THE NEXT SUBJECT AND THE NEXT GOVERNMENT. [From the Spectator.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 139, 28 November 1846, Page 3

THE NEXT SUBJECT AND THE NEXT GOVERNMENT . [From the Spectator.]

There happens to be a subject, of practical reform with regard to which public opinion is, so to speak, all on one side. There is no cootroTersy about it* Every public raau who mentions it expresses the same views as his neighbour. Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell exactly agree upon it. There is not a shade of difference upon it between Sir James Graham and the Times. Lord Grey and the Standard come to the same conclusions. An article about it written for the' Edinburgh might appear in the Quarterly, or vice versa, as a matter of course. The "interests" are all in favor of the change; and some of the most powerful of them, including the men to whose exertions we are chiefly in* debted for free trade, would earnestly promote" it as soon as they perceived its close relationship to the great change which they have just accomplished. Who then would oppose it ? In naming them we name the subject. The; change would be opposed by the permanent bureaucracy of the Colonial Office, to"*whom Parliament has delegated an absolute authority, in all matters relating to colonization and colonial government. - For it would consist of

* reform of our whole Colonial system, beginning with the Office itself, which stands in the way of every improvement. But this resistance would he of no avail. The Colonial Office, notwithstanding its unlimited sway in, all things relating to its own branch of Government, has no friends anywhere, and no power of resistance to opinion in this country, where it is necessarily unheeded and almost unknown save by faint reflection from those distant portions of the empire in which its mismanagement is felt. The official gentlemen at tbe bottom of Downing-street might grumble and make wry faces during the operation, but they might not ; they might, on the -contrary, and probably would, smile and declare their satisfaction at the prospect of relief from a load of odious responsibility and excessive labour. At all events, their opposition would be so feeble as to be scarcely an exception from the rule of approval ; and it deserves notice for no other purpose but that •of observing that the coming reform would appear more important if it were likely to meet with some formidable opposition. The reform of Parliament, or the reform of our commercial system, would have excited but little interest and been deemed a change of no great moment, if all the world had been of the same opinion about it. But though the question of Colonial reform wants the interest arising from controversy and the conflicts of party, its real importance will be acknowledged as soon as the proposal of change shall be made by a Government. The partizans of the Minister will be desirous of showing that colonial government comprises colonisation ; that free trade has given us no more than the markets which exist already ; that the pressure of competition, which was really at the bottom of the national effort to obtain free trade, would be further relieved — that the want of more room for the employment of British capital and labour would be further supplied — by adding to the markets which exist as many as we could create in the colonies ; that the greatest and most valuable of present markets was created by colonisation ; that the old colonies of England have been valuable to the mothercountry not as dependencies but as markets, and that they were founded, not by costly efforts of the parent state, but at the expense of individuals by means of a system of government which rendered the colonies attractive by giving play to enterprise and ambition and making property secure ; that the old-English system was abandoned when we began to colonise with convicts towards the close of the last century ; that for the local self-government under representative institutions, which till then had been a rule without one exception, we have substituted the plan of governing by means of an office in Downing-street ; that this central authority is wholly irresponsible to its subjects by reason of their distance from it, and to public opinion here by reason of our necessary indifference to the concerns of such distant communities ; that distant and irresponsible government is the greatest impediment to colonisation ; that in order to extend and multiply our colonies without calling upon Parliament for a shilling, we have only to revert to the old-English plan of letting colonisers and colonists manage their own affairs in their own way ; and that if this were done according to the views expressed in Parliament last year during the debates on New .Zealand, by Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Lord Grey, Sir James Graham, Mr. Ellice, and Mr. Charles Buller, colonisation, or the making of fresh markets, would receive an impulse in proportion to the vast wealth and excessive competition which distinguish this tJnited Kingd&m from all the countries in the world. And then, whilst the friends of Government talked thus, their party opponents must needs echo such opinions ; so that by general assent the work of the next Minister would be made easy, and might be invested with a high degree of interest and consequence. This work of colonial refoim belongs to the next Government. It has slipped through Mr. Gladstone's fingers, which seem to have wanted strength to grasp it ; and Sir Robert Peel has been otherwise engaged. It falls naturally to Lord John Russell, who has got a name for being able to do something in colonial matters ; who has administered the present system and pioclaims its vices ; and who, in effecting a complete change, would have the valuable aid of Lord Grey whether in or out of office, as well as that of Mr. Charles Buller, whom the public regard, whatever his party may think, as the proper owner of this subject. In anticipation of the, interest that will presently attach to this subject, we devote a Supplement to laying before our readers one case, or rather an account of one stage in a case, of colonial grievance. The documents which we publish describe what the colonists of New Zealand h&ve suffered for another year, and how the Colonial Office has passed another year without taking a, single step to correct its own, previous errors and neglect. The whole

