Her Majesty's Australian colonies be authorised to impose and levy duties of customs on goods, wares, and merchandise imported into such colonies.] The noble lord, the Prime Minister, commenced the very able speech to which we have been listening by tracing the origin and progress of our colonial empire, and in so doing he stated many important facts with regard to the amount of the population and the extent of the commerce of our colonies ; thence the noble lord inferred that the loss of our colonial possessions would be a heavy blow and a great injury to the British Empire, and that every one who wished well to this country would endeavour to prevent such a catastrophe. Then the noble lord proceeded to make known his opinions on the subject of colonial government ; he declared that his colonial polity would be founded on the principles of commercial freedom and of V 2 292 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. colonial self-government ; and he expressed his hopes that he should be able by these means to promote the wealth and population of the colonies, and to attach them firmly to the British Empire. And the noble lord concluded this speech with moving for leave to bring in a Bill for the better government of the colonies of Australia, the provisions of which Bill he fully explained to the Committee. The question, therefore, for considera- tion is, has the noble lord laid down the true prin- ciples of colonial polity ; and if he has done so, is his Bill framed in accordance with those principles ? I assent without hesitation to the general prin- ciples of colonial polity, which the noble lord has laid down ; and I may presume, likewise, to do so on behalf of the gentlemen who formed the associa- tion for the reform of colonial government. As the noble lord referred in terms partly of censure to that association, of which I have the honour to be a member, I may be permitted to state very shortly why we formed it. We did so because we agreed with the noble lord that we ought to maintain our colonial empire ; because we knew that discontent prevailed throughout our colonies ; because we believed that a train of errors, similar to that which lost us the United States, was endangering the colonial possessions that remained; because, to save those possessions, we wished for a reform of our colonial system ; because we despaired of any such reform coming from the Colonial Office ; and because past experience warned us against putting faith in the promises of the Colonial Office. We held that we were right in forming that 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 293 association ; because every year since the present Government came into office free institutions have been promised to Australasia, and every year those promises have been broken. For instance : four years ago, on August, 14, 1846, the honourable gentleman the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies^ began by stating that ** he hoped and trusted that her Majesty's Government would be enabled in a short time to consider a better form of government for Van Diemen's Land.'* On the receipt of this intelligence great was the joy of the inhabitants of the Australian colonies ; they believed that the Secretary of State for the Colonies was about to fulfil all the expec- tations which had been raised by his unofficial speeches on colonial reform. And greater still was their joy when they received the intelligence, three years ago, that on May 17, 1847, ^^^ Under- Secretary of State for the Colonies had announced to this House " that a measure was in contem- plation, he might say in preparation, with a view to giving the benefits of the British Constitu- tion to the Australian colonies generally " — ** the measure (said the honourable gentleman) was in an advanced state, and would assuredly very speedily, either in that Session or in the next, be brought under the notice of Parliament." Now, how was this promise, made three years ago, ful- filled ? No such measure was brought under the notice of Parliament in the Session of 1847, ^^^ in 1848 ; but instead of it came a shower of fresh promises, each of them to be again broken. On March 7, 1848, the right hon. gentleman 1 Mr Hawes, 294 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the President of the Board of Trade^ appeared amongst the promise-makers, and stated that "the noble earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies hoped during the present Session of Parliament to propose a measure for granting free institutions to the Australian colonies." On the 31st of the same month the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, having found a seat, declared "that he was only waiting for an opportunity to introduce a Bill." On May 8, 1848, the noble lord the Prime Minister stated ''that it was his intention to introduce a measure at the earliest moment that it was possible." And, I ask, how were these promises, made two years ago, fulfilled ? May, June, and July passed away without the arrival of the " earliest possible moment" of the noble lord. For four months the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies waited in vain for "an opportunity." At length, on August 18, 1848, the honourable gentleman assured the House that " at the very earliest period of the next Session the Bill would be laid upon the table of the House." How was this promise kept ? On April 16 last I heard, to my astonishment, the honourable gentleman the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies reckon the Australian colonies among those which possessed free institutions ; because, as he ex- plained, they had had representative institutions conceded to them in principle, and were included in a Bill which he hoped shortly to lay on the table of the House. At length, two months afterwards, on June 4 last, the Bill was produced, the off- spring of three years' protracted parturition ; but 1 Mr. Labouchere. i850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, 295 even then its birth was premature ; it had to be immediately withdrawn, and Bill No. 2 was pro- duced ; on examination Bill No. 2 proved to be so misshapen that on July 2 the Prime Minister announced that it would be necessary to make some most important changes in it ; and finally, on July 17, the noble lord withdrew it. Thus, regularly every year, for the last four years the fairest promises have been made to these colonies, and their hopes have been raised ; and regularly every year those promises have been broken, and the hopes of the colonists bitterly disappointed. The repeated promise-breaking of the Colonial Office has produced the greatest discontent, and under the influence of angry feelings the colonists attribute the worst motives to the authors of their disappointment. They blame the people, the Par- liament, and the statesmen of Great Britain. They say that the people and Parliament care nothing and know nothing about the colonies, but abandon them entirely to the Colonial Office. They accuse the statesmen of Great Britain, especially those connected with the Colonial Office, of being in their hearts unwilling to deprive themselves of power and patronage by bestowing free institutions on the colonies. Thus many of the colonists, unfortunately believing their rulers to be selfish and faithless, have begun to despair, and in despair to ask one another how they can redress their grievances. And in reply some of them answer that it was by rebellion that Canada obtained responsible government ; that it is by threats and menaces that the men of the Cape are successfully striving to save their colony from 296 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. convict pollution ; and they ask one another whether Anglo - Australians are less energetic than the habitans of Canada, or less bold than the Boers of the Cape. That such language is used, and that such sentiments are entertained but too generally throughout some of the most important of colonial possessions, no one acquainted with those colonies can deny, or fail to lament, if, like myself, he be anxious for the preservation of the colonial empire of Great Britain. I ask, can any honourable gentleman deny that discontent prevails throughout the colonies ? I answer that every year it is increasing in intensity and becoming more alarming ; that from every quarter menacing sounds are heard, bitter com- plaints of colonial government, and fierce denun- ciations of the noble earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies. For instance, the Cape of Good Hope denounces him for having broken a solemn promise, attempted to insult and degrade an innocent colony, and driven its once loyal in- habitants to the brink of rebellion. Van Diemen's Land curses him for a breach of faith in renewing transportation, which now afflicts that ill-fated country with crimes too loathsome to mention. New South Wales, dreading a similar fate, answers with a threat of rebellion his proposal again to send convicts to that colony. His own colony of Victoria, of which he was once the chosen representative, now bids him defiance, and drives his convict ships from its shores. And even Western Australia indignantly protests against his making it a penal settlement. All Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and South Africa accuse him of having year after year raised 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 297 their hopes of obtaining free institutions ; and year after year disappointed those hopes, and, on some flimsy pretext, broken his word. British Guiana, Jamaica, and the rest of the West Indies look upon him as their worst foe, and as the enemy to economy and retrenchment. Canada taunts him with its trembling Governor^ rewarded for his prowess with a British peerage, and makes his policy a pretext for seeking to be annexed to the United States. Ceylon and the Ionian Islands accuse him of having with in- decent haste approved of and rewarded deeds that dis- grace the British name, and in the opinion of Europe rival in atrocity those of Haynau and Radetzky. And Malta taxes him with conduct unworthy of an Englishman, in refusing asylum to political exiles, and thus setting a bad example, of which the despots of Europe too gladly avail themselves. Thus, from every quarter, north, south, east, and west, from Canada and Australia, from the West Indies and South Africa, charges are brought against the present Secretary of State for the Colonies of injudicious appointments, ignorance, negligence, vacillation, breach of faith, and tyranny. Though all the colonies unanimously cry out against the noble earl, yet I maintain that it is not the indi- vidual, but the system, which is the real cause of the existing discontent ; and that as long as that system is unreformed, it matters not who may be the Secretary of State for the Colonies, discontent will prevail throughout the colonies ; and every year it will increase in intensity, menace the stability of our colonial empire, and threaten its forcible tearing asunder, to be accompanied perhaps by hateful civil 1 Lord Elgin. 298 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. wars, with vast expenditure and much misery both to this country and to the colonies. To avert this impending danger, Parliament must hasten to make a complete and thorough reform of our system of colonial government. There is no time to be lost. There has been too much delay already. The noble lord the Prime Minister challenges those persons who blame the existing system of colonial government, and at the same time wish to retain our colonial empire, to point out the line of policy which they think should be adopted. I will attempt to grapple with the challenge of the noble lord ; not by expressing in abstract terms my opinions with respect to colonial polity, but by offering some observations on the provisions of the measure which the noble lord proposes to introduce for the government of the Australian colonies. With regard to the government of a colony there appear to me to be two distinct questions to be considered : first, the form of government ; secondly, the powers to be delegated to the colonial authorities. With respect to the form of government proposed for the Australian colonies, the noble lord said that the present Bill is a repro- duction of the Bill of last year ; and the noble lord rather surprised me when he declared that by means of that Bill he intended to give to the Australian colonies a copy of the British Constitution, that copy being the present constitution of New South Wales. Now, let me describe to the Committee what is the constitution of that colony. Suppose that no members of this House had seats in virtue of holding office under the Crown, and for as long only as they held office ; and that in addition to 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 299 the 1 10 official members, there were no other members who were appointed members by the Government at the commencement of every Par- liament, making in all 220 votes at the disposal of the executive. Suppose, likewise, that the House of Lords were abolished, and that, instead of her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, we had a governor of the ordinary devScription ; then we should enjoy the benefits of the British Consti- tution after the fashion of New South Wales. How would such a constitution work with us ? We should be divided into two permanent factions, actuated by the fiercest hatred of each other. One party would pride itself upon being the representa- tives of the people, and would look with scorn and contempt upon the other party as the base and subservient tools of the Government. No question would be considered to be settled which was decided against the wishes of the elective members, and the official and nominated members would be held up to public odium and hatred if they ever presumed to defeat the wishes of the elective members. It is evident that in theory such a constitution is absurd, and that in practice it must be a very bad one. The second question is, What powers ought to be delegated to the colonial authorities ? This appears to me to be a far more important question than that of the mere form of a colonial government. I am sorry to find, from the statement of the noble lord, that he intends that the Colonial Office shall retain its present arbitrary power of disallowing all Acts of the colonial legislatures, and of otherwise inter- fering in the internal affairs of the colonies. This 300 SPEECHES OF SIR W . MOLESWORTH. arbitrary power has been, and as long as it exists I believe it will continue to be, a perpetual cause of colonial discontent and of never-ending discord between the colonies and the Imperial Government. For all the colonies complain bitterly of the power of the Colonial Office ; and these complaints are frequently but too well founded. How is it possible they can be otherwise than well founded ? Consider who are the persons who are entrusted with this arbitrary power. The heads of the Colonial Office change with every change of Government. They are absentee rulers, living at the distance of many thousands of miles from their subjects. They never have ocular experience of the condition of the colonies. They have no personal interest in the well-being of the colonists. They are always obliged to trust to second-hand and partial infor- mation with regard to the colonies. They are there- fore generally ignorant, and, worse than ignorant, they are generally misinformed about colonial questions. They are said to be responsible to Parliament ; but that responsibility is a farce ; for we cannot spare time to attend to colonial affairs ; we cannot obtain accurate and important infor- mation about the colonies ; we are, therefore, necessarily ignorant ; and our system of colonial government may with accuracy be described as government by the misinformed, with responsibility to the ignorant. This kind of government is most bitterly distasteful to men of our race and habits. How should we feel if we were colonists distant a myriad of miles from our mother country, and were liable to have our Acts of Parliament disallowed at the whim and caprice of some noble lord at the 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 301 Antipodes, responsible to a Parliament sitting at Sydney, and knowing nothing about us ? How should we like to have to wait three years before we could be certain that our Acts of Parliament are laws? Why does the noble lord retain this arbitrary power to the Colonial Office ? The noble lord said that the Colonial Office is the guardian of Imperial interests, and ought therefore to retain the power of disallowing Acts of the colonial legislatures, lest those legislatures should make laws injurious to imperial interests. I readily acknowledge that means should be taken to prevent the colonial legislatures from making laws injurious to imperial interests ; but I deny that it is necessary for this purpose that the Colonial Office should retain arbitrary power. I would propose a substitute for that power, by means of which, I believe that imperial interests would be guarded without pro- ducing colonial discontent. I would divide all executive and legislative powers, with reference to a colony, into two distinct classes. One class I would call imperial powers, because they ought to be strictly reserved to the Imperial Government ; and they ought to be so reserved, because they are indispensable for the maintenance of the unity of the empire, and for the management of the common concerns of the whole empire. Therefore they ought on no account to be delegated to the colonies, and the colonial legislatures ought not to be entitled to make any laws affecting or derogating from imperial powers ; for, if they were entitled so to do, the unity of the empire would be destroyed. Now, all other execu- tive and legislative powers with reference to a 302 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. colony, except the imperial onCvS, I call local powers ; because they have reference to the manage- ment of the local concerns of a colony, as dis- tinguished from the common concerns of the whole empire. It is evidently of great and primary im- portance to this country, and to the empire as a whole, in what manner imperial powers are exer- cised ; therefore imperial powers, as I have just said, ought to be strictly reserved to the Imperial Government, and no colonial legislature should be entitled to make any law affecting or derogating from imperial powers. On the other hand, it is evidently a matter of little or secondary importance to this country, and to the empire as a whole, in what manner local powers are exercised, provided only that the colonists are not dissatisfied with the Imperial Government on account of the manner in which the local powers are exercised. Now, it is impossible for men on one side of the globe to manage the affairs of Englishmen on the other side of the globe without producing intense dissatisfac- tion. On the other hand, if the colonists were to obtain the uncontrolled management of their local affairs, and if in any respect they were to mis- manage their local affairs, for so doing they would have themselves to blame and nobody else. There- fore I infer that we ought to delegate to the colonies all local powers, and entitle them to pass any law affecting their local concerns. Consequently, I infer that we ought to deprive the Colonial Office of its present arbitrary power to disallow all Acts of the colonial legislatures, and to limit the power of the Colonial Office to questions affecting imperial powers. For this purpose it would be necessary i85o.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 303 carefully to enumerate and accurately to define the powers which ought to be held to be imperial powers. Now the noble lord says that it would be impossible to draw the line of distinction between imperial and local powers. The noble lord, with his numerous occupations, cannot spare time to attend very carefully to these subjects. But I am sure that if the noble lord would apply his energies to the question, he could draw the line of distinction. For a definition of imperial powers has not only been attempted, but made successfully, by those Anglo-Saxon statesmen who formed the constitution of the United States of America. I proposed last Session that a Royal Commis- sion should be appointed to prepare a measure of colonial reform. I regret much that the House did not assent to that proposal ; for by this time the House would have possessed a more accurate enumeration of imperial powers than that which it can expect from me ; but which I am prepared at this moment to make if the Committee would bear with me for a few minutes. The Committee must understand that I propose that the colonial legislatures shall be restricted from making any law affecting or derogating from the following powers : [For an enumeration of imperial powers and of the restrictions proposed to be put upon the powers of the colonial legislatures, see speech of May 6, at page 365, and the constitution proposed for New South Wales, which is printed in the note.] It is evident that a colonial legislature might in- advertently, or even intentionally, exceed its powers, and pass an enactment in contravention of the 304 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. restrictions put on its powers. I therefore pro- pose that such an enactment shall be invalid ; and that there shall be a supreme court, which shall have both original and appellate jurisdiction in all questions touching the validity of a colonial enactment ; and I propose that the Queen in Council shall be that supreme court. I have now described the main features of the constitution which I would propose for the Australian colonies, and by which I would substitute for the arbitrary power of the Colonial Office a legally defined power. Now, there is nothing which men of our race hate more than arbitrary power, and nothing which they respect more than a legally defined power. At present the colonial legislatures do not know what laws they may and what laws they may not make. In fact, they may at present make any laws whatever, affecting imperial interests in any manner what- ever, provided the Colonial Office does not disallow them within a certain period of time. On the other hand, the colonial legislatures cannot make any law which the Colonial Office may not disallow. I propose, therefore, to enable the colonial legislatures to know precisely what laws they may make, and what laws they must abstain from making ; and I propose to settle all disputes upon this subject by means of the decisions of a judicial tribunal. I have now answered the challenge of the noble lord, that those who would effect reform in our colonial system should state what in their opinion the nature of that reform should be. In order to present my principles in a practical shape, I have, with the aid of some legal friends, prepared the i850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 305 outline of a constitution for New South Wales, which I will submit to the consideration of the House. In so doing I will only pledge myself to general principles. I will not pledge myself to minute details ; for, in order to make a perfect measure, information would be required from the Colonial Office, and it would be necessary to consult constitutional lawyers. I must now beg pardon for trespassing so long on the attention of the Committee, but I must rest my excuse on the challenge thrown out by the noble lord. In conclusion, I must assert that our true colonial polity is to have faith in our colonists, and to believe that they are as rational men as we are, and that they understand their own local affairs better than we can ; therefore, I maintain that we ought to give them the uncontrolled management of their local affairs, as distinguished from im- perial concerns. Then the colonists, freed from the hated tyranny of the Colonial Office, bearing true allegiance to the monarch of these realms, and willingly obeying the laws made by the Imperial Parliament, or by those authorities to whom the Imperial Parliament shall delegate a portion of its legislative powers, would be bound to the British Empire by the strong ties of race, language, interest, and affection. 3o6 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. ON THE SECOND READING OF THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. February i8, 1850. [The second reading of the Bill was passed without opposition.] It appears to me that it would be wise policy on the part of the House unanimously to assent to the principle of this Bill, and to show to the Australian colonies that we are anxious as speedily as possible to give them the benefit of representative govern- ment. Therefore, in my opinion, it would be better to offer no opposition to the first stages of this Bill, but that all questions concerning the form of government of these colonies, and concern- ing the powers to be delegated to the colonial authorities, should be carefully considered in Committee. I think, if this course be adopted, it is not too much to ask the noble lord to give honour- able members full opportunity to discuss the details of this measure, and to propose amendments to it. Does the noble lord assent to this ? If so, it appears to me, that before this Bill is discussed in Committee, the noble lord should alter its shape and form. For in its present form many of the most important questions with regard to the government of the Australian colonies cannot be directly raised upon the clauses of this Bill, but only indirectly by reference to the clauses of a former statute upon which this Bill is founded. The noble lord's Bill is founded upon the 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 307 Constitution Act of New South Wales, 5 & 6 Vict., c. 76 ; and if it were to pass, it would first repeal one portion of that Act, then continue another portion of it, then alter and amend a third portion of it, then add several new clauses, and then apply this statute, so altered and amended, so curtailed and augmented, to the separated colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, and to all the other Australian colonies. Certainly, in its present shape and form, it is a confused Bill. It is not possible for an honourable gentleman to under- stand it, unless he has previously almost learnt by heart the Constitution Act of New South Wales. On the other hand, if he begin by reading the Constitution Act, he cannot tell what portion of it is to continue to be law till he has carefully studied the Bill of the noble lord. Therefore, if an honourable memberwish to make himself acquainted with the details of the noble lord's measure, he must go backwards and forwards from the Bill to the Constitution Act, and from the Constitution Act to the Bill. For instance, suppose an honour- able member wish to ascertain what are to be the powers of district councils ; he cannot find them in this Bill, but he would find sundry clauses which would refer him to the Constitution Act ; in that Act he would discover numerous clauses about district councils, one of which would appear to him to be utter nonsense, and then he would have to return to the noble lord's Bill to ascertain whether that incomprehensible clause is or is not to be repealed. Again, suppose an honourable member wish to ascertain what is to be the elective franchise in the colony, say of Van Diemen's Land ; he would X a 3o8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. not find it in this Bill, but he would find in Clause 6 that the present Legislature of Van Diemen's Land ''may reduce the minimum value of land required to confer the right of voting." He would then naturally ask where is the amount of this minimum value to be found ? and the clause would answer, in provisions not specifically contained in this Bill, but '' hereinafter by reference contained " in it ; he would then proceed to search for these " herein- after by reference contained provisions," and would find in Clause ii that this expression meant certain provisions of an Act of the fifth year of her Majesty, as altered and amended by an Act of the eighth year of her Majesty ; and after having carefully read through both of these statutes he would arrive at this result, which might be stated in a few words, namely, that the Legislature of Van Diemen's Land may fix the minimum value of land required to confer the right of voting at any sum not exceeding 200/. ; and consequently that it would be in the power of that Legislature at once to establish universal sufi'rage. It would be easy to multiply instances of this kind. My chief objec- tion to the form of this Bill is, that it will not offer fair opportunity to discuss some of the most important questions of colonial government. For neither the question of the amount of the franchise, nor of the amount of the property qualification of members, nor of the duration of colonial parlia- ments, nor of the power of the governor to reserve Bills, nor of the power of the Colonial Office to instruct governors, nor of the power of the Colonial Offtce to disallow Bills — not one of these important questions would be directly raised by this Bill, but 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 309 only indirectly, in the fifth and eleventh clauses, by reference to the Constitution Act of New South Wales. Consequently it will be very difficult to take the sense of the Committee on these questions. Therefore, if the noble lord be wilHng that honour- able members should have a fair opportunity to divScuss the details of his measure, and to offer amendments to it, he should alter the shape of his Bill, and consent to consolidate it with the Constitution Act of New South Wales, and with the two short Acts which amend and explain the Constitution Act ; that is, the noble lord should propose to repeal those three Acts, and should introduce into his Bill clauses re-enacting in full such portions of those Acts as the noble lord wishes to have re-enacted. Then all questions with regard to the form of government of the Australian colonies, and with regard to the powers to be reserved to the Colonial Office, or to be delegated to the colonies, would be brought under the consideration of the Committee in a clear and distinct manner ; and each question, as it would arise, would be discussed and easily settled. The convenience of such a mode of proceeding is self-evident. It might, how- ever, be said that such an alteration in the form of the Bill would cause delay in going into Committee. I think it need not do so ; I believe it would be easy to make the alteration which I have proposed should be made in the shape of this Bill. If it were done, then we should have a Bill which could be easily understood and discussed ; and if it were passed, it would not, on account of its form, be an opprobrium to our legislation. For if this Bill became law in its present shape the constitution 310 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of the Australian colonies would not be contained in it, but might be described as being contained in an Act of the fifth year of her Majesty, for the government of the obsolete colony of New South Wales, as cleared of doubts by an Act of the eighth year of her Majesty, as amended and explained by another Act of the same year, as partly repealed and partly amended, augmented, and applied to all the Australian colonies by an Act of the 14th year of her Majesty. I ask the noble lord to consider the subject. I do not ask him to make any altera- tions in the details of this measure, but merely in its form, in order that we may have fair oppor- tunity to discuss its details in Committee, and to propose amendments. Sir, I must say that the more I consider the clauses of this Bill the more certain I feel that it will fail to give permanent satisfaction to the in- habitants of the Australian colonies. In support of this opinion, I would call the attention of the House to certain resolutions which Mr. Lowe, a distinguished member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, gave notice that he would move on August 14 last. An Hon. Member : They were withdrawn. Sir Wm. Molesworth : They were withdrawn ; but Mr. Lowe said they were so withdrawn, not because he or his friends had changed their opinion, but for other reasons. The fact was, that intelli- gence having been received of the disturbances which had taken place in Canada, the spirit of loyalty, which, I am glad to say, exists at present in New South Wales, induced the friends of Mr. Lowe to advise him not then to bring forward i85o.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 311 his resolutions, lest they should embarrass the Government. Mr. Lowe's resolutions were to the effect that no form of constitution for the colony of New South Wales would be acceptable, permanent, or beneficial which did not embody the following requisites: — i. An explicit recognition of the right of the colonists of New South Wales to have their government administered by persons responsible to their representatives. 2. A government removable by the vote of the colonial legislature, and invested with all colonial patronage. 3. An elective assembly, in which no person nominated by the Crown should have a seat. 4. The placing the sum of 81,000/., contained in the schedules A, B, and C, appended to the Act 5 and 6 Victoria, c. 76, together with expenses of the customs department, at the disposal of such assembly. 5. The repeal of the Act 5 and 6 Victoria, c. 76, and the transfer to the local government and legislature of the management of the waste lands of the colony, and the revenue derived from them. And if these con- cessions were made, Mr. Lowe proposed also to move, that '* in consideration of them, the colony of New South Wales would be willing to pay for such military force as in the judgment of the colonial assembly, might be necessary for its pro- tection in time of peace." Now the Bill of the noble lord does not contain any one of the condi- tions without which Mr. Lowe said that no form of constitution would give permanent satisfaction to the colonists of New South Wales. I am per- suaded that Mr. Lowe's assertion will prove true with regard to the Australian colonies, and that no legislative assembly will be permanently acceptable 313 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. to these colonies which shall contain members nominated by the Crown. Sir, in my opinion, the most important question with regard to this Bill is that of the powers to be exercised by the Colonial Office. I am convinced that if we wish to frame a measure which shall remove the great and fundamental cause of colonial discontent we must deprive the Colonial Office of its present power of interfering in the internal affairs of the colonies. A good illustration of the vexatious power which the Colonial Office possesses has been lately brought under my notice. I will mention it to the House. For some time past the inhabitants of Sydney, a city of some 50,000 souls, have been complaining of the practice of slaughtering beasts within the precincts of that city, a practice which, in that warm climate, they considered to be an abominable nuisance, and injurious to their health. They were, therefore, very anxious that the slaughter-houses should be removed; and, on May 31, 1848, a Select Com- mittee of the Legislative Council recommended that the slaughter-houses should be removed to a place called Glebe Island, and that to pay for their removal certain lands upon which a cattle market stood should be sold. Now it appears from the Sydney Herald, of September 22, 1849, that up to that date the nuisance of the slaughter- houses had not been abated, and would not be abated for at least a year or more ; because, according to the statement of the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies must be obtained before the recommendation of the Committee could be 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 313 attended to, and with the utmost despatch that sanction could scarcely be obtained in less than a year. Thus, for more than two years, a city of 50,000 inhabitants, in a semi-tropical climate, will be exposed to the fevers and other disorders arising from the putrefaction of animal matter, because it could not sell nor buy a plot of land without the consent of functionaries at the antipodes. The House may be assured that every noxious odour that shall arise from the slaughter-houses of Sydney will be a germ of hatred to our colonial government. I ask, is it for the interest of the empire that the Colonial Office should retain powers of this descrip- tion ? I maintain it is not ; and that as long as the Colonial Office retains an arbitrary power of interfering in the local affairs of the colonies there will be perpetual discord between the colonies and the Colonial Office. The only mode of removing the cause of discord is by strictly limiting the power of the Colonial Office to questions affecting imperial interests. I know that some honourable members will exclaim : ** If we deprive the Colonial Office of its power, what will remain, what will become of the connection between the colonies and this country ? The colonies will be separated from the empire." Now, it appears to me that in the minds of those honourable gentlemen there are grave errors and a great confusion of ideas on the subject of what constitutes, and ought to con- stitute, the connection between the colonies and this country. From old associations and ancient prejudices, we are too apt to look upon the colonies as subject communities — that is, as communities subject to the British community — therefore to look 314 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Upon ourselves as kings, and upon the colonists as subjects, and to consider that the connection between the colonies and this country consists in dominion on our part and subjection on theirs. Therefore we are apt to think that to preserve that connection it is necessary to vest that dominion in some Department of the State. We are inclined to fancy that the power of the Colonial Office binds the colonies to this country, and is the connecting link, which would be broken asunder if the Colonial Office were to be deprived of its power. I maintain a diametrically opposite doctrine: that the Colonial Office is an institution which tends to alienate the colonies from this country, and that in proportion as the power of the Colonial Office shall be curtailed the union between the colonies and this country will be strengthened; for with the destruction of the arbitrary power of the Colonial Office the colonists would cease to be subjects of that office, and would become true citizens of the British Empire. We ought to look upon our colonies as integral portions of the British Empire, inhabited by men who ought to enjoy in their own localities all the rights and privileges that Englishmen do in England. Now, the colonists have no right to interfere in the management of the local affairs of Great Britain, therefore we ought not to interfere in the manage- ment of the local affairs of the colonies. We are entitled to reserve to ourselves the management of the common concerns of the empire, because imperial power must be located somewhere for the maintenance of the unity of the empire ; and because we are the richest and most powerful portion of the empire, and have to pay for the 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 315 management of its common concerns. In thus laying claim to imperial powers for the British Parliament, I must add, that in my opinion it would tend much to consolidate the empire if we could admit into the Imperial Parliament repre- sentatives of the colonies, for then the colonies would feel that they formed with the British islands one complete body politic. ON MR. SPENCER WALPOLE'S AMEND- MENT TO AUSTRALIAN GOVERN- MENT BILL. March 22, 1850. [This amendment was defeated by a majority of 51 : Ayes, 198 ; Noes, 147.] I AM anxious, Mr. Bernal, before the Committee comes to a decision on the motion of the honour- able and learned member for Midhurst,^ to make a few observations. The Committee must acknow- ledge that that decision will be not only of great and immediate importance to the colonies con- cerned, but of great and lasting importance to the whole of the British Empire. For we are all agreed that our colonies in Australasia, being inhabited by Englishmen, are now entitled to possess the institu- tions of Englishmen ; and we are, therefore, at this moment assisting at the birth of the constitutions 1 Mr. Spencer Walpole. 3i6 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of the British communities that are destined, in future ages, to cover the southern hemisphere, and there to form nations and mighty empires ol the Anglo-Saxon name. Again, we are agreed that it is the duty of the British Parliament to undertake the difficult task of framing the first constitutions of these colonies ; and according as we shall per- form that tavsk well or ill so shall we either confer lasting benefits, or inflict deep injury upon these communities ; so shall we either strengthen and make permanent our colonial empire or weaken and ultimately destroy it. Therefore, a heavy respon- sibility hangs over us, and I trust that a deep sense of that responsibility will influence the conduct and votes of honourable members. The question which we have to consider is, what would be the best form of Government for the Australian colonies ? To answer this question it appears to me that we ought first to inquire what are the institutions which theory and experience have proved to be the best for similar communities of English origin ; and having answered this question to the bCvSt of our abilities, we ought to give these colonies those institutions which our deliberate judg- ment pronounces to have been the best ; secondly, in order to guard against the consequences of errors in judgment, and in order, that the constitution of a colony may change with its changing circum- stances, we ought to empower these colonies to alter and amend the institutions which they will receive from us. To this last position I attach great importance ; and the right honourable gentle- man, the President of the Board of Trade, who last addressed the Committee, assents to it. I may. 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, 317 therefore, assume that we are all agreed that in a Bill for the better government of the Australian colonies there ought to be some provision em- powering the colonies to alter the institutions which we are, in the first instance, to frame for them. The question at issue is, therefore, what is the best form of government for these colonies to commence with ? With what constitution ought we to start them into representative existence ? I repeat, with that constitution which theory and experience have proved to be the best for similar communities. The right honourable gentleman seems to contest this almost self-evident position ; for he proposes to start these colonies with a legislature composed of a single chamber, in which one-third of the members are to be nominated by the Colonial Office, and, in fact, are to hold their seats at the will of the Colonial Office ; that is to say, the noble lord at the head of the Government, the illustrious author of the Reform Bill, proposes to start these colonies with a house of legislature similar to what the House of Commons would be if we were to repeal the Reform Bill, reinstate no Gattons and Old Sarums, and place the 220 seats at the disposal of the Minister of the day ! Such a constitution is absurd in theory ; all experience testifies against it, and I believe every authority condemns it. But the right honourable gentleman the President of the Board of Trade says that these colonies are to have the power to amend their constitutions ; that is to say, he proposes to start them with a bad constitution on the plea that they will have power to blunder into a good constitution at some future period. Is this the policy of a statesman ? There 3i8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH, is an old and true maxim, applicable to the colonies, namely, ''Rear up a child in the way it should go." This maxim her Majesty's Government propose by this Bill to reverse ; and the noble lord at the head of the Government would rear his colonial children in the way they should not go, and trust to the chapter of accidents for setting them right. In opposition to the single chamber proposed by this Bill, the honourable and learned member for Midhurst proposes that the legislature of the Australian colonies shall consist of two chambers. I agree with the honourable and learned gentle- man, in preferring two chambers to one, and shall vote for his motion, which, if carried, would only pledge the Committee to the opinion that the legislature to be constituted in the Austra- lian colonies should consist of two chambers, and would not in any way pledge the Committee with regard to the form of the two chambers. The honourable and learned gentleman intends subse- quently to propose that one of the chambers shall be nominated by the Crown : on that point I entirely disagree with him ; and I intend to move an amendment, that both chambers shall be elective. First, with regard to the general question, whether a legislature composed of two chambers is, or is not, a better form of government than a legislature com- posed of a single chamber, I assert that every high authority is in favour of two chambers : for instance, in this House, the noble lord at the head of the Government, the right honourable gentleman, the President of the Board of Trade, and the honour- able gentleman, the Under - Secretary for the 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 319 Colonies ; and out of this House, the Governor of New South Wales, the Governor of Van Diemen's Land,^ the Governor of New Zealand,^ and the noble earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies, have all of them acknowledged that a legislature composed of two chambers is the better form of Government. For instance, Earl Grey, in his despatch of the 31st of July, 1847, to the Governor of New South Wales, stated that the "practical working" of the system of the single and partly nominated chamber did not " by any means justify the conclusion that it was an im- provement upon the system of two houses"; and the noble earl added, that **he saw many reasons for belief that two distinct houses were best cal- culated to ensure judicious and prudent legislation." Sir C. Fitzroy, Governor of New South Wales, in a despatch of 6th of January, 1848, said that " he could have no hesitation in stating his own opinion, founded upon long practical experience, that two separate chambers would be a decided improvement upon the present form of legislation in that colony." And he repeated that opinion in the strongest terms in the despatch of the nth of August, 1848. The Governor of Van Diemen's Land, in a despatch dated the 15th of August, 1848, '* strenuously recommends the adoption of a second or upper chamber." And the Governor of New Zealand, in despatch dated the 29th of November, 1848, stated that " the reasons which induced him to recommend that a legislature should consist of two chambers were so obvious that he need not trouble the noble 1 Sir W. Denison. * Captain (afterwards Sir George) Grey. 320 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. earl with stating them." Thus every one who is deemed an authority by the Colonial Office is in favour of two houses of legislature being established in the Australian colonies. The right hon. gentleman, the President of the Board of Trade, affirms that there are special reasons why, in the Australian colonies the legis- latures should consist of a single chamber. These special reasons, as far as New South Wales alone is concerned, may be stated in a very few words. The right honourable gentleman asserts that the constitution of a colony ought to be framed in accordance with the wishes of its inhabitants ; that the inhabitants of New South Wales are well satisfied with their constitution, and prefer it to any other form of government ; and that if they should wish to change it, they would be able to gratify their wishes under the provisions of this Bill. These arguments are clear and distinct ; whether they are valid or not, I will presently consider. I will suppose, however, for a moment, that they are valid, and I then ask by what process of reasoning is the conclusion arrived at, that Parliament ought to give the constitution of New South Wales to the other Australian colonies ? It may be a fair argument to say, that as ParHa- ment has given a constitution to New South Wales (though in so doing it has committed a great mistake and framed a very bad constitution), it ought not to change that constitution without the consent of the inhabitants of that colony. That may or may not be a fair argument ; but surely it is most absurd to argue that because Parliament has made a mistake with regard to New South 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 321 Wales, it ought to make four similar mistakes with regard to four other colonies. I repeat, it cannot be wise policy to start a colony with a bad constitution, that is in a wrong direction, on the plea that it will have the power to blunder here- after into a right direction. The wise policy 1 repeat would be, to give a colony, from the beginning, those institutions which reason and experience have proved to be the best ; and then, if with deliberate folly, the colony should wish to change them for the worse, permission to do so should be granted. It cannot be pleaded that it is of importance that all the Australian colonies should have identically the same institutions, because by this bill they are to be empowered to change their institutions, and therefore to make them differ if they please. And it cannot be affirmed that either Victoria or Van Diemen's Land, or South Australia, or Western Australia, wish for the constitution of New South Wales, for there is not one tittle of evidence to that effect. I do not deny that these colonies would prefer any form of representative government to no repre- sentative government at all ; for Victoria is most anxious to be separated from New South Wales ; Van Diemen's Land, hopes by means of representa- tive institutions to get rid of transportation ; and South Australia and Western Australia long for some control over their own affairs. I acknowledge, therefore, that they would rather have this bill than no bill at all ; but I maintain they would prefer to this bill a measure founded upon sound principles, and which would be calculated to give not a momentary but a permanent satisfaction to M. Y 322 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. these colonies. If, however, the Committee think there are valid reasons for not interfering with the constitution of New South Wales, I entreat the Committee at least to start the other Australian colonies with good constitutions. Next, I ask, are the reasons which are assigned for not interfering with the constitution of New South Wales, valid or not ? It is affirmed that the inhabitants of New South Wales are well satisfied with their present constitution, and prefer it to any other form of government whatever. This statement has been so often repeated by the ministerial press and by the agents of the Colonial Office, that many honourable members have begun to believe in it. I believe it to be a mis-state- ment, and that there is no evidence to show that the inhabitants of that colony are well satisfied with their present constitution. The papers pre- sented to Parliament only prove that they prefer the present constitution to a much worse one, which the noble lord the Secretary of State for the Colonies intimated his wish to bestow upon New South Wales. In proof of this, let me refer honour- able members to a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Governor of New South Wales, dated 31st July, 1847. In that despatch they will find a statement from the noble earl to the effect, that the failure of the potato crop had for some time prevented Parliament from attending to the affairs of the Australian colonies ; that the political institutions of those colonies ought to be reconstructed ; that the practical working of the constitution of New South Wales was not satisfactory ; and that a constitution 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, 323 consisting of two distinct houses was best calculated to ensure judicious and prudent legislation ; and then the noble earl intimated his wish to make a most extraordinary change in the constitution of New South Wales. The noble earl proposed to disfranchise the electors of that colony, and to confer the right of electing members of the legis- lative council on certain municipalities called district councils. The noble earl proposed, therefore, to make as great a change in the constitution of that colony as would be made in the constitution of England if all the electors were to be deprived of their votes, and members of Parliament were to be elected only by the mayors and common council of the boroughs. Such a proposal proved the ignor- ance of the Colonial Office with regard to human nature generally, and especially with regard to colonial human nature. For, extravagant as such a proposal would be for England, it was still more extravagant for New South Wales ; because the inhabitants of that colony entertained a special aversion to those district councils, and had resisted their establishment by every means in their power. Unfortunately, they are the favourite offspring of the present Secretary of State for the Colonies, which nothing will induce him to abandon. They are to be found in this bill ; they were inserted, it is said, at his desire, in the original constitution of New South Wales. When the noble earl came into office he was deeply pledged to give a con- stitution to New Zealand. Immediately he framed for that colony a constitution founded on district councils. He was compelled to suspend that constitution ; and, in fact, his own governor has 324 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. assured him that the principle of indirect repre- sentation is unsound. The noble earl, however, clung to his mis-shapen offspring with all the ten- acity of a fond parent, and determined to foster it in New South Wales. On the receipt of this intelligence the colonists were indignant at the idea of being deprived of their franchises, and still more indignant at the proposal to bestow those franchises upon their hated district councils ; public meetings were therefore held ; petitions were ad- dressed to her Majesty ; they are to be found in the blue books; they all speak the same language. They all denounce the constitution of the noble earl as a " crude experiment at variance with the principles of the British constitution," as being '' absurd and impracticable," as ''filling them with the utmost apprehension and dismay," as "repug- nant to their wishes and adverse to their interests." The petitioners state that ''they desire to enjoy a constitution as near as may be like to that of the United Kingdom." They complain of the " apathy and indifference of Parliament to their interests ; that the Colonial Minister is perfectly uncontrolled, and can fix the sanction of Parliament to any measure he pleases " ; and, therefore, they pray her Majesty not to consent to any measure of the Colonial Office without their previous approval. Thus the intense antipathy of the inhabitants of New South Wales to the fixed idea of the noble earl has with considerable skill been represented by the Colonial Office as indicating a feeling of affection for their present constitution ; but to infer from these data that the colonists of New South Wales are well pleased with their present 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 325 constitution is as illogical an inference as it would be to conclude that a man would like to be hung, because he would prefer hanging to being burnt alive or impaled. Sir, these petitions unequivocally prove that the petitioners, like the rest of our colonial fellow-subjects, entertain a profound dis- trust of the rashness, ignorance, indiscretion, in- capacity, and experimentalising propensities of the Colonial Office ; and, therefore, they pray that the Colonial Office may not be permitted to tamper with their institutions without their consent. But I cannot conclude from these petitions that the inhabitants of New South Wales would be dissatis- fied if the British Parliament were cordially to agree