The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-13 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Lectures on Colonisation and Colonies. By Her-
man Merivale, A.M. New edition. Longman.
These lectures were delivered by Professor Meri-
vale before the University of Oxford during the
years 1839-40-41, at a time when little interest was
taken in the welfare or advancement of our colonial
possessions by the general public; and the Govern-
ment treated the subject with great indifference.
Our penal colonies were looked upon as a conveni-
ence to rid the country of that portion of its crimi-
nal population who were not bad enough to hang,
but far too depraved to keep at home. It was from
the conviction that great good would result to the
mother country, as well as to her dependencies, by
the development of our colonial resources, by stimu-
lating emigration that Professor Merivale under-
took the task of collecting the details of these
lectures. Since the date of their delivery
a sort of mania for emigration has taken
place, owing to the great increase of the
population, the late famine in Ireland, and above
all the discovery of gold in Australia and other
places, so that what twenty years ago was new to
most people is to-day known to nearly all; thus Mr.
Merivale's lectures must have possessed far greater
interest when, from his professor's chair,he described.
the capabilities and resources of our various
colonies to the attentive students than they
can be expected to have for those who
fancy that they know all about colonies, emigra-
tion, and the world in general. But it is not a
superficial sketch of his subject that the author
has taken ; he has evidently devoted much time
in preparing these lectures, for not only does he
describe each of our own colonies and enters into
a history of their first occupation, and their forms of
government, but he also examines those of other
countries—in fact, he treats of colonies generally ;
of course. however, devoting most attention to
those of England. He describes at some length
the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, and
gives a statistical account of their condition in
respect to wealth and commerce. The vast riches
of some of the early Spanish and Portuguese
settlers is almost beyond belief, and yet they
never acquired any fortune, their habits were
extravagant, their estates neglected, and although
they could always command large sums of money
the gambling-table and wild speculations en-
gulphed it all. Much attention has been paid to
the results gained by the emancipation of the
slaves in our West Indian possessions. It is main-
tained that when the slave trade was abolished,
owing to the gradual but steady decrease
of the negro population in the colonies,
the proprietors of plantations would have been
unable to keep up the stock, and that a recourse to
free labour would have been unavoidable. The
treatment of the aborigines by all nations seems to
have been alike cruel and unjust; and although we
may cry out with indignation at the barbarities of
Cortez and Pizarro, if we look a little into the early
history of Australia we shall find that the virtuous
Angle-Saxon was not far behind them. Thanks to
lead, poison, and alcohol, the old race has disap-
peared before the white man, and in fact our boast.
ed eiviiisation is to the Australian aborigine proves a
literal extermination. Much valuable information,
both historical and statistical, is to be found in this
volume, and although the lectures were addressed
to an audience some twenty years ago, they are no
less wort; yof careful perusal. Copious notes and
statistical tables are appended to each chapter,
showing the increase of various populations in
succeeding years, together with the advance or
retrogression of particular colonies in wealth and
produce; and although from the fact of the work
being composed of a series of lectures, the various sub-
jects are not in as collected a form as one could wish,
to constitute a book of reference, the full informa-
tion given in the contents of each chapter in a great
measure overcomes this difficulty, while the same
diversity greatly increases the interest of each in-
dividual lecture.