1 case is a curiosity. A petition from the colon ists sets forth the proceedings on the part of the Local Government, of which it is enough to say here, that a system under which ' such things could happen is condemned without further hearing. Perhaps the things did mot happen : the story of them may have been invented to worry the Colonial Office ? And yet the gentlemen in Downing-street take no more notice of this seeming caricature of the worst misgovernment that one's imagination can readily conceive, than if it had been a letter about coals and candles for the Office. This hardly credible tale of wrong excites in them no surprise, no indignation, no uneasiness : they treat it as just the sort of thing they are used to — as something which bores them a little perhaps, and which will soonest cease to bore them at all the less they say about it. They have nothing to say, therefore, even to the extent of a word of sympathy or regret. Their correspondence with the New Zealand Company, which is the advocate of the colonists and pleads hard for a total change of system, discloses no feeling, but some annoyance at being troubled at present, and a determination to cast all responsiblility for the future, as regards opinions and suggestions as well as acts, upon a Captain Grey who has been appointed to succeed Captain Fitzroy as Governor of the colony. The sense of annoyance at being troubled seems to have been thoroughly imbibed by Sir Robert Peel ; whose answer to the Company's memorial really says, " I have more than enough on my hands already, and can't be teazed with a matter like this." The style of the Colonial Office letters is the old style of much words and little meaning, apparently exaggerated or burlesqued by Lord Lyttleton, "by direction of Mr. Secretary Gladstone." Sheets upon sheets of good paper are wasted in saying, and repeating, and reiterating, in substance, that the Government can say nothing till it learns what Captain Grey has to say about everything. The proceedings at the Company's annual meeting held last week suggest two observations. In this first place, the ruin and dissolution of such a body as the colonizing New Zealand Company by the direct and obvious agency of the Colonial Office, upon whom this ''valuable coadjutor" was forced by Lord John Russell some fivp years ago, is a fact which, if it stood alone, would call for reform in the great house at the bottom of Downingstreet : secondly, al this meeting, Mr. Charles Buller made a speech which must preclude him from taking office under the next Government except as a practical reformer of Colonial Government, and from which, if he should not be in office under the next Government, the public will understand that the said next Government does not mean to realize the declarations of the present opposition with regard to colonial reform. Mr. Buller proposes in substance a League of all the colonial interests against the Colonial Office. We give that part of his speech entire. But over and above considerations which relate to the future, this New Zealand case has a bearing on the present state of parties, which should give an interest to our supplement for many who usually care nothing about colonial questions. The immediate object of the Company is to induce the Government to obtain from Parliament sufficient authority for taking steps calculated to save the colony from destruction ; so that another year may not intervene before the attempt at least be made to remedy the past and provide for the future till the next meeting of Parliament. Such authority is required, because Parliament has delegated all authority relating to the colony to the Governor and Council, and thus rendered the Crown powerless save by means of sending instructions to the Governor; a mode of legislation in which nobody who has any acquaintance with it has the slightest confidence. The Company m fact ask Sir Robert Peel to take power to carry his o^n declarations into effect, or, if he should not be in office during the recess of Parliament, to enable his successor to carry them into effect. This reasonable request is refused. The excuse about wanting to learn what Captain Grey thinks on the subject, may be deemed a mere Colonial-Office shuffle. The Company says truly, that there must be other reasons, with which it has not been made acquainted. Can the reason be Mr. Gladstone's sense of the impropriety of deciding important questions whilst he holds office without a seat in Parliament, and with every prospect of being out of office in a few weeks ? Scarcely ; for his colleagues are carrying through Parliament for him a bill for founding a new convict colony in Australia, and another bill for prolonging the despotic government of West Australia ; and he has taken upon himself to saddle his successor with a second Under-Secretary, of the name of Rogers. Can it be that Sir Robert. Peel does not , choose to obtain for Lord John. Russell the power of. putting this New Zealand matter to rights, and thereby adding to his reputation, for practical ability with regard to; Colonial

