j^f^^r^-lv;.' SB&B^ .,!>':",.>;> VIEW OF THE ART OF COLONIZATION, WITH PRESENT REFERENCE TO THE BEITISH EMPIEE ; IX LETTERS BETWEEN A STATESMAN AND A COLONIST, EDITED BY ( o x E OF T H K WRITERS) EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD. LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. MDCrCXIJX. THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO JOHN H U T T, ESQ., LATELY GOVERNOR OF WEST AUSTRALIA, WHO, MORE THAN ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL KNOWN TO ME, HAS COMBINED STUDY AND EXPERIENCE IN LEARNING THE ART OF COLONIZATION. 356 PREFACE. SOME time ago, one of the most accomplished of our public men invited me to write to him on a question relating to the colonies. This question really involved the whole subject of colonization and colonial government. The correspondence that ensued, was neither intended nor suitable for publication ; but it was shown confidentially to various persons. Some of them, being most competent judges on such a point, have repeatedly expressed their wish that the letters should be published ; of course, with such alterations as would render them not unfit for the public eye. This suggestion is now adopted. The actual correspondence has been altered by omission, modification, and large additions. The following letters, there- Vlll PREFACE. fore, are very different from those which passed through the post-office. But the difference consists mainly in workmanship and form, not in materials or substance. In aim, scope, and tenour as respects the subjects examined, and the ideas propounded the two sets of letters are nearly alike. I indulge a hope, that the fictitious correspondence may make an impres- sion on many, not unlike that which the real one has left on a few : for if so, systematic colonization, which is at present only a vague aspiration of some of the more intelligent minds, would ere long become a fruitful reality. The name of the statesman who was a party to the actual correspondence, it would be at least idle to exhibit in this publication. It is there- fore kept out of view by the omission of dates, addresses, and the formal expressions with which real letters usually begin and end. The letters purporting to have been written by him, are described merely as Letters from a States- man : my own are called Letters from a PREFACE.- IX Colonist. I fancy myself justified in assum- ing that title, as being indicative of my ac- quaintance with colonial topics : for I really was a colonist in Canada (having been a member of its House of Assembly) under the adminis- tration of two of its governors, Sir Charles Bagot and Lord Metcalfe, who in practice had more concern with the question of responsible government for colonies than Lord Durham, under whose administration the theory was first officially propounded, and I was a busy actor in colonial politics ; whilst under that of Lord Sydenham, I was a diligent observer of them on the spot. But if these are not sufficient grounds on which to call myself a colonist, then I would claim the title on the ground of sympathy w r ith the class of our fellow-subjects who have the misfortune to be nothing but colonists ; a sympathy, the force of which will be understood when I add, that it was acquired partly by residence and frequent sojourn in British North America, as well as in some States of the X PREFACE. American Union, which in one sense of the word are still colonies of England ; and yet more, by a very active participation, for nearly twenty years, in the labours by which the two youngest of England's colonies, South Australia and New Zealand, have been founded in spite of the most formidable opposition from the colonial branch of the government of the empire. REIGATE, January, 1849. CONTENTS. LETTER I. From the Statesman. PAGE The Statesman invites the Colonist to vivd voce discussions of the subject 1 LETTER II. From the Colonist. The Colonist suggests the alternative of written communications, 3 LETTER III. From the Statesman. The Statesman describes the condition of his own knowledge, culls for some definitions, and asks questions relating both to the subject, and to the state of it as matter of public opinion 5 LETTER IV. From the Colonist. The Colonist proposes some definitions, which state and limit the subject of inquiry, and indicates the course of the investigation 15 LETTER V. From the Statesman. The Statesman objects to the proposed course of inquiry as being confined to a particular project of the Colonist's, and desires that a more general view of the subject may be expounded 19 Xll CONTENTS. LETTER VI. From the Colonist. PAGE The Colonist explains that he always intended to expound a theory, not to recommend a project. Narrative concerning Lord Grey. Lord Grey's state of mind and his proceedings with regard to colonization, described 23 LETTER VII. From the Colonist. Mr. Mothercountry introduced 37 LETTER VIII. From the Statesman. The Statesman desires the Colonist to proceed 38 LETTER IX. From the Colonist. State of the subject twenty years ago. Colonization Society of 1830. Practice without principles in the business of colonization. The first theory of colonization. First effort of the theorists of 1830. Foundation of South Australia. Mr. Henry George Ward's Committee on Colonial Lands and Emigration. Commissioners appointed by the Crown. The New-Zealand Association of 1837. Lord Durham's mission to Canada. Influence of the Colonial Gazette. Success and failure of the theorists of 1830. State of opinion concerning religious provisions for colonies. Summary of present state of opinion generally . 38 LETTER X. From the Statesman. The Statesman divides the sifbject into four main parts, and indicates the order of inquiry GO CONTENTS. Xlll LETTER XI. From the Colonist. PAGE The Colonist proposes a further division of the subject, and los the order of inquiry 62 LETTER XII. From the Colonist. Different objects of colonization for different parts of the United Kingdom. Want of room for all classes a circumstance by which Great Britain is distinguished from other countries. Competition amongst the labouring class a momentous question. Influence of economical circumstances in political revolutions 64 LETTER XIII. From the Colonist. Competition for room in the ranks above the labouring class. The anxious classes. Women in the anxious classes. Hoarding, speculation, waste, and the spirit of the gambler . 72 LETTER XIV. From the Colonist. The peculiar characteristic of colonies is plenty df room for all classes ; but wages and profits are occasionally reduced by j^luts of labour and capital; and whilst colonial prosperity is always dependent on good government, it only attains the maximum in colonies peopled by the energetic Anglo-Saxon race 79 LETTER XV From the Statesman. The Statesman objects to a great diminution of the wealth and population of Great Britain, and complains of a patriotic head-ache 85 XIV CONTENTS. LETTEK XVI. From the Colonist. PAGE As a cure for the Statesman's patriotic head-ache, the Colonist prescribes the doctrine, that emigration of capital and people has a tendency to increase instead of diminishing the wealth and population of the mother-country 87 LETTER XVII. From the Colonist. Further objects of the mother-country in promoting coloniza- tion. Prestige of empire. British " supremacy of the ocean " for the security of sea-going trade 96 LETTER XVIII. From the Colonist. The Colonist incloses an essay on colonization by Dr. Hinds, and presses it on the Statesman's attention as a view of one more object of Great Britain in colonizing systematically . 106 LETTER XIX. From the Statesman. The Statesman wonders why the natural attractiveness of colo- nies does not occasion a greater emigration of people and capital ; points out, with a view to the objects of the mother- country, that the emigration of people and capital must be largely increased; and asks what is to be done in order that enough people and capital may emigrate to relieve the mother-country from the evils of excessive competition . .120 LETTER XX. From the Colonist. The Colonist begs leave to preface an account of the impedi- ments to colonization, by a notice of its charms for the different classes of emigrants 126 CONTENTS. XV LETTER XXI. From the Colonist. PAGE Emigrants divided into Labourers, Capitalists, and Gentry. How the " shovelling out of paupers," and emigration as a punishment, indispose the poorer classes to emigrate, and especially the better sort of them 135 LETTER XXII. From the Colonist. The shame of the higher order of settlers when they first think of emigrating. The jealousy of a wife. How emigration, as the punishment of crime, aifects opinion in this country with regard to emigration in general. Colonists and colonies despised in the mother-country 140 LETTER XXIII. From the Colonist. Low standard of morals and manners in the colonies. Colonial " smartness." Want of intellectual cultivation. Main dis- tinction between savage and civilized life 150 LETTER XXIV. From the Colonist. Difference between colonization and other pursuits of men in masses. Religious women as colonists. A disgusting */ colony. Old practice of England with regard to religious provisions. Sectarian colonies in America. The Church of England in the colonies. Wesleyan Church. Church of England. Roman-catholic Church. Dissenting Churches. Excuse for the Church of England 155 LETTER XXV. From the Colonist. :nbination and constancy of labour are indispensable condi- tions of the productiveness of industry. How colonial capi- talists suffer from the division and inconstancy of labour . 165 XVI CONTENTS. LETTER XXVI. From the Statesman. PAGE The Statesman points out an appearance of contradiction between the two assertions, that labour in new colonies is very productive in consequence of being only employed on the most fertile soils, and that it is unproductive in conse- quence of being much divided and interrupted . . . .172 LETTER XXVII. From the Colonist. The Colonist explains that scarcity of labour is counteracted by various kinds of slavery, and by the drudgery of capitalists. Evils of the presence of slave classes in a colony . . .174 LETTER XXVIII. From the Statesman. The Statesman almost despairs of colonization, and asks for a suggestion of the means by which scarcity of labour may be prevented without slavery 182 LETTER XXIX. From the Colonist. State of colonial politics. Violent courses of politicians. Irish disturbances. Malignity of party warfare. Desperate differences of colonists. Democracy and demagoguism in all colonies. Brutality of the newspapers 1 84 LETTER XXX. From the Colonist. The privileged class in colonies. Nature of their privileges. The road to office in representative colonies where respon- sible government is established, and where it is not. Emi- grants of the better order a proscribed class as respects office . .193 CONTENTS. XVH LETTER XXXI. From the Colonist. PAGE How officials are appointed in the bureaucratic colonies. They are a sort of demigods, but very much inferior to the better order of settlers in ability, character, conduct, and manners. Examples thereof, and the causes of it. Be- haviour of the officials to the better order of settlers . . .200 LETTER XXXII. From the Colonist. The Colonist explains the urgent need of the intervention of government in the multifarious business of constructing society, and describes the general paucity, often the total absence, of government in the colonies of Britain . . .210 LETTER XXXIII. From the Statesman. The Statesman thinks that the Colonist has exaggerated the indisposition of respectable people to emigrate 217 LETTER XXXIV. From the Colonist. The Colonist defends his view of the indisposition of respectable people to emigrate, and suggests further inquiry by the Statesman. Two more impediments to colonization . . .219 LETTER XXXV. From the Colonist. The Colonist purposes to examine colonial government as an impediment to colonization, as the parent of other impedi- ments, and as a cause of injury to the mother-country ; and to proceed at once to a plan for its reform 222 b XVI 11 CONTENTS. LETTER XXXVI. From the Colonist. PAGE Comparison of municipal and central government. Central- bureaucratic government of the colonies established by the institution of the Colonial Office. The spoiling of central- bureaucratic government by grafting it on to free institu- tions. Feebleness of the Colonial Office . . . .. . .224 LETTER XXXVII. From the Colonist. Mode of appointing public functionaries for the colonies. Government by instructions. Jesuitical conduct of the Colonial Office. A Colonial-Office conscience exemplified by Lord Grey. Proposed tabular statistics of dispatches in the Colonial Office 238 LETTER XXXVIII. From the Colonist. Disallowance of colonial laws by the Colonial Office. Lot of colonial governors. Effects of our system of colonial government. Counteraction of the system by the vis medi- catrix naturae. Proposed addition to Mr. Murray's Colonial Library 253 LETTER XXXIX. From the Statesman. Mr. Mothercountry protests against the assertion, that Mr. Taylor has authorized the belief, that his views of states- manship were derived from experience in the colonial office, 262 LETTER XL. From the Colonist. The Colonist sustains his proposition, that Mr. Taylor's ideas of statesmanship were formed by long experience in the colo- nial office, and appeals to Mr. Taylor himself as the best authority on the question 264 CONTENTS. XIX LETTER XLI. From the Statesman. PAGE Mr. Mothercountry objects to municipal government for colonies, on the ground of its tendency to democracy, republicanism, and dismemberment of the empire 269 LETTER XLII. From the Colonist. Municipal government has no relation to one form of government more than any other ; but it is the surest means of prevent- ing the disaffection of the out-lying portions of an extensive empire, which surely results from central-bureaucratic go- vernment. The original Mr. Mothercountry introduced . 271 LETTER XLIIL From the Colonist. Sketch of a plan of municipal-federative government for colo- nies ; with an episode concerning Sir James Stephen and the birthright of Englishmen 297 LETTER XLIV. From the Colonist. Some reflections on the probable operation of municipal-federative government for colonies, as a substitute for the central-bureau- cratic-spoiled. A grand reform of the Colonial Office . .314 LETTER XLV. From the Colonist. The Colonist, by a sketch of the history of slavery, traces scarcity of labour in new countries to its source in the cheapness of land 322 LETTER XLVI. From the Colonist. The Colonist suggests the means by which land might be made dear enough to prevent a scarcity of labour for hire . . .331 XX CONTENTS. LETTER XLVIL From the Colonist. PAGE In order that the price of waste land should accomplish its ob- jects, it must be sufficient for the purpose. Hitherto the price has been everywhere insufficient 338 LETTER XLVIII. From the Statesman. Mr. Mothercountry taunts the Colonist with being unable to say what would be the sufficient price for new land .... 345 LETTER XLIX. From the Colonist. The Colonist replies to Mr. Mothercountry's taunt, indicates the elements of a calculation for getting at the sufficient price, and refers to Mr. Stephen and the Edinburgh Review 346 LETTER L. From the Colonist. Selling waste land by auction, with a view to obtaining the sufficient price by means of competition, is either a foolish conceit or a false pretence 353 LETTER LI. From the Colonist. Further objections to the plan of selling waste land by auction. Advantages of a fixed uniform price 357 LETTER LII. From the Colonist. Lord Grey's confusion of ideas respecting the objects with which a price should be required for new land. Another objection to a uniform price for waste land, with the Colonist's answer to it .365 CONTENTS. XXI LETTER LIIL From the Colonist. PAGE With a sufficient price for new land, profits and wages would be higher, and exports greater, than without it 369 LETTER LIV. From the Colonist. With a sufficient price for waste land, capitalists would obtain labour by means of paying for the emigration of poor people 372 LETTER LV. From the Colonist. The sufficient price produces money incidentally. What should be done with the purchase -money of new land ? Several effects of using the purchase-money as a fund for defraying the cost of emigration 375 LETTER LVI. From the Statesman. Mr. Mothercountry objects to the sufficient price, that it would put a stop to the sale of waste land 382 LETTER LVII. From the Colonist. The Colonist examines Mr. Mothercountry's proposition that the sufficient price would put a stop to sales of land. Sug- gestion of loans for emigration to be raised on the security of future sales 384 LETTER LVIII. From the Colonist. Suggestion of a further means for enabling the sufficient price of public land to work well in colonies where private land greatly superabundant and very cheap 390 CONTENTS. LETTER LIX. From the Statesman. PAGE The Statesman tells of Mr. Mothercountry's intention to make the Commissioners of Colonial Land and Emigration write objections to the sufficient price for waste land . . . . 39 G LETTER LX. From the Colonist. The Colonist anticipates the probable writing of the Commis- sioners ... 397 LETTER LXI. From the Colonist. The necessity of perfect liberty of appropriation at the sufficient price. Liberty of appropriation dependent on ample and accurate surveys. Actual surveying in the colonies . . .399 LETTER LXII. From the Colonist. Proposed selection of emigrants, with a view of making the emigration-fund as potent as possible. Moral advantages of such a selection 405 LETTER LXIII. From the Statesman. An important objection to the Colonist's whole plan of coloniza- tion apart from government 417 LETTER LXIV. From the Colonist. The Colonist first admits, and then answers the objection . .418 CONTENTS. xxiii LETTER LXV. From the Statesman. PACE The Statesman's Mr. Mother-country makes his last objection . 423 LETTER LXVI. From the Colonist. Mr. Mothercountry's last objection answered 425 LETTER LXVII. From the Statesman. Mr. Mothercountry once more objects to the sufficient price, as being likely to force an injurious concentration of the settlers 429 LETTER LXVIII. From the Colonist. The Colonist answers Mr. Mothercountry on the subject of " concentration" and " dispersion" of settlers 430 LETTER LXIX. From the Colonist. By what authority should be administered an imperial policy of colonization apart from government? 439 LETTER LXX. From the Statesman. The Statesman describes a scene with Mr. Mothercountry, and announces that the project of action in Parliament on the subject of colonization is abandoned 442 LETTER LXXI. From the Colonist. The Colonist closes the correspondence, and alludes to several topics which would have been pursued if it had continued . 447 XXIV CONTENTS. APPENDIX. No. I. PAGE Speech of Charles Buller, Esq., M.P., in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, April 6th, 1843, on Systematic Colonization . 453 No. II. A Letter from certain New Zealand Colonists to Mr. Hawes, Under Secretary of State for the Colonies 501 f "^H ; : : " ' ' - I A VIEW OF THE ART OF COLONIZATION, ERRATA. Page 226, line 4, /or " original," read individual." _ 323, line \ 9, far " us," read " them." 408, line 6 from bottom, /br " all," read " always." i L<)\I/ATIOX. 113 their own or of their government, to henefit the colonies. They went into exile through the influence of political or other evils at home, such as drive out some of the better portions of the community, as a portion of the life-blood is forced from a wound, and not as a healthy secretion. Our later colonies have not had even this scanty and ill-adminis- tered aid. They are regular communities of needy persons representing only one class in the parent country, persons who carry away with them the habits of a complex fabric of society to encounter the situation of a solitary savage tribe, each member of which has been trained from infancy to live among equals ; to shift for himself, however rudely, and to perform, though with barbarian clumsiness, almost all the offices of life. The military and civil appointments attached to them form really no exceptions ; for these are no parts of the permanent community, but extraneous to it temporary props, instead of stones to the edifice. They live to themselves, and are always in readiness to shift their quarters. " Much has been said lately about enlarging our colonies, or establishing new ones, in order to relieve Great Britain of a portion of its needy population. Our success, experience shows, must be purchased, if at all, at an enormous rate, and the final result must be the rise of states, which, like those in America, may be destined to influence the character and manners of the whole world, and to form important portions of civilized society, without deriving from us any of that national character, on which we so much congratulate our- selves ; owing their national character, in fact, to chance, and that chance a very unpromising one. " But what is to be done ? Are we to force our nobles and gentry to join the herd of emigrants ? They have no need to go, no inclination to go ; and why should they go ? Can we afford to bribe them ? They may, I conceive, be bribed to go ; but not by pounds, shillings, and pence. Honour, and rank, and power, are less ruinous bribes than money, and yet are more to the purpose, inasmuch as they influence more I 114 ESSAY generous minds. Offer an English gentleman of influence, and competent fortune (though such, perhaps, as may fall short of his wishes) a sum of money, however large, to quit his home permanently and take a share in the foundation of a colony; and the more he possesses of those generous traits of character which qualify him for the part he would have to act, the less likely is he to accept the bribe. But offer him a patent of nobility for himself and his heirs, offer him an hereditary station in the government of the future community ; and there will be some chance of his acceding to the proposal. And he would not go alone. He would be followed by some few of those who are moving in the same society with him, near relations, intimate friends. He would be followed by some, too, of an intermediate grade between him and the mass of needy persons that form the majority of the colony, his intermediate dependents, persons connected with them, or with the members of his household. And if not one, but some half-dozen gentlemen of influence were thus tempted out, the sacrifice would be less felt by each, and the numbers of respectable emigrants which their united influence would draw after them so much greater. A colony so formed would fairly represent English society, and every new comer would have his own class to fall into ; and to whatever class he belonged he would find its relation to the others, and the support derived from the others, much the same as in the parent country. There would then be little more in Van Diemen's Land, or in Canada, revolting to the habits and feelings of an emigrant than if he had merely shifted his residence from Sussex to Cumberland or Devonshire, little more than a change of natural scenery. " And among the essential provisions which it would then be far easier to make than at present, is the appointment of one or more well-chosen clergymen. It is so great a sacrifice to quit, not simply the place of abode, but the habits of society, to which an educated man is brought up, that, as our new colonies are constituted, it would be no easy matter to obtain accomplished clergymen for them. In truth, however, it ON COLONIZATION. 115 makes no part of our colonization-plans ; and when a religions establishment is formed in any of these settlements, it has to contend with the unfavourable habits which have been formed among Christians, whose devotions have been long unaided by the presence of a clergyman or a common place of worship. By an accomplished clergyman, however, I do not mean a man of mere learning or eloquence, or even piety ; but one whose acquirements would give him weight with the better sort, and whose character and talents would, at the same time, answer for the particular situation in which he would be placed. " The same may be urged in respect of men of other profes- sions and pursuits. The desirable consummation of the plan would be, that a specimen or sample, as it were, of all that goes to make up society in the parent country should at once be transferred to its colony. Instead of sending out bad seedlings, and watching their uncertain growth, let us try whether a perfect tree will not bear transplanting: if it succeeds, we shall have saved so much expense and trouble in the rearing; as soon as it strikes its roots into the new soil it will shift for itself. Such a colony, moreover, will be united to us by ties to which one of a different constitution must be a stranger. It will have received from us, and will always trace to us, all its social ingredients. Its highest class will be ours, its gentry ours, its clergy ours, its lower and its lowest rank all ours ; all corresponding and congenial to our manners, institutions, and even our prejudices. Instead of grudgingly casting our morsels to a miserable dependent, we shall have sent forth a child worthy of its parent, and capable of maintaining itself. " These suggestions are obviously no more than prefatory to a detailed scheme for the formation of a colony on the general principle which I have been advocating ; but, supposing that principle to be sound, the details of the measure w r ould not be difficult Certain it is that our colonies prove enormously expensive to us : such a system promises an earlier maturity to them, and consequently a speedier release from the cost of I 2 116 ESSAY assisting them. Our colonies are associated in the minds of all classes, especially of our poorer classes, with the idea of banishment from all that is nearest to their hearts and most familiar to their habits. Such a system would remove much that creates this association. Our colonies are not only slow in growing to maturity, but grow up unlike the mother-country, and acquire a national character almost necessarily opposed to that of the parent state ; such a system would remove the cause of this, too. And lastly, among the disadvantages under which the colonist is now placed, none is more pain- fully felt by some, none so mischievous to all, as the want of the same religious and moral fostering which was enjoyed at home. This, too, is a defect whose remedy is proposed in the above scheme. It contemplates a colony in short, that shall be an entire British community, and not merely one formed of British materials, a community that shall carry away from the soil of Great Britain the manners, the institutions, the religion, the private and the public character of those whom they leave behind on it ; and so carry them away as to plant them in the new soil where they settle. " Should it be replied, however, that all this is indeed theo- retically true, but cannot be reduced to practice in modern times, it is at least some advantage, though it may be a mor- tifying one, to know where we actually stand, and to be aware of our own inferiority, in this point, to the Greeks and Komans, if not in political wisdom, at least in the power of applying it. If the art of founding such colonies as theirs be indeed one of the artes perdita, it is well to be sensible of the difference and the cause of it, that we may at least not deceive ourselves by calculating on producing similar effects by dissimilar and inadequate means. But if we are ashamed to confess this inferiority, we should be ashamed to exhibit it : we should consider whether we may not, from candidly contemplating it, proceed to do something towards at least diminishing, if we cannot completely remove it. " It may be necessary to notice an objection that is not unlikely to be raised against the practical utility of the fore- <>X COLONIZATION. 117 going remarks. These views, it may be said, might have been advantageously acted on when we first began to colonize. But we have not now to form a system of colonization; this has been long since done. Wisely or unwisely, we have adopted a different coarse, and are actually proceeding on it. The practical and pressing questions, therefore, about coloni- zation, are those which relate to the state of things as they are in these settlements of ours, the best remedies which may be applied to the evils existing in them, the best method of improving them now that they have been founded. " And it must be admitted that, with respect to our old colonies, this is true ; but our new colonies are not yet out of our forming bands. There is one, especially, in the constitu- tion of which we are bound to retrace, if possible, all our steps, bound on every principle of expediency and national honour ; nay, on a principle (if such a principle there be) of national conscience. It will be readily understood that this one is the convict colony in New South Wales, a colony founded and maintained on principles which, if acted upon by an individual in private life, would expose him to the charge of insanity or of shameless profligacy. Imagine the case of a household most carefully made up of picked specimens from all the idle, mischievous, and notoriously bad characters in the country ! Surely the man who should be mad or wicked enough to bring together this monstrous family, and to keep up its numbers and character by continual fresh supplies, would be scouted from the society he so outraged, would be denounced as the author of a diabolical nuisance to his neighbourhood and his country, and would be proclaimed infamous for setting at nought all morality and decency. What is it better, that, instead of a household, it is a whole people we have so brought together, and are so keeping up? that it is the wide society of the whole world, and not of a single country, against which the nuisance is committed ? " If then, the question be, What can be done for this colony ? Begin, I should say, by breaking up the system ; begin by ving all the mieinancipated convicts. I do not undertake 118 ESSAY to point out the best mode of disposing of these ; but let them be brought home and disposed of in any way rather than remain. There is no chance for the colony until this pre- liminary step be taken. In the next place I should propose measures, which may be compared to the fumigation of pesti- lential apartments, or to the careful search made by the Israelites in every recess and corner of their houses, for the purpose of casting away all their old leaven before beginning to make the unleavened loaves for the Passover. There should be a change of place, a transfer, if possible, of the seat of government to some site within the colony, but as yet untainted with the defiling associations of crime and infamy. Names of places, too, should be changed ; they make part of the moral atmosphere of a country; witness the successful policy of the French at the revolution. The name of Botany Bay, &c., could not, for generations, become connected in men's minds with honesty, sober industry, and the higher qualities of the British character. Change as much as will admit of change in place and name ; and the colonists sent out with authority to effect this may then be selected on the principles which I have recommended for the foundation of an entirely new colony. And it might be worth while to bestow, at first, a labour and expense on this new portion of the colony more than adequate to its intrinsic importance ; because it would be destined to serve as a nucleus of honest industry, civilization, and general improvement for the rest of the colony, a scion, as it were, grafted on the wild stock, and designed to become, in time, the whole tree. " But these measures, if carried into effect at all, must be taken in hand soon. Time, no distant time, perhaps, may place this ' foul disnatured' progeny of ours out of our power for good or for harm. Let us count the years that have past since we first scattered emigrants along the coast of America. It is but as yesterday, and look at the gigantic people that has arisen. Thank Heaven that in morals and in civilization they are at this day what they are. But can we look forward without a shudder, at the appalling spectacle which a few ON COLONIZATION. 119 generations hence may be doomed to witness in Australia? Pass by as many years to come as it has taken the United States of America to attain to their present maturity, and here will be another new world with another new people, stretching out its population unchecked; rapid in its increase of wealth, and art, and power, taking its place in the congress of the mightiest nations ; rivalling, perhaps, ruling them ; and then think what stuff this people will have been made of; and who it is that posterity will then curse for bringing this mildew on the social intercourse of the world ; who it is that will be answerable for the injury done by it to human virtue and human happiness, at a tribunal more distant, but more awful even than posterity." I would now beg of you, before we proceed to colo- nization as it is, to read Charles Buller's speech of 1843. A copy of it is enclosed, in the form in which it was published by Mr. Murray at the time, and wa* soon out of print. As it relates principally to the objects which this country has in colonizing systemati- cally, I think that when you shall have read it, we ina\' deem that part of our subject finally disposed of.* * Since Mr. Buller's death, I have determined to reprint his speech of 1843, in an appendix to this correspondence. It will be found at the end of the volume, with a statement of facts concerning him, explanatory of the circumstances which prevented him from following up his great effort of 1843, by submitting to the public a plan of colonization as complete as his exposition of the objects with which such a plan ought to be framed. 120 LETTER XIX. From the Statesman, THE STATESMAN WONDERS WHY THE NATURAL ATTRAC- TIVENESS OF COLONIES DOES NOT OCCASION A GREATER EMIGRATION OF PEOPLE AND CAPITAL; POINTS OUT, WITH A VIEW TO THE OBJECTS OF THE MOTHER- COUNTRY, THAT THE EMIGRATION OF PEOPLE AND CAPITAL MUST BE LARGELY INCREASED ; AND ASKS WHAT IS TO BE DONE IN ORDER THAT ENOUGH PEOPLE AND CAPITAL MAY EMIGRATE TO RELIEVE THE MOTHER- COUNTRY FROM THE EVILS OF EXCESSIVE COMPETITION. YOUR recent letters, the Dean of Carlisle's beautiful Essay, and Charles Buller's masterly speech, have made a general impression on me, which I think ought to be communicated to you now. It will resolve itself into questions. If you can answer them satisfactorily, we shall have taken a good step forward. Admitting, as I already do, that the distinguishing characteristics of this country and the colonies are a want of room for all classes here, and plenty of room for all classes there, I want to know why it is that people of all classes, and capital, do not emigrate in sufficient numbers and quantities to reduce competition in this country within tolerable limits. The competi- MOTIVES FOR EMIGRATION. 121 tion must be painful, arid the attraction of the colonies great. These forces co-operating, the one in driving and the other in drawing people away, why is it that so few go? why is not more capital sent? But let us note a few particulars. The life of people here who are continually in a state of anxiety with respect to support according to their station, must be disagree- able in the extreme; and I should think that the life of an emigrant colonist, in whatever rank, must be very agreeable. If I were a common labourer, and knew what I know about colonies, I am sure that I would not stay in this country if I could anyhow find the means of emigration to high wages, to the fairest prospect of comfortable independence, and the imme- diate enjoyment of that importance which belongs to the labouring class in colonies. It strikes me, that men possessing a small or moderate capital should have the same desire to remove from a place where they are pinched and uncomfortable, to one where they would enjoy the (to them I imagine) unspeakable satisfaction of daily counting an increased store. To the poorer gentry even, especially younger sons of men of fortune, and parents whose families of children are as large as their fortunes are small, the colonies must, I fancy, hold out a most agreeable prospect. Indeed, the last of these classes appears to me to be the one that would benefit the most by emigrating. In money they would gain like other people; in feeling more than other people, because they are peculiarly susceptible of such pain as they suffer here and such pleasure as> they would enjoy there. They are a class with whom pride, far more than love of money, is the ruling sentiment. I do not mean an improper pride. 122 THE PAIN OF SINKING. What they chiefly suffer here, is the pain of sinking, or seeing their children sink, into a lower station: what they would chiefly enjoy in a colony, is the pleasure of holding themselves the highest position, and seeing their children, the sons by exertion, the daughters by marriage, continue in the first rank. The rank of the colony is doubtless very inferior to that of the mother-country; but of what use is his country's rank to one whose lot is most wounding to his pride? With regard to pride, is not the first position anywhere better than sinking anywhere? I can understand that for a " gentleman," as we say, emigration may be a mortifying acknowledgment to those whom he leaves behind, that he has been forced away by his necessities ; but, as a rule, people care very little about what is thought of them by others whom they leave behind for life: the mortification must soon be over : and on the other hand there is the prospect of being received with open arms by the community with which your lot is now cast. If you tell me that there are attachments at home, a love of localities and persons, which indispose all classes to emigrate, I answer that in the class of poor gentry, whether young and unmarried, or of middle age with families, having no good prospect here, it would be troublesome to find one who would refuse a lucrative and honourable appointment for life in any healthy part of the world. For this class, I take it, emigration, as it is going to money and importance, is like a lucrative and honourable appointment for life, and beyond life for the benefit of children as well. Why then do so few of this class emigrate ? Cadets of this class swarm in the professions and at the doors of the PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 123 public offices, beyond all means of providing for them : and there must be thousands, nay, tens of thousands, of families living in what may be termed "genteel colonies" at home and on the continent, for what they call cheapness, but really for the purpose of enjoying more importance than their income would give any- where else but in a colony. In a colony, their im- portance would be infinitely greater. Why do they not rather emigrate and prosper, than hide themselves, *n innate, and sink? Again, supposing that there are circumstances which deter people from emigrating, why is not capital sent ? To some extent capital is invested in the colonies with larger returns than could be obtained for it here, and without being accompanied by its owners ; but the amount is too small for its abstraction to pro- duce any effect on the money-mgrket of this country. You say that in colonies there is an unlimited field for the productive employment of capital : if so, larger in- vestments of British capital in the colonies are not pre- vented by want of room there. If A B, remaining in this country, sends out his capital to the colonies and invests it with large returns, why should not C D, and all the rest of the alphabet do the same? I suppose that there must be some limit to the investment of British capital in colonies, though you have not alluded to it, and I cannot exactly perceive what it is. These questions are pertinent and practical : if the emigration of capital and people has reached its maximum according to the present circumstances of this country and of our colonial empire, it would be idle to think of more extensive colonization as a means of remedying our economical evils and averting our 124 SUPPOSED LIMIT TO THE political dangers. We cannot force either capital or people to emigrate. The principle of laissez-faire must be strictly observed in this case: and were it otherwise, I cannot imagine the law or act of govern- ment that would have the effect of inducing anybody, not being so minded at present, to send his capital to a colony, or go thither himself. If there is no limit in colonies to the profitable employment of capital and labour, there must be a limit here to the disposi- tion to take advantage of that circumstance, which no legislation, that I can think of, would overcome. Let us beware of indulging in day-dreams. It is plain, according to your own showing, that the emigration both of capital and people must be greatly increased in order to effect the true objects of colonization. It is to the necessity of this great increase that I would direct your attention. I acknowledge on the general principles which you have urged, that the tendency of colonization is to reduce to cure and prevent, if you will injurious competition at home : but practically all depends on the amount of the colonization. If in colonizing we should not reach the indispensable point, we might as well do nothing as regards the effect upon this country. By increasing the emigra- tion of people and capital in a less degree than the whole case demands, we should indeed benefit the individual emigrants and owners of the exported capital ; and we should likewise, so to speak, enable a number of people to live here and a quantity of capital to get employment here, which cannot do so now: we should do this, according to your theory, partly by creating a vacuum of people and capital, which would be instantly filled, partly by enlarging EMIGRATION OF PEOPLE AND CAPITAL. 125 the home field of employment for capital and labour, us that depends on the extent of the foreign market: but in doing all this, which I admit is not to be de- spised as an object of national care, we should do nothing in the way of raising either wages or profits at home; we should produce, let me repeat, no effect whatever on the excessive competition for which you present colonization as a remedy. What is the amount of colonization that would affect wages and profits at home ? The question is not to be answered ; but we may be sure that the requisite amount could not be reached without greatly increasing the emigration of people and capital. I call on you to show how this essential condition of the most effective colonization is to be secured in the face of a limit, in the minds of men, to the emigration of people and capital, over which law and government have no control. To re- capitulate in a single question, I ask, what can we do in order that our colonial territories should have the same effects for us, as the unsettled territory of the United States has for the older portion of that country ? 126 LETTER XX. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST BEGS LEAVE TO PREFACE AN ACCOUNT OF THE IMPEDIMENTS TO COLONIZATION BY A NOTICE OF ITS CHAKMS FOR THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF EMIGRANTS. I ACCEPT your challenge without fear, not boast- fully, but from confidence in the truth of my opinion that law or government has control over the disposition of people and capital to emigrate, and could, by encouraging that disposition, bring about an amount of colonization sufficient to affect wages and profits at home. This opinion has not been hastily formed, and cannot be very briefly explained ; for it is a deduction from many facts. I will go on to these after a word of preface. It is my intention to accept your challenge strictly in your own sense of it, when I say that the disposi- tion of people and capital to emigrate is limited by impediments which it is in the power of law or govern- ment to remove. Law or government has also the power to encourage that disposition. In removing the impediments, and affording the encouragement, would consist the whole art of national colonization. CHARMS OF COLONIZATION. 127 It is time for us, therefore, to examine the impedi- ments. But before doing this, I would draw your attention by the present letter to some particulars of the inducements to emigration for various classes of people. These may be termed the charms of colo- nization. Until you shall be aware of their force, you cannot well understand that of the impediments which counteract them. Without having witnessed it, you cannot form a just conception of the pleasurable excitement which those enjoy, who engage personally in the business of colonization. The circumstances which produce these lively and pleasant feelings, are doubtless counteracted by others productive of annoyance and pain ; but at the worst there is a great deal of enjoyment for all classes of colonists, which the fixed inhabitants of an old country can with difficulty comprehend. The counteracting circumstances are so many impediments to colonization, which we must examine presently : I will now endeavour to describe briefly the encouraging circumstances, which put emigrants into a state of ex- citement similar to that occasioned by opium, wine, or winning at play, but with benefit instead of fatal injury to the moral and physical man. When a man of whatever condition has finally de- termined to emigrate, there is no longer any room in his mind for thought about the circumstances that surround him : his life for some time is an unbroken and happy dream of the imagination. The labourer, whose dream is generally realized, thinks of light work and high wages, good victuals in abundance, beer and tobacco at pleasure, and getting in time to be a master in his trade, or to having a farm of his 128 THE LABOURER'S ARRIVAL. own. The novelty of the passage would be a delight to him, were it not for the ennui arising from want of occupation. On his arrival in the colony, all goes well with him. He finds himself a person of great value, a sort of personage, and can indulge almost any inclination that seizes him. If he is a brute, as many emigrant labourers are, through being brutally brought up from infancy to manhood, he lives, to use his own expression, " like a fighting cock," till gross enjoy- ment carries him off the scene : if he is of the better sort by nature and education, he works hard, saves money, and becomes a man of property; perhaps builds himself a nice house; glories with his now grand and happy wife in counting the children, the more the merrier; and cannot find anything on earth to complain of but the exorbitant wages he has to pay. The change for this class of man, being from pauperism, or next door to it, to plenty and property, is indescribably, to our apprehensions almost incon- ceivably, agreeable. But the classes who can hardly imagine the pleasant feelings which emigration provides for the well- disposed pauper, have pleasant feelings of their own when they emigrate, which are perhaps more lively in proportion to the greater susceptibility of a more cultivated mind to the sensations of mental pain and pleasure. Emigrants of cultivated mind, from the moment when they determine to be colonists, have their dreams, which though far from being always, or ever fully realized, are, I have been told by hundreds of this class, very delightful indeed. They think with great pleasure of getting away from the dis- agreeable position of anxiety, perhaps of wearing INTENDING EMIGRANTS. 129 dependence, in which the universal and excessive competition of this country has placed them. But it is on the future that their imagination exclusively seizes. They can think in earnest about nothing but the colony. I have known a man of this class, who had been too careless of money here, begin, as soon as he had resolved on emigration, to save sixpences, and take care of bits of string, saying, " everything will be of use there." There ! it is common for people whose thoughts are fixed " there," to break themselves all at once of a confirmed habit; that of reading their favourite newspaper every day. All the newspapers of the old country are now equally uninteresting to them. If one falls in their way, they perhaps turn with alacrity to the shipping-list and advertisements of passenger- ships, or even to the account of a sale of Australian wool or New-Zealand flax: but they cannot see either the Parliamentary debate, or the leading article which used to embody their own opinions, or the reports of accidents and offences of which they used to spell every word. Their reading now is confined to letters and newspapers from the colony, and books relating to it. They can hardly talk about anything that does not relate to " there." Awake and asleep too, their imagination is employed in picturing the colony generally, and in all sorts of par- ticulars. The glorious climate, the beautiful scenery, the noble forests, the wide plains of natural grass interspersed with trees like an English park; the fine harbour, the bright river, the fertile soil; the very property on which they mean to live and die, first, as it is now, a beautiful but useless wilderness, and then as they intend to make it, a delightful residence 130 LOVE OF CONSTRUCTION. and profitable domain: all this passes before the greedy eyes of the intending settler, and bewitches him with satisfaction. This emigrant's dream lasts all through the passage. He has left a country in which the business of the inhabitants is to preserve, use, improve, and multiply the good things they have; he settles in one where everything must be created but the land and some imported capital. He finds that colonizing consists of making all sorts of things not yet in existence. He beholds either nothing but a wilderness, or the first settlers engaged in making roads and bridges, houses and gardens, farms, mills, a dock, a lighthouse, a court- house, a prison, a school-house, and a church. If he goes to a colony already established, still the further construction of civilized society is the sight that meets his eyes in every direction. His individual pursuits consist of a share in the general work of con- struction. A love of building, which is apt to ruin people here, so tempting is the pleasure which its in- dulgence affords, may there be indulged with profit : or rather the building of something is everybody's proper business and inevitable enjoyment: for the principle of human nature which causes the loftiest as well as the meanest minds to take a pleasure in build- ing, is called into exercise, not more in the erection of a palace or cathedral, than in the conversion of a piece of desert into productive farms, in the getting up of a fine breed of cattle or sheep, or in the framing of in- stitutions and laws, suitable from time to time to the peculiarities of a new place, and to the changeful wants of a growing and spreading community. This prin- ciple of human nature is a love of planning for oneself, CHARMS OF AGRICULTURE. 131 executing one's own plan, and beholding the results of one's own handiwork. In colonizing, individuals and communities are always planning, executing, and watching the progress, or contemplating the results of their own labours. The results come so quickly and are so strikingly visible ! If you had been a colonist, or architect of society, you would feel, as well as Bacon knew by means of his profound insight into human nature, that colonization is heroic work. Man's love of construction is probably at the bot- tom of the pleasure which the cultivation of the earth has. in all ages and countries, afforded to the sanest and often the most powerful minds. The healthful- ness of the occupation must no doubt count for some- thing; and more, perhaps, should be allowed for the familiar intercourse with nature, which belongs to a pursuit affected by every change of season and wea- ther, and relating to the growth of plants and the production of animal life; but the main charm, I suspect, of the farmer's existence whether he is a rustic incapable of enjoyment away from his farm, or a retired statesman whose most real enjoyment is his farm arises from the constructiveness of the pursuit ; from the perpetual and visible sequence of cause and effect, designed and watched by the operator. What- ever the proportion to each other, however, that we may assign to the charms of agriculture, they are all felt in a high degree by colonial settlers on land, amongst whom, by the way, must be reckoned nearly all emigrants of the richer and better order. The nature with which a colonial farmer associates, has a great deal of novelty about it as respects the seasons, the weather, the capacities of the soil, the seeds, the K2 132 CHARMS OF COLONIZATION. plants, the trees, the wild animals, and even the tame live-stock, which is affected, often improved, by the new soil and climate : and all this novelty is so much pleasant excitement. But, above all, the farm of the colonial settler has to be wrought into being: the whole aspect of the place has to be changed by his own exertions; the forest cleared away, the drainage and irrigation instituted, the fencing originated, the house and the other buildings raised from the ground after careful selection of their site, the garden planned and planted: the sheep, the cattle, the horses, even the dogs and poultry, must be introduced into the solitude ; and their multiplication by careful breeding is a work of design with a view to anticipated results. The life of a settler, when colonization prospers, is a perpetual feast of anticipated and realized satisfaction. The day is always too short for him ; the night passed in profound, invigorating sleep, the consequence of bodily fatigue in the open air, not to mention the peace of mind. Add the inspiriting effect of such a climate as that of Canada during three parts of the year, or that of the Southern colonies all the year round ; and you will believe me when I tell you that most colonial settlers are passionately fond of their mode of life; you will also perceive why the draw- backs or impediments to colonization which I am about to describe, do not quite prevent the better sort of people from emigrating. I ought to have remarked sooner, perhaps, that when once a colony is founded, emigration to it, of all classes, depends in a great measure on the reports which the settlers send to this country of the circum- stances in which they are placed in the colony. If COLONISTS' REPORTS. 133 the emigrants have prospered according to the ex- itions with which they left home, or if their anxious hopes have been disappointed, every letter from the colony makes an impression accordingly upon a circle of people in this country. All these im- pressions together gradually merge into a public im- pression. The colony gets a good or a bad name at home. Nothing can counteract the force of this influence. No interest here, such as that of a colo- nizing company or busy agents of the colony; no power or influence, such as that of the government; can puff into popularity a colony which is not pros- perous; nor can the utmost efforts of rival colonial interests in this country, or of the colonial branch of government, jealous of the prosperity of a colony which has been founded against its will, run down a pros- perous colony in public opinion here, so as to check emigration to it. Whether or not, and to what extent, there shall be emigration to it, depends upon the letters from the colony itself, and the reports made by colo- nists who return home for some purpose or other. I am inclined to say, that private letters and reports alone have this influence ; for books, or other publica- tions about a colony, are suspected of having been written with the intention of puffing or disparaging. The private letters and reports have more influence than anything else, because they are believed to con- tain, as they generally do contain, true information. It is true information from a colony, therefore, about the condition of people in the colony; it is the colonial condition of emigrants which, in a great measure, regulates emigration, and more especially the emigra- tion of those classes whose ability to emigrate is always to their inclination. 134 COLONISTS' KEPORTS. It is not merely because the inclination of the labouring class to emigrate is under the control of their ability, that their emigration is less affected than that of the other classes by reports from the colony. Emigrants of the labouring class very seldom return home to make reports in person; and the writing of letters is not their forte : it is a disagreeable tax upon their attention, almost a painful effort of their feeble skill. The postage deters them, as well as their illiterate state of mind. They receive fewer letters to answer. They have, in comparison with the other classes, an awful conception of the distance which separates them from birthplace, and a vague notion that letters for home may not reach their destination. In comparison with the other classes, emigration severs them from the mother-country completely and for ever. We may now proceed to the impression made on the different classes at home, by colonization as it is. 135 LETTER XXI. From the Colonist. EMIGRANTS DIVIDED INTO LABOURERS, CAPITALISTS, AND GENTRY. HOW THE " SHOVELLING OUT OF PAUPERS," AND EMIGRATION AS A PUNISHMENT, INDISPOSE THE POORER CLASSES TO EMIGRATE, AND ESPECIALLY THE BETTER SORT OF THEM. T AYIXG aside for the present the subject of the *-^ emigration of capital without its owners, there are three classes of people whose inclination to emigrate is variously affected by impeding circumstances. These I shall call the Labourers, the Capitalists, and the Gentry ; and it is my intention to notice separately how each class is affected by these circumstances. Let me first, however, say a few words about the gentry class. This is a class composed of what you call " gentle- men." They may become landowners in the colony, or owners of capital lent at interest, or farmers of their own land, merchants, clergymen, lawyers, or doctors, so that they be respectable people in the sense of being honourable, of cultivated mind, and gifted with the right sort, and right proportion of self-respect. This is what I shall always mean, when calling them 136 DIVISION OF EMIGRANTS "respectable," whether or not they keep a carriage and a butler. The most respectable emigrants, more especially if they have a good deal of property, and are well connected in this country, lead and govern the emigration of the other classes. These are the emigrants whose presence in a colony most beneficially affects its standard of morals and manners, and would supply the most beneficial element of colonial govern- ment. If you can induce many of this class to settle in a colony, the other classes, whether capitalists or labourers, are sure to settle there in abundance : for a combination of honour, virtue, intelligence, and pro- perty, is respected even by those who do not possess it; and if those emigrate who do possess it, their example has an immense influence in leading others to emigrate, who either do not possess it, or possess it in an inferior degree. This, therefore, is the class, the impediments to whose emigration the thoughtful statesman would be most anxious to remove, whilst he further endeavoured to attract them to the colony by all the means in his power. I shall often call them the higher order, and the most valuable class of emigrants. The labourers differ from the other classes in this, that however inclined to emigrate, they are not always able to carry their own wish into effect. With them, and especially with the poorest of them, who would be most disposed to emigrate, it is a question of ability as well as inclination. They often cannot pay for their passage. For reasons to be stated hereafter, colonial capitalists will not pay for their passage, how much soever the richer class may long to obtain in the colony the services of the poorer. To some extent, the INTO CLASSES. 137 cost of passage for very poor emigrants has been de- frayed by persons wishing to get rid of them, and by the public funds of colonies wishing to receive them. It will be my business hereafter to show how easily the latter kind of emigration-fund might be increased beyond any assignable limit ; but, at present, we must take the fact as it is, that, even now, more of the labouring class are disposed to emigrate, than can find the means of getting to a colony. Supposing, however, that this difficulty were removed, as I firmly believe it may be, we should then see that the dis- position of the labouring classes to emigrate is limited by circumstances not relating to their ability. The first of these is their ignorance of the paradise which a colony is for the poor. If they only knew what a colony is for people of their class, they would prefer emigrating to getting double wages here; and how glad they would be to get Double wages here need not be stated. I have often thought that if pains were taken to make the poorest class in this country really and truly aware of what awaits emigrants of their class in North America, and if a suitable machinery were established for enabling them to cross the Atlantic, and get into employment, by means of money saved by themselves here, enough of them would emigrate to cause a rise of wages for those who remained behind. At present, speaking of the class generally, they know hardly anything about colonies, and still less about what they ought to do in order to reach a colony, if they could save wherewith to pay for the passage. The colonies are not attractive to them as a class, have no existence so far as they know, never occupy their thoughts for a moment. That 138 "SHOVELLING-OUT" OF PAUPERS they have not much inclination to emigrate should surprise nobody. But, secondly, they have a disinclination to emigrate occasioned by the " shovelling out of paupers." A parish-union, or landlord, or both together, wishing to diminish the poor's rate by getting rid of some paupers, raise an emigration-fund, and send out a number of their poor to Canada or Australia ; probably to Canada, because the cost of passage is so much less. Who are they that go? probably the most useless, the least respectable people in the parish. How are they got to go? probably by means of a little pressure, such as parishes and landlords can easily apply without getting into a scrape with The Times. Occasionally they refuse to go after preparation has been made for their departure. Whether they go or stay, the at- tempt to remove them, not by attraction, but repulsion, makes an impression in the neighbourhood, that emigration is only fit for the refuse of the population, if it is not going to some kind of slavery or destruc- tion. The tendency of these pauper-shovellings is to make the common people think of emigration with dislike and terror. Thirdly, the punishment of transportation excites amongst the common people a strong prejudice against emigration. The judge, when he sentences a convict to transportation, tells him (and what the judge says, the convict's neighbours learn), that for his crime he is to be punished by being removed from his country and home, separated from his relations and friends, condemned to pass the whole, or a great part, of his life amongst strangers in a distant land. The parson of the parish might, with equal truth, address the DISCOURAGES EMIGRATION. 139 very same words to an honest labourer about to emigrate. The judge, indeed, in speaking to the con- vict, goes on to say, that in addition to the punish- ment of emigration, he will have to undergo some punishment in the colony ; whereas the parson would say to the honest labourer, you as a colonist will be jolly and comfortable. But it so happens, that trans- ported convicts, whether in writing from the colony to their acquaintances here, or talking with them here on their return from transportation, almost in- variably report, that they, too, have led a jolly and comfortable colonial life. The assertion is often true: whether true or false, it is insisted upon by the con- vict, who naturally wishes to persuade others that he has undergone no punishment; that he has cheated the law; that he is not an unhappy wretch, but a favourite of fortune. Now and then, a transported convict may acknowledge to his friends at home, that he is unhappy in the colony ; but this is a case of rare exception: in the great majority of cases in those which make the impression here the transported convict speaks of his own condition, as a convict, in the very terms which an honest, industrious emigrant uses, when telling of his light work and high wages, his lots of victuals, drink, and tobacco, his frequent amusements, and his contemplated purchase of a hundred acres. Such reports from convicts are being continually received amongst the poor in all parts of this country. They may encourage crime; but they certainly discourage emigration. In the mind of the common people, they confound emigration and punish- ment, emigration and disgrace, emigration and shame. And the impression is strongest on the best of the 140 GENTRY CLASS OF COLONISTS. common people ; on those, that is, who would be pre- ferred by a colony choosing for itself, and whom an imperial legislature would prefer if it really wished to found colonies with the best materials. LETTER XXII. From the Colonist. THE SHAME OF THE HIGHER ORDER OF SETTLERS WHEN THEY FIRST THINK OF EMIGRATING. THE JEALOUSY OF A WIFE. HOW EMIGRATION, AS THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIME, AFFECTS OPINION IN THIS COUNTRY WITH REGARD TO EMIGRATION IN GENERAL. COLONISTS AND COLONIES DESPISED IN THE MOTHER-COUNTRY. IT has been my lot to become acquainted with a con- siderable number of the gentry class of emigrants ; and I declare, in the first place, that I never met with one, who, when he first contemplated emigration, was not ashamed and afraid of his own purpose; and secondly, that I know not of one whose objects in emi- grating have been realized. I wish I did not know a great many whose hopes as emigrants have been bit- terly disappointed. The causes of the disappointment, as well as the shame and fear, may be easily explained. I will begin with the shame. You may have a difficulty in believing or under- standing it, but much experience has made me confi- dent, that the highest class who think of emigrating, to whom the idea of emigration for themselves ever A WIFE'S JEALOUSY. 141 occurs, associate that idea with the idea of convict transportation, even more painfully than the poorest and meanest class do. This association of ideas is not deliberate, but undesigned, almost unconscious : it is a consequence of the facts, and of the nature of the human mind. A case is within my knowledge, in which a gentleman of good birth and connexions con- templated emigrating to Australia Felix. He had a small fortune, a large family of children, and a hand- some wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, though she was not the wisest of her sex. As the children grew up, the income seemed to grow smaller, though it remained the same; the wants increased whilst the means of supplying them were stationary. The edu- cation of the boys was costly; that of the girls inferior to that of other girls in their station. To provide for both, one after another of the parents' luxuries, and of the outward marks of their station, was reluctantly laid down. In order to establish the sons in life, more money was required than could by any means be found ; and two of the daughters had already entered on the miserable period between lively girlhood and confirmed old-maidism. The father passed from the state of self-satisfied enjoyment, first into uneasiness, then into impatience, and at last into a discontent at once angry and mournful: the mother fretted con- tinually. They had married very young, and were still in the prime of life. At last, there was added to the mother's troubles, that of jealousy. She had reason to think that her husband's affections were estranged from her. He went to London without telling her for what. He returned without reporting whom he had seen, or what he had done. At home, he took no interest in 142 THE JEALOUSY EXPLODES. his usual occupations or amusements. He was ab- sorbed with secret thoughts, absent, inattentive, and unaffectionate, but in apparent good humour with himself, and charmed with the subject of his secret contemplations. He had a key made for the post-bag, which had been without one for years ; and instead of leaving all his letters about, as was his wont, he care- fully put some of them away, and was caught once or twice in the act of reading them in secret with smiling lips and sparkling eyes. His wife did not complain, but now and then hinted to him that she perceived the change in his demeanour. On these occasions he protested that she was mistaken, and for a while after- wards put a guard upon his behaviour for the evident purpose of averting her suspicions. At last, poor woman, her jealousy exploded; and it turned out that he had been all this time forming a plan of emigration for the family. Whilst he was so engaged, his mind had naturally fixed on the pleasant features of the project; the delightful climate, the fine domain, the pastoral life, the creative business of settling, the full and pleasing occupation, the consequence which a person of his station would enjoy in the colony, the ample room for boys and girls, and the happy change for his harassed wife. This explains his smiling self- satisfaction : his secrecy was deliberate, because he was afraid that if he disclosed his scheme at home before it was irrevocably matured, his wife and her relations, and his own relations as well, would call it a scheme of transportation, and worry him into abandoning it. They did worry him by talking about Botany Bay. In vain he protested that Australia Felix is not a penal colony: they found out, that though convicts A PLAN OF LORD GREY'S. 143 are not sent to Port Philip to undergo punishment as convicts, they are sent thither as " exiles ;" and that swarms of emancipated convicts resort thither from Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales : the lady's brother, the rector of their parish, explained that Lord Grey's plan of convict transportation is a plan of emigra- tion for convicts ; the very plan contemplated by the brother-in-law for himself and family. They got hold of a Hobart-Town newspaper, which contained the report of a public meeting held for the purpose of laying before her Majesty's Government a description of the social horrors inflicted on Tasmania by the plan of exiling convicts to that island, and starting them out of the ship on their arrival as free as any other emigrants, or as thieves in the Strand. The would-be emigrant so far gave way to this domestic storm, as to offer, that New Zealand instead of Australia Felix should be their destination ; but then they proved to him, with the aid of a cousin who is in the Colonial Office, that convict-boys from Parkhurst prison are sent to New Zealand, and that Lord Grey contem- plates making those islands a receptacle of convict " exiles." In the end, they taunted him into giving up his scheme, and settling, poor fellow, at Boulogne, in order to be somebody there instead of nobody at home. I do not pretend that the only argument of the wife and her supporters consisted of taunts founded on the late resemblance between emigration and transporta- tion, on their present identity, or on the state of society in the Southern colonies as it has been affected by convict colonization. They used other arguments, but so far of a like kind, that however politely ex- 144 COLONIES INSULTED. pressed in words, they consisted of sneers, taunts, and reproaches. Having themselves a lively antipathy to the notion of a gentleman's family emigrating at all, they painted emigration in all its most unfavourable and repulsive colours; and some of the darkest of these are drawn from emigration as the result of burglary, bigamy, or murder, and from the moral and social pestilence inflicted upon colonies by convict emigration. But there are several dark colours besides these, in which emigration for respectable families may be truly described. The next that occurs to me has but an indirect relation to the emigration of con- victs. I would beg of you to exert your imagination for the purpose of conceiving what would be the public state of mind in this country, if the Emperor Nicholas, or President Polk should ask us to let him send the convicts of his nation to inhabit this country as free exiles. Fancy John Bull's fury. His rage would arise partly from his view of the evils to which our country would be subjected, by continually adding to our own criminals a number of Eussian or American robbers and assassins; but it would be partly, and I think chiefly, occasioned by the national insult of the proposal for treating his country as fit to be the moral cess-pool of another community. We should feel, that the Russians or Americans as the case might be, most cordially despised us; that as a nation or community we were deemed inferior, low, base, utterly devoid of honourable pride, and virtuous self-respect ; that we ought instantly to go to war and thrash the insolence out of the Yankees or the Cossacks. But you can't thoroughly imagine the case, because so COLOXIES DESPISED. 145 gross an insult to so powerful a nation as this, is inconceivable. We put this affront on some of our colonies with as much coolness and complacency as if we thought they liked it. Without the least com- punction or hesitation, we degrade and insult a group of our colonies, by sending thither, as to their proper home, our own convicts and those of our other depen- dencies. In many other ways we treat them as com- munities so mean and low in character, as to be incapable of feeling an outrage. Our own feeling of contempt for them was capitally expressed long ago by an English Attorney-General under William and Mary. This high officer of the crown was instructed to prepare a charter for establishing a college in Virginia, of which the object was to educate and qualify young men to be ministers of the Gospel. He protested against the grant, declaring he did not see the slightest occasion for such a college in Virginia. A delegate of the colonists begged Mr. Attorney would consider that the people of Virginia had souls to be saved as well as the people of England. " Souls !" said he; "damn your souls! make tobacco." That was long ago : well, but you will recollect, because it belongs to the history of home politics, that letter which, in Lord Melbourne's time, Mr. O'Connell wrote to one of his " tail," who had got himself banished from decent society in this country, saying in effect, though 1 can do nothing for you here, if you will retire from Parliament for the sake of the credit of our party, I will get you a place in the colonies. Anything is good enough for the colonies. It would be easy to cite, if they had been published, as Mr. O'ConnelTs letter was, very many cases in which, and quite of L 146 CONTEMPTUOUS TREATMENT OF COLONISTS. late years too, somebody has obtained a place in the colonies, not only in spite of his having lost his character here, but because he had lost it : somebody wanted to get rid of him, and anything is good enough for the colonies. Some four or five years ago, a young clergyman, wishing to qualify for an appointment in the colonies, was under examination by a bishop's chaplain : the bishop came into the room, and pre- sently observed to his chaplain, that he thought the examination was insufficient as a test of the proper qualities of a clergyman, when the chaplain excused himself by saying, "It is only a gentleman for the colonies:" and the bishop seemed perfectly satisfied with the answer. Contempt for the colonies, a sense of their inferiority or lowness, pervades society here. When it is proposed by a thoughtful statesman to bestow upon those colonies which have none, a con- siderable portion of local self-government, the vulgar mind of this country is a little offended, and thinks that a colonial community is rather presumptuous in supposing itself capable of managing its own affairs as well as they can be managed by the Right Honourable Mr. or Lord Somebody, who sits in the great house at the bottom of Downing-street. The vulgar notion is, that, as in the opinion of William and Mary's Attorney- General, the Virginians had not souls to be saved, so colonists in general have not, and have no business to have, political ideas ; that the only business for which they are fit, is to send home, for the good of this country, plenty of timber, or flour, or sugar, or wool. As anything is good enough for the colonies, so the colonies are good for nothing but as they humbly serve our purposes. If we look with care into the causes of the revolt of CONTEMPTUOUS TREATMENT OF COLONISTS. 147 the thirteen great English colonies of North America, \\v find that the leading colonists were made disaffected more by the contemptuous, than by the unjust and tyrannical treatment, which their country received at the hands of its parent. Franklin, the represen- tative in this country of one of the greatest of those colonies, was shied and snubbed in London : the first feeling of disloyalty was probably planted in the breast of Washington by the contemptuous treatment which he received as an officer of the provincial army. The instances of such treatment of colonists are without number. But that, you may say again, was long ago : well, let us mark the present difference of the reception which we give to foreigners, from that which we give to colonists when they visit England. When a person of any mark in any foreign country comes to London on a visit of curiosity, he has only to make known his arrival, in order to receive all kinds of attentions from the circles whose civilities are most prized; if only a personage in some German principality, or small Italian state, he is sought out, feted, perhaps lionized, all to his heart's content. When a dis- tinguished colonist comes to London one even, whose name stands as high in his own community as the names of the leaders of the Government and Oppo- sition do here he prowls about the streets, and sees sights till he is sick of doing nothing else, and then returns home disgusted with his visit to the old country. Xobody has paid him any attention because he was a colonist. Not very long ago, one of the first men in Canada, the most important of our colonies, came to England on a mission with which he was L2 148 CONTEMPTUOUS TREATMENT OF COLONISTS. charged by the colonial House of Commons. He was a Canadian of French origin, of most polite manners, well informed, a person of truth and honour, altogether equal to the best order of people in the most important countries. On account of these qualities, and also because he was rich and public spirited, he enjoyed the marked respect of his fellow-colonists. The delays of the Colonial Office kept him in England for, I be- lieve, more than two years ; and during all this time, he resided at a tavern in the city, the London Coffee- House on Ludgate Hill, totally unknowing and un- known out of the coffee-room. He was a Canadian, that is a colonist, and was less cared about here than a load of timber or a barrel of flour coming from the St. Lawrence. This is no solitary instance. Colonists, more especially if they are rich, intelligent, and of im- portance in their own country, frequently come to Eng- land, not merely as foreigners do, to see, but to admire and glory in the wonders of our great little country ; and, I repeat, those who come are generally the first people in the colony. Do you ever meet any of them in the houses of your friends ? Has ever the name of one of them been upon your own invitation list ? Cer- tainly not, unless by some singular accident. But I, in my obscure position, and as having been a colonist myself, see numbers of these neglected visitors of Eng- land; and I see how others treat them, or rather neither well nor ill treat them, but take no sort of notice of them, because they despise them as colonists. I am not thinking in the least now of the national im- policy of such inhospitality and bad manners, but ex- clusively of the fact, that among the gentry rank of this country, colonies and colonists are deemed inferior, CONTEMPTUOUS TREATMENT OF COLONISTS. 149 low, a baser order of communities and beings; and that in this despicable light we regard them, quite as unaffectedly as William and Mary's Attorney-General did, though we do not express our opinion so em- phatically. Is it surprising, then, that an English gentleman should feel somewhat ashamed of himself when he first entertains the idea of becoming a colo- nist ? is not the indisposition of our gentry to emigrate just what might have been expected? AVhat is worse, speaking generally, colonies and colonists are in fact, as well as in the estimation of the British gentry, inferior, low, unworthy of much respect, properly disliked and despised by people of refinement and honour here, who happen to be acquainted with the state of society in the colonies. But the proof of this must be reserved for another letter. 150 LETTER XXIII. From the Colonist. LOW STANDARD OF MOEALS AND MANNERS IN THE COLONIES. COLONIAL " SMARTNESS." WANT OF IN- TELLECTUAL CULTIVATION. MAIN DISTINCTION BE- TWEEN SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED LIFE. T7TROM the sweeping assertion which closed my last -L letter, I would except many individuals in every colony, but only one colonial community. However marked and numerous the exceptions may be in some colonies, they are but exceptions from the rule in ah 1 ; and in some, the rule has few exceptions. I proceed to explain and justify the statement. In all colonies not infected with crime by convict transportation or banishment, crime is rare in com- parison with what it is in this country : it is so, be- cause in a country where the poorest are well off, and may even grow rich if they please, the temptation to crime is very weak. In the rural parts of uninfected colonies, the sorts of crime which fill our gaols at home, and found some of our colonies, are almost en- tirely unknown. I have known a considerable district in French Canada, in which the oldest inhabitant did not remember a crime to have been committed; and COLONIAL "SMARTNESS." 151 in the whole of that part of North America, which is soi uc hundred miles long and which contains as many people as the rural counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, the only buildings in which you can lock up a criminal are two or three jails in towns where British soldiers and shovelled-out paupers are numerous. Crime is rare in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; so it is in South Africa and West Australia. The colonial soil, in a word, is unsuitable for crime, which grows there slowly and with difficulty. In the convict colonies and their immediate neighbours, it is the imperial government which forces crime to grow abundantly in a soil naturally unfavourable to it. But the colonial soil everywhere seems highly favourable to the growth of conduct which, without being criminal according to law, is very much objected to by the better sort of people in this country. I mean all those acts which, in Upper Canada and the State of New York, are called "smart" conduct; which consist of taking advantage or overreaching, of forget- ting promises, of betraying confidence, of unscrupu- lously sacrificing all the other numbers to "number one." In colonies, such conduct is commonly termed clever, cute, dexterous; in this country, it is called dishonourable : the honourable colonists who strongly disapprove of such conduct, more especially if they are recent emigrants of the better order, often call it "colonial." For the growth of honour, in a word, the colonies are not a very congenial soil. Neither is knowledge successfully cultivated there. In all the colonies, without exception, it is common to meet with ponple of the greatest mark in the colony, who are ignorant of everything but the art of getting money. 152 INTELLECTUAL CULTIVATION. Brutish ignorance keeps no man down, if he has in a large degree the one quality which is highly prized in the colonies; the quality of knowing how to grow rich. In hardly any colony can you manage, without great difficulty, to give your son what is esteemed a superior education here ; and in all colonies, the sons of many of the first people are brought up in a wild unconsciousness of their own intellectual degradation. Colonial manners are hardly better than morals, being slovenly, coarse, and often far from decent, even in the higher ranks ; I mean in comparison with the manners of the higher ranks here. Young gentlemen who go out there, are apt to forget their home man- ners, or to prefer those of the colony; and one sees continually such cases as that of a young member of a most respectable family here, who soon becomes in the colony, by means of contamination, a thorough-paced blackguard. If the bad propensities of colonists are not as much as we could wish them under the restraint of either honour, or reason, or usage, neither are they under that of religion. Here, however, I must make one great and signal exception. There is not in the world a more religious people than the great bulk of French Canadians, nor, upon the whole, I believe, anywhere a people so polite, virtuous, and happy. The French Canadians owe their religious sentiments to a peculiar mode of colonization, as respects religion, which is no longer the fashion among the colonizing states either of Europe or America. I speak of quite modern colonies, such as Upper or English Canada, Michigan, South Australia, and New Zealand, when I say that religion does not flourish there. There is in all of them, more SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED LIFE CONTRASTED. 