The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 323, 3 July 1849, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just ami leu not: Let all the emU tlson aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and 1 mill's.

TUESDAY, JULY 3, 1849.

IJ. M. S. Vi y, nrrived in harbour from Sydney on Saturday morning. We know not what defects she may have been found to have sustained ; but this we do know, that she came to her anchorage in first-rate style,— a perfect and a beautiful specimen of a man-of-war ; a, credit to the Captain who commands, and to the officers and ship's company that man her. She brings no mail— not a single letter. It is beyond the Sydney Post Master Witty to "bestow a thought on the wants and wishes of Auckland. He was to despatch a mail by the Maiy Cathciine, on the Monday following the departure of the Fly, and was not that enough for a parcel of New Zealand savages'? The gentlemen of St. Martin's Je Grand appear to be pretty much of the same opinion, for we petceive a large mail for Auckland has been sent via Otago, &c, to go the grand tour of the South. Really this conduct is infamous. We are indebted to Captain Nugent and to Mr. Wardell for perusal of Sydney Heralds of the 15th and 16th ultimo. We copy a leading article, from which it will be seen that the fust convict ship had arrived— that the colony is in a state of frenzy, and that the Governor, Sir Charles Fitzroy, had poured oil upon the flame by the discourtesy with which he had received one of the most intelligent and influential deputations ever sent by a country to protest against its moral subversion. We are by no means surprised at this conduct of Sir Charles Titzroy's. It is in perfect keeping with our leading of his character from the first moment we beheld him. Whilst under the able leading strings of Mr. Deas Thomson, the native nothingness of Sir Charles piovoked no discussion,, but the moment he ventures to act for himself, why then, his ignorance and his arrogance, compel a collision. We can hardly say we regret it. Colonial mismanagement has arrived at such a pitch— Colonial wrong has been urged to such an extremity, and Earl Grey appears so determined to push it a Voutrance, that we are inclined, in sheer despair, to lecur to the old adage, and to hope that "when things come to the worst, they will mend." The second Lottery Scheme of the Bank of Australia, it seems, has been frustrated, by the Government at Sydney prohibiting the drawing for the lots. The following Notice has heen issued by the proprietors :—: — Notice.— The Drawing of the Second and Final Partition of the Pnpettieiof the Bank of Australia liaving been prohibited by the GoTernment, all parties acting as agents are authorised to return the sums received by them on account of tickets.— Samuel Lyons. Sydney, June J4,

We may, at length, we would fondly hope, indulge a just and rational expectation that the merciless inflictions of Colonial Office oppression are about to be stayed — that the mulfarious injuries, which have destroyed the patriotism and the prosperity of eveiy British possession, are on the eve of a sharp and salutary investigation — andthat the manifold wrongs of the colonies are likely to be redressed through express intervention of the Imperial Pailia-rner-t. It is high time that a task so important should have been undertaken — and it requires but common honesty of purpose to render the relief as beneficial to the industry of the parent state as essential to the very existence of her colonial offshoots. From the east to the west, fiom the north to the south— through every degree of latitude and longitude — from the ion-id to the frigid zones, but one all prevalent cry has gone forth, and that cry is a blended one of detestation and despair, of supplication and redress. The cry has long been industiiously and 'successfully stifled, because neither in person, nor by representative, have the sufferers been permitted to piefer their complaiuts. Nay, their very evidence has been invariably rejected, whilst that, perhaps, of the deputed tyrant against whom those very complaints may have been uiged, has been unscrupulously and complacently received — no scope for cross-examining his private and expaite asseitions afforded, and thus have public questions been " squelched," individual wrongs defeated, the complainants being destroyed and defamed, whilst the "lucky" or "unlucky accident" is triumphantly set free to pursue, unchecked, his crushing career. It is true that with large and populous colonies, with free, flourishing, and rival states upon their immediate skirts — such, for example, as the Cauadas— a little more caution and couitcsy may be requisite, because these, if too grossly slighted, contain a sufficiency of 1 busy, meddling, knaves," no way indisposed to pieach rebellion and to practice it too. But the case is o&enuse with the effeminate na-

