ARE THE COLONIES OF GREAT BRITAIN WORTH PRESERVING. [From the Times, July 4.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 346, 25 November 1848, Page 4

ARE THE COLONIES OF GREAT BRITAIN WORTH PRESERVING. [From the Times, July 4.]

Ara we to keep our colon^and los,e,our money, or keep our money and lose ou^.c/rionies ? This is the alternative to which a new school of politicians is perpetually urging us vr , ( This is the question into'-.whicji, jtlje labour?, the speeches, the theoiies, and- the grumbles of a new-fashioned economy resolve themselves. Never was it more strongly put than ,it was last Thursday night by Sir It., Peel, though only by way of introducing, the most lame and impotent conclusion to which' he had 1 arrived the ,West Indies.^ Never, thus far, did the question receive a more effective answer than — strange to say — it received from him. -Xf we, could,, believe that the right hon. baronet would retain ,Ins, jQwn feelings upon this matter, and, thajt, towards the colonies in general he would preserve a consistency which he has withheld from them in detail, we should hail his expressions on this occasion as omens of a vigorous a valorous defence, of what,hayebeen essentially Briiish institutions ; vi?., the rempte, scattered, -and numerous dependencies of, the British empire. But who knows that" we shall not live to see the Lothario of political, life, -the pet of a Manchester coterie, denouncing" c'olo-^ nies as an expensive nuisance or a profitless encumbrance ? Meauwhilej the question will, be again tossed upon the waters of political agitation, to supply by its final issue a grave comment upon the patriotism, the honour, and the common sense of Cabinets and Parliaments. According to the politicians whom we have, referred to, no colonies are worth keeping which " don't pay." According to the, same school, a colony does not pay, which dqes not furnish us with some article cheaper than we. get it, elsewhere, or which, costs us more nw-,-ney than it gives back ; in a word, which dges u not showr&ome immediate and tangible return for the outlay made upon it. The pecuniary value is, with these gentry, the only measure, of all value. .They see nothing, beyond it, above it, beside it^ ffl National pow,er, — national greatness — well. merited gratitude — reciprocity of.kindn^s^es — identity, of blpod,-re-' ligion, :and. .language— community of, danger,, glory, successes, and losses^rallithe,se considerations go for nothing jto the achievement' of knocking ,,off a fewjppunds from the estimates, and a, few pence frorn ; ,a ipttfof sugar, v,. Talk to tbejn, about, the moral" obligation of protecting an ancient dependency rr-tbe shame, of deserting a f.aithful, an inseparable, and not the less valuable because involuntary ally ; talk to them about honour, faith, and duty, — they will retort by. a murmur at the cost which they involve,; and the taxation they necessitate, .Their morality is codified in an account cftdebto&and creditor ; them statesmanship ,is l iimited.-jto J the <?ne simi-, pie object • of buying,chgap. and- selling dear. - If it were our'dbject to raise a feeling •against these people, we believe UrwQuldi.be the easiest thing in the world;. Mercantile 'and material as is'tbe> character ofithis.age^ -we are confi3entthat>th'e;hea.rtJaddTtihe<Aatel4 •E'gence of the country are low'stke fs'fde. c&kctnour against expediency. Place before. ;lhe educated and the intelligent people of every class throughout th ) e J kingdj6m j , the pros and cons of the question — tell them that .the alternative is whether , Englaud shall keep or give up the possessions which she has purcha-

