The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-17 00:00:00

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follies nao toe power, to the tuliest extent, ut ni,Lklng
their own laws; and now at this time, when those colo-
nies had that power. he might ask why Ireland should
rot, be self-governed? By war we lost colonies which
we once possessed, and by war we had taken the colonies
which we now held. We preserved them indeed
Within the pale of our dominions, but without the
pale of the Constitution, and denying them in
most instances civil rights, we governed them by in-
structions and by dispatches sent out from Downing-
street; and that minister who, in 1835, condemned that
system, continued it in 1849. In 1670 it was, that there
was first appointed a Committee of the Privy
Council on colonial matters, and afterwards Lord
Somers. who drew up the heads for the Board
of Council, drew up likewise the charters. Those colonies
c' ntinued to be well governed while they were governed
under their own charters; and when at length we lost
those colonies, the two causes which tended prin-
cipally to light the flame were precisely the
two causes which were now carried into effect
by the present Minister ; ho (Mr. Scott) meant
that of altering the constitution without the will of the
colonies, and of refusing them the privilege of self-
government. To these might be added the taxing
them without their consent. Now in the various
colonies that was carried into effect at the
present day by the present Minister ; in New South
Wales, British Guiana, and Jamaica We taxed the
colonists with heavy civil lists against their consent and
against their most express desire. Now, he would ask,
not whether it was fair and just, but whether it
wise, prudent and politic to propagate such
iniquities, and then to allow such feelings
to arise and to be engendered as if there
were no common feelings existing between this country
and her colonies, or no common interest? Instead of
continuing to tamper with their constitutions, and deny-
ing them rights which we claim to ourselves as
British subjects, we ought to regard them as
British subjects in different parts of the same empire.
During the last year there had been some attempt to
obtain a remedy for the grievance. In a letter obtained
under the return moved for by Earl Grey, there had been
a reference made to the duties to be imposed and the
saving to be made, but nu remedy, so far as he was in-
formed, had been carried into effect. But it should be
observed that the remedy which had there been suggested
was not a remedy for the relief of the colonies or of the
House, but for the relief of the Secretary for the Colo
nies.—(Hear, hear.) And this remedy did not so much
affect the state of the colony, as the convenience of those
who had the government of it ; a relief, let it be re-
marked, that the Minister and not the colonists
were to enjoy. But these duties, to whom were
they to be delegated ? Certainly not to the Go-
vernor. The colonists could not undertake them,
and the Colonial-office was too full of business
to interfere in any way in so delicate an affair. In fact,
the whole duty was to devolve upon that prime agent
of all colonial affairs, the Secretary of State.—(Hear,
hear.) In the evidence given before the Select Com-
mittee during the course of the last year, he found that
to the question 6,650, the Noble lEarl made the reply,
that though formally the whole of those matters were
under the jurisdiction of the Board of Trade, they were
in reality and substantially under the entire direction
of the Secretary for the Colonies. If he referred to the an-
swer of Sir J'. Stephen, the same result would be obtained.
The words might seem to bear something different from
that contained in the reply of the Secretary,
but, upon examination, it would be found to be
neither more nor less than the same.—(Hear.)
It was unreasonable, to, suppose that great colonies could
be governed .with , propriety,. justice, or economy; at so
great a distance as Downing-street was distant frbm
them. Next, he came to the important
question of auditing the public accounts. It
appearld that 170 persons were constantly engaged
out at a cost of 2,0701. Now, if we allowed them to
audit their own aceounts the cost would be greatly re-
duced. Then, again, the colonists had a right tocomplain
that the Home Ministers were constantly changing their
policy. Those to whom the destinies of our great colo-
nial empire were entrusted were changed on the average
once in eighteen months. Indeed, of late they had
changed the Secretary of State and the Under-Secretary
of State on the average every year. But this was not all.
The chief ruler of the destinies of the colonies changed
his mind once every six weeks.—(Laughter.) For ex-
ample, there was a dispatch sent out, and it was revoked
within a month. There was a constitution sent out for
New Zealand, and it was revoked within a year. There
was a Constitution sent out for New South Wales; it was
disapproved of there, and the n it was said it was only
sent out for a pattern. There was a Constitution sent
out to the Cape of Good Hope, which was just
as badly received. This battledore and shut-
tlecock affair might be fine tun for the Colo-
nial-office, but it would not do for plain thinking
and well educated men. The fact was, that in the go-
vernment of all our Australian colonies the crotchets of
the Secretary of State were made paramount to every
other consideration. In giving constitutions to the
colonies the course that had been pursued appeared to
do well in theory, but it did not do in practice.—
(Hear, hear.) At this moment the colonies were
loud in their complaints against the present Go•
vetement, and he warned her Majesty's Ministers
that if they did not change their colonial policy,
this country would lose one of the greatest colo-
nial empires that any kingdom ever held. What was
it caused the war between this country and Ame-
rica? It was precisely what was being done now
in some of our best colonies. Sir Thomas Barnett, the
Governor of Massachusetts, refused to admit into
the legislature of the colony a member who
did not support his views. That was precisely
what was being done in many colonies; Governors were
overriding the law, and Ministers might depend upon it,
that if they persisted In their present course of
colonial policy, many of our best colonies
would soon follow the example of America.—(Hear.
