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

SPAIN.

A telegraphic despatch, flitted Aladrid, \lay a, brings
decision 1111 a .ll-I.IIMINIVI'IIed Illit'Stll,ll. The ItOpil
011111 ell IlliM 'Wen entrusted with the cmitoillation lil' all
railway schemes whose execution has tag t.l
The same despatch states that the vonversion of liefecretla
into ConsolidatAll Debt has been rotspentled.
Funds.—Three per Olds., .11! ; Certificates, I.

4'orit•r of general (officers, composed of Tun! Cathcart.
Sir P. lititland. and Sir G. Berkeley, lout just terminated
the inquiry into the charges preferred, at the intaance of
the. C'ottimander-iti-Chief, agaitist ILrjor•(ienensl the Hon.
le. H. F. Compton Cavendish. 'rhot ottieer was itemised
of having written a series of pseinlosil mons lettem to the
bite Duke of Wellington, with the object of destroying the
character of Colonel Hall. M.P., who at the last lore% et sue-
eeeded General Cavemlisli iu the rommatiol of the Ist
Life Guards. From these charges the result of the in-
quiry has cleared lieneral Cavendish, the court tinding that
he was not the writer uor privy to the writing of the letters
iu question.

THE PRESS.

PROFESSOR ATTOL7N'S LECTURES ON
POETRY.

Yesterday W. G. Aytoun, Esq., Professor of Rhetoric and
Belles Lettres iu the University of Edinburgh, delivered
the first of a series of lectures on poetry and dramatic
literature, at Willis's Rooms. The lecture was attended
by a fashionable and brilliant audience, among whom we
noticed the Duke and Duchess of Argil, Loid John
Manners, Mr. Thackeray, &c.

The lecturer commenced by an allusion to an olden
legend of a monk, who, entranced by the melody of a
bird, followed it far into the woods, and when he returned,
fancying that he had been absent for a night, he found his
convent a ruin, his garden a wilderness. He had been
absent a hundred years. Such, said the professor, is
poetry. While listening to its melody no note is taken of
time, and its lays, once uttered, endure for ever.
The poetry of the old world has lost nothing what.
ever of its freshness ; it comes upon the hearts of men
as vividly now as if it had been uttered yesterday. The
reason of this was that the poet dealt with the emotions of
and sensations of mankind. Poetry, strictly speaking, was
a sentiment, not a substance, as its elements were common
to mankind. Much, however, of what was now held up to
admiration as poetry was in reality verse, which was a very
different thing, and differed from poetry as much as a wax
figure differed from the living malt. Verse was not even a
necessary vehicle for poetry, as the books of Isaiah, Job,
awl Ecclesiastes, abondantly proved, to say nothing of such
authors as Jeremy Taller, Sir Thomas Browne, and Bishop
Hall, of Norwich. 'Sir 11-alter Scott was not the
less a poet when he abandoned metrical form for
his prose novels. Still verse had this advantage over
prose for the enunciation of poetical emotions, that it
compelled concentration of thought and greater care•
fatness in the composition. In prose one remenv
tiered the sense but not the language; in poetry the ideacould
not be dissociated from the words. Besides, the metrical
form was in itself musical, and music, it was well known,
even when dissociated front words, was capable of convey-
ing the emotions of the heart. It was remarkable enough
that in every nation verse was older than prose. Herod°.
tits was :separated by at gap of flair hundred years from
Homer; and Homer, as was clear from his own works,
arras not the first bard of his country. Among the Ro-
mans, the Celts, the Scandinavians—in fact, in every na.

