The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 266, 16 December 1848, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

lie )ust ami fear not: Let all tlie eml.s tlion ainis't at, be thyCounti-y's, Thy Goo's, and I'iuUi's.

S A TUiID A y, I) X CEMBBR 10, 1848.

It should be matte i of as much satisfaction to Knoland, as it unquestionably is to her dependencies, that her colonial system should have undergone the thorough investigation to which it hasiecently been subjected. Satisfactory to England, because it lays bare a long train of systematic wrongs, less of her own creation than the growth ot an ever-shifting, never yielding, Colonial Office despotism — a parasitic incrustation on her otherwise free and hbcial constitution. Doubly satisfactory to her dependencies, < because it pours a balsam into the almost broken hcait of Colonial hope, whilst it leads to auguiy of better days to come. Sir William Molesuorth, like the Knight , of Ivanhoe, has entered the lists, armed at all points, and resolute to do battle against all aggressois And well and manfully has he perfouned his devoir— hurling the giant diplo- . macy from foolscap his courser ; and treading those tyianttwin brothers, Official Mystery and Political Expediency, remorselessly under foot. He has been honorably impartial ; dealing out his trenchant blows with equal vigour at Heaven-born Secretaries of either faction, exposing alike their malveisations and their mistakes. As a whole, the exposition of SirWiLLiui MoLE&woiiTii is complete. He goes unflinchingly to the task — plucking up weeds by the roots, and showing how prodigal of riches the colonial garden might be made, if cultivated upon practical colonial principles, instead of being laid waste by theoretical Colonial Office prejudices. Ignorance and ii responsibility (says Sic William) are the characteristic defects of our present mode (if governing tho colonies. For tliese defects there is no remedy but local self-government. Hence I come to the conclusion that we should delegate to the colonies all poweis oflocal legislation and administration which are now possessed by the Colonial office, with the reheiviition only of those powers, the exercise of wlrch would be absolutely inconsistent with the sovereignty of this countiy, or miftht be directly injuuous lo the interpgtf of the whole empire. As a means of relief to the empire, and of improvement to the Colonies, Sir William MoLEswoiim is most anxious to reduce the Naval and Military forces employed for their piotection. We dissent toto ccelo, from him in this point. Indeed, we look upon it as but a tub (o the whale — a sacrifice in propitiation of vulgar clamour — a nut for those wordy declaimeis against standing armies, and similar imaginary bugbears, to ciack. If colonies aie worth keeping they are woith defending ; and, costly as the burden may be, yet strip England of hei colonial dependencies. — nanow hei within her own British isles, and however economical or gainful Sir William may make the loss appear on papa, yet he may rest assured he would find it destructive of British supremacy in fact. Like the Erin-loving Irishman, he might live to praise the cheapness of production, yet seek in vain for the means to purchase the produce ! But even without mcumng such a penalty, we conceive the relief would be but imaginary. Follow out the concessions of local self-government, and systematic colonisation, and Sir William will find that the colonies w ill develope their energies and their resources to such an extraordinary extent, that the Naval and Military disbursements would be but an unconsideied bonus for the benefit England would insure. We shall only further remark that, as Sir William is fond of quoting American precedents, we would beg his attention to the naval protection afforded by the United States, in every sea where the stars and stripes are found, or where American enterprise exists. What, benefit (demands Sir William) doei this country dsnvofro n her dominion over hei colonies? Our ancestors would have answerrd thpse questions in the following m.nner. They would have tokl u>, how little more than iwo centuries ago some of the inhabitants of ths island, b»ing uneasy at home, had migrated to Ame.iui; they were prudent and energetic men, of the true Anglo-Saxon brcud, which U best fitted to wage «ar with the savage and the forest; and being left alone, they flouiuhed ; and in rhe courne of a few yearh, without cobting one farthing to this country, th< y btcune a numerous .nid a thriving people. " Men of the true Anglo Saxon breed," have also migiated within the last quaiter of a century, to other and remoter shores than those of America ; and, being there left alone, they tamed the forest and fertilised the soil with a prudence and an energy worthy of their race. But all those things are changed ; since the Colonial Office, anxious to have a finger in the pie, have thrust in its paw and made a hog's mess of the wholesome dish. Sir William Molesworth is wrong in asserting that England pays tribute to her colonies. What England really does, is to tax herself for the pleasure of treating her dependencies with . a haishness and a hauteur inexcusable towards aliens. She subsidizes immense and overbearing diplomatic staffs to coerce her colonies — crushing their energies — destroying their resources — lendeiing them dependent serfs, instead of independent free men •. — cieating — with the quasi dignity of Imperial (too frequently impawns) Governors, a class of Viceregal middle men, to step between the country and the colonies — creatures of red tape and foolscap, who usuip functions of which they are incapable ; doctrinaires ingenious to toiture and torment, according to law — exchanging be-