lives and scanty Euiopean planters of Ceylon, or the slmggling .sotlleis of Au^tulia. The one may ni>p;o\ise their puppet King; the other rail, till they grow hoarse, against replunging then but late enf.anchised soil into all the houois of penal pollution. To what end then w Hillings? lhlhcito they ha\e lacked the physical foice 01 the Pailiamentaiy interest to command le^pect. We say hitherto, qe cause nmo we tiust a dawn of blighter promise is at hand, and that by doing justice to the colonies the countiy will be able to discover the pretext they hive been made to extract alms fiom the pocket of John. Bull, not to be employed in legitimate colonial purposes, but to be shamelessly squandered in jiinisii ring to Colonial Office patronage. The late Lord George Bentinck was one of the first to admit a piactical glimmer into the noisome crypts of Downing Street. He has left many disciples behind, and, from the admirable manner in which the motion for an enquiry into the giievances of Ceylon and British Guiana was brought forwaid by Mr. Baillie, there is every reason to hope that the mantle of Lord George has fallen upon as honest and as resolute a successor. "Mr. Montgomery Mai tin" — says Mr. Baillie, in introducing his motion — "slates " That in the short space of only two yars no less than four iiecrelat ies of btate frr the Co onie s succeeded each other, and there were four under-secretur.es during the same period, and very senhi,!)' does he ask any unprejudiced man, how can our colonies be well governed um'ersuch a system." Now, it is not my in teution to enter into any discuision with re'erence to the management or the details of the Colonial-office I have no wish to mpke any comment eiifaer upon the unfairness or the neglect, in the performance of their duty, of those in power. I have a much more serious and impor'ant accusation to make, for I charge the Colonial-office with tyranny and oppression ; tyranny exercised over those dependencies of the British crown which, having no constitutional form of govern nent or any vicual representation are left wholly at the rneicy and the supreme will and pleasure of the chief who presides at the Colonial-office. I charge the Colonialoffice with a wasteful and extravagant expenditure of i the colonial resources, rtndenng it therefore necessary to impose heavy burdens on the colonies, which, in the altered circums ances and condition of many of tho s e co ! onieB, have now become intolerable, and are there fore the fruitful sources of much of the discontent which now so unhappily prevails. Sir, there cannot be a doubt that much of the discontent which ex sts in our colonies has aii^en in consequence of the txtrava giint notions entei tuned by statesman of this country ot the manner in which colonial government ought to be curried on ; forming their opinions with reference lo the costly and expensive institutions of the mother country in a totU ignorance of the wants and neceisities at well «s the feelings and opinions of the colonies. We shall not be able to apply a remedy to such a state of thing! until we are prepar d to concede to the colonies the complete control over their own ezfendiiure— (hear, hear)— and the entire mjrugement of tbtir own affdits. (Hear, hea'.) In our own limiteJ sphere, we have been uniform and undeviating opponents and exponents of Colonial office oppression. We have been so, because we deemed it to be a point of principle imperatively due not only to every colony of our varied abode, but to the honour and interest of our native land. Words of truth cast upon the political waters, may, perchance, be found after many days ; and, however time-servers and trimmers may dissent, we hold it but justice and sound policy to call things by their right names, and to arm such champions as Mr. Baillie with examples of Colonial office despotism, whenever and wherever such "tyranny and oppression" may be attempted. We would, at this especial juncture, when a ship is on the very eve of depaiture for London, earnestly inquire into what state of forwardness stands the memorials to Her Majesty, and the several Houses of Parliament deprecatory of the introduction of " Exiles '' into New Zealand 1 We are aware that the Native petition on that momentous matter has received many signatures. We should be glad to learn the condition of the others, — to ascertain whether the colonists of New Ulster have been possessed of sufficient energy— of sufficient sensibility to