SHALL OUR COLONIAL EMPIRE BE DISSOLVED? [From the "Watchman."]

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 444, 17 July 1850, Page 3

SHALL OUR COLONIAL EMPIRE BE DISSOLVED? [From the "Watchman."]

Ths tin is.li Empire is a term than which it wii'd be hard to find in all the voubularyof politics one more coropi eheiuive. It means part of Europe, of Africa, of Asia, of Ameiica, of Polynesia; it means, in a Britain* acceptation of it, all the seas on the surface of the globe ; it means an assemblage of human beings in which blend all the varieties of complexion that clinate can operate, and nearly all the varieties of tongue that Bahel has originated. A ceutuiy ago the world never herard, or scarcely ever, of " the British Empra," though of •'G eat Britain" it heard often. But Great Britain then was a country, a-. Prussia or Spain ia to-day, with iti home population, and intrinsic pnver, but with little impo iig beyond. The reLuive progress of the gieatEupean Powers, during the last hundred years, i-> very surprising. We see them differenced, as waxing and waning stird. A century ago the great CathWic Powei.a were ascendant, — Daiing thu century Spain hds lost her inagmfuent

American empire, and run the whi>l# course ''from splendour to disgrace." During the century, Portugal too lias lost Brazil, and — afiw African islands and settlements, with a decaying 1 Indian station excepti'd— all the residue of her maiitime glory. During the century France has lost the Canadas, Louisiana, nearly all her splendid possessions in the West Indies, her position in India, and the Isie of Fnnoe, which so materially upheld her strength in the East. To these she has to add in Europe the bitter loss of her boasted line of northern fortresses, and Minorca ; for all which. Algeria hai been her sole and veiy doubtful remunera ion. While thes* powers have declined, Prussia hns risen from the condition of a new and struggling kingdom to a position so assured, that she confidently measures herself with Austria. Russia lias made extensive conquests fiora Sweden, Poland, Turkey and Persia, besides adding ? large tract of Americi to her possessions. And a third power, while having no tenitorial objects to gain in Europe, hns bern adding to her domi'iions in all the other four divisions of the world. France had the Canadas a century ago ; who has thain now ? England. She held the West l^dien, Dominica, Sf. Vincent, Grenada, St. Domingo, Toba/ro; wha has them now ? St. Domingo is independent—England has all i he rest. She held, in the Enst, the Isle of France, with the chief control of Southern India ; who has them now ? England. Nor has England acquired fiom France alone — the Cape and Dsmeraiu, taken from the DutcW ; the whole of India from its Mdhommedan tyrants, with those teintoiics, such as Australia and New Zealand, which have rather been taken possession of than conquered, have all added to her greatness and her responsibility. Thei her cnemiis see that she holds the keys of nearly all the seas : that of the Mediterranean in Gibraltar; of the Levaant, in Mai a ; of the Adriatic, in the lonian Is'es ; of the Red Sea, in Aden ; of the Indian Ocean, in the Cape; of the Chinese Sea, in Smgipoie, Labaun, and Hong' kong. That such an Em iie shou'd long be tusta'ned without embarrassment, would be more than mortals ought to expect. Accoidingly we find that this day of commotions has brought us some trouble. He Li and the Kafin were a kind of adversaries, more anno; ing to colonists than dangemus to an empire. They rray burn a settlement, or diive off a feiv herds ; but they will never seriously affect our history. Men like Papineau and Dr. Lang occupy a different jntiton: they may exercise a strong influence on (he public sentiment of a whole colony, and thereby endanger the alienation of that colony from the Mo h^r country.— From varioui causes a BO't of simultaneous unea in ss has been manifes cd in diffeicnt colonies ; and the least consequence is an ample abuse of the Culouial office. Doubtless the Colonial office lias i's fair share of culpability — doubtless, its offic als (liki all offioia's) have their faul's Doubtless, also, their faults (like the faults of all officials) have been exaggerated. Our. Colonial system may be rtasonably found fault with. We h u ve ahvfui chosen for a Colou'al M n'Stir, not a man who lsno*s the Colonies — say, like the late Lo.d Mctca'fe, but some home-bred gentleman of the party in power. This is a point on which all parties have been equally blamable , Tl)pn. for the G>vemors, we have not hud any school «f colonial discipline in which men might graduate; but from the deck of a frigate, or the head of a mess table, or fiom some pleasant English seat, a gentleman is all at once set down at Table Bay, or on the baaks of the St. Lwrence, and told lo govern people of whom he knews »m more than any intelligent man has an oppoitunily of knowing.