153 or less, u good deal of the observance of religious forms, ind the excitement of religious exercises. But in none of them does religion exercise the sort of influence which religion exercises here upon the morals, the intelligence, and the manners of those classes which we consider the best-informed and the best-behaved; that is, the most respectable classes in this country, or those whose conduct, knowledge, and manners con- stitute the type of those of the nation. Let me endeavour to make my meaning clear by an illustra- tion. Think of some one of your friends who never goes to church except for form's sake, who takes the House-of-Commons oath, " on the faith of a Christian," as Edward Gibbon took it, but who has a nice sense of honour; who is, as the saying goes, as honourable a fellow as ever lived. Where did he get this sense of honour from? He knows nothing about where he got it from ; but it really came to him from chivalry ; and chivalry came from religion. He would not do to any- body anything, which he thinks he should have a right to complain of, if somebody did it to him : he is almost a Christian without knowing it. Men of this sort are rare indeed in the colonies. Take another case; that of an English matron, whose purity, and delicacy, and charity of mind, you can trace to the operation of religious influences: such beings are as rare in the colonies, as men with that sense of honour which amounts to goodness. In many parts of some colonies, there is, I may say, no religion at all ; and wherever this happens the people fall into a state of barbarism. If you were asked for a summary definition of the contrast between barbarism and civilization, you would not err in Baying that civilized men differ from savages 154 SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED LIFE CONTRASTED. in having their natural inclinations restrained by law, honour, and religion. The restraint of law is imposed on individuals by the community; and, as before observed, this sort of restraint, since it only applies to crime, is less needed in colonies than in old countries. But the restraint of honour and religion is a self-re- straint ; and as it relates only to matters of which the law takes no cognizance to bad natural inclinations which are equally strong everywhere it is as much a condition of civilization in the newest colony as in the oldest mother-country I can only attribute the low standard of honour in colonies to the insignificant proportion which emigrants of the better order bear to the other classes, and to the foul example of the only privileged class in colonies; namely, the public functionaries. These two causes of the want of honour shall be fully noticed ere long. The weakness of reli- gious restraint is owing to the inadequacy of religious provisions for our colonists : and to this topic my next letter will be devoted. 155 LETTER XXIV. From the Colonist. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COLONIZATION AND OTHER PUR- SUITS OF MEN IN MASSES. RELIGIOUS WOMEN AS COLONISTS. A DISGUSTING COLONY. OLD PRACTICE OF ENGLAND WITH REGARD TO RELIGIOUS PROVI- SIONS. SECTARIAN COLONIES IN AMERICA. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN THE COLONIES. WESLEYAN CHURCH. CHURCH OF ENGLAND. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. DISSENTING CHURCHES. EXCUSE FOR THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. MUST now beg of you to observe a particular in which colonization differs from nearly every other pursuit that occupies mankind in masses. \In trade, navigation, war, and politics in all business of a public nature except works of benevolence and colonization the stronger sex alone takes an active part ; but in colo- nization, women have a part so important that all de- pends on their participation in the work.l If only men emigrate, there is no colonization ; if only a few women emigrate in proportion to the men, the colonization is slow and most unsatisfactory in other respects: an equal emigration of the sexes is one essential condition of the best colonization. In colonizing, the woman's participation must begin with the man's first thought about emigrating, and must extend to nearly all the 156 RELIGIOUS WOMEN AS COLONISTS. arrangements he has to make, and the things he has to do, from the moment of contemplating a departure from the family home till the domestic party shall be comfortably housed in the new country. (J"he influ- ence of women in this matter is even greater, one may say, than that of the men. You may make a colony agreeable to men, but not to women ; you cannot make it agreeable to women without being agreeable to men?. You may induce some men of the higher classes to emigrate without inducing the women; but if you succeed with the women, you are sure not to fail with the men. A colony that is not attractive to women, is an unattractive colony : in order to make it attrac- tive to both sexes, you do enough if you take care to make it attractive to women. Women are more religious than men; or, at all events, there are more religious women than religious men : I need not stop to prove that. There is another proposition which I think you will adopt as readily : it is, that in every rank the best sort of women for colonists are those to whom religion is a rule, a guide, a stay, and a comfort. You might persuade religious men to emigrate, and yet in time have a colony of which the morals and manners would be detestable ; but if you persuade religious women to emigrate, the whole colony will be comparatively virtuous and polite. \A respects morals and manners, it is of little importance what colonial fathers are, in comparison with what the mothers arel3 It was the matrons more than the fathers of the New-England pilgrimage, that stamped the character of Massachusetts and Connecticut; that made New England, for a long- while, the finest piece of colonization the world has A DISGUSTING COLONY. 157 exhibited. Imagine for a moment, that like Penn or Baltimore, you had undertaken to found a nation. Think of the greatness of the responsibility; figure to yourself how ardent would be your desire to sow the finest seed, to plant the most healthy offsets, to build with the soundest materials. Is there any effort or sacrifice you would be unwilling to make for the purpose of giving to your first emigration a character of honour, virtue, and refinement? Now go on to suppose that in planning your colonization, you had >me strange oversight omitted all provisions for religion in the colony ; and that accordingly, as would surely be the case, you found amongst religious people of all classes, but especially amongst the higher classes, and amongst the better sort of women of every class, a strong repugnance to having anything to do with you. If you had made no provisions for religion in your colony, and if people here only cared enough about you to find that out, your scheme would be vituperated by religious men, who are numerous; by religious women, who are very numerous ; and by the clergy of all denominations, who are immensely powerful. You would have to take what you could get in the way of emigration. Your labouring class of emigrants would be composed of paupers, vagabonds, and sluts : your middle class, of broken-down trades- men, over-reachers, semi-swindlers, and needy adven- turers, together with a few miserable wives, and a good many mistresses : your higher order of emigrants would be men of desperate fortunes, flying from debt and bedevilment, and young reprobates spurned or coaxed into banishment by relatives wishing them dead. You would sow bad seed, plant sorry offsets, 158 RELIGION IN THE COLONIES. build with rotten materials: your colony would be disgusting. In former times, before the art of colonization was lost, it was the universal practice in the planting of colonies to take careful heed of religious provisions. Do not be alarmed. I am not going to repeat the sayings that one hears at meetings of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and even in colonization debates in the House of Commons, about the sacred fire of the ancient Greeks transported to their colonies, and the gods of the Romans worshipped in their most distant settlements. Neither would I dwell on the religious zeal which nourished the energy of the Spaniards in their wonderful conquests of Mexico and Peru. But there is a religious feature in the old colo- nization of England, on which I would gladly fix your attention. In colonizing North America, the English seem to have thought more about religious provisions than almost anything else. Each settlement was better known by its religion than by any other mark. Yir- ginia, notwithstanding the official reception in England of the proposition that its inhabitants had souls to be saved like other people, was a Church-of-England colony ; Maryland was the land of promise for Roman Catholics ; Pennsylvania for Quakers ; the various set- tlements of New England for Puritans. History tells us that the founders of the religious English colonies in North America, crossed the Atlantic in order to enjoy liberty of conscience. I fancy that this is one of the many errors which history continues to propa- gate. I doubt that the founders of any of these colonies went forth in search of a place where they COLONIAL SECTARIANISM. 159 miirlit be free from religious persecution:* a careful inspection of their doings, on the contrary, leaves the impression that their object was, each body of them ctively, to find a place where its own religion would be the religion of the place; to form a com- munity the whole of which would be of one religion ; or at least to make its own faith the principal religion of the new community. The Puritans went further : within their bounds they would suffer no religion but their own ; they emigrated not so much in order to escape from persecution, as in order to be able to per- secute. It was not persecution for its own sake that they loved ; it was the power of making their religion the religion of their whole community. Being them- selves religious in earnest, they disliked the congrega- tion and admixture of differing religions in their settle- ments, just as now the congregation and admixture of differing religions in schools and colleges is disliked by most religious people of all denominations : they wanted to live, as religious people now send their children to school, in contact with no religion but their own. Penn and Baltimore, indeed, or rather Baltimore and Penn (for the example was set by the Roman Catholic) made religious toleration a fundamental law of their settlements ; but whilst they paid this formal tribute of respect to their own history as sufferers from per- secution at home, they took care practically, that Maryland should be especially a Roman-Catholic c< )1< >ny, and Pennsylvania a colony for Quakers. There- fore, the Roman Catholics of England were attracted to Maryland; the Quakers to Pennsylvania. New * See, for an interesting view of this question, Letters from America, by John Robert Godley: John Murray, 1844. 160 COLONIAL SECTARIANISM. England attracted its own sect of religious people ; and so did Virginia. Altogether, the attraction of these sectarian colonies was very great. The proof is the great number of people of the higher orders who emigrated to those colonies as long as they preserved their sectarianism or religious distinctions. Settled history has made another mistake in leading us to suppose, that the Puritan emigrants belonged chiefly, like the Came- ronians in Scotland, to the humbler classes at home : most of the leaders, on the contrary, were of the gentry class, being persons of old family, the best education, and considerable property. It was equally so in Pennsylvania; for in the colonization of that day, there were leaders and followers ; and the leading Quakers of that day belonged to the gentry, as respects birth, education, and property. The emigration to Maryland and Virginia was so remarkably aristocratic, that one need not correct history on that point. The emigration to New York, to the Carolinas, to all the colonies, exhibited the same feature, sometimes more, sometimes less, down to the time of the discontents which preceded their independence. All that coloni- zation was more or less a religious colonization : the parts of it that prospered the most, were the most religious parts : the prosperity was chiefly occasioned by the respectability of the emigration : and the re- spectability of the emigration to each colony had a close relation to the force of the religious attraction. I am in hopes of being able, when the proper time shall come for that part of my task, to persuade you that it would now be easy for England to plant sectarian colonies; that is, colonies with the strong attraction for superior emigrants, of a peculiar creed in each COLONIAL EPISCOPACY. 161 colony. Meanwhile, let us mark what our present colonization is as respects religious provisions. It is lu-arly all make-believe or moonshine. The subject of religious provisions for the colonies figures occa- sionally in speeches at religious meetings, and in Colonial-Office blue-books; but whatever composes the thing itself the churches, the funds, the clergy, the schools, and colleges appears nowhere else except on a scale of inadequacy that looks like mockery. If England were twice as large as it is, and ten times as difficult to travel about, then one bishop for all England would be as real a provision for the episcopacy of our church at home as there is in Upper Canada, or indeed in any of our more ex- tensive colonies : it would not be a real, but a sham provision. Let me pursue the example of Upper Canada. If the one bishop is a mockery of episcopacy, still, it may be said, there are clergymen of the Church of England in sufficient abundance. I answer, there are indeed clergymen, but they are not clergymen of the Church of England. They differ from clergymen of the Church of England : they are not supported by endowments which would enable them to be the leaders, rather than the servants of their flocks ; they are not otherwise qualified to lead any body, being men of an inferior order as respects accomplishments and wisdom. The ministers of a church, whose system of discipline is based on endowment and dignities, they have no ranks and no endowments. Men of mark or promise in the church at home would not go there : those who do - o, are men of neither mark nor promise. Even these are so few in proportion to the great country, as are of course the churches likewise, that out of the M 162 CHURCHES OF ROME AND SCOTLAND. towns it is ten to one that a Church-of-England emigrant misses his own church altogether: so he joins some other denomination, or, what is more com- mon perhaps, soon really belongs to none. Thus what is called an extension of the Church of England in Upper Canada, consists of a single bishop for half a dozen Englands as respects the means of episcopal action ; of a few dependent, half-starved, makeshift clergy; and of, for the greater part of the colony, nothing at all. The Roman- Catholic Church is not much better off. Mainly dependent for the subsistence of its priesthood on the voluntary contributions of poor Irish emigrants, it is a starved church like the other ; whilst, like the other again, it is a church of endowments, but unen- dowed. What that is, you may judge by the Roman- Catholic Church in Ireland, of which I assure you that both the Roman- Catholic Church and Church of England in Upper Canada have frequently reminded me, by the contrast between their theory of government and their actual position. The Church of Scotland, by reason of the compara- tive homeliness and democracy of its theory of govern- ment, is in a less false position in the colonies ; and it acquires more easily a far greater resemblance to its mother-church. It never indeed leads colonization (with the exception, however, of what the Free Church of Scotland is now doing at Otago in New Zealand) ; but wherever Scotch settlers abound, the Scottish Church grows after awhile into a position of respecta- bility and usefulness; of very marked respectability and usefulness as compared with that of the great churches of Rome and England. It is, however, be- hind another church, which alone in the colonies per- forms the functions of a church; I mean that of the WKSLEYAN CHURCH. 163 Wesieyan Methodists. Oh! but this is not a church ! Isn't it ? At any rate it has all the properties of one. It has [i profound and minute system of government, which comprehends the largest and takes care of the smallest objects of a church. It has zeal, talents, 1'iKTgy, funds, order and method, a strict discipline, and a conspicuous success. But our concern with it is only in the colonies. There, it does not wait, as the other churches do, till there is a call for its services, and then only exhibit its inefficiency; but it goes be- fore settlement; it leads colonization; it penetrates into settlements where there is no religion at all, and gathers into its fold many of those whom the other churches utterly neglect. This church alone never acts on the principle that anything is good enough for the colonies. Whether it sends forth its clergy to the backwoods of North America, the solitary plains of South Africa, the wild bush of Tasmania and Aus- tralia, or the forests and fern-plains of New Zealand, it sends men of devoted purpose and first-rate ability. lects its missionaries with as much care as the Pro- paganda of Rome. It rules them with an authority that is always in full operation; with a far-stretching arm, and a hand of steel. It supplies them with the means < f < Unvoting themselves to their calling. Accordingly it succeeds in what it attempts. It does not attempt to supply the higher classes of emigrants with religious observances and teaching. It does this for its own people, who are nearly all of the middle or poorer classes; and, above all, it seeks, and picks up, and cherishes, and humanizes the basest and most brutish of the emigrant population. In the colonies generally, it i- the antagonist, frequently the conqueror, of M 2 164 DISSENTING CHURCHES. drunkenness, which is the chief bane of low colonial life. It makes war upon idleness, roguery, dirt, obscenity, and debauchery. In the convict colonies, and those which are infected by them, it is the great antagonist of Downing-street, whose polluting emigra- tion it counteracts, by snatching some, and guarding others from the pestilence of convict contamination. If it had the power which the Church of England has in our legislature, it would put a stop to the shame of convict colonization, open and disguised. For it is truly a colonizing church : it knows that in coloniza- tion, as you sow, so shall you reap: it acts on this belief with vigour and constancy of purpose that put the other churches to shame, and with a degree of success that is admirable, considering that its first " centenary" was only held the other day. After the Wesleyans, I should award the first rank in point of efficiency to the two churches of Scotland, but especially to the Free Church, but merely because in the colonies it is becoming the only Church of Scotland. Next come Independents, Baptists, and other Dissenters from the Church of England. Then the Roman Catholics, whose lower position arises from no want of zeal or organization, but solely from the poverty of the great bulk of Catholic emigrants. And last of all figures the Church of England, which, considering the numbers and wealth of her people at home, and her vast influence accordingly, can oifer no excuse for neglecting her colonial people ; save one only, that in consequence of her connexion with the state, she is, in the colonies, subject to the Colonial Office, and therefore necessarily devoid of energy and enterprise. I will not meddle here with the causes of the CONDITION OF HIGH PROFITS. 165 inadequacy of religious provisions for our colonies; still less with the means of removing them. My only object heiv has been to show, that the actual state of colonial provisions for religion is well calculated to deter the better order of people, and especially the better order of women, from going to live and die in a colony. LETTER XXV. From the Colonist. COMBINATION AND CONSTANCY OF LABOUR ARE INDIS- PENSABLE CONDITIONS OF THE PRODUCTIVENESS OF INDUSTRY. - HOW COLONIAL CAPITALISTS SUFFER FROM THE DIVISION AND INCONSTANCY OF LABOUR. rPHE condition of a capitalist in a colony is gene- rally well known in the circle which he quitted on emigrating. It is not always a condition envied by them or agreeable to himself: it is often, on the contrary, a state of great unhappiness. Referring to what has been said before about the high rate of colonial profits, I have now to request your special attention to an absolute condition of a high rate of profit anywhere, and, indeed, of any return whatever from capital, which is often wanting or deficient in colonies, though not in old countries. In this country, for example, it never comes into anybody's head to doubt that capital can be employed in a productive business. There is the capital, and 166 COMBINATION AND CONSTANCY OF LABOUR, there is the business : put the one into the other, and all will go well. The business, let us suppose, is the farming of 500 acres of fertile land in a high state of cultivation, well found in drainage, fences, and build- ings, and rent free : the capital is 5000 worth of the things requisite for carrying on the business of the farm, such as crops in the ground, live stock, fodder, implements, and money at the bank wherewith to pay outgoings till incomings restore the invested capital. Nothing more seems requisite. Now, let us suppose that, by some strange means or other, the farmer were deprived of his horses, and precluded from getting others: his balance, at the end of the year, would probably be on the wrong side. But, now, let us suppose, the number of labourers on this farm being thirty, that two-thirds of them quitted their employer, and that he was totally unable to get others in their place : and suppose, further, that in order to keep the services of the labourers who remained with him, he was obliged to triple their wages. This farmer would soon be ruined. He would be ruined, not by having to pay such high wages, because his whole outlay in wages would not be increased, but by the unpro- ductiveness of the labour of ten men in a business requiring that of thirty. We can hardly bring our- selves to imagine the occurrence of such a case here. It is substantially an every-day case in the colonies. Farmers, or other men of business there, can get and keep horses as many as they please, but they cannot do so with labourers. Labour, which is here a drug, is scarce there. The scarcity of labourers in colonies has effects on the condition of capitalists which require some particular description. INDISPENSABLE CONDITIONS. 167 It has long been an axiom with political economists, that the most important improvement in the applica- tion of human industry is what they call " the division of labour :" the produce, they show, is great in pro- portion as the labour is divided. Adam Smith's famous chapter on the subject satisfies the mind on this point. But he fell into an error of words, which has kept out of view until lately, that what he calls the division of labour, is wholly dependent upon something It is dependent upon combination amongst the labourers. In his illustrative case of the pin-factory, for example, the separate parts of the whole work of making a pin could not be assigned to different persons one drawing the wire, another polishing it, a third cutting it in bits, a fourth pointing one end of the bits, a fifth making the heads, a sixth putting them on, and so forth unless all these persons were brought together under one roof, and induced to co-operate. The bringing together of workmen, and inducing them to co-operate, is a combination of labour : it cannot be properly called by any other name. But how can the same thing be division of labour, and combination of labour? One of the expressions must be wrong. We have seen that what is called combination of labour, is what it is called. Is that really " division of labour," which is so called? It is not. The assignment of several parts of a work to different labourers is a division, not of the labour, but of the work or employ- ment. The whole work or employment of making a pin is divided amongst many persons, each of whom takes a distinct part : their labour is not divided, but is .ii the contrary combined, in order to enable them to divide the employment. 168 COMBINATION AND CONSTANCY OF LABOUR, This is not a merely verbal distinction : it is neces- sary to prevent confusion of ideas, indispensable in order to understand the principal impediment to the emigration of capitalists and gentry. The division of employments, as I cannot help always calling it, increases the produce of industry. But it never can take place without combination of labour. Combina- tion of labour is a condition of all the improvements of industry, and of all the increase of produce in pro- portion to capital and labour, which are occasioned by division of employments. Combination of labour is further indispensable to the carrying on of works or employments, which are never divided into parts. There are numerous operations of so simple a kind as not to admit of a division into parts, which cannot be performed without the co-operation of many pairs of hands. I would instance the lifting of a large tree on to a wain, keeping down weeds in a large field of growing crop, shearing a large flock of sheep at the right time, gathering a harvest of corn at the time when it is ripe enough and not too ripe, moving any great weight; everything in short, which cannot be done unless a good many pairs of hands help each other in the same undivided employment, and at the same time. The principle of the combination of labour, which seems more important the more one reflects on it, was not perceived until a colonial inquiry led to its dis- covery : it was unnoticed by economists, because they have resided in countries where combination of labour takes place, as a matter of course, whenever it is re- quired : it seems in old countries like a natural pro- perty of labour. But in colonies the case is totally INDISPENSABLE CONDITIONS. 169 different. There, the difficulty of inducing a number of people to combine their labour for any purpose, meets the capitalist in every step of his endeavours, and in every line of industry. I shall speak of its consequences presently. There is another principle of labour which nothing points out to the economical inquirer in old countries, but of which every colonial capitalist has been made conscious in his own person. By far the greater part of the operations of industry, and especially those of which the produce is great in proportion to the capital and labour employed, require a considerable time for their completion. As to most of them, it is not worth while to make a commencement without the certainty of being able to carry them on for several years. A large portion of the capital employed in them is fixed, inconvertible, durable. If anything happens to stop the operation, all this capital is lost. If the harvest cannot be gathered, the whole outlay in making it irrow has been thrown away. Like examples, without end, might be cited. They show that constancy is a no less important principle than combination of labour. The importance of the principle of constancy is not seen here, because rarely indeed does it happen, that the labour which carries on a business, is stopped against the will of the capitalist ; and it perhaps never happens, that a capitalist is deterred from entering on an undertaking by the fear that in the middle of it he may be left without labourers. But in the colonies, on the contrary, I will not say that this occurs every day, because capitalists are so much afraid of it, that they avoid its occurrence as much as they can, by avoiding, as much as possible, operations which re- 170 DIVISION AND INCONSTANCY OF LABOUR quire much time for their completion ; but it occurs, more or less, to all who heedlessly engage in such operations, especially to new comers ; and the general fear of it the known difficulty of providing with cer- tainty that operations shall not be stopped or in- terrupted by the inconstancy of labour is as serious a colonial impediment to the productiveness of industry as the difficulty of combining labour in masses for only a short time. Combination and constancy of labour are provided for in old countries, without an effort or a thought on the part of the capitalist, merely by the abundance of labourers for hire. In colonies, labourers for hire are scarce. 'The scarcity of labourers for hire is the uni- versal complaint of colonies. It is the one cause, both of the high wages which put the colonial labourer at his ease, and of the exorbitant wages which sometimes harass the capitalist. I inclose a letter. The writer was a peasant girl in the parish of Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, whose vicar enabled her to emigrate with her penniless husband to New Zealand. The couple are now worth in land, stock, and money, perhaps seven or eight hundred pounds. She says, " the only cuss of this colony is the exhorburnt wagers one has to pay." She liked the " exhorburnt wagers " whilst her husband received them. I am personally acquainted with a good many cases in which, in West Australia, South Australia, Australia Felix, and New Zealand, the whole property of a capitalist was drawn out of him by exorbitant wages. In those cases, the unfortunate capitalist was a recent emigrant; and he undertook some operation, generally farming on a scale in the English proportion to his capital, which could not be INJURIOUS TO COLONISTS. 171 carried on without constantly combining a good deal of labour for hire; and he paid away his property in order to induce a number of labourers to continue in his service; in order, that is, to obtain combination and constancy of labour. If he had not obtained it, after placing his capital in an investment that required it, he would have been as effectually ruined as he was by paying exorbitantly for it. Emigrant capitalists are not generally ruined in this way, because they al >stain from placing their whole capital in the jeopardy of being dependent for its preservation on combination and constancy of labour. They regulate their pro- ceedings by the supply, and the prospect of a supply, of labour in the colony; and if labour is, or is likely to be, scarce, they abstain from undertaking operations, to the successful completion of which a scarcity of labour is necessarily fatal. But this abstinence is annoying to them ; the necessity of observing it, frus- trates their plans, and disappoints their hopes. The scarcity of labour forces them into a way of life which they never contemplated, and which they dislike. They are disappointed and uncomfortable. That they are so, becomes known to their friends in England; and the circulation of this knowledge through a num- ber of channels here, gradually forms a public opinion unfavourable to the prospect of capitalists in this or that colony, and becomes a serious impediment to the emigration of people of that class. 172 LETTER XXVL From the Statesman. THE STATESMAN POINTS OUT AN APPEARANCE OF CON- TRADICTION BETWEEN THE TWO ASSERTIONS, THAT LABOUR IN NEW COLONIES IS VERY PRODUCTIVE IN CONSEQUENCE OF BEING ONLY EMPLOYED ON THE MOST FERTILE SOILS, AND THAT IT IS UNPRODUC- TIVE IN CONSEQUENCE OF BEING MUCH DIVIDED AND INTERRUPTED. T/'OUR account of the life of a colonial capitalist is not very pleasing ; and I can well understand how the circumstances you describe, should operate as a check to the emigration of people who have the means of carrying on business here. I fancy that if the truth, as you conceive it, were fully known in this country, very few capitalists would be disposed to emigrate; or that, at all events, but few colonies would be very attractive to emigrants of that class. But your view of the matter appears to be at variance with one of your main propositions as to the attractive- ness of colonies. You are impressed with a belief that in colonies generally, the rate of profits is high as compared with its rate in this country ; and in one of your letters you explained that the high rate of colonial A PARADOX. 173 profits is occasioned, partly by the great productive- ness of industry, and partly by the fact that the land- lord and the government take but a small share of that large produce. But is the produce large? Is colonial industry so productive as you assert? That they are so is a common belief; but I cannot reconcile the fact with your explanation of the manner in which the scarcity of labour for hire in the colonies impedes combination and constancy of labour. You insist, with every appearance of being in the right, that com- bination and constancy are essential to a large pro- duction in proportion to the capital and labour em- ployed: you say that in colonies, combination and constancy of labour are always difficult, often impos- sible ; that one of the characteristics of colonies is the general separation of labour into single pairs of hands, and the difficulty of retaining even one pair of hands in the service of the capitalist : yet you say that the produce of capital and labour in colonies is greater than in old countries, where the utmost combination of uninterrupted labour by the same hands is general and always facile. Here surely is, if you will pardon me for saying so, the appearance of a monstrous con- tradiction. I trust that you may be able to explain it away. 174 LETTER XXVII. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST EXPLAINS THAT SCARCITY OF LABOUR IS COUNTERACTED BY VARIOUS KINDS OF SLAVERY AND BY THE DRUDGERY OF CAPITALISTS. EVILS OF THE PRESENCE OF SLAVE CLASSES IN A COLONY. THE two propositions are not a contradiction, but the appearance of one ; and the paradox will be easily explained away. In spite of the scarcity of labour for hire in colonies generally, and in all prosperous colonies without exception, every colony that has prospered, from the time of Columbus down to this day (nor would I exclude the colonies of ancient Greece and Rome), has enjoyed in some measure what I have termed combina- tion and constancy of labour. They enjoyed it by means of some kind of slavery. In the colonies of ancient Greece and Rome, all the labourers were slaves. Their labour was employed as constantly, and as much in combination, as their masters pleased. It was the same in the West-India colonies of Spain, England, France, Holland, and Denmark. The slavery of the Indians furnished constancy and combination of labour to the Spanish colonies of Mexico and South America ; HOW SCARCITY OF LABOUR IS COUNTERACTED. 175 that of negroes to the Portuguese colonizers of Brazil. In the greater part of the English colonies of North AiiuTu-a, negro slavery counteracted the scarcity of labour for hire. In New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, there has been convict slavery; in South Africa, the Mauritius, and Bourbon, negro slavery. In the colonies of North America, where negro slavery was not at all, or not largely, established, there has been a virtual slavery in the forms of ser- vants kidnapped in Europe, and "indented" in Ame- rica, and " redemptioners," or immigrants whom a contract bound to their masters for a term of years, and whom either their utter ignorance of the law and language of America, or the force of opinion and combination amongst the masters, compelled to abide by their contracts for service. There are other ways in which there may be slavery in fact without the name. The freed negroes, and their descendants, of some of the states of North America which either never permitted, or have abolished slavery, are vir- tually a sort of slaves, by means of their extreme degradation in the midst of the whites; and the hordes of Irish-pauper emigrants who pour into North America, British and American, are, in a considerable proportion, virtually slaves by means of their servile, In xy. reckless habit of mind, and their degradation in the midst of the energetic, accumulating, prideful, domineering Anglo-Saxon race. The slavery of all these different kinds, in these many countries, has constituted an enormous amount of slavery. The negro slaves of the United States must be approaching four millions in number, and worth to sell at market about half the amount of our immense national debt. If we 176 HOW SCARCITY OF LABOUR IS COUNTERACTED. could count the slaves, nominal and virtual negroes, called slaves, trampled free-negroes, indented servants, redemptioners, convicts, and slavish Irish who have inhabited modern colonies in various parts of the world since the discovery of America, we should readily understand their importance as an element of colonial society. Colonial slavery in its various forms has been the principal means of raising that great produce for ex- portation, for which prosperous colonies are remark- able. Until lately, nearly the whole of the exported produce of the United States, consisting of sugar, rice, tobacco, and cotton, was raised by the combined and constant labour of slaves ; and it could not have been raised under the circumstances by any other means. The like cases of the West Indies and Brazil would have occurred to you without being mentioned. The great public works of those states of the American Union that forbid slavery, could not have been at- tempted without a large supply of slavish Irish labour, by which, indeed, as regards labour, they have been almost entirely executed. Domestic service in those countries depends on the existence of " niggers" called free, and of servile Irish emigration. I could fill a whole letter with bare examples of a like kind, but will confine myself to one more, which will serve for general illustration. In Tasmania, which is fast losing its ugly name of Van Diemen's Land, there are farms, being single pro- perties, consisting of seven or eight hundred acres each, under cultivation, besides extensive sheep and cattle runs, the farming of which is not inferior to that of Norfolk and the Lothians. A description of one of SCARCITY OF LABOUR. 177 rlu >e farms is before me. The eight hundred acres a iv divided into fields of from thirty to fifty acres 'jK-h. The fences are as good as can be. The land is kept thoroughly clear of weeds ; a strict course of husbandry is pursued; and the crops, especially of turnips, are very large. The garden and orchards are extensive, kept in apple-pie order, and very productive. The house is of stone, large and commodious. The farm buildings are ample in extent, and built of stone with solid roofs. The implements are all of the best kinds, and kept in perfect order. The live stock, for the most part bred upon the spot, is visited as a show on account of its excellence, and would be admired in the best-farmed parts of England: it consists of 30 cart horses, 50 working bullocks, 100 pigs, 20 brood mares, 1000 head of horned cattle, and 25,000 fine- wooled sheep. On this single establishment, by one master, seventy labourers have been employed at the same time. They were nearly all convicts. By con- vict labour, and that alone, this fine establishment was founded and maintained. Nothing of the sort could have existed in the island if convicts had not been transmitted thither, and assigned upon their landing to settlers authorized to make skves of them. In this small island, of which the whole population is under 70,000, there have been at one time fifty establish- ments much resembling that which I have described. In British North America, there is not one that bears the slightest resemblance to it, in point of scale, per- fection of management, or productiveness in propor- tion to the capital or labour employed : for the slavish Irish labour of a colony is less easily combined, and (ess surely retained, than convict slave-labour, I N 178 SCARCITY OF LABOUR. doubt whether in all Canada, though many a first-rate English and Scotch farmer have emigrated thither, there is even one farm of 500 acres, the management of which would not be deemed very slovenly in Scot- land or England, or of which the produce in propor- tion to capital and labour amounts to half that of a Tasmanian farm. I rather think, indeed, that in all Canada, there is not a farm of 500 acres in real culti- vation, however slovenly and unproductive. The Tasmanian farmer grows rich (or rather did grow rich, for a change of policy at the Colonial Office has put a stop to the supply of useful convict labour) : the Canadian farmer vegetates or stagnates : if he and his family do not work hard themselves as labourers, he is very apt to be ruined. This brings me to another feature of colonial life, which is occasioned by the scarcity of labour for hire. In the colonies where the scarcity of labour for hire is not counteracted by a slavery sharp enough for the purpose, capitalists generally, and especially those of them who cultivate the soil, work a great deal with their own hands : they are labourers as well as capi- talists. If a solitary individual cannot without the consent of others enjoy any combination of labour be- yond that of his own two hands, he can at any rate make that labour constant : he can depend upon himself for the continuance of the labour which his own hands are capable of performing. The capitalist, therefore, by working himself, secures the constant labour of one pair of hands at any rate. Moreover, when the capi- talists generally work with their own hands, they make arrangements among themselves for occasionally combining their labour. Nine of them meet, and DRUDGERY OF CAPITALISTS. 179 help a tenth, A, to build him a house, clear his land, <>r outlier in his crop. Another day, A meets eight of his neighbours, to help B : in turn, C, D, E, F, and the rest get helped. They are all benefited by some combination of labour. Without any kind of slavery, therefore, in a colony, and with the utmost scarcity of labour for hire, there is some constancy and some combination of labour ; but the labour which is con- stant, is that of the capitalist working himself, who is the master of his own pair of hands ; and the labour which is combined, is that of more than one capitalist, occasionally agreeing to work together for the benefit of each of them in turn. The farmers of Canada, and of the non-slaveholding states of America, are gene- rally labourers as well as capitalists: it is their drudgery as labourers, not their skill as capitalists, which enables them to produce wheat for exportation. I have endeavoured to show, that the scarcity of labour for hire in the colonies has been counteracted partly by some kind of slavery, partly, though in a less degree, by the drudgery of the capitalist. If you see this plainly, the paradox must have vanished. The two propositions do not contradict each other. Combination and constancy of labour are essential to a large production. In colonies, combination and constancy of labour are always difficult, often impos- sible: one of the characteristics of colonies is the uvncral separation of labour into single pairs of hands. But the colonial tendency to separation and incon- stancy of labour is counteracted by slavery in various forms, and by the drudgery of the capitalist. The labour of slaves and of capitalists is applied to only the most fertile soils ; nearly all the produce is shared N2 180 SLAVE LABOUR. by those who raise it, because the share of the land- lord and the government is insignificant : the net pro- duce, over and above rent and taxes, is sufficient to provide for high wages and high profits. But that which in colonies counteracts the tendency of scarcity of labour for hire, is an obstacle to the emi- gration of capitalists. Capitalists brought up in this country do not like to work with their own hands : they like to direct with their heads the labour of others. The necessity of working with their own hands is apt to disgust the emigrant capitalist, and to send him back to this country a discontented and complaining man. If, in order to avoid the annoyance, and, as he feels it, the degradation, of working with his own hands, and making his children work with theirs, he resorts to some sort of slavery, he is still apt to be very much annoyed. Negro slavery is detestable for the master who was not bred, born, and educated within hearing of the driving-whip. If I could find a stronger word than detestable, I would apply it to the life of a decent Englishman who has become a driver of convicts in Tasmania. "Free nigger" labour, even in domestic service, is not agreeable for the master, because he continually feels that the servant ought to hate him as one of the class which despises and loathes the whole negro race. The careless, lazy, slovenly, dirty, whining, quarrelsome, Saxon-hating, Irish- pauper emigrants are labourers, whom no English or Scotch or American capitalist would be dependent upon for carrying on his business, if he could by any means avoid the trouble and annoyances of such a dependence. As respects the degraded races and orders of men, SLAVE-CLASSES IN COLONIES. 181 whose presence in colonies counteracts the scarcity of labour for hire, I have thus far alluded only to the individual feelings of capitalists as employers of such labour ; but the subject involves another consideration which must not be left unnoticed. The presence of these degraded people in a colony, whether they are negro slaves, " free niggers," convicts in bondage, emancipated convicts, the immediate oifspring of convicts, or pauper- Irish emigrants, is a public nuisance, a political danger, a social plague. It is tolerable, indeed, for those who are used to it, and to whom it is, moreover, a convenience in other respects : but the British capitalist is not used to it; it is not yet a nuisance to him, however convenient; he is not forced to put himself into the midst of it; and, in proportion as he is acquainted with its operation in colonies, he is disinclined to emigrate. Something about it is known in this country; enough to create a vague impression that the scarcity of good labour for hire in colonies is a great evil. More and more is likely to be known about it ; and I do believe that if the affliction which colonies suffer from the presence of substitutes for good labour for hire, were generally and familiarly known in this country, the emigration of respectable people would nearly cease. 182 LETTER XXVIII. From the Statesman. THE STATESMAN ALMOST DESPAIRS OF COLONIZATION, AND ASKS FOR A SUGGESTION OF THE MEANS BY WHICH SCARCITY OF LABOUR MAY BE PREVENTED WITHOUT SLAVERY. \7"OUR explanation has satisfied my judgment on the point in question, but disappointed my hopes. I had hoped that we might, at least, colonize on a much greater scale than at present ; but now I almost despair of it. I saw before how the scarcity of labour for hire, by injuriously affecting the productive- ness of capital and labour, limited the attraction of colonies for emigrants of the richer class; and I now perceive how this colonial deficiency is counteracted ; but the remedy strikes me as being worse than the disease. As an economical remedy, it is but partial and incomplete, whilst it is itself a political and social malady. Even if the existence of slave classes in the colonies were not a political and social evil, how could we make it correspond in amount with the progress of colonization? how maintain a supply of slavish labour in proportion to a great increase of capitalist emigration? In the British colonies, negro slavery IMPEDIMENTS TO COLONIZATION. 183 has ceased, and convict slavery has, I believe, been nearly abolished. Will not the total abolition of con- vict slavery in Tasmania have the same effect for capitalists there, as the abolition of negro-slavery in the British West Indies ? It can have no other effect, if your view of the whole subject is just. Irish-pauper emigration may doubtless be greatly extended; but there are many colonies to which this emigration does not proceed ; and in the colonies to which it does, it brings about a state of national antagonism so like that which prevails in Ireland, as to be very disagree- able for Scotch and English emigrants of every class. Upon the whole therefore, it seems to me that we are stopped by a difficulty as formidable, as the scarcity of labour for hire appeared to me before you explained how it was counteracted. I see no use hi going on with our inquiry, if you do not see a way of counter- acting scarcity of labour for hire in colonies, otherwise than by some kind of slavery. What other impedi- ments to colonization there may be, it matters little to ascertain if the impediment of scarcity of labour for hire, or of the multiform slavery by which it is coun- teracted, is to continue unabated. I think, therefore, that this is the proper stage in our inquiry for deter- mining what means there may be, besides slavery, of counteracting the scarcity of labour for hire. I am aware that you have a theory on that subject. It is founded of course on a view of the causes of the scarcity of labour for hire, to which I now observe that you have not made any allusion. I understand that you intend to explain them, and to propose a means of removing or counteracting them ; but I wish to know at once what your plan is, so that I may 184 STATE OF COLONIAL POLITICS. determine whether or not it is worth my while to bestow more attention on the whole subject. If your plan for counteracting scarcity of labour for hire with- out any kind of slavery, should appear sufficient for its purpose theoretically, and practicable as well, let us go on to the other impediments of colonization ; if not, let us confess, or I for one shall be under the necessity of confessing, that an increase of colonization corresponding with the wants of the mother-country is out of our reach. LETTER XXIX. From the Colonist. STATE OF COLONIAL POLITICS. VIOLENT COURSES OF POLITICIANS. IRISH DISTURBANCES. MALIGNITY OF PARTY WARFARE. DESPERATE DIFFERENCES OF CO- LONISTS. DEMOCRACY AND DEMAGOGUISM IN ALL COLONIES. BRUTALITY OF THE NEWSPAPERS. T HAVE deliberately abstained from alluding to the -- causes of the scarcity of labour. I did so with a view of preserving the order of discussion, which I understood to be a settled point. That order would be greatly disturbed, if I were now to go into the causes of any of the existing impediments to coloniza- tion; still more, if I were to pursue the subject of remedies for these impediments. There is, of course, an intimate relation between the causes and the remedies ; and in this instance, if I touched upon the STATE OF COLONIAL POLITICS. 185 causes, I should be led to the subject of remedies, and should almost reverse the settled order of inquiry, by discussing means and plans before the character of the obstacles was denned. It happens, moreover, that the means by which some of the impediments might be removed, would also have the effect of removing others. Before entering on the subject of means, therefore, it seems very expedient to consider all the impediments. I proceed accordingly, taking for granted that on reflection you will approve of it, to notice the re- maining impediments to colonization. I have hitherto spoken of capitalists as a distinct class, because it is as a distinct class that they suffer more than anybody else from the scarcity of labour for hire. But they also suffer along with others from another sort of colonial evils. These evils are all impediments to colonization. They affect the higher order of emigrants. The one to which I propose confining this letter, is the state of colonial politics. There is nothing perhaps which more offends the tastes and habits of the better class of emigrants, than the state of colonial politics. By the word politics I do not mean government, but what one sex in England supposes that the other talks about when left alone after dinner. Colonial party -politics, then, are remark- able for the factiousness and violence of politicians, the prevalence of demagoguism, the roughness and even brutality of the newspapers, the practice in carrying on public differences of making war to the knife, and always striking at the heart. In a colony with a representative form of government, if the exe- cutive, which generally sides with the minority, pro- poses something disagreeable to the majority, or if the 186 VIOLENT COURSES OF POLITICIANS. majority proposes something of which the minority disapproves, the two parties insult and provoke each other for a time; and the majority is apt to resort to impeachment or a stoppage of the supplies. On the other hand, the minority, not to be behind the majo- rity in resorting to extreme measures, frequently uses the veto. The last resource of the British constitution, which we have hardly used at all since we completed our constitution in 1688, and shall probably never use again, are ordinary weapons of colonial party warfare. Rebellions are not very uncommon, and are not com- mon only because, in most colonies, rebellion has no chance of success. In all our colonies, at all times, a rebellious spirit may be observed. In saying this, I do not forget my previous statements about the impe- rial loyalty of colonists. The rebellious spirit in ques- tion does not hate England or the imperial connexion ; it only hates the government of the colony, which is not England nor the imperial government. What it is, I shall have the pleasure of explaining soon. Mean- while you will comprehend, that this hatred of their government by colonists, and, as a consequence, of colonists by their government, are disagreeable circum- stances in the social state of colonies. It was from such a state of hatred between subjects and their government, that the Canadian rebellions sprang, and that the body of South- African colonists fled, who settled at Port Natal, and are now fighting with us there for their independence. It is a state of things by no means confined, as the last instance shows, to representative colonies, or caused by representative institutions. On the contrary, there is less of it in Canada at this time than in any other colony, because IRISH DISTURBANCES. 187 there representative institutions are becoming a reality, and regular party-government is taking the place of what Lord Durham called a " constituted anarchy." These extremes of violence do riot of course break out veiy frequently : still, as they are of a character to insure their being heard of in this country, they hap- pen often enough to make an impression here, that the peace of colonies is apt to be disturbed by them ; that colonial public life resembles public life in Ireland. Essentially Irish disturbances of another kind are by no means rare in some colonies. In Canada, the Orange and Milesian factions have been effectually transplanted, and wage a perpetual war. Savage encounters between them, resulting in bloodshed amongst the combatants, and producing terror and disgust for other people, are of frequent occurrence. Even at the antipodes of Ireland, at Port Philip, in Australia Felix, a large immigration of Milesian Irish has produced faction fights and frightful rows, that could only be suppressed by the armed force of govern- ment. But in this respect, Mr. Mothercountry may say, the colonies only suffer in common with ourselves. He ought to say, in common with that part of the kingdom which is called Ireland, and which in can- dour he should add, is the last place to which the in- habitants of the other parts would think of emigrating. But there is a violence short of rebellion, faction- fighting, impeachment, and stopping the supplies, by which public and also private life in the colonies generally, more or less, is made uncomfortable for emi- grants who have not yet learned to practise it ; and especially if they are emigrants of the most valuable class. When colonists, I am speaking generally, 188 MALIGNITY OF PARTY WARFARE. and would allow for exceptions, differ upon such a point, for example, as the amount of a proposed import duty or the direction of a road, both sides treat the question as if it were one of life and death ; and instead of compromising their difference, or giving a quiet victory to the preponderating weight of votes or influence, they instantly set about tearing each other to pieces with the tongue and pen, after the manner of the late Daniel O'Connell. A colo- nist who meddles with public matters, should have a skin of impenetrable thickness. Quiet sort of people who emigrate, though often the best quali- fied for public business, generally refuse to meddle with it : they cannot endure the scarification to which any interference with it would expose them. But it is not the skin alone that suffers, when thin enough. Frequent scarification renders mt>st colonial skins so impenetrably thick, that the utmost vituperation makes hardly any impression upon them. Eecourse there- fore is had to something sharper than billingsgate. It is a general custom in the colonies, when your antagonist withstands abuse, to hurt him seriously if you can, and even to do him a mortal injury, either in order to carry your point, or to punish him for having carried his. In every walk of colonial life, everybody strikes at his opponent's heart. If a governor or high officer refuses to comply with the wish of some leading colonists, they instantly try to ruin him by getting him recalled with disgrace: if two officials disagree, one of them is very likely to be tripped up and destroyed by the other : if an official or a colonist offends the official body, they will hunt him into jail or out of the colony : if two settlers dis- COLONIAL DEMOCRACY. 189 agree about a road or a watercourse, they will attack i -arli other's credit at the bank, rake up ugly old stories about each other, get two newspapers to be the instruments of their bitter animosity, perhaps ruin each other in a desperate litigation. Disagreement and rivalry are more tiger-like than disagreement and rivalry in this country. Colonists at variance resemble the Kilkenny cats. Colonial democracy is not pleasant to emigrants of the gentry class : and least of all is it pleasant to them when they happen to be very well qualified by moral and intellectual qualities for taking a useful part in the public affairs of their new country. Colonial demo- cracy is of two distinct kinds. First, in the represen- tative colonies, there is the democracy which arises from a suffrage practically next to universal; and secondly, there is the democracy of the bureaucratic colonies which grows out of arbitrary government. I hope that a few words about each of them may not be unacceptable. In Canada, as in most of the adjoining States, the best men, as we should consider them, that is, the wisest and most upright men are seldom the favourite candidates of the majority of voters, generally not oven candidates at all. The favourite candidates are the ablest demagogues ; the men who best know how to flatter the prejudices and excite the passions of the ignorant and passionate mass of electors. The result is that not a few of the "representatives of the people," whether in the House of Assembly or the District Councils, are of that order of noisy, low-lived, spout- ing, half-educated, violent, and unscrupulous poli- ticians, one or two of whom occasionally get into the 190 COLONIAL DEMOCRACY. British House of Commons. In the Canadian As- sembly, there is always a considerable proportion of Busfield Ferrands and Feargus O'Connors. From this fact you will infer many more which exhibit the influence of Canadian democracy. It is an influence which pervades public life in the colony, and thus to a great extent keeps the best class of emigrants out of public life. In saying that the other representative colonies resemble Canada more or less in this respect, I must exclude those of the West Indies, in which the bulk of the people, having been recently slaves, have not yet acquired the voter's qualification. In those colonies, however, if the bottom of society is not yet put at top by a suitable parliamentary suffrage, there is the prospect of a Black democracy less tolerable for the higher order of colonists and even for all Whites, than is, for settlers of the higher order, the actual de- mocracy of colonies inhabited by people of one colour. The democracy of the representative colonies is obviously caused by a democratic suffrage : that of the bureaucratic colonies is occasioned by withholding from all settlers all part in the government of their country. In the latter case, the settlers having no political rights, resort to agitation as the only means of in- fluencing the governor and his nominated council of officials. They make use of petitions, remonstrances, and public meetings. The Opposition of the colony as distinguished from its Government, is carried on by means of public meetings. In New South Wales, Australia Felix, South Australia, and New Zealand, the common mode of endeavouring to influence the local government or its masters in Downing-street, is by getting up a public meeting, and publishing its BRUTALITY OF THE NEWSPAPERS. 191 proceedings in the newspapers. The calling of a public meeting is an appeal to numbers, to the majo- rity, to the democratic principle. The device of select meetings, such as those from which our anti-corn-law league used to exclude people who disagreed with them, by means of tickets of admission, is not adopted in colo- nies because it would not work there. It would not work for two reasons ; first, because the official party would in some cases snap their fingers at what they might truly call a " hole-and-corner" meeting; and secondly, because, if the majority were excluded from a meeting by means of tickets, and thereby deeply offended, the official party, by the aid of some purchased dema- gogue, would easily get up a counter meeting more numerous and violent than the one directed against themselves. The system of opposing government by means of public meetings is an irregular democracy for opposition purposes. When the object is, as some- times happens, to support the government faction, it is more than ever necessary to avoid offending the ma- jority, who therefore enjoy for the occasion a sort of universal suffrage. None of the factions into which a colony may be divided, has recourse to a public meeting without intending an appeal to numbers. The practice of appealing to numbers becomes habitual. Politicians in the bureaucratic colonies, therefore, not \< '-pting the highest officials when it happens to suit their purpose, naturally resort to the arts of the dema- gogue; demagogues are the leading politicians. The newspaper press of these bureaucratic colonies is to the full as demagoguish as coarse, as violent, as unscru- pulous, often as brutal as that of the representative c<>loiik-> in which the democracy is constituted bylaw. 192 BRUTALITY OF THE NEWSPAPERS. Of course, there are exceptions to this as to every other rule. There have been colonial newspapers, though I do not recollect one that lasted long, re- markable for moderation and forbearance. There are one or two colonies, I believe, like West Australia, so stagnant, tame, and torpid, as to have no politics. Even in the most political colonies, there are times, of course, when politics are comparatively asleep. I am speaking generally. As a general rule, colonial politics are like what ours would be, if our suffrage were either made universal, or totally abolished. In either of those cases, I fancy, a colony which had representative go- vernment, with a suffrage that gave influence to the wisest and most upright, would attract swarms of the most valuable class of emigrants. At present that is a class of emigrants, which colonial politics repel. 193 LETTER XXX. From the Colonist. THE PRIVILEGED CLASS IN COLONIES. NATURE OF THEIR PRIVILEGES. THE ROAD TO OFFICE IN REPRESENTA- TIVE COLONIES WHERE RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IS ESTABLISHED, AND WHERE IT IS NOT. EMIGRANTS OF THE BETTER ORDER A PROSCRIBED CLASS AS RE- SPECTS OFFICE. T/ r OU may suppose that the democracy of the colonies is accompanied by a perfect equality. It is so with the democracy of the United States, but not with that of our colonies. As in Turkey there is equality without democracy, so in our colonies there is demo- cracy without equality. In the colonies, however, there is but one privileged class which, so to speak, is more privileged than any class in any European country at present, excepting Russia perhaps. This privileged class is as proud, though in a way of its own, as exclusive, as insolent, as deeply convinced of the inferiority or nothingness of the other classes, as was the noblesse of old France. But its privileges are not in any measure the attribute of birth : on the con- trary, those who possess them are seldom high-born, often of the meanest extraction. Neither do the pri- vileges grow out of the possession of wealth : on the o L94 THE PKIVILEGED CLASS IN COLONIES. contrary, numbers of the privileged class in colonies are generally without property, often in great want of money, not very seldom on the verge of insolvency. The privileged class in colonies is the official class. I feel at a loss for the means of getting you to understand the nature and extent of the privileges en- joyed by the official class in colonies. It would be easier to make a Frenchman acquainted with the sub- ject. In our colonies, as in France now, office is the only distinction. Of course, whatever is the only dis- tinction in any part of the world, is, in that part of the world, greedily desired and devoutly worshipped by most people. The panting, the dying for office in colonies, is a sight to see. But office in the colonies is so precious, not only because it is the only dis- tinction, but also because it is the only reality of power. The government of our colonies is, for the most part, bureaucratic. In some of the representa- tive colonies, indeed, especially in Canada, the recent adoption of what is called " responsible government" places power in the hands of the parliamentary con- stituencies and those who can win their confidence ; but this is a complete and very modern innovation ; and it has by no means been extended to all the repre- sentative colonies. As in Canada before this innovation, so now in the representative colonies to which it has not been extended, and in all the bureaucratic colonies without exception, all power originates in and is inhe- rent to office. But there is a distinction between the representative and the bureaucratic colonies which must be noted. In the representative colonies which have not obtained responsible government, as formerly in the two Canadas, the executive and the representative COLONIAL OFFICIALS. 195 branches of government are generally at variance: the executive branch sides with the minority in the representative branch. In order to carry on govern- ment at all under this curious system, it is indispen- sable that the executive should have the support of a party or faction in the colony. The governor, therefore, who represents the crown, disposes of offices in favour of such a faction : indeed, the official faction is really the government. It consists of officials and their parti- sans hoping to be officials. It is composed, for the most part, of colonists ; that is, natives or fixed resi- dents of the colony: and it enjoys all the power that is exercised in the colony ; all the power, that is to say, which is compatible with the existence of a vast deal of worrying and sometimes impeding opposition from the majority of the representative body. In the bureaucratic colonies, on the other hand, where constitutionally there is only one branch of government, where the officials alone legislate as well as execute, and where accordingly government may be carried on somehow without the aid of a faction of colonists, the best offices are filled by appointment from Downing- street, generally by strangers to the colony, and almost always without any regard to the wishes of the colo- nists ; and these superior officers appoint to the inferior offices. In those colonies, therefore, the power which the official class enjoys is strictly a privilege, because it is a power independent of its subjects, inherent, as I said before, to the possession of office. But it is not an unlimited power. As in representative colonies not having responsible government, the power of the official faction is limited by the hindering, worrying power of the House of Assembly, so in the bureaucratic o2 196 COLONIAL OFFICES. colonies, the power of the official class is limited by the superior power of the Colonial Office at home. In the former colonies, an official faction enjoys power limited by a nasty local opposition : in the latter, an official class enjoys power limited by a nastier inter- ference from Downing-street. Still in both cases, the power is immense. In the two Canadas, the official faction, backed by the might of the empire, used to have its own way in spite of the Assembly; and has still, in the representative colonies to which responsible government has not been extended : and in the bureau- cratic colonies, the interference of Downing-street is so weakened by distance as to place no very effectual limit on the governing powers of the official class. Whilst speaking of the official class, I wish to exclude for the present the officers called governors, who represent the crown, are nearly always strangers to the colony, and generally hold their appointment for only a few years, sometimes for only a few months. The rest of the official body consists of the colonial secretary; the president of the executive council; the treasurer or inspector-general, who is the principal financial officer; the surveyor-general, and commis- sioner of crown lands, who are a very important people in colonies where there is waste land to be dis- posed of; the attorney and solicitor general ; the judges, and several other judicial officers, such as the sheriff and prothonotary ; and some more which it is not worth while to specify. Nor is the above list appli- cable to all colonies alike, either as respects titles or functions. I give it as a sample, for the mere purpose of indicating the general nature of the functions of the official body in a colony. The subject of those func- COLONIAL OFFICES. 197 tions and the manner in which they are performed, will be fully considered under the head of colonial government. In every colony, nearly all the offices are filled by the governor's appointment in form, just as, in form, the crown appoints to most offices in this country. But the manner in which the appointments take place, differs according to certain peculiar circumstances of each of the three classes of colonies before pointed out. In responsible-government colonies, or rather in Canada alone, because there alone has responsible government obtained anything like a firm footing, the governor appoints on the advice of his executive council or cabinet of ministers; and the ministers are from time to time that set of leading colonists who possess the confidence of the representative body. The ministers being, as with us, responsible to par- liament, and appointed or removed by the votes of parliament, really carry on the government, and there- fore, of course, make the appointments to office, in- cluding their own : the governor does not govern, any more than the Queen here; he only reigns, like her Majesty. In Canada, accordingly (though how long this may last, I pretend not to opine ; for the new system is far from being thoroughly established), an emigrant colonist may get into office if he takes the proper road. The road to office is open to him as well as to any native. The road to office is popular favour, or the confidence of the constituencies; and there is nothing to prevent any emigrant from winning that, after he gets into the way of winning favour in a country where the suffrage is practically almost universal. 198 EXCLUSION OF EMIGRANTS FROM OFFICE. In the representative colonies from which respon- sible government is still withheld, it is exceedingly difficult for an emigrant to get into office by any means. The colonial faction which governs in spite of a representative assembly, does so by means of holding the governor in leading-strings. This is not the proper place for describing the nature of these strings. Suffice it to say here, that they are most artistically formed and as carefully kept in work- ing order. For the making and preservation of them, time, consecutive effort, and incessant vigilance are indispensable. Those, therefore, who hold the strings are a party of long standing and of permanent organization. They belong to the colony. A stranger arriving there would be incapable of joining them from his ignorance of local politics. Besides, they want all the appointments for themselves and their adherents. Unless the whole, or nearly the whole, patronage of the colony were at their disposal, they could not hold together, and defy the representative body, for a single year. They do hold together so as to be commonly called the family compact. In the course of time, an emigrant who has great talents for intrigue, may penetrate into this close corporation, and become one of it : the thing happens every now and then. But allowing for such rare exceptions, the family compact vigorously excludes emigrants from office. It dislikes and fears emigrants as a class. It dislikes them, more especially if they are rich and clever, as persons who may be willing and able to obtain political in- fluence ; as possible rivals, and almost inevitable fault- finders and opponents: it fears them, because they may be able through their connexions at home to get EXCLUSION OF EMIGRANTS FROM OFFICE. 199 at the governor in some way, and may try to take him out of his leading-strings. They would rejoice if there were no* emigration of the better order of people. They do much to prevent it ; and they succeed in materially checking it, by variously ill-treating emigrants of that class. The family compact of Upper Canada, before the black day for them which introduced responsible government, used not only to exclude emigrants of that class from distinction and political power in the land of their adoption, but also to affront and injure them by the numerous means which power can employ for such a purpose. This was one of the causes of the rebellion in Upper Canada. Not that the higher class of emigrants, who were then very numerous, were disposed to rebel : their maladie du pays, their passionate love of England, prevented that : but those who did rebel, thought that, to be sure, the emigrants who had been so ill-treated by the ruling faction, would be disposed to join in a rebellion; and this expectation, it is now well known, had a considerable share in leading the rebels into action. The case of Upper Canada was not singular, though it is better known than others. I think we may lay it down as a rule, with but very rare exceptions, that in a colony governed by a family compact, emigrants of the better order are a proscribed class as respects the enjoyment of distinction and power. They are mere settlers, snubbed and ill-treated by those who enjoy a monopoly of distinction and power; and they can be nothing else. 200 LETTER XXXI. From the Colonist. HOW OFFICIALS ARE APPOINTED IN THE BUREAUCRATIC COLONIES. THEY ARE A SORT OF DEMIGODS, BUT VERY MUCH INFERIOR TO THE BETTER ORDER OF SET- TLERS IN ABILITY, CHARACTER, CONDUCT, AND MAN- NERS. EXAMPLES THEREOF AND THE CAUSES OF IT. BEHAVIOUR OF THE OFFICIALS TO THE BETTER ORDER OF SETTLERS. IN a bureaucratic colony, as in others, the governor ap- points to office. He is generally in leading-strings like the governor of a family-compact colony ; but the strings are pulled by two different sets of hands. As to the great bulk of the higher appointments, he obeys the commands of the Colonial Office at home, which reach him in the form of recommendations delivered by the persons in whose favour they are made. Occa- sionally, with respect to a higher appointment, and always with respect to a good many of the inferior appointments, especially those of which the salary is small, he takes the advice of " the people about him ;" that is, of those among the higher officials who really govern the colony subject to interference from Down- APPOINTMENT OF OFFICIALS. 201 ing-street. These virtual rulers of the colony do not hang together with the tenacity of a regular family compact. Their position does not require that they should do so. They owe their appointments to Down- ing-street; and as long as Downing-street supports one of them he is in no danger of losing his office. The influence at home which induced Downing-street to make the appointment, generally contrives to induce it to support the colonial officer. Such officials, therefore, are in a great measure independent of the governor: they may safely, as respects their own position, neglect the manifold precautions by which a regular family compact keeps the governor in order. Neither are they tormented by a house of assembly, and compelled to guard against its endeavours to take a part in governing the colony. They are altogether more at their ease than the members of a regular family compact, more independent of control, more free to indulge their personal inclinations and passions. We find accordingly, that they often quarrel among themselves, and sometimes with the governor. The jealousies, and rivalries, and hatreds which belong to poor human nature, but which in well-ordered societies are subdued by various restraints, break out uncon- trolled amongst the officials of a bureaucratic colony. The official body is sometimes split into hostile fac- tions ; individuals have bitter public quarrels ; even his excellency the governor himself is often worried, some- times upset, by these his nominal subordinates. But there is one point on which the officials of a bureau- cratic colony never differ; one respect in which they hold together as tenaciously as the best-cemented family compact. They agree in thinking that colonists or 202 DIGNITY OF THE OFFICIALS. settlers, people who come out all that way to improve their condition by their own exertions, are an inferior order of beings ; and they stick close together in re- sisting all attempts on the part of settlers to become officials; to get a share in governing the colony. If they were settlers themselves as well as officials, it would be a fair struggle between the ins and the outs, to which no Englishman would think of objecting : but the officials of a bureaucratic colony are hardly ever settlers. They have their salaries to live on, and generally no other property; that is, no property at all in the colony. They consider their salaries a pro- perty for life ; and the source of it is far away from the colony. They arrive in the colony as utter strangers to it, and in order to exercise the power of governing it : they are, in their own estimation and in that of a good many of the humbler colonists, a sort of demigods, coming from another planet, and gifted by some distant and mysterious authority with the right of governing the settlers. Their dignity would suffer if they became settlers ; if they associated with the settlers except on the most unequal terms, or sympathized with them in any way. Like the caste of Brahmins, they hold themselves apart from the rest of the community and immeasurably superior to it : or rather (for this is a truer comparison) they do not belong to the community at all, but resemble the official class in British India, which exclusively governs, but does not settle, and which regards the natives as a race only fit to be governed by a superior race. For natives, read settlers when a bureaucratic colony is in view. In British India, the natives are what the white CHARACTERISTICS OF OFFICIALS. 203 officials deein them: if they were not, they would hardly submit to be ruled by a handful of foreigners. But in the bureaucratic colonies, the officials are, apart from their official position, which is one of exceeding superiority, very much inferior to the better order of settlers. Pray observe that I speak generally, not denying that there are exceptions, and exceptions which it is a pleasure to record. But, speaking gene- rally, the officials of a bureaucratic colony are inferior to the best settlers in property, manners, and character. The most valuable settlers have a good deal of pro- perty; some a great deal: the officials hardly ever have any property : it is their poverty at home which induces them to seek a colonial appointment ; and they generally spend the whole of their salaries, not unfre- quently as much more as they can get into debt. The best settlers are often men of great ability; as is proved by their success as settlers notwithstanding all the hindrances I have enumerated and some which re- main to be noticed : most of the officials are persons who, in consequence of their want of ability, have broken down in some career at home, or have had no career but that of being supported in idleness by their relations. It is interest of a kind to be hereafter ex- plained, not suitable ability, which in Downing-street is deemed a qualification for office in the colonies: and those for whom this interest is exerted, are, in point of ability only " good enough for colonies ;" that is, persons whose want of ability unfits them for holding office, or otherwise earning their own bread, at home. There are exceptions of more than one kind. It happens sometimes by accident, that a young man of real ability is urged by necessity or led by inclina- 204 INFERIORITY OF OFFICIALS tion to prefer an immediate provision in the colonies to waiting for what his talents might obtain for him at home ; but generally when a person of real ability gets his friends to solicit Downing- street for a colonial appointment, he either prefers an easy life abroad to hard work at home, or has defects of character, perhaps habitual vices, which disqualify him from getting on where he is known. There are a few men of superior ability in the colonial official class appointed by Down- ing-street, who are open to no countervailing reproach : and there are more whose ability is allied to defects or vices of character, that render their talent an evil instead of a benefit to the colony : but all the rest, who therefore constitute the great majority, and exemplify rule, are persons who, in consequence of their want of ability, find office in the colonies a refuge from desti- tution. What are the conduct, character, and manners of the best class of emigrants, is a point that requires only one remark: those only form the best class of emigrants, whose manners, character, and conduct are unexceptionable. Unexceptionable : I would propose no higher standard by which to measure the conduct, character, and manners of the official class in bureau- cratic colonies. Before applying the measure, however, let me again acknowledge that in all colonies probably, certainly in many, there are persons in office who are above the standard ; whom we should unjustly disparage by saying that in conduct, character, and manners, they are only unexceptionable. In every class of man- kind as numerous as the official class in bureaucratic colonies, there are some people who have been always good, and whom nothing can make bad; "nature's TO THE BETTER ORDER OP SETTLERS. 205 noblemen," whose duty to their neighbour is pre- scribed by an inborn conscience, and whose manners represent an inherent benevolence and delicacy. Such people may be found at plough, among common sailors, in the rank and file of desolating armies, in the cor- ruptest parts of great cities ; I had almost said amongst thieves, the thieving apart. Such people there are in bureaucratic-colony official life ; duty-doing men, true, honourable, and public spirited, having generous sym- pathies, and manners remarkable for gentleness and refinement. I am half inclined to mention the names of some of them. But all their names would not occupy much space. They are a small minority ; and they would be amongst the first to admit the truth of what I say about the others. The majority is com- posed of people, some of whom just come up to the standard above proposed ; some a little below it ; some below it to a degree which you, who have had no per- sonal experience of the colonies, will not readily credit. Or rather what you will with difficulty believe, is the large proportion of officials in the bureaucratic colonies who are below the standard. I mean a large proportion whether of the whole number of colonial officials, or in comparison with the proportion of official people in this country whose manners, character, and conduct, are worse than unexceptionable. But how, you will ask, can this be ascertained? With respect to con- duct at least, I can suggest a means by which your curiosity might be satisfied. The Colonial Office could if it pleased, and would if the House of Commons in- sisted on it, though sorely against the grain, furnish a return of the number and titles of officials in the bu- reaucratic colonies, who during the last twenty years 206 DISMISSAL OF OFFICIALS. have been dismissed from office for misconduct. It would be needless to specify the nature of the mis- conduct in each case, because the severe punishment of dismissal from office is only applied in gross and flagrant cases. Indeed, the natural tenderness of officials towards officials induces the Colonial Office, which alone of our public departments is thoroughly bureaucratic in its composition and character, to avoid as much as possible the form of dismissal; and this tenderness equally actuates governors and other colo- nial officials, when they are under the necessity of removing an erring brother. The usual form of dis- missal, therefore, is an intimation to the wrong-doer, that he will only avoid the disgrace of a formal dis- missal by tendering his resignation. The form of dismissal is hardly ever used, I think, except when the wrong-doer is also the scape-goat of his official brethren or of his superiors in Downing-street. The common form of real dismissal is resignation. I men- tion this in order that, if you should try to get such a return, your object may not be defeated by an evasion which might not be discovered, and, if it were, might be defended on the ground of formal accuracy. The return should state under separate heads, whether the officer resigned or was dismissed ; if he was dismissed, for what reason ; if he resigned, for what known or supposed reason; and whether the expediency of his resignation was intimated to him by superior authority. I have no doubt that there are materials in the Colo- nial Office for framing such a return, though for most of them a search must be made in the " confidential," "private," and "secret" pigeon-holes of that depart- ment; for of course, with the exception always of OFFICIAL DEFAULTERS. 