The Press. — London, England, 1853-05-07 00:00:00

16 states of America to cultivate the rich soils of Trinidad and Guiana, than in purchasing slave labour in foreign dominion , . ? Why should not the owner of an estate in one of these colonies liberate by purchase, and settle upon hie property, a whole gang of slaves from some of the wdrn-ont tobacco or cotton plantations in Virginia and Maryland, taking from them an eugagemeet to repay nut of their wages by instalments au amount sufficient to cover the price of their freedom, the cost of their removal to the colony, and a fair per ventage to meet, the risk of loss ? Looking to the great sacrifices and dangers willingly submitted to by many of the slaves in the I;itittsl States to ettivt their escape to Canasta, it seems reasonable to conclude that they would joyfully 'tempt 14 OM/OS/11W obtain their freedom and their renewal to another pert of the British dominions, of which the climate is far better adapted to their constitution than that of Ca nada. noel to which they migh t be conveyed without risk or hardship, in company wi th their friends inset relations. The ready concurrence of the slaves in such an arrangement may . therefore, 1 think, be reckoned upon, and in the present state of feeling in the United States on the subject of slavery I believe that many of the slave-owners, •es peciallv in the most !anthem the slave states, would no less gladly avail themselves of suet' a mode of relieving themselves from a description of pneperty a Welt it is daily becoming mon• difficult and l. painful to them to re tain. It might also be well worth inquiry on the part of the non-resident owners of West Indian property, whether they might not derive far more advantage frean their es tates than they now do (or are ever likely to do under the present system of manugement) by letting them to expe rienced American planters, who aright 1w induced to come over and occupy them, at the head of their slaves, ennui eipated for the purpose. on su e t' terms as 1 luive suggested. Many Americas planters are known to have gone! to Cu b a, was 1 have no doubt they might with tar more advantage go to a British 'satiny, taking their slaves with them, after giving them their ftVe4l/111 uo condition of paying by in stalments what they would fetch if stele!. For the suceess of measures of this kind, all that seems to lee Iwo...stair: is that the liberated sieves should be treated with the utmost fairness and consideraf , and that provision should be made, by laws to he passed by the Colonial Legislatures (if the existing laws are insufficient for the penresc), f o r the easy recovery of the instalments rite from these immi grants. The attention of the hewed Legislatures was some time since called to the importance of this suhject. We agree with the planters in thinking swill a plan its this ditHoult, if not impossible. to earry out. Indeed it seems open to grave ob jeetion 011 constitutional and social grounds. In what respect, save in moue on l y,does slave, liberated on condition of repaying his employer, by instalments deducted from his wages, the price paid tea' this transfer of his services, resemble a freeman ? The value of an able-bodied negro in the southern states exceeds 1001., and often nulls little short of 200/. The wages of labour in the West Indies vary from is. to 2s. per diem-151. to :101. yearly. Is it probable that, after deducting expenses of maintenance for selland family, the immigrant will be able to repay a debt equal to five or six years of his gross ineome ? And, if he cannot repay it within a limited period, what is his condition except one of servitude ? Nor is anything said of a provision requiring whole families to be purchased collectively for libera tion. Yet without such provision Lord Grey's scheme must have the effect of perpetuating the worst part of the American slave sy stem — the separation of' husband and wife. mother and child. But in truth the whole of this pro ject is crude, impracticable, and unworthy of Lord tirey. In reference to the outcry for economical reform, our author's views appear sound and equitable. He refused to yield to the demands of immediate reduction in official salaries, eon sidering that public servants who had been induced to accept colonial office by the pro mise of it certain rate of payment ought not to be deprived of a portion of their salary without due notice given but, while thus protecting the interests of the Colonial office, he aft'ortled all facilities, and gave every encouragement, to priimpective retrenchments. Lord Harris's pro posnl to submit to a rednetion of 30 per ecnt. on his own salary, while those of subordinate officers should be reduced in a minor degree dmly, is justly commended for its disinterest edness. but disapproved on prineiple. 