tween themselves and the Colonial Office, a string of delusions, to embitter the colonies, kereafter perhaps, to he remembered by the enfranchised state, with haired and revenge. Note the picture of those gentry from Sir William's easel ! Though the colonies have ample reason to complain of tha manner in which Uieir aff.ira are administered by the Colonial Office of this country, they have still greater reason to complain of the governor! and other function irips who are s a nt by the Colonial Office to the colonies ; foi, genually speaking, they are chusen, not on account of any special aptitude (or, or knowledge of. the business which they will have to perform, hut for reasons foreign to 'he interests of the colonies. For instance, poor relttions or needy dependents of men having p >liticnl influence (hear), officers in the at my or navy who have been unsuccessful in their professions (hear, hear), briefless barristers, electioneering agents, importunate applicants f»r pub ie employ* raent, whose employment in this country public opinion would forbid (hear), and at times even discreditable part sans whom it ii expedient to get rid of in the colonies (hear) : these are the materials out of which the Colonial Office has too frequently manufactured its governors and other functionaries. Therefore, in most cases they are signally unfit for the dutic. which they have to "perform, and being wholly ignorant of the affairs of the colony to which they aie appointed, they become the tools of one or other of the colonial fac« t on« ; whence perpetual jealousies and never-ending feuds (hear, hear. The governors, the judges, and the other high functional les are generally on hostile terms. The £ ivernors remove the ju<lges. the judges appeil to us for ledress; every vrar a petition or two ot this kind comes under the consideration of Parliame >t. To settle such questions the Colonial Office has just created a new tribunal, composed of an exliidian judge and railway commissioner, and of an expermanent Uudei-S crctary of State for ihe Colonies (hear, hear) ; the one w.th little knowledge of colonial affairs, the other famed for years as the real head of the colonial system, and theiefore reputed as the evil genius of the colouie*. It would be easy to cite instances which h ive occurred during the last ten years which would illustrate every one of these positions, I forbear, however, from mentioning names, as the facts are notorious to every one who his taken any interest in colonial affairs. It is no wonder riut the colonies are discontented, and that they are badly and expensively governed (hear). Is there no remedy for this state of things ? I have traced the evil to It 9 source in the colonial system of the Colonial Office. Can that system be amended ? I doubt it (heai). The threat, which Sir William Molesworth says the West Indies have used, as to throwing off British dominion is indeed the key to all Colonial grievance, to all British misrule. It is British dominion, in the shape of selfish and io-norant interference in remote local affairs, that saps colonial affection — It is British dominion in withholding free institutions, else dictating impossible constitutions — It is Biitish dominion, such for example, as destroying Van Diemen's Land, on her high way to reform and piospeiity — It is British dominion, ay, and domineering, in keeping waste, the Colonial waste lands — It is British dominion in excluding the true colonist from colonial office, and rendering the colonies one mighty vent for the scum of British pationage — It is these, and other .such items — their names a legion — of Btitish dominion and domination, that render the colonies poor when they might be r i c h — incit when they might be active — expensive when they might be profitable — dissatisfied when they might be contented — disaffected even when most desirousof being loyal ! Observe how pithily Sir William Mou«:b worth confirms our expositions. As long as that (the Colonial Office) system exists the unjontv of Ihe colonies must be ill governed and their mhabitunts discontented; for the Colonial Office undertakes to pei form an impossible task. It undertake! to perform the administration, civil, military, financial, judicial and ecclesiastical of boina forty different communmei, with various institutions, languages, laws, customs, wants and interests. It utidertukes to legislate more or less for all the colonies, and together for those which hate no representative assemblies. Ii would be difficult enough to discharge a 1 these functions in a single office, if all the colo.iiCs were cl se to gether and close lo England, but they are scattered ovet the face of the globe from the Arctic to the Antarctic po'e. To most of them several months must elapse, to some of them a whole year must e'apte, befoie an answer to a letter cun be rtc jived, before a petition can be complied with, or a