sed.with (hi blood of her bravest and the energy of her wisest — possessions which have clung to her through peril and menace — in the hour of desperate contest and the darkness of threatening ruin — possessions which 'have stood forth to bear the brunt of hostile attack and — as Sir R. Peel well expressed it •— f-as conductors of aggressive warfare from ' her own unviolated shores ; ask this on every hearth and in every household of England, and we doubt not, but that nearly a,ll— not excepting those who now petition for, the havoc of our West India islands — would concur in reptidiatiggfpthe abandonment of the colonies as an outrage on the majesty of English dominion, and a wound on the purity of the English, faith. , They would refuse tp sacrifice to a temporary parsimony the empire, as yet undeveloped, but full of promise and resource, which is wedded to us by the blood of Wolfe and.Jthe, conceptions of Chatham. They would not,ifor'the cost of a Kaffir war and the unproductiveness of its western tracts, yield to foreign foes or, domestic pedants the territory which yet survives in all but virgin waste, to .attest the two-fold prowess of British, arms, and of British diplomacy. Nor would th,ey, to gain a farthing in every pound of sugar, renounce the islands where liberty without stint supplanted slavery that was almost without suffering, a?jd whose annexation, to England has been protection to us at the price of damage to themselves. Nor is this a matter of mere, sentiraentt They, >are right on principles of policy, gain, and interest. They could not sacrifice any oLour colonies withouLsacrificJQgjaiuch more than^he money value of the colony. Let us J just for £i r iuonient imagine Canada^ the Cape, or Jamaica, or Trinidad, either wrenched ftora ■ our unresisting, or deserted byour protecting hands. Take the former supposition, Suppose^Montreal, or Cape Town, or Kingston, or. Port of Spain, in the hands of a French, a Russian, or American commander, blockaded by a hostile fleet turned over to the caprices of insolent invasion, without help, or hope of help, from the Imperial Government of Great Britain, and -undergoing, such changes as every conquered country, must necessarily submit to ;—-does; — -does any one' dare to tell us that we Englishmen" — who sat quietly at home, congratulating ourselves on a wise and pacific economy, and* folding our arms in the spirit • of 'u'nwa'rlike? acquiescence, would not feel the effect's 'of such a shock here ?-that men and families would go to bed, and rise up, eat, drink, and.sleep, without any sensation of this convulsion, or any appreciation of its consequences,; , and that the only difference to England would be that she had got rid qfa great appanage, and had escaped the burden of a great wax ? Strange and wonderfully, made must be that mind which contemplates such fruits of such a change ; which believes that, power taken frorh ( us would not be' power used against us ; and that the resources of which we refused to avail ourselves would be left unused by our enemies and successors ! Itis'not in. human nature, nor within the compass of human probabilities, that such things should be. We may neglect, despise, or disregard these symbols and instruments of, power, but they would not. Their first act would be to thwart and destroy that commerce which they look on as a diabolical engine in lour hands, Prohibition would be levelled at our national, no less than confiscation against our individual industry. True/it may be, that 'in a series of years the mischiefs and the folly ■ of, such reprisals would, be apparent. But iwhat , damage, what ruin might in the mean itime be inflicted on British proprietors, merchants, and manufacturers ! Our colonies know little, of free trade as yet, and' what , little they do know they do not like.' Our i continental, rivals know less, and like it ■as^tie." They have yet to learn the cer'tai^ though mysterious way^ by which Man-| ! Chester _c,btto,ns and Staffordshire earthenware^ permeate through" 'the barriers of protection and the breakwaters of , monopoly. Ijt will take, , perhaps, "generations to "teach them. England, indeed, with, her colonies' opened to all the world, receiving thVproductions of every clime, annulling and anuihilat-, ing the ties of reciprocated monopolies^—England, enjoying free trade, and permitting her colonies to enjoy it too, might indoctrinate the world on her footsteps. But England, reft of her colonies, isolated} sitting "like "the Niobe, of nations in the squalor, of childless bereavement, would be a warning add a speci* tacle, not a] wonder and an example." Warned, and frightened by her, but : f ess frightened by her downfall than triumphing 'in it, they would^pne ana^all,. enter, on^ a policy which, though m' the long 'fun'it might fair<^f stt5 tts ot aesired.effe.ctj r would necessarily inflicf^Hy; p'^o-" confiscations, and pillage,' fa serous anE"en^uring woup'djbn private' and fortunes. Such a' t state of things^ too; of course, implies the ahsence'or the disuse of a navy !- it therefore implies the transmission of English maritime' power into the same hands that had succeeded to the possession of English colonial power. "It is tantamount to a

surrender of the strength and strong arm of the country. It is tantamount to the degradation and humiliation of Englishmen on the very soil where they had erst been lords and masters ; to the restitution of slavery in a worse form and with worse features on the very spot where philanthropy had hoped to strike it its deadliest, surest blow ! And do these men know so little of man's nature as not to know that, when England had been reduced to' this state — when she had lost colonial and maritime greatness- I—when1 — when she was forbidden her harbours which had been once her own — when another flag floated in place of hers — when slaves were bought and sold where she had said no slave should be — when the islands that once spoke of and prayed for "our gracious Sovereign" discussed "our respected President," or "ourindivisible Republic," — when English planters were turned over to the tender mercies of an Alien Vagrant Act, — that then — though Englishmen in England might possibly sugar their tea for a few far.things less, their honour, their dignity, and their secuiity w'buld be far different from what they had been? Yet' these are the conditions of abandoning or losing our colonies. We cannot abandon' ,them without transferring them ; we cannot transfer them without losiug all the essential benefit of their occupation. It wouid hot be difficult to prove that the sources' of a country's strength and grandeur must be traced up through circuitous and winding channels ; and that much of her character and her influence is , due to circumstances which at first sight appear irrelevant, unimportant, or even debilitating. We might also show how much of individual greatness, importance,, afid ( weal'th, flows from colonial possessions. We might show how a proprietor in Natal, in Jamaica, Ceylon, or Trinidad, may employ British skill, may promote the extension of British' manufactures, and react on the springs of British industry — how through his means the workmen of Sheffield, or Stockport, or the Potteries, finds customj ers far an'H wide in Eastern and Western India — or now the profits of capital invested there bring forth from their lurking places humble worth, energy cramped by penury, or ambition which, but for encouragement, would fret and chafe itself away ,on emptiness at home. But we forbear!' J ~ National duty is paramount to individual interests. As a nation, we hive courted high responsibilities, and we cannot shake them off. It is less permitted to an empire to be discreetly penurious or dishonourably mean^than to a great lord a millionaire to forego '^■^natural expenses of his position, and descend into the careless tranquillity of irresponsible retirement. What we have undertaken, that we must fulfil. The vast territory of which* we vaunt was delegated to us not for an iclle boast or a vapid ostentation. The millions whom we rule, we rule as much for their as our own good. We are the trustees of great possessions and great powers. Let not the reproach be verified with which a Frenchman has twitted us j viz., that we have spread everywhere but taken root nowhere ; that we have ruled as tyrants,' extortioners, and locusts; never as beneficent and benevolent masters. Above all, Jet us not'seeem to verify the taunt, by shirking in a period of pressure the consequences of our own counsels and our own acts. It were ignominy to bate one inch of that ground which we have occupied between the Sutlej and tho St. Lawrence for an incidental convenience. But double would be tbe ignominy we should bequeath if we left it to posterity to say cf us, " The English of the 19th century inherited enormous' power and a gigantic empire, with unparalleled means of doing good to the world. They ; mutilated the first, they omitted the last. But, as the price of opportunities despised and majesty deteriorated, they learned how to buy sugar cheap and sell'calico dear; for this they lost the world, and were content to lose it !"