questions ? We have no belief in the existence of so odious a motive ; and we mention it solely for the purpose of warning Sir Robert Peel, that he subjects himself to the imputation by giving in to the Colonial-Office nonsense about waiting to hear from Captain Grey, The course of the Company, however, is clear. Let them bring in the requisitebill. They have wisely abstained from reviving their controversy with Lord Stanley ; and the Bentink party in the House of Commons can hardly blunder to the extent of raking it all up again by opposing such a bill. Such a bill would doubtless be supported by the Whigs ; and, great as is the respect of the Free-traders -par excellence for Sir Robert Peel, — desirous as they are to protect him from defeat by any combination of Whigs and Protectionists for any purpose, — yet even their commiseration of the harassed Prime Minister has a limit, and they would scarcely like to figure before the country as deliberately sacrificing the suffering and helpless colonists of New Zealand to party tactics in Parliament. Upon the whole, therefore, such a bill would in all probability be passed in spite of opposition from the Government. That the Government would not oppose it, is indeed equally probable, unless we are to suppose that the sagacious and prudent Peel wants to retire upon a question in which all the world would think him in the wrong.

Norfolk Island.—The Lady Franklin has returned from Norfolk Island, with Mr. Gilbert Robertson, Mr. Frazer, and two over- , seers, suspended by Mr. Price. The session had not closed; twelve men had been executed for the late murders, amongst them Cavenagh and Jacky Jacky. Mr. Tarleton and Mr. Breton are confirmed in their appointments.—Launceston Examiner, Oct 26. I

Mauritius Sugar.—His Excellency Sir W. M. Gomua, in his speech at the opening of the Legislative Council, states that there is " a glowing prospect of an extraordinary sugar crop" in the island.

Madagascar.—A letter has been lately received at the Isle of France, from Madagascar via Bourbon, by a commercial house much interested in the opening of our trade with that country, frem Captain Gevint of the Ariel, dated from St. Marie. He announces that on his arrival at Tamatave, where he had directed his vessel, to make another effort to obtain the merchandise which belonged to him, and had been in embargo for more than a year, he communicated with the Hovas, and informed them that the intention of the French government was not to make war on them. They appeared much satisfied with this information, and recommended him to write to the Queen, as she alone could authorise the delivery of his merchandise. He therefore wrote to the Queen at Emirne, and sent the letter on the 13th June, leaving Tamatave for St. Marie, and intended to return twenty days afterwards, for an answer. The time which has expired since then leads us to suppose that he has not succeeded, and that the answer of Queen Ranavalo has not been favourable to his demand. We trust this supposition will prove incorrect.

Banana Tree Paper. —At the last meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences a communication was received from M. Rogue on a project of manufacturing paper from the fibres of the banana tree. It appears that experiments have been made under the eyes of a committee appointed by the Minister of Commerce, and that some very white and good paper was produced. It is proposed by M. Rogue to carry on this operation in Algeria, not merely as regards the banana tree, but also the alves, and other textile plants, and it is said that a large grant of land has been made to him in the colony for that purpose.—Bell's Messenger.

The Poetry of French Dressmaking. — The poetry of Parisian millinery has never yet obtained its due praises as one of the great departments of se^sthetical science, How bold, for example, is the figure, when silks are described as " dun veritable couleur de succe's /" The fancy of a new Parisian bonnet was objected to by a fair purchaser: " Madame," was the reply of indignant genius, " parole d'honneur, il ma coute trois nuits d'insomnie pour Vimaginer /" Still better was the solemn " not at home" of the porter of one of the greater artists — Monsieur nest pas visible, il compose V — Dublin llniversivy Magazine.