that with which we were acquainted—the order of prece-
dence was the same. The reason of this the lecturer
traced to the necessity which was early felt of preserving
the won's of the elan or the nation, at a time before the
art of writing was known, and when everything
must therefore have depended upon oral tradition ;
and a severe memory, in the fanciful mythology of the
Limits, was called the mother of the Muses. Thus origin-
ated the institution of the bardic or minstrel order, whose
province it was to become the depositaries of tradition.
Ceasar vouched for the existence of such en institution
among the ancient Britons, and that the store of warlike
cheats and revelations was so great that it took a young
had twenty years to kern them. In the highlands of
Scotland the order of Sennachies, or family lairds, did not
fall into abeyance till the system of clanship was put down,
alter the rebellion of MO. Of the sane order were the
Scalds of of Norway, the Minnesingers and Tmnneres of
Southern Europe. He purposely omitted the Troubadours,
because they did not profess to be the depositaries of tradi-
tion. The bards were in fact only human books,_ produced
at certain times to communicate information to the people.
Citing the example of Homer in ancient and Shakspere
in modern days, to prove the axiom that a true poet should
always write as if, like the bards of old, he were addressing
an audience, Professor Aytoun explained upon this princi-
ple the very different fate that had overtaken the fame of
two recent poets. Scott was generally supposed to be
an inferior poet to Wordsworth. but he was sure that there
were few boys at our public schools who had not got by
heart copious extracts from " Munition " or " The Lay of
the Last Minstrel." while he never knew one who could
declaim twelve consecutive lines of " The Excursion."
( Laughter. )

Professor Aytistat afterwards discussed the question whe-
ther poetry could be written or poets be aided in writing by
rules and theories. a Mob he decided in the negative, and
supported his deeision lly copious illustrations, and by
a sternly eritieal examination of Pope's school of poetry
and his scholaN. The leeture concluded with a spirited
and stifling recitation of the old Norse "!tenth Song. of
Roper Lialbrity, as translated by Samuel For tson.
the mallow of the admirable poem entitled "Forging of the
Atieltor...

THE WAGES MOVEMENT continues at Liverpool, ge-
nerally to the advantage of the men. The painters,
according to the Lirerpool Standard, have succeeded.
almost if not altogether; the shoemakers have gained
their point ; the cabinetmakers have got all they
asked fir; the plasterers' labourers have made an
appeal to the public, their masters still holding out.
The tailors, after succeeding in their own agitation,
hold weekly delegate meetings in order to legislate
for their brethren, and berm a tribunal before which
complaints and grievances can be heard.

NI 1.1.11 iENCE lms ►eached hallo]. by electric telegraph,
that Lady I►alhousie died on board the Monarch, when► oft
Land's-end, on the :Ind instant. Her ladyship was return-
ing from hullo, having left Calcutta on the 2nd of Jan-
uary. Ml march expetieneed very tine weather on her
passage until Sunday last, when a very strong southerly
gale came on, which produced iu Lady I►alhousie such
extreme debility from sea sickness that her frame sank
under its died*. The body will be 41:n11110y conveyed to
London.

SATURDAY,

flitratare.

The Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's
Administration. By Lord Grey. Vol. 1.
London : Bentley.
LORD GREY'S book belongs to a class of which
the specimens, rare in the literature of any
country, are especially so in that of England.
It is in some sense a political autobiography
rather than a history, for the writer records lu
own acts, and is himself the hero of the nai-
rative ; yet an autobiography limited to the
events of a few years, dealing exclusively
with the business of an official department,
and founded. as we are told more than once,
on no private or exclusive sources of informa-
tion. These peculiarities, but especially the
last, distinguish it from every other composi-
tion of a similar nature with which we are
acquainted. It is not a work of memoirs ; for
it contains, from commencement to close, no
one fact which was not already in some shape
before the world. For a history it is at once
too limited in scope, too controversial in tone,
and too early published. We can describe it
no otherwise than as a voluminous pamphlet,
or rather series of pamphlets, in which the sub-
stance of Lord Grey's speeches on colonial
policy is gathered up, condensed, separated
from trivial and uninteresting matter, and
thrown into the form most likely to secure for
it general and permanent attention.
This practice of self vindication by a minis-
ter, of which Lord Grey has set the example,
is not one generally recommendable to public
men. Calumnies are more easily lived down
than written down ; eulogy more readily ac-
corded where it is not claimed ; and a retired
minister in the enjoyment of full health and
mental vigour will, in most eases, find his time
more profitably employed, both as regards his
own interests and those of the state, in framing
and supporting new measures, than in defend-
ing those which, whether for good or evil, are
already part of the land's law. It is only to
old age, exile, or incapacity of farther exertion,
that the pleasures of political retrospect should
be allowed. Till the life's work is done, and
the statesman's rest fairly earned, it is
better for him to go on as he has begun, careless
of contemporary obloquy, trusting in the ephc
moral nature of falsehood and the triumph of
truth, and bent only on effacing the memory of
his early services by exertions yet more sus•
tained and exploits even more eminent.
So at least we think : but it is only fair to
add that Lord Grey has given reasons for this
publication which exempt him from the general
censure implied in our words. His volumes,
egotistic in design, are not so in reality : their
object is, as the author explains, less to vindi-
cate his own character from the aspersions of
political opponents, than to lay fully before the
country the principles—modified as these
necessarily were in their application to indivi-
dual eases, and by such modification oftentimes
concealed from careless observers—on which
his colonial administration was based. This
task he has accomplished with success ; and,
without reference to the merits of the system
here set forth, it is undeniable that we have
from him an exposition at once clear, detailed,
and comprehensive of the policy actually pur-
sued in regard to the colonies during an event
ful period of five years.
Lord Grey's mission on accepting office, as
understood by himself, may most fitly be de-
scribed in his own words
Before I premed to give an account of what has been
done in particular colonies, it will be convenient that
I should state, somewhat folic, the general principles
which have in all cases been the guide of our policy, and
that I should call your attention to the manner in which
the peculiar circumstances of the times have affected the
administration of colonial affairs. To begin with the
last, 1 hare to remark that in these affairs much of the
opposition we have met with, and the principal difficulties
we have encountered, have arisen, directly or indirectly,
fnom our having thought it our duty to maintain the
policy of free tnule, and to extend its application to the
produce of the colonies. That these difficulties must be
expected from this policy I was quite aware when your
Government was formed; but the greatest service that I
believed we were called upon as a Government to render
to the country was that of completing the work, which had
been happily begun, of removing restrictions from in -
dustry. and securely establishing a system of free man
throughout the empire. So far back a* when I first en

I

II

MAY 7, 1853.

tered upon public life,—now more than twenty-five years
ago,—it was any conviction that, next to the removal of
the religious disabilities which thou threatened the disrup
tion of the empire, and to the accomplishment of Auell a
reform of the House of Commons as was osptisite to make
it a fitti►►g instrument for if every other public itu-
provement, the political object of the greatest importance
to the public good was to relieve industry and commerce
from the shackles with which they had been etwitinbered
by measures adopted for their advancement under the
erroneous theory of " Protection." Henn•, beginning with
the year 18 7, when 1 voted with a very small minority
against tlw principle of the sliding Neale. in the bill tier the
amendment of the eon► laws brought forward by Mr.
Canning, I had, both by votes and stweehes, supported
every proposal submitted to the House of Parliament of
which 1 was a member which I considered to IN•
lated to advance the object of giving grvillet'frEcilolll to in•
dustry. I believed that the colonial trade ought to form
no exception to the general rule, but should be plaerd on
the same footing as other brunches of our con ttttt Tee. I
considered it to be no less for the real and prominent in.
ter•st of tins colonies themat•lres, than for• that of the
mother conntry. that industry tetould cerise to be divested
from its natural channels, and a useless linolen to be
imposed on the consumer by differential duties, levied for
the purpose of favouring colonial poshn•e in our markets,
and our produce in the markets of the colonies
But the establishment of unrestricted com-
petition as a rule in colonies which, front the
first hours of their existence, had been taught
to consider themselves as united with the
mother country in one Imperial Loll•erein—
as integral parts of the empire, not only in a
political but a financial sense also—as ,justly
subjected to certain mercantile restrictions for
the benefit of Englaml, and entitled in return
to claim exclusive compensating privileges at
the expense of England—was not a work of
easy accomplishment. It amounted, in Lord
tirey's words, "to nothing less than a revolu-
" tion in an established system of politics,
"which could not fail to shock many long-
"received opinions, and to bring about a great
" change in the relations hitherto subsisting
"between this country and the colonies?' By
that change more than one interest was sure
to suffer temporarily ; all the evils of a state of
transition must be incurred ; and real as those
evils might be expected to prove, and at, the
time actually did prove, it was nut less certain
that they would be magnified with all the zeal
of party. and charged on the minister of the
clay with the usual exaggerative eloquence of
an Opposition.