with all our colonies in distrUvSt of the Colonial Office, and were to show its want of con- fidence by taking this question out of the hands of that Office, and giving the colonies institutions which every statesman and every writer of any note belonging to the British name, which the experience of the whole of the British race has found to be the best for the government of that race ; and whatever may be the feelings of New South Wales upon this subject, I am certain that the inhabitants of Van Diemen*s Land, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and New Zealand, all desire that which every Englishman in foreign lands invariably prays for, namely, institutions as like those of the British constitution as circumstances will admit of. The right honourable gentleman, the President of the Board of Trade, says, if these colonies should wish for British institutions they would be able to get them, because they are to have power to alter and amend their institutions. Now, to 326 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. whom is this power to be entrusted ? By this bill it is to be given to a Legislative Council in which one-third of the members are to hold their seats at the will and pleasure of the Colonial Office ; con- sequently, if the nominated members were to act together as a body according to the direction of the Colonial Office, it would be very difficult for the elective members to defeat them ; to do so it would be necessary that more than three-fourths of the elective members should act cordially together. We sometimes complain in this house that the number of official members connected with the Government, exercise an undue influence over our decisions ; yet the number of official members in the House of Com- mons do not exceed forty, or less than one-fifteenth of our number ; and all of them are responsible to constituents, and that responsibility influences their votes. What would be the state of this House if 220 members, that is one-third of our number, held their seats at the will of the Government of the day, and were responsible to no constituency ? Would it be possible ever to carry any measure against the Government ? I think not. No doubt the differ- ence in the aggregate numbers would make a considerable difl'erence in the working of a similar institution in the colonies ; but I think nevertheless, that with such an institution, it would be very diffi- cult in these colonies to carry any measure against the Colonial Office. Suppose, however, that the elective members should succeed by unanimity or threats in defeating the Colonial Office faction (as it is called), what result would probably follow ? It is notorious that in New South Wales the elected members look down upon the nominated members 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 327 as the mere tools of the Colonial Office, and as obstacles to good government. Therefore the elective members would, without doubt, propose that there should be no nominated members in the legislative council. Would they then propose that there should be a second chamber ? I doubt it. They could only propose some form of nominated second chamber, or some form of elective second chamber. They would not propose a nominated second chamber, because they would argue again as they have argued before, that a nominated second chamber would be a greater obstacle to good government than a minority of nominees in a single chamber. For, to repeat their arguments, with a single chamber so constituted, the nomi- nated members could not defeat the wishes of the representatives of the people if they were well agreed together ; whilst, on the contrary, with a nominated second chamber, the nominees of the Colonial Office would be able, whenever they might think proper, to reject the measures of the repre- sentatives of the people, however unanimous they might be. Therefore it is certain that they would not propose a nominated second chamber. Would they propose an elective second chamber ? I doubt it. For when men have once tasted popular applause, and have once enjoyed political repu- tation and power, they are not willing to raise up rivals to themselves, who shall possess equal power and perhaps greater reputation. Now what is true of the individual man, is generally true of bodies of men as far as passions and feelings are concerned. Therefore I do not believe that the elective members of the legislative council, who in contest with the 328 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. nominated members, have been the leaders of the popular party, and have thus enjoyed great political reputation and power, would willingly establish a rival second chamber, which would check and control their actions. I conclude, therefore, that the result would be an elective single chamber. I feel satisfied that if in this country we were to abolish the House of Lords, parliamentary ambi- tions and feelings would prevent us from estab- lishing a second elective chamber, until much painful experience had convinced us that a single chamber worked ill. Now, if a single chamber would work ill in this country, as I believe it would, I think for obvious reasons, it would work worse in a colony. But it may be said, that if the inhabi- tants of a colony were strongly in favour of an elective second chamber, they would compel their representatives to vote for it. I have no doubt they would ultimately do so, as they have done in America, but not till much painful experience had convinced them that a single chamber worked ill. From that painful experience I wish to save them, by giving them, in the first instance, those institu- tions which theory and experience have proved to have been the best for similar communities. The right hon. the President of the Board of Trade is very anxious that the constitutions of these colonies should be framed in accordance with the wishes of their inhabitants ; he ought therefore to take measures to ascertain their wishes. At present we have no positive information on that head ; we only know that in New South Wales the inhabitants unhesitatingly condemned the model constitution of the noble earl ; and there is some t850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, 329 evidence to show that they are averse to nomina- tion, either in a single or double chamber ; but the question of a single elective chamber, or of two elective chambers, has never been brought under their consideration. With regard to the wishes of the inhabitants of Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, Western Australia, and South Australia, we have no information whatever, except a few lines of a mutilated despatch from the Governor of Van Die- men's Land. Now, the bevSt means of ascertaining the wishes of a community with regard to a form of government, is to summon, according to the American fashion, a convention or constituent assembly, and to leave it to frame a constitution. The convention should be a numerous body, elected by persons possessing a low property qualification, so as to be a fair picture of the whole community. It should be so numerous that its members as a body should have no sinister interest in favour of one constitution over another. It should have no business but constitution making, and no other occupation, and no taste of political power. This is the manner in which they do these things in America; but before they summon a convention they do many other things in a very careful manner. Sir, from our independent colonies in America we may learn a useful lesson as to the best mode of establishing a good colonial constitution. Bear in mind that there are at the present moment in the United States four-and-thirty true colonies of Great Britain. One-and-twenty of these colonies are the offspring of the thirteen old English colonies. The founders of the old colonies carried along with them to the New World the habits, the feelings, 330 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. and prejudices of Englishmen ; they took along with them the common law upon which their jurispru- dence is now founded, and the principle of the liberty of the subject, upon which their government is now based. Spontaneously, at first without the consent of the Crown or Parliament, representative institutions broke out amongst them, and they copied as near as circumstances would admit of, the forms of the British constitution. Their Houses of Representatives are the Commons House of Parliament, and their Senates are the legitimate offspring of the House of Peers. The descendants of these men are now, with deliberate forethought, covering America with British institutions. Let me briefly explain how they do it. When a settle- ment has been made upon a portion of the pre- viously unoccupied territory of the United States, Congress immediately provides a government for the new territory, consisting of a governor, appointed by Congress, and two houses of legislature, both elected by inhabitants of the territory. When the population of the territory has reached the amount which would qualify it to become a state of the Union, a convention is elected by the people of the territory. The convention has no other business but that of framing a constitution ; and when the constitution has been framed, the territory, with the approval of Congress, becomes a state of the Union. Now, remark, that the convention invari- ably follows the example set by Congress, and frames a constitution similar to that which the territory had received from Congress. Thus Con- gress starts the new territory with the constitution which theory and experience have proved to be best i850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 331 fitted for Anglo-Saxon men ; and the people being started in the right path, spontaneously persevere in it, and the consequence is that every one of the thirty-four states or territories of the American Union is now governed by two houses of legislature, both elected bythe people. Contrastthis prudent and statesman-like mode of framin^^ a constitution for the government of a new community with the plan of the Colonial Office. The Colonial Office proposes, in the first instance, to turn the Australian colonies adrift with a bad constitution, and then, acknowledg- ing the constitution to be bad, the Colonial Office proposes to entrust these colonies with a power hastily and rashly to change their constitutions according to the whim or fancy of the moment. I acknowledge that the Australian colonies ought to possess a power to alter their institutions, but they should be required to exercivse that power with deliberation. For ill-considered changes in the institutions of a community are evils of great magnitude. In the various states of the American Union every effort is made to guard against rash innovations ; and in those states when a constitu- tion is once established it becomes a sacred thing. It is the supreme law which the legislature is bound to obey, and cannot either alter or set aside. No portion of the constitution of a state can be changed without the solemn and deliberate consent of the people ; and great care is taken to ascertain the deliberate opinion of the people on the subject. For instance, generally speaking, no alteration in the constitution of a state can be taken into con- sideration without the concurrence of two-thirds of the whole number of members of both houses of 332 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. legislature ; when that concurrence has been ob- tained, then the proposed alteration in the consti- tution must be published in the newspapers of the state for several months, in order that the people may clearly understand and discuss the proposed alteration ; then a general election must take place or a convention must be chosen ; and, finally, the question comes on for decision, whether the pro- posed alteration shall or shall not be made. Thus, hasty and inconsiderate innovation under the in- fluence of momentary excitement is impossible ; and, if there be foolish innovation, it must be done with deliberate folly. Contrast this mode of pro- ceeding with the plan of the Colonial Office. A universally condemned constitution to begin with, consisting of a single chamber, partly elected, partly nominated, which will become wholly elective if the elective members can either by unanimity or menaces overcome the resistance of the nominated members ; and to this single chamber is to be entrusted a power of changing its constitution, which the most loco-foco State in America would not trust to its legislature. Thus the plan of the Colonial Office is a strange mixture of folly and rashness, imprudence and locofocoism.^ The right hon. gentleman says that these colonies are not to possess an absolute power of changing their institutions, but only a power to be exercised with the leave of the Colonial Office. Now, I ask, do you ever mean to refuse leave ? If you do, you will produce the greatest discontent in the colonies. For, having laid down the principle that ^ A nickname for ultra-radicalism in the United States (loco-foco = lucifer match). rSso.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 333 the constitution of a colony ought to be in accord- ance with the wishes of its inhabitants, they will expect you to adhere to that principle. Therefore, you will be accused of tyranny and breach of faith if you reject any innovation however ill-judged it may be ; and by rejecting it you will only make it more popular, and ultimately you will have to give way with dishonour and discredit to the Imperial Govern- ment. Be assured that your true colonial policy is to avoid conflicts with your colonies. Take precau- tions against rash innovations, but let it be by means of colonial institutions, which the inhabitants will respect, as being calculated for their benefit, and not by means of the arbitrary interference of the Colonial Office, which, however well intentioned, will be regarded as tyranny and hatred, because exercised by strangers living at the antipodes and necessarily ignorant and misinformed. I wish to ask a question of the noble lord, the Prime Minister, which I hope he will distinctly answer. I have shown that if this bill be carried, there will be an immediate struggle in the legisla- tive council between the elected and the nominated members. If in this struggle the elective members are victorious, they will propose a single elective chamber. Now, I ask, will the noble lord consent that they shall have a single elective chamber ? This is a question so likely to be brought under his consideration if this bill pass, that it is his duty to have made up his mind upon it. I ask him, there- fore, will he pledge himself to let these colonies have an elective single chamber, if a motion to that eff*ect be carried in their legislatures ? I ask this question because there are several honourable 334 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. members in this House who are in favour of a single elective chamber. I know that an attempt has been made to persuade some of them that by voting with the Government on this occasion, they will have a greater chance of obtaining a single elective chamber. I hope they will not permit themselves to be deceived in this matter. They must be aware that they have no chance of carry- ing a single elective chamber in this House ; and I must believe, unless the noble lord makes a distinct statement to the contrary, that if in the colonies the elected members should overcome the resistance of the non-elected members, and propose a single elective chamber, the Colonial Office would put its veto on that form of government. Now, I ask those honourable members whether there be any doubt that two elective chambers are preferable to a single partly nominated chamber ? If they have no doubt upon the subject they ought to vote in favour of this motion ; for if it be carried, it is certain that two elective chambers will be carried, because there are very few persons who agree with the honourable and learned gentleman the member for Midhurst in the opinion that one chamber ought to be nominated for life. Therefore, I feel satisfied that by carrying this motion we shall obtain two elective chambers. Now I beg honour- able gentlemen to observe that I propose that the colonies shall have power to alter their institutions ; for instance, even to convert their two chambers into one, if after full and careful consideration they wish so to do. To ensure careful consideration, I pro- pose that no alteration shall be proposed in the constitution of a colony without the concurrence of i55o.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 335 two-thirds of the whole number of members of both houses ; that then the proposed alteration shall be published in the newspapers of the colony, one year at least before the bringing in of any bill containing the alteration ; and that no such bill shall be passed without the consent, for the second time, of two- thirds of the whole number of members of both houses. Therefore, if the people of a colony should deliberately wish for a single elective chamber, they would be able to obtain it, and con- sequently the honourable gentlemen who earnestly and sincerely desire that the colonies should have a single elective chamber, if the colonists wish for it, are bound to vote for this motion. I will now proceed to state why, in my opinion, both theory and experience prove that a legislature composed of two elective houses is the best form of government for a colony. According to the theory of representative government, the legislature ought to be a copy in miniature of the whole community ; that is, every great interest, want, and feeling should be represented in the same proportion in the legislature as they exist in the whole com- munity. Now, in every community there are two great opposite tendencies, namely, the innovating tendency, eager for change ; and the conservative tendency, satisfied with things as they are. Both of these tendencies should be duly represented in a legislature ; for, if either of them be omitted, the result would be bad government, either in the shape of reckless change, threatening anarchy, or of stolid languor, leading to the decay of the body politic. Now, theory and experience prove that the innovating tendency, being active, energetic, and 336 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. enterprising, is apt, if wholly uncontrolled, to acquire an undue preponderance. The problem is, how to control the innovating tendency without, on the other hand, giving preponderance to the con- servative tendency. Can this problem be satisfac- torily solved by means of a single chamber ? I think not, especially in a colony. For a single chamber must be so constructed as to contain either more of the conservative tendency or more of the innovating tendency. If it contain more of the conservative tendency, it will be in frequent opposition to the more active, energetic, and enter- prising portion of the community, and, consequently, will soon become unpopular. On the other hand, if it contain more of the innovating tendency, then the only controlling power would be the governor, that is, the Colonial Office ; and if that controlling power be exercised, then there will be a perpetual conflict between the single chamber and the Imperial Government, which, in the long run, must always terminate in the defeat of the Imperial Govern- ment. Our true colonial policy is to avoid such conflicts, and not to ally ourselves with one ten- dency, and thereby ensure the overthrow of the other tendency ; but so to construct our colonial institutions that the natural conflict between the conservative and innovating tendencies shall be fought in the bosom of those institutions. For this purpose theory and experience have shown that the best institution is a legislature composed of two houses, in one of which there shall be more of the conservative tendency, and in the other more of the innovating tendency. The problem to be solved is, how best to secure in the upper house more of i850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 337 the conservative tendency. But in solving this problem special care must be taken that the upper house shall be so constituted as to command the confidence and respect of the community. If this condition be not fulfilled, the upper house would become an obstructive body, productive of nothing but evil. To fulfil this condition it is necessary, first, that the interests of the upper house should appear to be, and be identical with those of the whole community ; and, secondly, that its members should be esteemed as individuals and not despised. It appears to me that the House of Lords in this country, and its legitimate offspring, the Senates of the States of North America, fulfil most of the con- ditions of good upper chambers. A very short con- sideration of the manner in which the House of Lords fulfils these conditions, will show that it is impossible to copy the form of that institution in the colonies ; and that in attempting to copy its form we are certain to lose its substance. First, the interests of the HoUvSe of Lords are identical with those of the whole community, because its numerous members are connected by their wealth and landed property with every great interest in the community ; neither the agricultural interest, nor the manufacturing interest, nor the commercial interest, nor the mining interCvSt, nor the banking interest, nor any great interest can suffer without some portion of the House of Lords suffering also; and, in fact, no great economical, or political ques- tion is ever raised in this country which does not immediately find some advocate in the House of Lords ; and by the time that a measure is ripe to be carried in the House of Commons, and the 338 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. people have declared decidedly in its favour, it has generally made sufficient progress in the upper house to induce the good sense of its members to comply with the wishes of the people ; therefore, though the House of Lords is decidedly a conserva- tive body, it is not an obstructive one. Secondly, as individuals, the members of the House of Lords are respected ; in fact, that respect is proverbial, for it is founded on tradition and old historical associa- tions. Those traditions and associations have been the slow growth of centuries ; they adhere to the institution and cannot be suddenly created by the act of any legislature ; and it is idle to attempt to copy the forms of such an institution. A council composed of persons nominated by the Colonial Office has no real resemblance to the House of Lords ; for there is no prestige in favour of the members of such a council, and their interests are not permanently identical with those of the community. It fails therefore to accomplish the objects of an upper chamber ; it is looked upon in a colony, not as representing the conservative tendency of society, but as a screen for the Colonial Office ; it becomes useless or obstructive, and con- sequently its members are both hated and despised. Both theory and experience confirm this statement ; and if any honourable gentleman doubt its accuracy, I can point out to him the means of satisfying him- self how a nominated second chamber would and does work in the colonies. Let him take the Peerage and read over the list of barons who have been created during the last thirty years. There are some no of them. Then let him fancy the House of Lords abolished, and these no i850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 339 barons nominated for life to be members of an upper house. How long would such an institu- tion last ? Would it command any respect in the country ? Yet those no barons are a good sample of the peerage. They are equal in talent and respectability to any no honourable members of this House ; and I presume that in making them peers the Government of the day considered them to be the elite of the nation, and for their conduct in so doing the Government was responsible to pub- lic opinion. Is it probable that in the colonies the irresponsible Colonial Office would or could select a better class of men ? The Colonial Office affirms, by the mouth of the right honourable gentleman the President of the Board of Trade, that there are no materials in the Australian colonies out of which a second chamber can be constituted. This is a strange position coming from the Colonial Office, which proposed to establish a second chamber both in New South Wales and in New Zealand. I believe, however, that position to be perfectly true as far as a nominated second chamber is concerned, and true not only of the Australian colonies, but of all Anglo-Saxon communities ; for we have too good an opinion of ourselves to acknowledge readily that any man is sufficiently eminent for talent and worth to be entitled to control the decisions of the repre- sentatives of the people ; and if we were to abolish the House of Lords, there are, I think, not more than three men in this country whom the decided opinion of the public would place in a nominated Upper House. I assent, therefore, to the position that there are no materials in the Australian 340 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. colonies, or in any other colony, out of which the irresponsible Colonial Office can fabricate a nomi- nated Upper House which shall command the respect and confidence of the people. I maintain, and will show, that it is a gross fallacy thence to infer that there are no materials out of which the people could elect a good Upper House. The hon. and learned gentleman the member for Midhurst has a longing for an hereditary Upper House. Well, I acknowledge that an hereditary Upper House, if possible, would be better than a nominated Upper House in a colony. But how is he to establish an hereditary Upper House in a colony ? All known aristocracies have derived their origin from conquering races, heroes, or demigods ; first the oppressors of the people, then the objects of their worship. In this country the fame of unknown warriors, dimly seen through the mists of centuries, and the renown of some really illustrious houses who have rendered good service to their country — for instance, the Russellsandthe Howards, the Stanleys and the Percies, the Cavendishes and ^- the rest of our prima virorum, have clothed the institution of the House of Lords with a mantle of honour which gradually enfolds the recently en- nobled. When such an institution has been created, it may with caution and prudence be upheld. But how to create it I know not and cannot imagine. I object to a nominated second chamber, because such a chamber would not command the confidence and respect of the inhabitants of a colony. It would be looked upon as a screen for the governor, as a tool of the Colonial Office, and not as the lawful representative of the conservative tendency of 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 341 society ; and therefore each conflict between the representative Assembly and the nominated Upper House, and consequently every conflict between the innovating and conservative tendencies would appear to be a struggle between the colony and the Imperial Government. For the same reason I object to a single chamber, for if it be partly nominated, then the conflict would take place between the representatives of the people and the nominees of the Colonial Office ; on the other hand, if the single chamber be wholly elective then the conflict would take place between the single chamber and the governor appointed by the Colonial Office ; and therefore in both cases it would also appear to be a struggle between the colony and the Imperial Government. It cannot be doubted that in such struggles the Imperial Government would always ultimately be defeated ; and that, in fact, by allying itself with the conservative tendency, it would discredit that tendency, encourage the in- novating tendency, and ensure its ultimate victory ; and with every victory so gained the Imperial authority would be weakened, and a step would be made towards the dissolution of the colonial empire. I propose that there shall be an elective second chamber, because, by being elective, it would com- mand the confidence and respect of the inhabitants of the colonies. I propose that it shall be so constructed that it shall contain more of the con- servative than of the innovating tendency of colonial society. With this object in view, I ask, what are the chief elements of the conservative tendency which exist in every society ? And these elements I 342 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. propose, as far as possible, to collect together in my elective second chamber. First, I observe that older men are generally more conservative than younger men ; therefore I propose that the mem- bers of the Upper House shall be of the age of at least thirty years. Secondly, I find that men possessing larger property are generally more conservative than men possessing smaller property ; therefore I propose that members of the Upper House shall have twice the property qualification of members of the Lower House. Thirdly, I find that men who hold their authority by a tenure of longer duration, are less inclined to innovation than men holding their authority by a tenure of shorter duration ; therefore I propose that the members of the Upper House shall be elected for nine years certain, or for nearly twice the period for which the Lower Chamber is to be chosen. Fourthly, I find that the innovating tendency in its objectionable form acts generally by fits and starts which are not of long duration ; I therefore propose that all the members of the Upper House shall not be elected at one and the same time, but one-third of them shall be elected every three years. Fifthly, I find that larger assemblies are more apt to yield to violent passions and sudden impulses for innovation than smaller assemblies, therefore I pro- pose that the number of the members of the Upper House should be much less than that of the Lower House. Thus, in order to construct an Upper House, which shall contain more of the conservative tendency as it exists in a colonial society, I propose that it should be, in comparison to the Lower House, a smaller body, consisting of older men, possessing] 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 343 larger properties, elected for longer periods, and not all elected at one and the same time. The right honourable gentleman, the President of the Board of Trade, says that there are not materials in the Australian colonies for an upper chamber. I have assented to the position that there are not materials out of which the Colonial Office can fabricate a nominated upper chamber which shall command the confidence and respect of the inhabitants of the Australian colonies ; but it is an obvious fallacy thence to infer that there are no materials for a good elective Upper House. Many men who, as nominees of the Colonial Office, would entirely lose the confidence of the people, would possess that confidence if elected by, and responsible to, the people. For election and responsibility are with Englishmen the strongest grounds of popular confidence and respect. Now the theory and experience of the States of the American Union prove that if there be materials for one elective chamber, there will be materials for two elective chambers ; and consequently when Congress has to frame a government for a territory containing 5,000 male inhabitants of full age, it always establishes two Houses. In fact, it is scarcely possible to imagine an English community containing that amount of population which does not contain the conservative as well as the inno- vating tendency ; and if so, in order to construct a good Upper House, it is only necessary to collect in it the conservative elements in the manner which I have proposed. Then, with an Upper House so con- structed, the conflicts between the conservative and the innovating tendencies would take place between 344 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the two HoUvSes without reference to the Imperial Government, and would be fairly decided according to the deliberate judgment of the whole community. In conclusion, I maintain that the plan proposed by the Colonial OfBce for the government of the Australian colonies may be justly described as one of thoughtlessness and wild democracy, controlled by the fitful and accidental interference of an igno- rant and misinformed Colonial Office despot. On the other hand, I propose, by the scheme of govern- ment which I have submitted to the consideration of the Committee, to take the colonies out of the leading-strings of the Colonial Office, to give them complete control over their local affairs, to start them with the institutions which theory and experience have proved to be best adapted for the self-govern- ment of the Anglo-Saxon man, and to empower them with due care and deliberation to amend their insti- tutions. With these objects in view, I feel it my duty to vote for the motion of the honourable and learned gentleman the member for Midhurst. AMENDMENT TO AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. April ig, 1850. [This amendment was defeated by a majority of 68 : Ayes, 218; Noes, 150.] Mr. Bernal : I beg leave to move that all the words in this clause, after the words '' And be it 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 345 enacted that," be omitted, for the purpose of insert- ing these words : "There shall be established in the colonies of Van Diemen's Land and South Australia respectively, a Legislative Council and a House of Assembly." If this amendment be carried I should propose other amendments, by which the two chambers would be made elective. In proposing this amendment I need scarcely observe that at the present moment the colonies of Van Diemen's Land and South Australia do not possess representative institutions, but are governed by a Legislative Council, all the members of which are nominated by the Colonial Office. I may assume that we are agreed that that form of govern- ment shall be changed, and that these colonies shall possess representative institutions. The ques- tion is, what is the best form of representative government for these colonies to commence with ? The Colonial Office, loathe to part with all its powers of nomination, proposes that they shall begin with a single chamber, of which one-third of the members shall hold their seats at the will of the Colonial Office. On the other hand, I propose that they shall begin with two chambers, both of which shall be elected by the people. The question there- fore is simply between election and nomination, and between two chambers and one chamber. On a former occasion this question was fully discussed ; every honourable gentleman who spoke was decidedly of opinion that in theory two elective chambers are preferable to one partly nominated chamber ; therefore it would be a waste of time to re-argue the general question ; and I will merely examine the special reasons which have been 346 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. assigned for not establishing two chambers in the AustraHan colonies, and consider whether they are or are not valid with reference to Van Diemen's Land and South Australia. The Committee decided the other night that New South Wales and Victoria shall continue to possess their present form of government. It was then asserted that New South Wales and Victoria are well satisfied with their present form of government, and prefer it to any other form ; therefore, that it would be an arbitrary and unjust measure to alter it without their consent. I do not affirm that this argument is without force with regard to New South Wales and Victoria, but it is evidently inapplicable to Van Diemen's Land and South Australia, for it is agreed on all sides that their present form of government ought to be changed. The question, therefore, is whether it ought to be changed to that of New South Wales, or to that form which every honourable gentleman admits to be a better one in theory. To answer this question, I ask, first, what are the opinions of the highest colonial authorities on this matter. The Committee should bear in mind that this Bill was brought in last year, and that one of the chief reasons assigned for postponing it was, that the delay would enable us to receive information from the Australian colonies in reply to the report of the Committee of Council, which had been sent out to them. Now, within the last few days very important information has been received, to which I must call the attention of the Committee ; and especially, I must refer to a despatch from the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir William Denison, who has i85o.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 347 always been quoted by the Colonial Office as high authority in these matters. In that despatch, dated the 28th December last, Sir William Denison gives his deliberate opinion on this Bill, and expresses his decided condemnation of that part of it which is now under consideration. I will state the substance of that part of his despatch. Sir William Denison says: "I have been made aware that her Majesty's Government intend to bring this Bill forward again early in the next session of Parliament. I think it, therefore, my duty to point out to your lordship such of the provisions of the Bill as would work unsatisfactorily. I have no very accurate means of arriving at the opinion of the body of the commu- nity; indeed, I might almost say, that the satisfaction with which almost any measure conferring a repre- sentative system of government would be welcomed would go far to prevent any deliberate discussion of its provisions. As regards my own views, I observe that the Committee of the Privy Council gave their sanction to the principle of a second chamber, but have recommended that, in the Australian colonies, the system of New South Wales, where legislation is entrusted to a single body, partly nominated, should be generally adopted. It would be undesir- able to press a reform upon an unwilling or even indifferent people, but I doubt very much whether the evidence in the possession of the Government is sufficient to prove that the people of New South Wales are unwilling to adopt such a change in the form of the existing government. Indifferent they may perhaps be, but in that case 1 would submit that the welfare of the three colonies, now about to be called into political existence, might be allowed 348 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. to outweigh the mere indifference of the people of New South Wales." In reply to the common argument of the Colonial Office that the legislatures of these colonies will have power to amend their institutions, Sir W. Denison says : " I am afraid that the remedy proposed by the Committee of the Privy Council, viz., that of vesting a power in the legislatures of the different colonies, of amending their constitutions, by resolving either of their single Houses of Legislature into two, will hardly meet the evil. A single House of Assembly will always attempt to assume to itself a portion of the power of the Executive. The proceedings of the Legislative Assembly at Sydney, during the last session, will afford ample evidence of this tendency. When, therefore, a body thus constituted has once found itself in the possession of power, it is not at all probable that it will originate, or carry out a change which will in effect diminish its power, and tend to deprive each individual composing it of a portion of the importance which attaches to him as a member of such a body." Next, in reply to the favourite position of the Colonial Office, that all the Australian colonies should have the same institutions. Sir W. Denison says : '* I would submit also that, if each colony be empowered to alter its constitution, the reasons which have induced the Committee of Council to recommend that all should have govern- ments constituted upon the same model, would seem to have but little weight, as a change on the part of any of the four would at once destroy the uniformity." And lastly, Sir W. Denison says : *' My opinion remains unchanged by anything that I have heard or read since I last addressed your 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 349 lordship on this subject. Every additional day that I remain in this colony serves to add to the strength of my conviction that it would be most desirable, when the change in the form of the government of this colony does take place, that a second chamber should be constituted at once by authority of Parlia- ment. Such a chamber, however, should differ from those which did exist in the North American colonies, inasmuch as a large proportion of the members should be elected, or otherwise rendered independent of the Government, and they should hold their position for a long period, if not for life." Nothing, therefore, can be more positive than Sir W. Denison's opinion against this portion of the Government Bill, and in favour of the two chambers. A despatch has also been received from the Governor of South Australia, Sir Henry Young, in which he writes, Nov. 16, 1849: *' An intelligent, highly respectable, and influential member of the local legislature having given notice of a resolu- tion on the subject of the new constitution to be established in the Australian colonies, it appears expedient that I should at once forward it to your lordship, especially as the general question is likely to engage the attention of the Imperial Parliament early in its session of 1850." Sir Henry Young refers to that resolution as containing comprehen- sive and important propositions, and says : ** Succinctly they may be described as a proposed transference to South Australia of those political and social institutions of Great Britain, by which the useful grandeur and glory of the empire have been gradually and progressively enlarged and strengthened, and preserved." I will not trespass 350 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. upon the patience of the Committee by reading the resolution, because I read the substance of it when I asked a question concerning it the other night, from the honourable gentleman the Under-Secretary for the Colonies. On that occasion the honourable gentleman treated the resolution as of little import- ance. He referred to it merely as the resolution of an individual, and he stated that the Governor had ordered it to be pubhshed in the Government Gazette inadvertently. The honourable gentleman made that statement at the very time when this despatch from Sir Henry Young was in his possession. Mr. Hawes : No, no. Sir W. MoLEswoRTH : I beg the honourable gentleman's pardon, he will find it really so, if he will look at the dates. Mr. Hawes : It was long before the despatch was received. Sir W. MoLESwoRTH : Long before the despatch was received ? Why, this despatch from the Governor was received at the Colonial Office on the 26th of March, and my question was put to the hon. gentle- man last Tuesday week. However, it is quite clear the resolution was not published by inadvertence, because the Governor directed it to be published in the Government Gazette, a proceeding which Lord Grey considered to be so unusual that he has repri- manded Sir H. Young for his conduct. This pro- ceeding, coupled with the language of this despatch, can leave no doubt that Sir H. Young disapproves of the Government Bill. I am therefore entitled to assert that the Governors of Van Diemen's Land and South Australia are opposed to the single partly nominated chamber of New South Wales. 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 351 I again beg the Committee to bear in mind that this bill was postponed last year in order to obtain information from these colonies. Therefore it would be absurd if, after receiving that information, we were to proceed to legislate in direct opposition to it, unless the most valid reasons can be assigned for so doing. Can such reasons be assigned ? If they exist anywhere, I presume they are to be found in the reply of Earl Grey to Sir W. Denison, which has been printed with these papers. That reply con- tains the general arguments used by the Colonial Office in favour of the single partly nominated chamber, and in opposition to two elective chambers. The arguments may be summed under the heads — 1. That political science is good for nothing. 2. That the system of New South Wales has worked well, and is therefore adapted to all the Australian colonies. 3. That all the Australian colonies ought to have the same institutions. 4. That in the event of any of them being dis- satisfied with their institutions they will have power to change them. 5. And lastly, that there are not materials for two elective chambers. First, the Colonial Office maintains that the successful working of a constitution depends more upon its being adapted to the wants and circum- stances of a community, than upon its being framed upon the abstract principles of political science. No one denies that the constitution of a community ought to be adapted to its circumstances; but if the principles of political science be true, a con- stitution framed in accordance with those principles would be adapted to the wants of the community for which it was framed, precisely in the same 352 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. manner as a coat made upon the true principles of coat-making would fit the form of the human body for which it was made. Therefore the proposition of the Colonial Office really denies the existence of political science. It is the well-known fallacy by which the empiric and the charlatan invariably defend their nostrums in opposition to the rules of science. The nostrum of the Colonial Office for the Australian colonies is the single partly nominated chamber. Now every one acknowledges that such an in- stitution is not only in opposition to the principles of political science, but to the universal experience of Anglo-Saxon communities in every portion of the globe. Next it is said that a single partly nominated chamber has worked well in New South Wales, and therefore that it is practically the best form of government for the Australian colonies generally. The system of New South Wales has only been in existence for seven years. Has it worked well during the whole of that time ? Certainly not if Lord Grey be any authority in such a matter. For on the 31st of July, 1847, Lord Grey wrote to the Governor of New South Wales these words: ''It does not appear to me that the practical working of the last system (that of New South Wales) would by any means justify the conclusion that it is an improvement upon that (of two Houses) which it was formerly the practice to adopt ; on the contrary, I see many reasons for belief that the more ancient system, by which every new law was submitted to the separate consideration of'two distinct Houses, and required their joint consent for its enactment, was the best calculated to ensure judicious and 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 353 prudent legislation." The Colonial Minister ought to be the highest authority in these matters ; if he be so, it follows that the system of New South Wales is not the best calculated to ensure judicious and prudent legislation in Van Diemen's Land and South Australia. The system of New South Wales is at variance with a fundamental maxim of the British con- stitution, for, according to Blackstone, one of the great primary rights of the subject is, not to be taxed without the consent of his representatives, that is, without the consent of the majority of his representatives. Now, with a vsingle chamber of which one-third of the members are appointed by the executive, the executive can always, with the aid of less than one-third of the elective members, carry any measure in opposition to the wishes of more than two-thirds of the representatives of the people, and therefore can tax the people without the consent of their representatives, which is evidently a most unconstitutional proceeding. I assure the Committee that this is not an imaginary danger. The tendency of every executive, and especially of a Colonial Office executive, is towards excessive expenditure, and therefore towards ex- cessive taxation. In 1848 our income-tax would have been increased to five per cent., and there would have been no reduction of expenditure if the executive could have commanded a majority in this House ; and it would without doubt have commanded a majority, if a third of this House, namely, 220 members, had been nominated by the executive. In New South Wales, in consequence of the power of the executive in the Legislative Council, the M. A A 354 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. expenditure of that colony in proportion to the population is very great. In 1846 it amounted to 285. per head of the population, or twice the annual average rate of expenditure per head of the popu- lation in the colonies which possess representative institutions ; or four times the rate of expenditure in Canada, where the people have the greatest con- trol over their expenditure. It is a fact, which I have never heard disputed, and which I proved to the House at great length two years ago, that the rate of expenditure of a colony per head of the population, depends chiefly upon the form of the local government. It is greater or less in pro- portion as the Colonial Office has more or less to do with it, that is, in proportion as there is more or less Colonial Office nomination. For instance, in 1846, in the colonies in which there were no nominees in the House of Assembly, the rate of their expenditure was 145. per head of their popu- lation ; in those colonies which were governed entirely by nomination, the rate of their expenditure, in 1845, was about 345. per head of the population, or 205. per head more than in the colonies without nominees in the House of Assembly. The greatest rate of expenditure of a colony was in Van Diemen's Land, entirely governed by nomination, where it amounted, in 1844, ^^ 865. a-head of the free popu- lation ; and the smallest was in Canada, where it amounted to about one-twelfth of that sum, or ys. per head. This fact shows the extreme effects of the two existing systems of nomination and election, with regard to the economical government of a colony. Between the two extremes stands the mongrel system of New South Wales, a cross 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 355 between nomination and election. In virtue of election, the rate of expenditure of New South Wales was one-third of that of Van Diemen's Land ; in virtue of nomination it was four times that of Canada. It might be unfair to ascribe the whole difference in the rate of expenditure between New South Wales and Canada entirely to nomination ; but it must be acknowledged that at times the executive does carry measures in New South Wales against the wishes of the majority of the represen- tatives of the people, which cannot be done by the executive in Canada. A case in point was cited the other night by the noble lord the Prime Minister. The noble lord rejected as worthless, and of no authority, a resolution which was carried in a full meeting of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, on the ground that it was carried against the wishes of more than two-thirds of the represen- tatives who were present. He, therefore, treated it as invalid. But if that resolution had been a tax ordinance, or one for the expenditure of money, it would have been but too valid for taking money out of the pockets of the people of New South Wales. Therefore I may affirm that the practical working of the system of New South Wales does not prove that it would be the best calculated to insure judicious, prudent, and economical government in Van Diemen's Land and South Australia. It is said that the question of a single chamber partly nominated has been settled with regard to New South Wales, and therefore ought to be con- sidered to be settled for all the Australian colonies ; for it is argued that these colonies form one system, and are so close together that they ought to have AA8 356 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. identical institutions. It appears to me that the honourable gentlemen who use this argument fancy that the Australian colonies are as close together as British counties. I assure them it is not so. Hobart Town, the capital of Van Diemen's Land, is about 700 miles from Sydney, the capital of New South Wales ; that is, as far as from here to Milan. Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is about 650 miles from Sydney. Perth, the capital of Western Australia, is about 1,700 miles from Syd- ney, or further than from here to Constantinople. Our five Australian colonies of Van Diemen's Land, New South Wales, Victoria, South AustraHa, and Western Australia, cover as large a portion of the earth's surface as is covered by Great Britain, France, the whole of Germany, the whole of the Austrian empire, and all Turkey in Europe ; and the five capitals of these colonies, namely, Hobart Town, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, are as distant from each other as Edinburgh, Paris, Hamburg, Vienna, and Constantinople are from each other. Therefore, supposing for one moment that proximity in space were a valid argument in favour of identity of institutions, every honourable gentleman who will rub up his Australian geography will perceive the absurdity of that argument on the present occasion. Suppose, however, that we were to start all these colonies with the same institutions, is it not said that we are to give them power to alter and amend their institutions ? If this power is to be a reality and not a sham, they will have power to make their institutions differ as soon as they think proper ; and the worse the first institutions are the sooner the colonists will endeavour to alter I iSso.