207 scape-goat cases, official misconduct in the colonies is carefully kept out of view by those who, if it were mentioned in blue-books, might be held responsible for it. It would be well in such a return to have a column for cases of pecuniary default, which are very nume- rous and very important in the amount of money lost, when compared with such cases here. In this column the sum in default should be given, together with the population and annual income of the colony, so as to afford the means of proportionate comparison with this country. Some of the obvious conclusions from this column would startle the British public. Other sorts of misconduct could not be so easily presented in a tabular form : and, at best, many cases of gross misconduct would escape notice, because the wrong- doers were not dismissed in form or in fact, but are still, socially, high above the worthiest of the settlers. Low character and disgusting manners could not be any how set forth in a return. If we could get at ample information on the whole subject of conduct, character, and manners, the disclosures would make honest John Bull's hair stand on end. We should hear of judges deeply in debt, and alone saved by the privilege of their station from being taken to jail by the officers of their own court. We should hear even of governors landing in secret on their arrival, and getting hastily sworn into office in a corner, for the purpose of hindering officers of the sheriff from executing a writ of arrest against his excellency. We should learn that in the single colony of New South Wales, of which the population was at that time under 200,000, many high officials passed through the in- 208 OFFICIAL INSOLVENTS. solvent court in a single year. It was a year, no doubt, of extraordinary speculation in the colony, occasioned by certain pranks which the government played with the plan of disposing of waste land by sale: but the year 1847 was a year of extraordinary speculation in England without our beholding a consi- derabffc proportion of the highest of our public servants relieved from their speculative engagements by our courts of insolvency : and it is right to observe further, that speculation in railways here by people in office is not misconduct, as speculation in the disposal of colo- nial public land is when the speculators constitute the government which disposes of the land as a trustee for the public. Private speculation by members of the cabinet in a public loan would be more like what took the officials of New South Wales into the insolvent court. In this country, again, bankruptcy or insol- vency deprives a member of parliament of his seat; whereas the insolvent officials of New South Wales continued to hold power afterwards as if they had done nothing wrong: a circumstance proper to be noted, as it serves to show the whereabouts of the standard of respectability among the depositories of power in our colonies. But this is an unpleasant topic; and I will dismiss it after mentioning a few more cases, which are taken from a single colony, and occurred at the same time not long ago. The Treasurer that is, the colonial chancellor of the exchequer was a defaulter. The Colonial Secretary that is, the governor's prime minister was obliged to resign his appointment in consequence of a discovery that a lady who passed as his wife was not married to him ; and he afterwards resigned another office in con- LOW OFFICIALS. 209 sequence of being accused of forging public documents. An office, the duties of which required very high and peculiar qualities that of sole judge of a court of law and conscience was held by a country attorney, whose chief business in England had been the dirty work of elections, and who by that means got the appointment. Another office of still more difficulty and delicacy was given to an awkward half-educated lad of eighteen. Two principal officers of the government fled the colony without waiting to be dismissed, in order to avoid being tried, the one for robbing the pool at cards, the other for a yet more disgraceful crime. And, to conclude, another person, filling an office of great power and importance, was a blackguard in the constant habit of swearing " by the hind leg of the Lamb of God." This last fellow afterwards had the confiding ear of the Colonial Office, in a matter which was decided according to his views, and almost fatally for the colony. Now for the moral, in pursuit of which I have raked into all this mass of filth. The class amongst whom, to say the least, such people are found in no inconsi- derable number, constitutes the only and greatly privileged class in the colonies; the demigods who came from another planet to rule over the settlers. In the colony from which all the latter instances have been taken, there happened to be at the time a number of settlers of the very best sort, gentlemen belonging to some of the best families hi England and Scotland ; Pet res, Cliffords, Dillons, Vavasours, Tytlers, Moles- worths, Jerninghams, Sinclairs, Welds, and such like. They went out under the delusion, among others, that they should have some voice in the government of the 210 HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT colony. Instead of that, they were treated by the officials as an inferior sort of people, whose only proper business it was to create a colonial revenue by their industry, and to take off their hats on-meeting a public functionary. You doubt : I did myself when first I heard of these things. Pray make inquiry for yourself amongst the families above named. By doing so, you will moreover learn how powerfully the low standard of character amongst the only privileged class in colonies, operates against the emigration of the best class of settlers. LETTER XXXII. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST EXPLAINS THE URGENT NEED OF THE INTERVENTION OF GOVERNMENT IN THE MULTIFA- RIOUS BUSINESS OF CONSTRUCTING SOCIETY, AND DE- SCRIBES THE GENERAL PAUCITY, OFTEN THE TOTAL ABSENCE, OF GOVERNMENT IN THE COLONIES OF BRITAIN. T HAVE said that the officials govern. How they - govern, that is, what sort of laws they make, and how they administer them, and how, to a great extent, they govern without laws according to their own will at the moment ; this is an important question to be considered hereafter; but there is another question relating to colonial government which is of even greater importance; namely, how much government British BRITISH COLONISTS OBTAIN. 211 colonists obtain. You may think that the quality is of more moment than the quantity. That depends, however, on the degree in which government is needed. In this country, we suppose that there is always plenty of government : we have no idea of a state of things in which people feel that any government, good, bad, or indifferent, would be better than not enough of any sort. In the colonies this is the ordinary state of things ; and the paucity of government is more inju- rious in the colonies than it would be in an old country. I will try to explain. Referring to my letter on the charms of colonization, I would say that the intervention of government is more, and more constantly, needed in the multifarious business of constructing society, than in that of pre- serving it. The very first operation is to obtain land ; and land, with the essential addition of a good title to it, can only be obtained by the action of government in opening the public waste to settlers by extensive and accurate surveys, and in converting it into private property according to law. The general drainage of the new land, and the making of roads and bridges, require taxation according to law. Magistrates can only be appointed by authority; and even so simple and necessary a law as one for putting trespassing cattle into the pound, cannot exist without the action of government. A good and well-executed law of fencing is indispensable to the well-doing, and even to the peace of a new settlement. Such examples might be multiplied without end. Without plenty of govern- ment, the settlement of a waste country is barbarous and miserable work : the vain exertions, the desperate plunges, the stumbles, the heavy falls, the exhaustion p2 212 SEAT OF GOVEKNMENT. and final faintness of the settlers put one in mind of running, as it is called, in a sack. It is as difficult, as impossible, to colonize well without plenty of go- vernment, as to work a steam-engine without fuel, or breathe comfortably without enough air. Ample government, in a word, is the pabulum vitce, the unre- mitting sine qud non of prosperous colonization. The quality of government, I repeat, is of less moment to colonists than the amount. Throughout the British colonies, the amount of government is curiously small. In every one of our colonies, the main principle of the government of France has been adopted. Whether the government of the colony is democratic in quality, like that of Canada under the responsible system with a suffrage nearly universal, or despotic like that of South Africa or New Zealand, it is at any rate exceedingly central. Whatever else it may be, every colonial government is of the central kind, just like that of modern France, which resides in Paris, whether it is an emperor Napo- leon relying on his army, or a republic based on universal suffrage. In our colonies, government re- sides at what is called its seat : every colony has its Paris or " seat of government." At this spot there is government ; elsewhere little or none. Montreal, for example, is the Paris of Canada. Here, of course, as in the Paris of France, or in London, representatives of the people assemble to make laws, and the executive departments, with the cabinet of ministers, are esta- blished. But now mark the difference between Eng- land on the one hand, and France or Canada on the other. The laws of England being full of delegation of authority for local purposes, and for special pur- CENTRE OF GOVERNMENT. 213 poses whether local or not, spread government all over the country; those of Canada or France in a great measure confine government to the capital and its immediate neighbourhood. If people want to do something of a public nature in Caithness or Corn- wall, there is an authority on the spot which will enable them to accomplish their object without going or writing to a distant place : at Marseilles or Dun- kerque you cannot alter a high road, or add a gens- d'arme to the police force, without a correspondence with Paris : at Gaspe and Niagara you could not until lately get anything of a public nature done without authority from the seat of government. But what is the meaning in this case of a correspondence with Paris or Montreal? it is doubt, hesitation, and ignorant objection on the part of the distant authority; re- ferences backwards and forwards; putting off of decisions; delay without end; and for the applicants a great deal of trouble, alternate hope and fear, much vexation of spirit, and finally either a rough defeat of their object or its evaporation by lapse of time. In France, accordingly, whatever may be the form of the general government, improvement, except at Paris, is imperceptibly slow, whilst in Old, and still more in New England, you can hardly shut your eyes anywhere without opening them on something new and good, produced by the operation of delegated government residing on the spot, or delegated government specially charged with making the improvement. In the colonies, it is much worse than in France. The difficulty there, is even to open a correspondence with the seat of government; to find somebody with whom to corre- spond. In France, at any rate, there is at the centre 214 PAUCITY OF GOVERNMENT. a very elaborate bureaucratic machinery, instituted with the design of supplying the whole country with government : the failure arises from the practical in- adequacy of a central machinery for the purpose in view : but in our colonies, there is but little machinery at the seat of government for even pretending to operate at a distance. The occupants of the public offices at Montreal scarcely take more heed of Gaspe, which is 500 miles off and very difficult of access, than if that part of Canada were in Newfoundland or Europe. Gaspe therefore, until lately, when on Lord Durham's recommendation some machinery of local government was established in Canada, was almost without government, and one of the most barbarous places on the face of the earth. Every part of Canada not close to the seat of government was more or less like Gaspe. Every colony has numerous Gaspes. South Africa, save at Cape Town, is a Gaspe all over. All Australia Felix, being from 500 to 700 miles distant from its seat of government at Sydney, and without a made road between them, is a great Gaspe. In New Zealand, a country 8 or 900 miles long, without roads, and colonized as Sicily was of old, in many distinct settlements, all the settlements except the one at which the government is seated, are miserable Gaspes as respects paucity of government. In each settlement indeed there is a meagre official establishment, and in one of the settlements there is a sort of lieutenant-governor : but these officers have no legislative functions, no authority to determine any- thing, no originating or constructive powers : they are mere executive organs of the general government at the capital for administering general laws, and for COLONISTS AT WELLINGTON. 215 carrying into effect such arbitrary instructions, which are- not laws, as they may receive from the seat of government. The settlers accordingly are always calling out for something which government alone could furnish. Take one example out of thousands. The settlers at Wellington in New Zealand, the prin- cipal settlement of the colony, wanted a lighthouse at the entrance of their harbour. To get a lighthouse was an object of the utmost importance to them. The company in England, which had founded the settle- ment, offered to advance the requisite funds on loan. But the settlement had no constituted authority that could accept the loan and guarantee its repayment. The company therefore asked the Colonial Office, whose authority over New Zealand is supreme, to un- dertake that the money should be properly laid out and ultimately repaid. But the Colonial Office, charged as it is with the general government of some forty distinct and distant communities, was utterly incapable of deciding whether or not the infant settle- ment ought to incur such a debt for such a purpose : it therefore proposed to refer the question to the general government of the colony at Auckland. But Auckland is several hundred miles distant from Wel- lington ; and between these distant places there is no road at all : the only way of communication is by sea : and as there is no commercial intercourse between the places, communication by sea is either so costly, when, as has happened, a ship is engaged for the purpose of sending a message, or so rare, that the settlers at Wellington frequently receive later news from Eng- land than from the seat of their government: and moreover, the attention of their government was 216 PAUCITY OF GOVERNMENT. known to be at the time absorbed with matters re- lating exclusively to the settlement in which the government resided. Nothing, therefore, was done: some ships have been lost for want of a lighthouse ; and the most frequented harbour of New Zealand is still without one. Volumes might be filled with cases like this. I do not mean cases furnished by all the colonies, but that from each colony cases might be drawn that would fill volumes. Nay more, each settlement of every colony would furnish its volumes of cases. For now, please to observe, that although in such a country as New Zealand the general government provides an official establishment, however rude and meagre, for each distinct settlement, there are parts of every settlement into which the action of the local official establishment never penetrates at all. This arises from the difficulties of communication in a new coun- try. There is a considerable proportion of every extensive colony generally the parts most recently occupied in which there is no government. But there are parts of the colony in which construction or creation is more especially the business of the settlers, and in which, therefore, government is more needed than in the other parts. I hope you perceive now, that there is not an outlying district of any of our extensive colonies but would furnish its volumes of cases in which government fails to supply some urgent want of the settlers. The slow progress, the rudeness, the semi-barbarism of what are called back- settlements in Canada and New Brunswick, bush settlements in Australia and New Zealand, are thus sufficiently accounted for. The wonder is that they INDISPOSITION TO EMIGRATE. 217 get on as well as they do. Of this, also, you will probably desire an explanation. It shall be given in due time. Meanwhile, you now, I hope, understand how greatly, not the quality but the paucity of government in our colonies, operates as an impedi- ment to emigration, and more particularly to the emi- gration of the most valuable class of settlers. LETTER XXXIII. From the Statesman. THE STATESMAN THINKS THAT THE COLONIST HAS EXAGGERATED THE INDISPOSITION OF RESPECTABLE PEOPLE TO EMIGRATE. PERMIT me to ask you whether you may not be overstating your case. Any one of the impedi- ments to colonization, as you describe them, appears to me by itself sufficient to deter respectable people from emigrating; and I cannot understand how, with such a number of these impediments as you present to my view, there is any respectable emigration whatever. Yet there is some. One hears, every now and then, in society, of some peer's son, or family of good con- dition, though not large fortune, going out to a colony to settle. I am told that the number who went to Canada shortly before the rebellions was considerable ; and the respectability of the emigration to New Zea- land was a common topic some few years ago. Mr. Mothercountry assures me, that persons highly con- 218 DISPOSITION TO EMIGRATE. nected in this country have gone to Port Philip, and even to New South Wales, which is altogether a con- vict colony; not persons, he says, who though be- longing to families of consequence were in difficulty or under a cloud, but persons who took with them an exemplary character and large capital. He offered to give me their names, and to put me in the way of veri- fying his statement by communication with their families in England. He insists that the facts con- tradict your view of the force of all these obstacles to colonization. I do not agree with him to that extent ; but it appears to me, supposing the facts to be as he represents them, that you over-rate the force of those obstacles. If your estimate of it were perfectly correct, nobody would emigrate but the labouring poor and desperate or needy people of the other classes. Will you excuse me for saying that we must be careful to avoid exaggeration. 219 LETTER XXXIV. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST DEFENDS HIS VIEW OF THE INDISPOSI- TION OF RESPECTABLE PEOPLE TO EMIGRATE, AND SUGGESTS FURTHER INQUIRY BY THE STATESMAN. TWO MORE IMPEDIMENTS TO COLONIZATION. I AM glad that you inquire for yourself, in order to test the soundness of my views. The more you may do so, the better I shall be pleased. Pray do take the names of the well-born emigrants, who carried a high character and good capital to Port Philip and Xew South Wales : and ask their relatives what has become of them. Let me warn you, how- ever, that in putting the question, you must take some care in order to avoid giving pain. If you find that half, or a quarter, of these emigrants have realized the hopes with which they left home if you find the family of even one of them pleased with his position as a colonist I will acknowledge that I have exaggerated. You will learn that most of them have returned to this country, after losing their property either in the gulf of " exhorburnt wagers," or in some pit of colonial " smartness" which was dug on purpose for the unsuspecting emigrant to fall into. You will 220 DISAPPOINTED COLONISTS. not learn that one of them really liked anything but the climate, and the absence of that uneasiness and poverty which in this country arises from excessive competition. I wish you could fall in with a gentle- woman who has been induced to emigrate; more especially if she should be attached to her church and disposed to enjoy its observances. Failing such a lady herself, her correspondents would enlighten you if you could lead them to tell of her disappointments. It is indifferent to me what colony you inquire about. I have inquired about many about some with my own eyes and ears and I feel confident that the whole emigration to Upper Canada and New Zealand, for example, furnishes no instance of the ultimate settle- ment of a gentleman's family with satisfaction to themselves and their friends at home. There are families that do not complain; that are induced by mere pride to conceal their disappointment, or by pride and common sense to make the best of irre- mediable ills; to put up even cheerfully with the painful consequences of an irretrievable step. But sift these cases to the bottom, not trusting to generals but really getting at particulars ; and they will sustain my position even more effectually than cases of sudden and total failure, for which not circumstances alone but the individual may have been chiefly to blame. There is another class of cases, which, though more numerous, I am afraid, it is not so easy to investigate. I mean cases in which the emigrant, after being shocked at the difference between what he expected and what he finds, gradually learns to like the baser order of things, takes a pleasure in the coarse licence and physical excitement of less civilized life, and OBSTACLES TO COLONIZATION. 221 becomes a satisfied colonist by imbibing colonial tastes and habits. When this happens, it is difficult for a stranger here to learn the fact; but the relations know and deplore it; and it operates against the emigration of people whose tastes and habits are not colonial, though not so obviously, quite as surely, as cases of loud complaint. Nevertheless, there are still emigrants of the gentry class: yes, Mr. Mothercountry is right in that; but please to ask him if he knows of any who are going to a colony under the influence of satisfactory reports from other emigrants of that class. At all times there is a certain number of the most valuable class of emi- o-rants; but they go, every one of them, under the influence of some great delusion. One expects to grow rich fast ; another, to be of great importance in the colony; a third, to enjoy a great domain as a great domain is enjoyed here ; a fourth, to see his wife and daughters, who are fretting here, as happy there as the day is long. All these expectations prove, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, mere dreams of the fancy. Those who give way to them, go in spite of the impediments I am describing. If the deluded class was very large, this part of my subject would not exist. The question is, not how many go in spite of the impediments, but how many do the impedi- ments prevent from going? to what extent do the impediments countervail the natural attractions of colonization ? There are two other impediments to colonization, which, as they do not affect all colonies, may be post- poned for future consideration; I mean, first, the colonial as distinguished from the home effects of 222 OBSTACLES TO COLONIZATION. Convict Transportation, which occur only in the colony of New South Wales and its near neighbours ; and, secondly, the presence of Aboriginal Natives; with the revolting process by which their extermina- tion is brought about. The latter set of colonial evils belong chiefly to the colonies of South Africa, Ceylon, and New Zealand. But there remains to be noticed at present one other impediment, the greatest of all, the parent of all the others ; and this is our system of colonial government, which will occupy my next letters. LETTER XXXY. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST PURPOSES TO EXAMINE COLONIAL GOVERN- MENT AS AN IMPEDIMENT TO COLONIZATION, AS THE PARENT OF OTHER IMPEDIMENTS, AND AS A CAUSE OF INJURY TO THE MOTHER-COUNTRY; AND TO PROCEED AT ONCE TO A PLAN FOR ITS REFORM. HITHERTO in treating of an impediment to colo- nization, I have attended only to the thing itself and its particular influence on emigration, without noticing any other effect it may have, and without alluding to its causes. A different course will, I think, be found convenient and useful when examining colo- nial government generally. Our whole system of colonial government is not only by itself an impedi- ment, but also the cause of the other impediments to OBSTACLES TO COLONIZATION. 223 emigration, which I have barely described : it is also the cause of effects which, though they may help to impede emigration, yet are all something more than that, and different from it ; such effects, for example, as the heavy cost which the country incurs in holding its colonies as dependencies, and the disaffection of colonies towards the imperial power. These are not merely colonial, but also imperial considerations. Our system of colonial government is a prolific parent of diversified offspring, the whole of which I would, if possible, represent in one picture. It is also a new system, differing widely from what was formerly the English system of colonial government : I think there- fore that in describing it I shall do well to compare it with its predecessor. And, lastly, as an examination of the subject would be idle save with a view to practical improvement, I purpose, whilst treating of British colonial government as it is and as it was, to collect some materials for a plan of reform, by means of showing how the present system has grown up, and adverting occasionally to the first principles of govern- ment and human nature. In a word, I shall aim at making the view of colonial government as complete, as it is in my power to make it without occupying too much of your time. 224 LETTER XXXVI. From the Colonist. COMPARISON OF MUNICIPAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT. - CENTRAL BUREAUCRATIC GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONIES ESTABLISHED BY THE INSTITUTION OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. - THE SPOILING OF CENTRAL- BUREAUCRATIC GOVERNMENT BY GRAFTING IT ON TO FREE INSTITUTIONS. - FEEBLENESS OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. are two main principles on which, or on a combination of them, any system of colonial government must of necessity be founded. The two principles are of an opposite nature. The first, which for shortness I shall call the municipal principle, is that of local self-government; the second, that of government from the distant centre of the empire, which may be called the central principle. These, I say, are the main principles; because whether the government of a colony is democratic, aristocratic, or despotic, it must be either municipal or central, or both combined in some proportion to each other. The government of Algeria, like that of any depart- ment of France, is now democratic, being founded on representation in the national assembly with a uni- MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 225 versal suffrage ; but it is eminently central, since the representatives of Algeria have no functions out of Paris, which is the centre of the empire, and no special functions whatever with regard to the colony. Once elected, they are representatives of all France ; and the government of all France, Algeria included, is still pre-eminently central and bureaucratic not- withstanding democratic representation. The go- vernments of some of the old English colonies in America were extremely aristocratic, but also muni- cipal, as being authorities identified with their sub- jects by being formed and fixed on the spot. A colony has been allowed to place itself under the dictatorship of a single colonist : its government was, for the time, despotic but municipal. When a colony submitted itself to the rule of a privileged class, being persons identified with the colony, its government was muni- cipal though aristocratic. These examples suffice to show that in colonial government, the principles of democracy, aristocracy, and despotism are of secondary importance to the municipal and central principles. In colonial government, the grand questions are, which system is to be preferred, the municipal or the cen- tral? is it expedient to combine them in one govern- ment? and if so combined, which of them should predominate? in what proportion should they be mixed? In order to solve these questions, it is requisite to compare the two systems in principle and operation. For the present generation of European statesmen, several things have conspired to place the subject of municipal government in obscurity. Wherever French jacobinism penetrated, it destroyed whatever municipal Q 226 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. government it found, and created in its place a system of pure centralization : and that a priori philosophy which has been so fashionable in our day, and which / treats mankind as a multiplication of the Original * thinker, has in this country brought views of centrali- zation so much into vogue, that the very subject of municipal government is but little understood by some of the best-informed of our public men. The most common notion of it is, that it is an authority relating exclusively to cities or towns. Yet the municipal institution was but little known to the ancient Greeks, who, with their numerous colonies, chiefly inhabited cities ; and a ramification of it appears now throughout the United States, in the " township" government of districts consisting solely of woods and farms. Another common view of the municipal principle is, that it is confined to objects of very minor importance, such as paving and lighting or police in towns, and the ma- nagement of highways and church-rates in the country. How few remember practically, so to speak, that municipal government was a main cause of the great- ness of the greatest of empires. Still fewer ever reflect that the present greatness of England is in no small degree owing to the institution, which colonized English America and formed our Indian empire. The municipal principle, being that of a delegation of power by the supreme authority, with limits as to locality, or object, or both, may be applied no doubt to the least important matters. It is indeed the prin- ciple of that infinite variety of corporations for special or limited purposes (such as our Universities, the Trinity House, the Moneyers of the Mint, and the Bank of England, down to the meanest joint-stock MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 227 company), which distinguish England and English America from the rest of the world, as they have formed the practical and self-relying character of our race. But whilst the municipal principle embraces the minutest subject, as to which the supreme authority may choose to delegate power, it admits of a delegation of the highest power short of sovereignty or national independence. The custom with those nations which have governed their dependencies municipally, has been a delegation of the maximum of power compatible with allegiance to the empire. Those nations are chiefly the Romans, and the English of the 16th and 17th centuries. But the municipal dependencies of Rome* and England were formed by very different processes. If the Romans had colonized like the Greeks, by the creation of independent sovereign states, they would not have invented a system of muni- cipal government for dependencies. The purpose of the invention was to render sovereign states subordi- nate to Rome, without depriving them locally of the institutions or rights which they possessed before. A city or state, enjoying sovereign power, incurred allegiance to Rome, and became imperially dependent ; but it preserved its old laws untouched within its own limits. This mode of acquiring empire by absorption or annexation did not call for the making of municipal constitutions. Xor were the regulations of the Romans for founding military colonies, municipal constitutions, properly speaking : they rather resembled the central authority by which the conquered provinces of Rome were usually governed. Roman history accordingly supplies us with no complete charter of a municipal government. But when England began to enlarge Q2 228 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. her empire by colonization, our ancestors had to devise a kind of municipality quite different in form from that of the Romans. There is ample proof of their having seen the impossibility of governing distant communities well by means of constantly exercising the imperial authority. Besides such evidence on this point as is furnished by the preambles of our old charters of colonial government, it is a remarkable fact, that, until we began to colonize with convicts towards the end of the last century, the imperial power of England never, I believe, in a single instance, attempted to rule locally from a distance a body of its subjects who had gone forth from England and planted a colony. In every such case down to that time, the imperial authority recognised by word and deed the necessity of allowing the colonists themselves to govern locally. Emigrants, however, differed from the in- habitants of such states as became true municipalities of Rome, in already possessing an allegiance which they desired to preserve, and in not possessing a con- stitution of local government. England therefore reversed the Roman process. The allegiance of the distant community was preserved instead of being created ; and the local constitution was created instead of being preserved. But the principle was identical in both cases; namely, delegation, tacit or express, of local powers limited only by general or imperial subordination. The English mode of giving effect to this principle, being by express delegation, required that municipal constitutions should be framed and written. It has, therefore, furnished us with abundance of models for present use. All of them display one striking feature, LORD BALTIMORE. 229 though more or less prominently. In every case, the object seems to have been to confer local powers more or less similar in scope to those of a true Roman municipality. Lord Baltimore, the wisest and most successful of English colonizers, was authorized " by and with the advice, assent, and approbation of the freemen of Maryland, or the greater part of them, or their delegates and deputies, to enact any laws what- soever appertaining either unto the public state of the said province, or unto the private utility of particular persons." With regard to powers, Penn merely copied the charter of Baltimore, whose disciple and close imi- tator he was in many other respects. The Connecticut charter authorized the colonists " from time to time to make, ordain, and establish all manner of wholesome and reasonable laws, statutes, orders, directions, and instructions, as well for settling the forms and cere- monies of government and magistracy, fit and neces- sary for the said plantation and the inhabitants there, as for naming and styling all sorts of officers, both superior and inferior, which they shall find needful for the government and plantation of the said colony." The first charter of Massachussetts grants power " to make laws and ordinances for the good and welfare of the said company and plantation, and the people in- habiting and to inhabit the same, as to them from time to time shall be thought meet." The colonists of Rhode Island were empowered "to make, ordain, and constitute, or repeal, such laws, statutes, orders and ordinances, forms and ceremonies of government and magistracy, as to them shall seem meet for the good and welfare of the said company, and for the government and ordering of the lands and heredita^ 230 MUNICIPAL SYSTEM. ments, and of the people that do, or at any time here- after shall, inhabit or be within the same." It is needless to multiply such examples. Speaking gene- rally, the powers of local government, both legislative and executive, were granted by a few simple and comprehensive words. Then came the restrictions, such as the condition that local laws should not be repugnant or contrary to the laws of England, and the reservation by the Crown, in some cases, of the right to disallow laws, and to appoint certain officers. These limitations must be carefully examined here- after. In spite of them, the general characteristic of England's municipal system of colonial rule, was local self-government. How well the system worked, not- withstanding a good deal of counteraction, is best seen by comparing its results with those^of the central system. This is the system which has been pursued by other colonizing states of modern Europe. As strangers to self-government at home, they were incapable of deli- berately employing the municipal system. Therefore, the dependencies of France and Spain, for example, were ruled from the seat of empire. And what has this system produced? Communities so feeble, so de- ficient in the Anglo-municipal quality of self-reliance, so devoid of " those feelings of pride, and of love and attachment to liberty, which," says Burke, " belong to self-government," that some of them have been, and all probably will be, swallowed up by the self-governed and energetic English race. It was really the colonists of New-England who took Canada from France; Louisiana, which would have been taken if it could not have been bought, would not have been sold if it SYSTEM OF FRANCE AND SPAIN. 231 had been worth keeping; and the American colonies of Spain, after a brief exhibition of splendour, occa- sioned solely by the accident of their abundance in the precious metals, seem destined to be colonized over again by the people whom England's municipal cm has planted by their side. The colonial system of France or Spain exhibits a twofold inferiority when compared with that of Eng- land. The old English colonists under the best char- ters were self-governed in two senses; first, as their government was local, and next, as it was free or popular : whereas the governments of the old colonies of France or Spain were both absolute and distant. Supposing it allowed that an absolute form of govern- ment is suitable for new colonies emanating from despotic states, still it is above all things necessary that an absolute government, in order to be tolerable anywhere, should be administered by one who sympa- thizes with his subjects, whose glory is their prosperity, to whom their misfortunes are at least a discomfort, and whom, if he should be a very bad man, they can at all events check in cases of great need by threaten hig him with the ultima ratio of popular despair. But the French or Spanish system placed power in the hands of one who had no sympathy with the colonists, who was not of them, who intended to live amongst them only till he had enriched himself at their ex- pense, and whom even the despair of his subjects did not influence, because he could rely on the support of an overwhelming distant power, whose confidence he possessed, and whose jealousy of its own authority and dignity he could easily excite against the colonists by calling them " disaffected." Nay more, when it 232 CENTRAL SYSTEM. happened that a virtuous individual did sympathize with the colonists and generously cultivate their well- being, he was usually recalled by the supreme power, which became jealous of his popularity, or took offence at his disobedience of its ignorant and probably mis- chievous orders. If the absolute form of government was necessary, then at least sovereign or independent despotism should have been erected. Had this been done, the French and Spaniards might perhaps have shared pretty equally with the English in the ultimate colonization of America; but a combination of the despotic form with distant administration was the worst conceivable government ; and the tree has yielded its proper fruit in the degenerate and fading com- munities resulting from French and Spanish coloniza- tion in America. The first effectual trial of the central system by England was our attempt to deprive the great English colonies in America of their dearest municipal right. It cost us their allegiance. This wound to our national pride seems to have brought the muni- cipal principle into disfavour, when it should have rather produced aversion to the central. Then came convict colonization, to which the municipal system was wholly inapplicable. It was deemed as inap- plicable to the helpless communities which came under our dominion by conquest, French Canada alone excepted; and even there, after granting a free form of government to the colonists, we systematically withheld till the other day every proper consequence of representation. By degrees the central system pre- vailed over the municipal. The establishment of an office in London for the express purpose of adminis- CENTRAL SYSTEM. 233 tering the central system, has finally almost extermi- nated the old institution; public opinion has nearly forgotten it; and now every portion of our vast colonial empire is liable to the most serious in- jury from an oversight, a misapprehension, a want of right information, or an error of judgment on the part of a gentleman sitting in Downing-street, and called Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies ; not to mention the exhaustion of his mind and body in the endeavour to do somehow, without neglecting more urgent calls, what twenty colonial ministers could not do well, if they had nothing else to do, and had been brought up to the business. For the English, having free institutions at home, had no machinery for administering the central system abroad. It was impossible that Parliament should itself legislate for many far-off dependencies ; and the Crown or its Ministry of responsible advisers was as incapable of performing the executive part of govern- ment for the outlying portions of the empire. England, therefore, once more acknowledged the necessity of a delegation of power by the supreme authority for the purpose of governing colonies. But instead of delegating power to the colonies themselves, as till then had been the rule, the supreme authority created an office in London, and upon it bestowed legislative and executive power over the colonies. Since then it has been only on rare occasions that Parliament has meddled with colonial questions; and nearly always when the interference has been of a legislative cha- racter, the enactment was either for the purpose of authorizing the Colonial Office to legislate by means of orders or instructions, or for that of adopting 234 BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEM. without understanding a suggestion of the Colonial Office. The only real exceptions from the rule of Colonial-Office supremacy have occurred when gross errors of administration, as in Canada and New Zea- land, have drawn public attention in this country to a colonial subject. Such exceptions will doubtless be more numerous, if ever the subject of colonization should become popular in this country ; but at present, speaking generally, our colonial system of government is thoroughly bureaucratic as well as central. And hence arises another important consideration. The bureaucratic system is essentially repugnant to our general institutions, and even to our national character. This is shown by its extreme unpopularity as applied to the management of the poor. For the infinitely more difficult task of managing all the public affairs of some forty distant communities, the bureau- cratic system in perfection would have been a wretched instrument. But we use it for that purpose in a very imperfect form. In Prussia, where the bureaucratic system worked as well as it ever can, the head of an official department was brought up to the business, commonly died at his post, and was succeeded by one not less intimately acquainted with the subject matter, and habitually versed in the exercise of official au- thority. The head of our Colonial Office is a Cabinet Minister and a member of either House of Parliament ; and if he is a man of any ability, the calls of party, Parliamentary debate, and general legislation, leave him hardly time for sleep, much less for the deliberate and careful exercise of his vast colonial authority. It matters little, therefore, that he enters the Colonial Office with no special aptitude for directing it, and WEAKNESS OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 235 generally leaves it, for a reason totally unconnected Avith colonial affairs, soon after, or even before, acquir- ing some knowledge of its business. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary precisely resembles his chief, except in being subordinate to him, and in not bearing the burden of Cabinet discussions and responsibilities. The great bulk, accordingly, of the labours of the office are performed, as the greater portion of its legislative and executive authority is necessarily wielded, by the permanent Under-Secretary and the superior clerks. These are men of great ability ; but it is ability of a peculiar sort. It is the sort of ability which serves the interests of an office, as such ; mere official ability; great diligence, a perfect command over the elements of order, and an intimate knowledge of forms, precedents, and past transactions. These are not qualifications for law-giving and command. And, moreover, so little is the public aware that the real legislators and rulers of our colonial empire possess even the qualities which I attribute to them, that their very names are hardly known beyond the precincts of Downing-street. It follows that they are sheltered from all responsibility to public opinion. Where bureaucracy is not a delegated power, but in itself supreme, public opinion which has formed it, and which alone sustains it, likewise watches it and keeps it in order. Our colonial system of government is the bureaucratic, spoiled by being grafted on to free institutions. This spoiling is very conspicuous in the weakness of the Colonial Office at home, notwithstanding its despotic authority abroad. It is a government in the wrong place ; a government seated in a foreign country. 236 WEAKNESS OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. Not having been formed by the communities whose government it is, not even breathing the same air with them, it wants the strength which a domestic govern- ment derives from its nationality. The nation which surrounds it, scarcely recollects its existence. As a government, therefore, it is like a tree without roots, all stem and branches, apt to be bent any way. As a machine of government, the forces by which it is moved or stayed are quite insignificant when compared with the power they influence. If ever the Colonial Office originates a scheme of policy, it seldom pursues it consistently to the end. It sets off in one direction, and takes another the moment some interest, or clique, or association in this country strongly objects to the first course. At one time, the West-India Body in England suggests what it shall do; at another, the Anti- Slavery Society impels it. To-day its measures originate with some Canada merchants in London; to-morrow it abandons those measures, and pursues others of an opposite tendency at the instance of some London newspaper. At the instigation of a missionary society it all but made New Zealand a convict colony of France ; and then yielding to the remonstrances of a joint- stock company, it established the British sovereignty which it had just before loudly repudiated. For awhile the Company led it to favour colonization ; but ere long the anti-colonizing views of the Society again prevailed with it ; and of late years its policy as to New Zealand has been an alternation of shuttlecock flights between the battledores of Salisbury- Square and Broad-Street-Buildings. It even yields to indivi- dual pressure, such as no other department would heed or feel ; such as no domestic government would MEDDLERS IN COLONIAL AFFAIRS. 237 tolerate. Conscious of feebleness arising from the want of n public on the spot to sustain it in doing right and prevent it from doing wrong fully aware of its own unpopularity as a bureaucratic institution in a free country well acquainted with the facilities which the free press and the free institutions of this country afford for pressing it disagreeably the Colonial Office but faintly resists anybody who may choose to make a business of pressing it. A list of the individuals who have made this their business during the last twenty years, would not be very short, and might be given with chapter and verse for what each of them successfully pressed it to do, undo, or leave undone. The whole would form a book of directions for future meddlers in colonial affairs. They would learn from its pages how easy it is for even the most obscure person, if he resides here and sets about the work in earnest, to prompt or thwart the policies of the Colonial Office, to suggest or overturn its decisions, to get its servants appointed or recalled, and to give the great bureaucracy more trouble in a year than it ever spontaneously bestowed on the distant colonies in five. Verily the Colonial Office would be at least more self- impelled if it were seated in Russia or St. Helena. The spoiling of a bureaucratic institution by seating it in a free country, is more fully seen on examining the defective instruments by which the power of the Colonial Office is administered at a distance. These are, first, officers sent out to the colonies, and, secondly, instructions for their guidance. But it is time to close this letter. 238 LETTER XXXVII. From the Colonist. MODE OF APPOINTING PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES FOR THE COLONIES. GOVERNMENT BY INSTRUCTION. JESUITI- CAL CONDUCT OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. A COLONIAL OFFICE CONSCIENCE EXEMPLIFIED BY LORD GREY. PROPOSED TABULAR STATISTICS OF DISPATCHES IN THE COLONIAL OFFICE. THE officers are not a peculiar class, brought up to their peculiar business, like members of the various professions and servants of the East India Company. Some of them are picked up, one scarcely knows how ; for it is difficult to say by what means they get their appointments, unless it be that, having broken down in some regular profession or having taken a dislike to it, they are in want of a provision and gain it in the colonies by dint of importunity. Others, and these are a very numerous class, owe their appointments to Peers and Members of Parliament, who having poor relations to provide for, or electioneering obligations to pay off, seldom think of the colonies but as Mr. O'Connell wrote about them in that letter which I have already noticed. The Treasury has a share of the patronage, the Admi- ralty another, the Horse-Guards a third, and the Board MODE OF APPOINTING PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES. 239 of Ordnance comes in for pickings. How would a Prus- sia 11 bureau have worked with scarcely a voice in the selection of its own instruments? With the real disposers of colonial patronage, fitness is the last consideration ; and, what is still worse, inasmuch as there is no public at home taking an interest in colonial affairs, colonial patronage becomes the refuge for men, whose unfitness for any office whatever forbids their employment by departments which public opinion controls as well as sustains. Those other departments make a conve- nience of the Colonial Office: the patronage of the colonies is the receptacle into which they cast their own importunate but very incompetent applicants for public employment. The great bulk, accordingly, of those whom we send out to the colonies to administer government, even those appointed to the highest offices, are signally unfit for the duties imposed on them. On this point it is needless to add a word to what has been said before. But there are exceptions, more especially as to governors, sometimes by design, oftener by accident. Since the rebellions in Canada, the governors of that province have been men of experience and high repu- tation in public life. Lord Durham was sacrificed by the Colonial Office, which in its miserable weakness let him fall a victim to party strife at home. Lord Sydenham, as Governor of Canada, used to speak openly with aversion and contempt of the permanent or bureaucratic part of the Colonial Office, and to boast with justice of his sole reliance for support in England, on his party connexions there, and Lord John Russell's private friendship. Sir Charles Bagot, who, I fully believe, preserved the colony to England 240 GOVERNMENT BY INSTRUCTIONS. by a bold and startling measure, seemed to die of the supposed though unpublished disapproval by the Colonial Office of a policy which delighted precisely ten-elevenths of the provincial representative body. The dauntless self-reliance of the last Governor of Canada made him careless of support from any quarter, and even gave him a sort of mastery over the Colonial Office; but his successors, since there are not two Lord Metcalfes, may painfully learn that a department, itself unsupported by public opinion, is always apt to withhold support from its servants at the very time when they need it most. Next as to instructions. These are necessarily written, on account of the distance. What is the subject of them? All the public concerns of about forty distinct communities, scattered over the world, and comprising an endless diversity of languages, laws, religions, customs, wants, and economical cir- cumstances. For writing statistically or theoretically, and but once, on so vast and varied a theme, the knowledge of the wisest of mankind would be in- sufficient; a thousand sages would be incapable of writing upon it continually in the form of useful prac- tical directions. Who it is that writes, I need not repeat. And what is it that is written? it is legisla- tion and mandate. The commission of every governor now-a-days enjoins him to rule according to the in- structions which he shall receive from Downing-street, In the bureaucratic colonies, instructions from Downing- street have the force of Acts of Parliament : in the representative colonies, the governor, being himself a branch of the legislature as well as the head of the executive, is bound to obey them implicitly. Instruc- GOVERNMENT BY INSTRUCTIONS. 241 tions written in Downing-street really constitute, therefore, the main instrument of government for our vast colonial empire. We have subjected a large por- tion of the world to none of the old forms of govern- ment, but to something which differs altogether from monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, and every com- bination of these three. Government by instructions ! This institution is so little known except to colonists and colonizers, that a member of both classes may be excused for attempting to describe it. Legislation and mandate must be founded on in- formation of some kind. When these suit the character and wants of a people, the largest portion of the business of government consists in the gathering and sifting of information. In Prussia, the work used to be done by a vast and well-ordered official establish- ment : it is done in England, though in some measure by official means, still chiefly by petitions to Par- liament, by debates in Parliament, and above all by the press, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily, morning and evening, and extra-editional : for the colonies, it purports to be done by the reports of governors. A governor's reports, and the instructions founded on information derived from them, form a correspondence legislative and executive. In this potent interchange of letters, months elapse, in some cases twelve months, before an answer can come by return of the post. Without reverting to the character and position of the writers on both sides, it is obvious that government by instructions must be a great make-believe of good government. Cases indeed happen, but every honest governor or intelligent colonist would declare them to be extraordinary cases, in which something useful R 242 INOPERATIVE DISPATCHES. is done for a colony by means of instructions from Downing-street. Allowing for these rare exceptions, Colonial-Office instructions are either mischievous or inoperative. When founded on a wrong or imperfect view of things in the colony, as must be the case nine times out of ten, they are mischievous if executed. If mischievous in character, but not executed by a governor of sense and courage, they are still mis- chievous in effect, by worrying the governor, irritating the colonists, and exposing the supreme authority to little less odium than it incurs when mischievous in- structions are executed by a dull or timid governor. The proportion of inoperative instructions is immense. They are inoperative from having been outrun by time and events, or from some other inapplicability to things real in the colony. Why then write at all, except in the few cases where there is a clear necessity for writing, and good assurance that the trouble will not be lost? Because, in fact, the trouble is not lost as respects the writers. Real government of the colonies from London is impossible, but an appearance of governing must be kept up for the sake of the im- portance and dignity of the Office. The new head of the Office (and the head of the Office is always more or less new*) likes to sign well- written dispatches which may figure in a blue-book; and the writer of them takes a pleasure in giving this satisfaction to his chief. Both classes like the semblance of governing. The writing, therefore, of inoperative despatches is not * In about twenty years, there have been thirteen Principal Secretaries of State for the Colonies : Bathurst, Huskisson, Murray, Goderich, Stanley, Spring Rice, Aberdeen, Glenelg, Normanby, John Russell, Stanley again, Gladstone, and Grey. DIDACTIC DISPATCHES. 243 labour lost; but it is mischievous nevertheless. I have seen the House of Assembly in Canada incapable of restraining their mirth, whilst the Speaker was gravely reading instructions to the Governor which his Excellency had been desired to communicate to them: they laughed at the ludicrous inapplicability to Canada of the views expounded in these dispatches, as the dock-yard people at Kingston on Ontario, laughed at the arrival from England of a consign- ment of water-casks for the use of ships floating on the fresh-water Lake. Considering that these de- spatches were written in the name of the imperial Sovereign, this disrespectful treatment of them was surely very mischievous. The official necessity of writing, moreover, com- bined with the difficulty of writing for practical pur- poses, has begotten the custom of writing didactically. Long theories of philanthropy and political economy are propounded in despatches. A pamphlet printed in London, and consisting of the opinions of the writer concerning the aborigines of New Zealand, was tran- scribed, of course without acknowledgment, into the form of a didactic despatch. Certain theories of the Colonial Office versus the opinions of the last Com- mittee of the House of Commons on New Zealand, were elaborately set forth in the shape of instructions to Governor Fitzroy, whose own theories were known to be identical with those contained in the despatch. Some twelve years ago, in a circular despatch addressed to the governors of the West-India colonies, I met with a new theory of my own which had been pub- lished anonymously not long before. The subject was of vital importance to the West Indies; and the theory R2 244 DIDACTIC DISPATCHES. pointed to measures which the colonists anxiously desired. Seeing my humble notions dressed up in the ornaments of the best official style, and dignified with the semblance of original thoughts formed in the brain of the Colonial Minister, I innocently concluded that something to be sure would come of it. And some- thing did come of it. The well- written despatch was published here for the credit of the Office; and the colonists soon discovered that all the fine promises it held out to them were nothing but what they disre- spectfully called Colonial-Office flummery. How the fact was I cannot know ; but I can assure you that in Canada, the despatch of the Colonial Office which led to the British-Canada Corn Act, was originally deemed nothing but a piece of didactic writing. The leading colonists still pride themselves on having converted mere compliment into a valuable reality, by treating it las if it had been a practical suggestion. If this despatch was not written at the instance of the Cabinet at home, with a deliberate view to the admission of American wheat through Canada into England at a fixed duty of four shillings per quarter, it was what the colonists believed it to be ; and at any rate, their belief shows that this kind of instructions cannot be very uncommon. The first governor of New Zealand received a body of general instructions, which every reader of them must pronounce admirable in doctrine, tone, and expression. The local government read them by the rule of contraries, having for years pur- sued a line of conduct just opposite to their particular suggestions and general tenour. Did punishment or censure follow? No, nor complaint, nor even a word of notice. These instructions were of the didactic kind, not intended for effect save in a blue-book. OBSCURE DISPATCHES. 245 Figuring there, they had the effect of inducing a superior class of persons to emigrate, with the hope of doing well under a government so admirably taught. I could name several who were led to ruin by their credulous reliance on that didactic dispatch. Then there is a class of despatches which may be properly termed the obscure. Time will be saved in describing them by first quoting an author who is himself one of the ablest writers of Colonial-Office despatches. In his very clever and entertaining book, called The Statesman* which we are told " treats of topics such as experience rather than inventive medi- tation suggested to him," he says that the " far greater proportion of the duties which are performed in the office of a minister, are and must be performed under no effective responsibility;" that there are "means and shifts by which the business of the office may be reduced within a very manageable compass without creating public scandal ;" and that by these arts the doer of the business " may obtain for himself the most valuable of all reputations in this line of life, that of a 4 safe man.' ' The means and shifts are "by evading decisions wherever they can be evaded; by shifting them on other departments where by any possibility they can be shifted; by giving decisions upon super- ficial examinations, categorically, so as not to expose the superficiality in propounding the reasons ; by de- ferring questions till, as Lord Bacon says, ' they 4 resolve themselves ;' by undertaking nothing for the public good which the public voice does not call for; by conciliating loud and energetic individuals at the expense of such public interests as are dumb or do * T/ie Statesman. By HENRY TAYLOR, Esq. 1836. 246 OBSCURE DISPATCHES. not attract attention; and by sacrificing everywhere what is feeble and obscure to what is influential and cognizable." Obscure despatches are commonly written in answer to despatches from governors desirous of escaping responsibility and fixing it on the Office; and their object is to save the Office from responsi- bility, by fixing it on the governors. The writing of them has begotten a style peculiar to the Colonial Office ; a style founded on that view of language which supposes that it was given to us for the purpose of concealing our thoughts ; the style which says as little as possible by means of a great quantity of words. I once heard two ex-governors, both of them men of ability, who have since held very high appointments, talk over the subject of Colonial-Office instructions. One of them said, that he had often received long des- patches, the meaning of which he could never make out, though he read them over and over again. Well, said the other, and what did you do with them? At length, replied the first, I made a guess at the mean- ing and acted accordingly. Like you, said the second, I have often striven in vain to find out the meaning of a despatch, and have ended with a guess ; but, un- like you, I further conjectured that these obscure directions were intended to get the Office out of a scrape and me into it ; wherefore, instead of acting on my guess, I did the reverse. It is only fair to state that he had quarrelled with the Office and resigned his governorship; but in speaking so disrespectfully of his former masters, he differs from most other governors, and resembles colonists in general, only by the frank expression of his contempt and hatred. Such feelings are indeed excited by two other SECRET DISPATCHES. 247 classes of instructions. I mean those which are con- fidential or secret, and those in which words with more than one meaning are studiously employed. They sometimes differ materially from published in- structions on the same subject. A flagrant instance of this kind came to light during the New-Zealand controversy ; and considering what a large proportion of such cases must necessarily be buried in darkness, the number of them that are known is dismally great. Among " the shifts and means" by the practice of which, says the author of The Statesman, " men in office have their understandings abused and debased, their sense of justice corrupted, their public spirit and appreciation of public objects undermined" is the use of words with a double meaning. The object is not, and cannot be, anything but double-dealing : it is the shift of the " safe man," who foresees a future con- venience to his office in being able to give to official language an interpretation different from its primd facie meaning. Several tricks of this sort came out in the course of the New-Zealand controversy. They may be uncommon ; but enough have become public to create an opinion on the subject even in this coun- try : it was expressed in the House of Commons, when cheers succeeded the proposal that the following words of a New-Zealand savage, addressed to her Majesty's representative in the colony, should be inscribed on the Colonial Office, " Speak your words openly ; speak as you mean to act; do not speak one thing, and mean another." The cheering took place in Lord Stanley's time. Among the loudest in thus denouncing the habitual trickery of the Colonial Office, was the present Colo- A COLONIAL-OFFICE CONSCIENCE. iiial Minister ; but in his time certainly the department has fully maintained its reputation for being addicted to double-dealing. Indeed, the " smartness' 7 of the genius loci is remarkably exemplified by Lord Grey, who notwithstanding the high honour of his father's son, has learned in the great house at the bottom of Downing-street, first, to contend without a blush, that it is perfectly fair and right to quote parts of dis- patches, which taken without their context support your own side of a question, and deliberately to sup- press other parts which uphold the opposite side; and secondly, to simulate in public, that he is carrying into execution the plans of colonial reform of which out of office he was the zealous advocate, which his subordinates and his own want of practical ability have prevented him from realizing, and of which, therefore, he is in private and in truth as bitter a foe as was ever renegade to the faith he had deserted. It must be a Colonial- Office conscience that permits recourse to such tricks. In Mr. Taylor's Statesman, there is a chapter, which he says that he wrote with " a trembling hand." It consists of an elaborate and very ingenious pleading in favour of allowing states- men to be guided by two consciences ; one for private, and the other for public life ; one honest, the other as dishonest as the statesman himself shall think proper. In this chapter he says, " I estimate the consequences of relaxing the law of truth in private life to show a vast balance of evil ; and the consequence of relaxing that law in public life to show a serious array of evil certainly; but I hesitate to say a balance." * * * * " Falsehood ceases to be falsehood when it is understood on all hands that the truth is not expected to be OH, FOR A PASCAL! 249 spoken." * * * * U A statesman is engaged, cer- tainly, in a field of action which is one of great danger to truthfulness and sincerity. His conscience walks, too, like the ghost of a conscience, in darkness or twilight." * * * * " Upon the whole, therefore, I come to the conclusion, that the cause of public morality will be best served by moralists permitting to statesmen, what statesmen must necessarily take and exercise a free judgment, namely, though a most responsible one, in the weighing of specific against general evil, and in the perception of perfect and imperfect analogies between public and private trans- actions, in respect of the moral rules by which they are to be governed." And in another chapter he says, " it will be found to be better for the public interests that a statesman should have some hardihood, than much weak sensibility of conscience." Both freedom of judgment in questions of oflicial morality, and hardihood of conscience too! Bravo, Mr. Taylor! Why should you blush, Lord Grey? Oh, for a Pascal to write Lettres Provinciales about Colonial-Office doctrine as given to the world by members of the Colonial Office! But the greater part of despatches never see the lijrht, without being marked secret or confidential. Whether any despatch, either from the Office to a governor or from a governor to the Office, shall ever be published either here or in the colonies, depends altogether on the pleasure of the Office. The whole correspondence, indeed, remains unseen except by those who write it, and excepting the very small proportion of it for which the Office gives special directions. The colonies, therefore, are ruled by a 250 PROPOSED STATISTICS. legislative and executive power, which has an absolute choice between making known and utterly concealing all the grounds of its laws and orders. The portion of them which it does not conceal, is of course very small. If a return were made to the House of Commons of all despatches written and received by the Colonial Office during the last ten years, distinguishing the published from the unpublished, I suspect that not less than nine-tenths would appear in the latter class; and of the remaining tenth it would turn out that a large proportion had not been published till they belonged to the past. The ill results of this part of the system would form a separate and very impor- tant chapter. Another would be the very mischievous uncertainty and delay of legislation by means of despatches whether published or not. The best illustration of this point would be a return for ten years of all despatches received by or sent from the Colonial Office, with the date of each, the date of its receipt, date of the acknowledgment of its receipt, and the date of any substantial answer to it ; together with an enumeration of the despatches which have never been substantially answered, and such a brief statement of the topics of the same as would enable the House of Commons to judge whether a substantial answer was required. But if such a return were deemed too complicated, a statement of the mere number of despatches received by the Colonial Office in one year, would tell a suffi- cient tale. In the single year 1846, the Colonial Office of Paris received from the single dependency of Algeria, no less than 28,000 despatches, relating to NUMBER OF DISPATCHES. 251 civil, independently of military affairs; 538 a week, or 86 a day, not reckoning Sundays. At what rate do our forty dependencies supply our Colonial Office with despatches? The Algerian rate gives 1,120,000 a year; 3,578 for every working day. Supposing, how- ever, that each of our dependencies produces on the average no more in a year than Algeria does in a week, namely 538 per week, or 28,000 in a year, which must be vastly below the true mark, there are figures enough to assure us that a large proportion of despatches from the colonies cannot by possibility be substantially answered. But the most monstrous re- turn in point of figures, and the most useful in point of instruction, would be one which is indeed impracti- cable ; namely, an account of the number of cases in a year, in which something that ought to have been done in the colonies was left undone because a dispatch was not even written. And, lastly, with respect to instructions, I have not said a word about the public injury and private wrongs inflicted on the colonists, by the most prompt execu- tion of those which are written in ignorance or on false information. This topic is too large for this place ; but its absence for that reason will suggest re- flections which may therefore be spared.* * " Algeria is divided administratively into three zones : the po- pulation of the first being chiefly European this is the civil territory or /one; the second by Arabs and a few Europeans this is the mixed territory; the third by Arabs only this is the Arab territory 'cettence. The administration of the first is the principal and most serious; and is pronounced by all, and especially by the Commission this year (1847) with the examination of affairs in Algeria, to be defective, imperfect in its functions, complicated in its system, slow in its working, making much ado about nothing, doing little, and that little badly. The functionaries of whom it is com- posrd are pronounced ignorant of the language, usages, and history of the country, and unacquainted with the duties imposed upon 252 ALGERIA. them. Their proceedings instead of being rapid and simple, as so necessary in a new colony, are ill-advised, ill-executed, and super- eminently slow. The latter defect is chiefly attributable, perhaps, to the fact that from the centralization of affairs in Paris, all the acts must be referred to the head bureau there before the least move of the most trivial nature can be effected. During the last year only, above twenty-four thousand despatches were received from thence by the " Administration civile," and above twenty-eight thousand sent to Paris by this branch in Algiers. " The immense number of functionaries appertaining to the corps of civil administrators in Algeria is astonishing. At the present period there are above two thousand; yet there is a cry that they are insufficient." * *#**## " Another and great reason for the slow growth of the colony, is the extreme tardiness with which the administrative forms requisite to the establishment of emigrants are carried out. For instance, though assignments of land are promised, yet a year or eighteen months after application frequently elapses before the grantees are put into possession. The majority of those arriving from the mother- country having but very small capital, it in the intermediate period disappears; they are compelled to devour it to keep body and soul together; and when it is gone their assignment may be allotted to them, with the parental advice, ' There, sit ye down, increase and multiply:' but it comes too late; their only prospect is starvation; and they are fortunate if sufficient remains to them to permit them to shake the dust from off their feet and fly the inhospitable shore, thus preventing others from arriving: for will they not return with outcry and relations of their sufferings ? It is even a fact well known to all, that men of capital, rich French proprietors, arriving in Algeria under the auspices of the Minister of War, have remained as long as five or six years before being able to obtain a promised con- cession. Others again established provisionally upon a tract of land, the assignment of which has been promised them, have built upon it, cultivated portions of it, and otherwise fulfilled all required con- ditions ; when at last the definite answer is given them the title to it is refused ! Being able neither to alienate or to mortgage, they have thus been brought to ruin." " The generally desolate state of those poor emigrants who do be- come established in Algeria is painful enough. The villages scattered about the Shael or Massif of Algiers are, with one or two exceptions, the type of desolation. Perched upon the most arid spots, distant from water, there the poor tenants lie sweltering beneath sun and sirocco, wondering, as their haggard eyes rove across vast tracts of inexterminable palmetta and prickly bushes, what there is there ' to increase and multiply' upon, as recommended." Narrative of a Campaign against the Kabailes of Algeria : with the Mission of M. Suchet to the Emir Abd-el-Kader for an excliange of prisoners. By DAWSON BORRER, F.R.G.S. 253 LETTER XXXVIII. From the Colonist. DISALLOWANCE OF COLONIAL LAWS BY THE COLONIAL OFFICE. LOT OF COLONIAL GOVERNORS. EFFECTS OF OUR SYSTEM OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. COUN- TERACTION OF THE SYSTEM BY THE VIS MEDICATR1X NATURAE. PROPOSED ADDITION TO MR. MURRAY'S COLONIAL LIBRARY. WHEN at last a colonial law is made and promul- gated, whether by a provincial parliament or a governor with his council of nominees, it is still liable to disallowance by the Colonial Office. Four evils in particular are the result. In the first place, the colonists suffer, during the time necessary for com- munication with England, from a state of harassing uncertainty and suspense with regard to the ultimate validity of their laws. Secondly, the party or faction in the colony, which has objected to the passing of any law, seeks to thwart the successful party, and to gain its own point, by means of secret influences and in- trigues with the Colonial Office. Thirdly, whenever the power of disallowance is exercised, whether honestly by the Colonial Office, or, as sometimes happens, by the Colonial Minister himself, for reasons which appear 254 DISALLOWANCE OF LAWS. sufficient to him, the veto is imposed, it must be confessed, by persons much less qualified to judge on the subject than those by whom the law was made, and, in the case of the Colonial Minister himself, by a person fully engaged by matters of far more pressing importance to him. And, lastly, these three effects of the reserved veto necessarily aggravate party animosity in the colony, and tend to destroy that sentiment of loyalty towards the empire which I have de- scribed as a passion of British emigrants and their children. The number of colonial laws which have been disallowed during the last ten years, with a brief statement of the nature of each, would form the subject of another incredibly curious return to the House of Commons. Justice demands that we should rather pity the lot of governors under this system, than blame them for what the system produces. They are frequently punished, and sometimes with the greatest injustice. A governor of more than common ability is the most likely to disregard or disobey instructions drawn up in London, and so to get recalled. The best of governors enters upon office very ignorant of things and persons in the colony. If a representative con- stitution enables him to discover the bent of the colonial mind on matters which call for decision, he has still to determine whether he will side with the minority or the majority. If he sides with the minority, he sets going that conflict between repre- sentative institutions and a despotic administration of them, which is the ordinary state of our representative colonies; and, thenceforth, instead of governing, he only lives in hot water. At length, perhaps, the con- LOT OF GOVERNORS. 255 flict of factions in the colony becomes so violent that the House of Commons interferes; and then the irovrrnor is recalled by the Colonial Office, which hitherto, under the influence of some clique, or in- dividual at home, has patted him on the back in his quarrel with the majority. If he sides with the majority, between whom and the bureaucracy at home there is a strong natural aversion, the first good oppor- tunity of recalling him is seldom neglected ; or, at all events, his life is made uncomfortable, and his capacity for governing much diminished, by the intrigues and secret influences at home, which the colonial minority brings to bear against him in Downing-street. In the non -representative, or bureaucratic colonies, it is still worse. There, no institution tells the governor what are the wants and wishes of the colony. The factions which surely exist among Englishmen wherever govern- ment by party has not grown out of free institu- tions freely administered, have been lying in wait for him, with nets spread and traps prepared. In his ignorant helplessness, he almost necessarily falls into the hands of one or other of them. If he keeps them off, and judges for himself, he is sure to make terrible mistakes, partly from ignorance, and partly because all the factions conspire to mislead and ruin the governor who sets them all at defiance. This man causes intolerable trouble to the Colonial Office, and is soon advised to tender his resignation. A less self- ivlying governor has no sooner made up his mind to which faction he will abandon himself, than all the others declare war against him; the local press goads him ; the Colonial Office is beset with applica- tions for his removal ; some part of the press at home 256 LOT OF GOVERNORS. is induced to attack him ; speeches are made against him in Parliament; and if he is not recalled to stop the hubbub, he at best leads a life of care and appre- hension. What all governors suffer from the dis- allowance of their acts by distant, ill-informed, and irresponsible superiors, would form a long chapter. Another might be filled with the troubles of governors, in consequence of having to administer a government without having the patronage of a government at their disposal. Upon the whole, it may be questioned whether the existence of any class of men is much more uncomfortable than that of governors of British colonies. Some few escape the common lot ; but they generally do so by the practice of those " means and shifts" which the Colonial Office itself is induced by its weakness to adopt, and because their low ambition is satisfied if they can manage to keep a good salary and the title of Excellency without attempting to govern. It follows, that even if the Colonial Office selected its own servants, men having the spirit and self-respect which accompany capacity for ruling, would be loth to serve the office of governor, except in the few cases where the importance of a colony renders that office important, however uncomfortable. Turning from particulars to the whole system as displayed by its effects, one is surprised that it should work at all. It produces much trouble here, and end- less turmoil in the colonies. It disturbs secretaries of state, worries all governors, and ruins some. It irritates colonial assemblies, deprives them of their just functions, and forces them into violent proceedings, such as political impeachments, the stoppage of supplies, and personal attacks on the local sovereign, EFFECTS OF TILE SYSTEM. 257 which have been unknown in this country since we < -stiil dished responsible government for ourselves. It subjects the bureaucratic colonies to an authority in all that concerns their welfare, that is ignorantly and secretly impelled, besides being secret in operation and arbitrary as well as absolute. It breeds colonial factions and demagogues. By its injustice and oppressions, it begets the use of slavish means of self- defence; hypocrisy, crafty intrigue, and moral assas- sination of opponents. Thus, and by its false pre- tences and foul practices, it almost banishes honour from public life in the colonies, and greatly helps to bring down the standard of private honour far below that of the mother-country. It benumbs enterprise, and forbids creative legislation, in societies whose natural business is adventure and creation. It is costly beyond any comparison with the municipal system, though not burdensome to the colonists in the same proportion, because, in the bureaucratic colonies to some extent, this country pays for the misgovernment which checks the growth of private wealth and public income. Furthermore, the system, which as to all our newest colonies we have substituted for the municipal, in the complete form of the central-bureaucratic-spoiled, robs the Englishman of what used to be deemed his birthright. It thus deprives the emigrant, whatever may be his talents for public business, of all opportu- nity of exerting himself for the public good, of all the motives of a laudable ambition, of all pursuits except the making of money. It places him, whatever may have been his station here, how much soever he may be superior in education and property to the highest of the officials, in a position of mortifying inferiority to 258 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS. the lowest. To use a heedless expression of the Quarterly Review, it renders the colonies u unfit abodes for any but convicts, paupers, and desperate or needy persons." It cures those who emigrate in spite of it, of their maladie du pays. It is the one great impedi- ment to the overflow of Britain's excessive capital and labour into waste fields, which, if cultivated into new markets, would increase the home field of employment for capital and labour. It has placed colonization itself amongst the lost arts, and is thus a negative cause of that excessive competition of capital with capital, and labour with labour, in a limited field of employment for both, which is now the condition of England and the difficulty of her statesmen. But it works somehow. Yes, thanks to the vis medicatrix naturae, which corrects the errors of men by infusing some proportion of good into the greatest of evils. The good principle through which our present system of colonial government is worked at all, is that which Adam Smith had in view, when, contemplating the greatness of English municipal colonization in America, produced as it was by individual exertions without assistance from the government, he exclaimed, Magna virum mater! and attributed all to the country and the institutions which had formed the men capable of so great a performance. Englishmen colonize in spite of the Colonial Oifice and its system. English colonists get on somehow, notwithstanding bad go- vernment, or without government. English governors do not quite forget the political lessons which every Englishman that can read learns at home ; and their subjects, being English, or of English origin, can bear worse government without fainting; can resist and (<)NTRAST. 