hear.) He would pass now from British Guiana to
our North American icolonies. But, perhaps, in the
minds of some Honourable Gentlemen, looking at the
circumstances which had recently transpired about
Canada an impression might prevail that the present is
not the se ison to bring forward a complaint of this sort,
but he must be allowed to repeat that the non-in-
terference in this oountry with colonial questions,
and the absence of discussions upon topics fre-
quently gave rise to many of the difficulties which
affected our colonial empire.—(Hear, hear.) Now
to pass at once from British Guiana to the North Ame-
rican Colonies—these colonies had two forms of Go-
vernment ; one he might call the democratic
form, and the other the absolute form. For instance, in
Prince Edward's Island the Government of the country
was centralised in three or four persons, some of whom
held as many as ten state offices, and if he
was rightly informed three of them held no less than
seventeen places between them.—(Hear.) In the demo-
cratic class, such as Canada, the Government was much
better, but still it might be greatly improved ; and he
thought it a much eater policy to make wise concessions
in time, than pursue a bad policy till the colonists rose up
and threw off the yoke of the mother country.—(Hear.)
The fact was, if England had always considered her co-
lonies as rising states, of which she might at some
future period have great reason to be jealous,
she could not have adopted a course more
calculated to alienate their regard and affection.
In the Mauritius the commerce was burdened to •an
amount of about 3,000,000/., or nearly 2/. per head of
the population. In Jamaica it was found there was an
adverse balance of 395.0001. on an entire export
trade of 894,0001. The colonial policy pressed on the
commerce of the colonies. The Government al home
imposed or rather sanctioned the expenditure and re-
duced the revenue. The petitions from Demerara and
Tobago complained simply that they had not the control
of their own expenditure. Although no allusion
was made to the colonies in the Queen's Spedch,
in Parliament, he might ask whether they were without
the pale of the constitution, and whether the principles of
freedom and justice had not the same foundation in the
extremest parts of the globe as within the realm of Eng-
land. He knew that the Hon. Genth•man, with all his tact,
would tell them of all the advantages which had been
enjoyed by the colonies, but he bell eves that if the
inquiry were fully made, that it would be found that
there was not one of the colonies which had received
the slightest advantage from the erection of civil insti-
tutions. Why did they speak of responsible govern-
ment, when there were so many interferences with 'the
proper discharge of official duty?—(Cries of." Hear,
hear.") He alluded, however, not only to the
discharge of duty, but to the mjschiefs which
arose from the evils emanating from the possession of
property. He was aware that the Crovrii had the right
to possess property in the colonies, but it would seem
that instead of being a benefit, the right, which ought
above all others to be a benefit to a colony, had provtd
to be nothing but a detriment. Responsible Govern-
ment was in tact a mockery. He had see n from a letter
of Lord Grey that many men of family' had emigrated,
and he was aware that such had been the case. But what
was the result ? Those who had gone out with hope
had returned in despaire--those who had- gone out vith
property had returned in poverty. The Villiers, 'the
Vernons, and all the others who had proe:eded
to the colonies in the reasonabket anticipation
of taking position had given up the attempt
in miserable disappointment, and they wee e nownowh'ere.
In fact, the Colonial-office was responsible for all the evil
which had accrued through the misad venture of 'the
system which they had adopted, and bee must say that
the actions of the Government did not all square with
their professions. The Colonial Gazel'te, of a recent
date, informed them that 2,000,000 had emigrated ff.om
the United Kingdom to the colonies in twenty- tour years.
Now, he would ask where were they gone, to? Why,f the
population of the whole of the colonies :did not amount
to 2,000,000; they bad gone to the Ulll ted States,; the
emigration to which, in the last twenty-four years, was
from 40 to 60 per cent. from the United. Kingdom, and
the emigration to these States in one yers.r, equalled! the
whole of their population in the Australian settle •
went ; 188,000 persons, out of 248, 000, emigtitted
in the last year to the United States.. The govern-
ment of the colonies was a govern ment lest of
affection than of force.—(Hear, hear.) The impbrte
ante of the colonies to the British Croerri could no, be
too highly rated ; it was the empire o f the sea Plat
gave them their colonies, and it was the possesinon
of their colonies that secured to them the empire of the
sea. He could not but refer to their garri coned colcaaief
as of great importance, and as much meglected. He
would take Malta, for instance. Now„ as well might
they select the Lord Mayor of London ti f fill the office
of Commander-in-Chief at the Horse Ckuards, as Mr,
More O'Ferrall to fill that of Governor., of Malta, 'vial
5,0001. a year. No doubt the Hon. Oa ntlemau cbuld
sleep very well, but to make him Gov or nor of a 4real
military post like that of Malta was, het apprehended,
not very judicious. They had lost t he+ best colonies
which they possessed by the impolicy rind bad adminis-