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 357 them. Then, what will become of the absurd identity of institutions argument ? Is it to be enforced by the Colonial Office ? Are the colonies not to change their institutions, unless they are all prepared to do so at the same time and in the same manner ? Therefore the argument that all the Australian colonies must have the same institutions may be rejected as absurd and futile. It has been repeatedly urged, in favour of the partly nominated chamber, that this Bill contains a provision, to which I have just alluded, and which it is said will empower the colonial legislatures to change their constitutions. Great stress has been laid upon that provision. It is supposed to be the embodiment of every liberal principle, and to con- tain an irrefutable argument in favour of the partly nominated chamber. On a previous occasion the noble lord the Prime Minister asked how any honourable member of liberal principles could ob- ject to any part of a Bill which contained so liberal provision. That question was loudly applauded ; and yet a more inconclusive argument never misled liberal members to vote against liberal principles. For what has it to do with the question between two elective chambers and one partly nominated chamber ? Whichever alternative be adopted, can we not give to the legislature of a colony the same power of changing its institutions, whether that legislature consist of two elective chambers, or of one partly nominated chamber ? But for what purpose do we propose to give to the legislature of a colony the power of changing its institutions ? Without doubt, in order that the institutions of a colony may be in accordance with the wishes 358 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of its inhabitants. Now is this result more likely to be obtained, and are the wishes of the inhabitants of a colony more likely to be consulted by a single chamber, of which one- third of the members shall be Colonial Office nominees ; or by two chambers, all the members of which shall be elected by the people ? I ask liberal members to answer this question distinctly. I ask them, likewise, what is the power of change which is to be given to the colonial legislatures by this much vaunted provision ? It seems to me that it will be more the sham of power than the reality of it. The reality of power will be given to the Colonial Office ; for the Colonial Office will have power to prevent the colonial legislatures from making any changes in their institutions without its previous consent. Therefore this provision will only add to the despotic powers of the Colonial Office. I call the Colonial Office a despot, because, in constitutional language, that ruler is a despot who is irrCvSponsible to those over whom he rules. The Colonial Office is irresponsible to the people of the colonies ; it is said to be responsible to us, but that responsibility the colonists look upon as a farce. For they say that we know nothing and care nothing about them ; that we vote wath blind confidence in the Colonial Office; that the Colonial Office is unworthy of our confidence, for ignorance, negligence, rashness, caprice, and indiscretion, are the characteristic features of that office ; witness, say they, its late conduct with regard to New Zealand, New South Wales, Ceylon, and the Cape. I propose, in opposition to the Colonial Office plan, that the Australian colonies shall have power to 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 359 make certain changes in their institutions without the consent of the Colonial Office, provided that two-thirds of the whole number of members of both houses of legislature agree for two years consecutively on the alterations to be made. This provision would guard against hastily and ill-con- sidered change, without the arbitrary interference of the Colonial Office. The last argument which I have to refute is that which is commonly used by very many gentlemen who readily acknowledge that a legislature com- posed of two elective houses is a far better and more perfect form of government than a legislature composed of a single partly nominated chamber. This position has been most clearly, distinctly, and emphatically admitted by Earl Grey; and the noble earl also admits that the Australian colonies must ultimately possess two elective chambers ; but, say the noble earl and his adherents. Van Diemen's Land and South Australia are not fit at present for so perfect a form of government, because those colonies do not contain the materials for two elective chambers. I call upon them to prove that position. I ask, are the materials wanting in consequence of the smallness of the population of these colonies, or in consequence of the particular character of that population ? or, in other words, is the population of these colonies too scanty to admit of two elective chambers, or is it morally and intellectually unworthy of possessing so perfect a form of government ? I answer, in 1847, ^^^ population of Van Diemen's Land, exclusive of the military and of all persons who had been trans- ported, amounted to 32,000 souls ; and in 1848, 36o SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the population of South AustraHa amounted to 38,000 souls. Now the experience of the United States proves, that an ordinary Anglo - Saxon community, with the population of these colonies, contains sufficient material for two chambers. I wish to call the attention of the Committee to the famous ordinance of Congress passed in the year 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States north-west of the River Ohio. This ordinance, says Mr. Story, has been in most respects the model of all the territorial governments of the United States, and it is remarkable for its masterly display of the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty. It provided, that as soon as a territory contained 5,000 male inhabi- tants, of full age, that is, a population of about 20,000 souls, it should have a legislature, to consist of a governor, nominated by Congress, and a legis- lative council and a house of representatives, both to be elected by the people ; and that there should be one member of the house of representatives for every 500 male inhabitants of full age, that is, for about every 2,000 souls. The principles of this ordinance have worked admirably. Since 1787, seventeen territories and states have been con- stituted and added to the American Union, and those states and territories contained, in 1840, a population of 6,500,000 souls. Every one of these communities, and, in fact, every one of the thirty- four states and territories of the American Union is governed by two houses of legislature, and in almost every one of them the upper house or senate is constituted in the same general manner. The senate, compared to the house of representatives, 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 361 is almost always a smaller body, composed of older men, representing larger districts, holding their authority by a tenure of longer duration, and elected by rotation. The objects of such a senate, according to the renowned authors of the Federalist, the highest constitutional authority in the United States, were to guard ** against the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions" ; to supply the "want of due acquaintance with the objects and principles of legislation " ; and to prevent ** mutability in public councils." And no one can deny that in the Federal Union, and also in the states of the Union, the senates have accomplished the objects for which they were constituted, and have deserved and gained the confidence and respect of the people. It is evident, that if Van Diemen's Land and South Australia belonged to the American section of the Anglo-Saxon race, they would have been treated as Illinois was in i8og, or Wisconsin in 1836, or Iowa in 1838, when these territories were not more populous than Van Diemen's Land and South Australia now are ; and, consequently, these colonies would have possessed a house of representatives, containingfrom eighteen to four-and- twenty members, and a senate containing from nine to twelve members ; and the senators would have been elected by rotation, and for about twice the period of the members of the house of representa- tives. I ask why do we refuse these institutions to our Australian colonies ? Experience proves that they are well adapted to Anglo-Saxon 362 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. communities of a similar size in America. It is said, however, that the inhabitants of our AustraHan colonies are morally and intellectually inferior to the inhabitants of the backwood territories of the United States. Does that inferiority exist, and if it does, whence does it arise ? If it does exist, it arises from the difference between the American mode of colonisation and that of the Colonial Office. For American colonisation consists of the migration westward of a portion of the people of the United States ; a portion of all classes migrate ; they carry with them in reality, and not as a legal fiction, the laws, the rights, and the liberties of American citizens ; they are fit for self-government, and will have it. Also the best portion of the emigrants from England go to the backwood states and com- pose a large portion of the population of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. In fact, an Englishman, when he emigrates to the United States, carries with him in reality all the laws, rights, and liberties of an Englishman ; but if he emigrates to our colonies, on touching colonial soil he loses some of the most precious of his liberties, and becomes the subject of an ignorant and irresponsible despot at the Antipodes. Now, Colonial Office colonisation consists in the transportation of convicts and the shovelling out of paupers. Therefore, it is said that such immoral, degraded, and unintellectual beings are only fit to be governed by the nominees of the Colonial Office ; and on that plea of its own making the Colonial Office calls upon us to refuse these colonies two elective houses. I challenge the Colonial Office to substantiate that plea. It is undoubtedly an extraordinary fact, that any 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 363 respectable man, that any person of birth or educa- tion, should emigrate to a colony to be governed by the Colonial Office. Nevertheless, they do emigrate ; and I maintain, from many circumstances known to me, that amongst the 32,000 inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, and the 38,000 of South Australia, there are as many moral and intellectual persons as in any ordinary Anglo-Saxon community of the same size in the backwoods of America. I challenge the Colonial Office to prove the contrary, and I maintain that there are materials in these colonies for two elective chambers. And, in fact, by this Bill, the noble lord admits that there may be materials in these colonies for a legislature com- posed of four-and twenty members. I will content myself with that admission, and will propose that my two elective houses shall consist of not more than four-and-twenty members in all. Therefore, if there be materials in these colonies for the noble lord's single chamber, there will also be materials for my two elective chambers ; unless the noble lord maintain that the Colonial Office may, with propriety, appoint as its nominees men inferior in station, intellect, and character to the class of persons amongst whom the representatives of the people ought to be chosen. I presume the noble lord will not maintain this position, though it has been frequently acted upon by the Colonial Office. It follows, therefore, that if there be materials for the noble lord's plan, there will be materials for my plan. Sir, in conclusion, let me ask the Committee to consider what is the precise difference between the plan of the noble lord and my plan ? The noble 364 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. lord proposes that there shall be established in each of these colonies a legislature, to consist of not more than four-and-twenty members, and that the number of members, the amount of their qualifi- cations, and the amount of the franchise shall be fixed by the legislatures now by law established in these colonies. I will propose precisely the same thing, and will suppose, for simplicity of argument, that the number of members will be fixed at twenty- four. Next, the noble lord proposes that these twenty-four members shall be divided into two classes of sixteen and eight members respectively. I propose the same thing ; but the noble lord proposes that the eight members shall be nominated by the Colonial Office and sit in the same house as the sixteen members who are to be elected by the people. On the contrary, I propose that both the eight and the sixteen members shall be elected by the people, and shall sit in different houses. There- fore, the question between the noble lord and myself is simply this : Is it likely or not that the Colonial Office would by nomination select, out of the materials in these colonies, eight men for each colony who would be better qualified to be members of a legislature than those which the inhabitants of these colonies would themselves elect ? This is the whole question, stripped of extraneous matter, idle fallacies, and other modes of deception and mystification. This is the question for the Com- mittee to decide. Those who vote with the noble lord, and against my motion, will vote for Colonial Office nomination and against popular election, will vote implicit confidence in the Colonial Office and no confidence in the inhabitants of these colonies, 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 365 and will vote that our Australian colonists are so morally degraded, and so intellectually despicable, that they ought not to be entrusted with institutions, which theory and experience have proved to be best adapted for the government of similar communities of Anglo-Saxon men in every other portion of the globe. ON MOTION TO RECOMMIT AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. May 6. [This motion was seconded by Mr. Adderley. It was defeated by a majority of 123: Ayes, 42; Noes, 165. Both Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli voted in the minority.] Sir, I move that this Bill be recommitted, for the purpose of omitting all clauses, which empower the Colonial Office to disallow colonial acts, to cause colonial Bills to be reserved, and to instruct colonial governors as to their conduct in the local affairs of these colonies ; and for the purpose also of adding clauses enumerating and defining imperial and colonial powers. Sir, the House may remember, that in committee I waived my right to oppose the 5th and nth clauses of this Bill, which would continue to the Colonial Office its present powers of interfering in the local affairs of the Australian colonies. I did so for the convenience of the Committee, and on an agreement with the noble lord, the Prime 366 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Minister, that on the bringing up of the report I should be entitled to raise the important question involved in those clauses, and to take the sense of the House on that question alone. I therefore now propose to recommit this Bill. I do so, as I have already stated, first, for the purpose of omitting from it all clauses by which the Colonial Office would be empowered to interfere with the manage- ment of the local affairs of these colonies; secondly, for the purpose of adding certain clauses which I have submitted to the consideration of the House, and which would give to these colonies the uncontrolled management of their local affairs. The question, therefore, for the House now to decide is, between Colonial Office government and self-government in the local affairs of these colonies. I must begin by observing that this Bill raises two distinct questions. First, the special question, what ought to be the form of the government of the Australian colonies ? That question was fully debated and decided in committee, and I do not presume to ask the House to reverse the decision of the Committee. The other, and in my opinion the far more important question, has not been discussed. It is the great question of colonial polity, namely, what amount of self-government ought our colonies to possess, and to what extent ought they to be subject to the controlling power of the Colonial Office ? Upon the answer which Parliament shall finally give to this question will depend the future constitution of the Colonial Empire of Great Britain. And I believe, according as that constitution shall be well or ill framed, our I 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 367 Colonial Empire will last long or speedily perish. The noble lord the Prime Minister, in his great speech on the introduction of this Bill, distinctly admitted that the Australian colonies ought to possess the greatest amount of self-government that is not inconsistent with the integrity and well- being of the whole empire. It must be acknowledged that this Bill would not fulfil the intentions of the noble lord in that respect, but would merely continue to the Colonial Office its present powers of inter- fering in the local affairs of the colonies. For if it pass unamended, there is not one single act which a colonial governor or a colonial parliament can do without the express or implied consent of the Colonial Office, nor one act which may not be reversed by the Colonial Office. I ask the House to consider carefully what are to be the powers ot the Colonial Office under this Bill. First, by this Bill, the Colonial Office would possess the power of instructing every colonial governor as to his conduct in all colonial matters. The governor would be bound to obey his instructions, whether he liked them or not. For instance, he would have to assent to a Bill of which he dis- approved ; he would have to dissent from a Bill of which he approved, if so commanded from the Antipodes. He would be, therefore, a mere puppet, moved to and fro by wires attached to Downing Street. By pulling those wires the Colonial Office would at once be able to put a stop to any colonial legislation ; for instance, if this Bill were to pass, the Colonial Office could make a colonial governor set aside every one of its much-vaunted provisions, and could prevent a colonial legislature from 368 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. amending its convStitution, from altering the salaries of its chief functionaries, from discharging useless functionaries, from reducing expenditure, and from appropriating money to the payment of any services which the Colonial Office might dislike to have performed. Secondly, this Bill, in addition to empowering the Colonial Office to instruct a colonial governor how he is to act in all colonial matters, would require, in many cases, that a colonial governor should abstain altogether from acting until he have sent to the other side of the globe, and ascertained the pleasure of the Colonial Office. For by this Bill a colonial governor would be absolutely required to reserve certain colonial Bills ; he would be able to reserve any colonial Bill ; and he would be bound to reserve any colonial Bill which the Colonial Office might instruct him to reserve. These reserved Bills would have to be sent to Downing Street ; there they would await the signification of the pleasure of the Colonial Office, and if that pleasure should not be signified within the course of two years, then the colonial Bill would be lost altogether. Thus, a Bill of great importance to a colony, affecting, perhaps very injuriously some interests, and very beneficially other interests (say, for instance, a Bill of the same importance to a colony as the Corn Law or Ten Hour Bill was to this country) — such a Bill, if it were reserved, would remain for one year at least, and might remain for three years, suspended over a colony, keeping a colony in a state of doubt and anxiety, and engendering the worst feelings towards the Colonial Office and the mother country. i85o.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 369 Thirdly, this Bill, in addition to giving the Colonial Office absolute control over all the acts of the colonial governor, would empower the Colonial Office ultimately to annul every act of a colonial governor or of a colonial parliament ; for by this Bill the Colonial Office would have power to dis- allow any colonial Act within two years after its arrival in Downing Street. Thus, after a colonial Act has been in full operation for three years, to the universal satisfaction of the colonists, it might be suddenly annulled by the arrival of a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Thus, strictly speaking, by this Bill the Colonial Office would continue to have the power, in the first instance, of preventing anything from being done in a colony by a colonial governor or a colonial parliament ; and it would have the power, in the second instance, of making null and void every thing which might be done by a colonial government or a colonial parliament. Sir, you will acknowledge, that these are vast powers of government. To whom are they to be en- trusted ? To gentlemen, able and laborious, without doubt, but who have never had ocular experience of the condition of a colony, who have no personal interest in the well-being of the colonists, who are always obliged to trust to second-hand and partial in- formation on all colonial matters, who are, therefore, necessarily ignorant and generally misinformed with regard to colonial affairs, and who, consequently, with the best intentions, cannot fail to commit numerous and grave errors in the management of the local affairs of the colonies, errors similar to those which every one admits that they have committed 370 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. within the last three or four years in New Zealand, New South Wales, Ceylon, South Africa, &c. Sir, I might take colony after colony, and with regard to each colony, I might mention numerous cases illustrative of the evil consequences of the ignorance of the Colonial Office, combined with the exercise of its powers of instructing colonial gover- nors, and otherwise interfering with the management of the local affairs of a colony. For instance, with regard to the Cape of Good Hope, I might mention that one Secretary of State for the Colonies* imagined that the Kaffirs (who are the fiercest of savages, and the most warlike and faithless of barba- rians), were a peaceful, pastoral people, imbued with Arcadian virtues and simplicity; the instructions which he, in his ignorance, gave to the colonial governor, and which the colonial governor was compelled, against his own better judgment, to obey, led to the series of Kaffir wars, which, at a low estimate, must have cost us nearly ;^5, 000,000 in the last ten or twelve years. With regard to the same colony, I might mention that another Secre- tary of State for the Colonies,^ being utterly ignorant of the physical state of South Africa, fancied that the size of farms in that part of the world should not much exceed the size of farms in England; the directions which he, in his ignorance, gave to the colonial governor, and which the colo- nial governor was compelled to obey, against his own better judgment, made the Dutch Boers abandon Natal, and migrate to the centre of South Africa, where we had to follow them with our troops, and to reduce them to subjection. To illustrate the 1 Lord Glenelg. " Lord Stanley. i85o.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 371 rashness and indiscretion with which the Colonial Office often acts, I might mention its conduct last year, in consulting the colony of the Cape of Good Hope with regard to the transportation of convicts, and simultaneously transporting them. To illus- trate the obstructive character of Colonial Office government, I might mention that the Legislative Council of New South Wales has long wished to have an agent in this country, who should be regularly paid by the Colonial Treasury ; the Colo- nial Office, naturally unwilling to be looked after, has offered every obstruction in its power to the appointment of that agent, by refusing to permit the Legislative Council to pass a Money Bill for his payment. To illustrate the minute interference of the Colonial Office in the local affairs of the colo- nies, I might mention (as I did on a former occasion) that the inhabitants of the town of Sydney, containing a population of about 50,000 souls, have for some time complained of the practice of slaugh- tering beasts within that city, as an abominable nuisance in that semi-tropical climate, and injurious to their health ; that the Legislative Council two years ago recommended that the slaughter-houses should be removed, and that a plot of land should be sold for the purpose of paying for their removal and for the building of abattoirs ; and that this recommenda- tion hasnotbeen attended to, because it was necessary to send to this country to obtain the sanction of the Colonial Office before anything could be done. To illustrate the ignorance of the Colonial Office with regard to the condition of a colony, I might mention the constitution of New Zealand, framed one year and suspended the next. To illustrate BIS 372 SPEECHES OF SIR W, MOLESWORTH. the ignorance of the Colonial Office with regard to the feelings of the inhabitants of a colony, I might mention the proposal of the Colonial Office to deprive the electors of New South Wales of their franchises, and to give them the still-born constitution of New Zealand. To showto what extent the Colonial Office is liable to be misinformed with regard to the affairs of a colony, I might mention that the Colonial Office ought to receive every year, from each colony, a statistical report of its condition ; that several years running the Colonial Office received reports from Ceylon, according to which the number oi births, deaths, and marriages in that colony was every year precisely the same ; that this remarkable statistical fact entirely escaped the observation ol the Colonial Office ; that it is to be explained by the circumstance that the same report, with an altera- tion only of the date, was sent, year after year, from Ceylon ; that from these reports, and similar sources of information, the Colonial Office was led into the most singular errors with regard to the financial condition of Ceylon ; for instance, that it mistook a deficit for a surplus of income over expenditure, and fancied that the Treasury of Ceylon was full when it was empty, that liabilities were assets, and that cancelled notes were bullion. It would be easy to multiply instances of this description. In fact, a collection of anecdotes of Colonial Office govern- ment would make a very curious and laughable chapter in the history of this empire ; and that chapter might be very properly headed with Oxen- stiern's famous saying ^' Nescis, mi fill, quantilld pntdentid homines regantur^' and certainly no men were ever governed with less prudence than I 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, 373 the colonists of Great Britain have been governed, ever since bureaucratic colonial government has been established in Downing Street. Sir, it will be said that similar errors will not be committed, and that in future these powers may be safely confided to the Colonial Office ; and the honourable gentleman the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies will, without doubt, repeat for the hundredth time, that he has been positively instructed by the noble earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to assure the House, most solemnly and most distinctly, that the noble earl will in future exercise those powers in the wisest, most judicious, and most liberal manner, and, in fact, will only exercise them for the undoubted benefit of the colonies, and for the purpose of guarding against the errors which, he will tell us, the colonial parliaments would be sure to make in the manage- ment of the local affairs and private interests of their colonies, were it not for the great wisdom and superintending intelligence of the noble earl. I will not presume to dispute any statement of facts made by the honourable gentleman, but I must observe that the statement, which I have heard repeated so often, contains the argument which the courtiers of ever}' despot have from time immemorial used in defence of the powers of their master ; and to that argument I will reply in the words in which the Emperor Alexander replied to Madame de Stael, that a good despot was a ** lucky accident." We cannot expect lucky accidents to be of frequent occurrence ; and therefore, to legislate under that expectation would be the height of absurdity. Sir, I must therefore most reluctantly omit 374 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. entirely from my consideration the individual merits of the present functionaries of the Colonial Office ; and stern logic compels me to remind the House of the fundamental axiom of constitutional government that no man ought to be entrusted with irresponsible power. Now, the functionaries of the Colonial Office are irresponsible for their management of the local affairs of the colonies; for they are responsible (and in theory only) to those who are themselves irresponsible, and who know little and care little about the colonies ; for the Colonial Office is said to be responsible to us ; that responsibility every one knows to be a farce, for the majority of us take little or no interest in colonial matters. But sup- pose it a reality, to whom are we responsible for the management of the local affairs of the colony ? To our constituents ! Why that responsibility is a still greater farce; for they know less, and care less, about the colonies than we do. But suppose it a reality, to whom are our constituents responsible for the management of the local affairs of the colonies ? To no one ! Therefore in ultimate analysis the Colonial Office is irresponsible. For in the language of our constitution the only meaning of the word responsibility is the responsibility of the rulers to the ruled. We distinguish between des- potism and free government by this test alone. So do our colonists. And therefore, according to strict constitutional logic, they term the power of the Colonial Office a despotic power ; because for the manner in which it is exercised, neither the Colonial Office, nor the British Parliament, nor the people of Great Britain, that is none of those who rule, are responsible to the colonists, who are ruled over. 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 375 Irresponsible power is as distasteful to colonists in a colony, as it would be to Englishmen in Eng- land; for our colonists pride themselves upon being Englishmen ; and they appeal to the old constitu- tional maxim, that an Englishman, go where he will, carries along with him, as his birthright, as much of law and liberty as the nature of things will bear. They maintain that their fathers, by emigra- ting, forfeited none of their English liberties, and that their descendants in the colonies are entitled to political rights corresponding with those enjoyed by Englishmen in England, with the necessary excep- tion of those rights which are irreconcilable with their condition and duties as colonists of the British Empire. They assert also, that the foundation of English liberty is the right in a people to a parlia- ment in which they shall be represented; and as, from the nature of things, they cannot be adequately represented in the British Parliament, they lay claim to a colonial parliament as similar in its form and powers to the British Parliament as the status of a colony will admit of. They claim, therefore, for their local parliament a control over their local affairs as complete as the British Parliament pos- sesses over the local affairs of the British islands. And consequently they feel, with regard to the powers of the Colonial Office, as we should feel if our Bills were to be reserved for the sanction of a functionary at the other side of the globe, if our Acts of Parliament were liable to be disallowed at the pleasure of a Secretary of State in Australia, and if our Prime Minister were bound to obey the instruc- tions of the unknown and irresponsible officers of a department at the Antipodes. Like all true 376 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Englishmen, they loathe distant and irresponsible government ; when weak, they murmur and obey it ; as they wax stronger, their murmurs become menaces ; their menaces, if unattended to, are followed by rebellion, and rebellion leads to inde- pendence. In proof of all this, I ask the House to reflect on the history of our plantations in America. Remember also, how a few years ago, Canada rebelled and obtained responsible government; and how, the year before last, the threats of New South Wales compelled the Colonial Office to abandon its projects ! See how the menaces of the Cape of Good Hope forced the Colonial Offtce to submit, and to bestow upon that colony representative government ! Listen to the murmurs of New Zea- land, as yet too weak to threaten ! Thus, in the eyes of the colonies, our Colonial Office governmient is a despotism, tempered by menaces and rebellions — tyrannising over the weak, cringing to the power- ful, universally hated and generally despised. A government, hated and despised by its subjects, is doomed to destruction ; and our colonial empire will perish if our colonial system continue unre- formed. Sir, our colonial system must be reformed. How can it be reformed ? I answer, by refusing to con- tinue to the Colonial Office the powers to which I have just referred, and by giving to the colonies the greatest amount of self-government that is not in- consistent with the integrity and well-being of the British Empire. If this be done in the manner in which I propose, the colonies will cease to be subjects of the Colonial Office, and will become integral portions of the British Empire ; and the 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 377 present and all future colonies will be so many repetitions of Great Britain, united into one great British Empire by common allegiance to one monarch, and to one Imperial Parliament. How can this be done ? Before I attempt to answer this question, I must remind the House that I moved last year that an humble address should be presented to her Majesty, praying that her Majesty would be graciously pleased to appoint a commis- sion to inquire into the administration of her Majesty's colonial possessions, with a view to a reform of the colonial system of the British Empire. I regret much that the House refused its assent to that motion, and that I am now obliged, unaided by that Commission, to attempt to answer the question to which I have referred. Sir, in the British Empire the powers of govern- ment may be divided into the two classes of imperial and colonial powers. By colonial powers, I mean those powers which are required for the government of a colony in all matters affecting its local or internal interests. By Imperial powers, I mean those powers which are required for the government of the British Empire as one body in all matters affecting its general and external interests. Now, I maintain, as I have already said, that the inhabitants of our true colonies (I mean especially those acquired by occupancy) are entitled to political rights corresponding with those enjoyed by English- men in England, with the necessary exception of the rights which can be proved to be irreconcilable with their status as colonists, that is to say, irrecon- cilable either with the local circumstances of their colonies, or with their duties as subjects of the 378 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. British Empire. Therefore, I maintain that, when- ever the local circumstances of a colony will admit of the existence of a colonial parliament, the colonial parliament ought to possess powers corresponding with those of the British Parliament, with the necessary exception of imperial powers. For if it were to possess imperial powers, it would become an imperial parliament, and as there cannot be two imperial parliaments in one empire, the British Empire would be dissolved. It is evident, therefore, that in order to give to a colonial parliament all the powers to which it is entitled ; or in other words to give a colony the greatest amount of self- government that is not inconsistent with the unity and well-being of the British Empire, it is evident, I repeat, that the line of demarcation between imperial and local powers should be fixed by an imperial statute ; that all imperial powers should be vested in imperial authorities ; that all colonial powers should be vested in colonial authorities ; and that the colonial legislatures should be restricted from making any colonial law affecting the extent and distribution of the powers of government as fixed by imperial statute. The first question is how to draw the line of demarcation between imperial and colonial powers. It might be done in two different manners ; either by enumerating colonial powers, and then all other powers would be imperial powers ; or by enumerat- ing imperial powers, and then all other powers would be colonial powers. I propose to adopt the latter mode, for it is evident that imperial powers concern fewer topics, are, therefore, fewer in num- ber, and consequently can be more easily enumerated i850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 379 than local powers. I propose, therefore, in the clauses which I have submitted to the House, to enumerate imperial powers, and all other restrictions which ought to be put upon the powers of the colonial legislatures; and then, with the exceptions so enumerated, to give to the colonial parliaments, within their respective colonies, all the powers possessed by the British Parliament in the British islands. Sir, I will now attempt to show that the objects which I have in view would be attained by the clauses, or rather constitution, which I have pro- posed. For this purpose I first ask what are the chief powers of government ? I will answer by quoting Blackstone, to the effect that the Queen is the supreme head of the British Empire, and in right of her regal dignity she possesses absolutely certain special powers called prerogatives. Among the prerogatives of the Crown, or connected with them, are all the chief powers of government. Therefore, if I were to enumerate and consider the prerogatives of the Crown, in so doing I should have to consider all the chief powers of government, both imperial and colonial. Before I do so, I must observe that the Imperial Parliament cannot touch the prerogatives of the Crown without the previous consent of the Crown ; therefore, it follows from the principles which I have laid down, that a colonial parliament ought to be restricted from making any law affecting the prerogatives of the Crown after they have been once determined for the colony by an imperial statute. I will now proceed to enumerate and define the prerogatives of the Crown. According to Blackstone, there can be 38o SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. no difficulty in so doing. For Blackstone says the second great political right of every Englishman, and therefore I contend of every colonist, is "the limitation of the Queen's prerogative by bounds so certain and notorious that it is impossible that vshe should either mistake or legally exceed them without the consent of the people on the one hand ; or without, on the other, a violation of the original contract, which in all states impliedly, and in ours most expressly, subsists between the prince and the subject." Blackstone then states his intention to consider the " prerogative minutely," to mark out **its particular extent and restrictions," and laughs to scorn those who pretend that the prerogative is too sacred and mysterious a thing to bear the in- spection of a rational and sober inquiry. According to him the prerogatives of the Crown respect either the nation's intercourse with foreign nations, or its own domestic affairs. First, with regard to foreign nations, the Queen has the prerogative of sending and receiving ambassadors, making treaties, proclaiming war, issuing reprisals, and granting safe conducts. These prerogatives are evidently imperial powers. I therefore propose to reserve them to the Crown, and to restrict the colonial parliaments from touching them. Next, in domestic affairs. First, the Queen is a constituent part of the supreme Legislative Council ; therefore the Queen has a negative on all new laws, both imperial and colonial. It is evident that the Queen can only exercise the veto by means of the officers of the Crown. With regard to colonial laws, at present the Queen exercises the veto by the i850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, 381 agency of the Colonial Office, and the Colonial Office exercises it in some cases by the agency of the colonial governor. I propose, because the veto on a colonial law is evidently a colonial power, and for other reasons which I have already stated, that the Colonial Office shall cease to exercise the veto ; that the Crown shall vest it in the colonial governor ; and that the colonial parliament shall be restricted from making any law affecting its exercise by the colonial governor. It has been stated that I pro- pose to deprive the Crown of the prerogative of the veto. Great stress has been laid upon this state- ment. It is, however, manifestly incorrect, as the law officers of the Crown will at once admit. For I only propose that certain clauses of the 5th and 6th Vict., cap. 76, shall not be continued. Now, the law officers of the Crown will admit that these clauses did not create the prerogative of the veto on colonial laws ; and, therefore, they will acknowledge that by omitting or repealing those clauses the Crown will not be deprived of that prerogative, and that the prerogative of the Crown after the repeal of those clauses will be precisely the same as it was before their enactment. Those clauses merely made it lawful for the Queen, by Order in Council, that is to say, by order of the Colonial Office, to negative colonial laws. I pro- pose to omit those clauses, and that in their stead Parliament shall make it lawful for the Queen, by order of the colonial governor, to negative colonial laws. Therefore, I merely propose to transfer the exercise of the veto from the Colonial Office to the colonial governor ; that is, I propose virtually to transport the Colonial Office, with all its powers, to 382 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the colonies. For instance, my object would virtually be accomplished if the noble earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies were transported to New South Wales and made Governor of that colony ; or if the honourable gentleman the Under- Secretary of State for the Colonies were made Lieutenant-governor of WcvStern Australia, and both of them were, as far as their respective colonies were concerned, to retain all the power of the Colonial Office. Without doubt we should deeply grieve to lose the valuable services of the noble earl and the honourable gentleman in Downing Street ; but I am satisfied that they would render far greater services to the colonial empire in the colonies to which I have referred. For every one will admit that they are gentlemen of good abilities and much industry, therefore, residing in the colonies, with personal experience of the condition of the colonists, with the means of immediately obtaining accurate and impartial information on all colonial matters, it is not impossible that in a year or so they would possess considerable knowledge of colonial affairs, and become useful servants to the colonial empire of Great Britain. The second prerogative of the Crown in domestic affairs, to which Blackstone refers, is that in virtue of which the Queen is the first in military command in the Empire, and may raise fleets and armies and build forts. These are evidently imperial powers, to be reserved to the Crown, and not to be touched by the colonial parliaments. Again, the Queen is the fountain of justice ; there- fore the Queen has the right of determining causes by means of her judges, of establishing courts of 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 383 judicature, and of granting reprieves and pardons. I propose, in conformity with the principles which I have laid down, to reserve to the Queen in Council, first, the power of determining all imperial causes, that is, all causes touching imperial powers ; and secondly, the power of determining all causes what- ever on appeal, and of establishing imperial courts in the colonies with the same jurisdiction as that of the Queen in Council. Thirdly, I propose that the power of granting reprieves and pardons should, as at present, be vested in the governor, and that the colonial parliaments should be restricted from passing any law affecting these powers. I propose also that the colonial governors shall appoint the colonial judges ; this power to be subject to any alteration to be made by the colonial parliament, with the restriction, however, that they shall not make any judge's tenure of office different from a judge's tenure of office in this country, that is, dependent on anything but good behaviour, nor diminish his salary during his continuance in office. The Queen is also the fountain of honour and office, I propose to reserve to the Queen the power of granting titles of honour and nobility, and of ap- pointing all imperial officers, and that the colonial parliament shall not touch these powers. I pro- pose that the colonial governors shall appoint all colonial officers ; this power to be subject to any alterations to be made by the colonial parliaments, as the colonists will have to pay their own officers. The Queen is the arbiter of commerce, and therefore coins money. The power of coining would be reserved to the Crown by my constitution. 384 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. The Queen is the head of the National Church. I propose that there shall be no National Church in the colonies, and consequently do not propose to reserve this prerogative. Lastly, I have to mention the fiscal prerogatives of the Crown. I need only mention the power of the Crown to dispose of waste lands, minerals, fines, forfeitures, royalties, and the revenue from the Post Office. I propose to reserve to the Crown the power of regulating the transmission of letters by sea, as that it is evidently an imperial power. I propose to vest in the colonial governor all the other fiscal prerogatives of the Crown, to be exercised according to acts of the colonial parliament, for these are undoubtedly colonial powers of great importance to the colonists. Sir, I have now, following Blackstone, completed the enumeration of the prerogatives of the Crown, and shown that, with certain exceptions, the colonial parliaments should be restricted from touching the prerogatives. The reserved prerog- atives I have divided into two classes. One class containing those prerogatives which are required for the management of the common concerns of the whole Empire, such for instance as making treaties, commanding armies, &c., are imperial powers : I have, therefore, reserved these powers absolutely to the Crown. But, as some, or all of these prerog- atives may at times be required to be exercised in the colonies, I propose that the Queen may vest any of them in the governor of the colony. There- fore, as far as these prerogatives are concerned, the governor would be an imperial officer, and bound to obey instructions from the Imperial Government, 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 385 and therefore, in my opinion, he ought to be paid from the Imperial Treasury. The other class of prerogatives, containing those which are required for the management of colonial affairs, are colonial powers, such as the veto, the granting reprieves and pardons, &c. These powers I propose to vest in the governor; therefore, as far as these powers are concerned, the governor would be a local officer, and consequently should not be bound to obey in- structions from the Imperial Government. It may be said that the union of imperial and colonial powers in the same individual is bad in theor)\ I acknowledge it is so. In theory it would be better to separate them, to vest all imperial powers in an imperial officer, paid and appointed by the Empire, and to vest all colonial powers in a colonial governor, paid and selected by the colony. I do not, however, propose to raise the question of an elective governor ; for, as I have already said, I consider that the question of the form oif govern- ment of these colonies has been settled in com- mittee. I will only observe that it is a fundamental doctrine of the constitution that the Crown, in the exercise of its prerogatives, should always act by ministers responsible to the representatives of the people. In the colonies the Crown exercises its prerogatives by means of the governor, therefore the governor should be responsible for the exercise of imperial powers to the Imperial Parliamant, and of colonial powers to the Colonial Parliament. Now, as there can be no doubt that a colonial governor, or any other officer of the Crown, would be removed on an address praying for his removal being presented from either House of the Imperial M. c c 386 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. Parliament, I think that a Colonial Parliament ought to possess some power of causing the removal of a colonial governor by an address to the Crown. In order that such power should not be exercised rashly, I propose that, to insure removal, the address must be agreed to by two-thirds of the whole number of members of the Colonial Parhament. Sir, in enumerating and determining the prerog- atives of the Crown in the colonies, and in restrict- ing the colonial parliaments from passing any law affecting these prerogatives, I have stated what are the chief restrictions which I propose to put on the power of the colonial parliaments. The other restrictions which I propose are supplemental to those which I have enumerated. They are required for the same purposes of maintaining the supremacy of the Crown and the unity of the Empire both at home and abroad, and are intended to prevent the Colonial Parliament : first, from passing any law affecting the dignity of the Crown or the allegiance of the subject ; second, from interfering with the foreign relations of the Empire, and the laws which regulate those relations both in peace and war ; third, from interfering with the command of the general forces of the Empire; fourth, from conferring any exclusive privilege on any portion of the sub- jects of the Empire ; fifth, from violating certain fundamental principles of British policy, which I hold to be sacred ; for instance, that there shall be no slavery in the British dominions. I have now stated, in general terms, the legal restrictions which I propose to put on the powers of the Colonial Parliament. They will be found in detail in the clauses which I have submitted to the consideration i850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 387 of the House. I propose, therefore, that, with the exceptions which I have mentioned, the colonial parliaments shall have the same power of making laws within their respective colonies as the Parlia- ment of Great Britain has within the realm of Great Britain. Sir, it is evident that it might so happen that a colonial parliament should exceed its powers, and make an enactment in contravention of the restric- tions which had been imposed upon it. I propose to declare that such an enactment shall be invalid ; and to create a supreme court, which shall determine questions relative to the validity of a colonial enact- ment. I propose (as, in fact, I have already done) that her Majesty in Council shall be the supreme court, and shall have both original and appellate jurisdiction in all cases arising under a colonial constitution (as, for instance, when the validity of a colonial enactment shall be called in question), with power to assign any part of such jurisdiction or to remit any case to the courts of the colony. I propose to copy, with regard to invalid enact- ments, the judicial system, and the rules of judicial procedure, of the United States in similar matters. Now, everyone who knows anything about the system of constitutional law which pervades the United States of America, knows that a judicial system, by which constitutional law is enforced, is in full operation both in the Federal Union and in every separate State of the Union. For every State in the Union has a State constitution, which is, to a certain extent, the supreme law of the State, and which the State legislature is bound to obey ; and to enforce a State constitution there is in every State a supreme c ca 388 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. State court, which can make void any enactment of the State legislature that is in contravention of the State constitution. Besides these State constitu- tions and State supreme courts, there is what I may term the imperial constitution of the United States and the supreme court of the United States, which can make void any part of a State constitution, or any enactment of a State legislature, or any enact- ment of Congress which is in contravention of the constitution of the United States. I need hardly tell any honourable gentleman who knows anything about American law, or has read the works of Mr. Story, or the commentaries of Chancellor Kent, that this judicial system has worked admirably in the United States for the last seventy years, and that the decisions of the supreme court of the United States are of the highest authority, and are quoted as such in our courts of law. Sir, I may now venture to assure the House that the constitution which I have proposed for these colonies is founded upon the principles and expe- rience of our race. For the plantations in North America, starting from the same premises from which I have started, that is, from the same rules of positive law, and from the same constitutional maxims, arrived at the conclusion that they were by the constitution of England entitled to the same rights which I entreat the House to give to the colonies of Australia. In proof of this position, I might quote the writings of Governor Pownall, in 1760 ; but I will merely quote a few sentences from the declaration of rights put forth by the Continental Congress of 1774, two years before the declaration of independence, and when the majority of the inhabi- 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 389 tants of the North American plantations were far from thinkini( of independence. The good people of the several colonies, alarmed at the arbitrary proceed- ings of Parliament and the administration, declare : *' That their ancestors were, at the time of their emigration, entitled to all the rights and liberties of natural-born subjects within the realm of England. That by such emigration they by no means forfeited any of those rights, but that they were and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise of all such of those rights as their circumstances enabled them to exercise. That the foundation of English liberty is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council ; and as the English colonists are not represented, and can not be properly represented in the British Parliament, they are entitled to an ex- clusive power of legislation in their several provincial parliaments in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative of the sovereign." Sir, unfortunately we did not assent to these positions, and the plantations rebelled. During the rebellion hostility to England was their bond of confederation. When they gained their indepen- dence that bond was dissolved, and the Union was for a moment on the eve of perishing. Then, accord- ing to De Tocqueville, an event occurred new in the history of nations, and of which all Anglo-Saxon men should be proud : " Then a great nation, in- formed by its legislators that the wheels of govern- ment were about to stop, proceeded, without fear or precipitation, to search out the causes of the defect, and waited patiently for two whole years to discover the remedy ; and when the remedy was discovered, they willingly submitted to it without its costing one 390 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. tear or one single drop of human blood." The result was the existing constitution of the United States. The great statesman who framed that con- stitution had this problem to solve (the same which I have endeavoured to solve) : to divide the powers of government between the States and the Union, so as to reserve to the States self-government in their internal affairs, and at the same time to invest the Union with the general government of the whole nation. The men who framed that constitution were deeply read and firmly believed in the constitu- tional law of England ; and they modelled their new constitution after their ideas of the old one. They invested the Union with all the executive prerogatives of the Crown, almost copying the language of Blackstone ; and thus gave to the Union all the imperial powers which I propose to reserve to the Crown. They deprived the States of certain powers which are almost identical with the restrictions which I propose to put upon the powers of the colonial parliaments. In order to prevent the Union from encroaching upon the powers of the States, and in order to prevent the States from cur- tailing the powers of the Union, they established a supreme court, and a judicial system similar to that which I propose for the colonies. The most difficult and important questions which have been brought before the supreme court of the United States, have been questions with regard to the powers of Congress, and with regard to the powers which Congress possesses, concurrently with the States, of laying on taxes. Now, similar questions cannot arise under my colonial convStitu- tion, because I do not propose to put any legal 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 391 limit to the powers of the Imperial Parliament. The constitutional questions which can arise under my colonial constitution appear, from the experience of the United States, to be of rare occurrence, and easily decided. Now, as I have already stated, every one who has studied the subject acknowledges that as far as the division of the powers of govern- ment is concerned, the constitution of the United States has worked well for the last seventy years. Therefore I am entitled to infer that my constitution for the colonies, which, as far as the division of the powers of government is concerned, is similar in principle and machinery to that of the United States, would also work well. Sir, it seems to me that there is a striking analogy between the system of government of the United States, and what ought to be the system of govern- ment of our colonial empire. For the United States is a system of States clustered round a central Republic. Our colonial empire ought to be a system of colonies clustered round the hereditary monarchy of England. The hereditary monarchy should possess all the powers of government with the exception of that of taxation, which the central Republic possesses. If it possesvsed less, the Empire would cease to be one body politic ; if it continue to possess more, the colonies will be discontented at the want of self-government, and on the first occasion would imitate their brethren in America. To prevent such an event, I propose that the Colonial Office shall cease to interfere with the management of the local affairs of these colonies, and that they shall possess the greatest amount of self-government that is not inconsistent with the 392 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. unity and well-being of the British Empire. With this object in view, I submit to the consideration of the House the measures to which I have referred. I do so with diffidence as to the details of these measures, but with confidence that they are founded upon the true principles of colonial policy. I there- ask the House to recommend this Bill, and to consider these measures in detail. CONSTITUTION PROPOSED BY SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH FOR NEW SOUTH WALES, AND, WITH THE REQUISITE ALTERA- TIONS, FOR ALL THE OTHER AUSTRALIAN COLONIES AND NEW ZEALAND. Classification of Clauses. I. Parliament. II. Governor. III. Legislative Council. IV. House of Assembly. Analysis. Subject Matter of Clauses. 