their own interests to append their names to a document to which Mr. Baillie and his supporters may hereafter indignantly refer and exclaim " These are the measures by means of which he (Lord Grey) hopes to make good and faithful subjects for Her Majesty." It is a matter of no trifling importance to enlist the sympathies of such a man as Mr. Baillie in our behalf. He is not one to uproot a small weed in order to the extended growth of a larger. With him, " where the offence is, let the great axe fall," — appears to be a true and trenchant maxim. It is delightful to the colonial ear to hear such doctrine as this promulgated, ay, and loudly cheered within the privileged halls of St. Stephens. The Colonial-office must change ils system entirely. I go much further and say, " You gentlemen of the Colonial-office, by the measures you have canied into effect, and by the impediments you have tlnown in the way of tie colonies doing justice to themselves, have reduced them to a state of poverty and ruin, and you must noi be ashamed if the colonies determine to cut their coats according to their cloth, aud to appear in the hnbiliments of paupers." Before I proceed further, perlups I miV be allowed to quote the opinions of another gentleman who ought undoubtedly to be considered as a very great authority on this subject, more especially by the mcuibeis of her M»jes'y'i governmrnt, for he has been promoted by them to a pLice of great responsibility s I allude to Herman Meriv.ile, permanent under-sccretary to the colonies, and a gentleimn, I presume, win has the chii'f management of the Colonial office. This gentlim^n w?s lately Pro-

lessor of Political Economy in the University of Orford ; 1 pie ume piornoted to Im pu'srnt position in consequence of very able views which lie published in refercne to colonial government. 1 find in his "Letten up -n Co'onization," these are the views which he entertains with respect to the present mnnasement of our colonies, and of our colonhl system. The hon mera'u'r proceeded to reud the extract, which was subitml 1 11} to the efF ct that our own were probably the li it times in Mie history of the woild in which a lar«;e stute s ught to gain strength by multiplying the number of her dependents. Under the old colonial system there was no temptation to increase government pa. tronagc in (he colonies. In M iss"chusets, before the 'Vtnencan wir, the expense cf government was es imattd at 18,l)iiO/. per annum ; New Hamnsliirc and Rhode Isl.md, 3 5001. ; ConneeticiU, 4, 001.; New Yoik, 4,500/ ; und the others) propor ionably small, muktne a total for the government expense} of the whole of our Ameiican cobnies of 55,200/. a year, and affording a memorable example of the small expense at which three millions of people might be not only gove.ned, lut well governed. (Hear, hear ) Mr. Mtriv.ile then proceeded to state the civil expenses of the North American colonies in 1836, and «ent on to contivst that expenditure with thnt of the c lonies before the revolution, and concluded by saying that if the incicase had been compsnsated by superior government no ons would cavil at it, and ths colonists would have cheai ly pu' chased so valuable a bLssing, but he con(iileiitly asked those who entertained the highest notions of government and of its duties towards the co!onists, whether the task was better performed now than it hid been in the old American provinces." (Hear, heir.) These, sir, were the opinions of the poli ic«U economist, I know not what may be the opnionsof the member of government. I know not whether he may be subject to that weakness of human nature, which appears to cau;,e so magical a revolution in the minds and opinions of those who become members of the government. But this I must say that his sensitive feelings must be rudely shocked, if he still b'lieves that formeily three millions of people might be governed and well governed at an expeme of 55 000/. a year, when he finds himself installed in the colonial office and bound to administer a system which Biitish Guani with a population of 120,000 is made to cost 273 000/. a year lor its civil administration being an amount of taxation equal to 2/. 