259 check it more effectually than the colonists of any other nation. Public opinion here does now and then punish the authors and perpetrators of great colonial wrongs. Even the Colonial-Office bureaucracy, worse though it is in one sense than a Prussian bureau, still, being composed of Englishmen, and breathing the air of England, is not so bad as a bureau of Prussians would be if they were placed in the same false and corrupting position. The system works indeed, but by means of what is contrary to it : it works in spite of its un-English self, by means of the English energy which it depresses, of the self-reliance which it cannot destroy, of the fortitude which resists it ; and finally by means of the national institutions and sentiments to which it is wholly antagonist. In a word, it is worked by counteraction. The contrast between the two systems under com- parison, great as it is in every point of view, is in nothing so remarkable as in this; that the one re- quires counteraction to work at all, whilst the other works well just in proportion as it is not counteracted, but is left to operate by itself; just in proportion, that is, as the municipal principle is adopted without ad- mixture of the central. In the old English colonies of America, the municipal principle was not completely adopted in a single case; in some cases, the central principle was to some extent mixed with it, even in the form of government; and in all, the imperial power, after granting local self-government more or less complete, counteracted its own delegation of au- thority, sometimes by withdrawing it altogether and governing arbitrarily from the centre of the empire, at others by violating its own grants, and ruling, or s 2 260 COUNTERACTION OF attempting to rule, the colonists from a distance not- withstanding their local rights. The history of those colonies, accordingly, is, in a great measure, the his- tory of many struggles between the dependencies and the imperial power. What each side contended for, was the exercise of local authority. The colonists, though they suffered greatly in these contests, still, being armed with their royal charters, assisted by the law of England which at that time deemed self-govern- ment the birthright of English colonists, and not a little favoured by distance, obscurity, and civil con- tests in the mother-country, generally carried their point at last. Practically, therefore, and upon the whole, these colonies enjoyed municipal government. Some of them, for long consecutive periods, and all of them at times, managed their own affairs without any interference from home ; and a careful examination of the progress of these communities from the hour of their municipal birth down to that of their sovereign independence, establishes by irresistible evidence two things in particular; first, that whatever sufferings they endured as respects government that in what- ever respects their governments did not work smoothly and beneficially for them as well as for the empire the sole cause of the evil was some infringement of the municipal principle ; and secondly, that an accu- mulation of such acts on the part of the imperial power, crowned at length by the attempt to tax the colonists without the consent of their local assemblies, was the sole cause of their revolt. These naked posi- tions may have an air of exaggeration or rashness; but I am intimately persuaded of their truth; and I refer you to the principal source of my own convic- tions. This is a modern work, scarcely known to the MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 261 public in consequence of its defects of arrangement and style, but containing the best account of England's colonial system of municipal governments; I mean the late Mr. Grahame's History of the United States, which, as it ends with the Declaration of Independence, ought to have been entitled a history of English colo- nization in North America.* This book also contains most valuable proofs of the necessity of combining efficient religious arrangements with good civil go- vernment in order to colonize very successfully. The author, a Scotch gentleman by birth, was a zealous Republican, Protestant, and Voluntary, but also a true gentleman at heart in his love of truth, his scru- pulous fairness, and his singular tolerance of opinions opposite to his own. He could not theorize. Neither as to government nor religion does he attempt to esta- blish the conclusions which his facts and his laborious accuracy impress upon the speculative reader. The view here taken of imperial counteractions of the municipal principle, is supported by observing how the proprietary charters worked. Mr. Grahame shows very distinctly, that they worked well whenever the grantee, whether an individual or a corporation, re- sided in the colony, and was identified with the colo- nists; and that they worked very ill indeed, nearly always when the grantee resided in England. The residence of the grantees in the colony was .j carrying out of the municipal principle ; their residence here gave effect, so far, to the principle of central or distant government. Baltimore and Penn, and the joint- * With this title, and re-written by a master of style as an abridg- ment, this most instructive and entertaining work would be a capital addition to Mr. Murray's Colonial Library ; for it would become a household book in the colouies. 262 PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENTS. stock company of cabinet ministers who founded Carolina, were kings, in fact, within their colonies. During the periods when Penn or Baltimore resided in his colony, the whole government was local or mu- nicipal; whenever he resided in England, and always in the case of Carolina, the kingly authority of the colony was exercised, like that of the present Colonial Office, ignorantly, more or less secretly, and from im- pulses not colonial. I must repeat, that every dispute between the colonists and their proprietary govern- ments may be traced to the operation of the central principle, through the non-residence of the chief au- thority in local matters. In whatever point of view the subject is examined, it will be seen that the muni- cipal system suffers, as the central system is modified and improved, in proportion as it is counteracted. LETTER XXXIX. From the Statesman. MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY PROTESTS AGAINST THE ASSER- TION, THAT MR. TAYLOR HAS AUTHORIZED THE BE- LIEF, THAT HIS VIEWS OF STATESMANSHIP WERE DERIVED FROM EXPERIENCE IN THE COLONIAL OFFICE. TN the early part of our journey, I felt my way carefully, unwilling to take a step without being- con vinced of the soundness of the footing ; but lately I have hurried along without seeing obstacles or rotten places, impelled by a sort of wonder and indig- MK. MOTHERCOUNTRY'S WHINE. 263 nation. Since we got fairly into impediments of colo- nization, I have not stopped you by uttering an ob- jection or a doubt : and now, I can only say, Lead on ; so bewildered am I by the multiplicity and strangeness of the objects that have seemed to flit past me during our last rush through a region of politics whose exist- ence I had not dreamt of before. In plainer English, 1 want time for reflection, and am not in the humour to trouble you with inquiries. Neither does Mr. Mothercountry make any remarks on your hideous portrait of his Office. When I showed him your letters with all sorts of proper apologies, he did not utter a word about colonial government, but got angry, and talked of being himself unjustly as- sailed ; of his long and laborious services ; and of his trying position as being the butt of attacks from which his subordination to others prevents him from defend- ing himself. In short, he only whined about his own hard lot, and made pathetic appeals to my compassion. But he defends Mr. Taylor ; and what he says on this point I must report. He indignantly denies that we have Mr. Taylor's own authority for asserting that his opinions, as communicated to the public in The Statesman, are based on his experience in the Colonial Office. He says that Mr. Taylor himself, in a work published lately, has contradicted the assertion. Under- stand, he does not object to your saying that Mr. Taylor acquired his views of statesmanship in the Colonial Office, but to your repeating the statement, '//A /' Mr. Taylor, who alone can know how the fact is, has deliberately contradicted it; he says that it is shamefully unjust to quote Mr. Taylor's authority for an ui-rtiun which Mr. Taylor declares to be untrue. 264 LETTER XL. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST SUSTAINS HIS PKOPOSITION THAT MR. TAYLOR'S IDEAS OF STATESMANSHIP WERE FORMED BY LONG EXPERIENCE IN THE COLONIAL OFFICE, AND APPEALS TO MR. TAYLOR HIMSELF AS THE BEST AUTHORITY ON THE QUESTION. MR. TAYLOR has not contradicted the assertion, the repetition of which annoys the whole Colonial Office. In the Preface to his recent work, Notes from Life, he says, u In the year 1836 ; I published a book called the 4 Statesman/ a title much found fault with at the time, and in truth not very judiciously chosen. It contained the views and maxims respecting the transaction of public business, which twelve years of experience had suggested to me. But my experience had been confined within the doors of an office; and the book was wanting in that general interest which might possibly have been felt in the results of a more extensive and varied conversancy with public life. Moreover, the sub-sarcastic vein in which certain parts of it were written, was not very well understood ; and what was meant for an exposure of some of the world's ways was, I believe, very generally mistaken OFFICIAL EXPERIENCE. 265 for a recommendation of them. I advert, now, to this book and its indifferent fortunes, because whatever may have been its demerits, my present work must be regarded as to some extent comprehended in the same design, that, namely, of embodying in the form of maxims and reflections the immediate results of an attentive observation of life, of official life in the former volume, of life at large in this." This surely is not a contradiction but a confirmation of my statement; fresh testimony by Mr. Taylor himself to the truth of the assertion, that the Colonial Office is the school in which he learned the art of statesmanship. It shows indeed, that he may repent of having communicated his Colonial-Office experience to the public ; and that he is now anxious to remove a public impression that he recommended the practices and doctrines which he exposed. And what then? Why, Mr. Taylor only joins others in condemning those practices and doctrines; and in doing so, he repeats his first assurances to the public, that, ac- cording to his experience, they are the doctrines and practices of the Colonial Office. I will extract his first assurances from The Statesman : you will see that from their very nature they do not admit of being unsaid. In the Preface to The Statesman, he alludes to u the want in our literature of any coherent body of admi- nistrative doctrine ;" and though he modestly disclaims the slightest pretension to supplying the want, he goes on to say, " the topics which I have treated are such as experience, rather than inventive meditation, has suggested to me. The engagements which have de- prived me of literary leisure and a knowledge of books, 266 OFFICIAL EXPERIENCE. have, on the other hand, afforded me an extensive and diversified conversancy with business: and I hope, therefore, that I may claim from my readers some indulgence for the little learning and for the desulto- riness of these disquisitions, in consideration of the value which they may be disposed to attach to com- ments derived from practical observation" In his Conclusion, he apologizes for a want of system in his dissertations, and says, "if I had applied myself to devise a system, or even a connected succession, I must necessarily have written more from speculative meditation, less from knowledge. What I knew prac- tically, or by reflection flowing from circumstance, must have been connected by what I might persuade myself that I knew inventively, or by reflection flowing from reflection. I am well aware of the weight and value which is given to a work by a just and harmonious incorporation of its parts, But I may be permitted to say, that there is also a value currently and not unduly attached to what men are prompted to think concerning matters within their knowledge. Perceiving that I was not in a condition to undertake such a work as might combine both values, the alternative which I have chosen is that of treating the topics severally, as they were thrown up by the sundry sugges- tions of experience. It is possible, indeed, that by postponing my work to a future period, a further accumulation of experience might have enabled me to improve it." Even if Mr. Taylor had been dishonest and bold enough to unsay these assurances, the retractation would have come too late. Is not that the case with the colouring which he now gives to the contents of OFFICIAL EXPERIENCE. 267 his first book? For years he has allowed it to circu- late as a body of administrative doctrine which he seriously believed. The Statesman has been much read in the colonies, and much used by colonial re- formers here, as Pascal turned the books of the Jesuits against their corporation, in exposing the political im- morality and the anti-colonizing influences of the great corporation which is the government of our colonial empire. Mr. Taylor, his colleagues, and his superiors, have been disturbed and annoyed by the uses made of his book : and his denial now of the accuracy of the sense in which the book has been read, deserves no more weight than a plea of not guilty after confession or boast of guilt has led to accusation. His too-late apology for The Statesman almost contradicts itself, by indicating that at the time of its publication before its publication had troubled himself and his Office he intended, not an " exposure," but a " re- commendation" of the doctrines and practices which colonial Pascals have supposed the book to recom- mend. But pray read the book for yourself. In doing so, you will not fail to perceive, that its author's present disclaimer of its title comes also too late, and there- fore only confirms the belief to which that title led, that in the Colonial Office, ideas of statesmanship are limited to bureaucratic administration. The book is, in fact, a picture of that sort of government which I have called the central-bureaucratic T spoiled, by one of the shrewdest and most thoughtful of its adminis- trators. If one official man ought to succeed another because he closely resembles him, your Mr. Mothercountry 268 SIR JAMES STEPHEN. should be the permanent Under- Secretary for the Colonies after Mr. Stephen, or chief of the tribe of Mothercountry after him by whom the tribe was, if not founded, at least raised to its present importance, as the real arbiter of the destinies of our colonial em- pire : for he exactly resembles Mr. (now Sir James) Stephen, in treating exposures of the Office as personal attacks on himself, and in complaining that his sub- ordinate position prevents him from repelling them. If anything happened to make our correspondence public, he might probably, by whining about his own services and miseries, induce the present and half-a- dozen ex-Colonial Ministers to bepraise him in Par- liament, as by far the most meritorious of mankind. And then, in time perhaps, if our system of colonial government were further brought into public hatred by exposure, his sufferings, under the name of im- measurable public services, might be rewarded by a title and a seat in the Privy Council : for unquestion- ably, the Right Honourable Sir James Stephen is in- debted for his recent honours to the exertions of colo- nial reformers. How it happens that holders and ex- holders of the Colonial Seals can scarcely avoid osten- tatiously patronising a subordinate in equal proportion to his unpopularity, is a question that we may perhaps examine some day: but at any rate, I shall have to explain further on, by again adverting to Sir James Stephen, that the nominal subordinates but real chiefs of the Colonial Office have ample means of addressing the public on their own behalf, and with all the more effect perhaps because they do so anonymously. 269 LETTER XLI. From the Statesman, MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY OBJECTS TO MUNICIPAL GOVERN- MENT FOR COLONIES, ON THE GROUND OF ITS TEN- DENCY TO DEMOCRACY, REPUBLICANISM, AND DISMEM- BERMENT OF THE EMPIRE. MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY is silent about Mr. Taylor and The Statesman ; but he has rallied in defence of our system of colonial government. Addressing himself to my conservative predilections, he says that your doctrines about municipal govern- ment for colonies go straight towards democracy, republicanism, colonial disaffection, and dismember- ment of the empire. He has not hitherto denied that municipal government would be best for the colonies ; he seems to admit with Mr. Cornewall Lewis, that a colony suffers numerous evils by being a dependency; but he contends, agreeing again with Mr. Lewis, that a colony municipally governed in your sense of the words, would be practically independent. If, he arirues, we were to set up this practical independence throughout our colonial empire, we should soon wish to pull it down again, because under it the colonies would nourish democratic and republican ideas, and 270 THE COLONIST A DESTRUCTIVE. be apt to infect the mother-country with them. If we attempted to undo our foolish work, then would occur between the centre of the empire and each of its merely nominal dependencies, a struggle for local power like that which ended in the nominal as well as real independence of the United States. In these struggles, he says, kingly and aristocratic authority would inevitably suffer ; republicanism and democracy would get a broader and firmer footing in the world. In short, you are a reckless Destructive. This objection of Mr. Mothercountry's to local self- government for colonies is so common, that I should like to know at once what you have to say in answer to it. 271 LETTER XLII. From the Colonist. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT HAS NO RELATION TO ONE FORM OF GOVERNMENT MORE THAN ANY OTHER; BUT IT IS THE SUREST MEANS OF PREVENTING THE DIS- AFFECTION OF THE OUT-LYING PORTIONS OF AN EX- TENSIVE EMPIRE, WHICH SURELY RESULTS FROM CENTRAL- BUREAUCRATIC GOVERNMENT. THE ORIGINAL MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY INTRODUCED. MAXY indeed are they who believe, that the municipal system of colonial government has a tendency to promote democracy, republicanism, and colonial disaffection ; but this opinion is sincerely held by those alone who have never seriously examined the subject. Between the municipal and republican prin- ciples there is no connexion whatever. Is there a country in the world where the monarchical principle is more cherished than in Great Britain? Yet is there no country in the world where the municipal principle, as a delegation of authority for limited pur- poses, has been so largely carried into effect. What the form of government may be in a municipal depen- dency, is a matter wholly independent of the municipal character of the government. Municipal, applying 272 MUNICIPAL NOTHING BUT LOCAL. the word to colonies, signifies nothing but local. Pro- vided the government of a colony is local, it may be in form either monarchical or republican, aristocratic or democratic, without being more or less municipal. Penn and Baltimore were monarchs in fact within their colonies, though constitutional monarchs enjoined to rule by the help of representative institutions. The municipal governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland were virtually hereditary constitutional monarchies, subordinate to the imperial monarchy. The constitu- tion of Carolina was elaborately aristocratical. In those of Massachusets, Connecticut and Ehode Island, the democratic principle preponderated. In Canada, which is a municipality, though until quite lately very much counteracted, the government is in form a close copy of the imperial government, allowing for the one difference of a very democratic suffrage. If it were made a perfect copy, as it easily might be without in the least diminishing the subordination of the colony, a municipal constitutional monarchy would exist by the side of republics and a republican confederation of them. It is my own deliberate opinion that a vice- monarchy in Canada, precisely resembling the imperial monarchy except in being subordinate to it, might be established with the cordial approbation of the colo- nists, and with the effect of vastly increasing their prosperity by inducing very many Americans who dislike republican institutions, to bring their wealth into the British province, and become subjects of our Queen. But this is almost a digression. Keturning to the question, it will be useful to note that the con- version of American municipal dependencies into re- publican states, which is often attributed to the repub- A RULE WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS. 273 liean tendency of municipal institutions, may with more reason be ascribed to those counteractions of the municipal principle in America, by which the sovereigns of England, acting generally in this respect indepen- dently of their parliaments, and even to the last ex- hibiting a personal animosity to their colonial subjects, taiiirht the colonists to hate the very name of king. That this is the more reasonable conclusion of the two will appear to anybody who, with a view to the present question, reads over again the Declaration of American Independence. He would do well at the same time to remember, that the Spanish colonies of America have all turned into republics, although perhaps because they were founded and governed on the central-bureaucratic principle. With respect to the disaffection of municipal depen- dencies, facts are still more at variance with the theory. One seeks in vain for a single instance of disaffection in a municipal dependency of a great empire, except- ing only through the operation of the central principle in admixture or collision with the municipal. Local self-government is so precious, that dependent com- munities enjoying it have invariably reverenced the imperial power to which they owed the blessing, and which maintained them in possession of it. This is a rule without exceptions. Examples of the rule are furnished in abundance by modern as well as ancient times. The municipalities of the Roman Empire were its main stay. Was not the dependence on Rome of its conquered provinces, the main cause of its down- fall? The Channel Islands, which govern themselves locally which are a capital example of municipal de- pendency are devotedly attached to England. The 274 DISTANT GOVERNMENT. Tyrolese, with a local parliament, have proved their attachment to the despotic House of Austria by their heroic struggles against the power of Napoleon, and again, lately, by receiving the Emperor with open arms when he was driven from the metropolis of the empire. The Basque provinces of Spain, with their fueros, were the last to submit to a revolution which deprived their legitimate sovereign of his throne. The municipal colonies of England in America, notwith- standing the unjust and oppressive infractions of their municipal rights by a series of British monarchs, were at all times prompt to take arms in any quarrel of the mother-country with a foreign state. The Virginians, in their appeals to Charles the Second against his invasions of their municipal constitution, used to boast that of all his subjects, they had been " the last to renounce and the first to resume their allegiance" to the Crown of England. In Canada, just now, disaf- fection produced by errors of local administration on the part of the central authority, has been converted into loyalty by giving to the colonists the consequences, in addition to the form, of local representation. The disaffection, in some cases the hatred, of the imperial power, which exists in other colonies at present, though their weakness precludes them from manifest- ing it by acts, is a product of the very reverse of mu- nicipal government. Distant government in local matters is so fatal to the interests, and so mortifying to the pride of its subjects, that, in their hearts at least, they can't help being disaffected. Does the present world or history present a single example of a community governed from a distance, whose loyalty to the distant power may not be questioned? The United IMl'I-RIAL C'OXTKOL. 275 Kingdom itself exhibits in Scotland and Ireland the loyalty of one people preserving their own laws, and in practice almost ruled separately after formal incor- poration with the empire; and the disaffection of another, which is still in some measure ruled as a dependency stripped by conquest of its local laws. In all times, the main strength of a great empire has con- sisted of the firmness with which, by means of the mu- nicipal principle, it was rooted in the affections of its subjects distant from the seat of empire : a universal cause of weakness in an extensive dominion has been the disaffection of the outlying portions, arising from their misgovernment on the central principle. But supposing it admitted that the municipal system has no tendency to republicanism, and produces loyalty rather than disaffection that it is the strongest cement of an empire composed of divers commu- nities yet the questions may be asked, Would you de- prive the imperial power of all local control in the colonies? w r ould you make them wholly independent states within their own bounds, reserving only such allegiance to the empire as would prevent them from being independent, or foreign states? Certainly not. On the contrary, I, for one, am of opinion, that if colonization were systematically conducted with a view to the advantage of the mother-country, the con- trol of the imperial power ought to be much greater, and the connexion between the colonies and the centre far more intimate than either has ever yet been. I regard the waste but partially-occupied territories which this nation has acquired by costly efforts, as a valuable national property, which we have every right in justice, and are bound by every consideration of T 2 276 AMOUNT AND MANNER OF CONTROL. prudence, to use for the greatest benefit of the people of this country: and instead of leaving colonies to take what form a thousand accidents may determine, and to grow up as cast-aways till they are strong enough to become enemies, I think that the imperial power ought to mould them into the forms most agreeable to itself, and to bind them to this kingdom by indissoluble ties. And first, as to control. Of real, effective, fruitful control, there never has been half enough : there has been far too much of a control unproductive of any beneficial results to colony or mother-country; pro- ductive of the very reverse of the proper objects of control. As to the amount of control, I should go beyond the most zealous advocate of the present system: I should wholly differ with him as to the manner. He recommends control, arbitrary, unde- fined, irregular, capricious, and masked; I propose a control according to law; that is, a control definite, orderly, steady, above all seen and understood by the subjects of it. The manner of control appears to me to be of far more consequence than its nature or amount. Very improper limitations of the local powers of a colony, if they were fixed by law so that every colonist should always know exactly what they were, would be far preferable to the most proper limitations imposed from time to time arbitrarily, irregularly, and without warning or other promulgation. The grand point for the colonies, as to government, is that they should always know what they might lawfully do, and what they might not. What the law per- mitted or forbade them to do, would be a matter of comparatively small importance. If they had a con- WHINE OF NAPOLEON. 277 istitutional law, they would accommodate themselves to it : or, as it would be known at the seat of empire as well as in the colonies, and its operation would be visible, they might, if it were hurtful to them, get it altered by the supreme power which had framed it. I ask that the colonies should be governed, as a tres- passer or vagrant is prosecuted in this country, that is to say, " according to law ;" that they should be ruled even according to the law-martial of a man-of-war rather than left to the lawlessness of a pirate ship ; that they should be governed by the imperial power instead of being the sport of the chapter of ac- cidents. Government according to law is govern- ment : the other manner of government is nothing but force ; and the highest authority on this point the greatest incarnation of force that the world has seen wondered and lamented at the incapacity of force to create anything. This whine of the mighty Xapoleon should never be forgotten by those who meddle with the creative business of colonization. I have now done with the principles of colonial government. My next will contain the outline of a plan of colonial government based on the foregoing principles. But allow me, meanwhile, to suggest that your careful perusal of the inclosed paper may greatly serve the object of our correspondence. It contains a view of that system of colonial government which I have called the central-bureaucratic-spoiled, by a hand which the charms of the writer's style will satisfy you is not mine. I do not send you the little volume from which it is extracted, entitled Responsible Government for Colonies (which was published in 1840 as a reprint, with some additions, of a series of 278 MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY. articles that first appeared in the Colonial Gazette), because that publication has been long out of print, and I have been unable to obtain a copy of it except on loan. The extracts, besides informing and enter- taining you, will explain why, in proposing a cognomen for your Downing- street acquaintance, I selected that of " Mr. Mothercountry."* * It was no secret before Mr. Charles Buller's death, that he wrote the description of " Mr. Mothercountry of the Colonial Office," which many a colonist has got by heart; but the fact is not mentioned in the text, because it was not published till after that was written as it now stands. I assume that now, when the public has lost its favourite among the younger statesmen of our day, no apology is required for reviving here one of the happiest productions of his accomplished pen. 279 " ME. MOTHERCOUNTRY, OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. " IN preceding chapters we have endeavoured to show, that that constant reference to the authorities in England, which some persons call " responsibility to the mother-country," is by no means necessary to insure the maintenance of a bene- ficial colonial connexion. It is not necessary for this purpose that the people or government of England should be con- stantly interfering in the details of colonial business. It is not desirable that we should regulate these matters according to notions which cannot be half so correct as those of the colonists themselves. But even if it were desirable, and if we were convinced that a colony could never be well governed except by the enlightened opinion, or the responsible ministers of the mother-country, we should still be unconvinced of the possibility of securing an effectual appeal to either. If the public opinion of the British community, and the attention of its legislature and ministry, could indeed be brought to bear on each colonial question as it arises, and to give it the same earnest consideration that it gives to any English question of the same importance, the reference to this country would be productive of no ill, but much good. But the theory of responsibility errs in this, that the mother-country, to which the reference is supposed to be made, never exercises any judgment on the matter; and the decision which is pro- nounced in its name, is given by the few individuals that think it worth while to usurp its functions for the purpose. " It is not in the nature of men to feel any very lively in- terest in the affairs of those, of whom they know so little as the people of this country do of their fellow- subjects in the colonies : and the bitter experience of colonists has taught 280 MB. MOTHERCOUNTRY them how little their condition, and the circumstances which influence it, are appreciated by the people of this country. The social state, and the form of government in the colonies, are both utterly foreign to the notions of Englishmen. We comprehend neither: we know little of the events that have passed in them : and the consequence is, that we understand very nearly as little of what passes in the present day. The newspaper of the morning announces in some out-of-the-way corner, that some ship, which left some unknown spot, in some distant corner of the world, some weeks or months before, has brought perhaps a couple of months' files of colonial papers. We are told that the governor had issued some order, upon a matter of which the nature is utterly incomprehensible to us ; or that the Assembly is " still" occupied with some dispute with him, of the commencement of which we have never heard. If, perchance, there is anything in this news which interests us enough to make us read through the column of the paper, hunt up the geographical and other points which at first puzzle us, and look with impatience for the sequel of the news, the odds are that we get nothing more on the sub- ject for the next month ; and the first time our paper finds room for another set of extracts from the colonial papers, the matter about which we were interested has slipped out of our memory, or some event of importance in home politics absorbs all our attention. This is the normal state of our ignorance on the subject, varied in the case of the most active-minded by the half-information thus picked up, and the prejudices consequently formed. When some event of great importance suddenly rivets public attention on colonial affairs, we come to the consideration of them with this general ignorance and these misconceptions. Nothing but the news of invasion or revolt gives the people at large a real interest in the colonial news of the day. The events that prepare such calamities, have been either unheeded or fostered by the rash decisions which we have given in our inattentive mood. " As the people judge, so do the representatives act in Par- liament, A railway or a turnpike bill ordinarily interests OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 281 more members than any measure affecting the most vital in- terests of our most important colonies. Some of them, it is true, attract the notice of two or three members, who think that local knowledge gives them the right to assume airs of great wisdom respecting them. Some ignorant and pre- sumptuous captain in the navy, some still more ignorant and presumptuous colonel in the army, who have passed a year or two in some harbour or garrison of the colony some retired judge, whose knowledge of a community has been formed on his experience of the criminals and suitors of his court some ex-official, mixed up with colonial jobs and cliques some merchant, who urges in the House whatever his partners in the colony tell him is the right thing to promote the interests or importance of the firm these, with occasionally some gentleman whose more than usually extended tour has carried him to some of our remote possessions, are the only persons, not compelled by the duties of office or opposition, that take what is called an interest in a colony. By some one or other of these, four or five times in a session, questions are addressed to the ministers, or returns required, or motions made. But hardly any one else ever shares in this interest : and such a notice of motion generally insures the House being counted out whenever it comes on ! On some rare occasions the party questions of the day are mixed up in some colonial matter : the opposition come down to fight the battle of the church, or education, or whatever else it may be, on colonial ground ; and the mover is favoured with the unaccustomed honour of an audience and a division. Sometimes the oppor- tunity of wounding a ministry through the side of one of its measures, or of a governor of its own party, occasions similar manifestations of factious force and zeal : and to what mis- chiefs such conduct gives rise we have had too much expe- rience, in the rejection of the bill for the union of the two Canadas in 1822, and still more recently in the disallowance of Lord Durham's celebrated ordinances. The attention thus given to a colony in these occasional gusts of party feeling, is productive of so much ill, that it is far better for them that 282 MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY Parliament should preserve its usual apathy, and adopt, as it usually does, whatever legislation the government of the day may recommend. " There are two modes in which the legislative measures, to which the government wishes to get the sanction of parlia- ment, are framed. Sometimes, though rarely, parliament passes an act after the usual fashion of acts of parliament, settling by positive enactments every detail of the course on which it determines. Except, however, in the case of acts settling the form of government in a colony, this is a lahour which is rarely imposed on parliament : and experience shows us how unwise it is to trust the details of such measures to the chances of parliamentary attention. The Canada-Tenures Act is a remarkable instance of this. No act was ever pro- posed by government with more honest and sound intentions. The purpose was good ; and had the bill been passed in the shape in which it was prepared by Mr. James Stuart,* the present chief-justice of Lower Canada, that purpose would have been carried into effect, probably without any concomitant evil. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Stuart quitted England before the bill had passed. During its passage through par- liament, one apparently harmless amendment was suggested from one, and another from another quarter; some words were omitted to please one, and others left out to conciliate another. The result was, that this act, which was intended to merely alter tenures, without affecting any existing interest, assailed the vested rights of every married woman and child in the province, gave the seigneurs the most unfair advantage over their tenants, and, in fact, shook every title to land in Lower Canada. " But parliament in general disposes of the details of co- lonial questions in a much more summary way. For some time past, the impossibility of determining the details of a colonial measure in the British Parliament has been so much * Who was not an official sent out by the Colonial Office, but a native of Canada, and as thorough a colonist as the province contains. Lord Durham appointed him Chief- Justice of Quebec. OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 283 impressed upon the government, that the custom has been to propose that the colonial acts of parliament should be simple tfivntt of legislative powers to some ministerial authority in this country; and they have in consequence simply enabled the crown to legislate for the colonies by order in council. It is thus that for nearly the last twenty years a great part of the legislation of the West-India islands has been carried on ; and the power of making laws has been taken equally from the colonial and imperial legislatures, and transferred to the exe- cutive government at home. Nor has parliament taken, in colonial cases, the precautions for retaining a vigilant super- vision of the use made of this power, which it has always retained to itself whenever it has delegated similar authority with respect to the mother-country. The poor-law commis- sioners have the most extensive powers of legislation by means of general rules: the judges of courts of common law have very large powers of regulating the whole administration of the common law by their rules and regulations. Yet in these, as in many other cases of not quite equal importance, the most effectual provisions are made for the utmost pub- licity ; and it is necessary that all rules made under the dele- gated authority should, to have permanent effect, be laid on the table of both Houses. But no such precautions are taken with respect to the colonies ; and the powers thus given to orders in council are exercised without any publicity in this country. " Thus, from the general indifference of Parliament on colonial questions, it exercises, in fact, hardly the slightest efficient control over the administration or the making of laws for the colonies. In nine cases out of ten, it merely registers the edicts of the Colonial Office in Downing-street. It is there, then, that nearly the whole public opinion which influ- ences the conduct of affairs in the colonies, really exists. It is there that the supremacy of the mother-country really re- sides : and when we speak of that supremacy, and of the responsibility of the colony to the mother-country, you may to all practical intents consider as the mother-country the 284 MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY possessor of this supremacy the centre of this responsibility the occupants of the large house that forms the end of that cul-de-sac so well known by the name of Downing -street. However colonists or others may talk of the Crown, the Par- [ianient, and the public of the honour of the first, the wisdom of the second, or the enlightened opinion of the last nor Queen, nor Lords, nor Commons, nor the great public itself, exercise any power, or will, or thought on the greater part of colonial matters : and the appeal to the mother-country is, in fact, an appeal to ' the Office.' " But this does not sufficiently concentrate the mother- country. It may, indeed, at first sight, be supposed that the power of ' the Office' must be wielded by its head : that in him at any rate we have generally one of the most eminent of our public men, whose views on the various matters which come under his cognizance, are shared by the cabinet of which he is a member. We may fancy, therefore, that here, at least, concentrated in a somewhat despotic, but at any rate in a very responsible and dignified form, we have the real governing power of the colonies, under the system which boasts of making their governments responsible to the mother-country. But this is a very erroneous supposition. This great officer holds the most constantly shifting position on the shifting scene of official life. Since April, 1827, ten different Secre- taries of State have held the seals of the colonial department. Each was brought into that office from business of a perfectly different nature, and probably with hardly any experience in colonial affairs. The new minister is at once called on to enter on the consideration of questions of the greatest magni- tude, and at the same time of some hundreds of questions of mere detail, of no public interest, of unintelligible technicality, involving local considerations with which he is wholly unac- quainted, but at the same time requiring decision, and decision at which it is not possible to arrive without considerable labour. Perplexed with the vast variety of subjects thus presented to him alike appalled by the important and un- important matters forced on his attention every Secretary of OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 285 State is obliged at the outset to rely on the aid of some better in formed member of his office. His Parliamentary Under- rary is generally as new to the business as himself: and even if they had not been brought in together, the tenure of office by the Under- Secretary having on the average been quite as short as that of the Secretary of State, he has never during the period of his official career obtained sufficient information, to make him independent of the aid on which he must have been thrown at the outset. Thus we find both these marked and responsible functionaries dependent on the advice or guidance of another; and that other person must of course be one of the permanent members of the office. We do not pretend to say which of these persons it is, that in fact directs the colonial policy of Britain. It may be, as a great many persons think, the permanent Under-Secretary ; it may be the chief, it may be some very subordinate clerk ; it may be one of them that has most influence at one time, and another at another ; it may be this gentleman as to one, and that as to another question or set of questions : for here we get beyond the region of real responsibility, and are involved in the clouds of official mystery. That mother- country which has been narrowed from the British isles into the Parliament, from the Parliament into the executive government, from the executive government into the Colonial Office, is not to be sought in the apartments of the Secretary of State, or his Parliamentary Under-Secretary. Where you are to look for it, it is impossible to say. In some back room whether in the attic, or in what story we know not you will find all the mother-country which really exercises supre- macy, and really maintains connexion with the vast and widely-scattered colonies of Britain. We know not the name, the history, or the functions of the individual, into the narrow limits of whose person we find the mother-country shrunk. Indeed, we may call him by the name, of which we have thus shown him to be the rightful bearer ; and when we speak of Mr. Mothercountry, the colonist will form a much more accurate notion than heretofore of the authority by which he is in reality ruled. 286 ME. MOTHERCOUNTRY " Of the individual thus bodily existing, but thus dimly seen, we can of course give our readers none but the most general description. We will not flatter the pride of our colonial readers, by depicting this real arbiter of their destinies as a person of lofty rank or of the first class among what we call statesmen. He is probably a person who owes his present position entirely to his own merits and long exertions. He has worked his way through a long and laborious career of official exertions ; and his ambition is limited to the office that he holds, or to some higher grade of the permanent offices under government. Probably married at an early age, he has to support and educate a large family out of his scanty though sure income. Once or twice a year he dines with his principal ; perhaps as often with some friend in parliament or high office. But the greater part of his days are passed out of all reach of aristocratic society ; he has a modest home in the outskirts of London, with an equally modest establish- ment : and the colonist who is on his road to * the Office/ little imagines that it is the real ruler of the colonies that he sees walking over one of the bridges, or driving his one-horse chay, or riding cheek by jowl with him on the top of the short coach, as he comes into town of a morning. " Mr. Mothercountry's whole heart is in the business of his office. Not insensible to the knowledge or the charms of the power which he possesses, habit and a sense of duty are perhaps often the real motives of the unremitting exertions, by which alone he retains it. For this is the real secret of his influence. Long experience has made him thoroughly conversant with every detail of his business ; and long habit has made his business the main, perhaps with the exception of his family, the sole source of his interest and enjoyment. By day and by night, at office or at home, his labour is constant. No pile of despatches, with their multifarious enclosures, no red -taped heap of colonial grievances or squab- bles, can scare his practised eye. He handles with unfaltering hand the papers at which his superiors quail : and ere they have waded through one half of them, he suggests the course, OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 287 which the previous measures dictated by himself compel the government to adopt. He alone knows on what principles the predecessors of the noble or right honourable Secretary acted before : he alone, therefore, can point out the step which in pursuance of the previous policy it is incumbent to take : and the very advice, which it is thus rendered incumbent on the present Secretary of State to take, produces results that will give him as sure a hold on the next Secretary of State. " But with all this real power, Mr. Mothercountry never assumes the airs of dictation to his principal. Every change of the head of the department, though really consolidating his power, gives occasion for a kind of mutiny against it. The new Secretary enters with some purpose of independence : he has heard of Mr. Mothercountry's influence ; and he is determined that he will act on his own head. He goes on for a while on this plan ; but it is sure to be no long time ere something comes before him for which he is obliged to refer to Mr. Mothercountry : he is pleased with his ready, shrewd, and unobtrusive advice : he applies to him on the next occa- sion with more confidence : he finds that Mr. Mothercountry takes a great deal of trouble off his hands ; and great men are sure at last to fall under the dominion of any man that will save them trouble. By degrees, he begins to think that there are some things which it is better to leave altogether to Mr. Mothercountry ; and as to all he soon finds it prudent to take no step until he has heard what Mr. Mothercountry has to say about it. If things go smooth, his confidence in Mr. Mothercountry rises : if they go ill, his dependence on him is only the more riveted, because it is Mr. Mothercountry alone who can get him through the colonial contest or Parlia- mentary scrape in which he has involved himself. The more independent he has been at first, the more of these scrapes he has probably got himself into ; and the more dependent he consequently becomes in the long run. The power of Mr. Mothercountry goes on increasing from secretary to secretary, and from month to month of each secretary's tenure of office ; and the more difficult the government of the colonies becomes, 288 MB. MOTHERCOUNTRY the more entirely it falls into the hands of the only men in the public service who really know anything about colonial affairs. " This is perhaps the best result of such a system : and our experience of the follies and presumption of the only Secretary of State that ever undertook to act for himself, is a proof that, under the present system, Mr. Mothercountry's management is better than that of the gentlemen whom he generally gets put over his head. But the system of intrusting absolute power (for such it is) to one wholly irresponsible, is obviously most faulty. Thus, however, are our colonies ruled: and such is the authority to which is committed that last appeal from the colonies themselves, which is dignified with all these vague phrases about the power, the honour, the supremacy, and the wisdom of the mother-country. " We have described the secret and irresponsible, but steady rule of Mr. Mothercountry, in whom we have personified the permanent and unknown officials of the Colonial Office in Downing-street, as very much better for our colonies than that to which they would be subjected, were the perpetually- shifting secretaries and under-secretaries of state really to pretend to conduct affairs of which they understand nothing. It must not be inferred from this, that we think it a really good system. It has all the faults of an essentially arbitrary 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 con- dition who are obliged to trust to second-hand and one-sided information and who are exposed to the operation of all those sinister influences, which prevail wherever publicity and freedom are not established. In intelligence, activity, and regard for the public interests, the permanent functionaries of " the Office" may be superior to the temporary head that the vicissitudes of party politics give them ; but they must neces- sarily be inferior to those persons in the colony, in whose hands the adoption of the true practice of responsible govern- ment would vest the management of local affairs. OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 289 " A thorough knowledge of the internal economy of this number of different communities, situated at the most distant points of the globe, having the most diverse climates, races, productions, forms of government, and degrees of wealth and civilization, is necessarily one which the best- employed experience of the longest life can never be supposed to give. From his entrance into his office, the necessary labours of the day have occupied almost the whole of Mr. Mothercountry's time and thoughts ; and though we will give him credit for having picked up such information as elemen- tary books can give, it cannot very well be imagined that he has learnt from books, newspapers, and oral information, all that mass of particulars respecting manners, things, and persons, that is requisite for forming in the mind a complete picture of the social and political, the physical as well as the moral condition of those numerous countries. It is in the very nature of duties so laborious as his, that Mr. Mother- country should be able to attend to little except to the ques- tions presented for his decision by the parties contending in the colonies, and should form his notion of their condition from these rather than from more extended reading and observation. Compelled to examine the complaints and answers of the various parties, he gradually imbibes the idea that the whole state of affairs is set forth in these statements and counter-statements. He fixes his eye on the grievances and squabbles that occupy the addresses of Assemblies, the despatches of governors, and the disputes of officials; and gets to fancy, naturally enough, that these are the matters on which the mind of the colony is intent, and on which its welfare depends. Hence the result is, that since, in colonies as elsewhere, the real interests of the community are over- looked in such disputes, Mr. Mothercountry has at his fingers' ends, after a long devotion to the subject, nothing better than a very complete knowledge of very immaterial incidents ; and that when he fancies he knows all about a colony, he has, in fact, only been diverting his attention from everything that is worth knowing respecting it. Thus, while the question of U 290 ME. MOTHERCOUNTRY contending races was gradually breaking up the whole social system of Lower Canada, Mr. Mothercountry, unconscious of the mischief, thought that he was restoring order and satisfac- tion by well-reasoned despatches on points of prerogative and precedent. Experience may give Mr. Mothercountry more information respecting the whole mass of our colonies than any other individual probably possesses. But it is, after all, a very incomplete information, and one which does not prevent his continually committing those gross blunders of which our colonial history is the record. " This is the necessary consequence of the variety and dis- tance of Mr. Mothercountry's dominions. He has, in addition, the faults of that permanent and irresponsible power, com- bined with subordinate position, which we always perceive in a government of bureaus and offices. It is a position which engenders not a little conceit ; and in whatever form Mr. Mothercountry appears even in that of the humblest clerk you always find out that he thinks, that he and his associates in ' the Office' are the only people in the world who under- stand anything about the colonies. He knows his power too, and is excessively jealous of any encroachment on or resistance to it. It is a power, he well knows, which has its origin in the indolence and ignorance of others : he fancies, therefore, that it is assailed by any one who understands anything of the colonies, or takes any interest in them ; and to all such people, therefore, he has a mortal dislike. " And though Mr. Mothercountry has none of a fine gen- tleman's aversion to work, but on the contrary devotes his whole energies to his business, he likes to get over his work with ae little trouble as possible. It is his tendency, therefore, to reduce his work as much as he can to a mere routine ; to act on general rules, and to avoid every possible deviation from them ; and thus to render the details of his daily task as much a matter of habit as he well can. A hatred of innova- tion is a distinguishing feature of his, as of the general official character. Everything new gives trouble : to enter upon a new course with respect to distant communities, is always OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 291 matter of danger and doubt, unless the step is founded upon a more complete knowledge of the state of things than Mr. Mothercountry can afford time to acquire. He is very much afraid of being attacked in Parliament or the newspapers ; and as it is almost always a sufficient answer for the great mass of men. that you have done in any particular instance what had usually been done hitherto, he likes always to have this answer to give. Nor do the common motives to exertion act on him to induce him to labour in the work of improvement. He well knows that he shall have none of the glory of improve- ments in which the public take an interest. The credit of these is sure to be ascribed to the chief Secretary. It is but human nature, then, that he should hate innovation, and dis- courage every project of improvement. Those who have suggested any improvement in the system existing in our colonies, or proposed to found new colonies on a new prin- ciple, know to what a complete science the officials of the colonial department have brought their mode of repelling all such invasions of their domain. "But the worst of all Mr. Mothercountry's faults is his necessary subjection to sinister interests and cabals. Where - ever the public cease to take an interest in what is going on, the reign of cliques and cabals is sure to extend : and when- ever the actions of the government are not guided by public opinion, they inevitably fall under the influence of some sinister interest. Every one of our colonies has its own jobs, its own monopolies, and its own little knots of bustling and intriguing jobbers. These spare no pains to* get the ear of Mr. Mothercountry. Backed by some strong mercantile, or official, or parliamentary connexion, they press their views on him ; relying partly on their better knowledge of the peculiar subject on which they have so deep an interest, partly on the fear they can inspire by the threat of an appeal to Parliament or the press. Then, again, there are persons whose past official position and party connexions enable them to bring a strong party influence to bear on him. On one or two points there has been excited a powerful interest, which has organized u2 292 MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY itself into associations, represented by constituted bodies and accredited officers, always ready to push their own views, and able to excite a strong public feeling on their particular point, if their representations should be neglected. While these narrow views and partial interests have these active organs, the colonial public and the interests of the colony have rarely any, never equally efficient representatives A long experience has taught Mr. Mothercountry, that without conciliating these various juntas, he never can hope to govern quietly, but that if he manage to get their concurrence, he runs little risk of effectual opposition from either the British or colonial public. His whole aim, therefore, necessarily is to conciliate all of these bodies, or when their interests happen to run counter, either to give each its turn, or to conciliate the most powerful. One day, accordingly, we find him conciliating the knot of merchants that enjoy the existing monopoly ; another day, those who are exerting themselves for a freer trade ; at one time he is holding out his hand to the West-India interest ; another time he seems to be entirely under the influence of the abolitionists. These are the sectional influences under which such a government is sure to fall, owing to its freedom from responsibility to a wide public opinion. "The worst instance of the operation of these secret influences on Mr. Mothercountry is to be found in the colonial appointments. If he were left to himself, and could appoint as he chose, he might doubtless job a little, but, on the whole, he would probably pay some regard to competence in some of his appointments. But the patronage of the Colonial Office is the prey of every hungry department of our government. On it the Horse Guards quarters its worn-out general officers as governors : the Admiralty cribs its share ; and jobs which even parliamentary rapacity would blush to ask from the Treasury, are perpetrated with impunity in the silent realm of Mr. Mothercountry. O'Connell, we are told, after very bluntly informing Mr. Ruthven that he had committed a fraud which would for ever unfit him for the society of gentlemen at home, added, in perfect simplicity and kindness of heart, OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 293 that if he would comply with his wishes and cease to contest Kildare, he might probably be able to get some appointment for him in the colonies. "It is, however, not only of the cliques and interests at home that Mr. Mothercountry is thus placed under the influ- ence. The same causes that render the action of small knots of men operative on him in England, place him under the same necessity of courting the good opinion and disarming the hostility of every well-organized interest in the colonies. Now, the strongest and most active interest in a colony is always that of the little knot that governs it the family compact, which Lord Durham has described as being the necessary result of the irresponsible government of our colonies. Creatures of the Colonial Office, as these compacts are, they nevertheless manage to acquire a strength which renders them very formidable to Mr. Mothercountry. Even when he gets on bad terms with them, he never abandons the hope of reconciliation with them, or the demeanour necessary to insure it. But you will rarely find him quarrelling with them. A despotic and irresponsible authority is always obliged to govern by a small knot of men ; and these colonial compacts are the natural agents of the compact at home. Thus the mischiefs produced by irresponsibility in the colony, are augmented and perpetuated by the responsibility to Mr. Mothercountry. " The working of the appeal to Mr. Mothercountry in fact only adds to the amount of colonial misgovernment ; and instead of obviating the mischiefs of the system pursued in the colonies themselves, it only adds another element of delay, obstruction, and inconsistency. Bad as is the govern- ment of Turkish Pachas, the Porte never interferes except to make matters worse ; and ill as the colonial compacts manage, the appeal from them to Mr. Mothercountry only adds fresh fuel to colonial irritation and individual grievance. His ignorance of the real state of affairs in the colony, his habits of routine, his dependence on the secret cliques and interests at home, produce an invariable tendency on his part to stave 294 MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY off the decision of every question referred to him. Every matter referred to him is sure to be referred back to the colony ; and every successive answer to every fresh reference only serves him to raise some new pretext for postponing his decision. He is engaged in a perpetual struggle with the colonial compacts, in which he and they have no object but that of throwing on each other the responsibility of deciding. With this view, he has perfected a complete art of irrelevant and apparently purposeless correspondence, by which he manages to spin out an affair until it either evaporates into something absolutely insignificant, or until at any rate the patience and interest of all parties concerned are completely worn out. For this purpose, he has invented and brought to considerable perfection a style peculiar to colonial despatches ; a style in which the words of the English language are used with a very admirable grace and facility, but at the same time with an utter absence of meaning. In this singular style we hope some day to give our readers a lesson ; but we need now only observe that it is of great utility in enabling Mr. Mother- country to keep up hopes of a decision, while he is leading his reader further and further away from it. If any decision is got, it is generally on some point that virtually leaves the question at issue undecided. But sometimes even the sem- blance of decision is omitted ; and the systematic postpone- ment merges into the neglect of absolute oblivion. Thus it has been known, that even reserved acts of colonial parlia- ments have been poked away in one of Mr. Mothercountry's pigeon-holes, and never brought out of it till the period in which they could receive the necessary sanction had passed : and in another instance, a colonist who inquired for a private act, on which his whole property depended, was told that instead of having received her Majesty's assent, it was no- where to be found. "But the appeal to Mr. Mothercountry in individual cases is even more mischievous to the parties concerned. It is a mere device in general for prolonging the tortures of the unhappy victim, who, bandied about from colony to England, OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 295 from Secretary to Secretary, from Under- Secretary to Under- secretary, from clerk to clerk, wastes away hope and existence, as a subject of Mr. Mothercountry's systematic procrastination. " There are rooms in the Colonial Office, with old and meagre furniture, book-cases crammed with colonial gazettes and newspapers, tables covered with baize, and some old and crazy chairs scattered about, in which those who have personal applications to make, are doomed to wait until the interview can be obtained. Here, if perchance you should some day be forced to tarry, you will find strange, anxious-looking beings, who pace to and fro in feverish impatience, or sit dejected at the table, unable in the agitation of their thoughts to find any occupation to while away their hours, and starting every time that the door opens, in hopes that the messenger is come to announce that their turn is arrived. These are men with colonial grievances. The very messengers know them, their business, and its hopelessness, and eye them with pity as they bid them wait their long and habitual period of attendance. No experienced eye can mistake their faces, once expressive of health, and confidence, and energy, now worn by hopes deferred, and the listlessness of prolonged dependence. One is a recalled governor, boiling over with a sense of mortified pride, and frustrated policy ; another, a judge, recalled for daring to resist the compact of his colony; another, a mer- chant, whose whole property has been destroyed by some job or oversight ; another, the organ of the remonstrances of some colonial parliament ; another, a widow struggling for some pension, on which her hopes of existence hang ; and perhaps another is a man whose project is under consideration. Every one of these has passed hours in that dull but anxious attendance, and knows every nook and corner of this scene of his sufferings. The grievance originated probably long years ago, and bandied about between colony and home, by letter or by interview, has dragged on its existence thus far. One comes to have an interview with the Chief Secretary ; one, who has tried Chief and Under Secretaries in their turn, is now doomed to waste his remonstrances on some clerk. One has 296 MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY. been waiting days to have his first interview ; another, weeks to have his answer to his memorial ; another, months in ex- pectation of the result of a reference to the colony ; and some reckon the period of their suffering hy years. Some are silent ; some utter aloud their hopes or fears, and pour out their tale on their fellow-sufferers ; some endeavour to con- ciliate by their meekness ; some give vent to their rage, when, after hours of attendance, the messenger summons in their stead some sleek contented-looking visitor, who has sent up his name only the moment before, but whose importance as a Member of Parliament, or of some powerful interest or society, obtains him an instant interview. And if by chance you should see one of them at last receive the long-desired summons, you will be struck at the nervous reluctance with which he avails himself of the permission. After a short conference, you will generally see him return with disappointment stamped on his brow, and, quitting the office, wend his lonely way home to despair, or perhaps to return to his colony and rebel. These chambers of woe are called tJie Sighing Rooms : and those who recoil from the sight of human suffering, should shun the ill-omened precincts." Responsible Government for Colo- nies. London: James Ridgway. 1840. 297 LETTER XLIIL From the Colonist. SKETCH OF A PLAN OF MUNICIPAL-FEDERATIVE GOVERN- MENT FOR COLONIES; WITH AN EPISODE CONCERNING SIR JAMES STEPHEN AND THE BIRTHRIGHT OF EXGLISHMEX. SIXCE it is the constitutional law of a colony, whatever it may be, which necessarily forms the ties by which the dependency is bound to the empire, the subject of the imperial connexion is involved in the question of what the constitutional law should be. I assume that the municipal is the right principle on which to frame a colonial constitution. The colonists themselves should be authorized by express delegation, to do within the colony whatever the imperial power has no object in preventing, or in regulating according to its own views. They should be empowered, in the words of one of the old charters (2nd Grant to Virginia, by James L, 1609), "to make, ordain, and establish all manner of orders, laws, directions, instructions, forms, and ceremonies of government and magistracy, fit and necessary, for and concerning the government of the said colony and plantation; and the same at all times hereafter, 298 COLONIAL CONSTITUTION. to abrogate, revoke, or change, as they in their good discretion shall think to be fittest for the good of the adventurers and inhabitants there." But these words, standing alone, would give unlimited local power. The grant of power, therefore, should be accompanied by conditions or restrictions concerning the matters intended to be at all times subject to direct imperial control. Whilst reflecting on the frame-work of a colonial constitution, I once imagined that it might be possible to write down with precision, in two distinct classes, the empowering and the conditional or restrictive provisions of a charter, so that whatever the colonists might do, and whatever they might not do, should be fully expressed. But an attempt to proceed in this way soon convinced me of its futility. It soon became obvious, that volumes might be filled with a bare statement of the things which the colonists might do, and would after all be a very imperfect permissive code. In beginning that idle attempt, I forgot the suggestions of all experience. All experience as well as reason suggests, that the empowering part of a colonial charter should consist of a few plain, general, and all-comprehensive terms. On the other hand, reason and experience alike point out, that an opposite course should be pursued in framing the restrictive and regulating clauses of a charter. Whatever the imperial power chooses that the colonists shall not do, and whatever mode of doing any thing it chooses to insist upon, should be very fully and parti- cularly expressed. The best of the old charters was most imperfect in this respect. All the charters, for example, provided that local legislation should not MUNICIPAL CHARTER. 299 be " contrary" or " repugnant" to the laws of England. What this meant, nobody has ever yet been able to find out. If it was intended that the local laws should not be different from those of England, the limitation utterly contradicted the grant ; and it was, besides, a very absurd provision, since the grant gave power to " make any laws whatsoever," because the colonists, from the great difference of their circum- stances, were sure to need laws materially different from those which suited the people of England. We may conclude, therefore, that this was not the purpose of the condition. Whatever its purpose was, the con- dition itself was always inoperative from vagueness. But that same vagueness gave it fatal effect as a subject of dispute between the Crown and colonists. The unavoidable disregard of this provision by the colonists, furnished the Crown with pretexts for accusing them of violating their charters, and with pretexts for violating them itself. Any degree of vagueness or obscurity in a restrictive provision would necessarily be a source of discord, not only between the Crown and the colonists, but between parties in the colony who would inevitably put different interpretations on words open to more than one. And besides the discord, the whole subject matter of the indefinite provision would be in a state of uncertainty and precariousness ; the very state which is not according to law. In drawing a municipal charter, therefore, it should be a rule admitting of no exception, to express restrictive provisions with such fulness and particularity as to prevent all mistake or doubt as to the nature and extent of the intended limitation. For the same reason, the same rule should be strictly 300 IMPERIAL CONTROL. observed in defining the modus operandi of local powers delegated to the colonists subject to the con- dition of being exercised in a particular way. The manner of granting comprises substance as well as form; but the amount and character, or subject, of limitations and special directions is a consideration perfectly distinct from the manner of imposing them. What are the proper subjects of limitations and special directions? They may be divided into matters of substance and matters of form. As an example of the first, I would mention the disposal of waste lands ; a function in the right exercise of which the imperial power has the deepest interest. Of the second, the form of the colonial legislature is a good example ; for it is an object of the highest importance to the impe- rial power, both as a means of promoting the emigra- tion of valuable colonists, fit leaders and employers of the poorer class of emigrants, and as a means of har- monizing as far as possible the national character of the colonists with that of the people of the mother- country, that the creative institutions of the colony should resemble those of the metropolis. If these examples suifi.ce for exhibiting the nature of the sub- jects as to which control by the imperial power should be embodied in a colonial charter, this rule may be deduced from them; that the subjects of imperial con- trol should be those only, as to which the imperial power has some object of its own to accomplish by means of the control. But for the application of this rule I pretend to lay down no supplementary rule. This is a point upon which opinions will necessarily differ. There are not perhaps a dozen people who hold, or could be brought LIMITED SUFFRAGE. 301 to hold speculatively, the very same opinion with rd to the matters as to which the imperial power < >bjects of its own to serve by locally controlling a colony. Practically most people would agree on this question, if the question were made practical by a Ministry having decided opinions on the question, and proposing a measure founded upon them. Till that shall happen (the supposed event, now more than ever, appears far distant), any full definition of these par- ticulars would only be a butt for the tribe of Mother- country to shoot at. Instead, therefore, of attempting to define completely what should be the subjects of imperial control, I will only mention in general terms a few that have occurred to myself. The most important of them, of course, is the form of the colonial legislature. In order to make it har- monize with that of the mother-country, it should be representative, aristocratic, and monarchical. If I could please myself in this particular, the electoral franchise should be so limited by a property qualification, as to deprive the poorest immigrants and settlers, which is another expression for the most ignorant, of the superior influence in the legislature which universal suffrage bestows on the most numerous das* : for besides the ordinary objections to universal suffrage for a people most of whom are very ignorant, there are two others peculiarly applicable to new countries; namely, the constant influx of strangers, and the roving disposition of fresh colonists. These reasons were urgently pressed upon Lord ("in-y's notice whilst he was framing a constitution for Xi_w Zealand. I inclose the copy of a letter which some colonists who were in England addressed to him 302 LORD GREY AND at the time, and in which the objections to the universal suffrage that he adopted, are fully set forth.* Of this letter Lord Grey took no notice ; probably because its objections to a universal suffrage tallied with some contained in that letter of mine to Mr. Gladstone which had blistered his jealous temper. But, however this may be, other efforts were made to save New Zealand from the evils, which it was known that he intended to inflict on the colony by making universal suffrage the basis of its constitutional law. Amongst these one is so instructive, that I must trouble you with a brief account of it. After Lord Grey had been for some time engaged by himself in attempting to make a constitution for New Zealand, it became known that he had given up the task, and handed it over to Mr. (now Sir James) Stephen, who really framed the constitution that was promulgated by Lord Grey, and destroyed by him before it could get into operation. The colonists, therefore, who had in vain protested against the suf- frage by letter to Lord Grey, now induced a Director of the New- Zealand Company, Mr. Aglionby, who fully agreed with them upon this point, to obtain an official interview with Mr. Stephen, and repeat their objections. At first, the usually grave old chief of the tribe of Mothercountry playfully quizzed Mr. Ag- lionby, the English Radical, for objecting to an unlimited suffrage : but when the objector, in the sim- plicity of his honest heart, explained, that though he approved of household suffrage for this country, there are peculiar objections to it for a new colony viz., the '* This letter, which very completely exposed, by anticipation, the defects and vices of the last constitution bestowed by imperial Britain on a colony, will be found in an Appendix. SIR JAMES STEPHEN. 303 constant influx of strangers and the roving disposition of fresh colonists Mr. Stephen ceased joking, and de- clared with remarkable earnestness and solemnity, that his conscience would not allow him to have a hand in depriving any of her Majesty's colonial subjects of their birthright ! So a constitution was framed and pro- mulgated, under which the party-character of a general election in the colony might have been determined by the arrival of a few shipfulls of Dorsetshire paupers or Milesian-Irish peasants. This provision, however, insured the early overthrow of the constitution by Lord Grey himself. Of course Mr. Stephen had not the slightest view to that result in standing up on this occasion for that birthright of Englishmen, which has been smothered almost out of memory by his long administration of colonial affairs in the name of a succession of Principal Secretaries of State. Never- theless, it may be as well to note that Mr. Taylor dedicates his exposure of the Jesuitical statesmanship of the Colonial Office to Mr. Stephen, in the following words : " To James Stephen, Esq., Under Secretary of State for the colonies, as to the man within the author's knowledge in whom the active and contem- plative faculties most strongly meet, are inscribed these disquisitions concerning the attributes of a statesman.' 7 This episode is by way of answer to some questions in your second letter. A property qualification in land, its amount in extent or value being such that few could possess it except permanent settlers having a deep interest in the future well-being of the colony, would yet, from the facility of obtaining landed pro- perty in a new country by means only of industry and steadiness, render the franchise attainable by the 304 LOVE OF DISTINCTION. steadier and more intelligent portion of the working class : and I think it desirable that if there were any property qualification for representatives, it should not exceed that of voters, so that morally-qualified members of the working class might take a direct part in legislation. With respect to a second legislative body, resem- bling the British House of Lords, I think that the resemblance should be real, not a mere sham of resemblance as in Canada and others of the present representative colonies. A second chamber composed of mere nominees of the executive, holding their seats for life, is an absurd and mischievous institution. It provides, not for more legislative deliberation, but for conflicts and impediments instead of legislation. As far as I am aware, no feasible substitute for it has ever been proposed. People who have never seriously reflected for a moment on the founding or creative attributes of colonization, laugh if one proposes that the second chamber in a colony should be hereditary ; yet many a one of them would give his ears to be a hereditary legislator himself. When the late Lord Grey was expected to advise a great increase of the peerage, three hundred persons are said to have applied to him for the distinction. Men do not forfeit their love of dis- tinction by becoming colonists. It appears to me that the progress of colonization would be vastly accelerated, and the colonization itself immeasurably improved, if the colonies, instead of affording no distinctions but those which belong to bureaucracy and free-masonry, held out to valuable immigrants the prospect of such distinction as every young lawyer in this country, every merchant and manufacturer when he sets out in trade, every young officer in the army or navy, fancies that HEREDITARY DISTINCTION. 