1. Constitution of Parliament. 2. How appointed and paid. 3. Manner of supplying vacancies in office. 4. Governor to be removed on the Address of two- thirds of both Houses. 5. Governor to forward Addresses. 6. Waste Land to be disposed of according to Acts of the Colonial Parliament. 7. Assent of Governor to Bills. 8. Governor to call together and prorogue Houses, and to dissolve House of Assembly. 9. Parliament to be called together once in every year. 10. Governor to appoint to civil offices. 11. Governor to grant reprieves and pardons. 12. Instructions to Governor. 13. Constitution of Legislative Council. 14. Qualification of Members of Legislative Council. 15. Succession of Members of Legislative Council. 16. Constitution of House of Assembly. 17. Qualification of Members of House of Assembly. 18. Duration of House of Assembly. V. Both Houses. VI. Limits of Im- perial and Colonial Powers. 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL, 393 Analysis — continued. Classification of Clauses. Subject Matter of Clauses. 19 Qualification of electors of both Houses. 20. Writs and conduct of elections. 21. Writ to be issued by Governor on vacancy occurring. 22. Oath of Allegiance. 23. Power of each House over its own Members. 24. Each House to Elect its Speaker and determine the rules of its proceedings. 25. Revenue Bills. ^ 26. Reservation of Imperial powers. 27. Reserved powers may be vested in the Governor by letters patent. 28. Restrictions on the power of the Parliament of New South Wales. 29. Original jurisdiction of the Queen in Council. 30. Appellate jurisdiction of the Queen in Council. 31. Alterations in Act how to be made. 32. General legislative power of Parliament of New South Wales. 1. And be it Enacted, That the Legislature of the said colony of New South Wales shall consist of a Governor, and subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, of two Houses, to be called respectively the " Legislative Council " and " House of Assembly " of New South Wales ; and such Governor and two Houses together shall be called the Parliament of New South Wales. 2. And be it Enacted, That the Governor shall be appointed by Her Majesty by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, and shall receive his salary from the Treasury of the United Kingdom ; and the supreme executive power in the colony shall be vested in such Governor. 3. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, during any vacancy of the office of Governor, the Speaker of the Legisla- tive Council, or, if there be then no Speaker of the Legislative Council, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, or, if there be then no Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the said colony, shall exercise such office ; and whenever the Speaker of the House of Legislative Council or of the House of Assembly shall so exercise the said 394 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. office, his duties as Speaker shall be suspended, and the Legislative Council or House of Assembly (as the case may require) shall fill the vacancy until his duties as Governor cease. 4. And be it Enacted, That if at any time an address passed by two-thirds of the whole number of the members of each House of Parliament of New South Wales be presented to Her Majesty, praying for the removal of any Governor from his office, such Governor shall thereupon be removed, and another appointed in his place. 5. And be it Enacted, That the Governor shall, without delay, forward to Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State, for presentation to Her Majesty, all addresses passed by a majority of either of the two Houses of the Parliament of New South Wales. 6. And be it Enacted, That the Governor shall dispose of the waste lands of the colony, including minerals of every description, and all fines, forfeitures, and other royalties, according to any Acts which the Parliament of New South Wales may pass for the purpose, preserving to the persons entitled thereto the benefit of all grants of land, and of all contracts for grants of land, made or entered into previously to the passing of any Act affecting such land. 7. And be it Enacted, That no Bill shall become law without the assent of the Governor, and that he shall, before the close of the Session, declare his assent to or dissent from every Bill presented to him. 8. And be it Enacted, That the Governor shall have power, from time to time, to call together the said Houses of Par- liament, to fix their place of meeting, and to prorogue them ; and shall also have power to dissolve the House of Assembly when he may think expedient. 9. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, the Governor shall hold a Session of the said Parliament once in every year, the first of such Sessions to be holden at some time not later than [ ] months after the proclamation of this Act in the colony. 10. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, the Governor shall appoint to all civil offices in the said colony. 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 395 11. And be it Enacted, That the Governor shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for all offences committed in the said colony. • 12. And be it Enacted, That no instructions shall be given to any Governor, except in relation to the powers and pre- rogatives hereinafter reserved. 13. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, the Legis- lative Council shall consist of [ ] members, and shall be constituted as follows (that is to say) ; the Governor and existing Legislative Council shall, within three calendar months after the proclamation of this Act, divide the colony into [ ] provinces, or, if such division be not so made within such period, the Governor shall, within the further period of one calendar month, make the same by proclamation ; and each of such provinces shall elect three members. 14. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, no person shall be elected a member of the Legislative Council unless he be of the age of thirty years, a natural born or naturalised subject of Her Majesty, and legally or equitably seised or entitled for his own use or possession of or to a freehold estate in the colony of the value of four thousand pounds, or of the yearly value of two hundred pounds above all charges. 15. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, the said Legislative Council shall, immediately upon assembling together after its first election, be divided by lot into three classes, each consisting of [ ] members, in such manner that each province shall have one of its members in each class ; and the seats of the first class shall be vacated at the end of the third year from the date of the issuing of the writs for the first election of the said Council ; the seats of the second class shall be vacated at the end of the sixth year from such date as aforesaid ; and the seats of the third class at the end of the ninth year from such date as aforesaid; and all members elected to fill the seats so vacated shall hold their seats for the term of nine years : Provided nevertheless, That, whenever a casual vacancy occurs in the seat of a legislative councillor, the person elected in his stead shall hold his seat for such 396 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. period only as the member in whose stead he is elected would have held his seat, if the same had not been vacated. 1 6. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, the House of Assembly shall consist of [ ] members ; and for the purpose of constituting the House of Assembly, the Governor and existing Legislative Council shall, within three calendar months after the proclamation of this Act, divide the colony into electoral districts, and determine the number of members to be returned for each district ; or, if such division and determination be not so made within such period, the Governor shall, within the further period of one calendar month, make the same by proclamation. 17. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, no person shall be capable of being elected a member of the said House of Assembly unless he be of the age of twenty-one years, a natural born or naturalised subject of Her Majesty, and is legally or equitably seised or entitled for his own use in posses- sion of or to a freehold estate in the colony of the value of two thousand pounds, or of the yearly value of one hundred pounds above all charges. 18. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, the said House of Assembly, unless sooner dissolved by the Governor, shall continue for five years from the day of the return of the writs for caUing together the same, and no longer. 19. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, every man of the age of twenty-one years, being a natural born or natu- ralised subject of Her Majesty, or legally made a denizen of New South Wales, and having a freehold or leasehold estate in possession, situate within the province or district for which his vote is to be given, of the clear value of [ ] above all charges, of or to which he has been seised or entitled, either at law or in equity, for at least six calendar months before the previous registration of electors, or being a house- holder within such province or district occupying a dwelling- house of the clear annual value of [ ], and having resided therein six calendar months before the previous regis- tration of electors, shall, if duly registered, be entitled to vote 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 397 at the election of a member of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly : Provided that no man shall be entitled to vote who has been attainted or convicted of treason, felony, or other infamous offence in any part of Her Majesty's dominions, unless he has received a free pardon, or pardon conditional on not leaving the colony, or has undergone the sentence passed on him. 20. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, the Governor and existing Legislative Council shall, within three calendar months after the proclamation of this Act, make all necessary provisions for the registration of all persons qualified to vote at the election of members of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, and for the appointment of returning officers, and for the issuing, executing, and returning the necessary writs for such elections, and for taking the poll thereat, and other- wise for ensuring the orderly, effective, and impartial conduct of such elections; and, if such provisions be not so made within such period as aforesaid, the Governor shall, within a further period of one calendar month, make the same by proclamation. 21. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, whenever a representation is made by the Speaker of the Legislative Council or House of Assembly to the Governor that a vacancy has occurred in the seat of a member of the House of which he is Speaker, the Governor shall forthwith issue his writ for the election of a member to fill such vacancy. 22. And be it Enacted, That no member of the Legislative Council or House of Assembly shall be entitled to take his seat, or vote, until he has, in the presence of the Governor, or some person authorised by him, made oath, or if a f)erson authorised by law to make affirmation instead of an oath, made an affirmation, in the following form : — I do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria as lawful Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of this Colony of New South Wales, dependent on and belong- ing to the said United Kingdom ; and that I will defend 398 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. her, to the utmost of my power, against all traitorous conspiracies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against her person, crown, and dignity ; and that I will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and make known to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies and attempts which I shall know to be against her or any of them ; and all this I do swear, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation, and renouncing all pardons and dispensations from any person or persons whatever to the contrary. So help me God. 23. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, each House shall be the judge of the elections and qualifications of its own members, and may compel the attendance of absent members, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the whole number of members, expel a member. 24. And be it Enacted, That each House may elect its own Speaker, and determine the rules of its own proceed- ings. 25. And be it Enacted, That, subject to any alteration to be made by the Parliament of New South Wales, all Bills for raising and appropriating the revenue shall originate in the House of Assembly, but the Legislative Council may pro- pose amendments, as on other Bills. 26. And be it Enacted, That there shall be reserved to Her Majesty the several powers and prerogatives following, that is to say — 1. The power of sending and receiving ambassadors to and from, and of making treaties, leagues, and alliances with, any foreign state or prince : 2. The power of making peace and war : 3. The power of granting letters of marque and reprisal during peace or war, and of granting safe conducts in time of war : 4. The power of confiscating the property of alien ene- mies, and of laying an embargo on shipping : 5. The power of keeping any land or naval forces in the said colony, or on the coasts thereof : i85b.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 399 6. The power of enlisting men within the said colony for the supply of such forces : 7. The command, at all times, of all regular military and naval forces employed in or about the said colony, and the command of the militia in time of war : 8. The power of erecting forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other buildings, for military or naval purposes : 9. The exercise of exclusive jurisdiction within the limits of any place occupied for such purposes : 10. The power of taking any waste land and likewise, on making due compensation, any other land, for the purpose of erecting thereon such forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other buildings as aforesaid, and for any other military or naval purpose : 11. The power of determining all cases brought before Her Majesty on appeal from the courts of the said colony : 12. The power of establishing prize courts : 13. The power of coining money, and of regulating the value of foreign coin : 14. The power of granting titles of nobility : 15. The power of regulating the transmission of letters by sea, between the said colony and any other place : And all powers necessary for giving effect to the above powers and prerogatives. 27. And be it Enacted, That Her Majesty may, by letters patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, vest in the Governor all or any of the powers and prerogatives hereinbefore reserved, and the Governor shall conform to such instructions as Her Majesty shall convey to him for his guidance in the exercise of such powers and prerogatives. 28. And be it Enacted, That the Parliament of New South Wales shall not have power to do any of the following things, that is to say — 1. To pass any law affecting or derogating from the powers and prerogatives so reserved to Her Majesty as aforesaid : 2. To alter the mode of the appointment of the Governor : 3. To control his power of calling together and pro- roguing the Houses of Parliament, or of dissolving 400 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH, the House of Assembly, or of assenting to or dis- senting from Bills passed by the said two Houses ; or to take from him the power of granting reprieves and pardons : 4. To pass any law altering the succession to or affect- ing the style or dignity of the Crown of Great Britain and Ireland, or relating to the appointment of a Regent : 5. To absolve any person from his allegiance : 6. To define treason, or to alter the law relating thereto : 7. To pass any act of attainder : 8. To pass any law containing anything contrary to the law of nations, as received and administered in the Courts of Great Britain : 9. To define piracies and felonies on the high seas : 10. To pass any law respecting captures by land or water : 11. To pass any law affecting the command, regulation, discipline, or enlistment, of Her Majesty's military or naval forces : 12. To lay any duty on supplies for Her Majesty's mili- tary or naval forces : 13. To make anything but gold and silver coin a legal tender : 14. To make any judge's tenure of office dependent on anything but good behaviour, or to diminish his salary during his continuance in office : 15. To lay any differential duty on exports or imports to or from any part of Her Majesty's dominions, or any duty inconsistent with any treaty that already has been, or may hereafter be, entered into between Her Majesty and any foreign country : 16. To confer any privilege or immunity on the inhabitants of New South Wales that is not equally conferred on the other subjects of Her Majesty : 17. To establish slavery : 18. To repeal or alter any of the provisions of this Act, except those expressed to be subject to alteration by the ParHament of New South Wales : And any enactment of the Parliament of New South Wales containing anything in contravention of this clause shall be void. 1850.] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BILL. 401 29. And be it Enacted, That Her Majesty in Council shall have original jurisdiction in all cases arising under any pro- vision of this Act, whereby powers and prerogatives are reserved to Her Majesty, or whereby the power of the Parliament of New South Wales is restricted, and also in all cases wherein the boundaries of the said colony are brought in question, with power to assign any part of such jurisdiction, or remit any case to the courts of the colony, or to any court which Her Majesty may establish in the colony for the purpose. 30. And be it Enacted, That Her Majesty in Council shall have appellate jurisdiction in all cases whatever arising within the said colony, and may, by Order in Council, limit and regulate the exercise of such jurisdiction. 31. And be it Enacted, That no alteration shall be made in any of the provisions of this Act herein expressed to be subject to alteration, unless notice of such intended alteration has been published four times in one of the principal newspapers of the said colony, at intervals of three calendar months, the first of such publications to be made with the assent of at least two-thirds of the whole number of the members of each House previously thereunto given, and a year at least before the bringing in of any Bill containing such alteration ; and no such Bill shall be considered as passed by either House unless two- thirds of the whole number of the members of such House concur therein. 32. And be it Enacted, That, with the reservations, and sub- ject to the restrictions hereinbefore mentioned, the Parliament of New South Wales shall have power to repeal or alter any law, charter, or letters patent, in force within the said colony, including such of the provisions of this Act as are expressed to be subject to alteration by the Parliament of New South Wales, and to make new laws for the government of the said colony, as fully as the United Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland have power to repeal or alter any laws in force within the realms of Great Britain and Ireland, and to make new laws for the government thereof. 402 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. ON THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. March 5, 1853. [The following speech was delivered on the second reading of the Bill, the object of which is fully set out by Sir W. Moles- worth. The Secretary for the Colonies, the Duke of Newcastle, was in the House of Lords, so the chief burden of the Minis- terial defence fell on Molesworth, who was First Commissioner of Works. An amendment by Sir John Pakington that the Bill be read that day six months was defeated by a majority of 83 : 275 supporting the second reading and 192 against. In the House of Lords the second reading was passed nem. con. and the struggle took place in committee over an amendment by Lord Derby, in effect preserving the rights of the Churches of England and of Scotland. This was defeated by a majority of 39 : content 78, not content 117.] Sir, — The right hon. baronet^ who has just addressed the House, commenced his speech by deprecating the treating this Bill as a party measure. I cordially concur with the right hon. baronet in that deprecation, because this Bill raises two questions of the utmost importance, which ought not to be decided under the influence of party spirit. The first of these questions is the great and fundamental one of the colonial polity of the British Empire — namely, whether it ought to be a rule of our colonial government that all questions which affect exclusively the local interests of a 1 Sir John Pakington. I 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 403 colony possessing representative institutions should be dealt with by the local legislature. If this rule be avssumed to be a sound one, then the next question is, whether it should now be applied to the greatest of England's colonial dependencies, with a popula- tion of nearly 2,000,000 of inhabitants — whether it ought now to be applied to Canada with reference to the question of the clergy resen^es ? The object of this Bill is to apply this rule to Canada. The right hon. baronet seemed to have some difficulty in understanding the intentions of the framers of this Bill. Their intentions are to transfer to the Legislature of Canada the power of dealing with the clergy reserves, irrespective alto- gether of the mode or manner in which that Legislature may think proper to deal with those reserves. In my opinion the questions, whether the Legislature of Canada ought or ought not to main- tain the present application of the proceeds of the clergy reserves — whether it ought or ought not to secularise those reserves, are questions for the Canadian and not for the Imperial Parliament to debate. I shall, therefore, not follow the example of the right hon. baronet, the greater portion of whose speech was not addressed to the real question at issue, whether we should transfer to the colonial Legislature the power of dealing with the clergy reserves, but merely expressed his opinions as to the manner in which the Canadian Legislature would exercise such a power. Sir, the right hon. baronet has admitted over and over again to-night that the rule of colonial polity which I have just mentioned is a sound general rule ; and the right hon. baronet cannot D D a 404 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. deny that the question, how the proceeds of that portion of the lands of Canada which are called the *' Clergy Reserves," should be disposed of, is one which affects exclusively the people of Canada. But the right hon. baronet has asserted that the question of the clergy reserves should be treated as an exception to the general rule that local questions should be dealt with by the local parliament of a colony. The reasons which have been assigned by the right hon. baronet for making this exception may, I think, be reduced to two chief ones. First, that the question of the clergy reserves is essentially an Upper Canadian and Protestant question ; secondly, that the Act of 1840 was intended to be a final settlement of this question. With the per- mission of the House, I will consider each of these arguments separately. First, the right hon. baronet has repeatedly affirmed that the question of the clergy reserves is essentially an Upper Canada question ; that the representatives of Upper Canada were as nearly as possible equally divided upon it ; and that the majority, which carried the resolutions which the House of Assembly passed last September in favour of a Bill similar to that now before the House, had consisted in a large proportion of Roman Catholic members of the lower province, whose religion had been amply and munificently endowed. Thence the right hon. baronet inferred that the Roman Catholic members of Canada ought not to have power to legislate on questions affecting the endow- ments of Protestants, and that such questions should be dealt with in accordance with the wishes of the Protestants of Canada alone. 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 405 Sir, it is by no means correct, on the part of the right hon. baronet, to say that the Roman Catholic religion is munificently endowed in Canada. The landed endowments referred to by the right hon. baronet are not, strictly speaking, the property of the Roman Catholic clergy, nor are they applic- able in any considerable degree to the support of religious worship in Canada, but they are chiefly applicable to educational and charitable uses, or to the conversion of the Indian tribes. They belong to corporations which existed before the conquest of Canada. They were mostly obtained by gift, bequest, or purchase. A small portion only was granted by the French Crown. By the capitulation of Montreal in 1760 it was stipulated that this property vshould be preserved to its possessors ; but this stipulation was not confirmed by the Treaty of 1763, nor by any Act of Parliament, and it was expressly set aside by the Act of 1774. Therefore, there is at present no statutory provision which would prevent the Canadian Legislature from dealing with this property in any way it might think proper. In Lower Canada the Roman Catholic clergy are now supported, as they were supported before the conquest, by tithes and other dues, which have much more of the character of voluntary contributions than of legal dues. For no person in Canada can now be required to pay tithes unless he voluntarily professes the Roman Catholic religion ; and if a man in Lower Canada ceases to be a Roman Catholic, or sells his lands to a Protes- tant, the priest loses his tithes ; because tithes were not secured to the Roman Catholic clerg}' by the capitulation of Montreal, but their payment was 4o6 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. made to depend upon the will and pleasure of the British Crown. That pleasure was signified in 1774, in the first Act for the government of Canada. That Act evidently proceeded on the principle of religious equality between Christian sects, for it provided that the Roman Catholic clergy might receive tithes only from Roman Catholics, and that Protestants should pay tithes for the support of a Protestant clergy. In Lower Canada tithes have been regularly paid by Roman Catholics ; they are moderate in amount, having been reduced from one-tenth to one-thirteenth, and finally to one twenty-sixth part of the cereal crops. In Upper Canada, on the contrary, tithes have never been paid, though as legally due as in the lower province, and the Roman Catholics, who have become a numerous body — nearly as numerous as the members of the Church of England, and thrice as numerous as the members of the Church of Scotland, — have neither tithes nor landed endowments, as in the lower province, nor any statutory provision for the support of their clergy. I must also call the attention of the House to the fact that the Legis- latures of the Canadas had power under the Con- stitution Act of 1791, and the united Legislature has power under the Constitution Act of 1840, to abolish the payment of tithes ; and that power was exercised with reference to Protestant tithes by the Legislature of Upper Canada in an Act which received the Royal Assent in 1823. These facts prove that the right hon. baronet was inaccurate when he said that the Roman CathoHc religion is munificently endowed in Canada ; and they also prove that the Legislature of Canada has the same 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 407 power at present over the endowments of the Roman CathoHc clerg}' as it would have over the endow- ments of the Protestant clerg}^ if this Bill were to become law. Therefore, the principle of religious equality requires that this Bill should become law. I will, however, assume, for the sake of argument, with the right hon. baronet, that the Roman Catholic religion is munificently endowed in Canada; yet that fact would not warrant the conclusion of the right hon. baronet that the Roman Catholic members of Canada ought not to have power to legislate on the question of the clergy reserves ; for, by an exact parity of reason, it might be argued that the members of the Church of England in this House ought not to have power to legislate on any question affecting the Roman Catholic religion, or any other religion less munificently endowed than the Church of England ; and that all questions affecting the Roman Catholic religion and its endowments in this country, as, for instance, the endowment of Maynooth, should be dealt with in accordance with the wishes of the Roman Catholics alone. But I will again suppose, for the sake of argument, with the right hon. baronet, that the question of the clergy reserves ought to be dealt with in accordance with the wishes of the Protestants of Canada alone ; then it would be dealt with in the manner proposed by this Bill. For it was quite a mistake on the part of the right hon. baronet to assert that the majority of the House of Assembly, who carried Mr. Hincks's resolution of last September, consisted, in a large proportion, of Roman Catholic members. That majority consisted, in an almost equal proportion, 4o8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of Protestants and Roman Catholics. I have care- fully analysed the division lists (which are the only real tests of the opinions of members), and I have ascertained that, of the 84 members of the House of Assembly, 54 are Protestants and only 30 are Roman Catholics. With so decided a majority of Protestants — equivalent to an absolute majority of 187 members in this House — it is evident that no measure could be carried in the House of Assembly in opposition to the wishes of the Protestants as a body ; and I find that, on every resolution which had reference to the merits of the question whether the Imperial Parliament ought to transfer to the local Legislature the power of dealing with the clergy reserves the decided majority of the Pro- testant members was in favour of such a transfer being made. For instance, on September 14 last a motion was made in the House of Assembly to the effect '* That the people of Canada concurred in the Act of 1840 as a final settlement of the question of the clergy reserves." That motion was rejected by a majority of 50 votes against a minority of 18. Of the majority, one-half — or 25 — were Protestants. Again, the same day another motion was made: " That this House deprecates in the strongest manner any attempt to bring back the question of the clergy reserves to this province for future legis- lation." This motion was rejected by 51 to 17 ; of the majority, 26 were Protestants. On September 17 last the resolutions of Mr. Hincks, which I will now read, were carried : — " That an address should be presented to the Crown deeply regretting that Sir John Pakington was not prepared to bring in a Bill to repeal the 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 409 Imperial Act of 1840. That the great mass of the people of Canada will ever maintain the principles recognivsed by Earl Grey, that the question of the clergy reserves is one so exclusively affecting the people of Canada that its decision ought not to be withdrawn from the Provincial Legislature. That the refusal on the part of the Imperial ParHament to comply with the just demands of the Canadian people on a matter exclusively affecting their own interests will be viewed as a violation of their constitutional rights, and will lead to deep and widespread disaffection. That the opinions of the people of Canada and their representatives on this subject are unaltered and unalterable. That the House of Assembly, in thus giving expression to the public opinion of the country, is actuated by the strongest feelings of loyalty, and by a sincere desire to prevent the lamentable consequences of a difference of opinion between the Imperial and Pro- vincial Parliaments on a question on which very strong feelings are known to prevail among the people of this province." There were several divisions on these resolutions, all of which were carried by a majority of at least 52 against a minority never exceeding 22. Of the majority, 26 were Protestants ; of the minority, 20 were Protestants. Therefore the absolute majority of Protestant members was equivalent to an abso- lute majority of 77 members in a House as numerous as that which decided the fate of the late Adminis- tration, or equivalent to four times the absolute majority that overthrew the Government of Lord Derby, and by so doing saved the colonial empire of Great Britain in North America. For I am 410 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. convinced that if the right hon. baronet, the late Secretary of State for the Colonies/ had been able, as a Minister of the Crown, to persuade Parliament to adopt his views on the subject of the clergy reserves, that empire would have speedily crumbled into dust. When I heard the right hon. baronet declare, in reply to a question which I put to him last December, that it was the intention of her Majesty's late Ministers to break the pledge which their predecessors had given to the Legislature of Canada, and to deny to that Legislature the power of dealing with the exclusively local question of the clergy reserves, a painful vision from the past crossed my mind. I thought of the year 1833, of a young and reckless man, whom high rank and powers of facile speech had then raised to the office of Secretai*^ of State for the Colonies.^ I remem- bered that he had addressed an Assembly of Canada in language which that Assembly had justly de- nounced as inconsiderate and unconstitutional, as insolent and insulting. That language had embit- tered an unhappy conflict, which terminated in a rebellion that cost this country many milHons of money. I feared much that twenty years had not matured the judgment of this man, who had become Prime Minister of England ; that, actuated by old feelings, he was bent upon renewing an old conflict, but with a new and more powerful Assembly, and that the result would be a worse catastrophe. Therefore, for the sake of the colonial empire of Great Britain in North America, I rejoiced most sincerely at his downfall. The right hon. baronet hsCs affirmed over and ^ Sir John Pakington. 2 Lqi-j Stanley (afterwards Derby). I 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 411 over again that the question of the clergy reserves is essentially an Upper Canadian one, and thence he inferred that it ought to be dealt with in accord- ance with the wishes of the members of Upper Canada alone. It is, however, quite a mistake on the part of the righthon. baronet to say that this question is essentially an Upper Canadian one. Lord Durham declared, in his report of 1839, that it equally con- cerned the people of the two Canadas. And so it does in principle, for it affects the whole of Canada, with the exception of that portion which had become private property before 1791. The extent of the clergy reserves is, however, greater in Upper than in Lower Canada, because Upper Canada was settled at a later period than Lower Canada. The system of clergy reserves was created in 1791 for the support of a Protestant clergy. The first statutory provision for that purpose in Canada was made in 1774. The Act of that year, pro- ceeding upon the principle of religious equality, intended that the clergy of every denomination of Christians should be supported by tithes ; for it provided that the Roman Catholic clerg}^ should receive tithes only from Roman Catholics, and that Protestants should pay tithes for the support of a Protestant clergy. This provision for the support of a Protestant clergy proved to be trifling in amount, because the great majority of the inhabi- tants of Canada were at that time Catholics. The Protestants were few in number, widely scattered, and unwilling to pay tithes. Consequently this provision appeared insufficient to the Government of 1 791. They determined to make further pro- vision for the support of a Protestant clergy, 412 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. according to a system which was said to have been in existence in the State of Pennsylvania ; and they did so when they passed the first Constitution Act of Canada, namely, the 31st of George III., c. 3 1 . That Act divided Canada into two provinces, gave to each province representative institutions, and enacted that whenever any land in Canada should hereafter be granted by the Crown there should be made an allotment for the support of a Protestant clergy, which should be equal in amount to one-seventh part of the land so granted. The same Act provided that the Legislatures of the Canadas should have power to vary or repeal the provisions of the Constitution Act respecting the allotment of land, and also to abolish tithes, sub- ject, however, to the restriction that all local Acts for any of these purposes should be reserved for the Royal Assent and laid before both Houses of ParHament ; and that the Royal Assent should not be given if, within a certain period of time, either House of Parliament should address the Crown to withhold its assent. By this Act one-eighth of the land of Canada — not one-seventh, as the right hon. baronet said — which had not been granted before 1791 ought to have been reserved for the support of a Protestant clergy ; but much more than the legal one-eighth was reserved for that purpose. Accord- ing to Lord Durham's report, instead of one-eighth, in Lower Canada one-fifth, and in Upper Canada one-seventh, were set apart for the support of a Protestant clergy. By this violation of the law the actual amount of the clergy reserves was made to exceed the statutory amount by about 227,000 acres in the lower province, and about 300,000 acres in 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 413 the upper province, and the Canadian public was wronged to the amount of about 120,000/. in Lower Canada and 160,000/. in Upper Canada. The area of the clergy reserves has exceeded 3,300,000 acres. To show how utterly wrong was the statement of the right hon. baronet that this question is essentially an Upper Canadian one, I need only call the attention of the House to a return which has just been presented, which shows that in Lower Canada the area of the clergy reserves has exceeded 900,000 acres, of which above 500,000 acres are still unsold. In both provinces the clergy reserves have produced economical evils of the greatest magnitude. They consisted for the most part of lots of 200 acres each, scattered at regular intervals over the face of the townships. For a long period of time they were uncultivated and inalienable. The Canada Committee of 1828 gave a striking description of them, ** as so many portions of reserved wilderness, which had done more than any other circumstance to retard the improvement of the colony, intervening, as they did, between the occupation of actual settlers, who had no means of cutting through the woods and morasses which separated them from their neigh- bours." Without doubt, the framers of the Con- stitution Act expected, that as the land granted to settlers was improved and cultivated, the adjoin- ing portions reserved for the clergy would yield a rent which would make an ample fund for the maintenance of a Protestant clergy. But the Canadian Committee stated, that the one part reserved for the clergy had done much more to diminish the value of the six other parts, granted 414 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLES WORTH. to settlers, than the improvement and cultivation of the six parts had done to increase the value of the one reserved part. For many years the revenue from the large estates of the clergy was small, and irregularly paid. In 1826 the gross produce of the revenue from the clergy estate of 488,000 acres was only 250/. These facts I think must satisfv the House of the incorrectness of the statement of the right hon. baronet that the question of the clergy reserves is essentially an Upper Canadian one. It is true that, before the reunion of the Canadas, that question did not produce the same degree of excitement in the lower as in the upper province, because questions of graver political importance occupied the minds of the people of Lower Canada, and distracted their attention from the question of the clergy reserves. But since the reunion, the British and Protestant members from Lower Canada have united with their colleagues of the upper pro- vince in demanding a repeal of the Act of 1840. Sir, for the sake of argument with the right hon. baronet I will assume that the question of the clergy reserves is essentially an Upper Canadian question, yet that fact would not warrant the con- clusion that the representatives of Lower Canada ought not to have power to legislate upon this subject, and that it ought to be dealt with in accordance with the wishes of the people of Upper Canada alone. For, if such a conclusion were valid upon such grounds, a similar chain of reasoning would prove that the representatives of one part of this country ought not to legislate on any question affecting any other part of this country ; for instance, that the members for Middlesex ought not to 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 415 legislate on questions affecting Surrey, nor English members on Irish questions ; and that all Irish questions ought to be dealt with in accordance with the wishes of Irish members alone. Such a chain of reasoning would lead not only to the immediate vseparation of the Canadas, and to the repeal of the Union between England, Ireland, and Scotland, but to the breaking up of this empire into the minutest fragments, and would make a representa- tive government impossible both in this country and in Canada ; for all representative government is based upon the will of the majority overruling the will of the minority, and the interests of the minority yielding to the interests of the majority. But I will, however, for the sake of argument, admit that this quCvStion ought to be dealt with in accordance with the wishes of the people of Upper Canada alone ; then it would be dealt with in the manner proposed by this Bill. For it was a mistake on the part of the right hon. baronet to assert that the representatives of Upper Canada were, as nearly as possible, equally divided upon the question of the clergy reser\^es. In making this assertion, I think that the right hon. baronet must have confounded together two distinct questions, which were debated nearly simultaneously last September in the House of Assembly. The one was a real question, the other was a party question. The real question was, whether an address should be presented to the Crown, praying that the Imperial Parliament would transfer to the local Legislature the power of dealing with the question of the clergy reserves. The party question was, whether, before the House of Assembly decided the real question, 4i6 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the local Government ought to state its views on the subject of the final disposal of the proceeds of the clergy reserves, in the event of Parliament making the transfer in question. On the party question, the Upper Canadian members were as nearly as possible equally divided ; but on all the resolutions which had reference to the real question, several of which I have just read, there was a decided majority in favour of Parliament trans- ferring to the local Legislature the power of deal- ing with the question of the clergy reserves. That majority was never less than ig for, or 15 against ; giving an absolute majority equivalent to 6g in a House of 591 members. Another reason assigned the other night by the right hon. baronet, the member for Droitwich, why this Bill should not pass, was that the representa- tives of the largest constituencies in Upper Canada were against it. I scarcely expected to hear so ultra-Radical an argument from the representative of the infinitesimal constituency of Droitwich. I will not in any way deny its force, but only the fact. I have had a careful analysis made of the population of the constituencies of Upper Canada, according to the census of 185 1, and I find that the popu- lation of the constituencies represented by the nineteen Upper Canadian members who regularly voted for Mr. Hincks's resolutions amounted to 478,000 ; while those of the fifteen Upper Canadian members who voted against them amounted only to 340,000. The absolute majority of the Upper Canadian population in favour of Mr. Hincks's resolutions, as indicated by the votes of their representatives, was, therefore, 138,000. 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 417 Sir John Pakington intimated dissent. Sir William Molesworth : The right hon. baronet questions my statements. They are founded upon the division Hsts printed in the returns before the House, and upon the census of Canada for 1851. I ask him : Is there any better test of the opinions of a people than the votes of their representatives in ParHament assembled ? The right hon. baronet says that he was informed that the opinions of the absent members were different from those of the members who voted. I am assured of the contrary. And the right hon. baronet's statements have been generally so in- correct that I cannot place any reliance upon his authorities. I should also state that in the British and Pro- testant portion of Lower Canada, namely, the eastern townships, the population of the six con- stituencies whose members voted for Mr. Hincks's resolutions was 78,000 ; and that of the one constituency whose member voted against them was 16,000. Sir, the other chief argument which the right hon. baronet urged against this Bill — and it was the great argument of his embryo despatch — was, that after a long period of agitation the Legislature of Upper Canada had, in 1840, assented to a Bill for the settlement of the clergy reserves question ; that it would have received the Royal Assent but for an insuperable legal obstacle, in consequence of which Parliamentary interference became necessary ; that an Act was accordingly passed in the same year, 1840 ; that it was similar in principle to, though differing in detail from, the Bill of the Legislature 4i8 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH, of Upper Canada ; and that this Act was accepted as a final settlement of the question of the clergy reserves, both by Canada and this country. I deny that the Act of 1840 was similar in principle to the Bill of the Legislature of Upper Canada. I deny, also, that the Act of 1840 was accepted in Canada as a final settlement of the question of the clergy reserves ; and that it was not, and could not have been, so accepted, a very short history of the agitation of that question will show. The agitation of the question, how the proceeds of the clergy reserves ought to be disposed of, commenced about the year i8ig. About that period a question was raised in Upper Canada whether tithes ought to be paid to the clergy of the Church of England. The Legislature of Upper Canada held that the Imperial Parliament, in making provision for a Protestant clergy out of the public lands, could not have intended that tithes should be paid ; and a Provincial Act was passed abolishing the payment of tithes by Protestants, which received the Royal Assent in 1823. During the discussion of that Act the famous question was raised as to the precise meaning of the term '' a Protestant clergy," which was used in the Con- stitution Act. A member of the Legislature affirmed that it was as applicable to the clergy of the Kirk of Scotland as to those of the Church of England. This opinion was readily adopted by the members of the Church of Scotland in Upper Canada. They petitioned the Colonial Ofiice and Parliament for a share of the clergy reserves, and their petitions were backed by the House of Assembly in an address to the Crown. On the 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 419 Other hand, the clergy of the Church of England bestirred themselves to resist the demands of the Church of Scotland, and addressed the Crown and both Houses of Parliament, stating that the words *' Protestant clergy " could not be extended further than the Church of England without producing the greatest confusion : for, they asked, " after passing that Church, where would this meaning terminate ? Congregationalists, Seceders, Irish Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Moravians, Universalists, would undoubtedly prefer their claims, as they were each more numerous than the Presbyterians in communion with the Kirk of Scotland ; and, should such claims be rejected, these sectaries would consider themselves greatly aggrieved by the refusal of what they would never have dreamt of asking had not so trifling a fraction of the popula- tion of this flourishing province, as the two congre- gations in communion with the Kirk of Scotland, succeeded in obtaining the same object." The hon. baronet the member for the University of Oxford^ affirmed the other night that even the most ignorant and radical member of the House could hardly deny that the words ** a Protestant clerg>'," as used in the Acts of 1774 and 1791, meant only the clergy of one particular Church, namely, the Church of England. Laying claim, as I presume to do, to the honourable name of a Radical — a name borne by Bentham, Ricardo, Mill, Grote, and other eminent thinkers, whose economical doctrines are generally recognised as true by reflecting men, and have been adopted by the people of this country — I do take the liberty * Sir Robert Inglis. 420 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. of denying that the words in question meant only the clergy of the Church of England, and I do so on good authority. In i8ig Lord Bathurst obtained the opinion of the law officers of the Crown as to the meaning of the words '* a Protestant clergy." That opinion was not made known in Canada till about 1829. It was : '^ That though the provisions made by the 31st George III. for the support and maintenance of a Protestant clergy were not con- fined solely to the clergy of the Church of England, but might be extended also to the clergy of the Church of Scotland (if there were any such settled in Canada), yet that they did not extend to dissent- ing ministers." This opinion was, however, partly right and partly wrong; for in 1840, in consequence of a motion in the House of Lords, a question was put to the judges of England as to the precise meaning of the term " a Protestant clergy," and all the judges, with the exception of two, met, and they unanimously decided that the words '' Protestant clergy " did include other clergy than those of the Church of England ; that the clergy of the Estab- lished Church of Scotland did constitute one instance of such other Protestant clergy; and that although they specified no other Church than the Protestant Church of Scotland, they did not thereby intend that, besides that Church, the ministers of other Churches might not be included under the term '' Protestant clergy." This decision showed that in the opinion of the judges of England (who, if they were Radicals, could hardly be called ignorant ones, even by the hon. member for the University of Oxford), the I 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 421 claim of the Church of England to an exclusive property in the clergy reserv^es was not valid; that the claim of the Kirk of Scotland to a share of those reserves was valid, and that the claims of the Nonconformist clergy might also be valid. This decision appears to have been in conformity with the intentions of the framers of the Constitu- tion Act, for the present Lord Harrowby stated to the Canada Committee of 1828 that " Lord Grenville, who had constructed the system of the clergy reserves, had told him that it was a good deal derived from information with regard to the system pursued in the State of Pennsylvania, and that the distinction of a * Protestant clergy ' was meant to provide for any clergy that was not Roman Catholic." In fact, this was the sense in which the term ** Protestant clergy" was generally used in North America, as signifying the Nonconformist clergy as well as clergy of the Church of England. It was certainly so used in the Quebec Act of 1774, for that Act evidently proceeded upon the principle of religious equality, providing that the clergy of every Christian sect should be supported by tithes ; the Roman Catholic clergy by Roman Catholic tithes, the Protestant clergy by Protestant tithes. These facts show that the people of Upper Canada had good reason for affirming that the clergy reserves ought not to be appropriated ex- clusively for the benefit of one denomination of Protestants; and the representatives of Upper Canada came to the conclusion, partly on the grounds of religious equality, partly because tithes had never been paid in Upper Canada to the 422 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH, Roman Catholic clergy, and partly because the Roman Catholics had no statutory provision for their clergy in Upper Canada, that the clergy reserves should be applied for the equal benefit of every Christian sect, and that the best mode of accomplishing this object would be to sell the reserves, and to apply their proceeds to purposes of general education. From the year 1826 to 1839, in four different Parliaments, on fourteen distinct occasions, the House of Assembly of Upper Canada declared by large majorities its opinion that the clergy reserves ought to be sold, and their pro- ceeds applied to purposes of general education. It passed various Bills and resolutions to that effect, each of which was rejected by the Legislative Council, an anti-popular body of nominees, con- sisting chiefly of a faction well known by the name of the '' Family Compact." During this period two Royal Commissions were issued to inquire into the grievances of the people of Canada, and both Commissions reported on the subject of the clergy reserves in accordance with the views of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada. First, Lord Gosford reported in 1837 that " The only effectual cure for the evils occasioned by the clergy reserves was to adopt some mode of making them available to all religious sects, but that there would be many difficulties in defining religious sects, and in allot- ting the proportions to be given to each. Our opinion would therefore be in favour of applying the proceeds of the clergy reserves to purposes of general education." Secondly, Lord Durham reported in 1839, that " The result of any determination on the part of I 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 423 the British Government or Legislature to give one sect the predominance or superiority would be but to endanger the loss of the colony ; that it was important that question should be so settled as to give satisfaction to the majority of the people of the two Canadas, whom it equally concerns ; that he knew of no mode of doing this but by repealing all provisions in the Imperial Acts relating to the clergy reserves, leaving them to the disposal of the local Legislature, and acquiescing in whatever decision it may adopt." That is the object of the Bill now before the House. During the same period every Secretary of State for the Colonies under whose consideration the question of the clergy reserves was brought declared his opinion that it was a local question, which ought, at least in the first instance, to be dealt with by the local Legislature. First, in 1832, Lord Ripon, in reply to several resolutions of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada (declaring that the Imperial Parliament ought to pass an Act for the sale of the clergy reserves, and to empower the local Legislature to apply the proceeds to purposes of general education), invited the Legis- lature of Upper Canada to exercise the power given to it under the Constitution Act to vary or repeal the provisions of the Constitution Act relating to the clergy reserves. In consequence of this invitation the representatives of the people en- deavoured to exercise these powers, but their efforts were defeated by the nominees of the Legislative Council. Secondly, in 1835 Lord Glenelg refused to comply with the prayer of an address to the Crown from the Legislative Council, in which the 424 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. ** Family Compact" prayed, in opposition to he wishes of the representatives of the people, that the Imperial Parliament should undertake the settlement of the question of the clergy reserves. Lord Glenelg refused for two reasons : " I. Because Parliamentary legislation on any subject of exclusively internal concern in any colony possessing a representative assembly is, as a general rule, unconstitutional. 