-— With such Ministers and such Giveinois, we have done better than we had any right to expect. Our Colonial Empire has been upheld with gieater success and less difficulty than ever has been any similar empire, even though on a smaller scale ; and so fir from be.ng astounded out ot our propiietie* by ibe present agiUiions, the wonder should chiefly be, h'.w all the ends of the eatth have hitherto bren so amicably bound together. We do not wish to restrain any proper and salu'ary complaints against our sys'em of Colonial Government, but we would have it remembered that, with all its faults, it bas woiked better than any other colonial system from the time of the Phoenicians. However, the present excitement bus become too deep to pass away without leaving p rmanent results. We apprehend that it must tend nut:rially either to the decomposition, or the consolidation, of the vast system we call our Empire. Shall we conclude that because we gain no revenue from colonie — because »c cinnot govern them exactly either to their satisfaction or to our own, aud because they cost us lar^e turns annually, therefore colonies me of little use, and the sooner we get rid of them the better ? Should tbis feeling prevail in the public mind, it will iiff ct all emigrants who go from among us — it will aftect our legislation ; and will deeply ail ct, the coloniis, tending in all these diteclioiu to speed ihe day when the Bii'ish Empire shall be disiolvrd, and Great Hniain be Great Britdin alone. Is such a disso ution of the empire de-irable ? We do not ask how it would affect the pnea of calico and coff c, of rice and bandanas ; bat v\hat w u'.d be its bearing in the moral pio^u^s of Ihe world? First, we think it would ma'enally increase the dangers of war. The Fiench ml Di f ch, with, other immune nitioim, would be u ider strong temptations to find ciuse of q-nrrel Witlt s'a'es thul had once been their own, und which they could a^i'y make theirjown u^ain, did/iiey see.them scattered 10 the world, one here and ona tlicic, in impotent i-olatim. Again, we think it wiuld ex<io-e tht> younu countries to manifold dangeis Ikw onld our Cape colonies protect themselves fioii the Dutc'i without at'd the Dutch within? Wnat couhl our New Zealand col snists~say to a Fienc'i fleet ? How cou d the " UniUd States of Australia" pi event two or three great poweis from ench cutting out for themselves a monstrous canlle from their]} territory ? Let our colonies be ome scattered and independent sta'es, and the/ are exposed to every nation whom their advantages may tempt. And though the colonies send us no revenue — though th y cost us much m >ney, the possessijn of such fnlch for-enter-prise is «3 favouuble to our national en^igy as iho possession of our potent protection ts fav-urable to their s curity. Pc haps the colonies have more from us than we have fn m them, but the advantage on our part i. quite sufficient to compensate for the cos f , and to make us deprecate a severance. We belitvd that oui E opire could not be dissolved without giving a seiions blow to the secure md peii'Jt'ful progress of civil'zattou and Chibtimity ovei the world; without th. owing co umunit es<>f ouroouuti}men to the m. rcy of foreign poweis ; without rein >yin r from befote the Bntuh people a spectacle th it daily ennobles their pdt<io i-m and stirs tluir enterprise , or without depriving En,l.md of tint superiority over other Europeun States whmh ahi» now h ilds with dm. nifest advantage to mankied. We, thcreforo would plead with all our ouei iy against ihe decomposition of the empire. Let nil the fttulta of the >xistin^ colonial system bs probed thoioughly—let every. hing which naturally tends to imtati m b ■ le noved ; let tuo lar^e->t vi i asu i< es of re'orni be adopied wlu-ic necessary; but, let all b-> d^iie uudsr the conviction thii', at least for many years, the wtat'st thing Btutons can ilo for tiiem8i yes, anil I" r the human race, is to maintain. th«msc'vca one people Luvn.g a coiinnon centre, a coiuinoi^ iuterest, anJ a common missian.