Nor was it only front the adherents of the
old commercial system that peril impended
over the new Minister. There seemed equal
reason to apprehend that his projects of reform
might be thwarted, and that they might,
against the author's will, he married too tar.
For not a few among both the friends and
enemies of free trade, differing in all else. yet
agreed in this : that "if the colonies were no
"longer to he regarded as valuable on account
"of the commercial advantages to be derived
"from their possession, the country hind no
"interest in keeping these dependencies, and
" it would be better to abandon them"—whereby
a large reduction in military expenditure
might be effected, and, in the event of war, a
vast responsibility evaded. Arguments to this
effect, used bond fair by one party, might by
another be used ad inridiam. Abandon your
"colonies," said the extreme reformers ; " they
"will then cost England nothing ; they will
"provide for their own defence ; you will still
"find in them all that you now find—an outlet
"for your surplus population, and customers
"for your manufactures. Do for them what
"you were eompelled to do with the United
"States ; it is only anticipating by some few
"years an event which in the course of nature
"Is inevitable, and for which it. is best to ho
"prepared in advance." " Abandon your colo-
"nies." echoed certain discontented Pr()tee-
tionists ; " it is true that. in so doing you dis
"member the British empire, but. when the
"financial bond that held it together is broken,
"what is the political tie hut a delusion and
"a name 7' In England, both within and with-
out the walls of Parliament. language such as
we have described was not unfrequently heard.
Its echo reached the colonies and though
there existed not then, nor does there now
exist, except perhaps among the white popu-
lation of the West Indian sugar islands. any
real or deep-seated feeling of hostility to British
dominion, yet words so ominous for the future
could scarcely be heard by those whom they
principally ifected without exciting some

THE PRESS.

manner of discontent approaching to disaffec-
tion.

Between the!.k, two opposite extremes lug•
the eourse traced out by Lord limy. A firm
believer in the justice autd necessity of free

trade: and one of the few who on that quebtioo

c•un claim the merits of an unbroken rotnUat-

envy, he avows himself a strenuous opponent
of the principle of colonial separation, as re-
►resented in the views of the mote advanced
Liberals of the Nlanchester school. To reor-
ganize. at whatever cost of individual suffeting.
the financial system of the colonies ; to make
a clean steed► of all privileges. monopolies, and
restrictions whatever ; yet, while doing this,
to keep intact the union of the etupire, though
the principal cause of its maintenance, in many
men's eyes, had now ceased to exist. was the
self-imposed duty of Lord .lohn Russell's Co-
lonial Secretary. It was one for which dicta-
torial powers were needed, and sinnething, Wu.
of a dictatorial temperament. A weak man—
one easily turned aside from his purpose by
popular clamour—one who should shrink front
the Night or knowledge of hardship indicted by
the operation of his measures—nay, even one
of whose mind strong hoith in certain fixed
ideas was not a leading characteristic—must
have failed miserably in such a crisis.
Lord Grey fought a stout battle. and carded
his point. though at the cost of perhaps even
more enmity than he counted on provoking.
The record of the struggle is contained iu
them) volumes : and they bring into deserved
prominence the remarkable position of the
author, who in the constitutional department
of colonial polities may be mekoned a Con-
servative, though an uncompromising reformer
in all that relates to finance. When we speak
of Lord Grey by a title which he has not been
aeeuston►ed to bear, we apprehend that our
meaning will be made clear by the following
extracts:—