2. Because the authors of the Constitutional Act had declared the question of clergy reserves to be one in regard to which the initiative is expressly reserved and recognised as falling within the peculiar province and special cognizance of the local Legislature." In 1839 my noble friend the member for the City of London ^ refused the assent of the Crown to a Bill of the Legislature of Upper Canada which provided that the clergy reserves should be sold, and delegated to the Imperial Parliament the duty of appropriating the proceeds for religious purposes. My noble friend refused to accept for Parliament the delegated office, partly because he asserted ** that the Provincial Legislature could bring to the decision of this question an extent of accurate information as to the wants and general opinions of society in that country in which Parliament was unavoidably deficient." The right hon. baronet has made specific reference in his unsent despatch to the Bill of 1839, as showing a desire on the part of the people of Upper Canada that the Imperial Parliament should undertake the settle- ment of the question of the clergy reserves. As this was the only occasion, that I know of, on ^ Lord John Russell. 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 425 which the House of Assembly of Upper Canada consented to ask ParHament to settle the question of the disposal of the clergy reserves, I must state that this Bill was passed by the fourteenth and last Parliament of Upper Canada, and that the House of Assembly of that Parliament did not represent the people of Upper Canada. For Lord Durham stated, in his report, that at the general election, in a number of instances, the elections were carried in favour of the Government by the unscrupulous exercise of the influence of the Government ; and Sir F". Head, who was then Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, boasted that he had added forty supporters of the Government to a House of Assembly, consisting of sixty-two members ; yet even in that packed House of Assembly, so strong was the popular feeling on the subject of the clergy reserves, that Sir F. Head failed in settling that question according to his wishes. In 1839, how- ever, when Sir George Arthur was Lieutenant- Governor, the House of Assembly, by the casting vote of the Speaker, did pass a Bill, which provided that the clergy reserves should be sold, and that their proceeds should be " appropriated by the Provincial Legislature for education and religion." This Bill, therefore, retained to the local Legislature the power to dispose of the proceeds of the clergy reserves ; but the Legislative Council struck out the words ** Provincial Legislature," and inserted the words " Imperial Parliament," and thus dele- gated to the Imperial Parliament the disposal of the proceeds of the clergy reserves. The Bill so amended was carried at a late hour of the last night before a prorogation, by a majority of one in 426 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the House of Assembly. This was the only occa- sion I know of in which the House of Assembly of Upper Canada consented to ask Parliament to settle the question of the disposal of the proceeds of the clergy reserves. I now come to the Bill which the Legislature of Upper Canada passed in 1840, and which the right hon. baronet the member for Droitwich has described as being similar in principle to the Imperial Act of the same year. At that period the late Lord Sydenham was Governor-in-Chief of Canada. He was very anxious that the question of the clergy reserves should be settled before the re-union of the Canadas. To accomplish this, he exerted to the utmost his great ability and Parliamentary tact ; he submitted to the Legislature of Upper Canada the draft of a Bill, which was in substance carried, though in the House of Assembly by the smallest majority. It provided that one-half of the clergy reserves should be divided between the Churches of England and Scotland in proportion to the number of their members ; and that the other half should be divided between the other denominations of Christians in proportion also to the number of their members. That Bill was there- fore based nearly upon the principle of religious equality between Christian sects. Lord Sydenham was very anxious that it should become law. He declared that " It would not be possible to obtain such favourable terms for the Established Church or for religious instruction in any future Assembly of Canada ; that even to this Bill insuperable objec- tions were entertained in Upper Canada ; that for many years the representatives of the people had 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 427 uniformly refused to assent to an appropriation of the clergy reserve fund for religious purposes ; that on fourteen different occasions they had recorded their opinion that it ought to be applied to educa- tion or general purposes ; and that their assent to such a measure as this could never again be looked for." Unfortunately it was not in the power of the Government to give the Royal Assent to this Bill. As soon as it was laid before Parliament it was vehemently denounced in both Houses : in this House by the right hon. baronet the member for Droitwich and his friends ; in the other House by a right reverend prelate/ famed for his legal lore, who raised a question as to the power of the Legislature of Upper Canada to pass it, and carried a motion, against the Government, in favour of that question being put to the judges. It was put to the judges, and they unanimoUvsly decided that the Legislature of Upper Canada had not authority to pass the Bill in question. This decision was in opposition to the opinion which had been expressed by the Lord Chancellor in the debate on the right rev. prelate's motion. It showed that for at least twenty years every Governor-in-Chief of Canada, every Lieutenant-Governor, Legislative Council, and House of Assembly of Upper Canada, and every Secretary of State for the Colonies, had been in error respecting the powers which the Canadian Legislature possessed under the Constitutional Act. The unfortunate result of this decision was, that the assent of the Crown could not be given to the Bill of the Legislature of Upper Canada, and The Bishop of Exeter (Philpotts). 428 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLES WORTH, Imperial Legislation became necessary. Then there were three measures, either of which the Government might have proposed. First, it might have proposed a measure similar to that now before the House, which would have enabled the Canadian Legislature to deal with the question of the clergy reserves. Such a measure would have been in accordance with the great principle of colonial polity, that local questions should be dealt with by local ParHaments ; but in 1840 the true principles of colonial policy were not sufficiently recognised to enable the Government to overcome the hostiHty which the right hon. baronet the member for Droitwich and his friends showed their intention to offer to any measure which might occasion any considerable alteration in the distribu- tion of the proceeds of the clergy reserves. Since then a great change has taken place in public opinion on the subject of colonial government. That change was brought about in no small degree by the discussions with regard to the Canadian rebellion and by the report on Canada which makes the name of Lord Durham justly renowned. That report was written with the assistance of two men of great abilities, who will ever be remembered as colonial reformers — I mean Mr. Wakefield and my late friend Mr. Charles Duller ; to them more than to any other two persons this country is indebted for sound views of colonial policy with respect to Canada and Australia, and on the subject of transportation. Those views have been gradually adopted by most of the statesmen of the day — by my noble friend^ who, in 1840, Lord John Russell. 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 429 was the first really Liberal Secretary of State for the Colonies ; by Earl Grey, whose govern- ment of Canada was deserving of all praise ; and even the right hon. baronet ^ opposite has, in some respects, been a not unworthy pupil of the school of colonial reform. Though the right hon. baronet sounded the other night the trumpet of his renown as Colonial Secretary with a somewhat stentorian blast, yet it must be admitted that he deserves credit for his opinions with regard to Australia, and his intentions with reference to transportation ; on the subject, however, of Canada, the right hon. baronet's mind is still immersed in Stygian darkness, and his conduct shows that he has not yet mastered the elements of colonial polity — that, in fact, he is still the same man who, in 1840, did his best to prevent a proper settlement of the question of the clergy reserves. Sir John Pakington. — I supported the Act of 1840. Sir William Molesworth. — I know you did, but you and your friends resisted and defeated the first measure which was proposed by my noble friend, and to which I will now refer. I said there were three courses which the Government might have proposed to pursue in 1840. The first 1 have already mentioned ; the second would have been to introduce the same Bill as that which had received the assent of the Legislature of Upper Canada. This course would also have been unobjectionable in principle, and it was the course which my noble friend first proposed to adopt. For he stated in his place in this House that he wished to bring in * Sir John Pakington. 430 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH, a Bill as nearly as possible the same as that to which he was reluctantly compelled to refuse the Royal Assent ; but my noble friend was compelled to abandon this course by the opposition of the right hon. baronet and his friends. Therefore the only remaining course was for my noble friend to take the least bad Bill which the Opposition would permit him to carry, and my noble friend stated in his place that a compromise had been made between the Government and the representatives of the Church of England, and the friends of the Church of Scotland. The result was, the Act of 1840. That Act provided that the proceeds of the clergy reserves sold before 1840, should be divided into three equal parts — two of which should be for the Church of England, and one for the Church of Scotland. It also provided that the proceeds of the clergy reserves sold after 1840, should be divided into six equal parts, two of which should be for the Church of England, one for the Church of Scotland, and the remainder should be applied by the Government for the purposes of public worship and religious education. I estimate, if this act were to continue in force, and the clergy reserves were to be sold at the same rate as they were sold at before 1840, two-fifths of their proceeds would belong to the Church of England, one-fifth to the Church of Scotland, and the remainder would be applicable for the support of public worship and religious education. A return has just been presented of the amount of the clergy reserve fund since 1840, and its dis- tribution under the Act of 1840. I have compared that return with the census of the population of 1853] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 431 Canada in 185 1. I find that in Upper Canada the population in 185 1 was 952,000, and that the total amount of the clergy reserve fund since 1840 has been 271,000/.; that the members of the Church of England were 223,000, or less than one-fourth of the population, and that they had received 148,000/., or more than half of the clergy reserve fund ; that the members of the Church of Scotland were 58,000, or less than one-sixteenth of the popu- lation, and they have received 64,000/., or about one-fourth of the clergy reserve fund ; that the members of the Church of Rome (who have neither tithes nor other endowments in Upper Canada) were 168,000, or more than one-sixth of the population, and they have only received 20,000/., or about one- thirteenth of the clergy reserve fund ; and that the remaining denominations of Christians, amount in number to 441,000, or to more than four-ninths of the population, and that they have only received 18,000/., or about one-fifteenth of the clergy reserve fund. I find that in Lower Canada in 185 1, the popu- lation was 890,000, and that the amount of the clergy reserve fund, since 1840, has been 32,000 ; that the members of the Church of England were 45,000, and that they have received 22,000/. ; and that the members of the Church of Scotland were 4,000, and that they have received 9,000/. These facts show that the principle of the Act of 1840 was to favour the Churches of England and Scotland in Canada. It was therefore contrary to the principle of the Constitution Act of 1791, which drew no distinction between the various denominations of a Protestant clergy. It was also 432 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. contrary, and not, as the right hon. baronet said, similar to, the principle of the Bill of 1840 of the Legislature of Upper Canada, which divided the proceeds of the clergy reserves nearly equally between the various denominations of Christians. It was, therefore, an attempt to settle the question of the clergy reserves by a compromise, not between conflicting and contending parties in Canada, who were deeply and directly interested in the question, but between parties in this House, whose interest in this question was only remote and imaginary. In fact, it was a compromise made in opposition to the wishes of the people of Canada, in order to gratify the idiosyncracies of that portion of the Imperial Parliament which consisted of the right hon. baronet and his friends. This cannot be denied, for my noble friend himself in 1840 declared that he did not consider it a good measure, but only a less evil than leaving the question of the clergy reserves unsettled at that moment. When the Act of 1840 reached Canada, Lord Sydenham strongly con- demned it. He declared '' That the proportion allotted to the Church of England was monstrous, and was grounded upon claims either wholly with- out foundation, or upon a complete perversion of previous Acts of Parliament ; and that the propor- tion set apart for purposes connected with parties not belonging to either of these two churches was miserable." Lastly, the House of Assembly emphatically denied that the Act of 1840 was ever accepted by the people of Canada as a final settlement of the question of the clergy reserves ; for on September 14th last, a motion declaring that the people of 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 433 Canada had concurred in the final settlement of that question by the Act of 1840, was rejected by a majority of fifty against a minority of eighteen. Of that majority twenty-five were Protestants, and twenty Upper Canadian members. Of the minority eighteen were Protestants, and fourteen Upper Canadian members. Therefore, the absolute majorities of Protestants and Upper Canadian members were equivalent to absolute majorities of from go to 100 in a house of 591 members. I find that the persons who first attempted to upset this so-called final settlement of 1840 were the members of the Church party themselves. In 1846 they sought to carry an address to the Crown, praying that the proceeds of the clergy reserves should be divided, apportioned, and conveyed to themselves and other denominations recognised by the Act of 1840. They obtained, from a Committee of the House of Assembly, a report favourable to their project. But the House of Assembly refused to adopt that report. Sir, I will, however, suppose, for the sake of argument, with the right hon. baronet opposite, that the Act of 1840 was considered by the people of Canada as a settlement of the question of the clergy reserves. I ask — have not the people of Canada a right to change their mind upon this question ? Is the right hon. baronet entitled to a monopoly of the privilege of changing opinion ? Has he not changed his opinion on the subject since last year ? What did the right hon. baronet say last year ? In his despatch of April 22nd last, he abandoned the position that the Act of 1840 was a final measure. He declared that ** it might M. P P 434 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. possibly be desirable that the distribution of the proceeds of the clergy reserves should from time to time be reconsidered, and that any proposals of such a nature Her Majesty's Government would be willing to entertain." If the right hon. baronet still holds this opinion, then the only question at issue between us is, by whom ought the Act of 1840 to be from time to time reconsidered and altered ? By the Imperial Parliament or by the Colonial Legislature ? The right hon. baronet would say by the Imperial Parliament. But why should Parliament undertake so difficult and thankless a task ? It can only alter that Act in one or two ways, either in accordance with, or in opposition to, the wishes of the people of Canada. I will con- sider each alternation. First, I will suppose that Parliament would desire to alter the Act of 1840 in accordance with the wishes of the Canadian people. In order to do so it would have first to ascertain their wishes. Now, there is only one constitutional mode of ascertaining the wishes of the people of a colony which has representative institutions, and that is to ascertain the wishes of the representatives of the people in Provincial Parliament assembled ; for ParHament cannot admit that petitions, however numerously signed by persons however respectable, can prove that the opinions of the people of a colony are different from those expressed by their representatives in Provincial Parliament assembled. Therefore, if Parliament desire to legislate on this matter in accordance with the wishes of the people of Canada, it would have first to ascertain the precise measure which the Canadian Legislature would pass if it had power, and then Parliament r853.J THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 435 should convert that measure into an imperial Act. It is evident, however, that the simplest mode of accomplishing this result would be to empower the Canadian Legislature to alter the Act of 1840. Therefore the only valid reason which can be assigned why the Imperial Parliament should undertake the difficult and thankless task of from time to time reconsidering and altering the Act of 1840 is, that it might be the duty of Parliament to alter that act in opposition to the wishes of the Canadian people. I do not deny that there are cases in which it might be the duty of the Imperial Parliament to legislate in opposition to the wishes and interests of the inhabitants of a part of the Empire ; but the only cases of that description which I can imagine are those in which the interest of the part conflict with the interests of the whole Empire, and in which therefore the interests of the part must be sacrificed to the interest of the whole. Now, do the interests of the British Empire demand that the Imperial Parliament should legislate on the subject of the clergy reserves in opposition to the wishes of the Canadian people ? Or, in other words, is that question an imperial or a local one ? Sir, I have shown that from 1791 to the present moment every authority on colonial matters has declared his opinion that the question of the clergy reserves is a local one, which ought, at least in the first instance, to be decided by the local legislature. I have also shown that each successive authority has declared that opinion with more emphasis than his predecessor. In fact, there has been a steady progress of opinion on this subject. That progress of opinion has been the necessary consequence of F F3 436 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. the progress of the principle of reHgious equahty. In former days it was held to be the duty of the State to encourage one form of the Christian faith, and to discourage every other form. That opinion cannot now be maintained, because all Christian sects are now admitted on equal terms into this House. Therefore, it must be acknowledged that the State is not at present entitled to interfere with the religious faith of its subjects in this country, or to attempt to induce or compel them to adopt one form of Christianity in preference to another ; and if so, then a fortiori, the State is not entitled to interfere with the religious faith of its subjects in the colonies, or to attempt to induce or compel them to adopt, support, or maintain one form of Christian worship in preference to another ; and, therefore, all questions affecting the religious faith of our colonists, or the mode in which their faith shall be maintained, in short, all questions respecting religious endowments in our colonies, are local and not imperial questions, which ought to be dealt with by the local and not by the Imperial Parliament. The right hon. baronet said, that if we transferred to the Parliament of Canada the power of dealing with the question of the clergy reserves, it would disendow the Church of England in Canada, and secularise those reserves ; and that such a dis- endowment would be a violation of the principle of property and a sin to which, by passing this Bill, we should give our sanction. I deny this con- clusion ; for I contend that the principle of pro- perty requires no more than that the reasonable expectations, or the rights of existing persons to a 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA BILL. 437 property, should be respected, or not disturbed without full compensation. Now, this Bill provides that existing interests shall be respected, and it does so at the special request of the Canadian Legislature. What more can be required ? The principle of property does not require that the unformed expectations and non-existing rights of uncreated persons should be respected. On the contrary, our law abhors perpetuities, as opposed to the nature of things. It forbids a man to entail his estate beyond a very limited extent ; it seizes a portion of certain kinds of property as they pass from generation to generation. For precisely the same reason that a man ought not to have power to entail his estate for ever, the State ought not to entail any portion of the public estate in perpetuity. Therefore, provided that existing interests be respected, the State is not bound to respect an endowment by any obligation arising out of the principle of property, but only on the grounds of the public utility of the endowment or of the in- expediency of disturbing it. Therefore, if this Bill passes, the Canadian Legislature may secularise the clergy reserves without violating any principle of property, provided that it respects existing interests. It should be remembered that, if this Bill passes, the Canadian Legislature will only acquire the same power over Protestant endow- ments that it now has over Roman Catholic ones. How the Canadian Legislature would act, I cannot pretend to say, nor will I attempt to determine. I will only express my strong opinion that the longer you delay giving to the Canadian Legislature power to deal with this exclusively local question, the more 438 SPEECHES OF SIR W. MOLESWORTH. certain you may be of the ultimate disendowment of the Church of England in Canada. The right hon. baronet seemed to think that the secularising of the clergy reserves would be very injurious to the Church of England in Canada. I disagree with him. I should be sorry to support a measure, which, in my judgment, would be injurious to the Church of England, because individually I prefer the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England, to those of any other religious denomina- tion. But there is so strong a feehng throughout North America against religious endowments by the State, and in favour of the voluntary system, that the fact of the Church of England being endowed, tends to make it an object of suspicion and jealousy, and to do it perhaps more harm than it derives good from its share of the clergy reserves. I will only refer to one other argument which has been urged against this Bill by the right hon. baronet. That argument was, that the friendly feelings which had sprung up since the re-union of the Canadas between the British and French population would be liable to be disturbed ; and there would be danger of the revival of animosity and discontent among the inhabitants of Upper Canada, if they were now to be deprived of the fund for the support of religious worship which they had so long derived from the proceeds of the clergy reserves. To this I answer, that all experience shows that there is no surer mode of engendering animosity within a colony — no more certain way of begetting hatred of a mother country — no speedier process for inspiring colonists with disaffection and disloyalty, than for the Imperial State to league 1853.] THE CLERGY RESERVES OF CANADA DILL. 439 itself with the minority of the inhabitants of a colony to defeat the wishes of a majority with regard to a strictly local question. Now, if you reject this Bill, you will league yourselves with the minority of the inhabitants of Canada — with the minority of the Protestant portion of the population of Canada — with the minority of the Upper Canada section of that Province, in order to defeat the wishes of three different majorities. I have now examined, and endeavoured to reply to, the chief arguments which have been urged against this Bill by the right hon. baronet, the member for Droitwich. I will therefore conclude with repeating, that the real question, stripped of all matters foreign to it, which the House has now to decide, ivS — will you adopt as the rule of your colonial polity that all questions affecting exclu- sively the local interests of a colony which possesses representative institutions shall be decided by the local legislature? That rule should, in my opinion, be the axiom from which your whole system of colonial government should be deduced. The strict adherence to it would more than anything else strengthen and render permanent your vast colonial empire. I therefore entreat you now to apply it to the greatest of your dependencies by assenting to the second reading of this Bill. [The members of the Committee, in addition to Sir W. Molesworth, were Lord John Russell, Sir G. Grey, Mr. Leader, Mr. Ward, Mr. Hawes, Mr. Ord, Lord Howick, Sir T. Fremantle, Mr. F. Baring, Sir R. Peel, Mr. C. Buller, Lord Ebrington, Sir C. Lemon, and Mr. French. The Com- mittee held seven meetings and examined fourteen witnesses. The Report was accompanied by Appendices on : A. Measures taken for the Advancement of Religion in Australia. B. Papers respecting Immigration into New South Wales. C. Treatment of Convicts. D. Discontinuance of System of Assignment of Convicts. E. State of the Penal Settlements of Norfolk Island and Moreton Bay. F. Report on Macquarie Harbour. G. Sale of Waste Lands in the vicinity of Port Philip (sic). H. Civil and Military Expenditure of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, I. Miscellaneous. Although it appears from the note on p. 304 that Molesworth did not agree with the recommendation to establish peni- tentiaries abroad, the Report was adopted unanimously, it evidently being the subject of compromise between members, who were not altogether of one mind on the question.] 1 APPENDIX. REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, 1838. The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the system of transportation, its efficacy as a punishment, its influence on the moral state of society in the penal colonies, and how far it is susceptible of improvement ; and who were empowered to report their observations, together with the minutes of evidence taken before them, to the House ; have examined the matters to them referred, and have agreed to the following report: In order to comply with the instructions of the House, your Committee have instituted a laborious inquiry into the system of transportation. That inquiry occupied the greater part of the last, and some portion of the present session, during which period there have been examined no less than twenty- three persons, nearly the whole of whom have had personal, and many of them official, experience of the system of trans- portation ; not to mention a great mass of information acquired from official documents, furnished by the Colonial Department. For the sake of brevity and clearness, the result of the labours of your Committee may be arranged under the following heads: first, as to the history, nature, and amount of the punishment of transportation ; second, as to the apprehension produced by the threat of transportation, and its tendency to prevent crime in this country; third, as to the effects of transportation on the character of those who have undergone that punishment ; fourth, as to its influence on the moral state of society in the penal colonies ; fifth, as to its economical effects on those com- munities, and to what extent their pecuniary interests would be affected by its continuance or discontinuance ; sixth, as to the cost of the system of transportation ; and last, as to whether 442 APPENDIX. it be susceptible of improvement, and if not, what substitute for it might be adopted with advantage. The punishment of transportation is founded on that of exile, both of which are unknown to common law. Exile, according to the best authorities, was introduced, as a punishment, by the Legislature in the thirty-ninth year of Elizabeth ; and the first time that transportation was mentioned was in an Act of 1 8 Chas. I. c. 3, which empowered the judges to exile for life the moss-troopers of Cumberland and Northumberland, to any of his Majesty's possessions in America. The punishment authorised by this Act is somewhat different from the one now termed transportation, inasmuch as the latter consists not only of exile to a particular place, but of compulsory labour there. It appears, however, to have been the practice at an early period to subject transported offenders to penal labour, and to employ them as slaves on the estates of the planters, and the 4 Geo. I. c. II gave to the person who contracted to transport them, to his heirs, successors, and assigns, a property and interest in the services of such offenders for the period of their sentences. The great want of servants in the colonies was one of the reasons assigned for this mode of punishment, and offenders were put up to auction, and sold by the persons who undertook to transport them as bondsmen for the period of their sentences. Notwithstanding, however, the dearth of labourers, many of the colonies, especially Barbadoes, Mary- land, and New York, testified their disinclination to have their wants supplied by such means ; and the opinion of Franklin, as to the letting loose upon the new world the outcasts of the old, is too well known for your Committee to repeat it. With the War of Independence transportation to America ceased. Instead of taking that opportunity for framing a good system of secondary punishments, instead of putting in force the pro- visions of the 19 George III. c. 74, by which Parliament intended to establish in this country the penitentiary system of punish- ment, the Government of the day unfortunately determined to adhere to transportation. It was not, however, deemed expe- dient to offer to the colonies that remained loyal in America the insult of making them any longer a place of punishment for offenders. It was determined, therefore, to plant a new colony for this sole purpose ; and an Act was passed in the twenty-fourth year of George the Third, which empowered his i83«.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 443 Majesty in Council to appoint to what place, beyond the seas, either within or without his Majesty's dominions, offenders shall be transported; and by two Orders in Council, dated December 6, 1786, the eastern coast of Australia and the adjacent islands were fixed upon. In the month of May, 1787, the first band of convicts departed, which, in the succeeding year, founded the colony of New South Wales. To plant a colony, and to form a new society, has ever been an arduous task. In addition to the natural difficulties arising from ignorance of the nature of the soil and of the climate of a new country, the first settlers have generally had to contend with innumerable obstacles, which only undaunted patience, firmness of mind, and constancy of purpose could overcome. But, whatever the amount of difficulties attendant on the foundation of colonies, those difficulties were greatly augmented, in New South Wales, by the character of the first settlers. The offenders who were transported in the past century to America were sent to communities, the bulk of whose population were men of thrift and probity : the children of improvidence were dropped in by driblets amongst the mass of a population already formed, and were absorbed and assimilated as they were dropped in. They were scattered and separated from each other ; some acquired habits of honest industry, and all, if not reformed by their punishment, were not certain to be demoralised by it. In New South Wales, on the contrary, the community was composed of the very dregs of society ; of men proved by experience to be unfit to be at large in any society, and who were sent from the British gaols and turned loose to mix with one another in the desert, together with a few task-masters, who were to set them to work in the open wilderness, and with the military, who were to keep them from revolt. The con- sequences of this strange assemblage were vice, immorality, frightful disease, hunger, dreadful mortality, among the settlers ; the convicts were decimated by pestilence on the voyage, and again decimated by famine on their arrival ; and the most hideous cruelty was practised towards the unfortunate natives. Such is the early history of New South Wales. The present condition of a transported felon is mainly deter- mined by the 5 Geo. IV. c. 84, the Transportation Act, which authorises her Majesty in Council *' to appoint any place or places beyond the seas, either within or without her Majesty's 444 APPENDIX. dominions," to which offenders so sentenced shall be conveyed ; the order for their removal must be given by one of the prin- cipal Secretaries of State. The places so appointed are, the two Australian colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, the small volcanic island, called Norfolk Island, situated about one thousand miles from the eastern shores of Australia, and Bermuda. 75,200 convicts have been transported to New South Wales since its settlement in 1787; on the average of the last five years 3,544 offenders have been annually sent there; and the whole convict population of the colony in 1836 amounted to 25,254 men, and 2,577 women; in all, 27,831. 27,759 convicts have been sent to Van Diemen's Land since the year 181 7; the number annually transported there on the average of the last five years is 2,078 ; and the convict popu- lation in 1835 was 14,914 men and 2,054 women ; in all, 16,968. At Norfolk Island the number of convicts, most of whom had been re-transported for offences committed in New South Wales, was, in 1837, above 1,200, and at Bermuda the number of convicts does not exceed 900. The 5 Geo. IV. c. 84, likewise gives to the governor of a penal colony a property in the services of a transported offender for the period of his sentence, and authorises the governor to assign over such offender to any other person. The only other imperial statutes with regard to transportation which ought to be men- tioned are the 30 Geo. III. c. 47, which enables her Majesty to authorise the governor of a penal colony to remit, absolutely or conditionally, a part or the whole of the sentences of convicts ; the 9 Geo. IV. c. 83, which empowers the governor to grant a temporary or partial remission of sentence ; and the 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 62, which limits the power of the governor in this respect. No reference need be made to other statutes, which merely determine for what crimes transportation is the punish- ment. In New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land convicts are subjected to a variety of colonial laws, framed by the local legislatures estabUshed under the New South Wales Act, 9 Geo. IV. c. 83. After sentence of transportation has been passed, convicts are sent to the hulks or gaols, where they remain till the period of their departure arrives. On board convict vessels the con- victs are under the sole control of the surgeon-superintendent, who is furnished with instructions as to his conduct from the 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 445 Admiralty. The precautions which have been taken against disease, and the better discipline now preserved in these ships, have applied an effectual remedy to the physical evils of the long voyage to Australia, and prevented the mortality amongst the prisoners, which prevailed to a fearful extent during the earlier periods of transportation. Little diminution, however, has taken place in those moral evils, which seem to be the necessary consequences of the close contact and communica- tion between so many criminals, both during the period of confinement previous to embarkation, and during the weariness of a long voyage. As soon as a convict vessel reaches its place of destination, a report is made by the surgeon-superintendent to the governor. A day is then appointed for the colonial secretary, or for his deputy, to go on board, to muster the convicts, and to hear their complaints if they have any to make. The male convicts are, subsequently, removed to the convict barracks ; the females to the penitentiaries. In New South Wales, however, regu- lations have lately been established, by which, in most cases, female convicts are enabled to proceed at once from the ship to private service. It is the duty of an officer, called the principal superintendent of convicts, to classify the newly- arrived convicts ; the greater portion of whom are distributed amongst the settlers as assigned servants ; the remainder are either retained in the employment of the Government, or some few of them are sent to the penal settlements. Assignment System. Convicts assigned as Sert^ants to Settlers. In 1836 the number of assigned convicts in Van Diemcn's Land was 6,475; in New South Wales, in 1835, ^^e number was 20,207. In the earlier periods of the colony of New South Wales the supply of convicts so much exceeded the demand for their services by the settlers, that the Government used to grant certain indulgences to those settlers who were willing to maintain convicts. More recently, the demand has exceeded the supply ; the obtaining convict labourers has become, there- fore, to a certain degree, a matter of favour, which has given rise to complaints of abuse in the distribution, especially, of 446 APPENDIX. the more valuable convicts. All applications for convicts are now made to an officer, called the commissioner for the assign- ment of convict servants, who is guided in his distribution of them by certain Government regulations. Settlers, to whom convicts are assigned, are bound to send for them within a certain period of time, and to pay the sum of £i a head for the clothing and bedding of each assigned convict. An assigned convict is entitled to a fixed amount of food and clothing, con- sisting, in New South Wales, of 12 lbs. of wheat, or of an equivalent in flour and maize meal, 7 lbs. of mutton or beef, or 4^ lbs. of salt pork, 2 oz. of salt, and 2 oz. of soap weekly : two frocks or jackets, three shirts, two pair of trousers, three pairs of shoes, and a hat or a cap, annually. Each man is likewise supplied with one good blanket, and a palliasse or wool mattress, which are considered the property of the master. Any articles, which the master may supply beyond these, are voluntary indulgences. The allowance in Van Diemen's Land differs in some particulars, and on the whole is more liberal. Male assigned convicts may be classed under the various heads of field labourers, domestic servants, and mechanics : the services of the last class, being of more value than those of the two former, are estimated in assignment as equal to those of two or more field labourers. In the assignment of convicts scarcely any distinction is made either on account of the period of the sentence or on account of the age, the character, or the nature of the offence of the convict. The previous occupation of a convict in this country mainly determines his condition in the penal colonies. For instance, domestic servants, transported for any offence, are assigned as domestic servants in Australia : for the greater portion of such servants in those colonies, even in the establishments of the wealthiest classes, have hitherto been transported felons. They are well fed, well clothed, and receive wages from ^10 to ;f 15 a year, and are as well treated in respectable families as similar descriptions of servants are in this country. In many instances, masters have even carried to an illegal extent their indulgences to their convict servants. Convicts, who are mechanics, are as well, if not better treated, than those who are domestic servants; for as every kind of skilled labour is very scarce in New South Wales, a convict who has been a blacksmith, carpenter, mason, cooper, wheelwright, or gardener, is a most valuable servant, worth 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 447 three or four ordinary convicts ; he is eagerly sought after, and great interest is made to obtain him. As a mechanic can scarcely be compelled by punishment to exert his skill, it is for the interest of the master to conciliate his convict mechanic, in order to induce him to work well ; in too many cases this is effected by granting to the skilled convict various indulgences ; by paying him wages, by allotting to him task-work, and by permitting him, after the performance of the task, to work on his own account ; and, lastly, by conniving at or overlooking disorderly conduct ; for the most skilful mechanics are generally the worst behaved, and the most drunken. The condition, however, of by far the most numerous class of convicts, those who are employed as shepherds or neatherds (of whom in 1837 there were above 8,000 in New South Wales), and in agriculture generally, is undoubtedly inferior to that of a convict who is either a domestic servant or a mechanic ; they are, however, according to most of the witnesses, better fed than the generality of agricultural labourers in this country ; most masters either pay them wages in money, or give them, instead of money, tea, sugar, tobacco, spirits, and other trifling indulgences. On the whole, therefore, your Committee may assert that, in the families of well-conducted and respectable settlers, the condition of assigned convicts is much the same as the con- dition of similar descriptions of servants in this country ; but this is by no means the case in the establishments of all settlers. As the lot of a slave depends upon the character of his master, so the condition of a convict depends upon the temper and disposition of the settler to whom he is assigned. On this account Sir George Arthur, late Governor of Van Diemen's Land, likened the convict to a slave, and descrilxjd him " as deprived of liberty, exposed to all the caprice of the family to whose service he may happen to be assigned, and subject to the most summary laws " ; " his condition (said Sir George) in no respect differs from that of the slave, except that his master cannot apply corporal punishment by his own hands, or those of his overseer, and has a property in him for a limited period. Idleness, and insolence of expression, or of looks, anything betraying the insurgent spirit, subject him to the chain- gang or the triangle, or hard labour on the roads." Sir R. Bourke, the late Governor of New South Wales, has designated 448 APPENDIX. as a slave code the law which, in that colony, enables a magistrate, generally himself a master of convicts, to inflict fifty lashes on a convict for " drunkenness, disobedience of orders, neglect of work, absconding, abusive language to his master or overseer, or any other disorderly or dishonest conduct." For these offences the convict may likewise be punished by imprisonment, solitary confinement, and labour in irons on the roads. That this law is by no means inoperative is proved by the fact that, in 1835, the number of summary convictions in New South Wales amounted to 22,000, though the number of convicts in the colony did not exceed 28,000 ; that in one month in 1833, 247 convicts were flogged in that colony, and 9,784 lashes inflicted, which would give for the year 2,964 floggings, and above 108,000 lashes inflicted chiefly for insolence, insubordination, and neglect of work. In Van Diemen's Land the law which determines the condition of a convict servant is severer, and the number of summary con- victions proportionately more numerous, than in New South Wales. In 1834, ^^^ number of convicts in Van Diemen's Land was about 15,000 ; the summary convictions amounted to about 1 5,000 ; and the number of lashes inflicted was about 50,000. On the other hand, a convict, if ill-treated, may com- plain of his master ; and if he substantiate his charge, the master is deprived of his services ; but for this purpose the convict must go before a bench, sometimes a hundred miles distant, composed of magistrates, most of whom are owners of convict labour. Legal redress is therefore rarely sought for, and still more rarely obtained by the injured convict. With regard to the general conduct of assigned convicts, your Committee would observe, that the misconduct and licentiousness of convict mechanics, and of convict domestic servants in the towns, were complained of by every witness connected with eitherpenal colony. Mr. Burton, Judge of the Supreme Court in New South Wales, in a charge delivered in 1835, attributed to convict domestic servants the number of burglaries and robberies which were committed in Sydney; and it was the opinion of most of the witnesses from New South Wales, that the assignment of convicts in towns should be immediately discontinued. With regard to the general conduct of assigned agricultural labourers, there was a considerable diversity of opinion amongst 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 449 the witnesses examined by your Committee; convict labourers were said to behave ill or well, according as they were treated by their masters. The evidence, however, of Sir G. Arthur, appears to your Committee to be conclusive on this point, with regard to which he wrote to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the following terms : "You cannot, my lord, have an idea of the vexations which accompany the employment of convicts, or of the vicissitudes attendant upon their assignment. Their crimes and mis- conduct involve the settlers in daily trouble, expense, and disappointment. The discipline and control of the convicts in Van Diemen's Land is carried, perhaps, to a higher degree, than could ever have been contemplated. Many of the con- victs have been greatly reformed, when in the service of considerate and judicious masters ; but, with all this abate- ment, there is so much peculation, so much insubordination, insolence, disobedience of lawful orders, and so much drunken- ness, that reference to the magisterial authority is constant, and always attended with loss of time and expense to the settlers. There can be no doubt things appear better in the colony than they really are ; for, in numberless instances, masters are known to submit to peculation rather than incur the additional expense of prosecuting their servants. Two hundred felons, after having been for a long time under con- finement in the gaols or hulks of England, and subsequently pent up on board a transport, are placed in charge of the masters or their agents, to whom they have been assigned. The master has then to take the convict to his home (either to the other extremity of the island, a distance of 140 miles, or nearer, as the case may be) ; and well would it be if he could get him quietly there, but the contrary is of too frequent occurrence. Either with some money the convict has secreted, or from the bounty of some old acquaintance, the assigned servant, now relieved, for the first time for some months from personal restraint, eludes the vigilance of his new master, finds his way into a public-bouse, and the first notice the settler has of his servant, for whom he has travelled to Hobart Town, for whose clothing he has paid the Government, for whose comfort he has, perhaps, made other little advances, is, that he is lodged in the watch-house with the loss of half his clothing, or committed to gaol for felony. M. 00 450 APPENDIX. " This is not in the slightest degree an overdrawn picture, but a plain matter of every day occurrence. A settler, newly arrived, thinks it a vexation not to be endured ; but he soon falls into compliance with difficulties, which are visited alike upon all; and, finding there is no escape from them, he is forced to participate in the common mischief, which he cannot avert." From the preceding description of the condition of assigned convicts the great inequality of that punishment must be apparent ; but on this subject your Committee would now wish to direct the attention of the House to the written opinions of some of the highest authorities in the penal colonies. Amongst others to that of the late Governor of New South Wales, Sir R. Bourke, who stated that : " It is one of the most apparent and necessary results of the system of assignment to render the condition of convicts, so placed, extremely unequal, depending, as it must, on a variety of circumstances, over which the Government cannot possibly exercise any control. It would be quite impracticable to lay down regulations sufficient to remedy this inequality. The temper, character, station in society of the master, the occu- pation in which it might be found convenient to employ their servant, and the degree of connection or variance that might happen to subsist between this and his previous habits, have an unmeasurable influence over his condition, both physical and mental, which no regulations whatever can anticipate or control." The only other authority, with regard to the effects of the assignment system, which your Committee deem it necessary to quote, is Captain Maconochie, secretary to Sir John Franklin, the present Governor of Van Diemen's Land. In a report to the Government on the state of convict discipline in Van Diemen's Land, Captain Maconochie has stated that : "The practice of assigning convicts to masters is cruel, uncertain, prodigal, ineffectual either for reform or example; can only be maintained in some degree of vigour by extreme severity; some of its most important enactments are syste- matically broken by the Government itself, which issues them ; they are, of course, disregarded by the community. Others, when enforced, are deemed acts of individual oppression ; and the state of society thus brought about becomes the most I .1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 451 annoying, perplexing, unruly, complicated, and unnatural that can be conceived. The severe coercive discipline, which is its principal element, is carried so far as to be at issue with every natural, and in many cases even every laudable, impulse of the human mind. It defeats, in consequence, its own most important objects ; instead of reforming, it degrades humanity, vitiates all under its influence, multiplies petty business, post- pones that which is of higher interest, retards improvement, and is, in many instances, even the direct occasion of vice and crime." Now, when it is considered that these are the deliberate opinions in writing of the late governors of the two penal colonies, and of the secretary of the present Governor of Van Diemen's Land ; and that in the year 1835, o^^ o^ 27,000 con- victs in New South Wales, 20,000 were assigned servants, that one half, at least, of the convicts in Van Diemen's Land were similarly situated ; it will hardly be necessary for your Com- mittee to produce further proof, as could easily be done, to show, that the condition of a transported convict is a mere lottery ; that it may and does range between the extremes of comfort and misery ; that no single case can be looked upon as a type of the whole system, or as one from which any general conclusion can be drawn as to the condition of the assigned convict ; that the most contradictory statements on the subject may be made with perfect truth, according as the person, who makes the statement, has seen one or other class, the convicts who are miserable or in a state of comfort ; that, in short, to use the words of the late Chief Justice of Australia, ♦* It frequently happens, that lesser offenders against the law come to be punished with disproportionate severity, while greater criminals escape with comparative impunity." Assignment is the punishment for female, as well as for male convicts ; the proportion of the former to the latter is about one to ten. In respectable families the condition of convict women, as respects their food, clothing, and indulgences, is much the same as that of women servants in this country. Their general conduct, according to the testimony of every witness examined before your Committee, is (to use the words of Sir E. Parry) " as bad as anything could well be " ; he could *• hardly conceive anything worse." At times they are exces- sively ferocious, and the tendency of assignment is to render 00a 452 APPENDIX. them still more profligate ; they are all of them, with scarcely an exception, drunken and abandoned prostitutes ; and even were any of them inclined to be well conducted, the dispropor- tion of sexes in the penal colonies is so great, that they are exposed to irresistible temptations ; for instance, in a private family, in the interior of either colony, a convict woman, frequently the only one in the service, perhaps in the neigh- bourhood, is surrounded by a number of depraved characters, to whom she becomes an object of constant pursuit and solici- tation ; she is generally obliged to select one man, as a para- mour, to defend her from the importunities of the rest ; she seldom remains long in the same place ; she either commits some offence, for which she is returned to the Government ; or she 'becomes pregnant, in which case she is sent to the factory, to be there confined at the expense of the Govern- ment ; at the expiration of the period of confinement or punishment, she is re-assigned, and again goes through the same course ; such is too generally the career of convict women, even in respectable families. It can be