grievance redressed (hear, hear.) Therefore, order-i which are issued from the Colonial Office in accordance with the last advices from a colony aie, in innumerable instances, wholly unsuited to the state of the colony when the order-, arrive ; in some cases, questions which time has settled are re-opened, forgotten disputes revived, and the ta rdy interfeieuce of the Colonial Office is felt to be a curse even when a wrong is redie-tsed. In other cases, the instructions of the Colonial Office are wisely disregarded by the governors, or rejected with derision by the colonial assemblies, who maivelat ihe gross iguorance of their transatlantic rulers (hear, hear.) In fact the colonial government of this country is an ever-changinfj, frequently well-intentioned, but invariably weak and ignorant despotism. Its policy varies incessantly, swayed about by opposite influences ; at one time ditected, perhaps, to the West India body, the next instant by the Anti-Slavery Society, then by Canadian merchants, or by a New Zealand Company, or by a Misssionary Society : it h everything by turns, and n >tlnng long ; Saiut,Protectioniit, Freetrader, in rapid succession ; one day it originates a project, the next day it abandons it, therefore all its schemes are abortions, and all its measures are unsuccessful (hear, ne.ir.) Witness the economical condition of the West Indite, the Irontitr relations ol the Cape of Good Hope, the immoial stale of Van Diemen's Land (hear, hear, and the p3euJo«systematic colonization and revoked c nstitution of New Zealand (hear.) Such a government might suit serfs and other barbarians ; but to men of our race— intelligent and energetic English- [ men accustomed to freedom and local lelf-government it is one of the most hatelul and odious Governments that can well be imagined. It is difficult to expres. the di-ep-seated hatred and contempt winch is felt for the Colonial Office by almost every dependency subject to its sway. (Hear, hear.) If you doubt this lact, put the question to the West Indies and the Mturitius; put ihe s me question to Van Di men'i Land, to Nsw South Wales to New Zealand, slid your other Australian colonies ; from all of them you will receive ihe same answer, and the same prayer to be freed from the control of the Colouial Office.

That patronage is at once the hope and the prop of the Colonial Office, Sir William Molesavorth has conclusively shown, by the ignoble revenge with which that Office visited Guiana, to which immigration was peremptorily stopped, because, forsooth, the Court of Policy of that suffering Province had the temerity to refuse the supplies, on account of their being beaten, by the double vote of the Governor, m a proposition to deduct five and twenty per cent from all salaries exceeding £700 a year ! " This unexpected proceeding (observes Sir Wiixiui) has occasioned considerable inconvenience and loss to various shipowners in this country, who complain that no reliance can be placed upon the Colonial Office, with its perpetually shifting regulations." OftheAvorse than powerlessness of the Colonial OJice for good Sir William appositely remaiks : It uppears to me that the Colonial Office, ai an instrument for Roverniny the colonies must always be far inferior to any mode of self-government by the colonists, for it is evident, that at least in ninety nine cises out of every hundred, the colonists, the men on the spot, must be better judges of their own interests than honourable gentlemen far away in Downingstieet can possibly be. it is evident, likewise, that (though the cm piie at large has a deep interest in the good and economical {javeniinent of the coloiiic though all of us here present ate most sincerely desirous that (he colonies should be contented and happy), yet we have other things to do besides studying colonial affairs au.l looking nfter the Colonial Office (loud cheers). Remember, likewise, that implicit reliance canu»t be placed on mere documenrs (hear, hoar). Some, for instance, are long didactic deipatches, written for the sole purpose of being presented to Parliament, not intended to produce any specific results in the colonies; hut full of well turned periods, containing lofty scntim»nts and apparently statesmanlike views, calculated to gain credit for the office, and to satisfy the miiids of honourable, ignorant, and coijfi'liiig members, who noon atferwaids forget all about the matcer (hear, hear). Agiin, as a collection of materials for enabling the house to^ form a judgment with regard to colonial affurs. those documents are not to be trusted, for, generally speaking, they are tainted with paitialuy, and necessarily so; because they were selected out of a vast mass., on account of their supposed importance; of that impoitance the Coloni il Office is the sole and irresponsible judge ; it determines without appeal what shall be produced and what shall be suppressed; m so doing, it muit obey the unchanging law a of human nature, and attach greater importance to those document! which confirm its views, and less importance to th^e which are adverse to its opinions ; thu former, therefore, obtain it,s special ea c, and aie sure to be produced ; the latter are compntatuely neglected, and liable to be forgotten and suppressed ; the result is inevitable, nam.'ly, partial bUements (hear, hearj— instances