I lowe thought it necesKtry 111 Stine thus strongly my
dissent from the views of those who wish to dismember
the British empire by abandoning the colonies. he-
CHISSe it is impossible nut to observe that this policy--
unworthy of a mat nation, and unwise as I votimider it to
be--ie not only openly suit twitted by ono active party its the
country, but is also hardly leas effectually supported by
111'11101Di occupying till important position in l'arlitiment,
and who. while they hesitate to avow their tallierenee to
it, hold language which obviously lends in the same direc-
tiu t, awl talvtwate meissures the adoption of whirls would
inevitably bring about this result.
If the reasons which I hurt
just hilltl'll fin' maintaining
the connection between this country and till` ItrinBll 1.0141-
tiles tire admitted to be sound. it will follow as a neeowary
inference, that two f ery plain nits as to the terns 1111
which that eotinectisin should Ise continued may be laid
down. Its the first place. I think it will clearly follsow that
this esauttry has no itits.rest whatever in exercising ally
greater influence in the internal affairs of the colonies
than is indisrusable either I;.i. Ito- purpose of pro-witting
war toile colenty fnnan uelol.tut',siseastams injurious to
;mother, or to the empire at large; or else for the pl»nlo-
tioaa
111. the nlll'llllll 14114111 WIWI-111111'1a Ilf 111 t. coluuies. bay
assisting the inhabitants 111 urn 111111INCIV1.1 nlll'll stills-
ciently cif ilizeil to ills so with ash ;image. 111111 Ito !Mit Wing
a just and impartial adminict ration for tlasse %his+ the
populist' is too ignisnuit and out tihighteusetl to manage
its own afraile.

Wider latitude of power than this was never
ehtimed by the veriest ultra-Tory of the last
generation ; scareely even by the Ministry
which involuntarily emancipated America.
" England," mays lam! tirey-. " may interfere for
"thin promotion of the internal good govern
went of the colonies. by assisting the 'nimbi-
" t ing to govern themselves" until she eonsiders
them qualified in all respects for freedom.
Sunly no deMpilt of aneient or modern times
could demand It more extended prerogative.
The sole argument used in all times and roun-
tries against self-government is the alleged
inability of the people to discern their Own true
interests. The most arbitrary masters of man-
kind whom the world has 14CP11,-'1141141114. Napo-
leon, or the Czar,—are ready enough to profess
themselves lovers of freedom in the abstract. if
only men were fit to enjoy it. We arc far frow
saving that Lord Grey lots made a dempotie or
arbitrary use of his power ; but he lots laid
down a principle on which almost any act of
despotism might be defended. Perhaps the
very exaggeration of his theory is in some sort
a benefit. for the popular tendency at, the pre
sent moment is all in the opposite direction,
and a counterpoise was needed. But in truth
we do not highly value Lord ircy's opinion on
the queation of local dependence and imperial

15

control: and for the reason We have stated
above. In his cha►acter of financial innovator

he required. as the rendition of sUeccsa, powers
more ample than those ordinarily Tested in a
Colonial Minister. That having used these
powers conscientiously, and. in his own belief.
with complete snecess, he should %indicate
their existence. nay. regard them as indispen-
sable to the Mitinteminee of authority, is only
what might reastutably be expected. We admit
the excuse, though we do not concur in the
reasoning. Ilut to this subject we may here•
after recur.

