The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-25 00:00:00

he, also, had ventured to express a strong opinion in
favour of transportation, as a most valuable secondary
punishment. Nevertheless, he felt bound, in conjunction
with his colleagues in the late Government, to defer to the
determined 4nd all but unanimous feeling of the colonies.
(Hear.) All the Australian colonies, with the exception
of Van Diemen's Land, unanimously resolved to use every
legitimate means in their power to prevent convicts from
being landed on their shores. In Van Diemen's Land the
employers of labour—suffering from the effiux of popula-
tion consequent on the gold discoveries—were anxious that
transportation should be continued, but the great majority
of the inhabitants of that colony were as much opposed to
it as the inhabitants of the other colonies. Under these
cficumstances the late Government determined /to put a
stop to the system, and he believed the house would be of
opinion that they had determined wisely, They might
have embarked in a struggle with the colonies—they might
have succeeded by force of arms—but the success would
have been disastrous. For the sake of moral considera-
tions at home it was impossible that we could longer look
to transportation as an efficient secondary punishment.
There could be no doubt of the fact that offences were now
committed solely for the purpose of securing to the offen-
ders transportation to Australia. The house would consi-
der this of itself a sufficient reason why the late Govern-
ment adopted the policy of abolishing transportation, and
he was glad to find that the present Government intended
to pursue the same course. He must, however, express
his earnest hope that the noble lord at the Home-office
would net allow a long time to elapse before he explained
to the house the views of the Government on the subject of
secondary punishments. (Hear.) He had strong opinions
on that subject, and when the proper time arrived he
would probobly take the opportunity of stating what the
views of the late Government were regarding it. If he
understood the noble lord (Lord J. Russell) aright, there
were to be no convicts sent to Van Diemen's Land
after the ships now engaged. He was happy to find,
however, that the nobl lord still intended to send
convicts to Western Australia. The objections to
sending convicts to Van Diemen's Land did not apply
to Western Australia, which was 1,400 or 1,500 miles
from the nearest of our settlements, while the intervening
distance consisted of an almost impassable desert. He
hoped, however, that the Government would not send any
large portion of convicts. (Hear, hear.) With reference
to the secondary punishments, the noble lord and the house
must feel that it would be a serious evil if the country were
kept in a state of uncertainty and suspense as to whatthey
were to consist of, and therefore he trusted no unnecessary
delay would take place in announcing them to the house.
He had now stated his views at length on the important
colonial questions to which he had adverted. The noble
lord was aware that the colonists prayed for concessions
which were refused by him when last in office, but which
had been conceded by the late Government, and he was
therefore entitled to ask what were the views entertained
upon these questions by the present Government. With
reference to one important point affecting Canada, the
noble lord had stated that it was the intention to revert to
the policy of LOrd Grey. But he hoped the noble lord
would not revert to the refusal which in 1852 he gave to
certain important concessions, but was resolved in a gene-
rous spirit to meet the wishes of the colonists. He would
here make a short quototion from the speech delivered by
the noble lord on the subject of our colonial policy in 1850.
,The noble lord said :
" As to governing our colonies, I think we cannot do bet-
ter than refer to those maxims of policy by which our ances-
tors were guided upon this subject. It appears to me that in
providing that wherever Englishmen went they should enjoy
English freedom and have English institutions they acted
justly and wisely. They adopted a course which was calcu-
lated to promote a harmonious feeling between the mother
country and the colonies, and which enabled those who went
out of those distant possessioris to sow the seeds of com-
munities of which England may always be proud."
He had never heard language that he thought more worthy
of the high position of the noble lord than this. When in
office he (Sir J. Pakington) had endeavoured to act on the
principles there laid down, and it was on these principles
he made the concessions to which he had already adverted.
(Hear, hear.) The late Government felt that there were
two courses which might hh,ve been pursued. They
might, resting on the strong arm of imperial power,
have refused these concessions, but they felt that there was
another and a wiser policy, viz., to win the confidence of
the colonists by conciliating their affections, and thereby
prolonging their attachment to the mother country. (Hear,
hoar.) It was on this principle that they endeavoured to
meet the great crisis that occurred in Australia ' • and he
hoped to hear from the noble lord that the present Govern-
ment were resolved to carry out the same principle to its.
utmost. The right hon. gentleman then moved for copies
of the dispatch from Sir J. Pakington to the governors of
New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, dated
the 14th of December, 1852, and his dispatch to the Lien-
tenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Dated the 14th
of December, 1852.
Mr. F. PEEL entirely concurred in the opening observa-
tions of the right hon. gentleman, that he was under no
necessity of apologising for drawing the attention of the
house to the situation of the Australian colonies. They
constituted a group of dependencies of which the house
had just reason to feel proud. They exhibited in a remark-
ble degree the capacity of the English race to take root in
the soil of foreign countries, and there plant communities
which, in an incredibly short space of time, appeared
almost to rival the ancient countries of Europe. (Hear,
hear.) The right hon. gentleman had not in any way over-
stated the results of British industry and enterprise in
those countries. He (Mr. Peel) fully endorsed the tribute
he had paid to the fidelity of the troops which were sta-
tioned at Victoria, and could say quite as much for the
regiment placed in New South Wales. (Cheers) The
right hon. gentleman had made a speech, to which he had
listened with all the attention due to so high an authority,
and he must say the statements of the right hon. gentleman
were interesting, and abounded with great and reliable in-
formation. If were to find any fault with the speech,
it would be as to the proportion of the relations between it
and the practical purpose which he had in view. The
speech was not needed as a vindication of his own policy.