305 tin* sovereign may perchance bestow upon him some day or other as the reward of great success in his career. Those who smile at the suggestion, are perhaps moved by the contrast between their own sentiment of little respect for colonies, and of great respect for the dignity which it is proposed to esta- bli>h in those despised portions of the empire. But })c this as it may, that "provident circumspection," which the preamble of Baltimore's charter attributes to the great colonizer, and which is the first quality of a colonizing authority, would not reject my proposal because it is most ridiculed by those who are least acquainted with the whole subject. I propose, then, that the second legislative body shall be hereditary, but with a condition. The condition is, that an inheriting member of the council should possess the same property qualification as his predecessor. This property qualification should be very high; such a permanent landed property as would, upon the whole, render the council a fair type of the class of settlers having the greatest property interest in the well-being of the colony. If a member of the council got rid of his qualification, he should forfeit his seat. A good system of registration would at all times make known whether or not he continued to possess the qualifica- tion. The members of council should be appointed by the chief executive magistrate of the colony, but only on the advice of persons responsible, like cabinet ministers here, to the representative body. For in order to complete the resemblance of the provincial to the im- perial constitution in order to constitute a harmo- nious government, legislative and executive, instead x 306 KESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. of subjecting the colonists to the miseries of a "con- stituted anarchy " it is indispensably requisite that the head of the executive, being himself a third branch of the legislature, with a veto upon all legis- lative acts, and with every other attribute of the sovereign at home, should be himself irresponsible to the colonists by means of being surrounded by respon- sible advisers. The British constitution, having grown up by slow degrees, and never having been written, contains no express provision to this effect; but the custom is the hinge upon which our whole system of government turns, the oil which gives smoothness to the working of the whole machine. This is the part of our constitution, which at the worst renders mo- narchy a cheap and excellent substitute for the Presi- dential Election, and which foreigners, notwithstanding their numerous imitations of our fundamental law, are still, and in but a few cases, only beginning to under- stand. In order to give a colony the immediate benefit of it, we cannot wait to let it grow from the seed as it has grown here, but we must transplant a perfect offshoot: we must write the provision down in the colonial charter. I propose, therefore, to insert in the charter two clauses, providing, first, that no act of the head of the executive shall be valid unless performed on the advice of an executive council; and secondly, that members of the executive council shall be re- mo veable, or rather removed ipso facto, by an address to the head of the executive from the representative branch of the legislature praying for their removal. The chief magistracy, or head of the executive and third branch of the legislature, remains to be provided : and here it is, I think, necessary to establish a wide difference between the colonial and imperial constitu- COLONIAL SOVEREIGN. 307 tions. The imperial sovereign is a person as well as an institution, and we reverence the one as much as we value the other. To transplant a complete off- shoot of the whole is, therefore, simply impossible. The nearest approach to doing so would be by the erection of Canada, for example, into an independent monarchy, and filling its throne with a child of the British Sovereign. But the colonies are intended to be subordinate to the empire ; and though it would, I think, be wise to make the younger branches of our royal family, whose social position here is anything but agreeable, subordinate sovereigns of the more im- portant colonies, yet subordination requires that the colonial chief magistrate should be appointed and removeable by the imperial. I am sure, however, that he ought to be appointed like an English judge, quam diti bene gesserit, so as not to be removable ex- cept for proved misconduct. If he were removeable by address to the Crown from both Houses of Parlia- ment, imperial objects would be sufficiently guarded ; and in order to guard the colony against such uncon- stitutional violences and follies on the part of the chief magistrate as provoke revolutionary proceedings by the people in order to give the colonists an equivalent for the memory of expulsion from the throne and of a royal scaffold in order that the head of the executive in the colony should not violate with impunity the provision binding him to act according to the advice of a responsible executive council a petition to the Crown from both branches of the colonial legislature for the removal of the local chief-magistrate, should be declared in the charter to be of the same force as addresses from both Houses of Parliament. And it x 2 308 MEANS OF ALTERING A appears by no means incompatible with colonial sub- ordination, that the colonies should be allowed some voice in even the selection of their governors. As the circumstances of a colony are open to greater, more frequent, and more sudden fluctuations than those of an old country, frequent elections of the representative body should be guaranteed by the charter. I omit minor provisions, such as a guarantee for frequent meetings of the legislature, the numbers of such legislative bodies, and the modes of proroguing and dissolving the provincial parliament. But there remains to be stated a provision of the highest im- portance. In order to retain for the imperial power the most complete general control over the colony, the colonial constitution, instead of being granted immutably and in perpetuity, as our old municipal charters were, should, in the charter itself, be declared liable to revo- cation or alteration by the Crown upon address from both Houses of Parliament. But in order to guard against the unavoidable in- difference of Parliament to colonial questions, and their proneness to adopt any colonial suggestion of the Ministry of the day ; which body again is always disposed to adopt without examining any suggestion of the Colonial Minister; who, lastly, must generally take his ideas from the nameless members of his Office in order, that is, to prevent Mr. Mothercountry from meddling with colonial constitutions I think it would be most useful to erect some tribunal open to the public, presided over by a high legal functionary, and moved by barristers-at-law, to which should be sub- COLONIAL CONSTITUTION. 309 mitted the grounds on which the Ministry of the day proposed to revoke or alter a colonial constitution : and unless such tribunal decided that the grounds were sufficient, the question should not be submitted at all to the decision of Parliament. This tribunal would be an improvement on the Supreme Court of the United States, which determines questions of dif- ference between the State and Federal governments; for however a change in the American constitution may at any time be required^ it can only be brought about by the operation of a cumbrous elective ma- chinery which has never yet been called into action. To the proposed English tribunal, other questions between the colony and the mother-country might be submitted, before being submitted to Parliament, besides that of an alteration in the fundamental law of the colony : and thus all such questions, instead of being determined arbitrarily and in secret, or left un- settled, by the irresponsible clerks of the Colonial Office, would be brought by the parties to it the Crown on one side, the Colony on the other, either having the right to initiate a cause before an open court, where it would be argued by practised advocates, viewed by the judge in all its aspects, and finally decided in the face of the public according to law. Colonists and colonial reformers at home have pro- posed that every colony should have a representative in the British House of Commons. The object of the Miirirestion is most desirable, but, I think, not attainable by that means. The object is to bestow on every colony the great advantage of being able to hold legitimate communication with the imperial public and govern- ment. It is not supposed that the vote of a colonial 310 COLONIAL AGENTS. member of the House of Commons would serve any good purpose, but that if he were a member of the imperial legislature, the imperial public and government would listen to him as the special representative of the colony ; would never come to a decision concerning the colony without hearing what he had to say about it; and would give their attention to suggestions originating with himself. And all this is probably true. But might he not be quite as effectually the representative of the colony at home, without being in Parliament? If he might, the whole advantage for the colony would be secured, without having recourse to a measure, which really is open to very serious objections, and still more opposed to some of John Bull's probably unconquerable prejudices. By recurring to the colonizing wisdom of our an- cestors, we shall discover a simple, effectual, and unobjectionable means of attaining the object in view. Under the municipal authority vested in them by our old colonial charters, the old colonies used to appoint "Agents" to reside in England, and to serve as a medium of communication between the colonial and imperial governments. Benjamin Franklin was agent for Pennsylvania, Mr. Eoebuck for the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, and the late Mr. Burge for Jamaica. What a cost in money, trouble, and shame, the empire might have saved, if the imperial government had lent a favourable ear to these dis- tinguished representatives of colonies ! But the valu- able institution of colonial representatives at home, has gradually fallen into discredit and practical disuse since the Colonial Office was instituted; and it exists now, for the most part, with no effect but that of REPRESENTATIVES AT HOME. 311 adding a few sinecures to the patronage of the Colonial Office. For the Colonial Office, having got to be the ival government of the colonies, virtually appoints the colonial agents who purport to be accredited to it by the colonies! Supposing the government of the colony to be really municipal, it would itself appoint its Agent. If it were the organ of the portion of the colonists having the greatest interest in the colony's well-doing, it would select for Agent or Resident in England one of the most respectable and capable of the colonists. Such a person, so accredited to the imperial govern- ment, would be a personage here, and would have weight accordingly with our government and public. He would keep the colony informed of matters at home, with which it behoved the colonists to be acquainted; and he might powerfully forward the interests of both colony and mother-country, by helping to promote the emigration of capital and labour : for in this branch of colonization, there is no more urgent want than some authority residing in the mother-country, but identified with and responsible to the colonists. The Agents (Representatives seems a better title) would, of course, be appointed and removeable by the governor of the colony on the advice of his responsible council of ministers, and paid by the colony. If the ancient institution of colonial agency at home were thus revived and improved, as it might easily be, the effect would be to add another powerful tie to the connexion between the colony and the mother-country. To some extent a Representative would have the functions of the representatives of the States of America in the United- States Congress. Our system 312 RESTRICTIONS. of colonial government, viewed as a whole, would be federative as well as municipal; Recurring to the charter of colonial government, this should declare that the legislative and executive government prescribed by it should have unlimited power within the colony, " excepting only, as is by these presents otherwise provided and directed." The old charters generally, after giving the local govern- ment power to make any laws whatsoever, with some specified exceptions, went on to grant certain other powers, such as that of erecting judicatories, or em- ploying a militia. After the main grant, such pro- visions would be mere surplusage and encumbrance, as they obviously are in the old charters. The de- liberate omission, however, of all particulars from the granting portion of the charter, renders it the more necessary to be very careful in setting down the ex- ceptions. The exceptions which occur to me at present, are, I. Whatever relates to the employment, command, and discipline of her Majesty's forces, by land and sea, within the colony at all times ; and, during war time, in case of any attack upon the colony, the command of the local militia and marine. II. Whatever relates to intercourse on public matters with the servants of any foreign power within the colony, such as a consul or the captain of a man- of-war, for the management of which the Governor alone should have a special commission from the Crown. III. The functions of the post-office, so far as relates to the transmission of letters to and from the colony, which should be conducted by the British RESTRICTIONS. 313 master-General. The publication of two reports on the post-office of Canada from a commission appointed by Lord Sydenham, which were transmitted to the Colonial Office by Sir Charles Bagot, would, by itself, satisfy public opinion here, that the internal post-office of a colony ought to be a business of the local government, as it was under the old charters. Indeed, the abuses of the local post-office in every colony under pretended imperial management, are perfectly monstrous; and it seems impossible to prevent abuses, when distance, and the necessary indifference of the British public with respect to post- office management in a colony, put responsibility out of the question. Moreover, the patronage of the local post-office, the best that exists in a new country, is an essential means to the well-working of a local constitutional government. IV. The most important exception is that of direc- tions in the charter for the disposal of waste land, and of the proceeds of its purchase-money, by the local government. But this last subject, which is that of colonization independently of government, will have our exclusive attention after a few reflections, in my next letter, on the probable operation of the proposed system of municipal-federative government for colonies, as a substitute for the central-bureaucratic-spoiled. 314 LETTER XLIV. From the Colonist. SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE PROBABLE OPERATION OF MUNICIPAL-FEDERATIVE GOVERNMENT FOR COLONIES, AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE CENTRAL-BUREAUCRATIC- SPOILED. A GRAND REFORM OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE. ALLOW me to begin this letter with a request and a warning. I beg of you to understand, that the plan of colonial government set forth in my last is intended for a mere outline, and that I am conscious of its being very imperfect as such. A complete plan, with all the reasons for each provision, would be the proper subject of a Report by a Parliamentary Commission expressly charged with the framing of a plan. The framing of a complete plan is not the proper business of any individual: it is the duty of a Ministry, supposing always that a British Ministry could be induced to form definite ideas with respect to the true principles of colonial government. Be pleased, therefore, to consider my rough skeleton of a plan as designed to be little more than an illustration of my own view of those principles. In the next place, I venture urgently to recommend, A TIME FOR ALL THINGS. 315 that you abstain from propounding to the House of Commons anything like a plan intended to be com- plete. The time for doing that is yet far off, and may perhaps never come. If you did it prematurely, you would make enemies but no friends; you would incur the hostility of the whole tribe of Mothercountry, without having brought public opinion up to the mark of enabling you to brush aside their selfish objections and malicious cavils. You would besides, startle the ignorant whose name is Legion, bore the indifferent who are still more numerous, and perhaps see the House counted out in an early stage of your intended exposition. There is a time for all things; and I repeat, the time for action in this matter has not yet arrived, except as regards the agitation of principles and the promotion of inquiry. Recurring to the principles which my sketch of a plan is intended to illustrate, I would now beg of you to consider how some such plan would operate hi removing the political impediments and affording encouragement to colonization. The office of governor would be so much more respectable, its tenure so much more secure (for gene- rally it would be a life-tenure, and often, if the colo- nists had a voice in the selection of governors, prac- tically a tenure descending from father to son), and the position of reigning, but not ruling, so much more com- fortable, than the lot of governors can be under the present system, that men of consequence and perhaps high reputation would be candidates for the office of subordinate sovereign. The provisions for meeting cases of extreme misconduct on the part of governors, a iv rather provisions against their occurrence; for 316 WHAT A CHANGE! assuredly, without some such means as those suggested for making the governor irresponsible, but his advisers responsible to the colonists, it is hardly possible that a resemblance of the British constitution should be for any long time administered, in a colony less for- midable than Canada is now, without producing dis- cord. I conclude, therefore, that British colonial governors, besides possessing such personal importance and character, as would induce the colonists cheer- fully to treat them as subordinate sovereigns, would be under the necessity, as the imperial sovereign is, of either reigning constitutionally or ceasing to reign. What a change ! The governors not attempting to govern any more than her Majesty does, and the Colonial Office not meddling with local affairs except in matters reserved for imperial administration, the great bulk of the public functionaries in the colony would be colonists, settlers, people not without any interest, but with the greatest interest in the welfare of the colony; and offices in the colony, as well as seats in the colonial legislature, would generally be filled by colonists of some distinction and known aptitude. The colony would be governed with a view to its advantage. The colonists themselves would have the power to spread government into even the remotest settlements, by means of instituting a system of municipalities subor- dinate to their own. The whole field of colonial ambition would be open to colonists. So surely, I cannot help thinking, a very superior class of people would be induced to emigrate. If this last effect of a good colonial constitution took place, most of the enumerated impediments to colonization would disap- COLONIAL PARTIES. 317 There would be an end of the low standard of colonial morals and manners. The self-restraints which belong to civilization, would be substituted for the barbarous licence of colonial life : for the sense of honour may be transplanted like the habit of crime ; and even without a specific plan of religious provi- sions, the supposed change in the character of our emigration would by itself make some provision for the restraints of religion as well as for those of honour. And lastly, colonial party-politics would no longer revolt emigrants of the better class, because free government by party, with a suffrage not democratic, would take the place of constituted democracy in some colonies, and constituted anarchy in the others. But there would still be hostile parties in a colony : yes, parties instead of factions: for every colony would have its " ins" and its u outs,' 7 and would be governed as we are as every free community must be in the present state of the human mind by the emulation and rivalries, the bidding against each other for public favour, of the party in power and the party in opposition. Government by party, with all its passions and corruptions, is the price that a free country pays for freedom. But the colonies would be free communities : their internal differences, their very blunders, and their methods of correcting them, would be all their own : and the colonists who possessed capacity for public business the Pitts and Foxes, the Broughams and Lyndhursts, the Peels and IJussells of a colony, with their respective adherents would govern by turns far better on the whole, we may be sure, than it would be possible for any other set of beings on earth to govern that particular community. 318 SAVTNG OF COST. But let us suppose that the colonies were worse governed by their own leading men than by the Mothercountry tribe : even then, though the present impediments to colonization would not be removed but somewhat aggravated, still the imperial govern- ment and people would be gainers. Judging from ample experience and from a moment's reflection on the nature of the British race, the government of colonists by themselves, however bad it might seem to us, would not seem bad to them : they would like it and be very proud of it, just as on the whole we Britons at home like and are proud of our government, though it is often very bad in the eyes of philosophers and other nations. The colonists, making their own laws, imposing their own taxes, and appointing their own functionaries, would be pleased with their govern- ment, as every man is pleased with his own horse that he bought or bred according to his own judgment : for colonists would not be human, still less of the British temper, if they were not always pretty well satisfied with themselves and their own doings. Thus the mother-country would, at the worst, be spared the annoyance and shame of colonial discontent, and complaint, and disaffection. The Canadian rebellions and the present state of government or rather rebellion- at-heart in many of our colonies, could not have occurred under the proposed system. And finally, we should be spared the whole cost of colonial government as distinguished from colonial empire: for, of course, if the colonists governed themselves locally as respects legislation, taxation, and appoint- ing to office, they must themselves pay for their local establishments. Nor would they object to this : THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 319 on the contrary, they would prefer it. I see that Lord Grey has recently proposed, that the salary of governors which is now paid by the colony, shall be paid by England : for what purpose ? with what effect but that of increasing the power of the tribe of Mothercountry. Under our old municipal system, the colonists deemed it a privilege to raise the money for their own government, because they found that it enabled them to object with more reason to a meddling with their local affairs by officials in England. So, in our day, the obligation on colonies 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 burthen. Nor would any pecuniary burthen be imposed upon them : on the contrary, they would have less to pay than at present : for by nothing is municipal more distinguished from central govern- ment, than by its superior cheapness. Under the old English municipal system, thirteen important colonies obtained more government in each of them, than is bestowed on all our present colonies together. Their population nearly equalled that of all our present colonies. Their thirteen very complete and satisfy- ing governments cost altogether about one hundred thousand pounds a year! a memorable proof, says Adam Smith, of the little cost at which colonies may be not only governed but well governed. But what would become of the Colonial Office, if all the colonies were placed on a footing of govern- ment like that which makes the Channel Islands as devotedly attached to the Crown of England as we are here at home? It might remain to misgovern 320 A GRAND REFORM, the dependencies, which are not colonies : only in that case, we should have to change its name. But even its name might be preserved, if its functions, as respects the true colonies, were denned to be the administration of those colonial matters only, which our system of municipal government specifically re- served for imperial administration. In the exercise of these functions, as they would be such as concerned the imperial government and public only, it would be made responsible like our own government, through being watched and kept in order by the public opinion of this country. Obviously, moreover, it would be a separate department of the imperial government, for administering executively the federative relations be- tween the mother-country and the colonies, which, on behalf of the colonies, would be administered by the proposed colonial Representatives at home. But its legislative power over the colonies would, of course, be wholly abolished. Downing-street would undergo a grand reform. Is there anybody not belonging to the Office, and not being one of its interested hangers- on, who thinks that it ought to be preserved as it is ? If I had room and it were worth while, I would place before you the views of the question of reforming the Colonial Office, which were eagerly expressed by its present Parliamentary organs, just before they were trapped and tamed by the original Mr. Mothercountry. It seems almost needless to mention, that under the proposed reform of colonial government, or anything like it, the practice of colonizing with convicts wear- ing chains on their legs, and still more that of pouring criminals into our colonies with pardons in their pockets, would altogether cease, and would only be CLOSE OF THE SUBJECT. 321 remembered by us with a blush for having ever per- mitted such abominations. But even if, by these or any other and better means (and I am far from clinging to my own plan as the best), we succeeded in making the colonies not only habitable for the better order of emigrants, but places in which that class might enjoy, in addition to the natural charms of colonization, both those which arise from the gratification of pride and am- bition, and those which belong to the creative business of legislating for new communities, there would still remain the economical impediment of scarcity of labour for hire. We must now pro- ceed, therefore, to the causes of that impediment, and the means of removing them. I am in hopes of being able to satisfy you, that measures which would put an end to scarcity of labour for hire in the colo- nies, would also give a great impulse to the progress of colonization. If it should prove so, the mother- country is deeply interested, politically and socially, in this question of colonial economy. 322 LETTER XLV. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST, BY A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY, TRACES SCARCITY OF LABOUR IN NEW COUNTRIES TO ITS SOURCE IN THE CHEAPNESS OF LAND. IT is strange that it should never have come into the head of philosopher or philanthropist to ascer- tain the causes of the revival of slavery by all the nations of modern Europe which have engaged in colonization. Political economists were hound to make this inquiry; for without it their science is incomplete at the very foundation: for slavery is a question of labour, " the original purchase of all things." Philanthropists, however, have treated it as a moral and religious question, attributing slavery at all times and places, but especially in modern times and in America, to the wickedness of the human heart. So universal, indeed, is the doctrine, that we find it in the most improbable of places; in the latest and wisest of treatises on political economy, whose author speaks of "the infernal spirit of the slave-master." The infernal spirit of Abraham and Joshua ; of Socrates CAUSES OF SLAVERY. 323 :mtill the labourers know that such higher can be obtained from persons who have not 328 CHEAPNESS OF LAND imported labourers : they quit the service of their importer, and, being now out of employment, are engaged by somebody who can afford to pay the higher wages. The importer, I repeat, never keeps the labour which he has imported. Nor does the non-importing capitalist keep it long. With these high wages, the imported labourers soon save the means of acquiring and cultivating land. In every colony, land is so cheap that emigrant labourers who save at all, are soon able to establish themselves as landowners, working on their own account; and this, most of them do as soon as possible. If the land of the colony were of limited extent, a great impor- tation of people would raise its price, and compel some people to work for wages; but the land of colonies is practically of unlimited extent. The im- migration of labour, therefore, has no effect on the supply in the market: yes, it has an effect; it in- creases the demand without increasing the supply, and therefore renders the demand more intense : for the great bulk of imported labourers become land- owners anxious to obtain labour for hire. The more labourers are imported, the greater becomes, after a while, the scarcity of labour in proportion to the demand : and at the bottom of the whole mischief is the cheapness of land. It was cheapness of land that caused Las Casas (the Clarkson or Wilberforce of his time as respects the Ked Indians of America) to invent the African slave trade. It was the cheapness of land that brought African slaves to Antigua and Barbadoes; and it is a comparative dearness of land, arising from the increase of population in those small islands, THE CAUSE OF SLAVERY. 329 which has made them an exception from the general rule of West-Indian impoverishment in consequence of the abolition of slavery before land was made dear. It was cheapness of land that caused the introduction of negro slaves into Virginia, and produced the various forms of bondage practised by all the old English colonies in America. It is cheapness of land in Brazil, Porto Rico, and Cuba, which causes our African squadron, and not only prevents it from serving its purpose, but causes it to be a means of aggravating the horrors of the African slave trade. The cause is always the same, in form as well as in substance : the effect takes various forms. Amongst the effects, there is the prodigious importance of Irish labour to the United States the extreme " con- venience of the nuisance" of an immigration of people whose position as aliens, and whose want of ambition and thrift, commonly prevent them from acquiring land, however cheap it may be; there is the oft- repeated prayer of our West-India planters (not residing in Barbadoes or Antigua) to the imperial government, for some plan for establishing a great emigration of free labour from Africa to the West Indies; there is the regret of New South Wales at the stoppage of convict emigration to that colony; there are the petitions which several colonies have addressed to the home government, praying for con- vict emigration : and, lastly, there is the whole batch of economical colonial evils, which I have before de- scribed under the head of scarcity of labour for hire, and which operate as one of the most formidable im- pediments to the emigration of the most valuable class of settlers. 330 FEWER VICTIMS OF DELUSION. If all the political impediments to colonization were removed, this economical one would still be sufficient to prevent the emigration of capitalists or capital on any great scale. Indeed, so long as it shall last, no con- siderable capitalists will emigrate, hoping to prosper, except under a delusion which will be dissipated by six months' experience in the colony : and this delusion, in consequence of the increasing spread of true informa- tion about colonial life, is likely to have fewer victims than heretofore. I am looking forward to almost a stop- page of emigration as respects all but the very needy or desperate classes ; provided always, however, that the cause of scarcity of labour in the colonies cannot by any means be removed, and prevented from returning. My own notion of the means by which the scarcity of labour might be effectually removed and prevented from returning, must now be explained. 331 LETTER XLVI. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST SUGGESTS THE MEANS BY WHICH LAND MIGHT BE MADE DEAR ENOUGH TO PREVENT A SCARCITY OF LABOUR FOR HIRE. SOME land in colonies is as dear as the dearest land in old countries. In Wall Street, and the lower part of Broadway, New York, land is even dearer than in Lombard-street and Cornhill, London; the reason being that the part of New York which has become the centre of the commerce of that great city, is a narrow point of land hemmed in on three sides by water, so that although commerce in New York is less, the competition for room at the centre of com- merce is greater than in London. So in various parts of every colony, there is land which fetches a high price, because it is of limited extent. In new countries, nearly as in old, land in the centre of a city, in every part of a town, or in the immediate vicinity of towns, or of good roads, is of limited extent. It is land enjoying certain advantages of position ; and as such land is no more unlimited in America or Australia than in England, it is, as in England, the subject of competition, and fetches a price measured by the 332 THE CHEAPEST LAND. degree of competition for it. But this land is not that of which the cheapness produces scarcity of labour in new countries : it is land so dear as to be either out of the reach of the working- classes, or for them less desirable at its price than land for which there is little or no competition. This last is the land by means of obtaining which labourers become land- owners: it may be called indifferently the lowest- priced land, the cheapest land, or land of the mini- mum price. I beg you to bear in mind, that only the cheapest land in a colony, is that whose price aifects the labour market. The price of this land, as of all bare land, and of everything else which it costs nothing to produce, depends of course on the relation between the demand and the supply. In colonies, where wages are so high that everybody may soon acquire the means of pur- chasing land, the demand is according to population ; the supply consists of the quantity of the cheapest land open to purchasers. By augmenting the popu- lation or diminishing the quantity of land, the price would be raised : it would be lowered by augmenting the quantity of land or diminishing the population. Now, over the proportion which these two shall bear to each other, the state or government possesses an absolute control. The amount of population indeed does not depend on the government ; but the quantity of land does; and thus the government has control over the proportion which land bears to population, or population to land. In the very beginning of a colony, all the land necessarily belongs to the govern- ment or is under its jurisdiction ; and it is the govern- ment, which suddenly or by degrees makes all the PROFUSION OF GRANTING. 333 land private property, by disposing of it to individuals. The government may employ a profuse or a niggard hand; that is, it may bestow much or little on the colonists in proportion to their numbers. In West Australia, for example, the government allowed the first 2000 settlers to appropriate about 3,000,000 acres; whilst in South Australia, with a population now amounting to 40,000, less, I believe, than 500,000 acres have become private property : in one case, 2000 people got as much land as the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, Hertford, and Cambridge; in the other, 40,000 people got only as much land as the county of Cambridge: the bestowing disposition of the government was a hundred and nineteen times stronger, and the proportion of private land to people a hundred and nineteen times greater, in the one case than in the other. The history of colo- nization abounds with like examples of the control exercised by government over the proportion between land and people. It has been said above, that government may dispose of land with a niggard hand. Do not suppose that any colonizing government has ever done so. All colonizing governments have done just the reverse, by disposing of land with a profuse hand. The greediness of colonists has been equal to the profusion of the governments. The colonists, full of the ideas about land which possess people in old countries emigrating indeed because at home the cheapest land had got or was getting to be scarce and precious could never obtain too much land for the satisfaction of their desires: and the governments, universally down to the other day, seemed to have looked upon 334 GRANTING AND SELLING. waste land as a useless property of the state, only fit to be squandered in satisfying the greedy desires of colonists. Throughout what may be termed the colo- nial world, therefore, allowing however for a few ex- ceptions in which a colony has grown to be as densely peopled as an old country, there has at all times existed a proportion between land and people, which almost prevented competition for the cheapest land, and enabled every colonist to obtain some land either for nothing or for a price little more than nominal. What- ever may have been the price of the dearest land in a colony, the price of the cheapest has never, with the above exceptions, been sufficient to prevent labourers from turning into landowners after a very brief term of hired service. There are two modes in which the government dis- poses of waste land ; either by gift or sale. Gift, or grant, as it is called, has been the most common mode. Until lately, the British government always disposed of land by grant. The United States, soon after they became independent, adopted the plan of selling, to which, with the exception of some extensive grants, they have since adhered. About seventeen years ago, our government substituted throughout the colonies the plan of selling for that of granting. The plan of granting may be said to involve un- avoidably an extreme profusion in the disposal of land. When the land can be got for nothing, every- body wants as much of it as he can possibly get ; and the government, of course deeming the land of no value, or it would not part with it for nothing, is prone to indulge the greedy desires of individuals by a process so very easy to the government as that of GREEDINESS FOR LAND. 335 saying " take what you please." Under this plan, therefore, the quantity of land granted has always been so very abundant in proportion to population, that it may be said to have been supplied, like air or water, in unlimited quantities; that is, not in any proportion to the market-demand for land, but so as to prevent such a demand. In many cases, the go- vernment made a practice of giving land to people of the labouring class, when of course there was no market-demand for land except in advantageous posi- tions, and the cheapest land was so cheap as to bear no price at all. Even when grants were not made directly to the class of labourers, the profusion with which they were made to other classes, caused the cheapest land to be "dirt cheap," and indirectly bestowed land upon labourers for almost nothing: practically, under this system of profusion, the go- vernment exercised no control over the proportion between land and people. Even if the government should intend to carry out the plan in such a manner as to prevent scarcity of labour by making the cheapest land somewhat dear, or difficult of acquisition, it would not be able to accomplish the object by that means. The purpose of the government would be defeated by the nature of things. So long as land was to be obtained for no- thing, the greediness of individuals to obtain it would be irresistible by the government, even for a single year. Supposing that the government resisted for a while, and so made the cheapest land comparatively dear, the greediness to obtain for nothing land bearing a price (for in the supposed case all land would have a market value) would overcome the resistance of the 336 OFFICIAL FAVOURITISM firmest government, and again knock down the price of the cheapest land. But further, supposing that the government did resist the importunity for grants of valuable land, by what means could it regulate the supply so as to maintain the most beneficial propor- tion between land and people ? How would it know from time to time what quantities of land ought to be granted? How could it estimate the different effects on the markets of land and labour of granting this or that quantity? These questions show that the plan of granting is devoid of regulating power; that it is incompatible with the indispensable employment of a measure of supply. And lastly, there is an objection to the plan of granting, which is very strong without an effectual restriction of the quantity, but would be stronger with it. However profusely land may be granted, some of it acquires in time a value depending on advantages of position : and this consideration ex- plains why people are so greedy to obtain land for nothing, even though at the time of being obtained it has no market value. This consideration also shows that under the plan of granting, however profusely, the government has the opportunity, and the strongest temptation, to favour its friends, to practise favou- ritism and official jobbing in the disposal of land. There is no instance of a colonizing government that was able to resist this temptation. Official favouritism and jobbing in the disposal of land by grant, consti- tute one of the most prominent and ugliest features of colonial history: and they have been one of the most effectual impediments to colonization, by pro- ducing an immense crop of disappointments, jealousies, envies, and irritations. But if favouritism and jobbing AND JOBBING IN LAND. 337 in the disposal of waste land made the colonists hate each other and their government when the quantity granted was practically without limit, what would happen if the quantity were so restricted as to render all the land granted immediately valuable? The go- vernment would be more than ever tempted to favour its friends; the officials more than ever tempted to favour themselves and their connexions ; the friends of government and the connexions of officials greedier of land than was ever known ; and the whole colony in an uproar of disaffection to its government. This is the last objection to the plan of granting. It was by placing all these objections before Lord Howick in 1831, that the colonizing theorists of 1830 put an end to the plan of granting waste land throughout our colonies. 338 LETTER XL VII. From the Colonist. IN ORDER THAT THE PRICE OF WASTE LAND SHOULD ACCOMPLISH ITS OBJECTS, IT MUST BE SUFFICIENT FOR THE PURPOSE. HITHERTO THE PRICE HAS BEEN EVERYWHERE INSUFFICIENT. plan of selling contains within itself an effec- tual regulator of the quantity disposed of. This is the price which the government requires for new land. This price may indeed be so low, as not to operate as a restriction at all. This happened in Canada when the plan of selling was first adopted there, and when the price required by the government hardly amounted to more, or may even have amounted to less, upon small purchases, than the fees of office previously required for grants. The first price of public land in Tasmania was 6s. an acre : the cost of a Tasmanian grant in two cases with which I happen to be ac- quainted, was 58. for 50 acres, and nearly WQl. for 70 acres. In the colonies generally, I believe, ex- cepting as to large purchases, a grant used to cost more than the price which was afterwards required by the government when it substituted selling for granting. So low a price as this has no influence on THE SUFFICIENT PRICK. tlu* market-value of the cheapest land, no effect on the supply of labour for hire. The mere putting of a price, therefore, on all new land may accomplish none of the objects in view. In order to accomplish them, the price must be sufficient for that purpose. But the price may be low or high as the government pleases: it is a variable force, completely under the control of government. In founding a colony, the price might be so low as to render the quantity of land appropriated by settlers practically unlimited: it might be high enough to occasion a proportion between land and people similar to that of old coun- tries, in which case, if this very high price did not prevent emigration, the cheapest land in the colony might be as dear, and the superabundance of labourers as deplorable as in England: or it might be a just medium between the two, occasioning neither super- abundance of people nor superabundance of land, but so limiting the quantity of land, as to give the cheapest land a market value that would have the effect of com- pelling labourers to work some considerable time for wages before they could become landowners. A price that did less than this, would be insufficient ; one that did more, would be excessive : the price that would do this and no more, is the proper price. I am used to call it the sufficient price. The sufficient price has never yet been adopted by a colonizing government. The government of the United Status, whose sole object in disposing of new land by sale instead of grant, was to hinder official favouritism and jobbing, has never required a higher price than two dollars an acre; and for a long while pa-t. its price has been only one dollar and a quarter z 2 340 PRICE OF WASTE LAND. an acre. In our colonies, the price has varied from five to forty shillings. That these prices are insufficient for the purpose in view, is shown by facts, and may be made plainer by a supposed case. The facts consist of the economical impediments to colonization which I have described before, and which have been as vigorous under the plan of selling as under that of granting. The substitution by the United States of selling for granting has not in the least diminished the value of negro slaves, or the necessity in the free states of relying for the conduct of works requiring much constancy and combination of labour, on a vast immigration of such natural slaves as the poorest Irish. The scarcity of labour in our colonies has been as great and injurious since, as it was before, the imposition of a price on new land. In all our colonies, notwithstanding the price put on new land, the cheapest land has been so cheap that the poorest class (for in a colony nobody is quite poor) could readily obtain land of their own: in all the colonies they have done this ; and everywhere accord- ingly labour for hire has been so scarce, that it was dangerous, often fatal, for the capitalist to engage in any work requiring the constant employment of many pairs of hands. I must here explain, however, that in most of our colonies, the price would have been inoperative if it had been ten times as high as it was. In Canada and New South Wales, for example, land had been granted with such reckless profusion before the plan of selling was adopted, that if this plan had even, by means of an enormous price, put an end to the acquisition of new land, it would still have had no effect on the land PRICE OF WASTE LAND. 341 and labour markets. The quantity of land in proportion to people was already so great as to occasion practi- cally an unlimited supply, whilst the demand could only increase by the slow progress of births and immigration. In these two colonies, therefore, as in others where the plan of granting was once profusely carried into effect, the cheapest land has been as cheap since, as it was before the imposition of a price on new land ; and in each of these colonies, a price on new land, however high it might be, would remain inope- rative for ages to come. In such colonies, the mere putting of a price on new land only operates as a restriction on the use of newly-discovered spots highly favourable for settlement, and as a tax upon coloniza- tion; the very last sort of tax that a colonizing government would think of imposing. How a price on new land might be rendered bene- ficially operative in colonies where the quantity of private land is already excessive, is a point to be considered presently. Here I would remark, that there are but three places in which the price of new land has had the least chance of operating beneficially. These are South Australia, Australia Felix, and New Zea- land. In none of these cases did the plan of granting with profusion precede that of selling ; but in none of them did the price required prevent the cheapest land from being cheap enough to inflict on the colony all the evils of an extreme scarcity of labour for hire. In these cases, moreover, a large portion of the purchase-money of waste land was expended in con- veying labourers from the mother-country to the colony. If this money had not been so spent, the proportion of land to people would have been very 342 DISCOVERY OF LIEBIG. much greater than it was, and the price of new land still more completely inoperative. More facts might be cited to show the insufficiency of the highest price yet required for new land ; but I proceed to the supposed case, which I think serves to illustrate this subject better than the small stock of not very conclusive facts, which are furnished by the brief and bungling trial in practice of the plan of imposing a price on waste land with a view to the greatest productiveness of colonial industry. Sup- pose, then, that Liebig should discover a process by which the water of the sea might be converted into fertile land, at a cost of, let us say forty shillings an acre. Suppose, further, that the state did not mo- nopolize the exercise of this art, but allowed a free trade in it. Immense capitals would be invested in this trade. The quantity of sea converted into land would be as much as there was a prospect of being able to sell for the cost of production and a profit besides. A remunerating price would not exceed fifty shillings an acre ; that is, forty to cover outlay, and ten for profit. At this price, fertile land might be obtained in unlimited quantities. In this country, including the new territory, the price of the cheapest land would not exceed fifty shillings an acre. Population might increase as fast as it could, but the price of the cheapest land would not rise. Some of the cheapest would become dear, and even the dearest, in consequence of competition for it when the progress of settlement had conferred on it certain advantages of position : but there would always be plenty of land on sale at the price of fifty shillings. Call on your imagination to conceive what would happen. Is it A SET OF CURSES. 343 not clear that pauperism, as that arises from super- it bundance of people in proportion to land, would entirely disappear? The demand for labour in the cultivation of the new land would draw away all superfluous hands from the old parts of the country ; and we should be no more troubled with pauperism in England than they are in colonies. Wages in England would be as high as in America. But these blessings would be accompanied, or rather succeeded, by a set of curses. The passion for owning land, which belongs to human nature, which is latent when there is no opportunity of gratifying it, but surely breaks out in the majority of people whenever it can be easily gratified, would become as active here as it is in America and other colonial parts of the world : for with a colonial rate of wages, and with fertile land always on sale at the price of fifty shillings an acre, every man who desired it might easily gratify the longing to become a landowner. The utmost effect of such a price as fifty shillings an acre, would be to compel the labourer to work for wages a little longer than if he could get land for nothing. But this would not prevent a scarcity of labour for hire nearly reat as that which takes place in America. It follows that not instantly, but very soon after getting rid of pauperism, and seeing our labouring classes as well off as those classes are in America, we should l>-i:in to complain of scarcity of labour for hire. How quickly and perfectly we should find out the value of combination and constancy of labour! In a little while, how glad we should be to divert the stream of poor Irish emigration from America to England : that is, provided the Irish, being able to get new land for 344 NEGRO SLAVES FOR ENGLAND. fifty shillings an acre close at home, would come to England as aliens and natural slaves; which they would not. We should, ere long, I suspect, unless our climate were an objection to it, begin to hanker after negro slavery. We should certainly, in order to get large public works performed at all, keep our own convicts at home. We should be, as it were, colonists, continually suffering all sorts of inconvenience and discomfort from the scarcity of labour for hire. But we should find out quickly enough, in the case supposed, that scarcity of labour for hire is caused by cheapness of land. With the exception of the small proportion of the people who in the case supposed would be labourers for hire, every man would be palpably interested in making land dearer : even the labourers would have the same interest, though it would be a little more remote, and therefore, perhaps, much less obvious. In all probability, therefore, we should pass a law for making land dearer. This would be the easiest thing in the world to do. It would be done by putting a price upon new land over and above the cost of production. This price would be a mere tax, a useless, and therefore hurtful impedi- ment to the acquisition of new land, unless, along with the cost of production, it were high enough for its only legitimate purpose. In the colonies, there is no cost of production. There, the whole good effect must be produced by a price imposed by government, or not produced at all. The supposed case, as I have stated it, must contain some grave errors of reasoning, if fifty shillings would be a sufficient price to require for new land in the colonies. 345 LETTER XLVIII. From the Statesman. MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY TAUXTS THE COLONIST WITH BEING UNABLE TO SAY WHAT WOULD BE THE SUF- FICIENT PRICE FOR NEW LAND. I AM beginning to understand your plan of colo- nization as respects the disposal of land; but a difficulty has been suggested to me by rny Mr. Mother- country, which I hasten to communicate to you. He says, that though you have been preaching for years about the sufficient price, you have never ventured to say what it ought to be. He says, that you have been frequently asked to mention what you deem the suf- ficient price, but that you have carefully avoided answering the question. He says that you fight shy of the question ; that it puzzles you ; that in truth you know not how to answer it; and that your silence on this point shows (I beg your pardon for even com- municating the offensive inference), that you know your theory to be impracticable: for, he adds, what becomes of all the fine arguments for a sufficient price, if nobody, not even the author of the theory, can tell us what is the sufficient price? He referred 7 lie to an article in the Edinburgh Review for July, 346 ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINEM. 1840, for proof that your theory is wanting in the scientific precision which you attribute to it. I dare say you have heard all this before ; but even so, the repetition of it now will recal the subject to your mind at the fittest stage of our inquiry: for, obviously, our next step is to determine the sufficient price. I am curious to see how you will reply to Mr. Mothercountry's argumentum ad hominem. LETTER XLIX. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST EEPLIES TO ME. MOTHERCOUNTRY'S TAUNT, INDICATES THE ELEMENTS OF A CALCULATION FOR GETTING AT THE SUFFICIENT PRICE, AND REFERS TO MR. STEPHEN AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. TT is quite true that I have been frequently and tauntingly required to mention what I deem the sufficient price. But I have hitherto avoided falling into the trap, which that demand upon me really is. I might have named a price, and stuck to it without giving reasons : in other words, I might have practised a Colonial- Office " shift" by " deciding categorically, so as not to expose the superficiality in propounding the reasons" : or I might have named a price, and attempted to justify the decision by reasons : but in the one case, your Mr. Mothercountry would have been en- titled to call me a charlatan, and in the other a goose. For there is no price that would be suitable for the THE SUFFICIENT PRICE. 347 colonies generally : the price must needs vary accord- ing to peculiar natural and other circumstances in each colony : and in order to determine the price for any colony, practical proceedings of a tentative or experimental nature are indispensable. If so, what a mess I should have got into, had I responded to the taunting call of Mr. Mothercountry and his allies ! That it is so becomes very plain, when one considers what are the elements of a calculation made with a view of determining the sufficient price for any colony. There is but one object of a price; and about that there can be no mistake. The sole object of a price is to prevent labourers from turning into landowners too soon : the price must be sufficient for that one purpose and no other. The question is, what price would have that one effect ? That must depend, first, on what is meant by " too soon" ; or on the proper duration of the term of the labourer's employment for hire ; which again must depend on the rate of the in- crease of population in the colony, especially by means of immigration, which would determine when the place of a labourer, turning into a landowner, would be filled by another labourer : and the rate of labour-emigration again must depend on the popularity of the colony at home, and on the distance between the mother-country and the colony, or the cost of passage for labouring people. Secondly, what price would have the desired effect, must depend on the rate of wages and cost of living in the colony; since accord- ing to these would be the labourer's power of saving tin- requisite capital for turning into a landowner: in proportion to the rate of wages and the cost of living, would the requisite capital be saved in a longer or a 348 A COAT FOR MANKIND. shorter time. It depends, thirdly, on the soil and climate of the colony, which would determine the quantity of land required (on the average) by a labourer in order to set himself up as a landowner : if the soil and climate were unfavourable to production, he would require more acres; if it were favourable, fewer acres would serve his purpose : in Trinidad, for example, 10 acres would support him well; in South Africa or New South Wales, he might require 50 or 100 acres. But the variability in our wide colonial empire, not only of soil and climate, but of all the circumstances on which a sufficient price would depend, is so obvious, that no examples of it are needed. It follows of course that different colonies, and sometimes different groups of similar colonies, would require different prices. To name a price for all the colonies, would be as absurd as to fix the size of a coat for mankind. " But at least," I hear your Mr. Mothercountry say, u name a price for some particular colony ; a price founded on the elements of calculation which you have stated." I could do that certainly for some colony with which I happen to be particularly well acquainted; but I should do it doubtingly and with hesitation: for in truth the elements of calculation are so many and so complicated in their various rela- tions to each other, that in depending on them exclu- sively there would be the utmost liability to error. A very complete and familiar knowledge of them in each case would be a useful general guide, would throw valuable light on the question, would serve to inform the legislator how far his theory and his practice were consistent or otherwise: but in the main he must LIEBIG AGAIN*. 349 rely, and if he had common sagacity he might solely and safely rely, upon no very elaborate calculation, but on experience, or the facts before his face. He could always tell whether or not labour for hire was too scarce or too plentiful in the colony. If it were too plentiful, he would know that the price of new land was too high ; that is, more than sufficient : if it were hurtfully scarce, he would know that the price was too low, or not sufficient. About which the labour WM< whether too plentiful or too scarce no legisla- ture, hardly any individual, could be in doubt; so plain to the dullest eye would be the facts by which to determine that question. If the lawgiver saw that the labour was scarce and the price too low, he would raise the price : if he saw that labour was superabun- dant and the price too high, he would lower the price : if he saw that labour was neither scarce nor super- abundant, he would not alter the price, because he would see that it was neither too high nor too low, but sufficient. Recurring to the supposed discovery of Liebig, the legislature of this country would always be able to judge whether new land was supplied too fast, or not fast enough, or at the rate of a happy medium between excess and deficiency. The evidence on which the legislature would form its judgment, would be all the facts which show whether labour is scarce, or superabundant, or neither one nor the other. Whether here or in a colony, these facts are so very manifest, and so unerring as indications, that a wrong conclusion from them would be hardly possible. Only, of course, I am supposing that the legislature of the colony would possess an intimate knowledge of the colony, and would be deeply interested in coming to 350 LOWERING THE PRICE. a right judgment : a Downing- street legislature judg- ing for the distant colonies, or a distant colonial legis- lature judging for us, would indeed, notwithstanding the patent nature of the guiding facts, be apt to make terrible mistakes. The raising or lowering of the price according to the evidence of a necessity for either step, is what I called just now a tentative or experimental proceed- ing. In either case, the legislature would have to wait and see whether the alteration produced the de- sired effect. But there is an objection to lowering the price, which makes it desirable, that the legislature, in trying its experiments, should begin with a price obviously too low, and should raise the price by care- ful degrees so as to run little risk of ever making it too high. The objection to ever lowering the price is, that whenever this was done, some of those who had purchased at the higher price, would complain that they had been made to pay more than their suc- cessors, and more than was necessary. It would be by no means certain that they really had paid more than was necessary at the time of their purchase : for the circumstances of the colony at that time might have required that price, for the greatest good of those purchasers as well as of the whole colony. Nor, if new circumstances required a lower price such a circumstance, for example, as a great spontaneous and unexpected immigration of labour into the colony, which suddenly and greatly increased the proportion of people to appropriated land would these earlier purchasers at the higher price suffer any injustice from a lowering of the price. They might suffer hard- ship, but no injustice. If the higher price had been VALUE EN TIPPER ARY. 351 kept up so long after it became too high, as to confer on land the monopoly value which arises from scarcity, then, when the price of new land was lowered, the general value of appropriated land would decline; and the amount of its fall would be so much loss to all landowners. This would be a hardship : but, for two reasons, it would not be an injustice. All landowners would have purchased with a full know- ledge of the wish and intention of the legislature to lower the price whenever population should be super- abundant, or if, after a trial, it should appear too high : nobody would have been deceived or misled: and secondly, the monopoly value of land which had been created by keeping up too high a price, though a benefit to the landowner, would be a benefit, which as accruing to him against the will of the legislature and contrary to his own expectations when he pur- chased, and as being a wrong to the community at large, ought justly to be taken from him as soon as possible. Injustice, therefore, there would be none hi lowering the price. I have said, that the scarcity-value conferred on land by too high a price, would be a benefit to the landowner; but this was only said for argument's sake: for in truth, a colony in which appropriated land was kept at a scar- city value, would be a most unpopular colony in the mother-country; and its landowners would miss the benefits enjoyed by the landowners of a colony into which there pours a constant stream of capital as well people. The landowners, in the supposed case, would obtain a scarcity -value for their land, similar to that which takes place in Tipperary; but they would miss a position-value, so to speak, like that which 352 MR. JAMES 'STEPHEN AND occurs in Lancashire : they would lose more than they would gain. Upon the whole, therefore, it appears to me, that purchasers at a higher price would suffer neither injustice nor hardship by a lowering of the price when this step became expedient for the good of the whole colony. But in consideration of our prone- ness to be jealous and envious of our neighbours, I would guard, if possible, against even the appearance of giving an advantage to the later purchaser. I think, therefore, that the colonizing legislature ought to begin with a price clearly too low, and to raise the price by degrees with a cautious but resolute hand. If your Mr. Mothercountry should say that a system which requires, in at least one of its processes, the exer- cise of much caution and resolution, is not a self-ad- justing system, but one liable to be deranged by human infirmity, and therefore one not to be relied upon, I would answer, nobody has ever attributed to it that magical property of being able to work itself without legislative or administrative care, which its official opponents, in order to decry it, have represented that its advocates claimed for it. The article in the Edin- burgh Review was written by a gentleman, then a clerk in the Colonial Office, and a friend of Mr. Stephen's, the permanent Under- Secretary. Mr. Stephen's influence with that eminent journal has been used to prevent the circulation of favourable views of the theory, as well as to circulate hostile views. Two habitual con- tributors to the Review offered to its editor, the late Professor Napier, at different times, and without each other's knowledge or mine, two articles, of which the object was to explain and recommend the theory; but he declined to insert either, on the ground, in the one THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. 353 of having pledged the Review to the opinions of Mr. Stephen's friend; and, in the other, of his unwil- lingness to displease Mr. Stephen. To save trouble, in case you should mention this to your Mr. Mother- coin it ly, I add that though Professor Xapier is no more, the two gentlemen in question are alive, and in full recollection of the facts. Thus, you see, the whining of colonial Downing- MTK-t. about being debarred from communication with the public, is not founded in fact. No other public department has better, nay equal, means of using the anonymous press for defence and attack. I alm -at the process, with very likely the same result over again. At last, perhaps, the settler is deprived of all freedom of choice, being compelled to take land which he does not prefer, or to which he has strong objections. I suspect that this occurs in even a majo- rity of cases. How the probability, or only, the risk of it, must discourage the attendance of intending purchasers at auction sales, is sufficiently obvious. 4. In his anxiety to obtain the land on which his heart is set, the settler is apt to bid beyond his means ; and when the lot is knocked down to him, he is incapable of using it. The impoverishment of the settler by means of obtaining the lot which he has selected, is a common occurrence: the utter ruin of settlers by this means is not very uncommon. 5. Under the auction plan, the honest industrious settler is liable to be plundered by jobbing and roguery of various sorts. The official surveyors, by means of information obtained whilst they were making the sur- vey, have it in their power to job ; and under our system of colonial government, official surveyors are capable of jobbing in the very souls of their parents and children. Officials of all sorts who can obtain from the surveyors' reports superior information as to the varying qualities of the land, can job if they please, and do job most wofully. The speculating capitalist can job, by means 360 OBJECTIONS TO AUCTION. of his command of money. The bond fide settler, the man ready and anxious to lay out his money in land and improvements upon it, has to buy off these harpies. Often, when his means are insufficient for that purpose, they sell him the land on credit at an exorbitant price, and ruin him by means of the heavy interest. In America, the inherent evils of mere jobbing at the auction sales are moderated by an occasional adminis- tration of Lynch law : a speculator who attends the sale for the mere purpose of harassing and so robbing the good settler, runs some risk of being shot ; besides, in America, where the great quantity of land always offered for sale prevents competition save for peculiarly eligible spots, the inherent evils of jobbing at auction sales are less than in our colonies. There, the quantity having been generally limited with an express view to competition, and the auction plan not having lasted long enough to suggest the employment of Lynch law, mere jobbing in public land at the auction sales has been a cruel oppression of the settler class. 6. Competition at auction-sales gives rise to un- neighbourly and vindictive feelings among the settlers. The man who is partially ruined by a neighbour's running him up at a sale, never forgets the injury, and his children inherit the rancour so occasioned. The auction sales in our colonies have produced a large stock of envious and revengeful passions in many a neighbourhood, where, colonization being the business of the people, feelings of kindness and a disposition to help one's neighbour would be sedulously encouraged by a really colonizing government. 7. And lastly, the plan of auction is very unpopular in the colonies, excepting of course amongst the harpy THE AMERICAN HELP. 361 class, who by means of it prey on the class of true colonists. To the class of true colonists it is invariably and grievously hurtful. They continually and loudly complain of it; and the maintenance of it in spite of their complaints is a most offensive and tyrannical exercise of the despotic authority by which our colonies are governed. Continually for years, these reasons against auction have been pressed on the notice of the Colonial Office, and especially of the present Colonial Minister, but without the least effect ; or rather, I should say, with only a bad effect. For Lord Grey, who is the parent of the auction nuisance in our colonies, loves it as a mother does her rickety child, all the more when its deformities are pointed out. His affection for it has at length become so strong, that arguments against it put him into a rage; and to all such arguments he virtually replies, never by counter-arguments, if any such there are, but by expressions of sulky obstinacy which remind one of the American help's answer to the bell " the more you ring, the more I won't come." And such things can be, because, unavoidably, there is no public in this country that cares about the colonies. The mode of selling to which auction has been pre- ferred, is that of allowing settlers to take land at pleasure on paying a fixed uniform price, which should of course be the sufficient price. The price being sufficient, fixed, and uniform, the settler would pay to the government the purchase money of as many acres as he wanted, and would take the land without further ado. He would pay the sufficient price, but no more. He would retain for use the whole of his capital, 362 FIXED AND UNIFORM PRICE. except the indispensable price of his land. Whatever increased value future competition might put upon his land, would belong to him. Land-buying in other words emigration and settlement would thus be greatly promoted. The settler would not be kept waiting an hour for anything, after having chosen the spot of land he would best like to acquire. He would realize his own choice, without being injured or harassed, or even frightened by jobbing speculators. Nothing would happen to disturb his kindly feelings towards his neighbour ; and he would not, for anything in the mode of selling public land, hate his government. The plan of a fixed and uniform price, is free from all the objections to auction. You will ask how, with a fixed and uniform price, competition between two or more settlers for the same piece of land, would be determined. By letting first come be first served. The man who first paid his pur- chase-money into the land-office and designated the spot of his choice, would get that spot, though a hundred men should afterwards apply for it. The hundred would be told that it was already sold. But two or more men might apply for the same spot at the same time : yes, possibly in the abstract, but really almost never, if, as clearly ought to be the case, the quan- tity of land always open to purchasers were so ample as to be practically unlimited. Now and then, how- ever, such a thing might happen as two or more men entering the land-office at the same moment and apply- ing for the same spot. On the occurrence of this rare event, the competition would be determined by letting the applicants draw lots for the preference. This mode of determining the competition is so simple and so per- SINGLE-SPEECH HAMILTON. 363 * iectly fair, that nobody could mistake its operation, or tl-L'l that it had done him the least injustice,. But there are objectors, official advocates of auction, with Lord Grey at their head, who say that drawing lots for the preference would be a lottery, and would promote a spirit of gambling amongst purchasers. The reply is, first, that the occasion for drawing lots would scarcely ever happen; secondly, that even if it happened fre- quently, it would not operate like a lottery, because the necessity of having recourse to it would occur acci- dentally, without design on the part of the competitors, and the competition would not last five minutes; thirdly, that if a gambling spirit were promoted by the frequent drawing of lots among competitors for the same piece of land at the same moment, the evil would be incalculably less than that of all the villanies and cruelties of the auction, which is the only possible alter- native of the fixed price. But in practice, I repeat, the drawing of lots would hardly ever occur; and when it did, it would be wanting in those properties of a lottery which cultivate the gambling spirit. The lottery argument against a fixed price is of that class, which Single-speech Hamilton advises us to employ when we want to give an odious appearance to the proposal of our adversary. I must point out, however, that although, as a rule, tw<> people would hardly ever apply for the same bit of land at the same moment, exceptional occasions do arise in which the drawing of lots does partake in some measure of the gambling character of a lottery. This happens when a considerable number of people are about to emigrate for the purpose of planting a new settlement, and when they pay here a fixed price 364 DRAWING OF LOTS. per acre for land that they have not seen. They pay not for land, but for a right to take land when they reach the colony. In the exercise of this right, it would be impossible to adopt the principle of first come first served; because all the purchasers have already come; they are all present together; and every one of them wishes to have first choice in the selection of land. An order of choice, therefore, must be determined somehow. For the right to choose pieces of land, out of a quantity which the purchaser has not yet seen, experience has proved, as a moment's reflection would suggest, that people cannot be in- duced to bid against each other at auction: either they will not buy at all, or they will only pay a price not exceeding what they believe will be the value of the least valuable spot of the land to be hereafter dis- tributed amongst them. This must necessarily be a known, fixed, and uniform price. When they have paid this price, the question arises, who is to choose first, who second, and so on ? If anybody knows how this question can be determined with perfect fairness to all parties, except by letting the purchasers draw lots for priority of choice, he has discovered what has escaped the earnest research of many ingenious minds. According to our present knowledge, we must either use this method of determining priority of choice, or we must renounce the practice a practice which has founded South Australia and four Settlements in New Zealand of founding settlements by means of selling land in this country to the first body of intending colonists. That in such case the drawing of lots is a kind of lottery, is obvious ; but it is a lottery without blanks, however high the prizes may be ; and finally, A u WOMAN'S REASON." 365 so far as there is evil in it, it is like many other cases in which priorities are determined by lot, or, like most of the steps which man takes with a view to good iv suits, an imperfect means of doing what could not be done with as little admixture of evil, or perhaps at all, by any other means. This, I suppose is the view of the subject taken by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who. as president of the new Association for founding a settlement in New Zealand, has given his high moral sanction to the plan of drawing lots in cases of necessity. LETTER LIL From the Colonist. LORD GREY'S CONFUSION or IDEAS RESPECTING THE OBJECTS WITH WHICH A PRICE SHOULD BE REQUIRED FOR NEW LAND. ANOTHER OBJECTION TO A UNIFORM PRICE FOR WASTE LAND, WITH THE COLONIST'S AN- SWER TO IT. uniformity of a fixed price has been objected to, on several grounds. First, says Lord Grey, as land is of different qua- with respect to fertility and the probability of future advantages of position, it ought to fetch dif- ferent prices. Why " ought" ? The only reason given is the "woman's reason" " Because it ought." What does "ought" mean in this case? Do we owe any duty to the land, that commands us to make it fetch different prices because it varies in quality? Is there 366 IGNORANCE ABOUT COLONIES. any person to whom we owe this duty? Verily, if we were selling land in this country either our own land for ourselves, or somebody else's land for him, or crown land for the public we should be bound to obtain the highest possible price, and of course to re- quire a higher price for the more valuable portions. But that is because in this country, all the land being appropriated, the sole object in selling always is to get the highest price : whereas in a colony, under the circumstances in question, the object would be only to get the sufficient price; and it would be an impor- tant object to avoid taking more than that out of any buyer's pocket. Confusion of ideas is at the bottom of all these notions about the expediency of auction, or some other way of getting a price for colonial waste land in proportion to its present or probable value. The totally different circumstances of the colony and the old country the totally different objects with which landed property is sold here and would be sold there are so confounded in Lord Grey's mind, that he unconsciously applies old-country rules to the colo- nial question. His " ought" really means that selling land for its market value is the only mode of selling land, as respects both objects and means, to which his mind is accustomed, and which he is able to compre- hend. With equal truth, a predecessor of his might have written to the Governor of Upper Canada, " I send you water casks for the fleet on Ontario, because my familiar ideas on the subjects of fleets and water assure me that all water which bears a fleet must be salt." On further reflection, it is rather to ignorance about the colonies to the absence of colonial ideas at the Colonial Office than to official confusion of colo- ANOTHER OBJECTION. 367 nial and old-country ideas, that such unhappy mis- takes would be most justly attributed. The second objection to a uniform price is, that if the price were sufficient, land of very inferior quality, as respects either fertility or position, would not be bought at all. Certainly it would not be bought if it were so inferior as to be, according to the market value of the cheapest land in the colony, worth less than the sufficient price. But the inferiority of posi- tion would not last long. The progress of settlement around and beyond such neglected spots, would soon confer advantages of position upon them. Roads would be made near or through them. Population and the average value of land would increase around them. In time, unless they were so sterile by nature as to be what we term here land not worth reclaim- ing, new facilities of improving them of conveying all sorts of things between them and the town and the increased value of all land in their neighbourhood, would make them worth the sufficient price; and then they would be bought. Meanwhile, they would be used for pasturage : for, as I shall explain presently, it is contrary to the principle of a sufficient price for freehold land, to put any price upon the use of land for pasturage only. But if these spots were so sterile and so out of the way, like the barren tops of moun- tains, as not to be worth cultivating under any cir- cumstjinces, they would never be sold, but always ii>rd, if fit even for that, as runs for cattle and sheep during the time of year when some grass will grow almost everywhere except on bare rock. If they were not even fit for that, they would never be used at all. And what then? Why, these barren, out-of-the-way 368 OBJECTION CONTINUED. spots would only resemble similar spots in old coun- tries, which nature has condemned to uselessness for ages. To perpetual uselessness, nature has probably not condemned a morsel of the earth's surface. But now, observe that the time at which land of inferior fertility and position increased in value, would come very much sooner, and the degree of increased value for the worst of such land would be much greater, under a plan of colonization which made labour plen- tiful, than under the usual scarcity of labour. Roads would come sooner and be more numerous ; the cost of reclaiming waste land would be less, not in conse- quence of lower wages (for wages might be higher with than without the more productive employment of labour), but in consequence of the greater power of combined and constant labour ; and the proportion of non-agricultural classes to the agricultural class or, in other words, the number of local customers for the sellers of landed produce would be very much greater than it is now in any colony. Upon the whole, then, it seems probable that if no land could be got for less than the sufficient price, inferior land would become worth that price sooner than, with scarcity of labour, it becomes worth cultivating at all. If so, this objection to a uniform price is converted into a recommendation : and if not, it is still not a valid objection to the uniform price as part of a system, except on the unreasonable supposition that inferior land would probably be cultivated sooner under a system which makes the cheapest land worth at market hardly anything, than under one which would make all appropriated land worth at least the sufficient price. 369 LETTER LIII. From the Colonist. WITH A SUFFICIENT PRICE FOR NEW LAND, PROFITS AND WAGES WOULD BE HIGHER, AND EXPORTS GREATER, THAN WITHOUT IT. SOME probable effects of the sufficient price must be briefly noticed, before I come to two of them which demand particular explanation. At first sight, it appears that wages would be lower and profits higher than when land was superabundant and labour scarce, because, of the whole produce of capital and labour, the capitalist would pay less to the labourer and keep more for himself: a greater com- petition for employment amongst the labourers, no longer able to acquire land with great facility, would bring down wages and raise profits. And this would really happen if the productiveness of industry re- mained unaltered. But, really, inasmuch as the productiveness of industry would be increased (to what extent one cannot tell, because what the energetic and intelligent, as well as combined and constant labour of freemen can do with the virgin soils of a new country has never yet been tried) ; inasmuch as the produce to be divided between the capitalist and B B 370 INCREASED PRODUCTION. the labourer would be greater, both parties might obtain more than when that produce was less. At all events, there would be far more to divide. If the competition of labourers for employment enabled the capitalist to keep the whole increase for himself, the labourers would be dissatisfied, and the colony would become unpopular with the labouring class at home ; when it would be seen that the competition of labourers in this colony was too great, and the price of new land more than sufficient. The produce being greater, it would always be for the advantage of capitalists and the whole colony, that such a share of the increase should go to the labourer, as would keep the colony popular with the labouring class at home ; and this would always be secured, by taking care that the competition of labourers for employment was never too great ; in other words, that the price of new land was never more than sufficient. The produce of industry being greater in consequence of the new facilities for combining labour, dividing employments, and carrying on works which require long time for their completion, everybody in the colony would be richer : and the colony being able to export and import more, would be a better customer of the mother-country. Nevertheless, I suppose you to ask, although the sufficient price prevented labourers from too soon turning into landowners, how would enough labourers be obtained? The sufficient price does not provide for immigration of labour. If the colony could depend for labour upon nothing but the increase of people by births on the spot, it would be requisite to make the sufficient price of land high enough to keep wages RAPID COLONIZATION. 