easily imagined what a pernicious effect must be produced upon the character of the rising generation of the Australian colonies, in conse- quence of the children of settlers being too frequently, in their tenderest years, under the charge of such persons. Many respectable settlers are, however, unwilling to receive convict women as assigned servants, when they can possibly dispense with the services of females ; and in many instances convict men-servants are preferred for those domestic occupations which are performed in this country by women only. A con- siderable portion, therefore, of the female convicts are retained in the service of the lower description of settlers, by whom, it is notorious, that they are not uncommonly employed as public prostitutes. Female convicts are allowed to marry free men, but they remain under the surveillance of the police, and are liable to be sent back to the factory in case of misconduct ; marriages between female convicts and persons who have been convicts are encouraged; and the Government even permits the marriage of convicts in assigned service, provided that the permission of the master is obtained, and a security given by the master to the Government, that the offspring would not become chargeable to the State. From the female factory at 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 453 Paramatta most of the convicts, who are permitted to marry, obtain their wives. Such marriages among convicts rarely, however, turn out well ; for the woman not unfrequently becomes the common property of the convict servants on the establishment, and gives rise to innumerable quarrels among the men, who purchase her favours generally by petty larcenies upon the master. In delineating the characteristic features and effects of the assignment system, your Committee have abstained from dwel- ling upon the enormous and complicated abuses, which at times have existed, and which perhaps even now, in spite of the utmost efforts of the colonial authorities, exist in various parts of that system ; those abuses may chiefly be summed up under the following heads. First, the assignment of convicts to their wives or other relations that have followed them to the colony, with the proceeds of the offences for which they were trans- ported, and upon which they have set up a profitable business, have become wealthy, and thus have held out to their acquaint- ances in this country strong temptations to pursue a similar career of crime ; second, the employment of convicts as clerks in the various departments of Government, where they have had means of acquiring knowledge, of which the most corrupt and dangerous use has been made ; third, the employment of convicts as clerks to attorneys, with free access to the gaols, which has given rise in the colony to an unparalleled system of bribery and connivance at crime ; and at one time even the clerk of the Attorney-General was a convict, and performed all the legal business of his master ; and lastly, the entrusting to convicts of the education of youth in the various public semi- naries ; the connection of convicts with the press ; these, and other abuses, of which mention is to be found in every page of the evidence, appear, in a greater or less degree, to be inherent in the system of assignment. Convicts at Bermuda. Your Committee will next proceed to consider the condition of those convicts who are subjected to compulsory lal)our, under the immediate charge of the Government, either in the Australian colonies or at Bermuda. With respect to Bermuda, your Committee have but few 454 APPENDIX. observations to make. All convicts sent there are employed by the Government on the public works in the dock yards ; in number they amounted to about 900. The system of punishment pursued in that island is essentially different from that pursued in the penal colonies, and closely resembles that adopted in the hulks in this country. The convicts sent to Bermuda are selected as being the best behaved ; they are kept apart from the free population ; they are shut up in hulks during night ; they are worked in gangs during day ; they are always under the superintendence of free overseers ; they are paid a small amount of wages, a portion of which they are allowed to spend, the remainder forms a fund for the prisoners, when they become free ; at the expiration of their sentences they do not remain in Bermuda and form a criminal popula- tion there, but are sent back to this country ; this punishment, then, does not possess what is supposed to be the great advantage of transportation, namely, that it gets rid of the criminal population, and opens to them a new career in a new country, where there is not the same competition for employ- ment as here, but where the great demand for labour enables the freed offender easily to obtain, if he please, a livelihood by honest industry. Convicts under the Immediate Charge of THE Government. Road-Parties. The convicts under the immediate charge of the Govern- ment in the Australian colonies may be divided into those who are retained in the service of the Government, merely because they are required as labourers, those who are returned by their masters as unfit for service, those who, having suffered for some offence committed in the colony, are retained for a certain period of probation in the employment of the Govern- ment, and those who, for crimes committed in the colonies, are worked on the roads generally in irons, or are sent to the penal settlements. To commence with a description of the first class of convicts, those who are retained in the service of the Government, not as an additional punishment. On the arrival of a convict I 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 455 vessel in the penal colonies of Australia, an application is made to the assignment commissioner from the proper authorities for the number of the convicts who are required for the service of the Government. The convicts are selected without reference to their past conduct, except that prisoners who are described to be of very depraved character are not usually assigned to settlers, and remain under the charge of the Government ; in some few cases directions to this effect are sent out from England. In Van Diemen's Land all mechanics are retained in the service of the Government, and placed either in the engineer department or in the loan- gang ; a few convicts likewise are selected out of every ship for the pohce. In the year 1835, out of 14,903 convicts in Van Diemen's Land there were, in the road department, 1,687; engineer ditto, 516; miscellaneous, including marine survey, &c., 716 ; constables and field-police, 338 ; total 2,257. There are no returns of a similar description with regard to New South Wales. It appears, however, that the number of convicts retained (not as a punishment) on the public works in the latter colony has of late years considerably decreased ; and most of those works are now performed by contract. Convicts in the employment of Government are generally worse off than those assigned as servants ; they are employed chiefly on the public works of the colony ; some of them are, however, in situations of comparative ease, such as clerks, messengers, constables in the police, and so forth, in which services (Sir George Arthur says) it is a necessary evil to employ convicts. That it must be an enormous evil to employ convicts, or persons that have been convicts, in the police, especially in such communities as New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, seems to your Committee to be a self-evident proposition. Many of the convicts so employed appear to have been of the worst possible character ; willing to take bribes ; conniving at the offences of the convict popula- tion ; when employed as scourgers, defeating the sentence of the law ; sometimes bringing false accusations against innocent persons, other times screening the guilty from justice ; com- mitting outrages on female prisoners committed to their charge ; and, in short, frequently defeating all the efforts of the Government to prevent crime. In the present state 456 APPENDIX. of Van Diemen's Land, Sir George Arthur thought it impos- sible to obtain a police from free emigrants ; some three or four years ago he said that he took into the police a number of Chelsea pensioners and of free emigrants, but they proved worse than the convicts. Large parties of convicts, called road-parties, are employed in making roads in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land ; these parties consist mostly of convicts who have been returned to Government by their masters as being unfit for service, and of convicts who, having been convicted of some offence in the colony, have been sent, on the expiration of their sentence, to work for a certain period on the roads before they were re-assigned. The conduct of this description of convicts is described in the charge, already referred to, of Judge Burton : "Judge Burton said, that he had been induced, by what had been proved before him in that court, gravely to consider the subject of convicts working in gangs out of irons ; it was, he felt convinced, one of the most fruitful sources of crime in the colony. He had before him a return, from which it appeared that the number of convicts at this time employed upon the roads is 2,240, of whom 1,104 ^^^ ^^^ ^^ irons ; and when the jury considered who these latter men were, and what they had been ; placed under the guardianship of a convict overseer ; that they left their huts in any number, armed or unarmed, as they pleased ; in short, from the evidence he had upon his notes respecting the conduct of the road-parties of the colony, it would appear that those establishments were like bee-hives, the inhabitants busily pouring in and out, but with this difference, the one works by day, the other by night ; the one goes forth to industry, the other to plunder. To the carelessness or worse conduct of overseers he did attribute a vast proportion of the burglaries and robberies that were committed in country districts." As the charge of Judge Burton must of itself be considered the best possible evidence which can be adduced upon this subject, it is unnecessary, in order to confirm the facts therein stated, to refer in detail to the unanimous testimony of every witness who has been examined. Every one of those witnesses spoke in the strongest terms of the disorders, crimes, and demoralisation which were occasioned in the colony of New 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 457 South Wales by the road-parties. Composed entirely of criminals, some of them of the very worst character (all of them ultimately degraded and demoralised by associating together), these parties were dispersed over a wide extent of country, under a most incomplete and inefficient system of superintendence, with overseers, most of whom had been convicts, and in many cases with convicts for the deputy overseers, to whose sole charge the road-parties were some- times left for many days. Prisoners in the road-parties were sometimes in league with the convict servants of the neigh- bouring settlers, upon whose property they committed every description of depredation, the fruits of which were consumed in intoxication and other debauchery. The condition of con- victs in the road-parties on the whole appears to have been a more disagreeable one than that of assigned servants ; the former are subjected to a greater degree of restraint than assigned convicts. The nature of the work of convicts in road-parties, particularly that of breaking stones under a hot sun, was irksome, though the quantity of work which they performed was very slight. Nevertheless, the example of these parties had so demoralising an effect upon convicts in private establishments, that an idle and worthless convict often preferred being in a road-party ; and convicts who disliked their masters to whom they were assigned, some- times endeavoured to get themselves sent to a road -party, in hopes, that, after the expiration of their punishment, they might be assigned to a better situation. Road-parties out of irons have been nearly discontinued in New South Wales; and the few which have been kept up since January, 1837, are placed under such> regulations as it is hoped will diminish, to a certain extent, some of the above-mentioned abuses. Many persons connected with that colony consider that, in its present state, the road-parties are a necessary evil, l^cause, in their opinion, it would be impossible to obtain a sufficient supply of free labour to repair the roads, and free labourers would con- sider themselves degraded by an occupation that had been a punishment for convicts. Moreover, free labourers would not submit to the same degree of superintendence and discipline as convicts ; and it is said they would probably, therefore, commit outrages as great, if not greater, than those committed by convicts. General Hourke likewise observed, that, "great as 458 APPENDIX. the complaints are which are made by a certain portion of the colonists on account of the crimes committed by the road- parties, still greater is the demand for good roads; and if those parties were broken up, they would probably be regretted in the colony." In Van Diemen's Land the employment of convicts out of chains on the roads has not occasioned evils to the same extent as in New South Wales. This result is partly to be attributed to the better system of management which is in force in that colony, and partly to the nature of the general system of government which has been pursued in Van Diemen's Land, which, aided by the limited extent of the island, renders it easier for the Government to enforce its regulations, to pre- serve discipline, and to prevent escape from the road-parties, than in the other penal colony. For New South Wales is not only a penal, but a large and flourishing free colony. Though the free inhabitants are s-ubjected, on account of dwelling there, to greater restraints than if they were residing in the mother country, and are obliged to submit to laws which (according to Sir R, Bourke) nothing but the peculiar case of the colony could render tolerable to Englishmen, yet they claim, and on the whole enjoy, most of the privileges of freemen in this country. Van Diemen's Land, on the contrary, was looked upon by Sir George Arthur as intended to be a vast gaol or penitentiary ; and he contended that the free settlers had become its willing inmates, must abide cheerfully by the rules and customs of the prison. He had been long assidu- ously and successfully endeavouring to render transportation a painful punishment, and to make the convict feel his position to be a disagreeable and degraded one. In proportion to the success of his efforts the desire of the convict to escape has increased ; and consequently it has been necessary to increase the severity of the police regulations, which affect all classes ; and the settlers are subjected to restraints, and to a surveillance which would not be endured in a free settlement. In the 39th section of the Quarter Sessions Act, " Any person who shall in any manner shelter, protect, or employ any absconded offender whatever, or shall provide any such offender with lodging, clothes, tobacco, money, wine or any spirituous liquor (whether knowing or suspecting him at the time to be an absconded offender or not), shall forfeit and pay a penalty I 1838.J REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 459 or sum of not less than 5s. nor more than 20/." The settlers are likewise completely at the mercy of the Government. They may be deprived on a sudden, at the will of the Govern- ment, of their assigned servants, whenever they are considered to be improper persons to have the charge of convicts, or when they contravene the police regulations; and as convicts are almost the only labourers which the settlers can obtain, the latter are entirely dependent upon the favour of the Govern- ment, and are obliged implicitly to obey its commands. The severity of the general system pursued in Van Diemen's Land enables the Government, therefore, to enforce stricter discipline amongst the road-parties in that colony than would be possible in New South Wales, without adopting a much harsher system with regard to these parties, or much severer police regulations with regard to the whole colony. The latter alternative seems hardly possible, and probably would not be endured in so wealthy and flourishing a community as that of New South Wales. PUNISHMENTS OF CONVICTS. Chain -gangs. — Penal SettUnunts . The remaining classes of convicts whom your Committee have to describe, are those suffering punishment for offences committed in penal colonies. About one-sixth of the convicts in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land come under this head. Convicts, it has already been observed, are subject to a particular code of laws, for neglect of convict discipline and other offences. Female convicts are punished by being sent to the penitentiaries, where, according to the nature of their offence, they are either placed in solitary confinement with bread and water, or employed in picking wool or in breaking stones; some few are sent to the penal settlement of Moreton Bay. The labour imposed on women in the factory at Paramatta in New South Wales is said to be very slight, and many convicts prefer l)eing sent there to being assigned. Assigned convict women, who are with child, are generally returned to the factory when near their period of confinement ; they are placed in a separate class, intermediate between the punishment class 460 APPENDIX. and that of the women who are waiting to be assigned. This class appears to be a very numerous one, as, out of 590 females in the factory at Paramatta in 1836, 108 were nursing children ; what portion of the remainder were pregnant women is not stated ; at the same time there were in the factory 136 children between the ages of one and three years, the illegitimate children of convicts. The factory at Paramatta is, therefore, in reality a lying-in hospital ; it appears to have been, up to a very late period, under very inefficient superintendence ; but this has recently been changed. In the penitentiaries at Hobart Town and Launceston, in Van Diemen's Land, the female convicts are employed in spinning, picking wool, and needle work ; the punishment is said to be somewhat severe. Your Committee will delay their examination into the nature and number of the offences committed by male convicts to a subsequent portion of their report. They will now proceed to examine merely the nature of the punishments inflicted, which, says Captain Maconochie, "are severe, even to excessive cruelty. Besides corporal punishment to the extent of 50 to 75 lashes, and even, in some rare instances, 100 lashes, solitary confinement, and months, or even years, of hard labour in chains (on the roads or at a penal settlement) are lightly ordered for crimes in themselves of no deep dye ; petty thefts (chiefly in order to obtain liquor), drunkenness, insolence, disobedience, desertion, quarrelling among themselves, and so forth." Most convicts have a greater dread of flagellation than of hard work in the road-parties or in the chain-gangs. Settlers generally prefer flagellation as a punishment for their convict servants ; for though it excites revengeful feelings in offenders, it occasions less interruption of work. In the appendix of the first report of your Committee ample proofs are to be found of the severity with which this punishment is inflicted in New South Wales. The condition of the road-parties has already been described. In 1834, the number of convicts in the chain- gangs of New South Wales was about 1,000, and in those of Van Diemen's Land, in 1837, about 700; this description of punishment is a very severe one. Sir G. Arthur said, " as severe a one as could be inflicted on man." Sir R. Bourke stated, "that the condition of the convicts in the chain-gangs was one of great privation and unhappiness." They are locked up from sunset to sunrise in the caravans or boxes used for this 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 461 description of persons, which hold from 20 to 28 men, but in which the whole number can neither stand upright nor sit down at the same time (except with their legs at right angles to their bodies), and which, in some instances, do not allow more than 18 inches in width for each individual to lie down upon on the bare boards; they are kept to work under a strict military guard during the day, and liable to suffer flagellation for trifling offences, such as an exhibition of obstinacy, insolence, and the like ; being in chains, discipline is more easily preserved amongst them, and escape more easily prevented than among the road-parties out of chains. This description of punishment belongs to a barbarous age, and merely tends to increase the desperation of the character of an offender. The nature of the duty imposed upon the military in guarding the chain-gangs has the worst effects upon the character and discipline of the soldiers. Colonel Breton, who commanded a regiment in New South Wales, stated to your Committee, that it produced the greatest demoralisation among the troops, and the men became reckless ; the demoralisation arose, he said, partly from drunken- ness, of which there was much amongst the troops in that country; he had no less than 16 soldiers transported to Norfolk Island, all of them for being drunk on sentry ; demoralisation was likewise produced amongst the troops by their intercourse with prison population, which could not be prevented, because many of the men found their fathers, brothers, and other relations amongst the convicts. The same gentleman stated that a convict assigned to a good master is quite as well off as any servant in England, and better off than a soldier; and that two of the men in his regiment deserted in order to be transported. For crimes of greater magnitude convicts are re-transported. The penal settlements of New South Wales are Norfolk Island and Moreton Bay ; at the former, the number of convicts in 1837 were about 1,200; in the same year the number at Moreton Bay did not exceed 300, as the establish- ment there has been considerably diminished, and only offenders under short sentences were sent there. Moreton Bay is like- wise a place of punishment for convict females, who are re-transported for offences committed in the colony. The number of convicts at the penal settlement of Van Diemen's Land, Port Arthur, was in 1835, 1,172. Norfolk Island is a 462 APPENDIX. small and most beautiful volcanic island, situated in the midst of the ocean, i,ooo miles from the eastern shores of Australia, and inaccessible, except in one place, to boats. Port Arthur is on a small and sterile peninsula, of about 100,000 acres, connected with Van Diemen's Land by a narrow neck of land, which is guarded day and night by soldiers, and by a line of fierce dogs. All communications, except of an official nature, between these places and the settled districts are strictly forbidden ; the penal settlements of Norfolk Island and Port Arthur are inhabited solely by the convicts and their keepers. " The work appointed for the convicts," to use the expression of the chief superintendent of convicts in Van Diemen's Land, " is of the most incessant and galling description the settlement can produce; and any disobedience of orders, turbulence or other misconduct is instantaneously punished by the lash." The condition of the convicts in these settlements has been shown to your Committee to be one of unmitigated wretched- ness. Sir Francis Forbes, Chief Justice of Australia, stated, in a letter to Mr. Amos, on the subject of transportation, that " The experience furnished by these penal settlements has proved that transportation is capable of being carried to an extent of suffering such as to render death desirable, and to induce many prisoners to seek it under its most appalling aspects." And the same gentleman in his evidence before your Committee, said, " That he had known many cases in which it appeared that convicts at Norfolk Island had committed crimes which subjected them to execution, for the mere purpose of being sent up to Sydney ; and the cause of their desiring to be so sent was to avoid the state of endurance under which they were placed in Norfolk Island ; that he thought, from the expressions they employed, that they contemplated the certainty of execution ; that he believed that they deliberately preferred death, because there was no chance of escape, and they stated they were weary of life, and would rather go to Sydney and be hanged." Sir Francis Forbes likewise mentioned the case of several men at Norfolk Island cutting the heads of their fellow prisoners with a hoe while at work, with a certainty of being detected, and with a certainty of being executed ; and, according to him, they acted in this manner apparently without malice, and with very slight excitement, stating they knew they should be hanged, but it was better than being where they were. A 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 463 similar case was mentioned by the Rev. Henry Stiles, in his report to Sir Richard Bourke on the state of Norfolk Island. And Sir George Arthur assured your Committee that similar cases had recently occurred at Port Arthur. Sir Francis Forbes was then asked, " What good do you think is produced by the infliction of so horrible a punishment in Norfolk Island ; and upon whom do you think it produces good ? " His answer was, " That he thought that it did not produce any good " ; and that, ** if it were to be put to himself, he should not hesitate to prefer death, under any form that it could be presented to him, rather than such a state of endurance as that of the convict of Norfolk Island." If these opinions require any confirmation, that confirmation is to be found in the circumstances which led to the passing of the Act of the Imperial Parliament in 1834, by which a Court of Criminal Jurisdiction was established in Norfolk Island. That Act was passed at the request of the then Governor of New South Wales, Sir R. Bourke, who applied for it on the grounds (to use his own words) that ** He had abundant reasons to suspect that capital crimes have been committed in Norfolk Island, from a desperate determination to stake the chance of capital conviction and punishment in Sydney against the chances of escape which the passage might afford to the accused, and to the witnesses summoned to attend the trial." Sir R. Bourke hoped, that if, by the establishment of a criminal court, offenders could be tried on the spot, crimes of the description to which he had referred would be less frequently attempted. As might be expected amongst such desperate men, attempts at mutiny have not been uncommon. Norfolk Island was once taken by the convicts, and part of the guard killed. The last mutiny was in 1834, which was nearly successful. In the struggle that took place, nine convicts were killed ; twenty-nine were subsequently convicted for the capital offence, and eleven executed. The judge that tried these offenders, and the priest that was sent to afford them religious consolation in their last moments, have both recorded their feelings and opinions as to what they witnessed. Judge Burton stated, '* that it had been his lot to visit one of those penal settlements (Norfolk Island). To see the convicts herd- ing together, without any chance of improvement, without any 464 APPENDIX. religious instruction, was painful in the extreme. One man in particular had observed, in a manner which drew tears from his (Judge Burton's) eyes and wrung his heart, when he was placed before him for sentence, " Let a man be what he will when he comes here, he is soon as bad as the rest ; a man's heart is taken from him, and there is given to him the heart of a beast." Dr. Ullathorne, a Catholic priest. Vicar-general of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, went from Sydney for the purpose of attending and consoling the condemned offenders above-mentioned. The following is the account he gave in his examination before your Committee : — " On my arrival at Norfolk Island (he said) I immediately proceeded, although it was late at night, to the gaol ; the com- mandant having intimated to me that only five days could be allowed for preparation, and he furnished me with a list of the thirteen who were to die, the rest having been reprieved ; I proceeded therefore to the gaol, and upon entering the gaol I witnessed a scene such as I never witnessed in my life before. The men were originally confined in three cells ; they were subsequently assembled together ; they were not aware that any of them were reprieved. I found so little had they expected the assistance of a clergyman, that when they saw me they at once gave up a plot for escape, which they had very ingeniously planned ; and which might, I think, have succeeded so far as their getting into the bush. I said a few words to induce them to resignation ; and I then stated the names of those who were to die ; and it is a remarkable fact, that as I mentioned the names of those men who were to die, they one after the other, as their names were pronounced, dropped on their knees and thanked God that they were to be delivered from that horrible place, whilst the others remained standing mute ; it was the most horrible scene I ever witnessed. Those who were condemned to death appeared to be rejoiced. It had been a very common thing with us to find prisoners on their way to the scaffold thanking God that they were not going to Norfolk Island. '* The deep depravity of convicts in Norfolk Island is pro- verbial, and is constantly referred to by the papers, and likewise in the colony. There are designations, which show at once its enormity, in the mouths of prisoners ; particularly the prisoners 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 465 in New South Wales have generally a very great horror of Norfolk Island." Dr. Ullathorne likewise said : " I was very much struck with the peculiar language used by the convicts at Norfolk Island. When a prisoner has been conversing with me respecting another individual, he has designated him as a good man. I suspected that he did not mean what he said, and on asking an explanation, he has apologised, and said, that it was the habitual language of the place, and that a bad man was called a good man ; and that a man who was ready to perform his duty was generally called a bad man. There is quite a vocabulary of terms of that kind, which seems to have been invented to adapt themselves to the complete subversion of the human heart which I found sub- sisting. The outward appearance (he said) of the great body of convicts was very shocking. When I have gone down in the morning at six o'clock to my duties to the convict barracks, and have seen from 1,000 to 1,200 of them filing out to work, I have been very much struck with the general haggardness of their features, and the hard and fixed traces of crime upon their countenances." Dr. Ullathorne stated that latterly there had been consider- able improvement amongst the convicts, in consequence of their receiving religious instruction ; and Government had taken steps to supply the deficiency which formerly existed in this respect. The late Chief Justice of Australia stated to your Com- mittee that at Norfolk Island unnatural crimes were suspected to be very common, and your Committee are grieved to say that in this respect his testimony was too well confirmed by Dr. Ullathorne, Messrs. Backhouse and Walker, and by the Rev. H. Stiles and Mr. Arnold, in their report to Sir R. Bourke on the state of the convicts in Norfolk Island. Your Committee will not lengthen this report by describing the penal settlements of Van Diemen's Land, where the severity of the system is as great as, if not greater, than that at Norfolk Island, where culprits are as recklesss, if not more reckless, committing murder (to use the words of Sir George Arthur) '* in order to enjoy the excitement of being sent up to Hobart Town for trial, though aware that in the ordinary course they must be executed within a fortnight after arrival." M* H H 466 APPENDIX. Your Committee, however, cannot help referring to a remark- able document with respect to a penal settlement in Van Diemen's Land, called Macquarie Harbour (which is now abandoned) ; it contains an account of the number and of the fate of the convicts who attempted to escape from Macquarie Harbour from 3rd January, 1822, to the i6th May, 1827. From that return it appears that out of a hundred and sixteen who absconded, seventy-five are supposed to have perished in the woods ; one was hanged for murdering and eating his companion ; two were shot by the military ; eight are known to have been murdered, and six eaten by their companions ; twenty-four escaped to the settled districts, thirteen of whom were hanged for bush-ranging, and two for murder, making a total of a hundred and one out of a hundred and sixteen, who came to an untimely fate. Ticket -OF -Leave Convicts. Emaiicipists. — Expirees. Your Committee will now turn to the condition, in the penal colonies, of those offenders against the laws of this country who have either become free by the expiration of their sentence, or have obtained conditional pardon, or what is termed a ticket of leave. A convict, transported for seven years, obtains, at the end of four years ; for fourteen years, at the end of six years ; and for life at the end of eight years, as a matter of course, unless his conduct has been very bad, a ticket of leave, which enables him, according to certain regula- tions, to work on his own account. This indulgence on the whole has a very useful effect, as it holds out hope to a convict if he behave well, and is liable to be reassumed in case of mis- conduct. Ticket -of-leave men find no difficulty in obtainmg work at high wages ; and having acquired experience in the colony, they are frequently preferred to lately - arrived emigrants. They fill many situations of trust in both colonies : such, for instance, as constables in the police, overseers of road-parties, and chain-gangs ; the better edu- cated have been employed as superintendents of estates, as clerks to bankers, to lawyers, and to shopkeepers, and even as tutors in private families ; some have married free women, are in prosperous circumstances, and have even become wealthy ; 1838.] REPORT OF ^TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE, 467 and the real editor of one of the leading journals in the colony of New South Wales was a ticket-of-leave convict. Great abuses, undoubtedly, have existed in the granting of tickets of leave; nevertheless, on the whole, as has been already observed, the institution of tickets of leave has a useful and beneficial effect. Your Committee, however, cannot help remarking that there is a strange legal absurdity connected with the system of granting tickets of leave, which ought to be removed. A convict was, by common law, as convict, subject to attaint, and unable to acquire property, or to maintain a suit in a court of justice ; this law was nearly inoperative, because it was all but impossible, according to the strict rules of evidence, to prove convict attaint, as it was necessary to produce in court the record of conviction, and proof of identity of the person, said to be a convict. In New South Wales a Colonial Act was therefore passed, which rendered the fact of coming to the colony as a transport primd facu evidence of the person being a convict ; at the same time, however, it extended the protection of the law to convicts under partial remission of sentence ; this law is now repealed, or rather, is at variance with the express terms of the Act of the 2 and 3 Will. IV, c. 62 ; and the consequence is, that though a ticket-of- leave man is permitted to work on his own account, yet, being a convict, he cannot recover wages for work so done, or call in his debts, and is consequently liable to be defrauded; and cases of frauds of this description have not been uncommon. In order to complete the description of the various conditions, in which persons, who have been transported, are to be found in the penal colonies, your Committee must mention those who have obtained a conditional or absolute pardon or have become free by the expiration of their sentences : they are termed emancipists or expirees. In this class are to be found some individuals who are very wealthy, and have accumulated immense fortunes ; one is said to have possessed as much as 40,000/. a year. Every witness examined gave the same account of the mode in which these fortunes have been made. The emancipist who acquires wealth, in most cases commences his career by keeping a public- house, then lending money on mortgage ; he then obtains landed property and large flocksi the latter frequently consisting of stolen cattle which he has purchased. As a case in point, Dr. Lang and Mr. Mudie H HS 468 APPENDIX. mentioned that of the individual whom they stated to be in possession of 40,000/. a year. This individual was transported, about the end of the last century, for stealing geese on the commons of Yorkshire. He began his career as a prisoner in the employment of Government, in building the gaol at Paramatta ; at that time rum was occasionally allowed to convicts ; he was, however, a very temperate man, and sold his rations of spirits ; he thus accumulated some money, and was enabled, when he became free, to set up a public-house, and keep a gig and horse for hire. On one occasion he was hired to drive to Paramatta a female emancipist, who was hkewise in possession of some property. This led to an acquaintance between them ; he subsequently married her, and was enabled to increase his business considerably. At the period referred to, there was no regular market at Sydney. The farmers brought their loads of wheat and other produce to the town, and made exchanges with persons who paid them partly in money, partly in commodities which they required. The farmers were chiefly emancipists, who, at the expiration of their sentence, had obtained grants of land near Windsor, an ignorant and dissolute set of people, totally unreformed by their punishment, and unable to resist any temptation. They mostly frequented the house of the emancipist above-mentioned; there they would remain drunk for days, unconscious of what they had consumed or what they had given away. When recovered from the stupor of intoxication, they were frequently charged by their host for a sum far exceeding their means of payment. Credit was always given, on condition of signing warrants of attorney, which were at hand ready filled up. The instruments were drawn up by convicts, for in those days amongst that class only could persons be found qualified to perform the duties of the legal profession. When the farmers were once under the control of the individual whose career your Committee are describing, they were obliged to return to his house, till the amount of debt was such that he feared lest it might surpass the value of their property. He then dis- possessed them of their estates, and by this system of measures he had at one time obtained possession of a great proportion of the cultivated land in the colony of New South Wales. Such were the means, according to Dr. Lang, by which both the emancipist in question, and many others, have acquired great 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 469 wealth. The greater portion, however, of this class are labourers and small shopkeepers ; and if industrious, they have every facility for making an honest livelihood, but as, on the expiration of their sentence, they are exposed to every descrip- tion of temptation, the greater portion of them retain the habits of profligacy which first led them into crime, and become still more worthless and dissipated. Of the numerous crimes com- mitted in the colony, the greater portion are perpetrated by this class. Among the emancipists and ticket-of-leave men are to be found the cattle-stealers, receivers of stolen goods, keepers of illicit spirit-shops, and squatters, of the number and extent of whose offences every witness spoke in the strongest terms. In Van Diemen's Land the number of expirees or emancipists probably does not exceed 3,000. Sir George Arthur described them as the worst class in the colony. Amount of Apprehension Produced by the Punishment OF Transportation. As your Committee have now completed the first head of their inquiry, as to the nature of the system of transportation, the next subject for their consideration is, as to the apprehension produced by that punishment. Your Committee consider that in the preceding pag^s they have fully established the fact, that transportation is not a simple punishment, but rather a series of punishments, embracing every degree of human suffering, from the lowest, consisting of a slight restraint upon the freedom of action, to the highest, consisting of long and tedious torture ; and that the average amount of pain inflicted upon offenders, in consequence of a sentence of transportation, is very considerable. The most important question, however, as to the eflicacy of transportation as a punishment, is not with regard to the actual amount of pain inflicted, but the amount which those who are likely to commit crime believe to be inflicted. It is proved, beyond a doubt, by the testimony of every witness best acquainted with the actual condition of convicts, and likewise by numerous facts stated in the evidence, that most persons in this country, whether belonging to the criminal population, or connected with the adminis- tration of justice, are ignorant of the real amount of suffering inflicted upon a transported felon, and underrate the severity 470 APPENDIX. of the punishment of transportation. Nor is this to be wondered at, when it is considered that the penal colonies are 16,000 miles distant, and that the ignorant mass of the criminal popu- lation of this country are often misled by their evil passions to underrate the consequences of their evil deeds. On their arrival at the Antipodes, they discover that they have been grievously deceived by the accounts transmitted to them, and that their condition is a far more painful one than they expected. For those convicts who write to their friends an account of their own fate are generally persons who have been fortunate in the lottery of punishment, and truly describe their lot in flattering terms ; those, on the other hand, who really experience the evils of transportation, and are haunted with " a continual sense of degradation," are seldom inclined to narrate their sufferings except when they have powerful friends from whom they may expect assistance. Numerous instances, likewise, were mentioned of convicts, who, degraded and demoralised by their punishment, have, from feelings of anger and revenge, indulged in the malicious satisfaction of denying the efficacy of the law, and of braving those who had brought them to con- demnation, by describing as pleasures the tortures they were enduring, by affecting indifference for a punishment which other criminals were actually committing murder and seeking death in order to avoid. Thus it is proved, by the most irrefragable testimony, that both those who are prosperous and those who are miserable, the drawers of prizes and the drawers of blanks in this strange lottery, influenced perhaps by that desire, common to human nature, of having companions and partakers whether of misery or of happiness, concur in tempting their friends in this country, by the most alluring descriptions, to come out and join them ; thereby tending to diminish the little apprehension, if any, which is entertained by the lower orders for the punishment of transportation. Both reason and experience, therefore, prove that the utmost apprehension which the generality of offenders feel for transportation is little more than that they would experience for simple exile, which, next to transportation, is, perhaps, the most unequal of punishments. In order to produce any effect in preventing crime, the apprehension of the evil consequences of a punishment must, at least, be greater than the dislike of abstaining from crime, 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 471 or of the consequences of so doing. The pain of exile depends upon the nature and strength of the ties which connect an offender with his native country. Exile is, therefore, a very severe punishment to persons who have strong affections for their native land, for their kindred, and for their acquaintances. Generally speaking, it is most dreaded by those offenders against the laws of their country who may be termed accidental criminals ; that is to say, by persons who have not made a trade in crimes, but who have been induced to commit crimes by the impulse of the moment, or by some accidental combination of circumstances, or by some all-powerful temptation ; and who may, in many cases, be possessed of good moral feelings. On the other hand, exile is least dreaded by the most numerous class of offenders, by those who may be termed habitual criminals, and who compose what is properly called the criminal population of this country, namely, regular thieves, pickpockets, burglars, and all persons who gain their livelihood by the repetition of offences, and who consequently have lost all feelings of moral aversion to crime, and can only be restrained by fear. The apprehension which this class of offenders feel for the punishment of exile amounts merely to an aversion to breaking off their criminal habits and connexions in this country ; on the other hand, to them the consequences of abstaining from a life of crime would be, that they must equally separate them- selves from their friends and associates of the criminal class in this country, and lead a life of honest industry in a country where wages are low and the price of food is high ; to such criminals this course of life must seem almost as disagreeable as, if not more disagreeable than, the chance of exile to Australia, where they understand that wages are high, and that their condition will be a comfortable one ; that at all events they will obtain plenty of food and clothing, and that they will meet a number of ancient companions in crime, some of them in the most prosperous circumstances. Consequently, amongst such individuals, especially amongst London thieves and the like, the threat of expatriation produces little or no motive to induce them to abstain from criminal acts. The punishment of exile is, however, sometimes viewed with apprehension by offenders from the agricultural districts, who entertain a vague and ignorant horror of being removed from the land of their birth ; this feeling is one which your Committee can hardly think it 472 APPENDIX. advisable to encourage, nor can they deem it wise to stigmatise emigration by associating with it the idea of degradation and punishment, when they take into consideration the advantages which it holds out to the poorer orders of the community, to those who are most likely to be exposed to criminal temptations. Moreover, the great and yearly increasing emigration to all the British colonies, even to the penal ones, must soon, at all events, deprive exile to Australia of all its imaginary terrors. Transportation, though chiefly dreaded as exile, undoubtedly is much more than exile ; it is slavery as well ; and the condition of the convict slave is frequently a very miserable one ; but that condition is unknown, and cannot be made known ; for the physical condition of a convict is generally better than that of an agricultural labourer ; the former is in most cases better fed and better clothed than the latter ; it is the restraint on freedom of action, the degradation of slavery, and the other moral evils, which chiefly constitute the pains of transportation, and of which no description can convey an adequate idea to that class in whom transportation ought to inspire terror. It was proposed by Sir G. Arthur and others to attempt to diffuse a knowledge of the hapless lot of some offenders, by means of pamphlets, tracts, pictures of convicts in irons, and under other punishments, to be published by the Government ; by descrip- tions to be given by the judges on the bench, and by similar means. But, to which will the criminal population give greater credit; to the authority of the Government and the judge, whose duty they will think it is to exaggerate the evils of the punishment, or to those other sources of information to which reference has been already made ? And what description can a judge, or any other human being, give to an offender of his future fate as a convict ? Who can tell what that lot may be ? A criminal sentenced to transportation may be sent to New South Wales, or to Van Diemen's Land, or to Bermuda, or even to Norfolk Island ; in each colony a different fate would await him ; his chance of enduring pain would be different. In New South Wales, or even under the severer system of Van Diemen's Land, he might be a domestic servant, well fed, well clothed, and well treated by a kind and indulgent master ; he might be fortunate in obtaining a ticket of leave, or a conditional pardon, and finish his career by accumulating considerable wealth. Or he may be the wretched praedial slave of some 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 473 harsh master, compelled by the lash to work, until, driven to desperation, he takes to the bush, and is shot down like a beast of prey ; or for some small offence is sent to work in chains, or to a penal settlement, where, having suffered till he can endure no longer, he commits murder in order that he may die. Between these extremes of comfort and misery there are innumerable gradations of good and evil, in which the lot of a convict may be cast. But even if all this were known to the evil-disposed, as well known as it is to all who have perused the evidence taken before your Committee, the uncertainty of the punishment would destroy its effect, and prevent the suffering, which in many instances is inflicted, from producing apprehension. For it should be carefully borne in mind, that punishment is meant for those persons who are inclined to evil, and its effects are to be estimated with regard to them alone. Now, the mind of a person disposed to commit a crime is precisely that of a gambler ; he dv/ells with satisfaction on every favourable chance, overlooks every adverse one, and believes that that event will happen which is most in accordance with his wishes. He hopes that if he commit a crime he will escape detection ; that, if detected, he will escape conviction ; that, if convicted, he will be pardoned, or get off with a few years in the hulks or Penitentiary ; that, if transported, he will be sent to New South Wales; that, if sent to New South Wales, he will be as well off as are some of his acquaintances, and make a fortune. It is by diminishing the number of chances in the criminal's favour, not by increasing the amount of contingent evil ; in other words, it is far more by the certainty than by the severity of punishment, that apprehension is produced, and thus transportation sins against the first and acknowledged principles of penal legislation. Effects op Transportation on Those who have Undergone that Punishment. Reformation of Offendns. The third subject for the investigation of your Committee was the effects of transportation on those who have undergone that punishment. It appears to your Committee that it would be to maintain a position contrary to the experience of all nations in the science of punishment, for any one to assert that 474 APPENDIX, the compulsory labour of a number of offenders, whether in the private establishments of settlers, or on public works under the system hitherto pursued, can have any tendency to produce their moral reformation. Sir George Arthur indeed argued, that as it is for the interest of a master to have good servants, so it must be equally for a master's interest to convert his convicts into good servants, by attending to their moral reforma- tion ; and hence Sir G. Arthur inferred that, guided by self- interest, a master of convicts would steadily pursue that object. " Bentham's notions," said Sir George Arthur, "that gaolers should possess a personal interest in the reform of the convicts under their charge, is beautifully realised in Van Diemen's Land." In this position Sir G. Arthur is not only contradicted by numerous facts stated by himself, but in express terms by his own Attorney-General, who stated, " Reformation, at all events, if that be one object of punishment, is on the present plan hopeless ; in the existing state of things, nearly all the tendencies of the plan are the other way." According to Captain Maconochie, Secretary to Sir John Franklin, *' by transportation the prisoners are all made bad men instead of good : it is shown," he said, " by the official reports transmitted with his papers, that scarcely any are reformed ; and human nature does not stand still ; if not improved, it gets worse." It would be superfluous labour to confirm the statements of these high authorities by the, almost, unanimous testimony of every witness examined. It is evident, that it must be the object of a master of convicts to get as much work out of his assigned servants as possible ; for this purpose the process of moral reformation will generally be considered too long a one ; the chance of success, even under the most perfect system yet discovered, is too uncertain, and the advantage, therefore, too remote, to render it the apparent interest of a master to adopt such a process, when his object can be obtained by the readier and simpler means of punishment, or by vicious indulgences, and when these fail, by returning the refractory convict to Government, and by obtaining another in his stead. The influence of transportation upon the moral character of those offenders, who are not assigned as servants to settlers, but who are subjected to penal labour in the road-parties, chain- gangs, and in the penal settlements, may be judged of by the effects of the system of punishment which is pursued in the 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 475 hulks in this country, and in the galleys in France. All these descriptions of punishment, though differing in degrees of severity, nearly resemble each other in their main features ; all the criminals under punishment are herded together, mutually corrupting each other, and are constrained by fear alone to the performance of labour ; and consequently, the moral reformation of an offender is seldom or never effected, as is abundantly proved in every part of the evidence taken before your Com- mittee, and confirmed by the testimony of every person, who has carefully studied the subject of penal legislation. But transportation is not merely inefficient in producing the moral reformation of an offender ; it is efficient in demoralising those whom accidental circumstances, more than a really vicious nature, have seduced into crime. It is hardly needful to point out how this must necessarily be the result of crowding together multitudes of offenders during the idleness of a long voyage ; of a life in a colony where vice is the rule and virtue the exception ; where every description of offender and profligate finds himself kept in countenance by a majority, and where there is free interchange of every kind of vicious instruction. Though under such a system of punishment as trans- portation, the moral reformation of offenders is generally impossible, yet it might be supposed, that an assigned convict would be induced to abstain from disorderly conduct by the fear of immediate and severe punishment, and by the hope of a ticket of leave; that the ticket-of-leave man would be equally influenced by the fear of losing that indulgence ; and that the expiree would find himself placed in a position, in which he would be removed from those temptations to which he is exposed in this country, to commit crimes against property ; and thus it might be conceived that transportation must, to a certain extent, indirectly conduce to the orderly conduct of offenders in their subsequent career. This sup- position is not borne out by facts. It is stated by the late Attorney-General of Van Diemen's Land, that of the innu- merable crimes committed in that colony, and brought before the superior courts, three-fourths are by offenders whose sentences have expired ; and the same is the case with regard to New South Wales. On the whole it appears, from the evidence taken before your Committee, that assigned convicts conduct themselves better than ticket-of-leave meo» and 476 APPENDIX. ticket-of-leave men than emancipists or expirees ; and that when transportation does produce orderly conduct, it does so by imposing restraint, and by the apprehension it produces of immediate and severe punishment. The orderhness of a convict increases, therefore, with the immediateness and severity of the punishment, and with the general restraint to which he is subjected, and at the same time decreases with the increase of temptation. Thus, a convict is best behaved while at the penal settlements, and his conduct deteriorates in pro- portion as he obtains more and more freedom, and is worst when he has obtained liberty by the expiration of his sentence. Notwithstanding the severity of the punishment at the penal settlements, offenders are not unfrequently sent a second time to Norfolk Island and Port Arthur ; according to Sir George Arthur, convicts at Port Arthur frequently appeared to be reformed, but when they got to the settled districts, and had temptations placed before them, in a great many cases they relapsed. This result is in accordance with all experience in penal legislation. A system of punishment which relies for its efficacy solely upon the infliction of pain, without attempting to encourage and strengthen the moral feelings of a culprit, only hardens and brutalises him, renders him mentally incapable of looking beyond the present moment, and confines his ideas to the feelings of the next instant ; by these feelings alone his will is determined, and he indulges his vicious appetites, or refrains from gratifying them, in pro- portion as he expects their immediate results will be pain or pleasure. Not only is an offender, whose moral character is subverted by such punishments, incapable of moral restraint, but he only dreads punishment, and is acted upon by it when he sees the lash at hand, and suspended over his head ; and prospective punishment has no effect in deterring him from the immediate gratification of his desires when exposed to temptation. Moral State of Society in the Penal Colonies. Criminal Returns. The failure of transportation, as a means of reforming offenders, will, however, be most completely established by the facts which your Committee will now proceed to state in 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 477 illustration of the fourth head of their inquiry as to the influence of transportation on the moral state of society in the penal colonies.