No one had impugned that policy, and he believed there
was no one who was not disposed to bear testimony in a
general way to the credit that was due to the right hon
gentleman's colonial administration. (Hear.) The spon-
taneous communications which were made by the noblelord
tho leader of the house, and by the noble duke at the head
of the Colonial Department in another place, had antici-
pated one half of his motion, and superseded the necessity
for the inquiry which had been made by the right hon.
gentleman. He seemed to think that because they had re-
verted to the policy of the Government which preceded his
own with respect to the clergy reserves in Canada there
was, therefore, some possibility of their disturbing all the
changes that had recently taken place. The right hon.
gentleman remembered that the Government was not pre-
pared to follow up his views with reference to the Canadian
clergy reserves, and he was instantly filled with solicitude
lest his instructions with regard to some other matters
should meet the same treatment at their hands. He would,
however, endeavour to dispel the fears of the right hon.
gentleman. The dispatch to which the right hon. gentleman
referred was addressed by him about a week before he
quitted office in answer to a communication from the Go-
vernor of New South Wales received six weeks previously.
That communication contained the petition of the Legisla-
tive Council on which the right hon. gentleman had so
largely commented ; and in the reference which he had
made to it the right hon. gentleman noticed certain matters
that had been long in controversy between ourselves and
the colony of New South Wales, and which were there re-
garded as grievances. He had referred to our interference
with the Customs' establishments of that colony, to the
exercise of the veto power of the Crown, and to the
manner in which the patronage of the Colonial-office had
been exercised. Now, with regard to the Customs' esta-
blishments he might observe that this country had ceased
to have any interest in the appointment of officers of
CuStoms in the colony, and before this petition came they
had transferred that establishment over to the colonists,
and it was placed on the same footidg with every other de-
partment. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the disposal of
patronage, he believed that any complaint on that head was
unreasonable and unfounded. During his long .tenure of
office Lord Grey gave as full a recognition to the claims of
colimial talent as it could venture to advance. With few
exceptions, every nomination to office in those colonies was
made on the recommendation of the executive Government
of the. colony. It had been contended that it would be of
advantage to have a stringent regulation by which a mono-
poly should be secured to the monopolists of all the offices
of trust and emolument in that country. He believed that
any regulation of that kind would be attended with great
inconvenience to the public service. Cases would fre-
quently arise where they required that special knowledge
which could not be procured within the narrow limits of a
colony. An instance of this had occurred only a fortnight
ago, the Senate of the University of Sydney having written
letters to Sir J. Herschell and other gentlemen, requesting
that they would select gentlemen to fill certain professor-
ships, on the express ground that it was impossible to pro-
cure properly qualified persons in the colony. Then, with
regard to the veto, it was well known that the Crown was
a constituent part of every colonial' legislature. It was ad-
mitted, he believed, that the disallowing power of the
Crown was more grievous in theory than in practice, and
that, in fact, few ordinances were ever disallowed. But
the Legislature of New South Wales had suggested that it
might be possible to make a distinction between matters
that might be considered of a local or municipal character
only and those which were of an imperial interest, or ap-
peared to touch the prerogatives of the Crown—(hear)--
and, that, with regard to local affairs, there could be no ob-
jection to give the governors power to act in behalf of the
Crown. With regard to that proposition, he would only
say, that if it was possible to draw a line of demarcation
distinguishing what were local and what were imperial sub-
jects, and without restricting the powers of the Crown as
to imperial questions, there could be no objection to consi-
der the propriety of establishing such a restriction. He
now came to the more important part of the petition,
-which stated that if they gave to the Legislative Council
the exclusive control of the entire revenue, territorial as
welt as general, and assisted them in exercising the powers
conferred upon them by the ordinances of 1850 to amend
the constitution, they, on their part, would be ready not
only to defray the whole cost of their civil expenses, but
also to defray the expense of military protection ; and, as
a testimony of the sincerity of their assurances of loyalty
and devotion to the Crown, they were ready to vote to her
Majesty an ample civil list in substitution for the sums ap-
propriated in the schedules to the act of the 13th and 14th
of Victoria. (Hear, hear.) Now, he believed that a per-
manent provision, not liable to be capriciously altered by
the Legislature, and which did not come under its annual
review, was necessary in order to secure the services of
able and efficient men to act in that country. He believed
that'the local Legislatures took the same view, and part of
their complaint was that Parliament, by its sole authority,
and without their concurrence, had, as they contended, if
not in contravention of the letter, yet hardly inconformity
with the spirit of the declaratory act of 1778, by which
Parliament renounced the power or levying taxes on the
Queen's subjects in the colonies, appropriated part of the
revenue raised by taxes imposed by themselves. On con-
sidering this question, he was disposed to admit that the
preponderance of argument in the controversy rested with
the colonial Legislatures, and therefore he believed that
the Government were quite prepared to assert the civil list
voted by a colony in substitution for the civil list which
Parliament had voted, He anticipated that there would
be no occasion to repent having taken that course, or to
regret the confidence reposed in the good sense of the people
in the colonies. (Hear, hear.) He had recently seen the
draught of a measure granting provision for this object to
her Majesty, which had been prepared by a committee
of the Legislative Council in New South Wales, and
he found that the sum proposed to be reserved very con-
siderably exceeded the sum which Parliament devoted to
the purpose. The sum which Parliament appropriated to
the civil list amounted to 73,0001., and the amount appro-
priated by the Legislative Council of New South Wales was
88,000/. It was impossible at this distance to determine
-what was the amount required for carrying on the public
business. In the colony of Victoria we had taken a re-