THE VALUE OF COLONIES.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 346, 25 August 1849, Page 3

THE VALUE OF COLONIES.

No one can contemplate the extensive surface of the globe still occupied by the sons and ruled by the iccptre of England without many a solemn thought respecting the fortunes of those scattered und scanty populations which we have undertaken the responsibility of governing 1 . Nor will there lie found many persons content to measure the duties of succeeding generations by the performances of the past. JJut it may be a question ol loncothing more than duty. The time may come when we shall regret our ncglrct, our misgovernmeut, and our misuie of our colonies, for purely selfish reasons. It is unwise to conjure up phantoms ol remote evil, but it is not wise to close our eyes to what is possible. The modern history of Europe ii not without its testimony to the service which a colony can render u puront state in Us extremities. It is not so miwy ye.us sinca nil English Minister and an English Admiral escoited the lupilive adherents ol the House of Uia^hiuj. from tho tumult and dutrnctions of Lisbon to the moifl tranquil hospitality of the H.vxWs. There is no moie striking iiicident iv ihe iccordi of liui ope than the heroic deiign

by which Ihe destined deliverer of England reanimated flic drooping spiiits of the States Gcneial of the Unite* Provinces, encouraging them to hope, though all wrir lost in Europe, that the exchange of a wraltbici Adi sterdain, and the schooli of a more learned Leyden, miglit flourish amid the sugar canes and spices of tin Indian Archipelago. It is not very likely, indeed, that Queen Victoria may be compelled to intrust the protection of her dixdetn to t lie chivalry of hrr subjects in the South Pacific, or that the House of Lords will bodily take i cfuge in the Legislative Council Cham* bins of Sydney or llobnit Town. But who that has watched tho recent progress of events, both in England and on Ihe Continent— the ftocinl and political ferment of men's mindh— the periodical oscillation of great prosperity ond pevere depression— the desperate competition for employment, wagei, und subsistence — can doubt that the time is coming when the colonies* of (England will provide means of Tvrlihood and a field of employment for classes, not more numerous only, but more elevat'd and more aspiring than those which liavu hithi i ro used them us a resource ? This feeling is becoming daily more prevalent. In eveiy society colonial fortunes and colonial government form subject* of anxious disquisition and observant criticism. There is not a queetmn of home policy — be it the state of trudo, the late of wages, the price of food, the adjudication of pauper settk-ineu's, the area of ratin», 01 the inciease of" population — but what is somehow or other implicated in the Condition of Colonies qucbtinn. Thai which engages attention out of Pailiimeiit can hardly fa I to meet wi h it in Parliament. Already notices of motion on colonial subjects are rife, Before mam weeks nre over we may expect to see the whole of our colonial ?\ stein overhauled Doubtless in this, as in every other Parliamentary discussion, party spite and personal spleen will play mora than their appropria'e parts. The disappointed, the grumbler, the iheori t, the impracticable, will all dart their arrows at the vicarious head of Mr. B. Hawes. Thoie who have been slighted in their suit for colonial preferment, and those who have been irritated by tho unintentional discourtesy of Earl Grey's manner, will pour forth the vials of their hoarded wrath upon the undismayed Undcr-Sccretary. All diicussion is good. The colonies demand it hs milch as anything else, and perhaps more. Hut on no other subject is a fair and honest temper so indispensable a requisite to a happy conclusion as on colonial subjscts. It i°, unfortunately, easy enough to tnnkc out a. very strong ca»e againut " the Office " Jamaica, with its Assembly in arms against its Governor, and its Governor in perplexity between bis Government and Downing-strect. Ceylon, smarting from the effects of a policy which 13 too obscure to be thoroughly known here, and, as fur as it is known, too revolting to be much relished— the whole West India Interest mined, queiulous, and denunciatory—the Australian colonies in the same breath clamoiinK for mora la our and clamorous against convict labour — Canada laving uu embaigo on British, immigrants, and ennchiug ths labour market of He* publican to the detriment of Monarchial Amciica— -all these are topics upon which rhttoric may declaim and rancsur may sting with considerable effect ; but they are vvenpons which retort upon those who me them with a fatal rebound. They may dnnage the minister; they may discomfit " (be office ;" but— they may also ruin the colonies. Of all things that tend to sow and foster the seeds of disaffection in remote settlements, there m nothing so prolific of evil as the advocacy of; disaffection at homo. L°t the key-note of murmuring discontent be once sounded in the iviglUh Parliament, and its faint tones will rtveiberatc with prolonged echo in every colony from Cnp n land to Ceylon, from Adam's Peak to the Rocky Mountuius. The Colonial Minister who gives offence can never calculate on the teiminntion of the discontent which he provokes. Fortunately, however, every Colonial Secretary lus at band the means of diminishing, if not of destroying this disaffection. One mode is the appointment of good govprnors. Too long have om colonies bean the hospital for effete courtiers, incapable soldiers, or disgraced men of rank. Too long have they giouned under the despotism of the ignorant, the caprice of ths unprincipled, the folly of the coxcombical, or the deprav'ty of the vicious. The wisdom which dictated tho appointment of such q <vernors as Lord Elgin to Canada, Lord Han is to Trinidad, and Captain (Jrey to New Zealand* is an omen of an healthier policy. But though much depends upon the fitness of a Govcnor, more depends upon the freedom of the governed. " The Office" might ba sp.ued one-half of its prctent trouble if the colonies were only allowed to look after their own affairs a little more freely. 'I here would bo some little awkwardness nt first, perhaps, with aa Australian or a CapeUnd Parliament ; but, unless Englishmen on the other bide of the equator are very dilfeicnt from what they are here, this is an awkward* ness which would scon wear off. Ua it remembered that every day which del rs tho privilege of sclfgoveinment will malic it more difficult when it is conceded ; and that the temper of a people trained from, the beginning to the enjoyment of civil liberty is vastly different from that of a colony which extoits it after years of bickering and dispute. We have seen this principle preserve to Scotia and New Brunswick a loyal atid a patiiotic spirit in the midst of trouble and rebellion ; we have seen it save Canada from insurrection and revolt. Why shou'd it not shield our other nnd moie promising dependenc es fiotn the dangprs of internul discontent, external misgovcrnmenr, and financial meddling ? — Tunes.