^ In old communities, where there is a comparative want of employment, and profits are low, the amount of crime is not a perfectly sure test of the moral state of society, as the general uneasiness of the population gives birth to innumerable offences against property ; but in those new communities, where there is a pressing demand for labour, and great facilities for acquiring wealth, crimes so numerous and so atrocious as those perpetrated in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, truly indicate the depth of their moral depravity. It is difficult, indeed, to form an adequate con- ception of the frightful degree of crime, which the figures express ; suffice it to say, that they show that, in proportion to the respective population of the two countries, the number of convictions for highway robbery (including bushranging) in New South Wales, exceeds the total number of convictions for all offences in England ; that rapes, murders, and attempts at murders, are as common in the former, as petty larcenies in the latter country. In short, in order to give an idea of the amount of crime in New South Wales, let it be supposed that the 17,000 offenders, who last year were tried and convicted in this country for various offences, before the several courts of assize and quarter sessions, had all of them been condemned for crimes ; that 7,000 of them had been executed, and the remainder transported for life ; that in addition, 120,000 other offenders had been convicted of the minor offences of forgery, sheep stealing and the like, then, in proportion to their respective populations, the state of crime and punishment in England and her Australian colonies would have been precisely the same. The catalogue of convictions in New South Wales, by no means, however, exhausts the catalogue of crimes committed ; for Judge Burton, in his charge to the grand jury of Sydney (to which document your Committee have already referred), after giving a vivid description of '* the crimes of violence, the murders, the manslaughters and drunken revels, the perjuries, the false witnesses from motives of revenge or reward, which in the proceedings before him had been brought to light," after ' Some tables of crimUuU ttlalistics are hero omitted. 478 APPENDIX. mentioning several cases of atrocious crimes, as characteristic of the general want of principle in the colony ; after referring to the '' mass of offences, which were summarily disposed of by the magistrates, and at the several police offices through- out the colony," spoke of the " numerous undiscovered crimes, which every man, who heard him, or to whom the report of his words should come, would at once admit to have occurred within his own circle of knowledge " ; and then he said, " the picture presented to men's minds would be one for the most painful reflection ; it would appear to one, who could look down upon that community, as if the main business of them all were the commission of crime, and the punishment of it ; as if the whole colony were in motion towards the several courts of justice ; and the most painful reflection of all must be, that so many capital sentences, and the execution of them, had not had the effect of preventing crime by the way of example." Though the number of offenders convicted before the Supreme Courts is, compared to the whole population, nearly as great in Van Diemen's Land as in New South Wales, yet crimes committed with violence appear to be far less common in the former than in the latter colony. This difference in the criminal statistics of the two colonies is accounted for partly by the extreme vigilance of the police in Van Diemen's Land, which, according to Captain Maconochie, " tends to prevent the commission of great crimes, while the latitude given to its summary punishments makes it unnecessary to bring medium offences generally under the cognisance of the higher courts " ; and, likewise, it should be remarked, that during the whole period referred to, and especially in the latter years, con- siderably above half the population in Van Diemen's Land have always been free ; and of this amount at least one-half more were either persons connected with the Government offices, or wealthy settlers and their families ; whilst in New South Wales, on the other hand, more than one-half of the population are, or have been, convicts. The criminal returns, already referred to, likewise prove that crime has increased in New South Wales in a greater ratio than the population, and consequently in a far greater ratio than the number of con- victs ; thus indicating too plainly the progressive demoralisa- tion both of the bond and the free inhabitants of that colony. 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 479 This result has either been denied or attributed to a variety of causes, by the members of the two powerful parties of eman- cipists and anti-emancipists, that divide the community of New South Wales. With regard to the former of these parties your Committee will now make a few observations. The emancipist party originated under the government of General Macquarie, in 1809. That gentleman had acted upon the principle, that the colony of New South Wales was founded for the sake of convicts, and not for emigrants ; he endeavoured, therefore, to introduce the wealthier emancipists into the society of the officers, clergy, and other respectable inhabitants of the colony ; and he even made magistrates of some individuals who had been convicts. This attempt gave rise to the two parties, of those who were for, and those who were against, the emancipists. The former party is a numerous one, as the number of emancipists in 1834 amounted to between 15,000 and 16,000, while the remainder of the free population did not much exceed 21,000; and of the latter number a considerable portion were probably connected, either by parentage or marriage, with persons who had been prisoners of the Crown. Many of the emancipists have, as has already been observed, acquired considerable wealth, and they form, therefore, a powerful political party, whose chief object is to maintain the position, that all the free inhabitants of the colony, both those who have been convicts and those who have not, ought to possess equal rights. This party, however, is not merely composed of persons that have been convicts, but it includes in its ranks a considerable portion of the free settlers, some of whom are persons inclined, by their habits, to associate with the criminal population, and to participate in the feelings of that class ; others, however, are amongst the most respectable inhabitants of the colony, and on the ground of political principle, join the emancipists' party.* > The anti-emancipist party ought likewise to be described ; their object is to maintain an exclusive caste, by denying to persons who have been prisoners of the Crown some of the most valuable political rights. In the opinion of this faction the constitutional privileges of Englishmen should not be conceded to the whole free population of New South Wales, but be confined to those who have never been in bonds. Some of the members of this party are persons upon whose characters and dispoaitiona the domestic slavery and penal nature of the colony has had ths worst possible efEsct, by rendering them harsh, peremptory, and ovarbsaring. 48o APPENDIX. The members of the anti-emancipist party in New South Wales attribute the increase of crime in that colony partly to alleged relaxation of convict discipline under Sir Richard Bourke ; partly to the action of the Jury Laws, which permit persons who have been convicts to become jurors ; and lastly to the increasing number of emancipists. The first mentioned cause of the increase of crime in New South Wales refers to the Quarter Sessions Act of 1833; by that Act the summary jurisdiction of single magistrates over convicts, which previously had been most undefined and extensive, was somewhat diminished, and a magistrate was prevented from inflicting 'more than 50 lashes for a single offence instead of 150, which he might have given before at three separate inflictions. Many magistrates, who felt the diminution of their power as a grievance, bitterly complained of the Act in question, and contended that the limitation of their power had had the most pernicious effect upon the prison population, "whose characteristic depravity" (they said) "could not be checked without a corresponding severity in the law, and rigour in its administration." These complaints do not seem to your Committee to have the slightest founda- tion in fact, and Sir Richard Bourke appears to have acted with wisdom, justice and humanity in his treatment of the convict population. The severer system of summary juris- diction pursued in Van Diemen's Land has, perhaps, slightly and by converting them into cruel and hard-hearted slave-owners, with feelings of hatred, suspicion, and ill-disguised contempt for all who have had the misfortune of incurring the displeasure of the criminal tribunals of their country. There are undoubtedly, however, many persons of cultivated understanding and sound judgment, who belong strictly to neither of these parties, though generally somewhat biassed in favour of either the one or the other. To the opinion of these persons, on all subjects connected with the welfare of penal colonies, the utmost consideration is due. Each of the parties alluded to has several organs in the public press, who carry on their political warfare with all the virulence peculiar to colonial factions. The licentiousness of the press in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land has been much complained of ; in this respect, however, it does not appear to surpass the press of the mother country, and as it has been the only check upon the despotism of the Governors of the penal colonies, it has, upon the whole, rendered great service to those colonies. In Van Diemen's Land there is not at present any emancipist party, that class being as yet few in number and without wealth or influence. — W. M. 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 481 diminished the amount of crime cognizable in the superior courts, and diminished the number of grave offences ; but it has produced this result by erecting a number of petty offences into crimes. With regard to the second alleged cause of the increase of crime, viz., the jury laws, your Committee need hardly repeat that the well-proven effect of transportation is to demoralise, not reform, the offender ; therefore, in a community like New South Wales, wherein so large a proportion of the population are persons who have been convicts, to permit such persons generally to sit upon juries must evidently have an injurious effect. This fact, were it a matter of doubt, is abundantly established by the testimony of Judge Burton, Mr. MacArthur, and others. Your Committee, however, must observe that under a good system of punishment, an offender should, at the expiration of his sentence, be considered to have atoned for his crimes; and he should be permitted to commence a new career without any reference to his past one. In their opinion the effect of preventing an offender from acquiring civil and constitutional rights, after the expiration of his sentence, is in reality to give a most unjust, uncertain, and unequal extension to his punishment, to render him infamous in the eyes of his fellow-citizens, to degrade him in his own estimation, and to drive him back to crime. With regard to the last alleged cause of the increase of crime, viz., the increasing number of emancipists, little doubt, your Committee think, can be entertained of the pernicious consequences of annually turning loose a number of unre- claimed offenders on so small a community as New South Wales. All the best informed witnesses concur in stating that by far the greater portion of the offences brought under the cognizance of the superior courts are committed by persons who have been convicts. One of the supposed advantages of transportation is that it prevents this country from being burdened with criminal offenders after the expiration of their sentences. It is now, however, evident that transportation does not tend to diminish the sum total of offences committed in the British dominions; it may perhaps relieve Great Britain and Ireland from a portion of their burden of crime; though, from the little apprehension which transportation produces, this may be reasonably doubted. On the other hand, it 482 APPENDIX. only transfers and aggravates the burden upon portions of the British dominions, which, Hke New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, are least able to bear it. In order to ascertain the kind of community which has been produced in the penal colonies under the influence of trans- portation, your Committee have collected, with regard to their population, the following statistical returns, which, they believe, are accurate. Since the year 1793, 74,200 convicts have been transported to New South Wales, of whom, not more than 10,000 were females; from 1825 to 1836 there have been 45,029 immigrants into that colony ; yet by the census of 1836 its population did not exceed 77,096, not more, probably much less, than three-fifths of the number of persons that have landed at Port Jackson during the last half-century. This result is mainly attributable to the disproportion of the sexes, occasioned by transportation, the evil effects of which dispro- portion upon the moral state of the penal communities your Committee think can hardly be overrated. The number of convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land since 181 7 have been 27,759, of whom 2,974 were women. The population of the colony in 1834 was 40,283, of whom 11,482 were women. The disproportion of sexes is about the same in both penal colonies ; it exists chiefly amongst the convicts, and is most remarkable in the country districts. In 1836 the free population of New South Wales amounted to 49,255, of whom about 17,000 had been convicts. In 1834 the free population of Van Diemen's Land did not exceed 23j3I5> of whom about 3,000 were expirees. Of the state of society in the towns of these colonies, a general idea may be formed from a description of Sydney, according to the accounts given of it by its chief police magis- trate, and by Mr. Justice Burton. In 1836 Sydney covered an area of about 2,000 acres, and contained about 20,000 inhabitants ; of this number 3,500 were convicts, most of them in assigned service, and about 7,000 had probably been prisoners of the Crown. These, together with their associates amongst the free population, were persons of violent and uncontrollable passions, which most of them possessed no lawful means of gratifying ; incorrigibly bad characters, pre- ferring a life of idleness and debauchery by means of plunder, to one of honest industry. Burglaries and robberies were I 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 483 frequently perpetrated by convict servants in the town and its vicinity, sometimes even in the middle of the day. No town offered so many facilities for eluding the vigilance of the police as Sydney did. The unoccupied bush, near and within it, afforded shelter to the offender, and hid him from pursuit. He might steal or hire a boat, and in a few minutes place an arm of the sea between himself and his pursuers. The want of continuity in the buildings afforded great facilities for lying in wait for opportunities of committing crime, for instant conceal- ment on the approach of the police, and for obtaining access to the backs of houses and shops ; and the drunkenness, idle- ness, and carelessness of a great proportion of the inhabitants afforded innumerable opportunities and temptations, both by day and night, for those who chose to live by plunder. The greater portion of the shopkeepers and of the lower middle class had been convicts, for the tradesmen connected with the criminal population have an advantage over free emigrants. Those of the emancipists who were possessed of property had generally acquired it by dishonest means, by keeping grog- shops, gambling-houses, by receiving stolen goods, and by other nefarious practices ; they led a life of gross licentious- ness ; but their wealth and influence were such that one- fourth of the jurors who served in the civil and criminal courts during the years 1834, ^^35 ^.nd 1836, belonged to their number. More immorality prevailed in Sydney than in any other town of the same size in the British dominions ; there the vice of drunkenness had attained its highest pitch ; the quantity of spirits consumed in Sydney was enormous ; even throughout the whole of New South Wales the annual average, for every human being in the colony, had reached four gallons a head. With a free population, little exceeding 16,000, Sydney con- tained 219 public houses, and so many unlicensed spirit shops, that its chief police magistrate felt himself incompetent to guess at the number. The greater portion of these public houses were kept by persons who had been transported convicts, and who were notorious drunkards, obscene per- sons, fighters, gamblers, receivers of stolen goods, receivers and harbourers of thieves, and of the most depraved of both sexes ; and who existed upon the depravity of the lower orders. Such, according to the authorities already quoted, are the towns to which transportation has given birth; and 1 1 a 484 APPENDIX. such are the inmates furnished to them by the criminal tribunals of this country. In the country districts of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land the proportion of convict men to women is as seventeen to one. As the greater portion of the agricultural labourers belong to the criminal population, they constitute a peasantry unlike any other in the world ; a peasantry without domestic feelings or affections, without parents or relations, without wives, children, or homes ; one more strange and less attached to the soil they till, than the negro slaves of a planter. They dwell, crowded together, in miserable huts ; the hours of recreation, which they can steal from the night, are usually spent in the unlicensed spirit shops to be found in the vicinity of every estate. In these places, kept by some ticket -of-leave man or emancipated convict, the assigned servants of settlers generally purchase the means of gratifying their appetites for liquor, gaming, and every species of debauchery, by the proceeds of their depredations on the flocks and herds, and other property of their masters. The vicious habits of the lower orders, the manner in which they are permitted to live and associate with the convicts, the inefficiency of the police, and the general want of principle in the colony of New South Wales, are vividly depicted in the charge, already so frequently mentioned, of Judge Burton to the grand jury of Sydney. Amongst the cases which he cited as illustrative of his posi- tions, one especially deserved attention, as it embodies (to use his own words) in itself a picture of those evils with which the colony is visited. The case referred to was that of a man called Cowan and his wife, who were acquitted of the murder of a man named Kerr. " These persons, and one Campbell and the deceased Kerr, lived near Liverpool, and kept an unlicensed still, and a house, to which the gangs of prisoners in their neighbourhood resorted for drink ; and they were cattle stealers. (It was no slander to call them such, since they had been convicted of it.) On a Sunday evening their house was visited by a constable from Liverpool, who arrived about eight o'clock in the evening, and found all parties, as he expressed it, ' beastly drunk,' and two prisoners of the Crown in the same state. This was the last time Kerr was seen alive by any respectable person. Information was given on the next day, by two of Cowan's servants, to the 1838] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 485 magistrates of Liverpool, against him for cattle-stealing ; and it was proved that their having done so was known to Peter Montgomery, a convict employed as overseer at the Liverpool hospital, in the afternoon of the same day ; and that he had visited Cowan afterwards, and understood, from expressions made by Cowan during his intoxication, that he expected Kerr would give evidence against him. Kerr was murdered by some one on that night, and his body was afterwards found at the dis- tance of forty or fifty rods, but the blood was traced to within seventeen or eighteen yards of Cowan's door. ** At the trial Campbell, who had given a statement before the magistrates, which, if he had adhered to on the trial, would have brought home the guilt of that murder to both the prisoners, recanted the whole of the previous statements, and they were acquitted. It appeared in evidence that this person had been forwarded from Liverpool to Sydney, hand-cuffed with Cowan, and was confined in the same yard in the gaol with him ; and the gentlemen of the jury had had an instance before them this day of the effect of such association upon the evidence of a witness. It further appeared, and it deserves notice as an instance of retributive justice, as well as showing the character of this case, that another dead man was found in the same place, within three months before ; and upon that occasion a coroner's jury had acquitted the prisoner, Cowan, upon the evidence of that man Kerr ; and his deposition after his death was given in evidence in this court in favour of the same prisoner, when Cowan was subsequently tried before one of the other judges on that charge, and was the main ground of his acquittal." The moral effects of transportation on the state of society in Van Diemen's Land are described by two gentlemen (Captain Cheyne, director-general of the roads, and Captain RIaconochie), who seem to have possessed the best means of acquiring accurate information, without having resided so long in that colony as to have their feelings hardened on the subject. Captain Cheyne, in his observations on convict discipline, says : *' It is a lamentable fact, that a great portion of those who are entrusted with assigned servants are dissolute in their habits, and depraved in their principles, and rather hasten than avert the final ruin of those around them ; nor is this matter for surprise, when the origin and state of society in this 486 APPENDIX, country is remembered. Although the severity of the law produces an outward resemblance of order, a constrained good conduct, yet there abounds amongst us a fearful degree of immorality, unparalleled, perhaps, in any age or country, and not, I regret to say, confined to the convict population." He observes, hkewise, " It is a fact well known to every one closely acquainted with the prisoner population, that they uniformly regard with settled antipathies, nearly amounting to hatred, all who have not been, or who are not, prisoners ; and, when not repressed by self-interest, this is plainly exhibited. To account for this is not difficult. . . . Long accustomed to behold their fellow-creatures in a state of moral prostration before them, manacled and tortured, the finer emotions of the human breast have suffered petrifaction ; and even where Christian principle might be supposed to assert its claims, the torrent of custom prevails, so that for the outcast convict it is almost literally true, that ' No one careth.' " He adds, " Not only is immorality generally more common here than in the mother country, as indeed, under all circumstances, might be expected, but with ' envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness,' almost every man appears to be armed. If proof of this were wanting, it might be found in the licentious state of the press, which, with few exceptions, finds ample support in holding up to derision the authorities of the land, and even in the invasion of the sanctity of domestic privacy. " Now, according to my views, this may be for the most part attributed to the transportation system. The habit which most of the free contract, of thinking and speaking of and treating the convicts contemptuously, is, by a very natural process, extended to the whole species ; and hence the want of respect and deference to others which is so universally mani- fested. Nor ought this to excite surprise. In the rank of life from which most of them have come, they have been accus- tomed to an open exhibition of their passions, many of them in the roughest form ; comparatively few of them have been trained to the first lesson of refinement, the necessity and habit of civility. " I acknowledge that a contempt for convicts is frequently produced by personal experience of their ingratitude, duplicity, and general depravity ; but it is also produced, in part, by the important position into which the great disparity between the i83».] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 487 classes raises the free, which has a tendency to break down the distinctions conceded in the mother country, and thus to place the whole free population on a nearly equal footing. The contempt thus felt and expressed, which is the active mischief, is returned by the convicts with hatred ; and hence, as I have already stated, a prejudice of caste is produced, which sets the two classes of the community in hostility to each other. On the other hand the free, imbued with a notion of their indi- vidual importance, forget their relative duties, and are, more or less, claiming superior distinction and consideration." Captain Maconochie speaks in the following manner of the effects of the assignment system on the character and temper of the master : " The master is rarely indulgent. He is accustomed to find his convict servants evade their work whenever possible ; and he regards all excuses, therefore, with suspicion. A new comer, accordingly, like all his fellows in their day, if he does his best, is not thought to do so ; and, stimulated by no motive to perseverance, on the contrary, advised probably on all sides to relax, if he ever begin, he soon ceases to desire to please. The intercourse between him and his master is thus hostile from the beginning ; and it rapidly becomes a continued series of efforts, on the one part to evade work, on the other to resist such evasion. The ill-will which thus on both sides increases, is reciprocally shown by covert injury, and violent punishment and reproach. The convict is, beyond patient endurance, miserable ; and the tokens of wretchedness cannot be kept under. " The fretfulness of temper which so peculiarly characterises the intercourse of society in our penal colonies, may be attri- buted, I think, almost exclusively to their convict system. Degraded servants make suspicious masters ; and the habit of suspicion being once given, masters soon begin to suspect their equals and superiors, as well as their inferiors ; whence, among other symptoms, impatience and irritability under Government regulations and judicial decisions, however just or well founded. The total disuse, moreover, of moral motives in the domestic relations of life, and the habit of enforcing obedience by mere compulsion, give a harsh and peremptory bearing in all trans- actions, which being met by a corresponding tone in others (the upper classes acting and re-acting on each other exactly 488 APPENDIX. as the lower), every difference of opinion constitutes a ground of quarrel, and disunion becomes extensively prevalent. Much, too, exists in the mere arrangements for convict discipline, as now maintained, which fosters these lamentable results. A constant interference of the police with private feelings and interest is absolutely unavoidable in existing circumstances; and the summary and peremptory character of decisions in cases of discipline, scarcely admitting of appeal, and practically almost always confirmed against both convict and master (because, even if appealed from, the reply is contingent on a report from the magistrate who has passed the first sentence), is alone calculated, I think, to exasperate mild spirits." These opinions of the best informed witnesses, and the facts stated by your Committee (upon the most unquestionable authorities), as to the amount and progressive increase of crime, and as to the depravity of both the town and country population, leave no doubt (even if any doubt could have been entertained) of the influence of transportation on the state of society in the penal colonies, and of the moral corruption of the free by the criminal portion of the community. Your Committee fear, that if the existing system be continued, the moral condition of the penal colonies is more likely to be still further deteriorated than improved. As yet, in these infant communities, a considerable portion of the free must have been immigrants, and probably they left their homes at that period of life at which their habits and dispositions were formed, and they carried with them to their new country the moral feelings of this one, and were therefore less liable to be corrupted than their unfortunate offspring will be, who are to be brought up in those colonies.^ ^ It is stated that many of the free settlers were low and abandoned characters, as bad, perhaps, as the convicts, nor is this to be wondered at. It is difficult to conceive how any man belonging to a superior class, not to say a good and estimable person, but one merely having the common feelings of morality, with the ordinary dislike of crime, could be tempted by any prospect of pecuniary gain to emigrate with a wife and family to one of these colonies, after a picture has been presented to his mind of what would be his probable lot. To dwell in Sydney, he might be told, would be much the same as inhabiting the lowest purlieus of St. Giles's, where drunkenness and shameless profligacy are not more apparent than in the capital of Australia. If he setde, as would probably be his inten- tion, in the interior, and become a landed proprietor, and rear flocks and herds, he would require many servants. Those whom he might persuade ig38.1 REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 489 Economical Effects of Transportation on the Penal Colonies. Causes of their Wealth. The fifth head of your Committee's inquiry is as to the economical effects of transportation on the penal colonies, and to emigrate along with him at his own expense would remain but a short time in his service, in consequence of the competition which exists for the services of free men. The women servants who might accompany him would, from the scarcity of women, be still more sought after than free men, and would, therefore, be still more certain to quit him to become wives if well-conducted, prostitutes if not. For want of servants a settler must apply to Government for convicts. He then becomes a slave owner, not like the planters of the West Indies or of the Southern States of America, whose slaves, if not by nature, by education in bondage at least, are an inferior race, and having from youth been ignorant of freedom, consider it almost an honour to serve the white. On the other hand, the Australian settler has a property in men of his own race, hardened, des- perate, and profligate ruffians, who have been nurtured in vice and crime and have given way to the vilest passions. These are his servants, for he can get no others ; without them his flocks would be untended, his cattle unherded, his land uncultivated, his capital destroyed, and himself ruined. With these, therefore, he must be contented ; but these men (whose perverted principle of morality it is never to let slip an opportunity of committing a crime when there is a fair prospect of impunity) are so unaccustomed to restraint, so unable to control their passions, so addicted to drunkenness and peculation, so insolent, so insubordinate, so regardless of all lawful orders, so unwilling to work, that he must constantly refer to magisterial authority, and to the infliction of the lash, or he must connive at their crimes and grant them every species of vicious indulgence in order to persuade them to labour. These men have known better times ; have acknowledged no master in this country ; they repine at their lot, and hate the settler to whom they are assigned as a taskmaster and tyrant, and he cannot fail to hate them in return. Though this, the cruellest of all descriptions of slavery, may not wholly subvert the already formed character of an emigrant, what must be its effects on his unfortunate children who are to be reared in the midst of it, whose habits and disposi- tions will be formed by it ? The effect of slavery on the character of the slave owner is one of the worst, if not the very worst moral result of common slavery ; but this extraordinary description of slavery has fre- quently worse consequences than those of rendering the children of the colonists cruel, imperious and haughty. Whatever pains the father may take he cannot cut them off entirely from all association with his menial servants; and who are they? A settler can know nothing of the past crimes of his convict servant before he receives him in his establishment, and even if he did he must take those whom he can get ; in the same establishment he may, therefore, have at the same time a forger, a burglar, a murderer, and even an offender against nature. As much as possible 490 APPENDIX. to what extent the pecuniary interests of those communities will be affected by the continuance or discontinuance of that the colonists dispense with the services of convict women ; and those whom they cannot help having in their service are all irreclaimable prostitutes, too often disgusting by the indecency of their language and demeanour. Among such servants the children of an emigrant are to be reared from their earliest youth, he would hope in virtue. If these hopes be not dis- appointed he will be far more fortunate than several of the most respectable and richest families in the penal colonies ; some of whom have had to lament over their daughters, made witnesses and companions of the debaucheries of the abandoned females around them, till those daughters became equally abandoned as their attendants, equally debauched in body and mind. And other equally respectable families have discovered, when too late, the horrible fact that their tender infants have been subjected to the brutal caresses of all their convict servants, whose death by the avenging arm of justice was but a poor consolation to the miserable parents. Now, aware of this and similar facts, what dreadful apprehen- sions must fill the mind of a settler should he be forced, even for a day, to quit his home and leave his family unprotected in the midst of such desperate villains as his servants; and fortunate is he who, on his return, does not find his worst fears of violence and outrage realised on the persons of those whom he holds dearest. In this picture of what may befall a respectable free emigrant in New South Wales or Van Diemen's Land, only facts are stated which have been proved before the Transportation Committee by the most credible witnesses. Many more statements might be made, with perfect truth, which would deter any virtuous or high-minded man from seeking his fortune in these colonies. He might be told how every kind and gentle feeling of human nature is constantly outraged by the perpetual spectacle of punishment and misery, by the frequent infliction of the lash, by the gangs of slaves in irons, by the horrid details of the penal settlements, till the heart of the emigrant is gradually deadened to the sufferings of others, and he becomes at last as cruel as the other gaolers of these vast prisons. It might be proved that as long as these communities are made the re- ceptacles of criminals their inhabitants must be subjected to the despotism of a gaol, and must forego those free institutions which are the boast of Englishmen. The great disproportion of the sexes might be spoken of and its disgusting consequences traced ; it might be shown how the yearly emigration of convicts renders the disproportion permanent and annually increases the filth of these abodes of iniquity. An account might be given of the vain efforts made to purify these lazar-houses ; of the shiploads of young women sent out with the most philanthropic objects, who. instead of improving the moral character of the colonies, became as corrupt as the rest of the inhabitants, till the experiment was abandoned in despair. The fruitless endeavours of pious men to teach religion to persons who acknowledge no law, either human or divine, might be described, and their vain exertions to educate in virtue those who were brought up, and had passed their time, in unrestrained intercourse with the worst of the 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 491 system. Some persons contend that the pecuniary interests of the penal colonies require the continuance of transportation; that as the extraordinary commercial prosperity of these colonies was occasioned by the constant supply of convict labour, if that supply be cut of! the colonies would be ruined, from great wealth be reduced to great poverty ; and that this change in the fortunes of the inhabitants, especially if it were sudden, would necessarily produce the worst moral effects upon their character, and still further demoralise the already demoralised. Though your Committee cannot consent to weigh the economical advantages of transportation against its moral evils, yet the above-mentioned positions deserve the most serious attention. No fact can be better established by the evidence before your Committee, than that the extraordinary wealth of these colonies was occasioned by the regular and increasing supply of convict labourers. The convicts were assigned to settlers as slaves, they were forced to work in com- bination, and raised more produce than they could consume ; for this surplus produce Government provided a market, by maintaining military and convict establishments, which have cost this country above 7,000,000/. of the public money. Thus the Government first supplied the settlers with labour, and then bought the produce of that labour ; the trade thus carried on was a very profitable one for the settlers, as long as the demand of the Government exceeded the supply ; and this excess of demand over supply has continued up to a late period. Such is the history of the economical prosperity of New South Wales, and likewise of Van Diemen's Land. It is in most respects the economical history of a slave colony ; and as slave colonies have more generally and more rapidly increased in wealth, on account of the forced combination of labour than colonies planted entirely by free men who have not combined their labour, so in these colonies of criminals in bondage, where the few free settlers were provided not only with slaves free of expense, but likewise with an excellent market, a larger amount of wealth has been accumulated in human species. In short, it might be said, in the words of petitioners from Van Diemen's Land, that the whole system of transportation violates the feelings of the aduh, barliarises the habits, and demoralises the prin- ciples of the rising generation, and the result i«, to use the expression of a public newspaper, " Sodom and Gomorrah." — W.M. 493 APPENDIX a shorter space of time than perhaps in any other community of the same size in the world. But, will this prosperity con- tinue ? To what extent wiJl it be affected by the continuance or discontinuance of transportation ? The market which the Government has provided is a very hmited one ; the amount of labour which the Government can supply in the shape of criminals is still more limited. For many years after the com- mencement of these colonies there were more labourers than the settlers could employ, and the Government granted various indulgences to those who would take convicts. At a subsequent period the demand for labour equalled the supply, and the Government found no difficulty in disposing of the convicts. Of late years the demand for convict labour has far exceeded the supply ; there has been great competition to obtain convicts. With an increase of capital an increase of labour is required to render the capital productive. Now, from the extraordinary disproportion of sexes, as has already been stated, the popula- tion in New South Wales does not equal the number of persons who have actually arrived in the colony ; capital, on the other hand, has amazingly increased. Hence New South Wales is suifering excessively from a dearth of labourers. The flocks of sheep are double the size they ought to be ; a vast number perish for want of care ; the complaints of the colonists on this subject are loud and universal ; 10,000 labourers are required at this moment in New South Wales, whilst the number of convicts to be sent there this year will not much exceed 3,000, a number little more than sufficient to supply the place of those who will cease to be labourers by obtaining their freedom, by death and other circumstances. If, therefore, the penal colonies are to continue to depend upon our gaols for their supply of labour, their prosperity has reached its climax, and must decline, without such an extension of crime in this country as it must be hoped is altogether unlikely. Nothing, therefore, can be better demonstrated than that labour must be supplied from other sources than that of transportation, if New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land are to continue to flourish. But what are the sources from which labour can be obtained ? A proposal has been made by some of the colonists of New South Wales to import Hindoos as indentured apprentices, who are to be sent back to Hindostan at the expiration of their period of indenture. This scheme has been most justly objected 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 493 to by the Government as one of the innumerable descriptions of slavery to which, under various appellations designed to conceal its nature, colonists have had recourse when suffering under the pressure of a want of labour. If the Hindoos should return to their native land, this expedient for furnishing labour must be of a most temporary nature, merely providing the colonies with a few thousand labourers for a few years, and totally inadequate for that extension of industry of which New South Wales is capable ; on the other hand, if the Hindoos remain and multiply in that colony, they will form at all events a separate, probably a slave caste ; and your Committee can hardly believe that any statesman, who possesses any know- ledge of the social and political difficulties which arise from a slave caste in the Southern States of America, would consent to curse Australia with a similar evil. The only other means of supplying Australia with labour is by free emigration, and your Committee are rejoiced to find that the Government have taken active steps to encourage it ; and that, both this year and last, a considerable number of emigrants have been conveyed there, the expenses of whose passage have been defrayed out of the funds arising from the sales of waste lands in those colonies. This mode of encourag- ing emigration appears to your Committee to be founded upon the soundest principles, to be equally beneficial to a mother country and to a colony, and to be especially beneficial to the Australian colonies, by infusing into them a better description of population, and thus, it is to be hoped, improving the moral state of those communities ; ^ it should be remarked, that • By those who take a deep interest in the moral welfare of their fellow- citizens, great doubts might reasonably be entertained whether the legis- lature is justified in sanctioning, not to say promoting, the departure of the poorer and more ignorant classes of the community to colonies, whem every moral and religious principle of the emigrant is all but certain to be subverted by contact and association with transported offenders. To them it must be a matter for serious and anxious consideration, whether, if transportation be to continue, the Legislature ought not rather to pro- hibit emigration to the penal colonies, and convert them into vast lazar- houses, in which the morally tainted should dwell alone, and to which the innocent should never approach for fear of contagion. Similar pre- cautions are taken against physical disease which only destroys the body. Surely it behoves the Legii^ature of this Christian country to take equal precautions against those moral diseases which destroy both body and soul.— W. M. 494 APPENDIX. every witness acquainted with the subject, who was examined before your Committee, was strongly impressed with this opinion, and they unanimously stated that one of the greatest benefits that had ever been conferred by the Government on New South Wales was the adoption of the regulations of 1831, with regard to the sales of waste lands, and the disposal of the proceeds of those sales in emigration. Your Committee, however, must remark that the continuance of transportation to the Australian colonies would be inconsistent with the policy of encouraging emigration there, for transportation has a tendency to counteract the moral benefits of emigration, while, on the other hand, emigration tends to deprive transportation of its terrors. Your Committee, however, cannot help doubting whether a sufficient supply of free labour will be obtained by the above- mentioned means. For it appears to them, that while the minimum price for obtaining land is so low as ^s. an acre, a labourer can too quickly acquire land by the saving of his high wages, and too readily gratify the desire, inherent in all men, of independence. A labourer can therefore pass in too short a time from the condition of labourer to that of landowner. This fact was sufficiently proved by the papers laid before your Committee. The want of labour in New South Wales is at this moment even greater than it was in 183 1, when the existing regulations as to the disposal of land were adopted, notwith- standing the increase, as compared to former years, in the number of convicts and of free labourers who have gone out. This and the immense extent of land which has been sold, clearly prove that the restriction upon the facility of acquiring it, which was imposed by adopting the system of sale, has not been sufficient for its intended purpose. The price fixed upon land in 1831 appears merely to have been an experiment, and it probably would have been imprudent, by naming a higher price in the first instance, to increase the difficulty of intro- ducing the change in the face of the prejudice which then prevailed against the whole system. If the existing system of transportation be discontinued, it would, in the opinion of your Committee, be absolutely necessary to raise the minimum price of land at least to i/. an acre; and, eventually, it would pro- bably be found advantageous to carry it considerably higher still. For it is obvious, that by raising the price of land the 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 495 tendency of population to undue dispersion over an almost unlimited territory, which is the cause of the want of labour now so much complained of, may be checked as much as may be desired. The higher the price set upon land, the less, of course, will be the quantity sold, and the greater the number of emigrants sent out in proportion to the extent of territory brought into occupation, supposing that the proceeds of the land-sales continue to be applied to this purpose. Experience must determine, and experience only can do so satisfactorily, what will be the proper price to put upon land, in order neither too much to check nor unduly to facilitate the gradual extension of population over the vast regions which are open to the enterprise of the colonists of Australia. Without pursuing this inquiry further, it is sufficient to point out the principle, by acting upon which the discontinuance of the existing system of transportation may be made not in any way, in the opinion of your Committee, to interfere with the material interests of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, as respects a supply of labour. On the other hand, the continuance of transportation discourages emigrants from working as labourers, for the employment of convicts as slaves has, to a certain degree, a tendency to bring labour into disrepute. As connected with the economical effects of transportation, your Committee must refer to the evil consequences of the numerous escapes of convicts from the penal colonies. Parties of these lawless men have at times settled upon various portions of the shores of Australia, and considerable numbers have reached New Zealand, and some of the Islands of the Polynesian Archipelago ; wherever they have been they have committed on the natives outrages at which humanity shudders. These results are deeply to be deplored, both as disgraceful to the character of this country and injurious to its commercial interests in that portion of the globe. EXPBNSB OP THE PrbSBNT SySTEM ON TRANSPORTATION. The sixth topic for the consideration of your Committee is the expense of the present system of transportation. It has been impossible for your Committee to obtain an accurate 496 APPENDIX. statement of the total amount of British funds expended on the two penal colonies since their foundation, as the accounts have hitherto been kept principally with a view to their examination and audit, and not framed so as to afford the statistical information required. The sum really expended on account of the penal colonies exceeds the subjoined estimate, which, however, may be considered sufficiently to approximate to the true amount, to give the House an idea of what has been the cost of the punishment of transportation : — Cost of the transport of convicts ^2,729,790 Disbursements for general, convict, and colonial services 4,091,581 Military expenditure i ,632,302 Ordnance 29,846 Total from 1786 to 31st March, 1837 ... 8,483,519 Deduct for premium on Bills, Coins, &c. 507, 1 95 ;f7,976,324 The number of convicts transported to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land up to the end of the year 1836, were 96,558 ; their conveyance to those colonies has, therefore, cost about 28/. per head on the average ; and the various expenses consequent upon their residence and punishment there has been at least 54/. a head, in all, more than 82/. a head ; how much more it is impossible for your Committee to ascertain. The expense entailed upon this country by the penal colonies has been on the average, since their commencement, 156,398/. a year ; but at present the annual expenditure is more than treble that amount, and is rapidly increasing every year. That expenditure can now be ascertained with considerable accuracy, as the commissariat accounts have been kept in an improved form since 1832. It should be remarked that the estimates for the penal colonies are not voted in one sum, but are scattered through various portions of the general estimates ; for instance the transport of convicts is defrayed out of the Navy Estimates ; the pay of troops, out of the Army Estimates ; the maintenance, &c. of convicts, out of the Miscellaneous Estimates ; the various dry stores required, out 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 497 of the Ordnance Estimates ; and innumerable sundries are paid out of the Army Extraordinaries.