1. Canada affords materials for a disquisition on responsible governmetit„instly defined by Lora Grey as synonymous with " government "by at party." The administrations of preeed ing years are briefly reviewed. that Lord Elgin's position on aeeeding to power may In' more clearly Understood. Credit is claimed for the appointment of that nobleman—he having principally earned his parliamentary honours in a speech on the debate which upset torch Melbourne's ( iovernment in IS-ll—and occasion taken to repeat a declaration on which Lord THE PRESS. Grey lays great stress, namely, that the colo nies are not retained for the purpose of giving patronage to Downing-street. As the t ;overnor of Canada, by his instructions and the nature of the machine which he is set to watch, can do nothing of his own authority, nor indeed, except in extreme cases, and then only for a time, prevent anything from being done. it is impossible to find matter fi►r exalted praise in the records of Lord Elgin's vice-royalty. for does his patron say more than that he acted lady and prudently—as his orders en joined him to do—and that the unpopularity with which lie was for a time overwhelmed arose front casual ciremustances. But the state of Canadian politics in l sift is a more important matter. It had become necessary, according to our author, to carry on the local government mainly through the agency of the French Cat naulnuis and Liberals, in opposition to the party which claimed to be the exclusive representa tive of loyalty to England, and which on the strength of that assumption had for many years past occupied every lattice in the colony. The natural result followed. The ex-rebels became loyalists—the ex-loyalists, if they did not be come rebels. showed strong symptoms of dis affection. The victors extolled the generosity of at I.;1 A*olllllo it which let bygones be bygones ; the beaten fiction repeated the old cavalier phrase, that their enemies had been forgiven, and they forgotten. In the Compensation Act of 1 s it) M. I atfontaine and his friends exercised. with somewhat imprudent triumph, the power which a majority gave them. Riots ensued, attended with much destruction of property, and some discredit to the governor—a circum stance which Lord Grey judiciously passes over in silence. Nothing further has come either of the measure or of the troubles it led to, except the removal of the seat of govern ment from Montreal to Quebec and Toronto alternately. These troubles, and a paltry an nexattionist movement got up in the United States, to which Lord Grey attaches more than its due share of importance (probably by way of showing what might have happened but for the prudence and foresight of hint governor), constitute the whole history as here related. " Hettreux le peuple dont I'histoire ennuie ;" anal with light taxes, free government, rapid and progressive development of material re. sources, and at population yearly swelled by emigration from the British islands, we see no reason to doubt but that the future of Canada may be as bright as Lord Grey paints it. 3. The political annals of Australia turn principally on three questions—emigration, Crown lands, and transportation. We take them in the order in which they are here enu merated. Lord Grey vindicates himself and his colleagues, with perhaps superfluous ear nestness, against the charge of neglecting to fulfil their duty in providing means for the removal of the surplus population of this country. He points out—as the Emigration Commissioners haul done before him—that any application of public funds to this object could only serve to cheek the exertions of individuals; that the supposed redundancy of the British Population is unreal; and that the contrast usually drawn between the condition of the labourer at home and abroad is, if not wholly fictitious, at least in great measure exaggenttea. His opinion on the state of the home labour market is worth quoting in extenso Instead of seeing any indication of an excess of popula tion iu this country. I observe on every side strong symptoms of the reverse. I know that in every county of England t I might almost say in the United Kingdom), labour and eapital. to a far larger amount than are available. might lw laid out in the improvement taf the lanai, so as to yield au ample return. In those pints of the country with which I am myself Requaintetl, I am tvrtain that the draining alone, which is urgently required, would otxupy for loamy years moils hands than eau be spared from litho work : and as the land hematites better drained it. will pay for higher eithivat• , requiring the permanent employ meat of more labourers. In every other branch tat' national industry awn! is 111%0 xu etidoutMid rapid inerease ill the 111•4111.: of profitably employing labour. No doubt the de mand for labour is alt this moment much greater than is was taul a short time back. and it must be admitted this fur or site years ago there was nmelt more appeamne. than ad present of the market forlabour being glutted ; am even now there are probably particular places where is may lw difficult to rind profitable employment for all the