The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-11 00:00:00

FRIDAY EVENING

he must say the voluntary abandonment of such an
empire as this—consisting of such vast possessions—
containing a friendly port in every quarter of the globe—
that this was a sacrifice which no country had ever been
known to make at any former period.—(hear, hear.)
The Hon. Baronet had gone at considerable length into
an estimate of our colonial expenditure. He (Mr.
Hawes) did not think that the items were quite the
same as those he had used on a former occasion. Per-
haps the Hon. Baronet had seen from further inquiry
that the items of the expenditure which he formerly
quoted required to be materially modified. It was
almost icapossible to make a reply to details of this de-
scription, which required the greatest consideration, and
the most careful examination, in order to arrive at any-
thing like an accurate estimate. lle thought that the
Right Hon. Baronet had materially over-estimated our
colonial expenditure. The Hon. Gentleman altogether
excluded on ,the present occasion all military stations
and convict stations, but he had not decided what the
military stations of the empire were. For instance, the
Cape hes did not include amongst the military stations,
and he would find other cases in which it would be
(pally difficult to distinguish the colony proper
from a military station. The Mauritius was a case
in point. It was a colony which, in point of posi-
tion, was of the highest military importance for
the defence of our trade. And yet it was a colony
which produced about 60.000 or 70.000 tons of sugar
yearly to this country. He did not think it was an easy
task to decide what were military stations and what
were colonies proper. By a return ordered on the mo-
tion of the Hon. Member for Northampton. the House
would find in detail the military expenditure of this
country in reference to our colonies, giving the gross
expenditure for five years. Now he found that the gross
annual expenditure, according to that return, which, he
admitted, might not include the whole expenditure—
but a small addition might be made to it—by this return
he found that the gross estimate of the colonial expen-
diture for alI our colonies was only 1,948,471/. yearly.
—(Hear, hear.) They were, according to the position
laid down by his Hon. Friend, entitled to deduct from
the general sum the cost of their military stations, be-
cause his Hon. Friend did not propose to reduce the ex-
penditure at these stations.—(Hear.) Now, be did not
mean to say that their establishments were what they
ought to be; true, ho might assume that a military ex-
penditure was necessary for the maintenance of the em-
pire at large—and, even so assuming, yet declare that
it was capable of reduction, and even of expressing
the hope that it might be reduced.—(Hear, hear, and
cheers.) He did not mean to say that as far as these
colonies were concerned they were incapable of
having the military expenditure upon them reduced.
The fact was otherwise—for a paper that bad been laid
on the table of the House the previous day, showed that
a reduction was contemplated.—(Hear, hear.) Taking
the figures, however, as thay had been stated, these mili-
tary stations cost 552,000/.; their convict stations
71,0001.—making a total of 623,0001, which might be
deducted from the 1,948,0001., and it was over the re-
maining balance that the Hon. Baronet would exercise
control.—(Hear.), He wished now to call the attention
of the House for a moment or two to those colonies
which, not being military or convict stations, they were,
according to the propositions of the Hon. Baronet, to
abandon altogether, because, they were to remember,
these were the words of the Hon. Baronet's resolutions:—

" 1. That it is the opinion of this House that steps
should be taken to relieve this country, as speedily as
possible, from its present civil and military expenditure
o❑ account of the colonies, with the exception of its ex-
penditure on account of military stations or convict set-
tlements.