of human fallibility, but affording, however, l'ico itcst b'c piools. of the impossibility linger which this house laboms of forming a correct judgment wiih regard tto colonial a Fiiis Although Aye have devoted unusual space to consideration of Sir William Mollswoiu-h's masterly Colonial Manifesto, we cannot dismiss it without yet an extract or two. With regird to the Australian colonies. New South Wales is the only one which has a representative «s» B<*ml>ly ot any k rid. It commenced its eustunce in 184.i, and immediately caused un extraordinary diminution in the*expendituie. In 1811 the free population of New S mill Wales amounted to aboat 102,000, and the oidinary cxpendi'uie, exclusive of immigration, whs i,^i),ooo, or at the enormous rate of £,', 4s, a heid of the population. In 1813 the Ilepieseutative Assembly at once diminished the oxpendituie for the subsequent year by.£GOUOO; and in 1846", when the free popoUti m amounted to 178,00 ', the expenditure was only £ioi,Qo0 i or at the rate of jCI Bs. a head of the populaiinn (hear, hear). Tins extraordinary reduction in the rate of expenditure may be attributed to a certain extent of immigi anon but thertduction in the positive amount of expenditure can be ilisdnctly tiaced to the commencement of local self government in 1843 (hear). Now compare the rue of expenditure of New South Wales with that of the neighbouring colony of Van Diemen's Lmd, which haa in vain petitioned for b representative assembly. In 18 12 the free population of that colony amounted to 37,000, and on the average of the four years ending with 1844, the expesiditure, exclu-ive of immigration, was £161,000, or at the enormous rate of £4 Gs. a head. This rate of expenditure was not very dilF rent from that of the kindied colony of New Sju h Wales prior to the establishment of repiesentative government. It must, however, be acknowledtjed that ihe difference in the rute of expenditure of the two colonies may be attributed in part, though curuinly not aUogether, to the abolition of transpui tation in New Sou. h Wales, and to its continunnce in its worst form in V u Diemen'g Land (hear, hear). The house may remejaoer the appalling description which was gi«en last year ol the loathsome moral state of the comi'Jt p >pulat o l of th t colony, and its deptndency, Norfolk lslmd; of ttiu hideous crimes — uf their frightful (ileuses— and of their atrocioui murders. It was shoiivn that the un~ happy state of the colony was brought about partly by the negligence of the then Secietaiy of State for the Colonies, Lord Stanley; paitly by the mismanage" ment of the then Governor of Van Diemm's Land, Sir Eardley Wilmot, and partly liy the miaconduet of the then omtnandantof Norfolk Island, Mj rChi'd-. In consequence of th^se hoi rid disclosures it was announced last jear to the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir VV. D^tiiion, tint it whs the intention of the Gov rnment that transportation bhiiuld be dtscontinu d altogether, and that announc ment was reieived with great satisfaction in the colony. Unfortunately, it now appears that transportation is to be renewed to Van Diemen's Land, though in a mitigated form (hear, hear). The colonists will be bi terly disappointed and exiiparated when they receive this information. At present they are discontented ; for, to meet the vast expenditure of th« colony, taxea have been imposed which the judges have pionounced to be illegal; and one of the judgei so deciding has been removed by the governor, as the eooimts believe, in consequence of his dee sion — a belief whi< h, from thu statements made to the house by the honourable gentleman the Under Secretary of !>tate for the Colonies, appears to be unfounded. The colo ists, howver, will have tvery reason to be dirsatihfied with the renewal of transportation, which will mar their prospects and make them for ever the plague spot and rrproach of Australasia. With reference to our own infant state, Sir William has fallen into one or two inaccura- : cies ; but, as these may in a great measure be

attributed to the permitted explanations of the system he denounces, we must make reasonable allowances for time and circumstances. New Zealand. Ido not know the state of expendi. ture per head of the population of that colony. Its expenditure, however, far exceeds iti income. We annually vote between twenty and thirty thousand pounds a year for its civil government, exclusive of the bills which we shall have to pay for Maori wars. In the course of thfc lust two years we have voted that .