371 down to an old-country rate, and to prevent most labourers from ever becoming landowners. A colony so near to England as Canada, might obtain labourers by the immigration of poor people at their own cost ; but what would become of the more distant colonies, South Africa, the four Australias, Tasmania, and New Zealand? In the latter places, the colonization, or gradual settlement of the waste, would be of a good sort, but would be extremely slow. The sufficient price alone, provides only for civilized, not for rapid colonization. I answer, that the sufficient price, by itself, would provide for a more rapid colonization than has ever been seen in the world. So bold an assertion requires careful proof. This rapidity of colonization in conse- quence of the sufficient price is the first of those effects of the sufficient price which demand particular expla- nation. I must, however, reserve it for another letter. BB 2 372 LETTER LIT. From the Colonist. WITH A SUFFICIENT PRICE FOR WASTE LAND, CAPI- TALISTS WOULD OBTAIN LABOUR BY MEANS OF PAYING FOR THE EMIGRATION OF POOR PEOPLE. rPHE price being sufficient to prevent labourers from turning into landowners too soon, it would now be worth the while of capitalists to pro- cure labour from the mother-country at their own cost ; it would u pay" emigrating capitalists to take out labourers along with them. And why? Because, now, all labourers being under the necessity of re- maining labourers for some years, it would be possible, and not difficult, for capitalists to enforce contracts for labour made in the mother-country. Referring to a former letter, the temptation of the labourer to quit the employer who had brought him to the colony, would be no longer irresistible. With the very high rate of wages that the importing employer of labour could afford to pay, provided he could keep the labour he imported, the cost of the labourer's passage would be, as the saying is, a mere flea-bite ; an entity hardly worth taking into the calculation of his outgoings and incomings. The difference between the wages that FREE LABOUR TRADE. 373 the importing and the non-importing capitalist could afford to pay, would be so slight as to be without practical effect. The importing capitalist would be able, without feeling it, to pay the same wages as the non-importing capitalist, and would be better able to keep the labourers he imported, by treating them with kindness and consideration for their human pride as well as their physical wants, than the other would be to entice them away by the promise of such treatment. In most cases, therefore, the non-importing capitalist would become an importing one : when it had become to keep imported labour, the motives for import- ing labour, instead of enticing it away from one's neighbour who had imported it, would be strong enough, in the great majority of instances, to abolish the temptation to this kind of robbery : and if some would-be robbers remained, they would be prevented by the frowns of society from doing so great a wrong t<> their neighbour for so small a gain to themselves. Upon the whole, therefore, I think that the induce- ments to the importation of labour by capitalists would be as great as they are in Brazil and Cuba; perhaps greater, if we consider the superiority of free to slave labour, as respects the power of production. At the least, there would be a great deal of induce- ment of the same kind, in regard to the paying by capitalists for the passage of labourers, as that which, if no impediments were put in the way of its opera- tions, would probably, land continuing dirt cheap and labour for hire almost unknown in America, convey a million of negro slaves from Africa to America in the course of every year. If free imported labour could be kept in our colonies, I can see no limit to the 374 ECONOMICAL ATTRACTION. probable amount of labour-emigration by means of the payment of the labourer's passage by his future employer. For the importers of labour, in the case supposed, would be not only capitalists within the colony, but capitalists emigrating to the colony, who, feeling that they should be able to enforce in the colony a contract for labour made at home, would take along with them the labour which they expected to require, and would send for more if more should be required: and assuredly, the economical attrac- tion of being able to keep labour for hire in the colo- nies, would (provided always the political evils were removed) lead to an emigration of capitalists and capital, to the extent of which it would be difficult to assign a probable limit. If labourers and capitalists poured into the colony at the rate which seems probable under the circumstances supposed, coloniza- tion would be very rapid as well as good in kind, or civilized : and the sole cause of the whole improve- ment would be the sufficient price. 375 LETTER LV. From the Colonist. THE SUFFICIENT PRICE PRODUCES MONEY INCIDENTALLY. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH THE PURCHASE- MONEY OF NEW LAND ? SEVERAL EFFECTS OF USING THE PURCHASE-MONEY AS A FUND FOR DEFRAYING THE COST OF EMIGRATION. I PROCEED to the second effect of the sufficient price, which requires particular explanation. The sufficient price would bring money into the colo- nial exchequer. If it were in full operation throughout our colonies, it would produce a vast deal of money ; for the sale of waste land in the United States at a price little more than nominal (4s. l\d. an acre) pro- duces about a million sterling a year, and has pro- duced, in one year of unusual speculation, as much as four mill ions, or more than the whole annual expen- diture of the federal government at that time. The question arises then,, what should be done with the money produced by the sufficient price ? And in the whole art of colonization, there is no question of more importance. The putting of money into the colonial exchequer would not have been designed by the government. 376 SHARPEST TEST OF THE THEORY. The getting of money by the government would be a result of selling land instead of giving it away : but as the only object of selling instead of giving is one totally distinct from that of producing revenue namely, to prevent labourers from turning into land- owners too soon the pecuniary result would be un- intended, one might almost say unexpected. So com- pletely is production of revenue a mere incident of the price of land, that the price ought to be imposed, if it ought to be imposed under any circumstances, even though the purchase-money were thrown away. This last proposition is the sharpest test to which the theory of a sufficient price can be submitted ; but if it will not stand this test if the proposition is not true the theory is false. Assuming it not to be false, the money arising from the sale of land is a fund raised without a purpose, unavoidably, incidentally, almost accidentally. It is a fund, therefore, without a desti- nation. There would be no undertaking, no tacit obligation even, on the part of the government to dispose of the fund in any particular way. It is an unappropriated fund, which the state or government may dispose of as it pleases without injustice to any- body. If the fund were applied to paying off the public debt of the empire, nobody could complain of injustice, because every colony as a whole, and the buyers of land in particular, would still enjoy all the intended and expected benefits of the imposition of a sufficient price upon new land: if the fund were thrown into the sea as it accrued, there would still be no injustice, and no reason against producing the fund in that way. If this reasoning is correct, the government would AN EMIGRATION-FUND. 377 be at liberty to cast about for the most beneficial mode of disposing of the fund. Upon that point, I do not pretend to offer an opinion : but if the object were the utmost possible increase of the population, wealth, and greatness of our empire, then I can have no doubt that the revenue accruing from the sale of waste land, would be called an emigration-fund, and be expended in conveying poor people of the labouring class from the mother-country to the colonies. Let us see what would be the principal effects of that disposition of the purchase-money of waste land. 1. It would no longer be desirable for colonial or emigrating capitalists to lay out money directly in taking labour to the colony; but they would do so indirectly when, by purchasing land, they contributed to the emigration-fund. They would see, more dis- tinctly than if the purchase-money of land were not an emigration fund, that in paying the sufficient price for land they purchased labour as well as land; they would pay the sufficient price more cheerfully; and the working of the plan of colonization would be better understood, and the plan itself more popular, both in the colonies and in the mother-country: points of great importance with a view to getting into quick and full operation a system so novel, and so much at variance with common ideas about the disposal of waste land in colonies. 2. If the price were sufficient, even though the purchase-money should be thrown away, there would always be in the colony a supply of labour correspond- ing with the demand ; but if the immigration of labour were only spontaneous, the progress of colonization how much soever faster than if new land were too cheap 378 EMIGRATION-FUND. and the capitalist had no motive for directly import- ing labour, would be slower than if every purchase of land necessarily brought labour into the colony. Colonization would be improved both in kind and pace by imposing the sufficient price ; but its pace would be prodigiously accelerated by using the purchase-money as an emigration-fund. If the emigration-fund were judiciously expended, emigrating capitalists would be allowed to take out with them, free of cost, such labourers as they might expect to require in the colony. They would have indeed, when they bought waste land in the colony, to contribute to the emigra- tion-fund; but as their land would bear a market value equal at least to what they paid for it, they would really get the labour for nothing. This, and the opportunity of selecting the labour here, would induce many a capitalist to emigrate who might not otherwise think of doing so. I am speaking now, as much from experience as from reason, having been convinced, even by very imperfect and much-impeded experiments in the founding of South Australia and New Zealand, that the class of emigrating capitalists set a high value on the opportunity of engaging labourers here and taking them out free of cost. In this way, then, both capitalists and labourers would go to the colony, in greater numbers than if the pur- chase-money were not used as an emigration-fund; but in how much greater numbers, experience telleth not, and would only tell when the whole system was in real and full operation after the political impedi- ments to colonization had been removed. 3. But some notion of what would then be the rate of colonization, may be formed by observing another EMIGRATION-FUND. 379 effect of turning purchase-money into emigration-fund. Every sale of land would produce a corresponding amount of immigration. Emigrants would pour into the colony at a rate of which there has been no ex- ample in the settlement of new countries. Some idea of what that rate would be when the plan was in full operation, may be formed by comparing what took place in South Australia, Australia Felix, and the New- Zealand Company's Settlements, with what has happened when colonies were founded without an emigration-fund. Although in the cases mentioned, the price of land was by no means sufficient, the amount of immigration in proportion to appropriated land was, to speak much within compass, twenty times greater than in any case where spontaneous emigra- tion was alone relied upon for peopling the colony. I should not wonder to see it fifty times greater under the whole plan, not thwarted, but sustained by authority. 4. But whatever might be the amount of emigra- tion caused by using the purchase-money of land as a fund for taking poor people to the colony, it would cause a different proportion between land and people from that which would take place if the purchase- money were any otherwise employed: the proportion of population to appropriated land would be very much greater in the one case than in the other. From this it follows, that the price of waste land, which would be only sufficient if the purchase-money were not used for emigration, would be excessive if it were so used. Suppose that without an emigration-fund, bl. per acre proved the sufficient price ; that is, neither too much nor too little. But that means neither too much nor too little for a certain proportion of people 380 EMIGRATION-FUND. to land, emigration not being promoted by a public fund. Now apply the emigration-fund. So many more people go to the colony, that the proportion of people to land is greatly increased. The price of 5. was just sufficient for the old proportion : it is excessive under the new proportion. If under the old proportion, it just prevented labourers from be- coming landowners too soon, under the new one it would prevent them from doing so soon enough. By causing an excessive proportion of people to land, it would bring down wages, do a wrong to the labouring emigrants, and render the colony unpopular with that class at home. Then would be seen a necessity for altering the price; for lowering it from what just sufficed without an emigration-fund, to what would just suffice with one. The general conclusion is, that a less price would be sufficient if the purchase-money were, than if it were not devoted to emigration. With an emigration-fund, therefore, the new land would be cheaper; and the cheaper waste land is in a colony, provided it is dear enough to prevent a mis- chievous scarcity of labour, the more are people of all classes at home induced to select that colony for their future home. The emigration-fund, besides enabling poor people to go to the colony, and attracting capi- talists by enabling them to take labourers along with them, would provide for all classes the attraction of cheaper land than if there were no emigration-fund. Altogether, the effect of devoting the purchase-money of land to emigration, would be to accelerate im- mensely the rate of colonization, and to augment more quickly than by any other disposition of the fund, the population, wealth, and greatness of the empire. GROUNDWORK OF THE SYSTEM. 381 5. A particular effect of devoting the purchase- money to emigration remains to be noticed ; and a very pleasing effect it would be. The term of the labourer's service for hire would be shorter; the time when he might turn into a landowner with advantage to the whole colony, would come sooner. Suppose 61. were the sufficient price without an emigration-fund, and 2L with one. With new land at 5/. an acre, the emigrant labourers might, always on the average, have to work ten years for wages before they could buy enough land to set up upon as masters : with new land at 21. an acre, they could become landowners and masters at the end of four years. These figures are entirely hypothetical ; and what the real difference would prove to be I do not pretend to say ; but mani- festly it would be very considerable. It is a differ- ence which should be strongly impressed on the mind of the colonizing legislator; for a perception of it teaches that the devotion of the purchase-money to emigration, besides being the disposition of the land- fund most conducive to the increase of population and imperial wealth and greatness, would powerfully tend to render the whole system popular with the working classes, and, in particular, to prevent them from ob- jecting to the groundwork of the system, which is the sufficient price. 382 LETTER LVI. From the Statesman. ME. MOTHEKCOUNTRY OBJECTS TO THE SUFFICIENT" PRICE, THAT IT WOULD PUT A STOP TO THE SALE OF WASTE LAND. I HAVE a pleasure in being able to inform you, that your plan of land-selling and emigration is now as clear to me, as it was lately involved in a sort of mysterious obscurity. Now, at least, I understand it. I see too, that my Mr. Mothercountry, upon whom I can make no impression by repeating your exposition of the plan, has never understood it. And no won- der ; for it is plain that he has never tried to under- stand it, and is still unwilling to be taught. On this subject, he is a striking example of the proverb about wilful deafness. However, amongst the foolish objections which he makes to the plan, and which I was able to dispose of myself, there is one which I was incapable of meeting. You shall have it in his own words, so far at least as I am now able to avoid falling into your manner of writing on this subject. He said: " Admitting, as I am far from doing, that the plan would work in a colony founded according to it, it is wholly inappli- CHEAP LAND FOR EVER! 383 cable to the present colonies; and after the turmoil occasioned by these amateur colonizers in the South- Australian and New-Zealand affairs, we are not likely to let them get up any more colonies. In a colony already established, the plan could not work, because the only effect of the ' sufficient price ' would be to put a complete stop to the sale of waste land. It would have this effect, because in all these colonies, for years and years to come, land already appropriated will be extremely cheap. My own opinion is (and I hold the faith in common with Adam Smith, and all other economists who wrote before this new light broke upon the world), that land in a colony ought to be extremely cheap; the cheaper the better: but be that as it may, to sell dear land in a colony where there is plenty of cheap land, would be simply im- possible. An effect of the old plan of colonizing (which I think a good effect produced by a good plan) is to make it impossible, that the new plan should have any effect but that of completely prevent- ing further colonization. In most of the colonies, not an acre would be sold for ages at this nonsensical sufficient price. This scheme of a sufficient price, take it at the best, is an impracticable theory. Allow me to say, that I am surprised to see a person of your understanding waste his time on such a whimsey." 384 LETTER LYII. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST EXAMINES MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY'S PRO- POSITION, THAT THE SUFFICIENT PRICE WOULD PUT A STOP TO SALES OF LAND. SUGGESTION OF LOANS FOR EMIGRATION TO BE RAISED ON THE SECURITY OF FUTURE SALES. YOUR Mr. Mothercountry's objection would show, that he understands the sufficient price better than you have been led to suppose. I could explain the state of his mind on the subject ; but it is not worth while. On one point I quite agree with him. The Colonial Office will easily prevent the foundation of any more colonies. Amongst those who, of late years, have tormented the Colonial Office by found- ing colonies, there is not one that could be persuaded to take part in another enterprise of the kind; so effectually has the Colonial Office, by tormenting them in its turn, disgusted them with such work. As most of them are public men of more or less mark, or topping London merchants, their dread of having anything to do with the Colonial Office has so far become a general feeling, that I can only wonder at the recent formation of a society for planting a SALES AT ALL EVENTS. 385 fresh settlement in New Zealand. The time, how- ever, is not distant when these latest amateurs of colonization will be as sick of the pursuit as the others have long been. But this is becoming a digression. In his objection to the sufficient price, your Mr. Mo- thercountry is both right and wrong in supposing, that no public land at all would be sold in the case which he puts. Xo public land would be sold to people of the labouring class ; none to anybody whose object was to get land as cheap as possible. But however high the price of public land, and however great the excess of appropriated land, there would be spots in the unap- propriated territory enjoying, or likely to enjoy, pe- culiar advantages of position, which speculators would buy with a view to selling their land again. I allude to such spots as the mouths of rivers, the shores of harbours, and other good natural sites of towns, which it might " pay" to buy, even though the dis- trict surrounding them were only used for pasturage or lumbering, and remained for some time unappro- priated. By degrees, a certain town population growing in these spots, the land in their immediate vicinity would acquire a position- value above the sufficient price, and would be sold accordingly. In a like manner, if a good road were made through the wilderness, between a harbour and one of these spots in the interior, much of the land on both sides of the road would acquire a position- value above the suffi- cient price, and would then be sold. Again, in various spots throughout an unappropriated pastoral district, sh< ( p and cattle farmers would be glad to buy, at almost any price, enough ground for a homestead and c c 386 POSITION-VALUE. some cultivation around it. I perceive many other cases in which public land would be sold, notwith- standing that its price was higher than the price of the cheapest appropriated land; but these examples suffice for exhibiting the principle of such sales. The principle is, that position-value would not be affected by the sufficient price, but would be just the same, wherever it occurred, whether the sufficient price were high or low. This value would generally ex- ceed the highest conceivable sufficient price; and whenever it did, the land would be bought at the sufficient price, whatever that might be. I am inclined to think, that although the sufficient price was high enough to prevent the sale of any land not enjoying a value of position, position-value would continually spread into and along the nearest boundaries of unap- propriated districts ; and that thus considerable sales of public land would take place, and a considerable emigration-fund would be obtained, notwithstanding the great cheapness of the cheapest appropriated land. In some colonies, such as New Zealand, where the quantity of appropriated land is not yet monstrously excessive, an emigration-fund would soon accrue ; and the outlay of the emigration -fund, by pouring people into the colony, would soon raise the value of the cheapest private land to an equality with the price of public land. So far, then, I think Mr. Mothercountry in the wrong. On the other hand, I fully agree with him, that where private land is monstrously superabundant, the sufficient price would, for a long while, stop the sale of all public land not possessing or acquiring a posi- tion-value. But, as he ought to have told you, I SALES ANTICIPATED. 387 have always been aware of this difficulty, and have suggested various means of overcoming it. The first suggestion is, that future sales should be anticipated, by the raising of loans on the security of such sales; and that the money should be laid out on emigration. This would be useful in the case of a new settlement, because the first emigrants might be loath to pay the sufficient price until the spot was in some measure peopled : it is indispensable, with the view of bestowing the advantages of the whole plan on a colony, where the old practice of granting land with profusion has made the cheapest land extremely cheap. In the case of a neiv settlement, if the government peopled its land first, and sold it after- wards, it wouH sell it more readily than if it sold it first and peopled it afterwards. In the case of an old colony, where private land was extremely superabun- dant, the anticipation of future sales of public land, by raising money for emigration on that security, would alter the proportion of people to land in the appropriated territory, according to the scale on which this mode of proceeding was adopted. If enough people were thus conveyed to the appropriated terri- tory to raise the price of the cheapest land there up to the price of public land, this part of the colony would be as well supplied with labour for hire, as it would have been originally if it had been founded on the plan of a sufficient price employed as an emi- gration-fund. But then, objectors have said, future sales of public land being anticipated, when these sales took place, the purchase-money, instead of being de- voted to emigration, must be employed in paying off the loans ; and for this part of the colony there would c c 2 388 MOKE EMIGRATION-FUND. be no emigration-fund. Truly; but, in that case, either an emigration-fund would not then be needed, or there would be a perfect equivalent for one as respects the goodness at least of the colonization. At a certain stage in the course of colonizing a waste country, and long before all the waste land is disposed of, it becomes most inexpedient to introduce more people from the mother-country ; quite necessary to keep the remaining waste for the purposes of the colonial population, now very numerous and always rapidly increasing by births and spontaneous emigra- tion. From that time forth, of course, the purchase- money of public land would first go to pay off the previous loans for emigration, and then form part of the general colonial revenue. But if this stage were not yet reached if an emigration-fund were needed, but could not be got then it would be necessary, from that time forth, to go on settling the wilderness without an emigration-fund, and to raise the price of public land up to what would be sufficient, the pur- chase-money not being devoted to emigration. In either case, the principle of the sufficient price would be maintained ; scarcity of labour would be prevented. This result, however, would not be obtained in the earlier stage of colonization, unless the scale of bor- rowing for emigration, on the security of future sales, were sufficient to supply in the appropriated territory whatever might be the demand for labour. On pri- vate land, the sufficient price would not be imposed by law. Therefore, until emigration raised the price of the cheapest private land up to that of public land, emigrant labourers would be able to obtain land for less than the sufficient price : and in this case, there EVIL PREVENTED. 389 might be a scarcity of labour, but not if emigration were on a great enough scale to put a labourer in the place of him who had become a landowner too soon. With emigration, indeed, proceeding and promised as to the future on this scale, few would be the owners of land who would be induced to part with an acre of their property for less than the price of public land. The future sales of public land being sufficiently an- ticipated, the future value of private land would be, as it were, sufficiently anticipated likewise, by the un- willingness of the owners to sell for less than a price which at no distant day they would feel sure of obtain- ing. If so (but all, I repeat, would depend on the scale of emigration, actual and provided for), there would never be a vacuum in the labour-market for emigration to fill up : the evil would be prevented by the certainty of a remedy being at hand in case of need. 390 LETTER LVIII. From the Colonist. SUGGESTION OF A FURTHER MEANS FOR ENABLING THE SUFFICIENT PRICE OF PUBLIC LAND TO WORK WELL IN COLONIES WHERE PRIVATE LAND IS GREATLY SUPERABUNDANT AND VERY CHEAP. BUT now let us suppose the case (which is that put by Mr. Mothercountry) of a colony in which land was greatly superabundant, but nothing at all was done to remedy the past profusion of the govern- ment in granting land. In this case, the putting of a price on new land would do good to nobody. The price whatever its amount, would not be " sufficient" for the only legitimate end of putting any price on mere waste. In this case, then, the putting of a pre- tended sufficient price on new land is a useless impe- diment to the further appropriation of land in pecu- liarly eligible spots as these are discovered, a foolish check to colonizing enterprise, and a mischievous deduction from the capital of the pioneers of settle- ment. But this, which has been here supposed, is exactly what we do in New South Wales and some other colonies. In these actual cases, the price of public land, as an alleged means of doing some good, THE PRICE OF PRIVATE LAND. 391 is a pretence or a delusion : the design of it is a pre- tence; the result of it is a delusion; the reality is nothing but a taxing of colonization for revenue. Do me the favour to ask Mr. Mothercountry if he knows of a worse species of taxation for colonies. But it is easy to conceive another case, in which the government should be really desirous of giving full effect to the whole plan, but want means to pour into the colony enough people to raise the price of the cheapest private land up to the price of public land. The inability would consist of the want of a sufficient emigration-fund. The future sales of public land would not be deemed by capitalists a security valuable enough to warrant the advance on loan of all the money required. In this case, the cheapest private land being too cheap, labourers taken to the colony would too soon turn into landowners; and their place in the labour market would not be immediately filled by other emigrants. There might exist all the evils of scarcity of labour, notwithstanding a high price for public land, and some emigration by means of loans raised on the security of future sales. If I have made the nature of the evil clear, you will readily perceive what kind of remedy would be appropriate. The object is to raise the price of the cheapest private, up to that of public land. With this view, numerous modes of proceeding have been suggested. Amongst these is, what they call in America, a " wild-land tax." This is a tax upon private land because it remains waste; a species of fine imposed on the owner for being a dog in the manger; for neither using his land nor selling it to somebody who would use it. This tax makes effectual 392 AN APPARENT TAX war upon the nuisance of unoccupied, in the midst of occupied private land; but it tends to lower instead of raising the price of land, by forbidding landowners to wait before they sell for an expected time of higher prices. This tax, therefore, is most inapplicable to the object now in view. Another tax proposed with a view to that object, is one intended to have the effect of preventing owners of private land from selling at less than the price of public land. This would be a tax upon private sales below the public price, sufficient in amount, in each case respectively, to raise the buying price up to the public price. If, for example, the public price were 21. an acre, and the land were sold at I/., the buyer would have to pay 11. more to the government, paying in all 21. ; that is, the public price. In two different ways, this tax would conduce to the end contemplated. First, it would prevent emigrant labourers from getting land too soon : secondly, it would provide an additional security on which to raise loans for emigration. In theory, this tax is unobjectionable: the effect of it would be to apply to private land after mischievously- excessive appropriation, the whole principle of a sufficient price and loans for emigration as applied to waste land before appropriation. But I fear that this tax would not work in practice : it would, I think, be too easily evaded; for though government can pre- vent people from putting a value on something, less than the real one, by taking the thing off their hands at their own false valuation (as is done with respect to imported goods liable to ad valorem duty on importation}, still I do not see how, in the supposed case, the buyer and the seller could be hindered from ON SALES OF PRIVATE LAND. 393 conspiring to pretend, that the price at which they dealt was equal to the price of public land though really far below it : and whenever they succeeded in making this pretence pass as a reality, they would evade the tax. The facility of evasion would be great ; the temptation strong; not to mention the roguery which the practice of evasion would involve and render customary. We are driven, therefore, to a kind of taxation which would neither be liable to evasion, nor so perfectly fitted to the object in view. This is a tax on all sales of private land acquired before the institution of the sufficient price for public land; and the devotion of the proceeds of the tax to emigration, either directly in defraying the cost of passage for labouring people, or indirectly as an additional security on which to raise emigration-loans. The tax might be either ad rh to understand the subject thoroughly, not to get a superficial smattering of it. I imagine, however, that we are near the end. LETTER LX. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST ANTICIPATES THE PROBABLE WRITING OF THE COMMISSIONERS. rFHEORETICALLY, indeed, it is the especial func- tion of the Colonial Land and Emigration Com- mi>sioners to be masters of the subject which their title expresses ; but practically they have very different functions. Of these, one which the Colonial Office frequently imposes on them, is that of picking holes in a suggestion about colonization, which the Office dislikes per se, or dislikes being troubled with. By much practice they have become skilful in this sort of official business, and really do it very well. You may expect, therefore, some cleverish special-pleading against " saddling colonies with debt," " taxing the feeble resources of young societies," and " giving an 398 A "GOOD HATER." unhealthy stimulus to emigration." As these gentle- men always have an eye to their chief's predilections and antipathies, they may also throw in an argument for " spontaneous" emigration, of which Lord Grey has been very fond ever since certain elaborate and im- practicable schemes of his own for promoting what he now calls " forced" emigration, all broke down. But they will not, partly because they dare not, examine the question candidly with a view of throwing light upon it. They dare not, because, in the first place, though their office is in Park- street, they are, from the very nature of the commission, mere clerks of colonial Downing- street ; and secondly, because, whilst the " good hater," whose helpless subordinates these Com- missioners are at present, hates nothing more than a suggestion of mine, his irascible and vindictive temper makes those who are at his mercy, and who know him, tremble at the thought of his displeasure. I hope indeed that we are not far from the end; but several matters remain to be explained, because they are really essential conditions of the well- working of the plan of colonization as here laid down. Nay, as such, they are rather parts of the plan. 399 LETTER LXI. From the Colonist. THE NECESSITY OF PERFECT LIBERTY OF APPROPRIATION AT THE SUFFICIENT PRICE. LIBERTY OF APPROPRI- ATION DEPENDENT ON AMPLE AND ACCURATE SUR- VEYS. ACTUAL SURVEYING IN THE COLONIES. AT the sufficient price, there should be the most complete liberty of acquiring private property in public land : for any restriction of this liberty would be tantamount to a restriction of the quantity of land open to purchase, and would be a difficulty, over and above the sufficient price, placed in the way of a labourer desirous to become a landowner. If the price were really sufficient, any further restriction would be an oppression of the labouring class. Though not so oppressive to the other classes, it would be very unjust and very impolitic as respects them also; since if the government professed to allow the utmost liberty of appropriation on the one condition of paying the sufficient price, any further restriction, not abso- lutely unavoidable, would be a wrong, and the com- pletion of a fraud, towards every purchaser. If the further restriction were irregular and uncertain in its force, every man would be put out in his calculations ; 400 PERFECT LIBERTY nobody would be able to regulate his proceedings by his knowledge of the law : the system, instead of being administered according to law, would be subject to arbitrary and perhaps mysterious derangement, like our present political government of the colonies. A price which would be sufficient with perfect liberty of appropriation, must be both excessive and insufficient without that liberty. If the price by itself were restriction enough, then a restriction of the quantity besides would be like adding to the price for some purchasers and diminishing it for others. If the quantity were so restricted as to occasion competition, one with another among intending purchasers, there would be a scramble for the land ; and though nobody would pay more than the fixed price, those who were not so fortunate as to get land from the government, would have to buy from the others at an enhanced price ; or they would have to go without land : and in either case, the lucky or perhaps favoured purchasers from the government would really obtain land pos- sessing at the time a competition-value over and above its cost, which would be the same thing for them as getting land for less than the price of public land. The price, therefore, at which people obtained public land, would virtually be, in some cases more, in some less, than the price required by the government as being neither more nor less than sufficient. This counteraction of the principle of the sufficient price would be a serious evil, but not the only one. In addition to it, in the case supposed of competition pro- duced by a restriction of quantity, there would be a frequent selection of the same spot by many purchasers, and a drawing of lots for the preference ; much merely OF APPROPRIATION. 401 speculative investment ; plenty of waiting ; and plenty of bad blood amongst neighbours. There would be ? in short, though in a mitigated degree, all the evils which attend upon restricting the quantity of land with a view to competition, and then selling by auction. It seems at first sight, that nothing would be easier than to establish a perfect liberty of appropriation. The government, apparently, would only have to tell every purchaser to go and pick the land he liked best, >on as the purchase-money was paid. But what is it that he would have to pick out of? A great wilderness, about which, until it was duly surveyed, nobody could possess the requisite knowledge for picking well. Suppose, however, though it must be merely for the sake of illustration, that purchasers generally could find out without a proper survey, where the best land was ; where this or that natural circumstance existed that suited their respective objects ; where the land was most heavily timbered, whore clear of timber, where alluvial, where light; where water abounded, and was scarce ; what was the course of streams ; where mill-sites and fords occurred ; the probable line of future roads; and so forth ad infinitum : suppose all this, if you can conceive what is manifestly impossible, and even then what would happen ? The explorer, having chosen his spot, could not describe its boundaries to the government; in most cases, he could not even tell the government where the spot was ; for without a map, he could not say it is here or there. Without a map, all he could say is, it is somewhere where I have been, but where- abouts the spot is I cannot tell, except that it is near a river, and not far from some hills. D D 402 EXTENT, COMPLETENESS, AND On looking twice, therefore, at this subject, it be- comes plain that in order to let the purchaser choose his land with a sufficient knowledge of the country, and further in order to let him point out his choice to the government and obtain a properly descriptive title, a good map, the result of a careful survey, is indis- pensable. Waste land not surveyed, is not land open to purchasers, any more than unpicked cotton or unthrashed corn is fit for market. It follows, that if the sufficient price were intended to be the only restriction as to quantity, and that, as to choice within the quantity open to purchasers, there was to be no restriction, the whole plan could not work even decently without ample surveys. The surveys should, at least, be so extensive as to prevent any one from being compelled to take inferior land when there was superior land within reach. Except in countries of immense extdfct, the surveys should extend over the whole colony: and at any rate, for all colonies, a very large extent of the waste adjoining every settlement should at all times be kept surveyed, in order that so wide a liberty of choice should at all times exist. I hardly know which is of the most consequence ; extent, or completeness and accuracy of survey. Whatever the extent, the whole affair would be in a mess without completeness and accuracy. Without completeness that is^unless all the natural features of the country, and all sorts of information about its varied soils and natural productions, were laid down on the map purchasers would choose in ignorance, would often make bad selections, and would justly reproach the government with having misled them. Without accuracy, all kinds of confusion would arise ACCURACY OF SURVEYS. 403 in settling, or rather in pretending to settle, the boundaries of selections; and as the land increased in value (which* under the operation of the whole system it would do almost as soon as it was bought), there would be boundless and endless litigation amongst purchasers, and between purchasers and the govern,- ment. The evils above described as being sure to arise from insufficiency, incompleteness, and inaccuracy of survey, though presented to you hypothetically, are wretched facts in all our colonies more or less ; and in some of the colonies, the whole mischief is so great as to be hardly credible by those who have not witnessed it. For an ample description of it in one case, I would refer you to Lord Durham's Report, and the evidence, in one of its appendices (B), on which his picture of surveys in Canada was founded. If you should take the trouble to examine it, you will agree with me that the whole system, or rather slovenly practice, of public surveying in Canada was at that time really abominable. It is not much better now. In several other colonies, it is as bad as it ever was in Canada. In hardly any colony is it better than very mistaken in theory, defective in practice, and most extravagant in cost. In the United States alone, the government has seriously thought about this matter, and done what it conceived to be best and cheapest. But the plan of that government is unsuited to open countries, where artificial marks on the ground are soon ob- literated ; and it also has the effect of circumscribing freedom of choice within limits that would be too narrow if public land cost the sufficient price. In the one or two of our colonies where public surveying D D 2 404 IMPROVEMENT OF SURVEYING. has been best managed, it is far behind that of the United States in efficiency and accuracy; and in no one British colony has a system been adopted, that would allow a sufficient price to work half as well as if the surveys were sufficient in extent, complete, accurate, and cheap. How they might be made all this, is a question upon which I am ready to enter if you please ; though I think you may as well spare yourself the trouble of examining it whilst our system of colonial government shall remain as it is, and those who administer it be jealously adverse to every pro- posal of improvement. If, however, you do not in- vestigate this subject now, I must beg of you to take for granted, that a vast improvement of colonial sur- veying would not be difficult, and to remember that without it the plan of a sufficient price with its appen- dages cannot work well. 405 LETTER LXII. From the Colonist. PROPOSED SELECTION OF EMIGRANTS, WITH A VIEW OF MAKING THE EMIGRATION-FUND AS POTENT AS POS- SIBLE. MORAL ADVANTAGES OF SUCH A SELECTION. TTTHEN it was first proposed to sell waste land instead of granting it, and to use the purchase- money as an emigration-fund, the further proposal was made, that the money should be expended hi paying for the passage of labouring people only, and that in the selection of such people for a passage wholly or partially cost free, a preference should always be given to young married couples, or to young people of the marriageable age hi an equal proportion of the sexes. The latter suggestion was founded on certain considerations which I will now mention. 1. The emigration-fund ought to be laid out so as to take away from the old country, and introduce into the colonies, the greatest possible amount of popula- tion and labour ; in such a manner that, as an emigra- tion-fund, it should have the maximum of effect both on the colonies and the mother-country. 2. If the object were to procure at the least cost 406 SELECTION OF EMIGRANTS. the greatest amount of labour for immediate employ- ment in the colonies, it would appear at first sight that the emigrants ought to be, all of them, in the prime of life. But it is only at first sight that this can appear ; because on reflection it is seen, that two men having to perform, each for himself, all the offices that women of the labouring class usually perform for men to cook their own victuals, to mend their own clothes, to make their own beds, to play the woman's part at home as well as the man's part in the field or workshop to divide their labour between household cares and the work of production would produce less than one man giving the whole of his time to the work of production. This is a case which illustrates the advantages of combination of labour for division of employments. If the two men combined their labour, and so divided their employments one occupying himself solely with household cares for both, and the other with earning wages for both then might the produce of their united labour be equal to that of one married man; but, speaking generally, it would not be more. In new colonies, men have often made this unnatural arrangement; and to some extent they do so now in colonies where there are many more men than women. We need not stop to look at the moral evils of an excess of males. In an economical view only, it seems plain that poor emigrants taken to a colony by the purchase-money of waste land, ought to be men and women in equal numbers; and, if married, so much the better. 3. If they were old people, their labour would be of little value to the colony; not only because it would soon be at an end, but also because it would CHILDREN AS EMIGRANTS. 407 be weak, and because after middle age few workmen can readily turn their hands to employments different from those to which they are accustomed. In order that poor emigrants taken to a colony should be as valuable as possible, they ought to be young people, whose powers of labour would last as long as possible, and who could readily turn their hands to new em- ployments. 4. But are there any objections to a mixture of children? To this there are four principal objections, besides others. First, if the children were the offspring of grown-up emigrants, it follows that those parents could not be of the best age; that if old enough to have children, they would be too old to come under the description of the most valuable labourers. Secondly, children are less fit than old people to undergo the confinement and other troubles of a long sea voyage. Of this you may convince yourself by visiting a ship fall of emigrants at Graves- end, bound to New York. You will find those who are parents, and especially the mothers, troubled and anxious, fearful of accidents to their children, restless, starting at every noise ; if paupers, glad to see their little ones stuffing themselves with the ship's rations, dainties to them, poor things ! who have plenty to eat for the first time in their lives ; if paupers, looking l>ark without affection, and to the future with glad- some hope, but, being parents, with apprehension lest, in the distant land of promise, the children should suffer more than they have endured at home. You will see the children, if of the pauper class, delighted at meal-times, smiling with greasy lips, their eyes sparkling over the butcher's meat, but at other times 408 NATURAL TIME OF MARRIAGE sick of the confinement, tired of having nothing to do, wanting a play -place, always in the way, driven from pillar to post, and exposed to serious accidents. Those poor emigrants, on the contrary, who are neither parents nor children young men and women without any incumbrance you will find quite at their ease, enjoying the luxury of idleness, pleased with the novelty of their situation, in a state of pleasurable excitement, glorying in the prospect of independence, thanking God that they are still without children, and, if you should know how to make them speak out, delighted to talk about the new country, in which, as they have heard, children are not a burthen but a blessing. Thirdly, when children first reach a colony, they necessarily encumber somebody. They cannot for some time be of any use as labourers : they cannot produce wealth wherewith to attract, convey, and employ other labourers. To whatever extent, then, the emigration -fund should be laid out in removing children instead of grown-up people, the value received by mother-country and colony would be less than might be. By taking none but very young grown-up persons, the maximum of value would be obtained for any given outlay. 5. The greatest quantity of labour would be obtained more easily than a less quantity. The natural time of marriage is a time of change, when two persons, just united for life, must nearlySffseek a new home. The natural time of marriage, too, is one when the mind is most disposed to hope, to ambition, to engaging in undertakings which require decision and energy of purpose. Marriage, besides, produces greater anxiety for the future, and a very strong desire to be ONLY A PREFERENCE. 409 off in the world for the sake of expected off- spring. Of what class are composed those numerous >tivams of emigrants, which flow continually from the Eastern to the outside of the Western states of America, by channels, until lately rougher and longer than the sea-way from England to America? X i- it her of single men, nor of old people, nor of middle- jiirrd people dragging children along with them, but, for the most part, of young couples, seeking a new home, fondly encouraging each other, strong in health and spirits, not driven from birth-place by the fear of want, "but attracted to a new place by motives of ambition for themselves and for children to come. This then is the class of people, that could be most easily attracted to a colony by high wages and better prospects. The class which it is most expedient to select, would be the most easily persuaded to avail themselves of a preference in their favour. 6. A preference in favour of the best class is all that the law should declare. For there might not exist in the old country a sufficient number of the most valuable class of labouring emigrants to supply the colonial demand for labour. Suppose, for example, that the United States determined to lay out the annual proceeds of their waste-land fund, which on the average exceeds 1,000,000/., in providing a passage t< >r poor young couples from Ireland to America. This outlay, the passage of each person costing 4/., would provide for the annual emigration of 125,000 couples. But in Ireland there are not so many as 125,000 couples, or 250,000 individuals, born in the same year and grown up. As the constant emigration of all, or may be half, the couples who every year reach the age 410 PROBABLE EFFECTS OF of marriage, must very soon depopulate any country, we may be sure that a portion only of this class will ever be disposed to emigrate. Whenever a number sufficient to meet the colonial demand for labour should not be disposed to emigrate, it would be neces- sary to offer a passage to couples older or younger by one, two, or three years, but always giving a prefer- ence to those who were nearest to the marriageable age. At all times, in short, the administrators of the emi- gration-fund could only give a preference to the most eligible applicants at the time. 7. Supposing all the people taken to a colony with the purchase-money of waste land, to be young men and women in equal numbers, let us see what the effect would be on the colonial population. At the end of twenty years after the foundation of Virginia, the number of colonists was about 1800, though the number of emigrants had been nearly 20,000. This rapid decrease of population was owing in some measure to the miserable state of things that existed in Virginia before the colony was enriched by the introduction of slave-labour; but it was in no small degree owing to this ; that of the 20,000 emigrants, only a very few were females. As there was hardly any increase of people by births in the colony, the local population would at all events have been less at the end of twenty years, than the number of emigrants during that period. In New South Wales, it has never been difficult for the poorest class to maintain a family : yet until young couples were for the first time taken to that colony about sixteen years ago, its population was nothing like as great as the number of emigrants. Of those emigrants (they were mostly THE PROPOSED SELECTION. 411 nmvicts), by far the greater number were men; and of the handful of women, many were past the age of child-bearing. Had they consisted of men and women in equal proportions, but of the middle age, the number of emigrants might still have exceeded the colonial population ; but if they had consisted of young couples just arrived at the age of marriage, the population of the colony would have advanced with surprising rapidity. I once reckoned that at the time in question, the population of the colony would have been 500,000 instead of its actual amount, 50,000 ; that the increase of people, and, we may add, the rate of colonization, would have been ten times greater than they were, with the same outlay in emigration. At that time, the proportion of young people in New South Wales was very small : in the supposed case, it would have been much greater than it has ever been in any human society. According, of course, to this large proportion of young people would have been the prospect of future increase. If all the people who have removed from Europe and Africa to America, had been young couples just arrived at the marriageable age, slavery in North America must have long since died a natural death : no part of North America, perhaps no part of South America, would now be open to colonization. 8. In any colony, the immediate effect of selecting young couples for emigration, would be to diminish in a curious degree the cost of adding to the colonial population. The passage of young couples would not cost more than that of all classes mixed; but the young couples would take to the colony the greatest possible germ of future increase. In fact, the settlers of New South Wales who in a few years made that 412 SELECTION OF SHEEP. colony swarm with sheep, did not import lambs or old sheep ; still less did they import a large propor- tion of rams. They imported altogether a very small number of sheep, compared with the vast number they soon possessed. Their object was the production in the colony of the greatest number of sheep by the importation of the smallest number, or, in other words, at the least cost : and this object they accom-, plished by selecting for importation those animals only, which, on account of their sex and age, were fit to produce the greatest number of young in the shortest time. If emigrants were selected on the same principle, the appropriated land, it is evident, would become as valuable as it could ever be, much sooner than if the emigrants were a mixture of people of all ages. In the former case, not only would all the emigrants be of the most valuable class as labourers, but they would be of the class fit to pro- duce the most rapid increase of people in the colony, and so to confer on new land as soon as possible the value that depends on position. The buyer of new land, therefore, would have his purchase-money laid out for him in the way most conducive to a de- mand for accommodation-land and building-ground; in the way that would serve him most. And some- thing else would now from this selection of emigrants, which it is very needful to observe. The emigration- fund being so much more potent in its operation, any given outlay would have a greater effect on the colonial proportion of land to people. With the selec- tion, the labour-market would be more largely sup- plied than without it : a shorter term of labour for hire by the emigrants would suffice for the greatest A GREAT NURSERY. 413 productiveness of industry: a lower price of public land would be sufficient. And yet both of the proposed securities on which to borrow money for emigration, would be more valuable : notwithstanding the lower price for public land and the -lower tax on private sales and lettings, the means of paying off the emigra- tion-loans would be obtained much sooner than with- out this selection of emigrants. With the selection, it would be more easy, as well as in many ways more advantageous, to get the whole plan into full work, even in colonies where land is the most superabundant. 9. The moral advantages of such a selection of emigrants would not be few. If the emigrants were married (as they all ought to be, and as by rejecting unmarried applicants, it would be easy to take care that they should be), each female would have a special protector from the moment of her departure frAn home. No man would have an excuse for dissolute habits. All the evils which in colonization have so often sprung from a disproportion between the sexes, and which are still very serious in several colonies, would be completely averted. Every pair of emi- grants would have the strongest motives for industry, steadiness, and thrift. In a colony thus peopled, there would be hardly any single men or single women: nearly the whole population would consist of married men and women, boys and girls, and children. For many years the proportion of children to grown-up people would be greater than ever took place since Shem, Ham, and Japhet were surrounded by their little ones. The colony would be an immense nursery, and, all being at ease, would present a finer oppor- tunity than has ever occurred for trying what may 414 MANAGEMENT OF be done for society by really educating the common people. The selection and conveyance of poor emigrants obtaining a passage to the colonies by means of the purchase-money of waste land, is the part of the plan of the theorists of 1830, which in practice has been attended with the least disappointment. The example of something like a careful administration of this part of the theory was set by the South Australian Com- missioners, who were zealously assisted by two of the framers of the theory in starting this new kind of emigration. By following the example thus set, the New-Zealand Company and the Colonial Office Com- missioners in Park-street have brought about a re- volution in the character, at least, of long-sea emigra- tion for the poorer classes. A voyage of 16,000 miles is now made by a shipful of poor emigrants, with a lower rate of mortality amongst them during the voyage, than the average rate of mortality in the class formed by the families of our peerage. In most of the ships, the number of passengers is greater at the end than at the beginning of the voyage. The Southern colonies have received by this means, a class of labouring emigrants incomparably superior in point of usefulness to the old-fashioned ship-loads of sho veiled-out paupers. The nearer equality of the sexes in this emigration has produced the good moral results that were expected from it, or rather averted the very bad moral results that had flowed from inequality between the sexes in all previous emigration : and the colonies to which this selected emigration has been directed, have received an amount of the germ of increased population, of which, in proportion to the EMIGRATION. 415 number of emigrants, there has been no previous example. Altogether, what has been done, establishes the infinite superiority of systematic emigration to that " spontaneous" scramble which Lord Grey now applauds, and which, often afflicting Canada with malignant fever, necessitates a lazaretto on the St. Lawrence, as if, says Lord Durham, British emigrants came from the home of the plague. But the administration of the emigration-fund of colonies is still, I believe, open to great improvements. The selection of emigrants has never been as good as it might be. The South- Australian Commissioners were new to their work, and neither personally in- terested in it nor responsible to anybody. The New- Zealand Company was for years rather a company for disturbing the Colonial Office and usefully agitating colonial questions of principle, than for colonizing; and now it is only a company for trying in vain to colonize. The Commissioners in Park-street have not been of a class, to whom much personal intercourse with poor emigrants could be agreeable (and without close personal intercourse between the poorest emi- grants and the highest executive authority in this matter, it is impossible that the business should be very well done) ; they have been in no measure respon- sible to the colonies whose funds they expended, and which were alone much interested in watching their proceedings; their official house, in Westminster, seems poked as if on purpose out of the way of shipping business and emigrant resort ; and they have naturally fallen into a practice, which must be ex- tremely convenient to them, of getting their emigra- tion business done by contract and by men of busi- 416 SUM OF MISMANAGEMENT. ness. But the main business of the contractors is to make as much as they can by their contracts. So we hear of emigrant ships bound to Adelaide or Port Philip, receiving a few English passengers in London, and filling up with the most wretched Irish at Ply- mouth, whom the contractor finds it " pay" to bring from Cork on purpose to fill up with, because, as respects food and accommodation during the voyage, there are no passengers that cost so little as the Irish poor, or are so easily imposed upon by the captain who represents the contractor. This case of defrauding the colonies by sending them inferior labour for their money which pays for superior, indicates that it does not stand alone as to mismanagement. In all parts of this administration, all the administrators have mis- managed a little. There has been a little waste of pre- cious funds, a little neglect here and there, a little overlooked deviation from rules, a little imposition of " false character" upon the examiners of applications for a passage, and, I rather think, not a little jobbing in accommodating friends or persons of influence with a free passage to the colonies for emigrants whom they wanted to shovel out. The sum of mismanage- ment is considerable. It would have been greater but for a sort of rivalry between companies and com- missioners, which led them to watch each other, but which has now ceased; and it can only be surely guarded against in future, by a plain, unmistakeable, immutable law of emigration, with provisions for ren- dering its administrators in some measure responsible to the colonies, which alone can be sufficiently in- terested in the good administration of the law to furnish the safeguard of a vigilant public opinion con- stantly attending to particulars. 417 LKTTKR LX1II. From the Statesman. AN IMPORTANT OBJECTION TO THE COLONIST'S WHOLE PLAN OF COLONIZATION APART FROM GOVERNMENT. AFTER a long conversation yesterday with my Mr. Mothercountry, I am under the necessity of re- porting two objections of his, the force of which I could not help admitting at the time : but as you have before enabled me to recall similar admissions, so I trust that you may now put me in the way of silencing the objector. It would be satisfactory to stop his mouth this time; for these two, he says, are his last objections; and to me they certainly appear rather formidable. You shall have them one at a time. The first of them, however, relates only to those countries which are not covered with a dense forest like Canada, but in which there is abundance of open land, covered with natural pasturage for sheep and cattle, such as New South Wales. Here, says my prompter, the sufficient price would have a most injurious effect: it would prevent the use of the natural pasturage. In open countries, where food for animals is produced in abundance without cost, pas- toral occupations are the principal source of individual E E 418 TAXING THE FISHERIES. and public wealth. What nature produces in these countries, the inhabitants find it worth while to use, by keeping vast numbers of cattle, horses, and sheep : but if you compelled every one, before he could use natural pasturage, to pay for it a " sufficient price " per acre, you would, in fact, forbid him to use it : for the use of pasturage, when it costs nothing, only just remunerates the capitalist ; and if you added to his outlay a considerable price for every acre used, he could not carry on his business without loss. By im- posing the sufficient price on all land in pastoral countries, you would destroy their principal branch of industry and source of wealth. You might as well propose to make the fishermen of Newfoundland pay a sufficient price per acre for the use of their cod banks. LETTER LXIV. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST FIRST ADMITS, AND THEN ANSWERS THE OBJECTION. I AGREE with every syllable of the objection to a sufficient price for the use of natural pasturage. Indeed, I claim the argument as my own ; for it has been taken, almost verbatim, from some anonymous writing of mine. But then, your prompter and I direct the argument against totally different objects. He directs it against me as the proposer of a price for natural pasturage, which I am not ; I direct it against TAXATION OF PASTURAGE. 419 his Office, which really is the imposer of a price on natural pasturage, notwithstanding this conclusive argument against the proceeding. The theorists of 1830 never thought of compelling settlers to pay for the use of natural pasturage. According to their theory, it is the extreme cheapness, not of natural pasturage, but of land for cultivation, which occasions scarcity of labour for hire. Labourers could not be- come landowners by using natural pasturage. The use of it requires, in order to be profitable, the em- ployment of a considerable capital, of numerous ser- vants, and of very superior skill: it is a business requiring from the outset much combination of labour for division of employments, and the unremitting constancy of the combined labour: it is a business altogether unsuitable to the common labourer or small capitalist. Whether, therefore, the use of natural pasturage were cheap or dear, the labourer would either sooner or later cease to work for wages; the term of his working for wages would in either case depend, not at all on the cost of natural pasturage, but wholly on the price of freehold land. It is for this alone for the sort of property in land which a labourer would require in order to cease working for hire, and to set up for himself as a com- petitor with his former employers in the labour-market that the theorists of 1830 have ever proposed a sufficient price. According to their view of the matter, the words "a sufficient price for the use of natural ]>a>turage" are unmeaning or nonsensical. \< vci-tln less, between abundance of natural pas- tura-jv and the sufficient price for freehold land, there is a close and important relation. The abundance of E E 2 420 WOOL-GRAZIERS OF NEW SOUTH WALES natural pasturage in a colony is, like the existence of valuable mines or prolific fishing-banks, a source of wealth supplied by nature, but which can only be turned to great account by means of placing com- binable and constant labour at the disposal of the capitalist. In colonies, therefore, to which nature has given this advantage, it is more than usually desirable that the property in land which converts the hired labourer into a landowner, should be dear enough to prevent a great scarcity of labour for hire ; and that all those measures for promoting labour-emigration, of which the sufficient price is the basis, should receive their utmost development. But if the abundance of natural pasturage thus furnishes an additional reason for working out completely, and on the greatest possible scale, the principle of a sufficient price for freehold land, what shall we say of the policy of the Colonial Office and its official instruments in the colonies, who put a price upon the use of natural pasturage for no purpose but that of getting money out of the settlers? The prosperity of New South Wales, for example, is wholly dependent on the use of vast tracts of natural pasturage. With labour as dear, and as scarce at whatever price, as it is in New South Wales, the production of fine wool at a cost not involving loss, would be utterly impossible with- out the aid of nature in supplying the sheep with food. The wool-growers of New South Wales, there- fore, who formerly got the use of pasturage for no- thing, must still get it or be ruined. As they have no choice between getting it and being ruined, their government, being despotic, can make them pay for it as much as they can afford to pay. Short of paying CRUELLY TAXED. 421 more than they can afford more, that is, than their occupation would leave after replacing capital with some profit they cannot help paying whatever their government chooses to require. This absolute neces- sity of paying in order to preserve the staple business of the colony, renders the putting of a price on the use of natural pasturage a remarkably facile and plea- sant sort of taxation: facile and pleasant, that is, for the officials of a government which has no sympathy with its subjects. As regards the subjects, this is a most unwise and oppressive tax ; unwise, as it is a tax on the article of primest necessity in Xew- South- Wales life ; oppressive, as it was imposed and is maintained in spite of every kind of complaint and opposition from the colonists. And this is what Lord Grey calls, perhaps believes to be, carrying out the plan of the theorists of 1830. According to the principles of their theory, the natural pasturages of a colony, which nature has freely given, the colonists should use without let or hindrance of any kind from their government: and, moreover, their government ought to afford them eveiy facility in its power for making the most of that natural advantage. It behoves the government, therefore, to frame a set of laws for the disposal of the natural pasturage in New South Wales or Xew Zealand; laws which should provide facilities instead of obstacles. Such laws would establish a perfect liberty of choice by the flockmasters themselves, together with certainty and stability in the whole proceeding. The laws of our pastoral colonies on this subject (if laws those " Regulations" may be termed, which have been trained by the passions of Lord Grey, or by the joint 422 THE RULE OF CONTRARIES. wisdom of some fine gentleman in Park-street, and some " Excellency" captains on the spot), would almost seem to have been designed to check colonial prosperity by means of direct obstacles, and of giving to the whole process a character of uncertainty and instability. This, of course, was not really the aim of these bureaucratic labours : but such is the result of ignorance and carelessness in the mode of imposing on the pastoral colonies the most objectionable of taxes. Lest all this should not enable you to silence your Mr. Mothercountry as respects his baseless pasturage objection to the sufficient price, I will place a fact at your disposal for that purpose. When Lord Grey, soon after he became Colonial Minister, was framing some regulations for the disposal of about 180,000,000 acres of pasturage in New South Wales (the area is more than three times that of Great Britain), he consulted on the question of the best mode of pro- ceeding, two gentlemen, who, in my opinion, possess between them more completely than any other two men I could name, the theoretical knowledge and the practical Australian experience for giving useful advice on the subject. Before telling him their opinion, they consulted me ; and we three perfectly agreed, I think, on all the main points. He took their advice by the rigid rule of contraries! As they are both known friends of mine, this may be another of the cases in which Lord Grey's fear of being prompted by me has been the motive of his legislation for the colo- nies. But if so (and if you can find any other rea- sonable explanation of his conduct in this matter, I withdraw my supposition), to what strange influences does our system of colonial government subject the destiny of the most important of our colonies ! 423 LETTER LXV. From the Statesman. THK STATESMAN'S MR. MOTHERCOUNTBY MAKES HIS LAST OBJECTION. 1SEXD the second of my Mr. Mother-country's last objections, without waiting for your answer to the first. Supposing (I will state the objection as if it were my own) that the whole plan were established by law the sufficient price, with perfect liberty of appro- priation as to locality, and, wherever they were needed, the two securities for emigration-loans still the plan would not work: or rather, the more completely it wa- established by law, the more surely would the law be evaded, and the plan break down in practice. In proportion as all private land was made dear, by means of the sufficient price for public land and of the operation of the emigration-loans in filling the eoloiiy with people, would be the desire of the poorest t la-s to evade the law. Seeing the market- value of all private land greatly increased for a tune at least, their desire for owning land would be stronger than ever; and as the gratification of that desire would be impeded by the price of public land, and the tax for 424 SQUATTING TRIUMPHANT. emigration on private land, they would endeavour to obtain cheap land in spite of the law. By " squat- ting" that is, settling on public land without a title they could obtain land for nothing : there would be a lawless appropriation of the public land on the old terms virtually of a free grant. If the government attempted to enforce the law by ousting squatters from their locations, there would be a struggle be- tween the government and the squatters ; and in this contest, the squatters would beat the government. No colonial government has been able to prevent squat- ting. What is called " the squatting interest " in a colony, becomes so strong after a time, that it always triumphs over a colonial government. More stringent laws, increased penalties, even British regiments, might be applied without effect. But if, even as things are now, the squatter invariably beats the go- vernment, he would do so more easily and surely under the proposed system, because, under it, people would be more tempted to squat, squatters more nu- merous, the squatters' outcry against the law louder, the disturbance of the colony greater, the trouble of the Colonial Office more intolerable, and the final con- cession by the government of a good title to the squatters, more than ever probable: the motives for squatting, and the probability of the ultimate victory of squatters over the law, would be so much stronger than these are now, that the law would inevitably be set aside: your plan contains within itself a sure cause of failure. Since the above was written, your answer to the pasturage objection has come to hand, and been con- SOME TRUTH WITHHELD. 425 (I to our partner in these discussions. I will not U'll you how he received it, except by saying, that if you wish to oblige me, you will send just such another to his squatting objection. LETTER LXVI. From the Colonist. MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY'S LAST OBJECTION ANSWERED. JT^HE second answer must necessarily resemble the first, in at least taking the form of an endeavour to turn the tables upon my critic : for he leaves me no choice but to do that or succumb. This is an irresistible mode of assailing when you are in the right, but dangerous when you have no case. I sus- pect that our Mr. Mothercountry is less cautious than most of the tribe. It is all true, what he says about squatting in times past ; quite true, also, that if a higher market value were conferred on all private land in colonies, and a sufficient price were required for all public land, one motive for squatting would be stronger: but both these propositions together express only part of the truth. I will endeavour to supply that part of it which has been withheld. So far as my knowledge extends, no colonial govern- ment ever seriously attempted to prevent squatting by discouraging it: all colonial governments have encouraged it in various ways. A very effectual way 426 SQUATTING NECESSARY. of encouraging it was by readily letting every body of squatters gain their point ; for, of course, the gain- ing of their point by one body greatly encouraged other bodies to attempt a similar victory over the law. In most colonies, it got to be a common and sound opinion, that somehow or other, by hook or by crook, sooner or later, the man who occupied some public land without leave from the government, would ob- tain possession of it by a good title. One can hardly conceive a greater encouragement to the practice. The practice was thus encouraged by colonial govern- ments, because they have all deemed waste land a public property not worth taking any heed about, because it was the least troublesome course for them, and because public opinion in the colonies has ap- proved of the course which the governments found most pleasant for themselves. Public opinion was in favour of letting the squatter conquer the law, because the expense, and trouble, and delay of obtaining a legal grant were practically so great, except for a favoured few, that squatting was another word for colonization; and of that, naturally, colonial opinion was in favour. I would refer you for information on this point to the appendix to Lord Durham's Report, marked B. When you shall have read the evidence it contains about the difficulties of obtaining a legal grant in Canada, and the squatting occasioned by those difficulties, you will more readily understand why public opinion in colonies should be in favour of the squatter. But colonial public opinion favours the squatter for other reasons. Whenever a colonial government, either from idleness, or caprice, or want of surveys, withholds a fertile district from would-be SUCCESS TO THE SQUATTERS ! 427 sett UTS upon it, whether as cultivators or stock- holders, it induces public opinion to approve of that district being occupied by squatters rather than not occupied at all. At this moment, for example, a large portion of New Zealand is in the course of being occupied by squatters, because, by all sorts of mis- management and neglect, the land is withheld from occupation according to law. The greater part of New Zealand must be either colonized in this way or not colonized at all; and thus even the warmest friends of systematic colonization, including the sufficient-price theorists, can neither blame these occupiers of land without leave from the government, nor wish that their proceedings should be stopped. It is better to subdue and replenish the earth by squatting, than to leave it a desert. Considering the operation of our present colonial policy, if policy it may be termed, as regards getting legal possession of waste land in the colonies, it is well for us that our colonial people have the hardihood and enterprise to colonize independently of their government. For my part, I heartily wish them success, for the reasons which induced Lord Durham to befriend the squatters in Canada on an enormous scale, and which will be found in the aforesaid Appendix to his Report. But we are supposing thus far the continuance of the ]>re>ent slovenly and neglectful practices with regard to the disposal of waste land. Let us now suppose that there were a good law of colonization, including perfect liberty of appropriation at the suffi- cient price, together with the best provisions for the due administration of the law. All the motives of the xjuatter would begone, >ave one. The poorer settler 428 SQUATTING ABOLISHED. might still wish, might wish more strongly than before, to obtain waste land for nothing: but this mere money motive, is, I believe, the weakest of the squatter's motives, under present circumstances ; and in the supposed case, it would be effectually outweighed by a new set of counter motives. The waste land of the colony would be deemed a most valuable public property, and would be cared for accordingly by the government : thus the contemplating squatter, instead of hoping to overcome the law, would expect the defeat of an attempt against it. Land in unlimited quantities, and with perfect liberty of choice as to the locality, would be obtainable with perfect ease at the sufficient price: thus the inducements to squatting now furnished by the great difficulty of obtaining a legal title to land in the most eligible spots, would be at an end : and public opinion, instead of encouraging the squatter, would help the law in deterring or punishing him. The public property would be guarded from invasion like that of individuals ; and in pastoral countries, moreover, the whole of it, long before it was sold at the sufficient price, would be legally occupied by individuals who would help to defend it against the squatter. On the whole, I am persuaded, after much inquiry and reflection on the subject, that under a good and responsibly-administered law of colonization, colonial squatting would be as rare as the invasion of private estates is in this country. 420 LETTER LXVII. From the Statesman. MR. MOTIIERCOTJNTRY ONCE MORE OBJECTS TO THE SUF- FICIENT PRICE, AS BEING LIKELY TO FORCE AN IN- JURIOUS CONCENTRATION OF THE SETTLERS. ll/TR, MOTHERCOUXTRY is furious, and objects again, but " positively" for the last time. He says that your sufficient price would have the effect of " concentrating" the settlers injuriously, or preventing their useful " dispersion" over the waste as owners of the most fertile spots. He contends that you want to produce a density of colonial population by squeezing the colonists into a narrow space; and that though it might be for the advantage of the colo- nists if they were less dispersed, your plan of prevent- ing them, by means of a high price for new land, from appropriating the most fertile spots where they like best^ would be a mischievous restriction on the exer- cise of their own judgment in a matter of which they must be the best judges. He calls the sufficient price an iron boundary of settlement, which is intended to I > iv vent colonists from using land outside of a district not yet appropriated and used. He argues, with, I must say, an appearance of being in the right, that 430 ME. MOTHERCOUNTRY CHUCKLES. the productiveness of industry would be mischievously affected, if settlers were compelled to use land of in- ferior quality inside a given district, when there was land outside the boundary of a superior quality : and he has proved to me by ample evidence, that in several colonies, loud complaint is made of the restrictive operation on the choice of the best spots for settlement, of the mode of selling waste land instead of granting it. I am wholly unable to answer this objection. You are doubtless aware of it. Yet, looking back to your letters, I find that you have never once used the words " concentration" and " dispersion." When I mentioned this to Mr. Mothercountry, he chuckled, and said that he was not surprised at your avoiding the weakest point of your scheme. Pray enable me to confound him if you can. LETTER LXVIIL From the Colonist. THE COLONIST ANSWERS MR. MOTHERCOUNTRY ON THE SUBJECT OF OF SETTLERS. u I DELIBERATELY avoided using the words " concentration " and " dispersion." I did so in order to avoid leading you into a misconception, into which the too unguarded use of those words by me on former occasions has led many colonists and some people at home. But I had no intention of wholly avoiding the subject as a weak point. I only wished, A MAN'S OWN BUSINESS. 431 by postponing all notice of it till the theory of the sufficient price was developed, to be able to enter on this question of concentration and dispersion with the least possible risk of being misunderstood. I entirely admit so much of Mr. Mothercountry's objection as alleges, that, with respect to the choice of land for settlement, the settlers must be the best judges. Not only must they be the best judges in a matter that so deeply concerns their own interests, but it is impossible that anybody should be able to judge for them in this matter without falling into great mistakes and doing them great injury. New land is wanted for an infinite variety of purposes, amongst which let us note agriculture, pasturage, lumbering, mining, quarrying, the erection of mills, and the formation of villages and towns. These various purposes are contemplated by an equal variety of settlers or companies of settlers. There is no business more entirely a man's own business, than that of a settler picking new land for his own purpose ; and the truism of our time, that in matters of private business the parties interested are sure to judge better than any government can judge for them, is an error, if the best of governments could determine as well as the settler himself the quality and position of land the most suitable to his objects. He is deeply in- terested in making the best possible choice. He alone can know precisely what the objects are for which he wants the land. The government choosing for him, either a particular lot of land, or the district in which he should be allowed to choose for himself, would have no private interest in choosing well; and the private interest of the officials employed by the 432 LAISSEZ-FAIRE. government would be to save themselves trouble by choosing carelessly. In most cases, they would be utterly ignorant of the purposes for which new land was in demand. Their highest object as officials (except in those rare instances where love of duty is as strong a motive as self-interest), would be to per- form their duty so as to avoid reproach; and this motive is notoriously weak in comparison with self- interest. But indeed they could not by any means avoid reproach. For supposing (though but for argu- ment's sake) that the surveyor-general of a colony, in marking out districts to be opened to purchasers, made an absolutely perfect selection with a view to the pur- chasers' interest, the intending purchasers would not think so. Every man is fond of his own judgment, especially in matters which deeply concern himself. If the government said to intending purchasers, Take your land hereabouts, they would reply, No, we wish to take it thereabouts : they would reproach the sur- veyor-general with having opened a bad district to settlers, and left a good one closed against them. And again, even if they were not dissatisfied at the moment of taking their land, it is certain that if they failed as settlers, and from whatever cause, they would lay the blame of their failure upon the government, com- plaining that if they had been allowed to take land where they liked best, their undertaking would un- doubtedly have prospered. For all these reasons (and more might be urged), I would if possible open the whole of the waste land of a colony to intending purchasers : and I hereby declare, that as perfect a liberty of choice for settlers as the nature of things in each case would allow, is an essential condition of the well- working of the sufficient price. MISCHIEVOUS DISPERSION. 