6s. a head upon each inhabitant of the colo iy, or one six'.h more than is inoposrd Oi» tie people of the mother country. (Hear, hear.) The people of England have hitherto flittered themselves that they are ihe heaviest tuxeJ people on the face of the earth, but here is a colony without an army or a navy, or other imperial expenses, whose rate of taxation is one-sixth higher than that which we consider ourselves so heavily buithened it» paying. Mr, Baillie proceeds to exhibit, in sharp and sarcastic terms, the tyrannies and oppressions that resulted in feeble outbreak at Ceylon. ' But, mulato nominee, and to which of the provinces beneath the Colonial Office fangs will not the tyrannies and oppression of Ceylon and Guiana serve as illustrations'? In Ceylon, Lord Grey appioves of a pell and other unconstitutional taxes, passed by his intellectual deputy, but not enforced — not because of their gross injustice, but because that yem of a ruler, Loid Torrington, had meanwhile, discovered that they would not aid an impoverished revenue ! Lord Grey is a happy man ! He frames a constitution for New Zealand so monstrously complex and cumbrous, that the Queen's lepresentative, in utter despair, is compelled to suspend its operations, and to send back the Frankensteinian abortion for the reconsideration of its projector. He pledges his word to relieve Tasmania from the convict flood that has swamped that once " happy land," and the way he redeems his word, is much after the fashion of the wierd sisters with Macbeth — he sends no more probationers or pass holders, but he voids Exiles or Ticket men in an undiminished stream ! Again, his Lordship contracts with New South Wales, or rather, with the Anti-Repre-sentative Assembly of that doubly deceived colony— betrayed by his Lordship and sold by its Squatocratic Senators— to deport a given number of exiles on express co idition af their " evil communication " being neutralized by a larger supply of free immigration, provided for at the States charge. In this instance, also the Right Honorable Earl Grey departs from his covenanted word — Exports his felons, bnt withholds his free immigrants. Adding, moreover, injury to insult, by counselling the arbitrary degradation of a land rejoicing in having cast her penal slough : — a land which was rapidly rising in moral and social worth, every just and generous feeling of which is outraged by an infamous invasion of its integrity which is driving the colonists to a pitch of fury such as only their numerical weakness prevents the becoming a struggle for independence ! And where is the man, — where the nation, but must honor a handful of Britons so deeply tainted with the presence, and so morbidly sensitive of the curse, of convictism, — wheie is I the man that Avill fail to honour a people ready to resist to extremity the re-imposition of a system accursed of God and man ? Is it by tyrannous inflictions such as these that British colonial supremacy is to be maintained'? Is it by sufferance and systematic oppiession that her dependencies are to be held in check until they muster sufficiently strong to conquer that independence to which the Colonial Office is so wantonly and umvar- | rantably precipitating them ? Mr. Baillie launches with keen and comprehensive skill into the merits of the Ceylon revolt, drawing bitter comparisons between the severities of Prince Windischgratz at Vienna, and those of Lord Torrington at Kandy— very unfavourable to the humanity and the intelligence of the latter, whose p oclamation of martial law he stigmatises as illegal, and whose executions he characterises as of a stamp so barbarous, that if perpetrated by Spain and Narvaez, there would haye been no end to the

merited indignation of English commentators. And little wonder that they should have provoked such indignation, since, after the musket had done its deadly work upon twenty of the effeminate Cingalese— when a priest (whose innocence was confidently affirmed) had hcen ruthlessly slaughtered (after urgent remonstrance against such desecration) in his sacerdotal robes— when maitial law had given place to the civil tribunals, and the Chief Justice of the island had recommended the penally < e^ death to be commuted with respect to sever«yF prisoners capitally convicted before him, and that, hecaicie of the lavish bloodshed that had already taken place, what shall we think of the Colonial Office Tyrannus who could write in terms expressive of regret that the Judge should have lntei posed a plea of mercy ! Is this the way to cement the prosperity — is this the way to do honour to that empire upon which the sun never sets ? Biitannic England has yet to learn of many a startling wrong done to Colonial England; and England and England's colonies are deeply bound to Mr, Bafllie for the admirable and searching manner in which he has brought the colonial oppressions under 'the consideration of the house, and every colonist A'ill inscribe upon his heart the name of the man who has proved so fear' less a champion, and so well informed a friend. Passing from the Ceylon outrages to investigation of the sufferings of Guiana, the same conclusive mastery of his subject is evinced. " And