£236,000 are to be lent to the New Zealand Company, which I hope will be repaid some day or otbei . In that colony — what with imb-cile governors in the beginning, what with incendiary bishops at present — what with constitutions proclaimed and suspended— what with quarrels with the natives — what with missionaries aud land sharks, there has been a state o' most extraordinary confusion. Yet, I believe, tin ouch the indomitable energy of oui race, New Z-aland will ultimately become a flourishing colony — the Hritain of the southern seas. The house may remember, that in 1846 the Colonial Office imugined a nodefcript constiiutioH for New Zealand, and sent it off post haste to thut colony. It was to divide N< w Z -aland into two provinces — New Ulster and New Munster. Each was to have a representative assembly. When the constitution arrived Govcnor Grey refused to bestow it on New Ulster, on the grounds thut it would enable the Biitish population to legislate lor and tax the natives. Therefore Governor Grey suspended the constitution of New Ulster, till he could receive further instructions; but he expressed his opinions iv veiy sttong leans that the inh ihitants of N w Muiuter were fit for a cons'itution. v\ hen this intelligence readied the Colonial Office, Lord Grey immediately proposed to Parliament a bill (which was passe J about thtce or four months a&o) to suspend the constitution of both provinces. Now, I infer, from later accounts fiom tho colony, thnt New Munsler has obtained its constitution and perhaps its representatives will be assemble'!, and will be haidat work legislating when ordeis will ariive irom England to suspend their constitution I'tid to dismiss them with ignominy. A curious faice is the History of the management of this colony by the Coloniil Ouicp. This same nondescript New Zealand constitution was lent by the Colonial Office to New South Wales for the colonists to inspect, ami to see how they would like a similar one. They have rejected it v> ith scorn aud contempt. lam ufiaid hir, tuat the pntcnt Secretary of State for the Colonies, notwithstindwg his very great abilities, will not be renowned in lutuie history as either the Sdon or Lycurgus of Australia (hear, Lear.) Nor, as we incline to think, as the Aristides of New Zealand! What will Sir William Moleswortii — what will the world say of that Secretary, Avho having recently pat himself, and his administration, upon trial befoie his peers, and having vaunted him of an untarnnhed public reputation, can pen mch a despatch as this, copied from- the Government Gazette of the 11th instant 1 " Dowmng-nlreet, 3rd May, 1818. "Sr, — You will inform Te "\Vheio Where, and other Chiefs of the Wmkalo distiicl, who signed the letter to the Queen, euclobed in your despatch of November 18th, lal-7, No. 117, tli.ic I have laid it before Her Majesty, who lv* commanded me to express ihe sa'i'fdunon with which site has leceivul this loyal and dutiful address, and to asi-uie them ihat theie ih not the slightest foundation for the tumours to which they alluil-, ..iid ih.it it uevei was intended that the tie if y of Waiiam-i, should be vml ned \,y <H--)i<i-.!>. ssing the Tribes which arc par ties to d {! ! .') of »ny poition o' the lanl secuitd to them by the»TriMty without thci corihent. O.» the cout uiy, llei M ,jc»iy has al.\ays direc'e.J tune the Tremy »hould hi most hCiupulously and religiously obseived.' " T') Governor Grey, &c, &c." The Jesuitical leservation, italicised by us, wight, perhaps be commendable in an Old Bailey piactiLioner, of much experience ; but in an English nobleman, and a Minister of the Ciown to boot 'I Faugh! I think (continues Sir Williun) I have sufficiency os abhs'ied. my position that, in every poriion of the globe, the JJntihlt colonies are inoie economica'ly and Letter governed m proportion ao they are self- overm d InNoith America the various states of the Union govern themselves twenty -five per cent, cheaper than the Ctnadas do, which are to a cerfrun extent under the control of the Colonial Office. (Hear ) Iv the We t Indies the Crown colonies, w tich are governed by tae Colonial Oflipo, are twice us ue.ivily taxed as the plantations ; and in Australia, and in the Mediterranean, the ssme mle holds good. (Hear, heai.) These facts justify the conclusion at which I now arrive, that the greater the amount of local ■(,lf-govermnent, and the less the Colowidl Office interferes m the internal alFdiro of the colooied, the more economically and ihe better the ooloni. t will be governtd, Ihe habit of emigrating is confirmed, and becoming more powcrtul every day ; and, theietore, colonies are becoming more useful as outlets lor our population. Therefore, free trade with the co! >n esand hee access to the colonies should, in my opinion, be tie aole e-id and aim of the dominion which Great Bn <u» still ret mis over her colonies. There is one other aim to he kept in view besides free trade vv.th, and free access to, the colonies. It is one yet more pai amount. It is Free Trade in, and Free Access to Colonial Waste Lands ! Until these be conceded, no Colonist can be content — no Colony can flourish. Grant but these, and the disjointed settlements of New Zealand — the squatting deserts of Australia — will be linked together as one great, and grand, and thiiving whole — their fields and their prairies a home and a happiness to industrious millions. It is by Free Trade in Land, not by the delusive humbug of Wakefieldian restriction, which Sir William Molkswortii approves, that success can be achieved. Sir William establishes that ' fact in his own despite. He cites the overflowing emigration to America — its dubblings to Australia — And Wherefoie '? The answer may be given by a demonstrative interrogatory. Who will disburse twenty shillings, with a removal of sixteen thousand miles, for that which he can acquire, at less than a fouithof the distance, for four shillings ?

We are requested to call the attention of the drapeis and shopkeepers to Mr. Hyam Joseph's extensive sale of drapery and tancy goods, on Monday next, at eleven o'clock. — Communicated.