433 To such practically unlimited liberty of choice, the objection has been urged, that the settlers would dis- perse themselves too much. They would, it has been said, wander about the waste portions of the colony, and plant themselves here and there in out-of-the-way spots, where, being distant from a market, and from all that pertains to civilization, they would fall into a state of barbarism: instead of acquiring wealth as all colonists ought to do, the settlers would only raise enough produce for their own rude subsistence; and the colony, instead of exporting and importing largely, would be poor and stagnant, like West Australia, for example, where the first settlers were allowed to plant themselves as they liked best, and did, being under 2,000 in number, spread themselves over an extent of land as great as two or three counties of Norfolk : in a word, there would be mischievous dispersion. But mischievous to whom? Mischievous, if at all, to the settlers themselves. The supposition then is, that the settlers would injure themselves in conse- quence of not knowing what was for their own advan- tage. Would the government be likely to know that better than the settlers ? But let us see how the facts stand. There are plenty of cases in which mischievous dispersion has taken place, but not one, to my know- ledge, in which the great bulk of settlers had a choice between dispersion and concentration. In the found- ing of West Australia, there was no choice. In dis- posing of the waste land, the government began by granting 500,000 acres (nearly half as much as the great county of Norfolk) to one person. Then came the governor and a few other persons, with grants of immense extent. The first grantee took his princi- K K 434 THE DOG IN THE MANGER. pality at the landing-place ; and the second, of course, could only choose his, outside of this vast property. Then the property of the second grantee compelled the third to go further off for land ; and the fourth, again, was driven still further into the wilderness. At length, though by a very brief process, an immense territory was appropriated by a few settlers, who were so effectually dispersed, that, as there were no roads or maps, scarcely one of them knew where he was. Each of them knew, indeed, that he was where he was positively; but his relative position, not to his neigh- bours, for he was alone in the wilderness, but to other settlers, to the seat of government, and even to the landing-place of the colony, was totally concealed from him. This is, I believe, the most extreme case of dispersion on record. In the founding of South Africa by the Dutch, the dispersion of the first set- tlers, though superficially or acreably less, was as mis- chievous as at Swan River. The mischief shows itself in the fact, that two of the finest countries in the world are still poor and stagnant colonies. But in all colonies without exception, there has been impo- verishing dispersion, arising from one and the same cause. The cause appears at first sight to have been the unlimited liberty of the settlers' choice in the selection of their land. But a second glance at the subject shows the first impression to have been erroneous. When the dog was in the manger, the cow had to go without hay, or pick up what rubbish she could else- where. Only the first grantee at Swan River had a real liberty of choice as to locality : the second had less liberty, the third still less, and so on. At last, DOGS IN THE MANGER. 43,5 when a dozen people had appropriated enough land for the support of millions, nobody else had any liberty at all : the whole of the land suitable for settlers at the time was gone, and held by a handful of people, veritable dogs in the manger, who could not use their property, and yet would not part with it, because, coming from an old country where land has both a scarcity and position value, they deemed it worth more than anybody would think of paying for it under the circumstance of the vast extent of private land in pro- portion to population. The same thing has occurred everywhere more or less. In Canada, I am sure it is speaking within compass to say, the great bulk of private land was first obtained by people who could not use it on account of its extent, and yet would not part with it to real settlers : and I think it probable that in that colony at this time, more than half the private pro- perty in land is thus placed as the hay was by the dog in the manger. Ample evidence on this point, with respect to all the British American colonies, will be found in Lord Durham's Report and its appendices, especially in Appendix B. But if an inquiry con- cerning the disposal of waste land, like that which Lord Durham instituted in Canada, Xew Brunswick, and Xova Scotia, had been extended to our other colonies, we should have ample proof that in all of them, a small proportion of the settlers have been allowed to act the part of the dog in the manger towards the others, towards fresh emigrants, and towards post* rity. The placing of immense quantities of waste land in such a state of private property as prevents it from being used as keeps it always waste land has been the universal vice of colonial govern - F F 2 436 BIGGEST DOG IN THE MANGER. ments acting under instructions from Downing-street. The result occurs, whether the land is granted in quantities exceeding the grantees' means of using the land, or is sold at a price so low as to encourage absentee ownership : but of course when the price is more than nominal, the evil of a great excess of private land beyond colonial means of reclaiming it from a state of waste, is very much mitigated. In those colonies, therefore, where land has only been obtainable by purchase, which are only South Aus- tralia, Australia Felix, and the New-Zealand Com- pany's Settlements, the proportion of dog-in-the- manger '^ land is comparatively small. But hitherto I have alluded only to individuals or private companies, whom an error of government constitutes dogs in the manger. Besides these, there is in all the colonies, as well when land is granted as when it is sold, a great dog in the manger, which does more mischief than all the little ones put together. This is the government itself. Everywhere in the colonies, the government makes " reserves " of waste land. It marks out places in the wilderness, some- times small sections, sometimes great districts, gene- rally both, and proclaims that there the acquisition of land is not permitted, and settlement is forbidden. Such were the Clergy Eeserves in Canada, being sections of a hundred acres each, marked out in all parts of the province wherever land was obtainable by grant, and in the proportion to private grants of one in eleven. To these were added, in the same proportion, Crown Reserves, being sections of a hundred acres each, which the government condemned to perpetual waste. As the clergy could not use their " RESERVES" OF WASTE LAND. 437 land and Avere not permitted to sell it, their reserves, like those of the crown, were permanent deserts inter- spersed amongst the settlers, in the proportion, reckon- ing both kinds of reserve, of one desert for five and a half occupied sections. But these reserves, mis- chirv< >us as they Avere, had a less dispersing effect, than has the reservation by government of large tracts of waste land, which is a common practice in all the colonies. The land is " reserved " from grant or sale that is, from occupation and settlement at the mere pleasure of the officials, who are wholly irre- sponsible to the colonists, from a variety of motives, sometimes really public, but oftener capricious, fan- tastical, or corrupt, never justifiable. The governor, a naval captain whose only knowledge of colonies has been acquired by visiting their harbours in a man-of- war, fancies that this or that spot will make a fine township "by and by;" so it is reserved "for the present." The Colonial Secretary or the Private Secre- tary thinks that in such a settlement, the colonists ought to be " discouraged" from spreading to the east or west, because it will be more for their advantage to spread northward or southward: so individual judgment is controlled, and colonization forcibly diverted from its natural course, by a great " reserve" in the "improper" direction. The officials of the Land Office have friends, or perhaps secret partners, who would like to acquire this or that spot by purchase, but not at pre- sent : either their funds are not ready, or they would like to keep their money for use at colonial interest till the spread of colonization beyond the coveted spot shall have given it a position-value, when by means of the rogueries of the auction system, or some other 438 FORCED DISPERSION. mode of benefiting by official favour, they hope to get it for less than its value : so it is " reserved" for their convenience and profit. The only real public motive for reserving land is the deficiency of surveys. But this is rather an excuse than a motive. In the name of this excuse, immense "reserves" by the government condemn a large proportion of the waste in every colony to long- continued barrenness, and cruelly interfere with the settler's liberty of choice as to locality. Reserves from the want of surveys are perhaps the most mischievous of all, because the area over which they, operate is greater than that of all the other reserves combined. The evils occasioned by all these modes of circum- scribing the choice of settlers as to locality, ought to have been mentioned under the head of impediments to colonization; for of these impediments, they con- stitute perhaps the most effectual. The dispersion of the settlers which they forcibly occasion, is the main cause of the difficulties of communication for which colonies are remarkable, and of the many barbarizing circumstances, economical, social, and political, which these difficulties occasion. For one representation of the whole mischief, I would again refer you to Lord Durham's Report and its Appendix B. But even here, enough of the case has been ex- hibited, to furnish us with the means of confounding our Mr. Mothercountry. According to the whole plan of colonization which I am developing, there would indeed be no liberty of appropriation for the dogs, small or great; but there would be absolute liberty for the cows, and because all the dogs would be effectually kept out of the manger. Dispersion or LIBERTY OF CHOICE. 439 concentration is a question of locality alone. As to locality, all the restrictions on the choice of bond fide settlers, which occur through the operations of private dogs in the manger, would be prevented by the suffi- cient price, because that would deter every man from acquiring more land than he could use ; and the re- strictions now imposed by government would be removed, by abolishing all sorts of "reserves," in- cluding those occurring from deficiency of surveys. The only restriction on liberty of choice would be the sufficient price; but that would apply to quantity alone, not at all to locality : and that restriction as to quantity, not to dwell here on its other merits, would itself be a means of promoting the utmost liberty as to locality. LETTER LXIX. From the Colonist. BY WHAT AUTHORITY SHOULD BE ADMINISTERED AN IMPERIAL POLICY OF COLONIZATION APART FROM GOVERNMENT? HPHE time has now come for settling, if we can agree about it, to what authority the administra- tion of a good law of colonization ought to be en- trusted. My own opinion is, that the colony would perform this function better than the mother-country could. If that is not your opinion likewise, pray let me know what meaning you on this occasion attach to the words " the mother-country." On the assump- tion that, as respects the administration of colonial 440 AN IMPERIAL POLICY authority, "the mother-country" signifies the Mr. Mothercountry of the Colonial Gazette, I propose, that if ever the imperial legislature should see fit to frame a good law of colonization, the administration of such law should be confided to the local governments of the colonies. Such a law would lay down general rules for the disposal of waste land and the promotion of emigration. These general rules would be embodied in the colonial charters of government before pro- posed, in the form of stipulations or directions by which the local government would be bound in carry- ing on the work of colonization. Thus, in a matter which is of great general moment to the empire, the imperial government would establish an imperial policy ; but instead of attempting, what it could not perform well, the particular execution of this policy in every colony, it would confide that task of executive details to the parties most deeply, immediately, and unremittingly interested in its best possible perform- ance: that is, for each colony separately, to the responsible municipal government of that colony alone. It may seem to you, that there is part of such a policy which a colonial government could not admi- nister well ; namely, the selection of poor emigrants in this country. I once inclined to that opinion myself, but have changed my mind by attending to the sug- gestions of experience. If the colonial government pledged itself from time to time to pay a sufficient amount of passage-money for each of a certain number of labouring emigrants landed in the colony in good health, and approved of by the colonial governments as respects age, sex, previous occupation, and established character at home, the selection and EXECUTED BY THE COLONY. 441 carrying out of labouring emigrants would become an important business amongst the shipowners of this country, and could be conducted by means of con- tracts between the local governments and such ship- owners, in the framing of which absolute securities might be taken, on the principle of " no cure no pay," t lint every object of the colony should be accom- pli -lied. The proposed colonial representatives at home might afford valuable assistance in this part of the work of colonization. But I must not be led into details here ; for the meeting of Parliament ap- proaches. I will therefore close this part of our sub- ject with two general propositions : 1st, if the imperial government bestowed good municipal constitutions on the colonies, but did not care to form a good law of colonization apart from government, the colonies and the empire would gain by handing over to the colonies the whole business, both legislative and executive, of disposing of waste land and promoting emigration: 2nd, if there were no good law of colonization, nor any municipal system of government for the colonies either, then, since the whole of colonization as it is would continue, neither colonies nor empire need care by whose hands the economical part of it was admi- nistered. 442 LETTER LXX. From the Statesman. THE STATESMAN DESCRIBES A SCENE WITH ME. MOTHER- COUNTRY, AND ANNOUNCES THAT THE PROJECT OF ACTION IN PARLIAMENT ON THE SUBJECT OE COLO- NIZATION IS ABANDONED. pONSIDERING our Mr. Mothercountry's dispo- V^ sition to construe arguments which he dislikes, into attacks upon himself or the Office that he reveres, I have not thought it worth while to repeat to him your answer to his very last objection; though I must confess that the temptation was strong upon me to humble him a little. I longed to do so the more per- haps, because, having exhausted his stock of criticism on your proposals, he has now taken to boasting of the grandness of our present colonization under the management of Downing-street. Yesterday, he came here to dinner, and met two of those friends of mine, who, I informed you at the opening of our corre- spondence, induced me to study the subject of it with your assistance, and who lately joined a party of visitors congregated here for the purpose of talking over the prospects of the coming session. Addressing himself to these colonial reformers, who had however LORD GREY'S BOASTING. 443 excited him by uttering some of their opinions, he ridiculed the notion that colonization is one of the arte* pwlibr. and even claimed for our own time a great superiority to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He contrasted Australia as it is, with North America as it was before the war of independ- ence. At that time, said he, no city in the American colonies, after two centuries of colonization, had a population equal to that of Sydney at present; that is, sixty years after its foundation. The imports and exports of the Australasian group, after only sixty years colonization, exceed those of all English North America at the time of the tea-riots at Boston. Within the last >ixteen or seventeen years, we have sent out 120,000 emigrants to Australasia. Between 1837 and 1847, we actually doubled the population of New South Wales. And all this has been accomplished without cost to the mother-country ; for the passage of this great number of poor emigrants was paid for with funds derived from carrying into effect a new principle of colonization, according to which waste land in the colonies is sold instead of being given away, and the purchase-money is used as an emigra- tion-fund. Here, one of my friends could bear it no longer, but interposed by telling him, that he was only re- peating a speech which Lord Grey delivered at the close of last session in the House of Lords, and which ha- just been published as a pamphlet by Ridgway. The pamphlet was produced; for my friend had brought a copy with him amongst other papers re- lating to our contemplated movement in the House of Commons. What passed further it would be useless to report, with two exceptions. 444 LORD GREY'S BOASTING. First, Mr. Mothercountry's vaunting about coloni- zation in Australasia under the Colonial Office, was changed into whining about himself and his poor Office, when we pointed out to him that the popula- tion of the whole Australasian group, after sixty years from the foundation of Sydney, amounts, as you have observed, to no more than that of the town of Glasgow ; that his grand town of Sydney was created by convict labour conveyed to the antipodes at an enormous cost to the mother-country, and by a vast expenditure of British money in maintaining convict, including mili- tary, establishments on the spot ; and that the greatness of the Australasian export and import trade is due, in no measure to the superiority of modern colonization under bureaucratic management, but principally to the beneficence of nature in providing our colonists at the antipodes with natural pasturages, which the Colonial Office taxes as if it deemed the advantage too great for colonists to enjoy undiminished. Secondly, I reminded him of his statement to me soon after he came to reside in this neighbourhood, that Lord Grey gives you credit for having invented the " new principle" of colonization of whose effects he had just been boasting ; and then I begged him to observe that Lord Grey, in his pamphlet speech, which mainly consists of bragging about the great effects of that principle in Australasia, claims all the merit to the Colonial Office and himself, just as if the principle had been discovered by them, and nobody but they had had any part in giving effect to it. The resem- blance between what he had just been doing himself and Lord Grey's proceeding, evidently struck him: perhaps he heard one of my friends whisper to me PROJECT ABANDONED. 445 whilst he looked at him, mutato nomine de te fabula namatur : at all events, I thought he would have wept with vexation, such strange grimaces did he make, and o-ulping noises in his throat. But let us change the theme. I wish that the one which must now be presented to you, were as pleasant as it is truly disagreeable to me, not to say painful. After much consultation with my friends, after showing them our correspondence, after using every argument that I can think of to in- duce them to fulfil their purpose of bringing the whole subject of colonization before the House of Commons early in the ensuing session, I have now the mortifi- cation of being told by them (for in fact it comes to this), that they see insuperable obstacles to the con- templated proceeding. It would be idle to tell you all that has past between us ; but I must just indicate the nature of the " difficulties" which they consider insurmountable. One of these would-be reformers of our colonial system thinks, that public opinion is not yet ripe enough for action in Parliament. " But action in Parliament," said I, "is the best way of ripening public opinion." The reply was, that the state of parties is unfavourable to the movement: some party collision might ensue, when a fusion or amalgamation of parties resulting in a strong govern- ment composed of the best men in all the now broken- up parties, is the object of sensible politicians. An- other objector hinted at family connexions, and a per- sonal friendship, that indisposed him to join in any course at which Lord Grey was likely to take offence. Then somebody remarked, that a real exposition in the House of ( Commons of our system of colonial govern- iTY 446 LIONS IN THE PATH. ment, if it did not speedily bring about a thorough reform, would probably produce great commotion in the colonies, and entail on the mother-country an in- crease of expense for military and naval purposes, at the very moment when the tide of popular opinion has just strongly set in for economy. There were more objections; but I may state them all under one de- scription ; that of " lions in the path ;" little lions and big; in some paths several. My friends " admitted," and u perceived," and " wished" with me ; thought the object excellent ; and deemed success probable, because, whilst great benefit to this nation and the empire must result from colonial reform, no " interest" would be opposed to it except only the despotic-helpless Colonial Office. But with all this clear seeing and positive opinion, my friends would not stir a step : anything but action. Thus all my trouble is lost, and, what vexes me far more, all yours. I have thought about moving by myself; but in this path, I, too, see one lion very distinctly, and several looming in the distance. The thought of a probable disagreement with my friends, in consequence of separating from them and leaving them behind in this matter, is very discouraging. Neither can I fear- lessly incur the risk of engaging alone in a contest with general prejudice based on ignorance, and the still more formidable indifference of public men and the great public itself to every sort of colonial question. Oh, that I had the self-reliance which something appears to have banished from public life since 1846 ! I almost long for a good stock of vulgar impudence. Just now, at any rate, I wish I were out of Parliament. 447 LETTER LXXI. From the Colonist. THE COLONIST CLOSES THE CORRESPONDENCE, AND ALLUDES TO SEVERAL TOPICS WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN PURSUED IF IT HAD CONTINUED. AM less annoyed than you seem to have expected ; for practice makes perfect even in bearing dis- appointments. And, as another proverb says, good cometh out of evil : our correspondence has exhausted me, and I am glad to rest. If your friends had persevered in their intention, I should have wished to trouble you with some further : vat ions on points which, though hitherto left unnoticed because I wished to pursue with as little disturbance as possible the order of inquiry laid down by yourself, would yet be of practical importance if Parliament took up our subject in earnest. As a better time may come, it seems well that I should just mention the topics, which would have occupied ral letters if our correspondence had continued. They shall be stated briefly ; and in the mere notes of them which I intend to follow, no care will be taken either to observe order or to explain anything. If 448 UNHANDLED TOPICS. ever our correspondence should be renewed at your instance, you may expect to receive letters contain- ing: I. A plan of colonization (not emigration) exclusively applicable to that portion of Ireland, in which the bulk of the people is still Irish and Roman Catholic ; a plan expressly framed with a view to the political condition, the social peculiarities, and the fervent nationality, of the Milesian-Irish race in Ireland. With respect to this scheme, however, upon which great pains have been bestowed in the hope of making it a real, practicable, and effectual, because radical, measure, for serving the most miserable nation on the face of the earth, there exists what you may deem a lion in my path. " Circumstances" would prevent me, even if our correspondence proceeded now, from com- municating this plan to you at present ; perhaps from ever communicating it to you at all : and I am " not at liberty" now to say more on the subject.* II. Some notions of a plan, both for securing ample religious and educational provisions in British colonies, * Amongst these circumstances are the facts, that the plan of Irish colonization in question was framed conjointly by Mr. Charles Buller, another gentleman, and myself; and that during a visit which Mr. Buller paid me in France shortly before his death, for the purpose of re-considering and perfecting the scheme, we determined that no particulars of it should be mentioned in this book, which was then nearly ready for the press, but that, if the state of politics favoured the attempt, he should endeavour to make what we hoped might prove a better use of the plan in another way. In the Ap- pendix No. I., will be found a further statement concerning the purpose which was frustrated by his death. IXHANDLED TOPICS. 449 and for causing religious differences, which are at pre- sent as inevitable as the return of daylight in the morning, to aid in promoting colonization, as they indubitably promoted it in the early settlement of North America by England. In this scheme, the principle of "religious equality before the law" is strictly adhered to; but for that very reason, and also because colonization is the business in hand, the Church of England would spread faster and on a greater scale than the others, in proportion to the greater number and greater wealth of her members, instead of lagging behind them as she does now. I am bound to add, that my notions on this subject were not originally formed in my own mind, but, for the most part, suggested to me by Dr. Hinds. III. A plan of colonization for the West Indies. In this scheme, the economical principles of colonization set forth in our correspondence are observed with respect to public land, private land, and emigration- fund; but Africa is the country from which it is proposed that the emigration of labour should be attracted: and there are some provisions for causing the civilization of negroes in the West Indies to o have some good effect on the barbarism of Africa. If this scheme answered its purpose, free-labour in the \\V>t Indies would produce intertropical commodities at less cost than slave-labour anywhere, and would of course, free trade prevailing, drive slave-grown pro- duce out of the markets of the world. It is a scheme for wounding slavery and the African slave-trade at their roots. 450 UNHANDLED TOPICS. IV. A brief history of convict colonization by England. Under this head, I should endeavour to show how convict emigration, besides making honest people in all ranks ashamed to emigrate, operates as an impedi- ment to the emigration of valuable settlers, by giving, in one group of our colonies, a base jail-like character to colonial society, and a brutal jailer-like character to colonial government. A curious branch of this subject, though not strictly pertaining to colonization, would be the successful counteraction of our missions to the heathen in Poly- nesia, by the " Devil's Missionaries" whom we spread all over that part of the world. V. Some suggestions, the aim of which is, to make colonizing companies seated in the mother-country, very effective instruments of the state in promoting the emigration of capital and labour, because properly- empowered and properly -restrained instruments. VI. A suggestion, the object of which is, to enable any " gentleman" father wishing to make his son a colo- nist, to prepare him, by suitable teaching and disci- pline, for succeeding in a colonial career, instead of, as now commonly happens, sending him away so well qualified for failure, as to run great risk of losing his money, his principles, his character, and his peace of mind. UNHANDLED TOPICS. 451 VII. A particular account (but this would be written at leisure for amusement) of Mr. Taylor's experience of the Colonial Office during twelve years. VIII. Some account of my own experience of the Colonial Office during twenty years. THE END. GG 2 APPENDIX. No. I. [As time passed on after Mr. Charles Buller's speech on colonization in 1843, he was reproached, as well by friends as by persons who differed from him in party politics (for he had no enemies), with being incon- sistent, and with neglecting a self-imposed task, by disappointing that public hope of his future usefulness as a Colonizing statesman, tojffmch his successful effort in 1843 had given occasion. If he had lived another year, his own conduct would probably have vindicated his reputation from this censure. But as he is gone, the duty now devolves upon his friends. Xone of them, as it happens, possesses so good means as myself of performing this duty ; and therefore I un- dertake it. To some extent, his premature death from mere delicacy of physical organization accounts for his apparent neglect of a public question which he had appropriated, and of his own fame. He was not really indifferent to either; but he was ever incapable of exerting his rare intellectual faculties without injury to his bodily health, and was often, for months together, incapacitated by bodily weakness from greatly exerting them at all. Thus, from 1843 to 1846, his physical strength was often over-tasked by his labours in the New-Zealand controversy : but his exertions during that period were far from being fruit- 454 APPENDIX. less ; for he was the life and soul of the discussions upon colonial policy which grew out of the New- Zea- land case, and which mainly produced the actual dis- position of the public mind towards a reform of our whole colonial system. All this took place when his party was in opposition. In 1846, he accepted the nearly sinecure office of Judge Advocate General, but only on a distinct under- standing with Lord Grey, that his duty in the House of Commons should be to follow up there, in co-ope- ration with Mr. Hawes, the exertions for colonial re- form and improved colonization, which they three had made together in opposition. But this arrangement, which was semi-officially announced, and in the reality of which Mr. Buller firmly believed, was totally disre- garded by Lord Grey. The new minister was not in office a month, before he embraced views of colonial policy opposite to those which he had previously en- tertained, and which Mr. Buller continued to hold. By this most unexpected turn of events, Mr. Buller was placed in a position of extreme irksomeness. Pre- cluded by his subordinate position in the Government from taking a course of his own in Parliament, and supposed to be in close agreement with Lord Grey, he was held responsible for measures, and for neglect, of which he cordially disapproved. From this thraldom he only escaped by becoming President of the Poor Law Commission, at the close of 1847. Soon after that event, I received a letter from him, from which an extract follows : "London, 15th December, 1847. " I am much delighted, my dear Wakefield, by once more seeing your handwriting, and by your friendly congratula- tions on an appointment at which many of my friends look APPENDIX. 455 blank. Anything, as you say, was better than a sinecure, with a pretence of work in which I had no share. And my firm belief is, that the administration of thePoor-Law is a matter in which good is to be done, and honour acquired. ( 'ircurastances favour a reasonable administration of the law : and there is a general disposition to let any one who will undertake it in a proper spirit, succeed. And if I do succeed, no one will ever again say I am a mere talker with no qualities for business. I incur responsibility, I know : but sweat and risk are the purchase-money of every palm worth wearing. **#***; and I feel rejoiced to find your judgment in favour of the step I have taken. " Nothing pleases me so much as your seeing in this an opening for a renewal of our colonizing co-operation." The colonizing co-operation was renewed. In April, 1848, Mr. Buller came to see me at Reigate, for the purpose of discussing the question, whether an} thing could be attempted, with a fair prospect of success, for reviving the public interest in coloniza- tion which had died away during the previous two \< ars. He was the more anxious that we should de- termine this question in the affirmative, because his brief experience of Poor-Law administration had im- -ed him with a fear, that unless colonization (not shovelling out of paupers by mere emigration) were undertaken systematically, the poor-rates would ere long attain under the new law, their maximum under the old ; an anticipation that is now all but realized. But we decided the question in the negative. One of the grounds of this decision was the expediency, in our united opinion, of waiting till after the publica- tion of the present volume. On the 3rd of October last, however, when I was in France, oniraged in completing the preparation of this volume for the press, I received a letter from Mr. Buller, in which he proposed to pay me a visit, and 456 APPENDIX. said, " Not only do I want to see you on general politics, but I have a particular project to discuss with you ; and I am anxious to do so, because you can lend me the most valuable assistance, and, I think, realize a great idea." The u particular project " and the u great idea " were the project of a set of remedial measures for Ireland, with some views as to the means of inducing Parliament to adopt them. One of this set of measures was to be a plan of colonization for the Irish part of Ireland, or for the special use and benefit of the Milesian-Irish race, who never colonize, but only emigrate miserably. The subject of such a plan had been matter of fre- quent discussion before, between Mr. Buller and me; and our opinions upon it agreed. But since those discussions, I had had the advantage of frequently discussing the subject with a gentleman intimately acquainted with Ireland, with Irish emigration, with the state of Irish emigrants in the countries to which they resort, and with the principles of colonization and colonial government set forth in this volume : and with his most valuable assistance, I had formed notions about colonization for Milesian Ireland, which, when Mr. Buller came to see me, were already put in writing for insertion amongst the foregoing pages. This new plan, Mr. Buller fully examined with me, and in the end adopted its leading features. But we then agreed further, that the plan would stand a better chance of being soon adopted by Parliament, if it were not published in my book : and we parted on the understanding, that as soon as the book was published, after passing through his hands for critical revision on its way to the printer, he should make APPENDIX. 457 such use of the plan as we might then deem most expe- dient. 1 1 i< sudden death frustrated our whole purpose : but as I resolved to make no change in the book in consequence- of that event, the plan is still in my desk. More might be said about Mr. Buller's lively and practical interest, after he ceased to be Judge Advocate General, in the subject which he had previously illustrated with such admirable ability; but the above explanation suffices for establishing the fact, and doing justice to his fame as a colonizing statesman.] SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P. IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, On Tuesday, April 6, 1843, ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. SIR, I cannot enter upon the subject which I have under- taken to bring before the House to-night, without asking its indulgence on the ground of the unfeignedly painful con- sciousness which I have of my very small personal claim to attention, and of my utter inability to do justice to the magnitude of my subject. It would be most unjust to the House were I to allow it to be supposed that the grave and difficult nature of the question which I propose to bring before it, and its w r ant of connexion with party feelings and party interests, will at all indispose it to yield me its kind and patient attention. I must say, in justice to the present House of Commons, with the majority of which I have seldom the happiness of voting, that, however I may deplore the violence of party spirit to which we occasionally give way, I never sat in any parliament which has shown itself so conscious of the deteriorating character of our party strifes, and so desirous to make amends for its indulgence in them by every now and then giving a calm attention to matters of public concern, beyond and above the low domain of party. If it were not so, indeed, we should be culpable 458 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLEK, ESQ., M.P., beyond our predecessors. For these, in truth, are times in which the most thoughtless can hardly fail, every now and then, to have a suspicion that the events that are passing around us, and in which we bear a part, involve consequences of wider scope and greater moment than the interests of political rivalry. Amid the very clash and tumult of party strife in which we, like those who have gone before us, are too apt to concentrate our energies and thoughts, we cannot help being, every now and then, conscious of such heavings of the soil on which we tread as to compel us to believe that around us are fearful agencies at work that threaten the solidity of the very framework of society. We have of late had warning enough of the necessity of looking to the material condition of the country, from the existence of distress of an unusual extent, duration, and severity. Owing, too, to inquiries which we never had the wisdom or the boldness to make before, we are now in possession of a fearful knowledge of the moral and intellectual state of the great masses of our people. And from such events as the disturbances of last year, we know well what effects physical distress and moral neglect have combined to produce in the temper of the masses, and how terrible is the risk to w 7 hich we are exposed from this settled, though happily as yet undisciplined disaffection ? With such matters as these fresh in our memories, and reflected in our apprehensions, we should, indeed, be possessed by some judicial madness were we to take no thought of the condition of the people, or to dismiss from our consideration any scheme suggested with a view of bettering it, until we had proved their insufficiency, or exhausted their efficacy. I do not believe, however, that there ever took place in the house a debate calculated to fill the public mind with such despair as that which was raised by my noble friend the member for Sunderland, when he brought forward his motion on the distress of the country, in a speech showing so accurate and comprehensive a knowledge of the state of the country, and so wise an appreciation of the immediate remedy, that I cannot but regret that he has left me anything to do which might legitimately have been made a part of his remedial plan. For what was the result of that debate ? An universal agreement as to the existence, and even the intensity of the mischief an entire disagreement as to the remedies proposed. No one ventured on that occasion to deny the fact of very severe distress ; but, at the same time, whatever measure was proposed for the relief of it was nega- tived by a majority which proposed no remedy of its own. ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 459 The view which I take of the existing evil, and of the appropriate remedy, would so much more be obscured than strengthened by any exaggeration, that I must guard myself against being supposed to represent the difficulties of the country as either unparalleled or desperate. It admits of no doubt, that even after so long and severe a distress as that which has for some years hung over every class and interest in the empire, we are actually a richer people, with more of accumulated wealth, more of the capital of future commerce, than we ever possessed at a former period. But still, without any exaggeration without believing that our resources are less than they used to be without desponding for the future, it cannot be denied that this is a period in which wealth, though actually greater, is growing at a less rapid rate than before that it is a period of depression and stagnation that a smaller amount of useful and profitable enterprises are being carried on now than five or six years ago that there is less employment for capital, and that business brings in smaller profits that there are more people out of employment, and that the wages of those who are employed are less than they used to be. The great increase of poor-rates within the last year or two, owing to no disposition to relax the administration of the law, is an unequivocal proof of suffering in the labouring class ; and the falling off of the revenue from customs, excise, stamps, and taxes, furnishes as undeniable evidence of a diminution of the comforts of the people ; and though there is not the slightest ground for fearing ruin as a nation, there is evidently an amount of individual suffering, so wide and so severe, that we cannot contemplate its existence without pain, nor its prolonged duration without alarm. There is no denying that the present distress is not that of any simple class interest, or branch of industry. It can therefore be the result of no partial cause. And it has lasted so long, that there is no ground for attributing it to temporary causes, or hoping that it may cease when they shall have ceased to operate. I do not deny the influence of temporary causes in pro- ducing the present very severe distress. I admit, with gentlemen opposite, that successive bad harvests, wars, unsettled commercial relations, the monetary and commercial derangements of other countries, particularly the United States, and an undue impulse to speculation, together with the consequent disastrous reaction, have undoubtedly com- bined to disturb our commerce ; and I think it impossible to deny that, had these causes not been in operation, the distress which we lament would have been different in 460 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., character and in intensity. But, on the other hand, I do not think that it has been shown that the operation of these temporary causes can be taken as a satisfactory solution of the whole of our distress. I think it clear that, besides these, there have been at work more permanent causes of distress; and that, in fact, the temporary causes are but forms in which the permanent evils of our state have ex- hibited themselves. For instance, much of the distress has been ascribed to over-projjujction. It has been asserted that during the entire period of distress, with falling prices and markets becoming, day by day, flatter and flatter, this insane energy of over-production went on building more mills, multiplying fresh powers of machinery, and adding fresh heaps to the pre-existing accumulations of unsaleable wares. To a certain extent there is, I fear, too much reason to admit this account of the history of our trade, and to believe that even after the long period of distress which we have gone through, it is too probable that instead of relief being afforded in the most obvious manner namely, by IOW T prices having diminished production, and the supply of our goods having, therefore, been reduced to an equality with the demand, production having, in fact, gone on under the pressure of low prices, the supply of many kinds of goods is now almost, if not quite, as redundant as ever. But I cannot understand how this can be regarded as a full explanation of the origin of the distress. The alleged over-production may have laid the foundation for a greater future distress ; but I cannot conceive how it can be made out, under the circumstances in which it occurred, that distress would have been avoided, had over-production not taken place. Can it be alleged that, during this period of over-production, capital or labour were withdrawn from their ordinary occupations ? Did any trade or enterprise of any kind suffer from the diversion of capital into channels in which more than ordinary profits were expected ? Was the over-production carried on by means of capital borrowed from foreigners ? Were the labourers taken from the fields, or the ordinary business of trade, to work in the cotton-mills ? Or were foreign labourers imported into this country to supply the scarcity of English hands ? Why, it is notorious that, during the last two or three years, we were lending money to the foreigner; that there has been a considerable emigration of labourers ; that after all this, and all the over-production of which you speak, there never was so much money lying idle ; and that our ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 461 workhouses were getting crowded with able-bodied men, who could not get employment. If the mills, of which so much complaint is made, had not been kept in activity, the money which was required to work them would have been brought into a previously over-crowded money market; and the labourers whom they employed would have been so many more inmates of the workhouses. Is it not clear, then, that the over-production which is spoken of, however it may possibly aggravate future distress, has, in fact, only given a precarious, may be, ultimately, a mischievous employment ; but still an employment which would not otherwise have 1 xcii afforded to English capital and labour? If there had been no over-production, there would have been distress different, perhaps, in form and in results but still distress ; for there would have been an additional amount of capital and labour unemployed. Your temporary cause, in this instance, instead of solving the whole problem, points us merely to permanent causes, which must be comprehended and removed ere we can hope to remove the sufferings of the people. That you cannot explain the existing distress by tem- porary causes alone, is evident from the state of things in another country, in which these causes have operated in an even greater degree than here, without producing anything like the suffering which has been felt here. Whatever shocks our trade has experienced during the last few years, no one can compare them for severity with those which have been felt in the United States. Since 1836, the history of the trade of the United States has consisted of a series of crises, with intervals of stagnation. " I doubt," says Mr. Everett, in the wise and feeling answer which he recently made to a deputation of holders of Slave Stock ; " I doubt if, in the history of the world, in so short a period, such a transition has been made from a state of high prosperity to one of general distress, as in the United States, within the last six years." And yet, has there been there any of what liould call distress among the quiet traders and artisans ? of any inability to employ capital with ordinary profit ? Or any general want of employment for labour? Of any great depression of wages ? Or anything which we should call the extreme of destitution. Have even the unscrupulous demagogues of their hustings or their press ventured to <1< M-ribe such sad scenes as those which official inspection has shown to have been but too frequent at Bolton and Stnrkport? Have you heard in that country of human 462 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLEH, ESQ., M.P., beings living huddled together in defiance of comfort, of shame, and of health, in garrets and in cellars, and in the same novels with their pigs ? Have you heard of large and sudden calls on the bounty of individuals, of parishes, or of the government ? Of workhouses crowded ? Of even the gaol resorted to for shelter and maintenance ? Of human beings prevented from actually dying of starvation in the open streets, or of others allowed to expire from inanition in the obscurity of their own dwelling-places ? The plain fact is, that though hundreds of enterprises have failed, and enormous amounts of capital have been sacrificed, and credit has been paralysed, and hundreds that were wealthy at sunrise have been beggars ere the same sun was set, and thousands have been suddenly deprived of the work and wages of the day before, yet capital and labour have never failed to find immediate employment in that boundless field. That fearful storm has passed over the United States, leaving marks of tremendous havoc on its credit and wealth and progress ; but the condition of the masses has never been substantially affected. How comes it that these temporary causes, which produce so frightful an amount of distress in England, do not, when acting with double and treble violence in the United States, produce a tithe of the suffering ? Does it not show that in this country the real mischief lies deep, and is ever at work? And that the temporary causes to which you ascribe temporary distress are of such fearful efficacy only because they aggravate the effects of causes permanently depressing the condition of the people. I think, Sir, that we cannot contemplate the condition of this country without coming to the conclusion that there is a permanent cause of suffering in theconstant accumulation of capital, and the constant increase ofpopulation within the same restricted field of employ mentrj Every year adds its profits to the amount of capital previously accumulated ; and certainly leaves the population considerably larger at its close than it was at its commencement. /^This fresh amount both of capital and population have to be employed.; and if no further space for their employment be provided, they must compete for a share of the previous amount of profits and wagesrYThe tendency of this cause to reduce both profits and Wa"ges is undoubtedly counteracted by what has fortunately been the still greater tendency of increased demand from foreign countries, of discoveries of fresh pro- ducts of nature, and of improvements in various processes of art, especially in agriculture, to enlarge the field of ON SYSTKMATIC COLONIZATION. 4N SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 4()7 and then superseded by some invention of machinery most ust -t'ul to the public at large, but utterly ruinous to those whom it displaces. And hence it is that causes which hardly ext-n -ise a visible effect on the labouring population of the I nitcd States, involve large bodies of ours in the most in- tense suffering. There the labour and capital which are displaced from one employment find every other deficient in both, and are immediately absorbed in them, to the great advantage of the community. Here they are thrown back upon other employments all previously overstocked, and h.-mjr dead weights on the productive industry of the country. And the same considerations will enable us to account for die perplexing and contradictory phenomena of our present condition, and show us how it happens that we hear a cry of stagnation of business, of want of employment, and ex- treme destitution throughout the industrious classes, at the same time that we see around us the most incontestable evidences of vast wealth rapidly augmenting : how it is that in this country there are seen side by side, in fearful and unnatural contrast, the greatest amount of opulence, and the most appalling mass of misery how it is that the people of this country appear, when contemplated at one and the same time, from different points of view, to be the richest and the neediest people in the world. When I speak of distress and suffering among the indus- trious classes of this country, I must guard against being supposed to mean that I regard their physical condition as worse than it used to be. Taking the condition of the whole people of Great Britain for periods of eight or ten years at a time, I feel little doubt that, as far as external causes go, they are, on the whole, better off than they used to be. But even these assertions of a general improvement in the ex- ternal condition of the people must be qualified by the admission, that there appears to be a class positively more, though comparatively less, numerous, which suffers fearfully, and that the rear of the community, in the present day, is to lag further behind, both morally and physically, than it used to do of old. I doubt whether there ever before was in this country such a mass of such intense physical suffering and moral degradation as is to be found in this metropolis, in the cellars and garrets of Liverpool and Man- chester, and in the yet more wretched alleys of Glasgow ; and I have very little doubt that there never before prevailed, Mn any portion of our population, vice so habitual and so gross *as is there to be found. The general comfort of the H H ^ 468 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., great body is increased ; but so also is the misery of the most wretched. We witness constantly more of the extreme of suffering ; we have a positively larger number of the dan- gerous classes in the country. I cannot but think, too, that the condition of the productive classes is more precarious than it used to be, and that great bodies of them run more frequent risk of sudden and total destitution than they used to do. It is obvious that this must be a consequence of that extreme subdivision of employment which is one of the results of increasing civilization. The more you confine the workman to one particular process or occupation, the more exposed you are to the sudden and complete displacement of the persons so employed by some improvement or change of fashion, or other cause that dispenses with their services. But it is a perfectly different kind of change in our working people which induces me to regard the occurrence of periods of extreme distress as both far more afflicting to themselves and dangerous to others, than it used to be. What matters it that the scourge be no heavier, or even that it be some- what lighter, if the back of the sufferer be more sensitive ? and what avails it that the external condition of our people is somewhat improved, if they feel the less evils which they have to bear now more acutely than they used to feel the greater which they submitted to once ? That they do so is obvious to any one who listens to them ; that they must do so is in the very nature of things. For, whatever may be the increase of enjoyments among our people, it is obvious that the standard of comfort has increased much more rapidly. Every class, when in full employment, commands a far greater amount of enjoyments than it used, and consequently every member of that class is accustomed to regard as necessary to a comfortable existence to consider as a kind of rights, what his predecessor would have looked upon as luxuries, which nothing but singular good luck could place in his way. Each class is now cognizant of the habits of those which are above it, and the appetites of the poor are constantly sharpened by seeing the enjoyments of the rich paraded before them. And, as the enjoyments of the prosperous, so are the sufferings of the distressed, better known to all than they used to be. The horrible details given in the reports to which I have had occasion to refer reveal certainly no worse state of things than has for ages been going on in crowded cities, in poor villages, in unwholesome factories, and in the bowels of the earth. On the contrary, it seems* clear, from the unvarying testimony of all witnesses, that, in ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 469 almost every particular, bad as these things are, they were worse formerly. But then, formerly no one knew of them. Now, zealous humanity, now statesman-like courage, that does not shrink from investigating and exposing the full extent of our social ills, in order to ascertain the extent of the remedy that must be provided, searches out the unknown misery, drags suffering and degradation from their hiding- places, and harrows up the public mind with a knowledge of the disorders to which we used to shut our eyes. Thus, the very improvements that have taken place make lesser dis- tresses more intolerable than greater used to be ; the general elevation of the standard of comfort makes each man feel privations to which he would have been insensible before. The increase of information respecting passing events diffuses over the entire mass a sense of sufferings which were formerly felt by few but the actual sufferers ; and the irritation thus created is heightened by the contrast of luxuries, which wealth never could command before, and by a disparity between the ease of the rich and the want of the poor, such as no previous state of things ever presented. It is idle, then, when we are discussing distress to make it a matter of statistical comparison between the present and other days, and to think we disprove the reasonableness of complaint, by showing that men used to complain less, when they had less of the external means of enjoyment. Men do not regulate their feelings by such comparisons. It is by what they feel that you must measure the extent of their suffering; and if they now feel more acutely than they did the pressure of such occasional distress as has always been their lot, we must be more than ever on our guard to better the general condition of the people, and to prevent the occurrence of these periods of extreme suffering. If hu- manity did not induce us to do our utmost for this object, a mere politic view of our own interests would compel us: for depend upon it that the people of this country will not bear what they used ; and that every one of these periods of dis- tress is fraught with increasingly dangerous effects on the popular temper, and with increasing peril to the interests of property and order. And if you mean to keep government or society together in this country, you must do something to render the condition of the people less uneasy and pre- carious than it now is. I speak plainly, because nothing but harm seems to me to result from the habit whirh we have of concealing the apprehensions, which no man of reflection can contemplate 470 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLEK, ESQ., M.P., the future without entertaining. We are beginning to know something of our own people ; and can we contemplate the state of things laid open to us, without wonder that we have stood so long with safety on this volcanic soil ? Does any one suppose that we can tread it safely for ever ? I need not detail to you the dangerous doctrines that circulate among the people, or the wild visions of political and social change which form the creed of millions. Such creeds are ever engendered by partial knowledge acting on general ignorance. Circulating undisturbed among the masses, they start forth into action only when distress arrays those masses in disaffection to the law. It should be the business of a wise and benevolent government to dispel such evil disposi- tions by enlightening its people, and diffusing among them the influence of religion and knowledge; but it should also be its care to prevent the existence of that distress, which irritates the existing ignorance of the people. While, there- fore, I go heartily along with the noble lord, the member for Dorsetshire, and others, who grapple with the general ignorance as the giant evil that oppresses the country; while I feel convinced that never again can the government of this country rest securely on any other support than that afforded by the general diffusion of sound instruction among the subjects; and while I look to ^education as the great remedy on which we must rely for removing the evils of our condition, I still say that simultaneous with our efforts for this purpose must be some efforts to/etter the physical condition of the people?/ Without relieving them from the pressure of want and^tne undue toil, which is now often required from them, you will in vain proffer the blessings of a higher moral state to those who can give no thought to anything but the supply of their physical wants. You will always be liable to have your most benevolent and sagacious plans thwarted by some outbreak, of which -the watchword shall be, like the simple and expressive cry of the insurgents of last summer " A fair day's wages for a fair day's work." This must be secured to honest industry ere there can be contentment among the people, or any basis for operations directed to their moral good. This you must secure for them, let me tell you, if you wish to retain your own great advantages of position and property : if you mean to up- hold and transmit to your children those institutions through which you have enjoyed at once the blessings of freedom and order: if you hope to escape the tremendous wrath of< a people whom force will vainly attempt to restrain, when ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 471 they have utterly lost all reliance on your power or inclina- tion to care for their well-being. Some improvement of their condition you must secure for the people, and you must secure it before long. But that you will never do until, by laying open a wider field of employment, you can | succeed in diminishing that terrible competition of capital with capital and labour with labour, which is the permanent I cause of distress. It is with this view that I propose that you should investi- gate the efficacy of colonization, as a remedy against the distress of the country. I say as a remedy, because I do not bring it forward as a panacea as the only, as an in- fallible remedy for every ill but as one among many remedies, which would be valuable, even if they could not go the length of entirely removing distress, provided they enable us to render its recurrence less frequent, its opera- tion less intense, and its pressure less severe. I say dis- tinctly, that you will not effect your purpose of permanently and fully bettering the condition of the people, unless you apply a variety of remedies directed to the various disorders of their present state. But confining myself to the econo- mical evil that arises solely from that one cause, of which I have laboured to describe the operation, namely, the com- petition both of capital and labour in a restrictive field, I propose colonization as a means of remedying that evil, by enlarging the field of employment. With other remedies of an economical nature, that have many advocates in this house and in the country, I come into no collision ; because the mode in which they propose to attack the evil is not that of enlarging the field of employment. Some gentlemen urge the relaxation of the new poor law as a measure of justice to the labouring class; while others, with the same view, insist on a rigid execution of its provisions. But the question of the administration of the poor law is obviously a question relating merely to the distribution of the existing produce of the country, and can have no direct connexion with that of increasing its amount. Another remedy was proposed, the other night, which is certainly more akin in character to the one that I urge namely, the allotment of small pieces of land among the labouring class. But this I shall not now discuss, because the matter was disposed of the other night by an apparently general concurrence in what I regard as the sound view of the allotment system ; and that is, that it may be made of great utility to a large portion of the labouring class, if had recourse to only as a 472 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., means of supplying additional comforts and occasional in- dependence to labourers, whose main reliance is on wages ; but that it would entail the greatest curse on our labouring population, if they were ever brought to regard the cultiva- tion of small allotments as their principal means of sub- sistence. There is, however, one remedy suggested for the relief of distress, which proposes to effect its end in the same manner as that which I advocate namely, by opening a wider field of employment to the labour and capital of the country. This it is proposd to do by freely admitting the produce of foreign countries; supporting our labourers by all the addi- ytional supplies of food which we can draw from abroad; and T exchanging for that food and other produce the manufactures j wrought by the labourers who subsist on that imported food. * Sir, in the principles and objects of the friends of free trade I fully concur. I not only think that we ought to do what they propose, but I am ready to admit that the first and most simple and most effectual mode of enlarging the field of employment is by trading on the freest terms with all the existing markets in the world. I propose colonization as subsidiary to free trade ; as an additional mode of carrying out the same principles, and attaining the same object. You advocates of free trade wish to bring food to the people. I suggest to you at the same time to take your people to the food. You wish to get fresh markets by removing the barriers which now keep you from those that exist through- out the world. I call upon you, in addition, to get fresh markets, by calling them into existence in parts of the world which might be made to teem with valuable customers. You represent free trade as no merely temporary relief for the distresses of our actual population, but as furnishing outlets of continually extending commerce to the labour of our population, whatever its increase may be. In these anticipations I fully concur ; and I would carry out the same principle, and attempt to make yet more use of these blessed results, by also planting population and capital in the vast untenanted regions of our colonies; and calling into exist- ence markets, which, like those now in being, would go on continually extending the means of employing an increasing population at home. I must not, therefore, be understood to propose coloni- zation as a substitute for free trade. I do not vaunt its efficacy as superior ; indeed I admit that its effect in ex- tending employment must be slower. But, on the other ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 473 hand, it will probably be surer; and will be liable to no such interruptions from the caprice of others, as trade with foreign nations must always be subject to. I grant that the restrictive policy of other nations is, in great measure, to be ascribed to the influence of our example; and I am inclined to concur in the hope that the relaxation of our commercial system will be the signal for freedom of trade in many other countries. But still we are not sure how soon this effect may be produced; how long an experience may be required to convince our neighbours of the injurious operation of monopoly ; or how soon or how often the policy of protec- tion may reappear in some shape or other, whether finding favour with the fantastic minds of statesmen, or the capricious feelings of nations, or dictated by political views totally inde- pendent of merely economical considerations. But of the legislation of your own colonies of the fiscal policy of the different portions of your own empire you can always make sure, and may rely upon being met by no hostile tariffs on their part. The commerce of the world is nar- rowed now not only by our own legislation, but by that of other powers ; the influence of restrictive views is extending and acquiring strength among them. Within the last few years no less than eight hostile tariffs have been passed against us, more or less narrowing the demand for our manufactures. I say, then, that in the present day the re- strictive policy of other nations must enter into our con- sideration as an element, and no unimportant element, of commercial policy; and, though I advise you to set the example of free trade to others, and extend your intercourse with them to the very utmost, still at the same time take care to be continually creating and enlarging those markets which are under the control of no legislation but your own. Show the world that, if the game of restriction is to be played, no country can play it with such effect and such impunity as Great Britain, which, from the outlying portions of her mighty empire, can command the riches of every zone, and v soil, and every sea, that the earth contains ; and can draw, with unstinted measure, the means of every luxury and the material of every manufacture that the combined extent of other realms can supply. This we have done, or can do, by placing our own people in different portions of our own dominions ; secure that, while they remain subjects of the same empire, no hostile tariff can by possibility ex- clude us from their markets ; and equally secure that, when- ever they shall have outgrown the state of colonial depend- 474 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., ence, and nominally or practically asserted, as they will do, a right to legislate for themselves, our hold on their markets will be retained by that taste for our manufactures which must result from long habit, and by that similarity of customs and wants which kindred nations are sure to have. Under these impressions I direct your attention to colonization as a means, I should say not merely of relieving distress, but of preventing its recurrence, by augmenting the resources of the empire and the employment of the people. The suggestion of this remedy appears to be the simple result of the view of the evil, which I have described as the perma- nent cause of distress in this country. Here we have capital that can obtain no profitable employment ; labour equally kept out from employment by the competition of labour sufficient for the existing demand; and an utter inability to find any fresh employment in which that unemployed capital can be turned to account by setting that unemployed labour in motion. In your colonies, on the other hand, you have vast tracts of the most fertile land wanting only capital and labour to cover them with abundant harvests ; and, from want of that capital and labour, wasting their productive energies in nourishing weeds, or, at best, in giving shelter and sustenance to beasts. When I ask you to colonize, what do I ask you to do but to carry the superfluity of one part of our country to repair the deficiency of the other : to cultivate the desert by applying to it the means that lie idle here : in one simple word, to convey the plough to the field, the workman to his work, the hungry to his food ? This, Sir, is the view that common sense suggests of the primary benefits of colonization. When Abraham found that the land could not support both him and Lot, " because their substance was so great," his simple proposal was that they should separate, and one take the right hand and the other the left. The same view, as well as the sad necessities of civil strife, prompted the Greeks and Phoenicians to colo- nize. When the youth of the city could find no land to cultivate in the narrow precincts of its territory, they banded together, crossed the sea, established themselves in some vacant haven, and thus at length studded the shores of the Mediterranean with cities and civilization. And in later times this has been the simple and obvious view that the pressure of population on the means of subsistence has suggested to the advocates of emigration in this country. A vast number of persons capable of working can find no em- ployment here. Their competition beats down wages ; but, ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 475 when waives have been reduced to the utmost, there are still superfluous labourers, who can get no employment, and who must either starve or depend on charity. A number of the latter are induced to emigrate, and are established in Canada or Australia, at the cost, at the outside, of one year's sub- sistence in the workhouse. By their absence, the poor-rate is immediately relieved : if the emigration be sufficiently ex- tensive, the due relation between employment and labour is restored, and the wages of those who remain at home are raised, while at the same time the emigrant exchanges a life of precarious dependence and squalid misery for plenty and ease in his new home. If this were all the good that could result from the change, it would still be a great gain. I know that it would require a great effort to remove so large a proportion of our population as materially to affect the labour-market. At the end of every year, the population of Great Britain is at least 300,000 more than it was at the beginning. With the best imaginable selection of emigrants, you would have to take out at least 200,000 persons every year, in order to keep your population stationary ; and even such an emigration would not be sufficient, because the mo- mentary withdrawal of labour would give an impulse to population, and ere long supply the vacuum thus created. Still, even with these limited results in view, I should say it would be most desirable that emigration should be carried on, on a large scale, were it only that \ve might at any rate turn a large number of our people from wretched paupers into thriving colonists; that we might enable them to trans- mit those blessings to a posterity which they could not rear at home ; and that the mere temporary relief which is, I admit, all that could result from a sudden reduction of num- bers might be made use of for a breathing-time, in which other remedies for the condition of the people might be ap- plied with better chance of success than it would be possible to expect under the actual pressure of redundant numbers. But the whole, nay the main advantage of colonization, is not secured by that mere removal of the labourer from the crowded mother country, which is all that has been gene- rally implied by the term emigration. His absence is only the first relief which he affords you. You take him hence to place him on a fertile soil, from which a very small amount of his labour will suffice to raise the food which he wants. He soon finds that by applying his spare time :md energies to raising additional food, or some article of trade or material of manufacture, he can obtain that which he can 476 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., exchange for luxuries of which he never dreamed at home. He raises some article of export, and appears in your market as a customer. He who a few years ago added nothing to the wealth of the country, but, receiving all from charity, simply deducted the amount of food and clothing necessary for existence and decency from the general stock of the community he, by being conveyed to a new country, not only ceases to trench upon the labour of others, but comes, after providing his own food, to purchase from you a better quality and larger quantity of the clothing and other manu- factures which he used to take as a dole, and to give employ- ment and offer food to those on whose energies he was a burden before. Imagine in some village a couple of young married men, of whom one has been brought ur3 as a weaver, and the other as a farm-labourer, but both of whom are un- able to get work. Both are in the workhouse ; and the spade of the one and the loom of the other, are equally idle. For the maintenance of these two men and their families, the parish is probably taxed to the amount of 40/. a year. The farm-labourer and his family get a passage to Australia or Canada ; perhaps the other farm-labourers of the parish were immediately able to make a better bargain with their master, and get somewhat better wages ; but, at any rate, the parish gains 20/. a year by being relieved from one of the two pauper families. The emigrant gets good employ- ment; after providing himself with food in abundance, he finds that he has therewithal to buy him a good coat, instead of the smock-frock he used to wear, and to supply his chil- dren with decent clothing, instead of letting them run about in rags. He sends home an order for a good quantity of broad cloth ; and this order actually sets the loom of his fellow-pauper to work, and takes him, or helps to take him, out of the workhouse. Thus the emigration of one man re- lieves the parish of two paupers, and furnishes employment not only for one man, but for two men. It seems a paradox to assert that removing a portion of your population enables a country to support more inha- bitants than it could before; and that the place of every man who quits his country because he cannot get a subsist- ence, may speedily be filled up by another whom that very removal will enable to subsist there in comfort. But the assertion is as true as it is strange. Nay, the history of colonies will show that this theoretical inference suggests results which fall inconceivably short of the wonders which have been realized in fact ; and that we may fairly say that ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 477 the emigration of Englishmen to our colonies has, in the course of time, enabled hundreds to exist in comfort for every one who was formerly compelled to quit his country. The settlement of the United States was originally effected by a few handsful of Europeans. Deducting those who perished in the hardships of early settlement, and those who were not of an age or kind to add to the population, the original stock of European emigrants, from whom the pre- sent population of the United States are derived, must have been a very small number. This fraction has now swelled to no less a number than thirteen or fourteen millions of white people. If the United States had never been settled, and our emigrants had stayed at home, do you think it pos- sible that the population ,of the United Kingdom would have been larger by thirteen or fourteen millions than it now is ? that we should have had and maintained in as good a state as now forty millions of people within these islands ? Is there any reason for supposing that we should now have had any additional means of supporting the addition of the original emigrants ? Nay, is it not absolutely certain that without colonizing the United States, we should not at this moment have been able to maintain anything like the popu- lation which at present finds subsistence within the limits of the United Kingdom ? How large a portion of that popula- tion depends on the trade with the United States, which constitutes one-sixth of our whole external trade ? Without that trade, what would have been the size, and wealth, and population of Manchester, and Liverpool, and Glasgow, and Sheffield, and Leeds, and Birmingham, and Wolverhampton in fact, of all our great manufacturing districts ? What would have been the relative condition of those agricultural districts, whose industry is kept in employment by the de- mand of that manufacturing population? What that of this metropolis, so much of the expenditure of which may in- directly be traced to the wealth created by the American trade ? In fact, what would have been the wealth and popu- lation of this country had the United States never been peopled? Considering all the circumstances to which I have adverted, I think it will be admitted that it is no exaggeration to say that, taking the United Kingdom and the United States alone, the fact of colonizing that single country has at least doubled the numbers and wealth of the English race. And can it be doubted that if, at the various periods in which the colonization of the United States was effected, an equal number of persons had gone to some other 478 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., vacant territory, as extensive as the peopled portion of the United States and many more than such a number, be it observed, perished in abortive attempts at settlement in America I say if such a number had so settled elsewhere, is there any reason to doubt that another great nation of our race, as populous, as wealthy as the United States, might have been in existence, might have added another eight millions to our export trade, and might have supported a second Lancashire in full activity and prosperity in our island ? See, then, what colonization has done even when carried on without vigour, purpose, system, or constancy on the part of the mother- country ; and judge what would be its results, and with what rapidity they might be attained, if you were to colonize with system and vigour. They are results not to be measured by the relief given to the labour- market or the poor-rate ; but vast as the consequences im- plied in the founding of great commercial empires, capable of maintaining millions of our population by creating a demand for their labour. When I propose colonization, I think it wholly unnecessary to enter into nice calculations of the exact number of persons whom it is necessary to with- draw annually, in order, as they say, to keep down popula- tion ; because, as I have attempted to show, the numbers withdrawn from us measure but a very small portion of the good of colonization, which mainly consists in the demand created for our labour and capital by the people in our colonies ; and which benefits us not in those merely whom it takes away, but in those whom it enables to exist here in comfort. I look to the great, the perfectly incalculable extension of trade which colonization has produced, and which, with all the certainty of calculation from experience, it may be expected to produce again. And such ground for expecting such results will surely justify my regarding it as that remedy for the present causes of our distress which is at once the most efficacious, and the most completely at our command. I have directed your attention to the United States alone the greatest colony, it is true, the world ever saw, but by no means the only proof of my assertion of the immense ex- tension given to trade by planting settlers on new and ample fields. Compare the trade which we have with the countries of the Old World with that which we have with the colonial countries, and see how vast is the proportion which we carry on with the latter. I hold in my hand some calcu- ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 479 lations from the returns laid before the house respecting the trade and shipping of this country. The first is a statement of the declared value of British and Irish produce and manu- factures exported from the United Kingdom in 1840, distin- guishing the exports to old countries from those to our own possessions, and countries that have been colonies. I find that the total amount of these exports is to foreign coun- tries 22,026,3 4 1/, while that to our own possessions, and to countries which still belong to other powers, or have recently been colonies, amounts to no less than 28,680,0897., or nearly as four to three. Take the employment given to our shipping, and you will find the results very remarkable , for while the amount of British tonnage employed in the trade with foreign countries appears, from a similarly constructed table which I hold in my hand, to be 1,584,512 tons, that employed in trade with our foreign possessions and the colonial countries amounts to 1,709,319 tons. With respect to shipping, in- deed, the result is more remarkable if we confine ourselves merely to our own colonies, for it appears that the trade of the three great groups of colonies alone those of North America, the West Indies, and Australia employed in 1840, 1,031,837 tons, or nearly one-third of the whole British tonnage cleared outwards. I mention these results merely to show the great positive amount of our present dependence on colonial trade. I know that I must be careful what inferences 1 draw from these facts. I am liable to be met by the answer, that all this difference between our intercourse with the two kinds of countries arises, not from any greater capacity of demand in colonial countries, but from the artificial restrictions that misdirected legislation has placed on the natural course of trade ; that we have excluded foreign goods, and foreign countries have excluded our manufactures ; while our colonies, on the contrary, have been compelled to take our manufactures and use our shipping. To a certain degree, no doubt, there is truth in this reply; and it cannot be doubted that our own folly has been the main cause of restricting the demand for our manufactures among foreign countries. But I think when you come to look more minutely into the details of the two kinds of trade, you will find that there is more than even legislative tricks can account for. I will take two great classes of countries, the first being the whole of the independent nations of Europe, and the second those which can properly be called colonial countries. 