The Akmiks of Kuitopn and run Unithd ST/vrns. — Iq a force of 105.000 men, the Piussiau army has lost, from 1821 to 1830, annually 11.7 in a thousand. This is iho lowest rate of mortality in t!i? armies of Europe. This army, however, is composed ofyoun^ men, who were only engaged tin cc years in active service, and they suffer little by bohiij removed from place to place. The mortality of the civil population of Berlin, from 20 to 25 years of age, 5s 10 in 1000. The British mmy counts 15 deaths in 1000 men In the United Kingdom ; 57 in the troops which •crve abroad, making an averape of 37 in 1000 of all the forces. In the French army, numbering 387,087 men, the mortalily is 34 2 per 10J0; and, if the o (Ticers nre deducted, 46.5. The greatest number of deaths has taken phco in Algeria. The Russian forces loie 50 men in 1000 ; and, if we are to believe M. Dennis, the mortality rises to 160 and 180 in the army of the Caucasus. It is not only in European armies that the moitality is so great; in the United States of North America, in a force of 5515 men, it has been computed that from 1829 to 1838 there wero 41 deaths in JOOO. It it necessary, however, to remark, that the mortality has not been more than IS per 1000 in. the Northern Stales, while in the Southern it hits reached 49. It has been observed, that the ruio of deaths has not been thp same in difftrent kinds of troops. Tlius, in Piustia, ihe in'tntry r. . ' > ' 'l : the cava'ry, 9; the, nr>iller>, 10 dpi" '{'<' " Biitish army, liom ih.'iO to 18.50", thf , • aiifiU'illy 14; llic infantry, ?f> 0 |>tr )0C ' > •• • l"bs for «i .en ye-uv, \vh 4- I .'* ior rho d il j for the. lior'i' gun u „~>'A for nt- foot {.unrd . ,u i. uzju reports, that fro.v 1775 i> 179' i, the l'i>'ilmi>ntcsc foiccß cxpcitcuced n mortality ot 18 iv lt)0 of cavalry, and 34 pel 1000 of intaa^ry. -^Medical Times,