2. That it is expedient, at the same time, to give to '
the inhabitants of the colonies which are neither mili-
tary stations nor convict settlements ample powers for
their local self-government, and to free them from that
Imperial interference with their affairs which is insepa-
rable from their present military occupation."
It followed, from these propositions of the Hon. Baronet,
that all their colonies, not being convict or military
stations, and having a military force within their boun-
daries, were to be abandoned.—(Hear.) He thought
that the speech of his Hon. Friend, so full as it was of
details, served to show that he dwelt too much on those
details as an economist, and that his doing so had pre-
vented his giving a due appreciation to that policy which
it became a great monarchy to maintain and a great
empire to pursue. The consequences of the policy of
his Hon. Friend, he believed, would be found very fatal,
and such as the people of this country would not approve
of. The colonies would have to be abandoned—it would
be declaring them independent of this country—it would
lead to their separation from the mother country; there
would be no longer any tie between the colonies and
the mother country but their reciprocal interests, and
it would be free for any other country to bid against
England with the colony for that interest. The re-
sult, then, of the policy of the Hon. Baronet would be
this—and in saying so, he did not at all exaggerate the
consequences—it would be the abandonment of the far
greater portion of their colonial empire.—(Hear.) Now
he believed that neither their merchants nor their traders
were prepared to take that step.—(Hear.) Why, it was
but that very day that his Noble Friend had presented a
petition from almost every merchant at the Cape, pray-
ing for the assistance of this country iu the war in which
they were engaged. Let them but adopt the proposition
of his Hon. Friend, and they must part with their West
Indian colonies—Jamaica, Trinidad, Guiana Twist be
alike lost to them, with Australia and New Zealand;
they must float away on the world for any strange power
that chose to take them; and he believed that it would
not be lung, once they hurl b:en abandoned by this
country, before they would fell under the dominion of
sortie other power.—(llear.) His Hon. Friend had said that
if they left to those colonies local sell-government—that
if they freed them from Imperial control, the colonies
would undertake their own dote nee, and to that defence
they might be safely left. Ile (Mr. Hawes) dissented
altogether from that proposition. He knew that his
Hon. Friend connected together ns if they were inse-
parable from each other local self-government and the
distribution of their military force; as if there were no
self-government where there was military force, and
that there was self-government where there was an ab-
sence of military force. Such was not the true state of
things. In point of fact he could show that in a colony
where there was the largest power of self-government
there was a large military force, and he could point to
another colony—a Crown colony—a colony governed,
as it was said, by the Colonial-office, where there was
a very small military force. Let them take, for instance.
the case of Jamaica. There was the fullest power of
self-government, and yet there were 1,400 of their mi.
litary ; and, on the other hand, there was Trinidad that
had not self-government with only 300 men. Let them
run through their colonies, and they would find there
was no connexion between local self government and
the maintenance of a military.—(Hear, hear.) Take
two colonies adjoining each other—Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick. They had at Nova Scotia a military
station, and New Brunswick was not so. Let them take
the case of New Zealand and compare it with South
Australia. New Zealand had from fifteen to sixteen
hundred men, and Australia had but sixty-fire .men.
Whether a force were paid out of Imperial resources or
the colonial funds, still, in case of necessity, the colony
would look to relief and protection from the Imperial
Government. Thus in New Zealand they had a large
native population, and there, therefore, they must have
a largo military force. From that expense they could
not escape; and he doubted much whether the mother
country would save much by adopting the Hon. Baronet's
proposition. Let them take the case of the Cape. If
they granted it local self-government, and did not inter-
fere with the administration of its affairs, and yet, if a
war broke out with the Kafirs, his Hon. Friend would
give them a large sum of money to maintain the ex-
penses of the war.
Sir W. MOLESWORTII—No, no.
Mr. HAWES—He understood from the Hon. Baronet
that in such a case he would not abandon the colony to
its own resources. He gathered, from what his Hon.
Friend had said, that he saw the contingency before
him, and that he discerned this fact, that they could
not separate the commercial interests of British
subjects hero from those of British subjects in
their colonies. The time, then, would come, when
they would have to answer this question—would they
assist the colony when it was placed in difficulties? And
he was sure the country would readily give its assent
to do so, and thus the policy of the lion. Baronet would
involve them in a heavier expense than what was in-
curred under the present system.—(Hear, hear.) But
supposing the recommendations of the Hun. Baronet to
be adopted, ho assumed that the intercourse between the
mother country end the colony would be as beneficial
as it was at present. Experience served to show that
assertion was not sustainable in fact. Let them take the
case of the United States of America, which had once
been colonies of the British empire. Now that the
United States were separated from this country, the
British merchant, before he could bring his goods into
one of their ports, had to pass through protecting duties
of 25 per cent.—(Hear, hear)—whilst in every colony
that belonged to the British empire he had a friendly
port open to him. The vote, he said, was an important
consideration for them, because many of these colonies
were trying to impose a protecting tariff, and if they
were independent of this country they would have their
trade interfered with. It might be said that these
duties would be paid by the consumers in the
colonies. There could be no doubt that such would
be the case, but in proportion as these protective
duties were high their power to purchase would be im-
paired; and thus they would have an increase of taxation
in another shape, ev. n though they might get rid of the
cost of an immediate expenditure, which the Hon. Ba-
ronet desired.—(Hear, hear.) It was not on mere com-
mercial and pecuniary grounds alone that he opposed the
motion of the Hon. Baronet; and taking up those other
grounds led him to refer to the Cape of Good Hope.—
(Hear, hear.) When they took possession of the Cape
of Good Hope they found that it was a possession that
extended 400 miles inland, and they took it with the
obligation to protect the white population there, and also
to protect the coloured population. Now, they could not
withdraw Imperial control from that colony without en-
dangering the safety of the colony. They had not, he said,
the power to throw away the obligations they had eon-
trected. His Hon. Friend had mentioned that lie had on
this occasion made the observations ho intended to have
offered to the House on an amendment of which ho hail
given notice, on the motion of the Noble Lord (Lord J.
Russell); and this induced him (Mr. Hawes) to refer
more particularly to what bad been said on the subject
by tho Hon. Baronet.—(Boar, hoar.) The Hon. B-ire-
net had spoken of their " frontier policy" at the Capo of
Good Hope. His Hon. Friend had been discreetly silent
as to his significations of a "frontier policy;" but he
threw ridicule upon their extending their empire. Now,
he (Mr. Hawes) did net know of a single governor of
eminence who hail nut recommended exactly the same
policy Which Sir Harry Smith had followed. It was the
policy recommended by Sir B. D'Urban. But then, it
it was said that policy had failed; but he denied
that it had failed. In 1820 that House voted a large
slim of money for the purpose of sending out emigrants