* Alterations in the Present system of Transportation. Its Discontinuance Recommended. Your Committee having completed their description of the existing system of transportation, and its effects, are now prepared to express their decided opinion that some alteration in the system is absolutely indispensable; and this brings them to the consideration of the last head of their inquiry, as to whether the present system be susceptible of improvement, and if not what substitute for it might be adopted. If any attempt is to be made to correct the evils of the existing system of transportation, that attempt must, in the opinion of your Committee, be directed to the improvement of the regulations under which convicts are subjected to penal labour under Government officers. For the practice of assigning convicts to settlers has, as a punishment, this inherent defect, namely, that it is as uncertain as the diversity of temper, character, and occupation amongst human beings can render it ; and this in the opinion of your Committee, affords them sufficient grounds, without proceeding any farther, to recommend its immediate discontinuance. They, however, now entertain great hopes that such a recommendation on their part is no longer necessary, for since the inquiries of your Committee commenced, the Secretaries of State for the Home Depart- ment, and for the Colonies, impressed with the magnitude of the evils occasioned by the assignment of convicts, have recommended the discontinuance of that system at the earliest practicable period, and the Governor of New South Wales has issued a proclamation to that effect. In a letter of the Secretary of State for the Home Department on this subject, it was proposed to diminish, as much as possible, the number of transports to be sent yearly to the Australian colonies, and to employ all the adult male convicts on the public works and roads ; this if transportation be continued, is the only substi- tute for the assignment system, unless it be deemed advisable * A table showing the expenditure of Great Britain upon New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land in 1836-37 is here omitted. M. EK 498 APPENDIX. to establish in the penal colonies some form or forms of the penitentiary system of punishment. Your Committee have therefore, still to consider whether the subjecting of all trans- ported convicts to compulsory labour under the immediate charge of the Government in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land would be an improvement on the present system. Most of the best informed witnesses examined before your Committee recommended that, if the above alteration were to take place, convicts should be employed chiefly in making roads, in which occupation they would be most useful to the penal colonies. Mr. Macarthur, a large landed proprietor in New South Wales, and Major Mitchell, the Surveyor-General of the colony, seemed to think that such a system of administering road- parties of convicts might be introduced as would obviate the evils complained of with regard to the present road-parties in New South Wales, and which are mentioned in the preceding pages of the report of your Committee. It must be observed that all the opinions of Mr. Macarthur are worthy of the most attentive consideration, on account of that gentleman's accurate knowledge of the state of the colony. The following are the main features of the plan which he proposed : In order to preserve discipline amongst convicts in road- parties, and to compel them to work, vigilant superintendence is required. To obtain such superintendence is the great difficulty in New South Wales, both on account of the want of proper persons, and on account of the expense which would be incurred in giving them a proper salary. In order to diminish the number of superintendents as much as possible, Mr. Macarthur proposed that a system should be adopted somewhat similar in principle to that pursued at Sing-Sing, in the State of New York. The criminals who were sent to the prison of Sing- Sing were employed beyond its limits in quarrying marble ; 900 persons have been at times occupied in this manner under the superintendence of only 30 keepers. They laboured in the open country, without chains either on the hands or the feet ; yet perfect discipline was preserved, and a considerable quantity of work performed. How, it may be asked, was this effected ? what made these 900 criminals, assembled together, obey the orders of so small a body ? The keepers were able to communicate one with another, and 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 499 consequently to combine their efforts against the prisoners, and moreover they were armed with muskets. On the other hand, the convict was prohibited from speaking to any fellow prisoner. He was required to pursue his labour with downcast eyes. If in any case he was detected in looking off his work, in gazing at, or attempting to exchange communication with another prisoner, he was flogged by the overseer with a whip (a cat or cow-hide) in the presence of his associates. The correction was certain and immediate ; the quantity of punish- ment was entirely dependent on the will of the overseer, against whose acts there was no appeal. Thus the prisoners were prevented from communicating one with another, either by words or signs. Ignorant of each other's thoughts and inclinations, they could not combine against their keepers. At night they were shut up in solitary cells. The essence of the whole system was the mental isolation of the prisoners to be effected by such prompt and severe punishment as would completely break down the mind and will of the convict, and would deter him from every attempt at communication with his fellow sufferers. For this purpose the most arbitrary power was vested in the superintendents, upon whose vigilance the success of the system depended. Attempts at escape were prevented by armed sentinels. The framers of the system considered it less objectionable to shoot a convict than to resort to the ordinary means by which escape could be prevented. Such as yet is the only mode in which a body of prisoners, out of chains, have been worked together at large so as to preserve discipline, and to extract from them a considerable quantity of work. These are the objects to be attained in New South Wales, if it be absolutely necessary for the welfare of that colony to continue the road-parties, or if it be deemed expedient to substitute this description of punishment for the system of assignment. It should be remarked, that as road- parties must constantly change their place of residence, it would be impossible, by ordinary or physical means, such as well- contrived prisons, to prevent the escape of convicts, and preserve discipline. At Sing-Sing a well-contrived prison, though without surrounding walls, facilitated at night the preservation of discipline amongst the prisoners. The plan proposed by Mr. Macarthur, with regard to the road-parties, is stated by him to be a modification of the K E a 500 APPENDIX. system which has been here described. The road-parties are to be shut up at night in wooden stockades which can easily be fabricated out of materials always at hand. Silence, during the night, is to be preserved by constables always on watch. The convicts in chains, and out of chains, are to be worked together. Discipline is to be enforced by a certain graduated scale of rewards and punishments. If the convict behave himself well, he is to be worked out of chains or employed in lighter work, or placed in gangs under a less severe system of discipline ; or, lastly, after a long course of good conduct, he is to receive a ticket-ofleave. If, on the other hand, his conduct be bad, he is to be flogged or placed at severer work, under stricter discipline, or worked in irons. The head of each department is to be a magistrate, with the power of inflicting summary punishment. The overseers are to be armed, and permitted to fire on the convicts if an attempt be made to escape. The efficacy of this system would, like that at Sing- Sing, depend entirely upon the character and vigilance of ths superintendents, yet, as in Mr. Macarthur's plan the power of inflicting immediate punishment would be much less, it would be much more difficult, if not impossible, for the overseer to preserve discipline. In proportion to the strictness of the discipline to be enforced, are the temptations and desire of the convict to escape from it ; if, therefore, the fear of punishment is the only or chief means by which discipline is to be enforced, then the punishment must be immediate and certain, in order to produce the eff'ect desired ; for at every moment the convict is tempted to communicate with those around him; he is likewise unwilling to work, because the work is compulsory : the dread of immediate pain must therefore be constantly before his eyes, in order to restrain him from these offences. The immediate and certain application of the lash at the will of the overseer, on the slightest symptom of insubordination, or in consequence of the smallest offence, kept the convict at Sing-Sing in a constant state of apprehension, and alone enabled a small number of overseers to superintend a large body of criminals ; without equally arbitrary powers the same number of superintendents would not, in New South Wales, keep in order an equal number of criminals as at Sing- Sing. By greatly increasing the number of overseers, and choosing only persons of an unexceptionable character, discipline might 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 501 be better enforced than at present ; but the expense of such a system would counteract the only benefit which is supposed to result from the existence of the road-parties, namely, that they are the means by which alone the colony of New South Wales can obtain good roads at a small expense. It therefore appears, that with regard to the employment of convicts on the roads out of chains, one of two alternatives must be adopted, either strict discipline by arbitrary and immediate punishment at the will of the superintendent, the consequence of which is completely to brutalise and degrade a criminal ; or a lax system, like the one which now exists in New South Wales, the evils of which need not be recapitulated. In addition to the above-mentioned difficulties which beset the employment of a large number of convicts on the public works of the Australian colonies, your Committee must observe that, if this mode of punishment were substituted for the system of assigning convicts to settlers, a greatly augmented military force would be required. In order to increase the number of convicts in chain-gangs and road-parties, in New South Wales, to between 4,000 and 5,000, Sir Richard Bourke stated that the services of another regiment would be required in that colony ; and even then, your Committee cannot help thinking that in a few years extreme difficulty and mischief would arise from having many thousands of offenders scattered over the roads of a thinly-peopled colony ; add to this, that numerous and expensive permanent establishments, connected with the superintendence and direction of convict workmen, would be required ; that large quantities of public stores, liable to damage, waste and misapplication, would be apt to be accumulated ; that the possession of these stores, and the constant command of a large body of artificers, would hold out inducements to the colonial governments to undertake unneces- sary works ; and lastly, that the stores would be apt to be misapplied, and the labourers worked for the accommodation of individuals connected with the governments. These abuses have notoriously existed in New South Wales, and, together with the urgent demand on the part of the settlers for convict labour, have occasioned a great extension in that colony of the system of assignment. The apprehension of similar abuse in Van Diemen's Land induced Lord Stanley, when Colonial Minister, to recommend a diminution of the number of convicts 502 APPENDIX. in the employment of Government in that colony. This recommendation was, however, not attended to ; and there seems to be good reason for supposing that the abuses in question have existed in no small degree in Van Diemen's Land. Captain Maconochie has stated, on the authority of the superintendent of the Road and Bridge Department, that IS. gd. is lost out of every 35, worth of labour expended on the pubHc works executed in Van Diemen's Land ; and Captain Maconochie observed, likewise, with regard to the description of public works, and the manner in which they are performed, that, ** What is done by a government, it is always thought by its servants cannot be too well done, too highly finished, or too much improved on, till nearly quite perfect ; hence, deep cuttings in particular points in road-making, the intervals being left comparatively untouched ; minute, but frequent and expensive improvements in certain parts of their lines ; a few handsome churches, bridges, and so forth ; instead of the whole country being rendered passable, and furnished with moderate accommodation of every kind, until time and increasing means and population enable luxury and improve- ment to be gradually and universally introduced." And lastly, your Committee must observe that if all trans- ported convicts were to be employed by the Government in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, the expense of transportation would be excessively increased. Sir George Arthur stated, that the average expense of an assigned convict is about 4/. a-head, whilst that of a convict in the employment of the Government is about 14/. a head ; to substitute employ- ment on the Government works for assignment would therefore probably entail an additional expense upon this country of not less than 300,000/. per annum, without reckoning the increased expenditure for the additional number of troops which would be required. On this account, and likewise for the reasons already stated, your Committee cannot recommend the adop- tion of the above-mentioned alteration in the present system of transportation. Your Committee must likewise remark, that if the present mode of punishing convicts in the penal colonies were to be abolished, and it were deemed advisable to substitute in its stead one or more forms of the penitentiary system of 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 503 punishment, to establish such a system in the penal colonies would be far more expensive than to punish offenders in a similar manner in this country ; ist, on account of the expense of conveying offenders to so great a distance ; and, 2ndly, on account of the high rate of wages, the great price of all materials, the difficulty of obtaining skilled labourers, and similar causes, which would make the erection of the necessary buildings far more expensive than in this country. Your Committee having, in the preceding pages of their report, discussed the nature and effects of transportation, and what alterations can be made in the existing system, now consider that they have submitted the most unquestionable proofs that the two main characteristics of transportation, as a punish- ment, are inefficiency in deterring from crime, and remarkable efficiency, not in reforming, but in still further corrupting those who undergo the punishment ; that these qualities of inefficiency for good and efficiency for evil, are inherent in the system, which therefore is not susceptible of any satisfactory improve- ment; and, lastly, that there belongs to the system, extrinsically from its strange character as a punishment, the yet more curious and monstrous evil of calling into existence, and continually extending societies, or the germs of nations most thoroughly depraved, as respects both the character and degree of their vicious propensities. Your Committee, therefore, are of opinion, that the present system of transportation should be abolished, and will now proceed to offer a few observations as to the description of punishment which, in their opinion, ought to be substituted in the stead of transportation. Substitutes for Transportation. Penitentiary System. In recommending the abolition of the existing system of transportation, your Committee are not aware that any new simple punishment can be introduced in its place. As capital and severe corporal punishments have gradually been relin- quished, the loss of personal liberty and the performance of compulsory labour have necessarily become the chief elements of every penal system that has been devised ; and, upon close examination, such systems, however unlike they uiay at 504 APPENDIX. first sight appear, will be found to differ from each other in little except the arrangements, by which the simple punish- ments of which they are composed, are combined together and inflicted. Such being the case, the question under discussion will be greatly simphfied by considering, in the first instance, in what manner and by what arrangements confinement and forced labour can best be inflicted, without reference to the place which is selected for the purpose. Now, upon this point, the experience of all nations, and more particularly the inquiries which have been instituted of late years, appear to establish the conclusion that some modification of the penitentiary system is best calculated to inspire terror, and to improve the moral character of an offender ; and, as far as any inference can be drawn from a comparatively short experience, it appears, that these two main objects of punishment are most likely to be obtained by that form of the penitentiary system which is known as the separate system of America. The objec- tion to the general adoption of this system is the enormous expense which it would occasion, in the first instance, in build- ing the necessary prisons. Another and, confessedly, a very inferior system to this, but yet a great improvement upon the old-fashioned gaols and hulks is, what is termed the silent system, which, as it only requires prisoners to be separated during the night, is attended with less expense in the erection of prisons than the last-mentioned plan. A third method has lately been suggested by Captain Maconochie, and though it has not yet been attempted, it seems to deserve consideration. It appears to your Committee that all these different modes of uniting imprisonment with hard labour might be advanta- geously tried ; that by applying them to different classes of offences the effect of each might be experimentally ascertained, and then that mode which should prove to be the best ought eventually to be adopted. The important question next arises as to where penitentiaries for the infliction of punishment according to any of these plans could be best established, whether within the limits of the United Kingdom or in any of the foreign possessions of the Crown. The advantages of having such establishments at home are, first, reduced expense in conveying offenders to 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 505 them, and in providing the necessary guards and superin- tendence; second, the benefit of having them more immediately under the eyes of the Government and of the public, so that any defects are likely to be more easily discovered and cor- rected ; and lastly, the impression which may be produced upon the minds of persons disposed to the commission of crimes, by the notoriety which the nature of the punishment is likely to acquire from being inflicted in this country. On the other hand, the advantages which are supposed to be attained by the formation of penal establishments abroad are, first, the greater facility of preventing communication between offenders under punishment and their friends, or other persons ; second, the check which would thus be given to inconvenient solicitations in behalf of convicts; third, the effect which the apprehension of removal to a great distance from their own country has upon the minds of many men, and more particularly of the ignorant ; and lastly (supposing the places fixed upon to be isolated and very fertile) the possibility of reducing the expense of punishment by employing convicts in building the penitentiaries they are to occupy, and in raising their own means of subsistence.' ' As I consider the proposal contained in this passage, of establishing p)enitentiaries abroad, to be very objectionable, I shall successively examine the arguments urged in favour of them, which appear to me to be ex- cessively overrated, whilst the objections to them are hardly stated. First, " as to the effect which the apprehension of removal to a great distance from their own country has upon the minds of many men. and more particularly of the ignorant." The fear of exile, as a severe aggravation of punishment, exists in the minds only of a small portion of those likely to incur the penalty, and least in those of a depraved character. It is the less hardened, who are attached to their country, to their friends and relations, and they stand less in need of severity of punishment. On the other hand, the remoteness of the place of punishment aids deception, the enjoyment of those who fare the best being exaggerated, and the sufferings of others concealed, so that the evil of punishment, the misery actually endured, may be going on to the utmost extent, while the benefit of punishment, the terror inspired, is almost entirely lost. I need not dwell upon these positions, which point out the defects inherent in every plan of punishment that possesses any of the characteristics of transportation or exile, for they are developed in the fullest manner in the pages of the report Second, as to " the greater facility of preventing communication bet>veeii offenders under punishment and their friends or other persons." and " the check which would thus be given to inconvenient solicitations in behalf of couvicts." I cannot consider these arguments in favour of a remote place 5o6 APPENDIX. With regard to the places in which penitentiaries should be established abroad, your Committee are of opinion that neither of punishment to possess much weight. In many of the American peni- tentiaries communication between offenders under punishment and their friends is strictly forbidden, and no difficulty is found in enforcing regula- tions to this effect. It does not precisely appear in what manner " incon- venient solicitations " would be prevented by the convict, in whose behalf they would be made, being out of this country. The friends of an offender under punishment at Norfolk Island, or elsewhere in the vicinity of the antipodes, would be equally able to pester the Secretary of State for the Home Department for a mitigation of punishment, as if the convict were at Chatham, or at any place else near home ; moreover, all apprehensions of "inconvenient solicitations" in behalf of convicts might be entirely dismissed, if the fourth resolution of the Committee were adopted and fully acted on : — " That rules should be established, by which the existing practice of abridging the periods of punishment of convicts in consequence of their good conduct, may be brought under stricter regulation, and rendered less vague and arbitrary," Thus the abridgment of the criminal's sentence would be entirely dependent, and understood to be dependent, on his own conduct in the penitentiary, and a most objectionable, and frequently abused power would be taken out of the hands of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. Third, as to " the possibility (supposing the places of punishment fixed upon to be isolated and very fertile) of reducing the expense of punish- ment by employing convicts in building the penitentiaries they are to occupy, and in raising their own means of subsistence." It is strange that the Committee should have employed this argument in favour of distant places of punishment, after the experience afforded them by the penal colonies ; and after their own express opinions as to the substitution in those colonies of the penitentiary system of punishment, for the present mode of punishment, "to establish such a system in the penal colonies (say they), would be far more expensive than to punish offenders in a similar manner in this country : first, on account of the expense of con- veying offenders to so great a distance; and, secondly, on account of the high rate of wages, the great price of all materials, the difficulty of obtain- ing skilled labourers, and similar causes, which would make the erection of the necessary buildings far more expensive than in this country. "J All these objections apply with still greater force to isolated spots, such as Norfolk Island and the like. The expense of conveying offenders to them would be much greater than to the penal colonies, because there would be no return cargo for the vessels so employed. It is evident that the price of materials of every kind would be higher in a small island in the midst of the Southern Ocean than in the flourishing community of New South Wales. Greater wages must be given to free and respectable individuals to induce them to become overseers, superintendents, etc, of convicts in a place inhabited entirely by convicts, than in a half criminal colony ; and after the statements, to be found in every portion of the evidence, of the enormous abuses arising from convicts being overseers, 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 507 the settled districts of the present penal colonies, nor any other colonies, in which offenders should be suffered to remain after etc., the Committee cannot for a moment be supposed to have intended that they should ever again be placed in such responsible situations ; for the same reason the difficulty of obtaining free skilled labour would be greatly enhanced, and experience has satisfactorily proved the impos- sibility of extracting skilled labour from convicts, except by vicious indul- gences. The only countervailing advantage is to be the fertility of the spot to be chosen, so that with the very small amount of labour, which (as has been shown) can be extracted from convicts, the greatest amount of produce might be obtained ; but even in the superlatively fertile island of Norfolk, where many of the convicts have been employed in agriculture, 800 of them have generally cost this country 30,000/. per annum. Far too much stress has been laid upon the profit to be expected from the labour of criminals as a reason for particular descriptions of punish- ment. It is one which ought to be listened to with the greatest suspicion. All our endeavours after an economical and profitable punishment have hitherto totally failed, and have produced effects the contrary of those intended, bringing profits to individuals only, at a most disproportionate cost to the public. The desire of turning to profitable account the punish- ment of malefactors, confessedly a very subordinate consideration, has a tendency, as experience shows, to absorb our attention, and to make us lose sight of what are admitted to be by far the most important objects of secondary punishments. It has led to the adoption and continuance of a system, which instead of preventing has encouraged crime, and which, in place of reformation, has produced the most horrible demoralisation. It has blinded us to the certainty of abuses arising, and to the actual existence of them, in spots remote from national superintendence, abuses too enormous to have escaped notice, as they have done, and indeed in a great degree as they still do, had not the scene of them been so distant ; and in instigating the Committee to recommend penitentiaries abroad, in places still more remote from the public eye, it threatens a repetition of similar if not worse evils. It is true that no mode of punishment can be devised which is not open to objections, not only plausible, but in a great measure real and valid, and again some real advantages may be pointed out in every system of punishment, save only and except always that of penal colonies. It appears to me, however, that in searching for a substitute for transporta- tion, and in attempting to divine the best system of punishment, the best course to be taken is to discard from one's thoughts entirely, in the first instance, all considerations of profit to be derived from the labour of criminals, and to look with singleness of purpose to the two grand objects of [>enal legislation : first, the prevention of crime, and. secondly, but longo inUrvaUo, the reformation of offenders. Afterwards if it should appear, that two or more systems have equal claims to attontion, in reference to these great objects, it will then be time enough to consider what subordinate considerations there may be to turn the •cale — W. M. 5o8 APPENDIX. the termination of their punishment, should be selected for that purpose. The establishment of penitentiaries in New- South Wales or Van Diemen's Land would be attended with many disadvantages, and more particularly with the loss of that complete isolation of prisoners under long sentences, which is one of the chief merits of the plan of inflicting punishment at a distance, instead of at home ; and to allow offenders to remain in the colonies, in which any new penal establishments may be formed after the termination of their punishment, would obviously be merely to repeat the error committed in creating such societies as now exist in Australia. In order, therefore, effectually to maintain discipline and sub- ordination among convicts sentenced to confinement abroad, and also to prevent a recurrence of those social evils w^hich have been found by experience to result from transportation, as hitherto conducted, the penitentiaries or houses of confine- ment that may be established abroad, ought (so far as possible) to be strictly limited to those places wherein there are at present no free settlers, and wherein effectual security can be taken against the future resort of such settlers, and the convicts who have been there punished should be compelled to leave these settlements within a certain period after the expiration of their sentences. Your Committee must observe, however, that if any convenient island in the immediate vicinity of the coasts of the United Kingdom could be fixed upon for the building of penitentiaries, and no persons but the prisoners and their superintendents were permitted to reside there, it would combine, as a place of punishment, the chief advantages both of a penal settlement at home and abroad. As a substitute for transportation, your Committee, therefore, recommend the punishment of labour in penitentiaries to be established at home or abroad. The shorter sentences should be undergone at home, as soon as the necessary buildings for that purpose could be provided. The expense, in the first instance, of building such penitentiaries would be heavy ; but when once established, the annual charge for maintaining them would be light in comparison with that now incurred ; even although the introduction of the improved system should not have the effect reasonably to be expected, of keeping down the number of convicts to be punished. For your Committee have shown, in a previous portion of their report, that 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 509 transportation now entails upon this country an expense of not less than between 400,000/. and 500,000/. a year, and that this is a rapidly increasing charge, to which has further to be added, the cost of the establishment at Bermuda, and of the hulks at home, in estimating the whole expense of the present most defective system of secondary punishment. Were it not for the convict establishments, New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land ought to pay the greater part at least of their own expenses ; and were they to do so, the annual charge of maintaining well-managed penitentiaries, even upon a most expensive scale, including in that charge the interest of the money spent in their first establishment, could hardly equal the present expenditure. Until penitentiaries can be built, it would be necessary to send abroad a considerable portion of the convicts ; but your Committee are of the opinion that, at the earliest possible period it would be expedient to discontinue sending them to New South Wales, or to the settled districts of Van Diemen's Land; for, if the system of assignment is to be abandoned (which it ought to be at once), there is no situation in which so much difficulty would arise, in carrying well into effect the punish- ment of penal labour, without the assistance of adequate penitentiaries, as in these colonies. The character of the population, by which offenders under punishment would be surrounded, and with which it would be impossible to cut off their communication, would be a source of the greatest incon- venience ; and the high value of labour, especially of skilled labour, in these colonies, would have the double effect of render- ing it impossible to secure the services of trustworthy superin- tendents unless by extravagant remuneration, and affording to prisoners the means of corrupting the subordinate officers, in whose charge they are placed, by giving to those officers a share of the money they can earn, when their absence from their gangs is connived at. The sentence of penal labour abroad should, therefore, be carried into effect in some other situation ; probably in the first instance, the most convenient one which could be chosen for convicts under short sentences would be Bermuda, from the circumstance that a penal establishment already exists there, and that labour could be advantageously applied upon fortifications and other works which are still required. Your 510 APPENDIX. Committee, however, are of opinion that Bermuda ought not to be selected as a place in which a permanent penal establish- ment should be formed. The soil of these islands is not sufficiently productive to render it possible to make the convicts maintain themselves by their own labour (an object of consider- able importance in fixing the situation of a permanent peniten- tiary) ; and the strong objection which the inhabitants of the colony are understood to entertain to such an establishment being there, seems to be too well founded to be disregarded. Convicts sentenced for long periods might be sent to the present penal establishments of Tasman's Peninsula and Norfolk Island, provided the system of punishment now pursued there were completely altered. The extreme distance from this country is indeed an inconvenience with respect to both these settlements, and the former is perhaps somewhat too near the settled part of Van Diemen's Land. But in the opinion of your Committee, they present some considerable advantages ; they are already used as penal settlements ; they have been ascertained to possess remarkably healthy climates ; they have no population to interfere with the employment of the convicts without the walls of the penitentiaries ; they present great facilities for making the labour of the convicts productive, and they would be easily available for the punish- ment of crimes committed in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. Should Norfolk Island and Tasman's Peninsula be selected as places for permanent penal establishments, there would be no difficulty in providing, upon very short notice, such temporary accommodation as would suffice for the reception of as many convicts as it would be necessary to send there, in order entirely to discontinue transportation, according to the existing system, to New South Wales and Van Diemen's land. The convicts already in these settlements could be employed in making temporary buildings which, in the first instance, need only afford a shelter from the weather, as the situation of these settlements in itself affords a sufficient security against escape. As additional prisoners arrived, additional accommodation would be in like manner provided, and as soon as possible permanent buildings should be erected, suitable both for the silent and for the separate systems of penitentiary discipline. The latter system might be used chiefly for the purpose of 1838.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE, 511 additional punishment; as in a settlement having no free inhabitants, and affording no possibility of escape, the former would not be open to the objections to which it is in general liable, since employment might be given to the prisoners out of their sleeping cells, in cultivating the ground, in felling timber, etc., in such a manner as to render communication with each other almost as completely impossible as under the separate system. Nor would it be necessary to wait until proper penitentiaries should be built, in order to commence the attempt to get rid of the hardening and demoralising effects of the ordinary modes of subjecting prisoners, whom there are no means of separating from each other, to penal labour. The mode of governing them lately suggested by Captain Maconochie might in part at least be attempted with advantage. Your Committee are not prepared to recommend the adoption of that part of his plan which relates to the division of convicts into small parties, responsible for each other's conduct (though even against this they would not be understood to pronounce an absolute and unqualified condemnation), but they are decidedly of opinion that it would be advisable to ascertain, by experi- ment, the effect of establishing a system of reward and punishment, not founded merely upon the prospect of imme- diate pain or immediate gratification, but relying mainly upon the effect to be produced by the hope of obtaining or the fear of losing, future and distant advantages. At present order and discipline are maintained, and labour is enforced amongst the convicts, whether in the hulks at home, or in the penal gangs and penal settlements abroad, almost exclusively by the dread of summary corporal punishment, or of the loss of immediate animal indulgences, by the withhold- ing from the convict who misconducts himself some part of the food or tobacco which he would otherwise be permitted to enjoy. In the earlier part of this report it has been shown to what a frightful degree of severity it has been found necessary to resort in order to render this system of coercion effectual in tlie penal settlements; and it is obvious that in all cases its tendency must be to strengthen and confirm the habit of acting under the influence of a desire for gratifications, or a dread of sufferings, which are immediate and physical. Now it is precisely this habit, and that of disregarding the distant con- sequences of their actions, which chiefly lead men into the 512 APPENDIX. commission of crimes ; the great object, therefore, of a good system for the government of convicts should be that of teach- ing them to look forward to the future and remote effects of their own conduct, and to be guided in their actions by their reason, instead of merely by their animal instincts and desires. With this view it is suggested that the performance of penal labour by convicts should be stimulated, not by the fear of the lash in case of idleness, or by any pecuniary allowance which may be expended in the purchase of tobacco or other luxuries, but by opening an account with each man, giving him credit for every day's labour, to be estimated by a greater or a smaller number of marks, according as he had been more or less industrious, with an assurance that as soon as he should have earned a certain number of marks, he should be recommended for the remission of the remainder of his sentence. As marks would be obtained by industry and obedience, so they should be forfeited by idleness, insubordination, or any infringement of established rules. Instead of the summary infliction of the lash, or the loss of indulgences in food or otherwise, convicts should incur by offences of this description the forfeiture of a number of marks, proportioned to the gravity of the case, according to the scale to be framed for the purpose ; nor should corporal punishment be resorted to, except for the purpose of repressing open resistance to authority. The whole number of marks each convict should be required to earn, in order to obtain his pardon, should be so fixed, with reference to the number to be allowed for a good day's labour, as to enable him, by industry and good conduct, to obtain his pardon at the expira- tion of about half the period for which he had been sentenced. The principle of remitting a large part of the original sentence of the criminal in consideration of his good conduct under punishment, is one already recognised in practice. It is usual to recommend the convict sentenced to seven years' transporta- tion, who has been sent to the hulks or penitentiary, for pardon when he has been so confined from three to four years, pro- vided his conduct has been such as is considered to give him a claim to this indulgence. In the same manner the convict who is transported obtains a ticket of leave at the expiration of a definite time, determined by the length of his original sentence. But unfortunately the influence which the prospect of obtain- ing these advantages is calculated to exercise upon the convict 1S38.] REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 513 is not, according to the existing practice, brought to bear with effect upon his mind. Nothing but the grossest misconduct prevents him from obtaining the advantage he hopes for ; and the recommendation to the Secretary of State, or the Governor of the colony, upon which it is granted, is founded only upon a vague impression upon the mind of the person under whose charge he is immediately placed as to what has been his general behaviour during the whole period of his punishment. By adopting the plan which has just been described, that which has hitherto been uncertain and arbitrary will be ren- dered systematic and definite, and a powerful means of influencing the mind of the convict will be brought to bear upon his daily conduct. The adoption of this mode of govern- ing convicts seems, therefore, to be well calculated to promote their moral improvement, and it is also likely to diminish con- siderably the burden of their maintenance, by rendering their labour far more productive than it has hitherto been ; at the same time your Committee wish to recommend it not as a substitute for the more perfect system which may be followed in well-constructed penitentiaries, but as an experiment which appears to them well worthy of being tried, in the hope of miti- gating the evils which it is to be feared must unavoidably result from the associating together of offenders, until such buildings can be provided. In order to give this experiment a fair chance of success, much more ample provision for religious and moral instruction should likewise be made than has been possible for convicts scattered over the extensive surface of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. Your Committee do not deem it neces- sary to enter into any further details as to the mode of con- ducting such establishments, as their object is only to express, in a general manner, their views as to what description of punishment ought to be substituted for transportation as now conducted. With regard to the duration of punishment in penitentiaries, your Committee are of opinion that no offender of any descrip- tion should be sent to penitentiaries for life, as such a punish- ment destroys all hope, and renders the culprit reckless ; they recommend that the severest sentence should not exceed fifteen years ; on the other hand, as a substitute for the lowest sentence of transportation, tliat for seven years, they would not venture 514 APPENDIX, to recommend a shorter period of punishment, in a penitentiary, than that of two years. One of the useful ends which transportation may have bee supposed to promote was, that of enabling offenders who had undergone punishment to commence a new career, in a new community, in which their previous offences would not preclude them from obtaining employment. In this country there is so great a competition for employment in every walk of life, and in every branch of industry, that the person who has once been convicted of an offence against the laws, and who has suffered the punishment he has thus incurred, finds it almost impossible, however anxious he may be to maintain himself by honest means, to get the opportunity of doing so ; owing to the stain upon his character, some other candidate is sure to obtain, in preference to him, whatever employment he may apply for. Hence, even if the punishment he has undergone has produced an impression upon his mind, and he wishes to avoid exposing himself to its repetition, he is still almost unavoidably driven back into evil courses, from the want of any other means of maintaining himself. In many of the British colonies, on the contrary, the demand for labour of all kinds is so great, that every man who has the power and the inclination to labour, can find almost any description of employment for which he is qualified, no matter what may have been his previous character. It was an important question for the consideration of your Committee, whether this most desirable object, of enabling a criminal after the expiration of his punishment to commence a new career, might not be obtained without entailing upon the colonies the social evils which have been occasioned by transportation ; and the mode in which it might be obtained appears to your Committee to be well described in the following extract from a letter of the Archbishop of Dublin : " Under a reformed system of secondary punishment (sup- posing transportation abolished), it strikes me as desirable, with a view to the preservation from a return to evil courses of persons released from penitentiaries, etc., after the expira- tion of their punishment, that such as may have evinced a disposition to reform should be, at their own desire, furnished with means of emigrating to various colonies, British or foreign, in which they may mix, not with such men as their old 1838.J REPORT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE. 515 associates in crime, but with respectable persons unacquainted with their past history, and may thus be enabled, as the phrase is, ' to turn over a new leaf.' This of course implies that they should not emigrate in a body to any one place, and as a distinct class. For juvenile offenders, the same course would perhaps be even still more suitable." Without entering into any further details, your Committee will now conclude their report with the following resolutions, to which they have agreed, and which contain their general views as to the description of punishment which they recommend to be substituted for transportation : 1. That transportation to New South Wales, and to the settled districts of Van Diemen's Land, should be discontinued as soon as practicable. 2. That crimes now punishable by transportation should in future be punished by confinement with hard labour, at home or abroad, for periods varying from two to fifteen years. 3. That for the purpose of effectually maintaining discipline and subordination among the convicts sentenced to confine- ment abroad, of promoting the legitimate ends for which punishment is inflicted, and also of preventing a recurrence of those social evils which have been found by experience to result from transportation as hitherto conducted, the peni- tentiaries or houses of confinement that may be established abroad, shall (so far as possible) be strictly limited to those places wherein there are at present no free settlers, and wherein effectual security can be taken against the future resort of such settlers. 4. That rules should be established by which the existing practice of abridging the periods of punishment of convicts in consequence of their good conduct, may be brought under stricter regulation, and rendered less vague and arbitrary. 5. That on account of the difficulty which a convict finds in this country in procuring the means of honest livelihood after the expiration of his sentence, and on account of the tempta- tions to which he is thereby exposed, it would be advantageous to establish a plan by which a convict might receive encourage- ment to leave the country with the prospect of supporting himself by regular industry, and ultimately regaining the place in society which he had forfeited by crime. That if such encouragement were limited to convicts who should have 5i6 APPENDIX. conducted themselves uniformly well during their confinement, it might at the same time operate as an encouragement to good behaviour during confinement, and might considerably diminish the prejudice which must to a certain degree attach to any person known to have been convicted of a serious offence. 6. That the convicts who have been punished abroad should be compelled to leave the settlement in which they have been punished within a limited period after the expiration of their sentences, and that means should be afforded them by the Government for this purpose. August 3, 1838. INDEX. Aberdeen. Lord, describes Lord Glenelg's system as that of doing nothing, 48 Aborigines, Committee on, 29, 34, 35. 37 Adderley, Mr. C. (Lord Norton), 227 American Colonies, British North, amount of expenditure on, mili- tary and civil, 177 — 178,241 — 242. Arthur, Sir G., Governor of Van Diemen's Land, on *' assignment system," 94. 95, 447, 449 ; on punishment under transportation, 99, 460, 465 ; on penal settlements, 104; regarded Van Diemen's Land as vast penitentiary, 458 Australian Colonies, neglect of, by Lord Glenelg. 22—28 ; expendi- ture on, 182 — 183 ; Bill for better government of, 291 — 392 ; consti- tution of, under government Bill contrasted with British, 317 ; power of amendment of constitu- tion of, 325—327. 357—358 ; con- stitution of, under Molesworth's proposals, 301—304, 334—335. 359. 392—401 Baillie. Mr. H. J., 227 Bermudas, convicts at, 453 — 454 (see also Military Stations) Boer trek, 35—37, 232 Bourke. Sir R., Governor of New South Wales, removed by Lord Glenelg, 28, 40; on assignment system, 95, 447. 448. 450; on punishments under transporta- tion, ^60, 463; Quarter Sessions, Act of, 480 Buller, Mr. C, on affairs of Mauri- tius, 33 : his description of govern- ment by Colonial Office, 208— 209; author of **Mr. Mother- country." 237; assisted Lord Durham with his Report. 428 Burton, Australian judge, on punish- ments under transportation, 102, 463—464, 477—478 ; on moral state of penal colonies, 122. 482, 484 — 485 ; on " assignment system," 448 ; on behaviour of Government convicts, 456 Canada, neglect of, by Lord Glenelg. 47 — 49 '• conflict of races in, 222, 232 : Clergy, Reserves of. Bill, 402—439 Campbell. Major H., Governor of Sierra Leone, 39, 40 Cape Colony, neglect of, by Lord Glenelg. 33 — 38 ; expenditure, 164—168, 245; Kaffir Wars in, 223. 246—247 Ceylon, expenditure on, 170, 189, 192 ; suggested transfer of, to East India Company, 193 ; blunder of Colonial Office concerning, 234 — ^235, 372 Cheyne, Captain, on moral condi- tion of f)enal colonies, 485 — 487 Colonial Expenditure — (i) amount of. by Home Government, 156, 222, 224. 240, 266; for military purposes, 156—157, 240. 266 — 269; for naval purposes, 157— 158. 240: for civil purposes, 159, 240: for extraordinary purposes, 159. 160. 240: proposed reduc- tions on, 173. 103, 286: (2) by colonies themselves, 185 ; state- ment of principle on which Home and colonial contributions should be regulated, 277—284, 286— 287 Colonial Office, impossible duties and irresponsibility of, 14—18. 200—207, 228 — 239. 300—305, 312—314.338,367—376; descrip- tion of, by C. Bnller. 228—229; extravagance of government under. 334 5i8 INDEX, Colonies, statement of views on advantages of, 4 — 12, 83 — 84, 88 — 8g, 174 — 176, 208 — 214, 278; representation of, in Imperial Parliament advocated, 315 : popu- lation of, 225 ; exports of, 225 ; distinction between Imperial obligations of and local concerns of, 378—391 Coolie immigration, 44, 70, 492 — 493 Denison, Sir W., Governor of Van Diemen's Land, advocates bi- cameral legislature, 318, 346 — 349 Derby, Lord, colonial policy of, 410 D'Urban, Sir B., Governor of Cape Colony, removed by Lord Glenelg, 38, 40 ; policy of, 165 Durham, Lord, mission of, to Canada, 49; report of, 84, 425, 428 ; on Canada Clergy Reserves, 422—423 Emigration, remedy for economic distress caused by cessation of transportation, 71 — 81 ; report of New South Wales Legislative Council on, 80 ; remarks on, 86 — 89, 210 — 214, 494—495 ; scheme of, to Australia, 140 — 142 ; scheme of, to Cape Colony, 169 ; statistics of, 209, 219, 257 ; checked by transportation, 252 Exeter, Bishop of, on Canada Clergy Reserves, 427 Falkland Islands (^see Military Stations) Fitz Roy, Sir C, Governor of New South Wales, advocates bi- cameral legislature, 318 — 319 Forbes, Sir F., Chief Justice of Australia, on assignment system, 96 ; on punishments under trans- portation, 462 — 463 Gibraltar (^see Military Stations) Gladstone, Mr., active member of Transportation Committee, 26 ; authority on West Indies, 43 ; motion of, 228 ; suggested as member of proposed Royal Com- mission on Colonies, 263 Glenelg, Lord, colonial administra- tion of, I — 53 ; on Canada Clergy Reserves, 422 Gosford, Lord, Governor of Canada, removed by Lord Glenelg, 40, 48 ; on Canada Clergy Reserves, 423, 424 Grey, Lord, regulations of, as to waste lands, 24, 494 ; attitude of, with regard to transportation, 146 — 153; proposed constitution by, for New Zealand, 198 — 199, 226, 230, 323, 371 ; proposed constitu- tion by, for New South Wales, 230, 233. 322 ; discontent in colonies at colonial administration of, 295 — 297 ; in favour of bicameral legis- lature, 319, 322 ; but contradicts past utterances, 351 — 352 ; govern- ment by, of Canada " worthy of all praise," 429 Grey, Captain (Sir G.), Governor of New Zealand, suspends intro- duction of new constitution, 198, 323 ; advocates bicameral legisla- ture, 318—319 Harrowby, Lord, on Canada Clergy Reserves, 421 Hawes, Mr. B., Under-Secretary for Colonies, 225, 293, 350 Head, Sir F. B., Lieut. -Governor of Upper Canada, responsible for rebellion in Upper Canada, 9 ; removed by Lord Glenelg, 40 ; boast of, 425 Hincks, Mr., resolutions of, as to Canada Clergy Reserves, 407 — 409 Hindmarsh, Captain, Governor of South Australia, removed by Lord Glenelg, 40 Hong Kong, expenditure on, 170 Howick, Lord (^see Grey, Lord) Hume, Mr. J., motion of, 228; on responsible government in Canada, 283 Inglis, Sir R., on Canada Clergy Reserves, 419 Ionian Islands, expenditure on, 162, 244 Labouchere, Mr., President of Board of Trade, arguments of, against bicameral legislature, 319—333. 339 Lands, waste, question of disposal of, 24 ; indifference of Lord Glenelg to question of, 25 ; West Indian, 42, 43, 59; Mr. Ward's Committee on, 26, 59 ; Wakefield system of disposing of. 54 — 82 ; Mr. BuUer's Report on Canadian, 60 INDEX. 519 Legislature, bicameral, advantages of. 335—338. 344—365 (s^* "»<^^'' Fitz Roy ; Grey, Lord ; Grey, Capt. ; Denison, Sir W. ; and Young, Sir H.) Lewis, Sir G. Cornewall, suggested as member of proposed Royal Commission on Colonies, 263 Lincoln, Lord {see Newcastle, Duke of) Lords. House of, advantages of, 337—338 Lowe, Mr. R., resolutions of, in New South Wales Legislative Council, 310— 311 Lushington, Dr., on Mauritius, 31—33 MacArthur, Mr., introducer of Merino sheep into New South Wales, 62 ; suggestions of, as to convict labour, 498 — 500 Maconochie, Captain, on "assign- ment system," 95, 450, 487 — 488 ; on punishment, under transporta- tion, 98, 99 ; on moral effects of transportation on convicts, 474 Macquarie. Governor of New South Wales, views of, on penal colo- nies, 479 Maitland, Sir P., Governor of Cape Colony, 166 Malta {s0e Military Stations), 166 Mauritius, neglect of, by Lord Glenelg, 31 — 33 ; expenditure on, 170. 243 Mercantile system, 174 — 175 Military stations, 161— 174, 272 — 276 Mill, Mr. J. S., suggested as member of proposed Royal Commission on Colonies, 263 Molesworth, F. A., brother of Sir W., New Zealand pioneer, 86 Newcastle, Duke of. motion of, on Vancouver's Island, 227 ; sug- gested as member of proposed Royal Commission on Colonies. 263 New South Wales {see under Austra- lian Colonies), economic history of, 60—68 ; expenditure of, 193 — New Zealand, neglect of, by Lord Glenelg. a^— 31 ; expenditure of, 197 : petition of. for representative government. 216 (sa also Grey. Pakington, Sir J., attitude of, on Clergy Reserves of Canada, 402 — 418, 427 — 428; colonial adminis- tration of, 429 Pottinger, Sir H., Governor of Cape Colony, 166, 167, 246 Poulett Thomson {see Sydenham, Lord) Pownall, Governor of Massachu- setts, 388 •• Prestige of might," 248 — 249 Responsible government, 180, 203, 207 ; non-existent except in Canada, 231 ; how obtained by Canada, 284, 295 Ripon, Lord, on Canada Clergy Reserves. 423 Roebuck, Mr., 227 Russell, Lord J., agreed to appoint- ment of Transpxjrtation Commit- tee, 23 ; discontinued reservation of minerals to Crown, 196 ; on Canada Clergy Reserves, 424 ; • ' first really Liberal Secretary of State for the Colonies," 429 St. Helena (5^^ Military Stations) Scott, Mr. H. F., motion of, 227 Sierra Leone, neglect of, by Lord Glenelg, 38—40 Smith, Sir H., Governor of Cape Colony, 165, 168, 247 Sydenham, Lord, Governor of Canada, on Canada Clergy Re- serves, 426^427, 432 " Taxation without representa- tion." 353 Tocqueville. De, 389 Transportation. Committee on, 22, 90,91, 441 — 516; indifference of Lord Glenelg to question of, 23 ; economic prosperity of colonies under system of, 64 — 66; speeches on, 90—150; "assignment sys- tem" under. 93—96. 445— 453 i "Government convicts" under. 96-98, 454 — 459; punishments under system of, 99 — 104, 450 — 466; failure of system of, as punishment, 103 — x 11, 471 —476; effect of system of, on moral condition of colonies. HI— 126, 149—150, 476—488; modified system of, suggested by Lord J. Russell. 126—132; Wakefield system, economic sub- stitute for. 132—137; attempt 520 INDEX. Transportation — continued. to introduce system of, into Cape Colony, 145, 254, 296, 371 ; retention of system of, in Van Diemen's Land, 144 — 153, 296; Report of House of Commons Committee on, 441 — 516; origin of system of, 442 ; statutes con- cerning, 442 — 444 ; convicts under ticket of leave, emancipists and expirees under system of, 466 — 469 ; amount of apprehen- sion produced by punishment of, 469 — 473 ; effect of system of, on population, 482 ; expense of system of, 495 — 497 ; discontinu- ance of, recommended, 497 — 503 ; substitutes proposed for system of. S'^Z — 514; resolutions of Com- mittee on, 515 — 516 Ullathorne, R. C. priest, on punishments under transporta- tion system, 102—103, 4^4 — 4^5 United States an English colony, 179. 329 ; trade with, 179 ; emigra- tion to, 179 ; cheapness of govern- ment of, 199 ; constitution of, 329, 360—361, 387, 391 Van Diemen's Land {see Grey, Lord, and Transportation), ex- penditure of, 194 Wakefield, Mr. E. Gibbon {see Lands, Waste, and Transporta- tion), tributes to, 59, 87, 211, 220, 428 Walpole, Mr, Spencer, amendment of, 315—344 Ward, Mr. T., motion of, 54 — 82, 88, 140 ; appointed Governor of Ionian Islands, 239 Western Australia, expenditure on, 197 West Indies, neglect of, by Lord Glenelg, 41 — 46 ; expenditure on, 180 — 182, 242 Weston, Mr., on moral condition of Van Diemen's Land, 146 — 147 Whately, Archbishop, plan of, with regard to liberated offenders, 135 — 136, discouraged emigration to penal colonies, 139 Young, Sir H., Governor of South Australia, advocates bicameral legislature, 349—350 THE end. BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $I.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. mv K1935J ^^ im4g BEtCIB. 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