English News. MILITARY GOVERNORS FOR THE COLONIES.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 105, 2 June 1847, Page 2

English News. MILITARY GOVERNORS FOR THE COLONIES.

[From the " Times," December 11.] That the relations between the mother countrj and its dependencies may be seriously affected by the probable course of our legislation is., a matter which must be as clear to everybody as it to ourselves the fact that such course promises equal, advantages to both. Our measures have tended to iuteirupt the support which the mother country and its dependencies conceived taernselves to be rendering lo each' other j and though this peculiar interchange of offices is now undeistood to have been productive of mutual injury rather than of mutual good, yet the utmost care must be taken to supply to the colonies, by a liberal compensation of sterling benefits, the loss of those delusive privileges which are not cheerfully resigned without more sagacity and enlightenment than it would be reasonable to expect everywhere at so short a notice. In no point could colonial system be 'more wisely or more judiciously reformed than in the appointment of governors to these distant and varied settlements. The goveruoi of a colony, independent of the vast influence he may exercise on the happiness and tranquility of its inhabitants by bis petsonal disposition and deportment, has higher and more complicated duties to discharge. Asthe representative of his Sovereign he is not only called upon to leceiveand to secure the vicarious allegiance of the colonists, bu"t ( he is bound to return, in the same capacity, that care and pro • - tection by which allegiance is earned. He stands, in the place of his Queen, to watch over the interests of the detached territory inttusted to his care, and not only to guard ils frontiers and insure its security, but to regulate its external and internal life, by the ablest application of judgment and discretion. In proportion as his authority is more absolute and less limited than thai of the Sovereign whom he represents, so is his duty more arduous, and his tesponsibility t more severe. He is the champion of his quasi- ' subjects, and if it should ever happen that the real interest of the mother country and Ihe colony should come into collision, he should remember that he is the advocate of the latter as well as the viceroy of the former. He is the representative of the colonists and their fortunes, and his aid and interference is the boon which they purchase with their loyahj and good faith. It is his duty to foster the productive power of the dependency, to regulate its finances, to adjustf ts assessments, and to improve its revenues, with ail the care and foresight which these complicated considerations require. He may possibly have to. revise a monetary system, or to substitute for a

detrimental principle of taxation one better calculated to equalize pressure and liberate the spirit of enlorprize. He may have to establish a police; to reform, collect, or publish a code of laws. All the abilities which at home are presumed to be furnished by the division of ministeriul labor are frequently required of him alone an the exigency perhaps of the moment, and v hen he is without any other guidance than may be gathered from his general instructions, or delivcd fiom assistants too similarly situated to be capable of offering a corrective to his views. If it cannot be ussei ted that we have magnified or misrepresented the duties of a colonial governor, can it be replied that the lequisite qualifications have been usually consideied in making 4uch appointment ? We fear not. A glance at t4ve list will show that these responsible situations have been held so systematically by old military officers as almost to imply a monopoly iv the hands of the Horse Guards; and, without resorting lo any invidious examples or comparisons, it is far moie leasonable lo conclude that fhese high places have been frequently ill-filled than that the necessary competency should have been so universally found in a class of men whose education and portion are precisely those leasi .adapted to insure it. Such men are generally advanced in years, whereas the energy of middle age ib peculiarly lepuired for their office. They ate almost unavoidably of confined and unenlightened views on subjects foreign to their own profession. Their ideas are those of the camp, not of the cabinot. The veteran of Albuera or Waterloo has piobably spent Ins time and his toil in raising himself to the rank in question ? she has had no leisure for the comparison of tariff or conceptions of commercial policy, and it is too often and too natural)) the case that he rejects with some disdain the knowledge he has never acquired, liven if the piolectiou of the IVontieis were the chief characteristic duty of a governor, very recent experience has shown that it is unwise to employ an ancient wauior on this active service, and to oppose to a tumultuous and hutweeing irruption a veteran who dedtdidt jxim pace Uiicem. But the truth is, that the arts of peace, and not the science of war, are now demanded (torn (he viceroys of our dependencies Our ships and soldiers, we (rust will secure their peace ;—; — but it is their governois and themselves wlio niUbt secure their prospeiity. Look at the invaluable island of Ce)lon,to the commerce and finance of which we have lately diiected attention ~-i8 it possible to magnify the duties requited of its governor, who, to a perfect knowledge of the commercial policy of the home country has to bring) an acquaintance with the circumstances and capabilities of one of the richest and most productive colonies of the world? Look at the Mauritius — in that island will piobably be tested the power of fiee labour against slave labour, and the Jirst and most palpable criteiion of the justice of our recent legislation may depend entirely on (he ability of the governor. Aided by a competent and intelligent ruler, who will revise dhoir imperfect system, and represent their just claims, the colonists may successfully take (he field against their opponents, and proclaim to the world agteat triumph; but, crippled and • checked by a choleric or an incapable veteran, they nray easily break down in their attempts, and transfer to a principle the discredit which is due only to its ill-regulatedapplication. We have no desiie to lay it down as a proposition that a soldier is cssuntially unfit for such pdsts at these* In certain departments of the army— such, for instance, as the engineers— a round of duties so varied i* sometimes exacted from the officer as to serve most excellently in preparing him for any future service. IS' or is it to be denied that in military men geneially, if only they are selected before age aud ill health have weakened their energies, there may be found an admirable ground work of enterprize, fortitude and decision, on which the requisite su perstructute of political information may afterwards be raised. These appointments, how ever, aie, in their very nature, not military, but political* they demand the highest talents, for which they offer the most adequate remuneration. The colonists pay from their own resources, noble salaties to theirgovernors,aiuTit is but honorable , and equitable that they should serve in proportion to their assessment. If it be urged, as perhaps it may be, that but for these appointments many a deserving veteran would go unrecornpeused to his giave, the answer is plain. Il is the paramount duty of the State to return a fair wages for fair work, but out of its own pockets, not those of otheis. The servants of England should noi be paid in the coin of her colonies. — Even in the lowest wulks of every day life, there is nothing found so unsatisfactory or &o costly as paying by perquisites, 01 remunerating by jobs ; but if we had not some obvious illustrations to quicken our conception, it would be difficult to imagine the wholesale ruin and confusion which have necessarily ensued on the adoption in times past of this despeiate and discreditable practice in the government of dependencies.