labourers who arts seeking for it. lint even dining the times when imhr,an MAILS 1110,4 depressed, and our l'aopula tl o o was suPring the greatest distress, it was 1 thinl clear that the real difficulty auvse, not from any deficiency SATURDAY, in the field fur employment, or any want of capital to make use of the resources which the country affords, but from circumstances (such as the deficiency in the crops of both potatoes and corn in 1546, and the reaction after the over-speculation in railways), which had deranged our social economy, mid above all from injudicious laws, which prevented industry from flowing into its natural channels, and the effect of which could not be expected to cease immediately on their repeal. This is, we believe, true ; but we are not quite prepared to concur in the statement which im • mediately follows, at least if it be intended to apply to Ireland as well us England : Far from its being true (as the inhabitants of the Aus tralian colonies have been continually told), that there are in our workhouses large numbiws of industrious labourers uho Lase been reduced to the condition of paupers only by the impossibility of finding employment, and who, if enabled to emigrate, would at once become useful members of society, 1 do not hesitate to express my conviction that, except those who have been reduced to distress by age or sickness, there is hardly one to be found a u g the inhabitant! , of our workhouses who has not been brought there either by want of industry or by some fault or misconduct, which, having prevented him from succeeding as an independent labourer at home, would in all probability equally prevent him from succeed lug as an emigrant in any of our colonies. Yet though Lord Grey may, as an eager advocate is apt to do, overstate his case. there are few who will not concur with him in his general conclusion. Of all fantastic, and absurd schemes. that of systematic colonization, as it used to be termed, has always seemed to us the wildest. The theory was, not merely that Englishmen should be helped, privately or publicly, to transfer their labour front a market where it was unsaleable to another which it - commanded, but that Government should exert itself to found at the antipodes a social system like that of England, and to counteract the natural tendency by which, in a new country and a new state of society, manual labour is exalted above all other occupations. However, systematic colonization has hail its day, and the public seems now to understand that indi viduals will choose their own destination and their own employment better than Government can choose either for them. The Emigration Board very wisely limits its interference to that degree of supervision which human it y and public convenience require, and acts merely as trustee or agent for the colonies, in distributing their funds to the best advantage. We agree with Lord Grey that any attempt to recover the price of passages from emigrants once settled in the colony would be merely useless and vexatious ; that any grants for emigration purposes beyond those which are voluntarily furnished by the colonies could not be defended on principle ; and that, of two • opposite evils, a redundancy of labour in the home market is less to be feared than a scarcity. Yet in the apprehensions of those who antici pate that the country will be deserted by its industrial population we cannot share. The increase of the people cannot fail to grow more rapid as the means of subsistence augment. American wages will bring with them Ameri can fertility ; the labourer, early married, has already ceased to dread the union for himself, and pauper apprenticeship for his children ; Australian and Canadian wealth must speedily react upon England ; and, for aught we see to the contrary, the soil may bear denser crops, and show a more continuous surface of culti %Idiot'', though the yearly half million of emi grants should be rather swelled than di minished. On the Crown lands question the opinions of our author arc less satisfactory. Ho is a strenuous advocate of the Wakefield system —that according to which a high price is put on land, with a view to " concentrate" the area of colonization as much as possible, and to reduce the price of labour by preventing the poorer colonist from becoming lumself a land owner. And he likewise vehemently defends the keeping of colonial lands under the control of the Imperial Legislature, contrary to the )pinion of ahnost every other living statesman. With regard to the first of these theories, it is enough to say that, being reduced to practice. it operates only to prevent, or at least to retard, he sale of land, and thereby to favour its =authorised occupation. The assumption of he theorists is, that if a low price be im nosed. such as ss. per were, all the eligible lots All be secured by unimproving or jobbing ;peculators, to the detriment ofbondfide settlers. But a precisely similar difficulty has been eu-