480 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., From the latter class I exclude altogether the East Indies, and Java and Sumatra, because, in fact, they are old settled countries, under European dominion the Channel and Ionian Islands, because, although British possessions, they are not colonies Mexico and Guatemala, because the greater part of their population is the old Indian population Western Africa, which forms an important head in the returns, because, in fact, it relates to a trade, not with European colonists, but with the Negro nations of Africa and Texas, and New Zealand, simply because no return of the exports to those countries is to be got. I have taken down the population of the different countries of each class which enter into my list, the amount of export of British produce to each, and the amount of that produce which falls to the share of each inhabitant of each country. I find that the following European nations Russia, France, Austria, Prussia, the rest of Germany, Cracow, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Hol- land, and Greece, contain altogether a population of 211,130,000 ; and annually import of our goods to the value of 21,000,OOOZ. On the other hand, our own colonies of St. Helena, the Cape, Mauritius, Australia, the West Indies, and British North America the emancipated colonies, including the United States, Hayti, Brazil, Peru, Chili, and those on the La Plata, together with the nominal colony, but really independent island of Cuba, contain a total population of rather more than 36,000,000; and the exports of them amount to rather more than the exports to all the European states specified above, with their population of about six times as many. The average consumption of each inhabitant of the colonial countries is no less than 125. a head, while that of the European countries is only 2s. a head. I grant that this proportion is very much swelled by our own colonies, of whose trade there is a kind of monopoly. Still, putting our own possessions out of the question, I find that the average consumption of our produce throughout what I have classed as colonial countries is not less than 7s. 3d. per head, being more than three and a half times as great as the average consumption of the European states, which is, as I said, 2s. a head. The greatest consumption of our goods in the whole world is that of no less than IOL Ws. a head in the Australian colonies the part of our empire in w r hich the greatest amount of fertile land is open to the settler ; in which there has of late been, in proportion to its population, the greatest fund derived from the sale of public lands ; and ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 481 into which there has been the greatest proportional immigra- tion. This trade, which took less than 400,0007. worth of our goods in 1831, took more than two millions' worth in 1840, being increased fivefold in nine years ; and it disposes of more of our goods than does the whole of our trade with Russia, with its population of 56,000,000, consuming only per head seven pennyworth of our goods. The comparison is curious in some other respects. Spain takes of our goods 9d. per head for her population ; our worst customer among her old colonies, Columbia, takes four times as large a pro- portion; whilst her colony of Cuba takes no less than II. 4s. 4d. per head, being at the rate of more than thirty times as much as Spain. Our civilized neighbours in France take to the amount of Is. 4d. per head ; while Hayti, com- posed of the liberated negro slaves of that same France Hayti, which it is the fashion to represent as become a wilderness of Negro barbarism and sloth, takes 5s. 4d. per head, being four times the rate of consumption in France. But I think, Sir, that I may spare myself and the House the trouble of any further proof of the advantage of colonies an advantage secured by no jealous and selfish monopoly of their trade, but resulting from mere freedom of intercourse with nations whose kindred origin makes them desire, whose fertile soil enables them to purchase, our commodities. I think I need use no further argument to show that when the cause of mischief here is the confinement of capital and labour within the narrow limits of the present field of em- ployment, the most obvious and easy remedy is to let both flow over and fertilize the rich unoccupied soil of our dominions. Had our colonies been joined to the United Kingdom, had it happened that instead of our conquering or discovering Canada or Australia, when we did, continents as vast and as rich had risen out of the sea close to the Land's End, or the west coast of Ireland who can doubt that we should have taken no great time to discuss the theory of colonization ; but that the unemployed capital and labour would speedily and roughly have settled the question by taking possession of the unoccupied soil ? Suppose that instead of actually touching our island, this imaginary region had been separated from it by a strait as wide as the Menai Strait ; who can doubt that, in order to facilitate its cultiva- tion, government would have undertaken to bridge over that strait at various points? Instead of such a strait, the Atlantic and Pacific roll between us and our colonies ; and the question is, as you cannot bridge over the ocean, will I I 482 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., you think it worth your while to secure the great blessings of colonization by making arrangements for providing capital and labour with a free, cheap, and ready access to the fields in which they can be productively employed ? This is the practical question to be solved. Few will dispute that colo- nization, when once effected, produces such benefits as I have described. But the real question is, what outlay will be requisite in order to put us in the way of receiving these benefits ? And is the object, good as no one will deny it to be, worth the price we shall have to pay for it ? With the estimate I have formed of the almost boundless extent of good to be anticipated from the foundation of colonies, I should be prepared to say that it would be well worth while, if necessary, to devote large funds to the pro- motion of extensive and systematic colonization. I should not hesitate to propose a large grant of public money for the purpose, did I not think that the most efficient mode of colonization is that which can be carried on without any expense to the mother-country. Capital and labour are both redundant here, and both wanted in the colonies. Labour, without capital, would effect but little in the colony ; and capital can effect nothing unless it carries out labour with it. In the United States, where there is a general diffusion of moderate means, capital is found in conjunction with labour; and the simple process of emigration is, that the labourer moves off to the Far West, carrying with him the means of stocking his farm. Here, where the labouring class possesses no property, few of the labourers who desire to emigrate can pay for their own passage ; or if they can scrape together enough for that purpose, they arrive in the colony paupers, without the means of cultivating and stock- ing farms. The capitalist would willingly pay for their conveyance, did they, in the first place, consist of the kind of persons who would be useful in a colony ; and, secondly, had he any security for their labour when he had got them to the colony. But those whom distress urges to offer themselves as emigrants are oftentimes men past their full work, often men debilitated by disease, and still more, often men so worn to one particular process as to be totally unfit to exercise, and unable to learn the employments suited to their life in a colony ; and all generally want to carry with them a still greater number of women and children, of all ages, requiring care, instead of adding to the stock of labourers. And then the system that used to prevail in ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 483 our colonies was fatal to all working for wages. Land was to be obtained so easily, that no one would think of tilling the land of another when he could get as much as he chose for himself. Labourers, as fast as they arrive in the colony, were enabled to acquire farms for themselves ; and the consequence was, that the capitalist, having no security either for the services of the man whom he might carry out, or for a supply of labour from the general body of labourers in the colony, would do nothing at all in the way of taking out emigrants. By the operation of these causes, emigration used to go on in a most unsatisfactory manner ; and the great purposes of colonization were in no respect attained. Numbers, it is true, emigrated ; some who went to the United States, where they could get work for wages, did well. But the emigration produced no effect on the labour-market; it notoriously did not even relieve the poor-rates ; comparatively little of it went to our colonies ; very much of that little was of a kind to be of little service in colonial labour ; and being unaccom- panied by capital, often produced only extreme suffering to the emigrants, and a great dislike to emigration here. I think it may be truly said that this emigration, large in amount as it was, did very little for the colonies, and little indeed for any body, except in as far as it added to the wealth of the United States, whom the influx of Irish labourers enabled to construct those great public works which have given so amazing a stimulus to their prosperity. On the whole, emigration promised to be of little service until Mr. Wakefield promulgated the theory of colonization which goes by his name ; and suggested two simple ex- rdients which would at once counteract all the evils which have been describing, by attracting capital as well as carrying labour to the colonies. These suggestions consisted in putting a stop to the gratuitous disposal of the waste lands of the colonies, and selling them at a certain uniform price, of which the proceeds were to be expended in carrying out emigrants, and in making a selection of young persons of both sexes out of those who were desirous of being so assisted to emigrate. It was quite obvious that such selection of emigrants would relieve this country of the greatest amount of actual competition in the labour-market, and also of those most likely to contribute to the increase of population ; while it would remove to the colonies, at the least possible expense, the persons whose labour would be most likely to be useful, and who would be most likely to i i 2 484 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., make continual addition to their deficient population. It was equally obvious, that, under the system of selling lands, the labourers thus arriving in the colony would be unable to get land of their own until they had acquired the means of purchasing it ; that they would have, therefore, to work for wages ; that, therefore, the capitalist, if he paid for their passage out, might count on their labour, and they as con- fidently on employment ; that capitalists would, therefore, be tempted to purchase, being sure that their purchase- money would provide them with that labour which is their first necessary ; and that thus you might count on getting from the sale of lands the means of carrying on a large and constant emigration in the mode adapted to confer the greatest amount of benefit on the colonies. I may now speak of Mr. Wakefield's system of emigration as one of which the great principles the sale of colonial land, the expenditure of the proceeds in carrying out la- bourers, and the selection of the labourers from the young of both sexes, have received the sanction of the best, as well as the most general opinion. This was not done, certainly, until after a long and uphill fight, in which it was a hard matter to conquer the apathy, the ignorance, and the pre- judices of the public; and harder still to make any impres- sion on the unimpressionable minds of men in office. But, fortunately, the system in question found, from the first, most able advocates among some of the most distinguished writers out-of-doors, as well as among some of the ablest members of this House; among whom I must name with particular respect my honourable friend the member for Sheffield (Mr. Henry George Ward), who, four years ago, brought this question before the house, in a speech which I could wish to have been heard by no one who has now to put up with mine as a substitute ; my honourable friend the member for Limerick (Mr. Smith O'Brien), who has since been the advocate of the same views; my noble friend the Secretary for Ireland (Lord Eliot), who gave them his powerful aid when chairman of the committee of this house on New Zealand; together with my honourable friend the member for Gateshead (Mr. William Hutt), and another friend of mine, whom I am sorry to be able to mention by name I mean Mr. Francis Baring. I should trespass too much on the time of the house were I to take this public occasion of enumerating all who have at different times given these views their valuable aid, but I must not omit the name of my lamented friend Lord Durham, who in this as ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 485 in other cases, showed his thorough grasp of every colonial question; who was an early friend of a sound system of colonization; who had the opportunity of giving official sanction to these principles in his important mission to Canada; and from whom we expected still more when this, with other hopes, was buried in his untimely grave. But it is necessary to a due understanding of the history of the question that I should acknowledge how much we owe to others, who had the opportunity, when in office, of giving executive effect to improved principles. Among these, the first place is due to my noble friend the member for Sun- derland (Lord Howick), who, in February, 1832, when he had been about a year in office, took the first great step that the government has taken in the right direction, by promul- gating the regulations whereby the sale of land was substi- tuted for the old irregular habit of gratuitous grants, and the application of the proceeds to the conveyance of selected emigrants was commenced. My noble friend the member for London (Lord John Russell) made the next great step when he organized the machinery of public emigration, by constituting the Land and Emigration Commissioners, and prescribed the nature of their duties in instructions wliich contain an admirable view of the general duties of a govern- ment with respect to colonization. My noble friend must have the satisfaction of knowing that he has left behind him a colonial reputation confined to no party; and that, among those who are interested in the well-being of our colonies and colonial trade, many of the most eager opponents of his general politics were the first to regret that their efforts resulted in removing him from the superintendence of that department. It would be ludicrous in me to pay such a compliment to the leader of my own party, were it not noto- riously true. And I must not forget that the noble lord, his successor, deserves our thanks for his Act of last year, of which I do not pretend to approve of the details, but which has the great merit of having fixed the disposal of colonial lands on the basis of an Act of Parliament. By these aids, Sir, these views have met with such general acceptance, that I think 1 may take their elementary prin- ciples as now being the admitted basis of colonization. Hardly any man that ever I met with now talks of coloniza- tion without assuming that the lands in the colonies are to be sold instead of given away; that the proceeds are to be applied to emigration; and that the emigrants are to be carried out at the public expense, and are to be selected 486 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLEK, ESQ., M.P., from the fittest among the applicants. But what is even more satisfactory is that, owing to the measures taken by our government, these principles have received so much of a trial as at any rate shows that they are capable of producing some of the greatest results at which they professed to aim. No one can -doubt that the sale of lands, instead of deterring persons from taking them, has very greatly increased the amount, I will not say nominally appropriated, but actually taken into use. No one can doubt that emigration to our colonies has received a very great impulse since the regula- tions of 1832 came into operation. Compare the emigration that took place to the Australian colonies, to which alone the system has been applied, in the eight years preceding the application of the new system, with that which has taken place since. In the first eight years, the total number of persons who emigrated to these colonies was 11,711, giving an average of 1464 emigrants a-year. In the ten subsequent years the total emigration to the Australian colonies, includ- ing New Zealand, which had in the meantime been colo- nized on the same principles, amounted to 104,487, or 10,448 a-year, being an increase of more than sevenfold. Nor must you regard this as at all subtracted from the general amount of unassisted emigration, inasmuch as during the first period the total emigration to all other parts was 352,580, giving an average of 44,072 a-year; and in the second 661,039, giving an average of no less than 66,104 a-year; and this, though during a considerable portion of the latter period emigration to the Canadas was almost stopped by the disturbances in those colonies. And it is also put beyond a doubt, that the fund thus derivable from the sale of lands is a very large one. The sum raised by sales of land in Australia, during a period of nine years, beginning with 1833, and ending with the end of 1841, including the New-Zealand Company's sales, which are on the same principle, and may be reckoned as effected by the government, through the agency of a company, amounts to a few hundreds short of two millions; a sum saved out of the fire a sum which has been received without making any body poorer, but actually by adding immensely to the value of everybody's property in those colonies a sum which, if applied entirely to emigration, would have carried out comfortably more than 110,000 emigrants. The results in one single colony that of New South Wales have been most remarkable and most satisfactory. In these nine years, the land fund has produced 1,100,0007.; and though only ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 487 partially applied to emigration, has been the means of carry- ing out as many as 52,000 selected emigrants, making two- fifths, and two valuable fifths, of the present population of the colony, added to it in the space of little more than three The possibility, however, of raising a very large fund by the sale of land required no proof from actual experience in our colonies; because that fact, at least, had been ascer- tained by a long and large experiment in the United States. In 1795, the federal government put an end to gratuitous grants ; and commenced the plan of selling the waste lands of their vast territory at a system of auction, which has, however, in fact, ended in their selling the whole at the upset price, which for some years was two dollars, and latterly a dollar and a quarter per acre. The proceeds of these sales has, during the whole period, amounted to the vast sum of 23,366,4347. of our money ; being an average of more than half a million a-year for the whole of that time. In the last twenty years of this period, the total sum produced was nearly 19,000,0007., giving an average of more than 900,000/. a-year. In the last ten years of the period, the total amount was 16,000,0007., and the annual average 1,600,000/. ; and in the last seven years of which I can get an account the years from 1834 to 1840, both included the total amount realized was more than 14,000,0007. of our money, or upwards of 2,000,0007. a-year.* This is what * Lord Stanley, in answer to this, stated that the large proceeds of these land sales had been produced by the excessive speculations of the years 1835 and 1836, since which " the bubble had burst," and there had been a great falling off. The proceeds of the different years were . *. d. In 1835 . . . . 3,333,292 10 In 1836 . . . . 5,243,296 9 2 In 1837 .... 1,459,900 12 6 In 1838 .... 896,992 10 1 In 1839 . . . - 1,346,772 10 In 1840 .... 581,264 7 6 The facts stated by Lord Stanley are perfectly correct ; but they do not controvert the conclusions drawn by Mr. Buller. The sales of 1835 and 1836 were no doubt swelled by the speculative spirit of the period ; but it is just as obvious that the great falling off in the latter years has been the result of the extraordinary commercial distress that has pressed on the United States all the time. The only subject for wonder is that during such a period of distress as that from 1837 to 1840 there should have been so much as 4,284,930 to spare for the purchase of land. Foot note in Mr. Murray's Publication. 488 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., actually has been done in the United States ; and done, let me remark, without the object of promoting emigration, almost without that of getting revenue : for it is very clear that the primary object with which the system of sale was established was not that of getting money, but of preventing that jobbing and favouritism which cannot be avoided where the government has the power of making gratuitous grants of land. The experiment cannot be regarded as a test of the largest amount which could be got for the land, con- sistently with a due regard to other public objects, because, in the first place, there have been large exceptional grants, which have brought a great amount of unbought land into the market. There has been a large amount of additional land, not under the control of the general government, and which had been sold by the old states, particularly Maine. And, above all, the price has, as I said, never been fixed with a view to getting the greatest amount of revenue. There is not the slightest reason to doubt that the same amount of land might have been sold at a higher price. Indeed, we know that the amount of land sold did not increase in consequence of the great diminution of price from two dollars to a dollar and a quarter in 1819; but actually fell off very considerably, and did not recover itself for the next ten years. I have very little doubt that the same amount of land would have been sold at our price of a pound ; and that the sum of eighty millions might thus have been realized in forty-five years as easily as that of twenty- three millions actually was. I tell you what has actually been done, and what we may safely infer might have been done by a country, which, with all its vast territory, possesses actually a less amount of available land than is included within our empire ; which has now a much less, and had when all this began, a very much less population than ours ; and with a far less propor- tion even of that available for emigration ; and which, with all its activity and prosperity, possesses an amount of avail- able capital actually insignificant when compared with ours. Imagine what would have been the result, had we at the period in which the American government commenced its sales, applied the same principle with more perfect details to the waste lands of our colonies, and used the funds derived from such sales in rendering our Far West as accessible to our people as the valleys of the Ohio and Missouri to the settlers in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of our countrymen, who now with their families people the ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 489 territory of the United States, would have been subjects of the British Crown ; as many ay, even more who have passed their wretched existence in our workouses or crowded cities, or perished in Irish famines, or pined away in the more lingering torture of such destitution as Great Britain has too often seen, would have been happy and thriving on fertile soils and under genial climates, and making really our country that vast empire which encircles the globe. In every part of the world would have risen fresh towns, inhabited by our people; fresh ports would have been crowded by our ships ; and harvests would have waved where the silence of the forest still reigns. What now would have been our commerce ! What the population and revenue of our empire ! This, Sir, is one of those subjects on which we may not embody in precise form the results which cal- culation justifies us in contemplating, lest sober arithmetic should assume the features of sanguine fancy. But this much I think I may say, that the experience of America justifies us in believing that if we, like the people of that country, had begun half a century ago, to turn our waste lands to account, we should have had a larger population, and a greater accumulation of wealth than we now have ; and yet that over-population and over-production, and low wages, and low profits, and destitution, and distress, and discontent, would have been words of as little familiarity and meaning in our ears, as they are in those of the people of the United States. We need, then, feel little doubt but that the new system of colonization has shown itself capable of producing all the economical results which it professes to attain. But I cannot quit the subject of its practical working, without calling your attention to effects quite as important, which it has shown itself capable of realizing in the way of changing the character and spirit in which our colonization has hitherto been conducted. If you wish colonies to be rendered generally useful to all classes in the mother- country if you wish them to be prosperous, to reflect back the civilization, and habits, and feelings of their parent stock, and to be and long to remain integral parts of your empire care should be taken that society should be carried out in something of the form in which it is seen at home that it should contain some, at least, of all the elements that go to make it up here, and that it should continue under those influences that are found effectual for keeping us together in harmony. On such principles alone have the foundations of successful 490 SPEECH OF CHAELES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., colonies been laid. Neither Phoenician, nor Greek, nor Roman, nor Spaniard no, nor our own great forefathers when they laid the foundations of an European society on the continent, and in the islands of the Western World, ever dreamed of colonizing with one class of society by itself, and that the most helpless for shifting by itself. The fore- most men of the ancient republics led forth their colonies ; each expedition was in itself an epitome of the society which it left; the solemn rites of religion blessed its departure from its home ; and it bore with it the images of its country's gods, to link it for ever by a common worship to its ancient home. The government of Spain sent its dignified clergy out with some of its first colonists. The noblest families in Spain sent their younger sons to settle in Hispaniola, and Mexico, and Peru. Raleigh quitted a brilliant court, and the highest spheres of political ambition, in order to lay the foundation of the colony of Virginia ; Lord Baltimore and the best Catholic families founded Maryland ; Penn was a courtier before he became a colonist ; a set of noble proprie- tors established Carolina, and intrusted the framing of its constitution to John Locke ; the highest hereditary rank in this country below the peerage was established in connexion with the settlement of Nova Scotia ; and such gentlemen as Sir Harry Vane, Hampden, and Cromwell did not disdain the prospect of a colonial career. In all these cases the emigration was of every class. The mass, as does the mass everywhere, contributed its labour alone ; but they were encouraged by the presence, guided by the counsels, and supported by the means of the wealthy and educated, whom they had been used to follow and honour in their own country. In the United States the constant and large migration from the old to the new states is a migration of every class ; the middle classes go in quite as large propor- tion as the labouring ; the most promising of the educated youth are the first to seek the new career. And hence it is that society sets itself down complete in all its parts in the back settlements in the United States ; that every political, and social, and religious institution of the old society is found in the new at the outset : that every liberal profession is abundantly supplied; and that, as Captain Marryat remarks, you find in a town of three or four years' standing, in the back part of New York or Ohio, almost every luxury of the old cities. And thus was colonization always conducted, until all our ideas on the subject were perverted by the foundation of ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 491 convict colonies ; and emigration being associated in men's minds with transportation, was looked upon as the hardest punishment of guilt, or necessity of poverty. It got to be resorted to as the means of relieving parishes of their paupers ; and so sprung up that irregular, ill-regulated emigration of a mere labouring class which has been one of the anomalies of our time. The state exercised not the slightest control over the hordes whom it simply allowed to leave want in one part of the empire for hardship in another; and it permitted the conveyance of human beings to be carried on just as the avidity and rashness of shipowners might choose. I am drawing no picture of a mere fanciful nature, but am repeating the solemn assertions of the legis- lature of Lower Canada, confirmed by Lord Durham's re- port, when I say that the result of this careless, shameful neglect of the emigrants was, that hundreds and thousands of pauper families walked in their rags from the quays of Liverpool and Cork into ill-found, unsound ships, in which human beings were crammed together in the empty space which timber was to be stowed in on the homeward voyage. Ignorant themselves, and misinformed by the government of the requisites of such a voyage, they suffered throughout it from privations of necessary food and clothing ; such priva- tions, filth, and bad air were sure to engender disease ; and the ships that reached their destination in safety, generally deposited some contagious fever, together with a mass of beggary, on the quays of Quebec and Montreal. No medical attendance was required by law, and the provision of it in some ships was a creditable exception to the general practice. Of course, where so little thought was taken of men's physical wants, their moral wants were even less cared for ; and as the emigrants went without any minister of re- ligion or schoolmaster in their company, so they settled over the vacant deserts of Canada without church or school among them. Respectable tradesmen and men possessed of capital shrunk from such associations ; and if their necessities compelled them to quit their own country for a new one, they went as a matter of course to the United States. The idea of a gentleman emigrating was almost unheard of, unless he emigrated for a while as a placeman ; and I recollect when Colonel Talb'ot was regarded as a kind of innocent monomaniac, who, from some strange caprice, had committed the folly of residing on his noble Canadian estate. Within the last ten or twelve years a great change has 492 SPEECH OF CHAELES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., come over this state of things ; within the last three or four years our colonization has entirely altered its character. The emigration to Port Philip, South Australia, and New Zealand, has been an emigration of every class, with capital in due proportion to labourers ; with tradesman and artisans of every kind, and with the framework of such social institu- tions as the settlers have been used to in their native land. Clergymen and schoolmasters, and competent men of every liberal profession, are among the earliest emigrants ; artists and men of science resort to a new field for their labours ; in the foundation of the settlement you find funds set apart for public works, for religious endowments, and even for colleges. Associations of a religious and charitable and literary nature are formed at the outset ; and these are in- tended to benefit not only the poor emigrants, but the help- less native, who is brought into contact with a superior race. To such settlements men of birth and refinement are tempted to emigrate ; they do so in great numbers. I will be bound to say, that more men of good family have settled in New Zealand in the three years since the beginning of 1840, than in British North America in the first thirty years of the present century. It is notorious that the greatest change has taken place in the public feeling on this point, and that a colonial career is now looked upon as one of the careers open to a gentleman. This change in the character of colonization this great change in the estimation in which it is held, is of greater moment than the mere provision of means for conducting emigration without cost to the public. It makes colonization, indeed, an extension of civilized society, instead of that mere emigration which aimed at little more than shovelling out your paupers to where they might die, without shocking their betters with the sight or sound of their last agony. I come, then, before you to-night as the advocate of no new fancy of my own, of no untried scheme for the realiza- tion of unattainable results. The remedy which I propose is one which the experience of the world has approved ; and the mode in which I would apply it is one which sufficient experience justifies me in describing as of recognised efficacy in the opinion of all practical authorities. The great prin- ciples of the plan of colonization which I urge have been formally but unequivocally adopted by the government of this country ; they have been adopted with the general sanction of public opinion here; and the colonies, as we well know, are clamorous for the extension of a system ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 493 which they feel to have already given an amazing stimulus to their prosperity, and to which they look as the only means of enabling their progress to be steady. I ask, then, for no experiment. The tiling has been tried, and I call upon you to make more use of the remedy, which has proved to be sound. If you think that on the system which is now recog- nised as the sound one, the benefits of colonization may be practically secured, then I say that the only question that remains for us is, whether and how that system can be so far extended as to realize its utmost results. For it is clear that, if it contains the means of greater relief, the condition of the country requires its extended application. It is equally clear that, though it has done great good already, it has been put in operation with no system or steadiness, not always quite heartily, certainly with no readiness to profit by ex- perience for the purpose of either amending or extending it. It has, nevertheless, called into existence a large fund, which was not in being before. Those lands, which from all time had been barren and nominal domains the mere materials for jobbing, this discovery has converted into a valuable pro- perty ; and it has also shown you how to apply them, so as to make them most productive to the general good of the colonies, by effecting the importation of labour. But I think I am justified in saying that, under such circumstances, the system has never been turned to full account; that if the people of the United States can purchase two millions of pounds' worth of land a-year, there is spare capital in this country to purchase something more than one-eighth of that amount; and if they can dispose of some seven or eight millions a-year, we could dispose of more than one-thirtieth of that quantity; that if they can take annually from us 50,000 emigrants, besides at least as large a number from their own country, our Australian colonies could take more than one- seventh of that total amount. If we could only realize the same results as actually are realized in the United States, we should get two millions, on the average, instead of 250,0007. a-year, from the sale of our lands ; and the means of sending out, free of cost, some 110,000 instead of 10,000 or 12,000 poor persons every year, in addition to the large unassisted emigration that goes on. If, with our vastly superior wealth and immeasurably larger emigrant population, we fall so lamentably short of the results actually realized in the United States nay, if with such superior powers we do not realize much greater results I say it is sufficient proof that there is some defect in the mode of applying a sound principle. 494 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., It is no defect of inclination on the part of the people to better their fortunes in another part of the empire ; the amount of voluntary emigration shows that. It is no defect of inclination on the part of capitalists to invest their money in the purchase of colonial lands ; there is never any difficulty in getting money in any sound system of colonization. The defect must be in the mode of facilitating the access of labour to the colonies ; it must be from our not making the most of the good principles on which we go. I say it is our bounden duty to have the matter investigated thoroughly ; and to dis- cover and remove the faults of detail that prevent our satis- fying our present most extreme need, by devising, from a sound principle, the utmost benefits that colonization can produce. It is clear that the public not the ignorant and thoughtless but men of the greatest speculative research men of the greatest practical knowledge and interest in com- merce, such as those who have signed the recent memorials to the right honourable baronet, from this great city, and the other principal parts of the kingdom ; it is clear, I say, that the public look to colonization as affording a means of relief for our national difficulties. It is our business to prove whether that hope is sound or unsound; and either without delay to expose its want of truth, and clear it out from the public mind as a delusion that can only do harm; or, seeing it to be sound, to take care that it shall be realized, and that the means of good which God has placed at our disposal shall be turned to their full account. To do one of these things is our imperative duty. Above all, it is a duty most binding on her Majesty's government, who alone can be the instru- ment of thoroughly sifting such matter who alone can give practical effect to the results of such inquiry. It is a duty of which, if they should, contrary to my hopes, neglect it, it becomes this House to remind them. And it is with this view that I have ventured to bring forward the motion of to-night. It is not my purpose to propose any specific measure to the House. And in the first place let me guard myself against the supposition that I mean to propose anything of a kind to which I have the very strongest objection namely, compulsory emigration. Most assuredly I have no thought of proposing that any one should be compelled to emigrate. So far from proposing compulsory emigration, I should object to holding out to any man any inducement to quit his country. On this ground I deprecate anything like making emigration an alternative for the Union Workhouse. I am ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 495 very dubious of the propriety of even applying parish rates in aid of emigration. My object would be that the poor of this country should be accustomed to regard the means of bettering their condition in another part of the empire as a great boon offered them not a necessity imposed on them by government. I do not wonder that in the old days of convict colonies and pauper emigration they shrank from colonization, and responded to Mr. Cobbett's denunciation of the attempt of their rulers to transport them. But a better feeling has now sprung up, together with a better knowledge of the subject. The difficulty is now not to inveigle emi- grants, but to select among the crowds of eager applicants ; and the best portion of the labouring classes are now as little inclined to look on the offer of a passage to the colonies as a punishment, or a degradation, as a gentleman would be to entertain the same view of an offer of cadetship or writer- ship for one of his younger sons. The prejudice is gone ; and I did imagine that the attempt to appeal to it by the agency of stale nick-names was not likely to be made in our day, had I not been undeceived by some most furious invectives against the gentlemen who signed the City memorials, which were recently delivered at Drury Lane theatre, on one of those nights on which the legitimate drama is not performed. I cannot imagine that my esteemed friend the member for Stockport (Mr. Cobden), who is reported on that occasion to have been very successful in representing the character of a bereaved grandmother, can help, on sober reflection, feeling some compunction for having condescended to practice on the ignorance of his audience by the use of clap-traps so stale, and representations so unfounded; and for bringing just the same kind of unjust charges against honest men engaged in an honest cause, as he brushes so indignantly out of his own path when he finds them opposed to him in his own pursuit of a great public cause. I must attribute this deviation from his usual candour to the influence of the unseen genius of the place in which he spoke, and suppose that he believed it would be out of keeping in a theatre to appeal to men's passions otherwise than by fiction. It is not my purpose to suggest interference on the part of government to induce emigration, except by merely facilitat- ing access to the colonies by the application of the land-fund to that object. To do this more effectually than it now does is what I ask of it, and for this purpose I only ask it to per- fect the details of the system now in force. Carry out, I say of her Majesty's government, the system which was begun 496 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLEK, ESQ., M.P., by the Regulations of 1832, and by the appointment of Land and Emigration Commission, to which you made a valuable addition when you sanctioned the principle of the Act of last session, which secured the system of disposing of the lands of the colonies against the caprice of Colonial Governors, and even of Secretaries of State. Carry it out with the same sound purpose at bottom, but with more deliberate consideration of details than it was possible for the noble lord to apply to a matter of so difficult a nature, which he brought in a few months after entering on the duties of his department. I suppose that the noble lord cannot set such store by the details of a measure so rapidly prepared, that he will deny that they may be possibly amended on reconsideration ; that in fact many of the details of a sound and large system of colonization are not touched by his Act ; and that, until they are matured by assiduous inquiry, the principle can never be fairly tried, or rendered productive of the full amount of good of which it was capable. There are some most important questions which require to be fully investigated before the system of colonization can with prudence be placed on any permanent footing; and I think it right to mention the most important of them, in order to impress upon the house how much of the success of any scheme must depend on their being rightly adjusted. There is, in the first place, a very important question as to the possibility of applying to the rest of our colonies the system which is now in force only in the Australian. It has never yet been satisfactorily explained what causes prevent the application of the principle to the land that lies open for settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, speaking not merely of the present limits of the colony, but of the boundless unappropriated extent which adjoins it superior, apparently, in natural fertility, and free from all proprietary claims on the part of individuals. With respect to the North American colonies, I am aware that some difficulties are presented by the partial cession of the crown lands contained within them to the control of their respective legislatures. With the control of these legislatures I should not be disposed to interfere, even if the Imperial Government retain the strict legal right ; but I am so convinced that the interests of the mother-country and the colonies with respect to emigration are identical, that I have no doubt that the colonial legisla- tures would rejoice to co-operate with the imperial govern- ment in the adoption of the general principles of such a plan as might be deemed most conducive to the good of the ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 497 empire. At any rate, viewing the magnitude and importance of these colonies, and their proximity to Great Britain, they ought not to be excluded from the general plan without the fullest inquiry. But there are very important questions with respect to the mode of applying the principles, which are still matters of doubt and controversy. Thus it is yet a question what is the " sufficient price" which the government should endeavour to secure from the lands in each colony. It is obvious that no more should be asked than may be applied so as to attract labourers to the colony ; whatever more is imposed is a partial tax on immigrants and agriculture for the general purposes of the community, and would actually deter instead of attract settlers. On the other hand, it is contended that the price is in many instances still so low as to lead to too great an accumulation of land in private hands at the first formation of settlements ; and to the subsequent drying up of government sales and land-fund when the first pur- chasers are compelled to bring their lands back into the market. It will be seen that it is of the utmost importance to the right working of the system that the right price should be ascertained, not only in a rough and general way, but in the case of each colony. Another question of considerable importance is, how this sufficient price should be got whether by fixing it on all lands as both minimum and maximum, or by trying to get the highest price which may be offered at an auction. By the latter plan it is said that the full worth of the land is most sure to be got. While it is objected to it that, besides operating with peculiar unfairness on all persons of known enterprise and skill, the tendency of the auction system is to encourage great competition for favoured town lots, lavish expenditure at the outset, an exhaustion of the capital necessary to give value to the purchase, and a consequent stagnation of the settlement after the first feverish burst of speculative ardour ; that the system of uniform price, by giving to the purchaser all the advantages derivable from the possession of peculiarly advantageous sites, presents the greatest attraction to purchasers, and gives the surest stimulus to energy in developing the resources of the colony; and that though the auction system may bring in the greatest amount of money to government at first, it will be found that, in the course of a few years, the steady produce of a fixed price will make the largest return. A subsidiary question to this is, whether the same principle of price should be K R 498 SPEECH OF CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P., uniformly applied to all kinds of land, or any distinction made between different qualities. But a far more important matter, still in dispute, is, whether the whole of the land fund shall be devoted to the introduction of labourers, or whether a portion shall be applied to the general expenses of the colony. It is said, on the one hand, that if the object be to apply the land-fund so as to render the colony attractive to settlers, the formation of roads and public works is as requisite to that end as the supply of labour. To this it is answered, that the applying of the largest possible amount of money to the importation of labour is the surest way of increasing the population, the increase of population the surest way of raising the ordinary revenue from taxes, out of which all necessary works may be provided ; and that applying any portion of the land-fund to the general expenses of the colony is merely placing at the disposal of irresponsible authority an additional and easily- acquired fund, which will be sure to be expended with that shameless extravagance, which, whether in New South Wales, or South Australia, or New Zealand, is the curse of our colonies, and the scandal of our colonial system. There is a question of even greater magnitude and difficulty than any of these; and that is, the question whether, viewing the great necessity of supplying labour in the early period of the colony's existence, it may not be advisable to anticipate the proceeds of the land sales by a loan raised on the security of future sales; and in this instance only has aid been demanded from the mother country in the form of a guarantee, which would enable the colony to raise money at a moderate interest. If the prin- ciple on which this suggestion is made be sound, it is of paramount importance, because it would really be bridging over the ocean, and enabling the future purchasers to repair at once to the spot which they are to render productive. No doubt great caution would be requisite in thus forestalling the resources of a colony ; and I should deprecate such extravagant suggestions of large loans as have been some- times proposed. But, on the other hand, a debt con- tracted for such a purpose is not unproductive waste of capital, such as our national debt, nor is it to be likened to the debts of individuals contracted for the enjoyment of the moment. It is rather to be compared to those debts which wise landlords often deliberately contract, for the purpose of giving an additional value to their estates, or to the loans by which half the enterprises of trade are undertaken, and which ON SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION. 499 are to be regarded as resources of future wealth, not em- barrassment. The proposal of a loan in anticipation of the land-fund has been recently urged on the government from a quarter deserving of great weight I mean the legislative council of New South Wales in a report, which, I trust, has been successful in correcting an erroneous notion most fatal to colonial interests, to which the noble lord (Lord Stanley) gave rather an incautious expression last year, I mean the notion that the Australian colonies were at that time rather over-supplied with labour. It appears that the term over- supply is correct only as respects the means of paying the cost of emigration out of the land sales of the year ; that the colony exhausted its means of bringing over labourers, but that it is still, in fact, craving for it as much as ever ; that the supply of nearly 24,000 labourers in one year, far from overstocking the labour-market, had produced no material reduction of wages; that the labourers and artisans imported that year were getting ample wages, and that the colony still continued capable of absorbing an annual free importa- tion of 10,000 or 12,000 of the labouring classes. I have briefly adverted to these important points without suggesting the decision which, I think, ought to be made with respect to any of them. The details of a plan of colonization are obviously matters in which it would be idle for any one not a member of the executive government to make any specific suggestions. To discuss the general bearings of such a question, and to impress its general importance on the general government, is all that appears to me to lie practically within the competence of this House. It is with the government that the investigation of such details as I have adverted to, and the preparation of specific measures must rest. They have the best means of collecting the most correct information and the soundest opinions on the subject. I have no wish to take the discharge of their duties on myself. I think this a stage of the question in which it would tend to no good purpose to call in the cum- brous and indecisive action of a committee of this House : but that I have done my duty when, after thus explaining the grave necessities of our condition, and sifting the prac- ticability of the remedy which seems most efficient, I leave the question, with its niceties of detail and responsibilities of execution, in the hands of the advisers of the Crown. But I leave it not as a question to be discussed by one par- ticular department as a matter of detail, or as a mere K K 2 500 SPEECH or CHARLES BULLER, ESQ., M.P. colonial question, but as one of general import to the condi- tion of England. The remedy, which I thus call on her Majesty's ministers to investigate, is one on which inquiry can excite no illusory hopes ; for, though I believe that its adoption would give an immediate impulse to enterprise, it is one of which the greater results cannot be expected for some few years. It is one, too, which, if it fails of giving relief to the extent that I have contemplated, cannot fail of bettering the condition of many, and of extending the resources and widening the basis of our empire. The honourable and learned Member proposed the fol- lowing motion : " That an humble address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that she will take into her most gracious consideration the means by which extensive and systematic colonization may be most effectually rendered available for augmenting the resources of Her Majesty's empire, giving additional employment to capital and labour, both in the United Kingdom and in the colonies, and thereby bettering the condition of her people." APPENDIX No. II. A LETTER FEOM CEETAIN NEW-ZEALAND COLONISTS TO MR. HAWES, I XDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES. 70, Jermyn Street, 5th Oct., 1846. SIR, In accordance with the suggestions so courteously expressed by you to some of our number that we should write down some of our ideas, on the subject of the Orders in Council to be framed in pursuance of the recent New Zealand Government Act, we beg to submit to you the following observations. We have, however, to request that you will excuse the rough form in which they appear, owing to the necessity which there has been for their prompt consideration and arrangement; and also that, if in the course of them you should remark any freedom in urging opinions somewhat at variance with those pre-conceived by her Majesty's Govern- ment, you will ascribe the fact to our wish to meet in a cordial spirit the invitation which you have made to us to state, without reservation, views which we believe will be approved by the leading members of the communities with which we are connected. Our attention has been first called to the powers which are to be granted to the proposed Municipal Corporations. Putting aside, for the present, their function of electing representatives to a Provincial Assembly, we fear that the local powers which may be granted under the act to the Municipal Corporation of each settlement are not sufficiently large. The settlements now existing in New Zealand are scat- tered at a considerable distance one from the other; and the next settlement which is likely to be founded, that of the 502 LETTER TO ME. HAWES. Free Church of Scotland, is intended to be placed at Otago, four hundred miles from the nearest of the others. From the varying nature of the country, and the different classes of colonists who are likely to proceed in large bodies from this side of the world, each body to found a distinct planta- tion, the settlements may, in a short time, vary as much in character and circumstances as they are actually distant from one another. We may here again instance the pro- posed Scotch colony, which will consist entirely of emigrants from Scotland, who are as little acquainted with the details and forms of English law as the English settlers of Welling- ton and Nelson are with those to which the Scotchmen have been accustomed. We may remark that, while discussing the details of the proposed institutions, we have discovered that these colonists are not acquainted with the duties of a Coroner or of a Recorder, at any rate under these names. In some other points the difference will be equally striking. We can conceive, for instance, that a much lower rate of franchise would secure as desirable a class of voters among the Scotchmen as could only be attained by a high rate among the mixed British population of the Cook's Strait settlements, which already number many immigrants from the neighbouring penal colonies, and which may probably be for the next few years subject to such immigration. A colony such as has been proposed in particular connexion with the Church of England, to be founded in the plain of Wairarapa, near Wellington, might require certain local institutions different from those of its neighbour. A still more striking instance would occur, if the success of the few French colonists who have taken root at Akaroa, in Banks's Peninsula, should encourage others to follow them in large numbers, willing to submit to a general British allegiance, provided that they may enjoy, in their own particular locality, the peculiar usages and privileges to which they have been accustomed in their native country. Again, one community may, from its position, be almost exclusively pastoral, another agricultural, and a third manufacturing or com- mercial; while present appearances promise that some dis- tricts may derive their prosperity in great measure from mining operations. We are inclined to believe that the toleration of these distinctive features in the different plantations of a new country will be productive of no mischief; but that, on the contrary, each separate community will flourish the more, LETTER TO MR. HAWES. 503 and even contribute the more to the general prosperity, the more it is allowed to mnnage its own affairs in its own way. We conceive Burke to have been of this opinion, when he wrote the words quoted by Sir Robert Peel in the debate on New Zealand, during the session of 1845, praising the municipal institutions which laid the foundations of repre- sentative government in our old colonies of North America, and which still exist in the United States under the name of " townships." We have reason to believe that Governor Grey is so far of our opinion that he has recommended the division of the present general government of New Zealand into as many subordinate governments of the same form, each with a lieutenant-governor, and legislative council, as there are separate settlements. He has already, indeed, introduced the great improvement of publishing the revenue and ex- penditure of each settlement, separately from the general accounts of the colony ; and he promised the inhabitants of Nelson that he would " eventually recommend a local council, with powers to enact laws, subject to the approval of the Governor, in accordance with the wants and wishes of the settlers;" thus almost advocating the establishment of a provincial assembly, rather than a mere municipal corpora- tion, in each settlement. We therefore earnestly desire that each distinct settlement or "township" should have power to make all laws and regulations for its own local government, not being repug- nant to the laws of Great Britain, or to those of the General Assembly on the nine points reserved for its jurisdiction, by section 7th of the Act, or to those made by the provincial assembly for the peace, order, and good government of the province in which it is situated, as provided for by the 5th section. We fear that under the present Act such powers could not be at once given to " municipal corporations" constituted here by letters patent, as they would exceed those " which in pursuance of the statutes in that behalf made and pro- vided, it is competent to her Majesty to grant to the inha- bitants of any town or borough in England and Wales in virtue of such statutes." (sect. 2.) But if we are not mistaken in conceiving that it would be expedient to grant such extensive powers, for local purposes, to the "municipal corporation" of each separate settlement, we can suggest a means by which this may be done without exceeding the limits of the Act. The " municipal corpora- 504 LETTER TO MB. HAWES. tions" may be constituted at first only for the purpose of electing members to a Provincial House of Representatives, and the provincial assembly may then legislate for the powers to be enjoyed by each separate corporation, or may pass a law to the effect that these bodies shall have the power of legislating on all local purposes, such legislation not being repugnant, &c., as before recommended. We are the more impressed with the expediency of some such arrangement, because we are convinced that it is essential to secure in each settlement the services of the leading colonists as officers of its corporation, since those officers are to chose the members for the Representative Chamber of their Provincial Assembly. The colonists who are most fit for this important trust might be unwilling to exercise it, if with its exercise were coupled the necessity of acting as Common Councilman or Alderman of a Borough, confined in its powers like those of England and Wales. We should even desire to see a provision for the erection of any one or more "Municipal Corporations" into a sepa- rate Province, as soon as it or they should apply for it, and could fairly show an ability to provide the necessary civil list. We imagine that the power of enacting such a change might be vested in the General Assembly, subject of course to the approval of the Government in England, like all its other measures. This provision would at any rate act as a remedy, should it be found that too many communities were included in one Province, and that the Provincial Assembly was legislating for matters beyond the powers of the particular Municipal Corporations, which could be better managed by persons more immediately and locally interested. To give an instance, it would be desirable that Otakou should, upon its application for the change, and production of evidence that it could provide its own civil list, have a right to be separated from an Assembly consisting of members from many communities of different character from its own, and legislating at a distance of four hundred miles for matters comparatively local: or again, Nelson might complain of being taxed by a Provincial Assembly which should include it along with Wellington and New Plymouth, for the ex- pense of making a road between the two latter settlements. We are anxious that, if possible, the settlements in the north part of the islands should enjoy the same civil rights as those which are to be granted to the southern settlements. We should regret to see any use made of the 9th Section, which provides for the continuance of the present form of LETTER TO MR. HA WES. 505 government in the northern part of the islands until 1854, should such a course appear advisable. We are aware of tlio difficulties arising from the fact that extensive tracts of land in their neighbourhood are held by individuals under title from the Crown, so as to obstruct a system of coloniza- tion similar to that pursued in the Company's settlements. And we are aware that what is termed the "native question," in that part of the country where the natives, credulous in the intrinsic value of the waste lands which they have learned to claim, and indisposed to submit to British authority, are very numerous, may prevent the immediate establishment of Municipal Corporations legislating for the local wants of extensive districts like those in the south. But we would suggest that " Municipal Corporations " be established in the northern districts, within boundaries, at first, as small as the Governor (with whom the settlement of the " native question" rests) may think fit to determine, but that within these necessarily circumscribed boundaries the inhabitants should receive privileges of local self-government similar to those of the south. The boundaries might be afterwards extended as the natives might either abandon their imme- diate vicinity, or request to be admitted within the pale of British law. We cannot refrain from expressing our doubts as to the expediency of the proposed election of Members to the Pro- vincial House of Representatives by the officers of the Cor- porations. We freely own that we should have preferred two distinct elections, one for the officers of the Corporations, and another for the Representatives to the Assembly. But in proportion as larger local powers are granted to the Municipal Corporations, and these bodies thus become in fact, if not in name, inferior Provincial Assemblies, our mis- trust of this rather novel provision diminishes. If the officers of the Corporation are to perform duties such as those of an alderman or common councilman of an English town or borough, we object strongly to their having a main voice in choosing members for the Provincial House of Representa- tives, because, as we before stated, the best colonists will not have consented to perform the ungenial duties in order to secure the vote. But if the " Municipal Corporation " possess the " Township" powers which we have above recommended, its offices would confer sufficient dignity and importance to induce the best colonists to accept them; and they, being the elite, as it were, of the general body of electors, might, without disadvantage, be empowered to select the Representatives. 506 LETTER TO MR. HA WES. We approach the question of franchise with some diffi- dence, because we are unaware how far our views as to the large local powers necessary for the " Municipal Corpora- tions" will be agreed to by her Majesty's Government. We should, however, be unwilling to give an opinion as to what qualification would secure success to the scheme, if the Municipal Corporations were to have only the powers of bodies which bear that name in England and Wales; be- cause we should conceive that the functions of such bodies were totally distinct from those of choosing a representative. The suggestions, therefore, that we offer on this point, are based on the assumption that each Municipal Corporation is to enjoy those powers of local legislation for which we have been pleading. The object of any qualification is to secure that the men most fitted for the duties should be chosen as officers of the corporations. They must be the men most fitted, not only to carry on the local legislation of the " township," but also to select members for the representative house of an Assem- bly, which makes all laws for the whole province, except on the nine points reserved for the General Assembly. We are of opinion that, at any rate in the existing settle- ments and for the present, it would be very dangerous to ex- tend the franchise too much by making the qualification for a voter too low, trusting to a higher qualification for the per- son to be elected. This arrangement allows mischievous and intriguing individuals, who have no difficulty in provid- ing themselves with the higher qualification, to obtain the suffrages of a low and comparatively ignorant class of voters through bribery or other corrupting means. A remarkable instance of this occurred at the election which took place at Wellington in October 1842, for the officers of a corporation which possessed very limited powers. Every male adult who chose to pay 17. sterling to have his name registered, was privileged to vote ; and any voter was qualified for elec- tion : 350 persons obtained the franchise ; and of course the small sum of money was paid for many of them by parties who wished to secure their votes. In one case, a committee for the election of certain persons had given 257. to a colonist who had great influence over a number of High- land labourers, in order that he should register twenty-five of their votes, and make them vote for the committee's list. The leader of the opposing candidates, however, knew the laird's failing set to drinking with him at breakfast- time till he had won his heart, and then marched reeling arm-in-arm LETTER TO MR. HAWES. 507 with him to the poll, followed by the twenty-five High- landers, who were in the same state ; and who all voted for the man who had so disgraced himself and them. He was an auctioneer, who had joined the community of Wellington from Van Diemen's Land, and w r ho had always distinguished himself by courting the admiration of the most ignorant por- tion of the inhabitants. He was comparatively uneducated; and very unfit, at any rate, to exercise such influence as he would do, among voters qualified by a small stake in the country. A high qualification for candidates would not have excluded him; he would easily have procured that qualifica- tion, and then have resorted to the same means of procuring votes, so long as the voters included a class comparatively ignorant, careless of their reputation, and easily swayed by mere mob oratory and dishonourable artifice. We should be content, then, to allow of a qualification for candidate no higher than that for voter, provided that the franchise is only extended so as to include those labourers who shall have earned sufficient money to buy some land, or to hold a considerable quantity as tenants ; thus proving, to a certain degree, not only their steadiness and intelligence, but their determination to retain an interest in the country. Supposing the franchise to be so arranged, we can conceive no reason why such persons should not be perfectly eligible to the office of a councilman. On the contrary, we should be glad to see, if possible, a certain proportion of such men in the governing body of each municipality, because we distinctly consider them to be included among the best colonists. We are thus averse to a qualification for a candidate higher than that for a voter, but strongly in favour of a qualification for both which shall depend on holding a sufficient stake in the colony to prevent the selection of unfit persons. With our knowledge and experience of the present population of the existing settlements, we are in favour of a scale of qualification which may at first sight appear very high ; but we will begin by stating it, and afterwards adduce some reasons to justify it. The right to vote should, in our opinion, be confined to persons : 1st. Owning a freehold estate in land of the value of fifty pounds sterling, clear of all charges and encumbrances. 2nd. Deriving a beneficial interest from land, to the amount of Jive pounds sterling annually. 3rd. Occupiers or tenants of land, houses, or other tene- ments to the value of fifty pounds sterling annually. 508 LETTER TO MR. HA WES. Provided always that for the purposes of this arrangement, land shall never be estimated at less than the price originally paid for it to the New Zealand Company in their settlements, or to the Crown, or to the natives with the sanction of the Crown, elsewhere. And provided also, that any land to be estimated for these purposes must be held by title derived from the Crown ; that not even, for instance, the occupation of native reserves by natives should give them the franchise, still less that natives admitted on their own application with their own lands (formerly constituting an exceptional terri- tory) should be able to qualify, until the land has been distributed in freehold among individuals of their number by title from the Crown. This will give the Crown the power of determining how soon natives may be competent to enjoy the electoral franchise. It is necessary that we should here explain that the cus- tomary rate of interest on money in New-Zealand and the neighbouring Colonies, is ten per cent., while it is only three per cent, in England, and that the wages of labour are also ordinarily much higher. A freehold qualification in these new settlements of the value of 67. 13s. per annum, is, there- fore, equal to a 40s. per annum freehold qualification in England; and the freehold ownership of land of the value of fifty pounds which we advocate is worth five pounds a year there, but is actually equal to a smaller freehold quali- fication in England. We do not, however, found our estimate of the scale desirable at present only on this calculation, but on a practical view of that scale which will include the most suitable class of voters, and we only adduce the un- deniable difference in the value as at least worthy of con- sideration. We have not failed to seek for precedents as to franchise in some new communities. We find that the qualification for voters in New South Wales is a freehold estate in lands and tenements of the clear value of two hundred pounds ster- ling, though this high qualification is rendered almost null by the granting of the franchise also to householders occupy- ing dwelling houses of the yearly value of 201. in a Colony where scarcely any dwelling house is worth less than this sum. Even in some of the States of the American Union, the qualification is as high as that which we recommend, and in others not far below it. In Massachusets, it is necessary to have an income of 3/. sterling, or a capital of 60/. LETTER TO MR. HA WES. 509 In Rhode Island, a man must possess landed property to the amount of 133 dollars. In Connecticut, he must have property which gives an in- come of 17 dollars. In New Jersey, an elector must have a property of 501. a year. In South Carolina and Maryland, the elector must possess fifty acres of land. It is also of importance to observe, that there is great difficulty in restricting a franchise once established and ex- ercised, while there is comparatively none in extending it; so that a fault on the side of fixing too high a qualification will be easily remedied, but one in the opposite direction will be almost irretrievable. We are of opinion that, under the before -mentioned con- ditions, " Municipal Corporations" under the Act might be advantageously established at once in the existing settle- ments of Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, and Petre, to form a southern province, and in those of Auckland and Russell, to form a northern province. We have included Petre among those, although it contains no more than 200 European inhabitants. But it has a town and country dis- trict of its own under the Company's arrangements; it is upwards of a hundred miles from the nearest of the other settlements; it numbers among its inhabitants four gentle- men who were thought fit for the office of Justice of the Peace under the existing form of government; and, the " Native question" having been recently arranged there by Governor Grey, we have little doubt that its population will rapidly increase; and even in its present state, it will be good economy to let the inhabitants manage their little local matters without having to refer to Wellington or New Ply- mouth. The boundary in this case may be left to be fixed by the Governor, as in the cases of Auckland and Russell; and the Provincial Assembly may be trusted to determine what local powers the little " township" shall exercise. In the case of Wellington, we should recommend that the " Municipal Corporation" extend its jurisdiction over all to the south of a line as follows: The latitude of 40 30' S., from the east coast to the highest ridge of the Tararua mountains ; then southwards along that ridge to the point nearest to any waters of the Waikanae river ; then along that river to its mouth in Cook's Strait; together with the islands of Kapiti and Mana. But the Governor might be allowed to use his discretion in excepting for the present any districts within 510 LETTER TO MR. HAWES. this boundary, as provided for by the 10th section of the Act, so as to meet the difficulties which may arise from the con- tinuance of Rangihaiata in a troublesome attitude. In the case of Nelson, we should recommend the " Muni- cipal Corporation" to extend over all that part of the Middle Island which lies between Cook's Strait and the latitude of 42 south. In the case of New Plymouth, we approve of the boundary recommended in Mr. E. G. Wakefield's letter to Mr. Glad- stone, dated in February, 1846. Although, as we believe Governor Grey has found some difficulty in overcoming the obstacles which his predecessor threw in the way of adjust- ing the " Native Question" at that settlement, the boundary might, in this case also, be left to be fixed by the Governor for the present. We should also desire that a " Municipal Corporation" be constituted at once for|Otakou, to include within its boundaries at least the whole block purchased in that neighbourhood by the Company. We also think it very advisable that some of these exten- sive " Boroughs" should be divided into " Hundreds" or "Wards," with a view to the election of councillors from each such subdivision in proportion to its population. Some of these subdivisions might return no councillor for the present, but any person holding qualification therein should vote in that " Hundred" nearest to his qualification. It would be necessary, with a view to the numerous changes in the state of population which are sure to take place in a country under the process of a rapid colonization, that the powers now possessed by her Majesty to constitute " Muni- cipal Corporations," to extend the boundaries of those first established, or to erect any one sub-division or more of a " borough," into a separate " Municipal Corporation," or to alter and amend the boundaries in any way, be delegated to the Governor, if, as we apprehend, such delegation be pos- sible under the Act. If the proposed Church of England Colony, for instance, should intend to settle in a part of the Wellington borough, at present only inhabited by squatters, and only placed under its jurisdiction in order to include them within the pale of law, the person sent out to order the land to be surveyed for such a settlement might also carry out an application to the Governor to constitute such sub- division of an already existing " borough" into a separate one. Or if, upon the settlement of the " native question," the population in the valley of the Hutt, or at Porirua, should LETTER TO MR. HAWES. 511 so rapidly increase as that the local matters could be better managed by a separate municipality, the Governor might be empowered to grant the application for that boon of a certain amount of population, say one or two thousand souls. We may here observe that the average population of a "township" in the state of Massachusets is about 2000 souls. With regard to the provinces, we are content to propose that at first there should be two. 1. All north of the latitude of the mouth of the Mokau River, including the municipal corporations of Auckland and Russell. 2. All south of the same parallel, including the munici- palities of Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, Petre, and Otakou. We are of opinion that the same qualification which we have recommended as calculated to secure the best class of voters in each municipality, is sufficient for a representative to the provincial assembly, no less than for a councilman ; and this is on the principle before advocated, that you are more secure of a correct choice when the whole body of electors is of a station secured by property, than when you provide that the few persons chosen shall be possessed of a certain property, and leave the choice to a larger body of electors, having less stake in the country, and a lower position to maintain by upright conduct. The representatives from each "municipal corporation" should be in proportion to its population. We are inclined to desire that no ex-officio members should sit in the Provincial House of Representatives; but that officers of the government should offer themselves to the suffrages of the electors, in the same way as in England. Such an arrangement would go far to secure that the officers of the provincial governments should be chosen from among the most estimable of the colonists, and not from among strangers and new comers careless of their welfare, as has almost always been the case under the old form of govern- ment. We should desire, above all, that the legislative councils be composed of persons having a very important stake in the country. At the beginning, indeed, it may be expedient to allow the Governor perfect carte blanche in the selection of legislative councillors ; because the late troubles of the colony have left many persons fitted for so high a station with comparatively little property. We should not, therefore, be 512 LETTER TO ME. HAWES. sorry to leave this discretion entirely with the Governor for at least three years. But during the succeeding three years, no one should be eligible to the legislative council, who had not resided at least two years in the colony, and who did not possess property to the clear value of three thousand pounds sterling, of which at least one thousand should be in real property, in the province to whose legislative council he might be nominated. After these six years no one should be eligible who had not resided at least five years in the colony, and who did not possess property to the clear value of six thousand pounds sterling, of which two thousand must be in real property in the province. All nominations, excepting those made during the first six years, should, in our opinion, be for life, or at any rate for the duration of the Provincial Assembly as then con- stituted. But it should be at the option of the Governor to nominate or not for life, at the end of the six years, any of the persons who had served during any part of that time, but who at the end of it might not possess the highest quali- fication required. It may be necessary that some Govern- ment officers not possessed of the above qualification, should hold seats in the Legislative Council by virtue of their office, as the Judge of the highest Court in the Province, &c. ; and perhaps that the Governor should always preside ; though we should prefer to see him so completely a representative of her Majesty as only to appear even in the Upper House on occasions of dissolution, prorogation, and re-assemblage, and as to introduce Government measures into either House through the medium of responsible Executive Officers. We are convinced that the office of Colonial Governor loses much of its dignity and usefulness, when its holder appears as a violent partisan in a legislative chamber, and the dis- cussion of public objects is converted into an occasion of personal dispute between the representative of royalty and one of the Queen's subjects. We would apply precisely the same principles to the representatives and legislative councillors of the General Assembly as to those of the Provincial Assemblies. The House of Representatives of each Province should be em- powered to choose those of their number to be sent to that of the General Assembly. But it appears to us most essential that the number of members thus deputed by each province should be in pro- portion to the bond fide tax-paying population of such province ; and this would be still more requisite, should it LETTER TO MR. IIAW1 513 be determined against our wish to continue the present form of government in the northern part of the north island ; for in that case, by the 9th section, the Government would be enabled to send to the General House of Representatives a number of mere Government nominees from the northern Province, equal to that of the members really representing the more populous southern Province, and there would be only a mockery of Representative Government on the nine points of legislation reserved for the General Assembly of the islands. Bond fide Representatives, indeed, from any of the settlements, would probably not be found to give their countenance to its deliberations ; as they have on many occasions heretofore refused a seat among the non-official minority in the Legislative Council as at present con- stituted. Although there are some other matters relating to the affairs of New Zealand on which, at some future time, we should be glad of the opportunity of submitting our views to her Majesty's government, we have thought it of importance to confine ourselves at present to that subject which is more immediately under the consideration of Earl Grey, the Orders in Council to be framed under the New Zealand Government Act ; and we beg to repeat that the above sug- gestions have been expressed in some haste, although they contain, as the principles on which they are founded, our deliberate and carefully considered opinions. We would, therefore, respectfully request that we may be allowed to explain or reconsider any points which may not seem suffi- ciently clear in this rough statement ; and we may add that we have also turned our attention to some of the more minute details of the proposed arrangements, with which we have not thought fit to encumber this letter. We have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servants, (Signed) W. CARGILL, leader of the proposed Colony at Otago. E. S. HALSWELL, ex-member of the Legisla- tive Council, N. Z. H. MORE ING, four years Resident and Magis- trate, N. Z. E. JERNINGHAM WAKEFIELD, four years and a half resident in New Zealand. Benjamin Hawes. Esq., M.P. L L LONDON : SAVILI, & EDWARDS, PRINTERS, 4, CHANDOS-STREET, CO VENT-GARDEN. UNIVERSITY OF r MJFORNIA LIBRARY T ,EY ich USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. JAN 1 6 3975 1 0CD GiftC DfcP JUL341992 AUG 7 'M LD 21A-40tn-4,'63 (D647lBlO)476B General Library University of California Berkeley YC 09712 U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY