ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 732, 4 November 1869, Page 4

ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES.

(Melbourne Age.) Jp ever England falls from her position as a first-class power, it will be in consequence of her suicidal policy pf repudiating her colonies. Mr Mother-country in Downing street is going from bad to worse, and he is now so very unreasonable .that even the highly Conservative poloirial absentees who swarm in the West End of London are contemplating a revolt. A late telegram in -forms us that there had been a meeting of them, and that a committee had been appointed to consider the relations existing between England and the colonies. More than that, '?* tliey have addressed a circular to the various colonial administrations, urging them to send representatives to a conference proposed to be held at Westminster, in February next, for the purpose of discussing these relations." This is certainly the most sensational item in the not very inteiesting budget of mail news. •The rise in the price of wool is cer tainly more satisfactory, but fluctuations in the markets are things to be looked for, while the proposition for a Colonial Conference iu Westminster is something altogether new, and we are called upon offhand to! decide the question whether Victoria; should send a representative to the: gathering. Bat the question is notj a difficult ona.' It does not require; much consideration to arrive at the conclusion that no conference ini London should be recognized by us| as having any authority, so long asj we are able to hold our own againstj Downing-stteet intermeddling, with | out outside assistance. If the ques-j tion of the relations between tboj colonies and the parent country is to be settled by a conference, we must insist, as a preliminary, upon Eng-! land being a party to that conference,! and, as a further preliminary, that! there should be a conference bet ween | the representatives of the Australian; colonies in Melbourne, Sydney, or Auckland, before instructing our delegates as to the policy which would be sanctioned by the colonists. Weak as is our faith In the wisdom! of Downing-street, we would rather) argue the question of our relationsj with the officials there by means of despatches, than authorize any body pf gentlemen in London, however estimable they may be, to act for us. We have a vivid recollection of the adverse uses to which such au organization can be put, and we would rather caution the English Government against the interference of the fellows of the Colonial Society than strengthen their hands by giving them the rank of representatives —for that is what they are aiming at. We have already an agent in London whose duty it is to look after pur interests, and we would rather that he should mind his own business than mix himself up with the schemes of an absentee-clique. There is nothing to hinder the "colonists retired from business" to any question the} please, and they can do so in their society or in any other place without offence, so long as they do not artogate to themselves the rank of ambassadors. The colonies have too much self-reF'.pecb and proper pride to send envoys to a point where their rank would not be recognized. We are afraid that the Westminster conference might bring the colonies into ridicule. A plenipotentiary without power can nevei command respect.

The question is of English rather than colonial interest, E'-en New Zealand, although having a light to feel hurt at the coarse and unfeeling taunts of the Secretary of State for the colonies, is not dependent for the efficient management of her affairs upon any decision of the Home Government. As for Victoria it is a matter of indiffereuce, so long as we are allowed to assert our right to manage our own affairs, ami to act in accordance with that assertion, ■what Downing-street may think of pur pretensions. If, in case of war, England should think proper to brine us into the quarrel and then leave us to fortune, we shall, no floubt, take good care of ourselves; only, after it is all over, England need not be surprised if she finds that a colony, once cast off, is sqt likely I? return to the use of the 1

leading-strings. In a dispute with her colonies England has everything to lose, and it is therefore England's business rather than ours to consider what her best policy is. The position laid down by the Secretary of State for the Colonies i*, if we do not mistake him, this. If King Theodoras imprisons an Englishman, it is right to spend eight millions in his subjugation; b-it if Chief Te Kooti murders two hundred British subjects in cold blood not a man nor a shilling should be expended in his humiliation, because the Br-tish subjects murdered were only colonists. The colonists gave valuable aid to England in putting down the Indian mutiny, but England has not even sympathy to offer when a colonial Nana Sahib is running his career. The colonists did not inquire, prior to offering their aid, whether England was right or wrong in forcing the greased cartridges on the Sepoys ; but Downing street has nothing but a homily to deliver when appealed to \.nder similai circumstances. Again we say this is England's business. The colonies can take cafe of themselves. If England thinks she can maintain her prestige without them, be it so ; but let there be no mistake about ;the matter. Sbe cannot have privileges without responsibilities. She asserts that the colonies are her pro 'perty, but forgets that property has its duties as well as its rights. Her policy is purely restrictive. She would if she could control our wery fiscal arrangements. The colonies are warned that they cannot e\en settle the question of intercolonial trade without permission, and that that permission will be withheld The very progress of colonization i< obstructed by barriers the erection of which brings the British name iinto discredit. In Fiji, the settlers are told that thev will not be recognized if they have dealings with the 'native chiefs, and that England will not take the responsibility of dealing with tho«e chiefs herself. England cannot afford money or men to pro tect the colonies, but she can spare some cruisers to maintain a dog-in-the-n anger policy under cover of which other powers are actually annexing possessions the resources of which are being developed by British subjects. If England wishes to cast off the colonies, the colonies will be all the better off the more quickly the decision is arrived at.