now," — continues Mr. Bailie — " I must brg to call the attention of the House to another scene of colonial misgovernment, where tin evils of our present colonial system Rre no less manifest and apparent than in tne colony of Ceylon— l mean the colony of British Guiana. The colony of BritUh Guiana used formerly to be referred to us the most promising and flourishing of all our West India colonies—possessing a soil of unbounded fertility and extent, it was fond y imagined that this colony was d.stined t) survive the rash experiments of the mother country. But. sir.it appears nothing cm withstand 'be withering influence of the Colonial-office ; and British Guinea, wi'h all its natural advantages, is at this moment in n more deplorable ctmditiou than any of our other West India colonies, and exhibits in a beo'd light the evil effects of misgovemraent on the part of the mother country." We would fain implore the attention of Mr. Baillie and his colleagues to the present aspect of the Northern province of New Zealand, — a province abounding in lands not less fertile and inhabited by a population not less energetic nor less loyal than that of Guiana. We would fain attract his attention to this fruitful province reduced to the lowest ebb of moral syntexis, unable "to withstand the withering influence of the Colonial Office," which enforces an exhausting, (or, to speak more truly, an exhausted) system whereby the soil is retained in a state of native unproductiveness, valueless alike to man and beast, and utterly subversive of the best interests of a magnificent territory which capitalists eschew, where immigration, in its popular acceptation, is unknown, and whence anxious settlers are driven in despair because of the impossibility of obtaining rural lands at a lesser price than twenty, foity, and a hundred shillings an acre ! The pretext for this impracticably restrictive price, as we have said over and over again, is to laise a fund to send out emigrants with the proceeds. People here were, with much consideration aud wisdom, invited by our Governor on the spot — a sum being available for emigration — to send for their friends and ielations. Many did so. Much anxiety has long prevailed. These relations passages weie to be paid for here, some in part, some entirely, by their kindred already located among us.— They are still as far from us as ever. And the money wrung from the colonists at exorbitant rates for town allotments, has recently been disbursed by our Governors at the Colonial Office, in payment of the passages of the worn out pensioners of Chelsea. Such is the beneficial, the parental, method of supplying the wants of the most especially agricultural colony of the -oulh Pacific Ocean ! Every colony has its own peculiar source of grievance — the bitterest, beneath which New Zealand lies crushed and powerless, and under a continuance of which she must rapidly retrogade is this colonial office land interdict, which seals up her soil in its primitive state of aboriginal worthlessness. We trust sincerely that our remarks may prove so fortunate as to reach the eye of Mr. Baillie. That he will investigate the subject, and run a course in our behalf. He may glean as goodly a chaplet from the dormant cornlields of New Ulster, as from the desolate sugar plantations of Guiana, or the spicy groves of Ceylon. In the meanwhile we commend the attention of our readers to the fidelity and force with which he delivers the peroration of a speech of much power and brilliancy. I would ask you whether you think those colonies Could long continue to be governed on the«y Btera now pursued— whether you can long continue to deprive their inhabitant of all voice in the management of their own nffiirs ? I Unow the hon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Hawes) will be most liberal in his professions, both in his own name and in that of the noble lord at the head of this department. He will tell us that he has always advocated the opinion of giving self-con-trol to the colonies. (Hear, hear ) But that i= what the co'onie* complain of. (Cheers.) They complain, and with jnstioe, that both theie gentlemen ha/c expressed their opin om over and over again in favour of extending to the colonies the principle of ieK-goyern-ment, but that those opinions arc strangely at variance with their acts. (Hear, hear.) They say they have no longer faith in the promises of the one, nor can they