The author *lit ides his subject into six parts,
introducing and concluding the whole with
those general remarks from which we have
qmited. The sugar colonies—the North Ante
riven provinces—Australasia, including New
Zealand Ceylon -- the Cape and those
smaller depeutlencies of the Crown. scattered
various parts of the globe, which are kept
tip or military or trading purposes. am passed
successively in review. We shall follow Lord
(trey briefly through the various topics here
enumerated.
I. The existence of wide-spread and severe
distress throughout the British West Indies is
not disputed. The writer admits it, hut, repu-
diating utterly the idea of its connection with
the act of 1148. refers its origin, with }untie
plausibility. to the imperfecti 111 l s of the eman-
cipatory measure elt. 114:13, to the social degra-
chit • which succeeded the abolition 4if slaveq,
to the previous embarrassment of the non-resi-
dent 1k est Indian proprietors. and to the com•
menial crisis of 1847. Protection, if it had
not caused a part of these difficulties, had
totally failed to relieve them. Nothing had
been done, when the negro wits set free, to
substit ate indirect for direct incentives to
labour : the apprenticeship system, prema-
turely abolishee . had failed in its operation ;
the demands of the labourer were yearly in-
ereasi og.while the quantity of his work remained
unaltered or even diminished; education was
neglected ; the people had become demoralised ;
the complaints of the planters grew louder;
and a radical administrative change' appeared
necessary, before society could be placed in a
sound and healthy condition. In this crisis a
series of measures was proposed, in which the
nitwit-debated net of 1848 formed only a single
item. The scheme included the free atlinis-
Kinn of foreign on the MIMI' terms as domestic
articles to the colonial markets ; the repeal of
the navigat' laws ; the vigorous suppression
of the slave trade : the encouragement of inimi-
gratiiin, whether from Africa. India. or China
the adopt tlf internal laws ealculated to cheek
vagrancy, and encourage industry ; stud a con-
siderable reform in the economy of the local
administration. Plans so comprehensive re-
quired (line to mature them. and a still longer
ime bet Ore their effect could be felt : but Lord
(Ivey appeals to the budget speech of Mr.
Disraeli to May, 1852, and to the official static:-
ties on which it was bused, its evidences of the
returning prosperity of the West Indies. Ile,
bowtc‘er, passes over, with the skill of a prac-
tised advorate. the ineontestable ruin in which
Jamaica and llniatin are plunged ; and omits to
mention that it is entirely by a vast increase of
(croduetion in the smaller islands, rtuelt as
llurlrudors ,old Antigua (11.111 Ch never were at
any time seriously distressed), that British-
grown sugar is enabled to command the Initr-
ket. One immigrati )))) theory Lord Grey's
merits notice for its novelty. lie proposes a
large introduction of both free HMI slave tic-
groes from the United States—the latter. of
attl'se, to be rillititeirittell befOre their arrival:— -
I ennn..t help herr expressing no turprite that thy
sttentbm of teme of our merelittilt and eapindists hat
been direeted to the .Tune m:114 . America its It
from, dirt iolutelli n .111q$IN of I,lhielr. and tic the great
room. %loch 11% Means of flint hilmosr Might be obtained
room the retitle binds .4 Trinicloul and tinians. Then' is
.1..0bt, I believe. dint it large summit of British capital
lam been, direedy 4.r indirectly, imetted in %maw eultivw
lion in '1.144i and Ib7vif, and it is to be feared that many
of thud ynt.ittl aunt teen 41104 yyd is the Towyhasis of
Mimes ill uudh importe.l from Africa. The natural silvan.
mites of the Itritish colonies 1 hire mentiomed are, m
he ti. ye, twirl' sityrrior—most certainly they Wu not
tints.' of rithrr Cohn ow while they have
an 111 l 11.4. savant's*. over both in the perfret are arity
they enjoy, tool soar Cubs tel latest in the lightness of their
taxation. This being the ettlle, the piettion nati=
snmettt itself, might not s given tam of motley he a
to greater athantag4f in rocarinti labour Cron the shit

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 might be conveyed without risk or hardship,
in company with 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 suet' terms as 1 luive suggested.
Many Americas planters are known to have gone! to Cuba,
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), for
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 only,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
tloo 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 au 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 humanity
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-