EXTRACTS. WHAT IS TO BE DONE FOR THE PEOPLE?

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 269, 27 December 1848, Page 2

EXTRACTS. WHAT IS TO BE DONE FOR THE PEOPLE?

I COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION, AND COZONIAL REPRESENTATION . I need scarcely remind your lordship, that independent of all recent legislation, the home administ at>on of coloni il affairs has long been a matter of just complaint. I mean no flattery, when I say, that during the lait twenty years, no minister has conducted the business of that department w1 1 greater success lhaa your 1 ;rdship ; uo one, therefore, can be batter awai c of the general inefficiency of the system, and the necessity that exists for tome important alteration in the management of our colonial empire. It is to be observed, that our colonies hare two interests which are essentially distinct ; the one is local, »nd confined to the representative assembly, or if it dies not enjoy that privilege, to the execute I government of the colony ; the other is imperial, and coiifi !cj to the general legislature and the executive government of the empire ; and it is to the latter that 1 now venture to draw your lordship's attention I asmnoe, therefore — for it would be a waste of time to prove the tuct — that the imperial interests of the colonies do not receive that degieeof attention from the hon»p government which thoir great importance deserves. At the present time in pattcular, when die subject of, systematic colonizition is forcing itself upoa the public mind, the want of lome or.amsid means of effecting that deiired object is powe- fully Lit. With the double object therefore, of obtaining justire to the colonies, and at the same time of rendering their reseurc s most available to the mother country, I have to surest one or two remedies. The fust is to enlar^s boh the administrative power and the responsibility ot the Colonial Office ; the secjnd, and more effective plan is, to allow the colonies the right of direct representation in the Imperial Parliament. Your lordship is douitless aware that the scheme of direct colonial representation was strongly advocated by Adam Smith, and as resolutely Opposed by Burke. "There is not the least probability," observes the former, " that the British constitution would be hurt by the union of Great Britain with her coloniei. That constitution, ou the contrary, would be completed by it, and seems to be inperfect without it. The assembly which deliberates and decides concerning the affairs of every part of the empire, in order to be properly informed, ought certainly to have representatives from every part of it. That this union, however, could be easily effectuated, or that difficulties, and great difficulties, might not occur in the execution, I do not pretend. I have ye; heard of none, however, which appear insurmountable." The objections of Mr. Burks to thia scheme are principally founded on the distance of the colonies from England, and on the unavoidable difficulties and delays which would occur in the election and return of members to the seat of government. It is scarcely m c si. ry to observe, however, that circumstances have very materially altered since these conflicting opinions were expressed. The principal, and in feet the only valid objection of Burke, can hardly be said now to exist, at least with reference to our American possessions— and he bas confined hit argument to them. A voyage from Boston or Halifax can now be performed in as short a time as a journey from the north of Scotland, or the west of Ireland in the days of Burke ; and throughout the year, the West Indies are probably more accessible than the Shetland Islands. In proportion, therefore, as the force of Mr. Burke'i objections, have diminished by circumstances, the reasons adduced by Adam Smith in favour ot colonial representation, have received additional strength. And there is another circumstance to be considered, which, although for obvious reasons he has not directly referred to it, could scarcely have failed to operate on the mind of Burke, while treating of this important question. At the period when he wrote, the close boroughs afforded a ready means of representation of the colonies : a means which no longer exist-*. Practically speaking, therefore, the colonies were represented in the Imperial legislature in his day, although not so efficiently as if they had been allowed 10 send their own represent** tives direct to Parliame t In order to avoid the possibility of contested elections, and to the great delays that would necessarily attend them, the colonial legislatures, which must still remain, might be empowered to send members to Parliament in the same manner as the srpe ate legislatures of the United States send members to Congress. As direct imperial representation must necessarily imply imper «l taxation, th s culonits only would send memocrs to Pdiliament which could afford to contribute to the revenue of the mother country, in some proportion to the expense of their maintenance. The

smaller colonies, therefore, and those generally which have no local assemblies, would remain governed at they now are, although they too would derive great advantage fromjthe presence in Parliament of mm who might be personally acquainted with their actual condition and resources. If your lordship asks for a precedent of so important an innovation, 1 fear, indeed, that none could be furnished, either^ from the history of this country or of any other. As the idea of repeientation was unknown to the ancients* we cannot look to them for information. Among the maritime states of the middle ages, however we may perceive the necessities that sometimes exitted for colonial representation at the seat of government. During the fourteenth century, a colony of Venice claimed the right of sending deputies to the great council of the Republic, but this privilege was denied by the exclusive legislators of St. Mark. During the grandeur of the Spanish monarchy in the sixteenth century, the great foreign dependencies of the Crown were represented at Madrid by a seperate council or board, which appears to have superintended the affairs of the dominions committed to their care, without the intervention of the Cortes, Even this would be an improvement upon our loose and changeful sywem of colonial management ; but no remedy would appear to be so efficient, so constitutional, and at the same time so conducive to the strength and stability of the whole empire as the one already suggested. And if no historical precedent can be adduced in favour of this proposed measure, it is also to be borne in mind that the circumstances of the case have no parallel m the annals of mankind. With an overflowing population at home, and a boundless extent of colonial territory abroad ; it is the obviou. destiny of this nation to employ its indomitable energies for centuries to come for civilising and peopling those vast regions of the earth which providence has committed o our care. Such, in spite of the temporary triumph of theory over reason and justice, is our inevitable course. Nor would anything more facilitate the accomplishment of the great work, by diffusing just notions of the wants and capabilities of our colonial domini .n», than the presence of their representatives in En-land. It is asked how they would eßect the deliberations of the supreme legislature, it may be safely replied that they would add generally to their intere.t and utility ; because under the plan proposed, the ablest men only would be returned. From their education and their habits there is also every reason to believe that they would cherish a firm attachment to the constitution of their forefathers, and thus, in addition to the increased intelligence which they would bring to parliament, they would form an important element of resistance to that destructive « P int now abroad, which, whether under the attractive guise of a popular league, or the bolder front of Charter or Repeal, aims really at the destructions and the lubvernion of society.— [From a pamphlet entitled Free Trade and no Colonies, just published by Blachwood and Co.]