trust in the profestions of the other. (Hear, hear.) How can the colonists place confidence in the professions of Lord Grey-how can they place confidence ma Miinilter who •tands enrioted of a deliberate attempt to ; Sive the House of Lords as to the actual condition of the island of Jamaica— (hear, hear,)— in a minister *ho did not he.iute to produce and to read a certain , memorial for the purpose of shoeing that Jamaea was ; STstatc of prosprri'y, that that colony was s'lll an \ Xii£*eouW for the invest*^ of Bmjh ey.Uj, when he well km «r that tint memo, »«1 ivat addressed to Win to explain that the memorialists wfK totally an-1 , retrSy ruined, and their ra Hal absolutely desroved! (Hear, hear.) Can a minister *.ioi» capable of thus perverting truth for party {..trposet be confided n l.v the colon, t , or be trusted in the responsible duty af motectmg the lives and pro, ci ties of so large » j por ion of the auhjertiof her Majesty ? Nothing, sir, but the unhappy differences which prevailed on this, side of the house la-t session would, I am pessuaded. have prevented the o, position from un.tiug to denounce n ministry which Ins been guilty of ouch an act. (Hear, hear ) But, «r, there is a point beyond which eudu runce cannot go-a period when Hi- nost effete and Slaved bodies will be roused. That time has now arr ved I cannot frar ttiat any dread or responsuiluy will be suffered to prcveil a^ainbt my motion, or that nny apprehensions of casting a c n ure on the government wi'l deer the majoiity of t-m house from grantin" that inquiry which I demand in the name of jiutice lltnJ c »ime of tut outraged British colomsts-and in the nwneof that cons Uution which every British subject (wheresoever h> may be placed) has a right to uekprJiertiui from; but that cons'UuUon from the advantages of which so many thousandso" our bretuitn ia the colonies hu.e been so lang aad so P»rii««oio«"»y deprived. The hon. mi-mber conclude Uraid^t mud cheering by moving for the appointment of a belcci CommUtee to enquire in»o the grievances complained of in the crown colonies of Coylon, and British Guiana, and to report to the house whether any measure can be adopted for the better admmistialion and government of those dependencies. ' Mr Hume ably seconded the motion of Mr' Baillie, amongst other homethrusts observing— It wai the system under which the colonies had been managed ihat'was the cmse of the distress complained of. It matter! not who was the Colonial S«ci«:ary--when nnv one mnu undertook to gown colonies in ail parts of "the world, it was impossible to have good govtfument. The fan t, then, wis with the house for allowing € uch a system to cmtinue, Under a proper ev^tem the colonies would be an assistance to tha mother country, instead of a charge, as they now were, of s£3 000,000 oa £4,000,000 a year. He might lefer to the Cape, ths ManntiM, aid al. most every other British colony, for proof that a bad system had prevailed, and that .he house ought to come to a determination to grant to the several colonies their own self-government. (Cheers.) L* them each pay their own expenses, and free England from the charge which she was now compelled to pay. They were willing to do tot and what then prevented it from being done ? Why, it was the patronage which arose, and caused so many abuses, tint the Fmancta Reform As Mtiation would be perfectly astonished i the .terns were laid upon the table of the house and pubh ? hed fc gen oral info ination. (Hear.) He hoped, under all the circumslancea. that the inquiry how sought for would begone in o, not against this man or that mvi, but against the system; and if justice wew to be admimstrafed, «,d a lair inquiry instituted, he thought the ri-ht hon. Secretary for ihe Colonies and Lord Giey oiht to retire from the positions they now held, at Stt •bile the inquiry was pending. ("H^,' and a langb.) Th-'re Iwd been instances m which desp jtobej lil/een either mil Hated or altogether withheld through ministerial Influence; snd though he might provoke a laugh by repeating his opinion, he nevc-ahe less still thought that the inquiry w m d hs in »re mipartiaMy conducted if ihe two noble lords to whom he alluded sent in their resignations, ond al.owei others to take their places for a time. We had desired to follow the opinions of the several speakers, throughons this most interesting bebate ; but with the exception of a poition of a speech by Mr. Ricardo,m which that gentleman tries to get rid of Mr. Baillies motion, by a very clumsy side wind, the remainder of the paper is wanting. We have afforded sufficient of its gist to show the spirit in which it was being conducted, and as the strictures of the London Journals upon the exhibition of temper it, and a similar debate in the Lords, drew from Earl Grey, has been already before our readers, we take leave of the subject for the present, with a promise to return to it should an unmutilated journal fall into our hands.