MR. ADDERLEY, M.P., ON THE BRITISH COLONIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 110, 24 March 1862, Page 6

MR. ADDERLEY, M.P., ON THE BRITISH COLONIES.

The Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P., delivered a lecture on the " British Colonies," at the Addcrlcy- park. Institute aud Museum, Saltier, on the 20th of January. .Mr. Adderlcy, in commencing his observations on the subject he had chosen, said it was one with which his mind was just now filled, and he had selected it, not to save himself the trouble of considering another topic on which ho should address them, but because he seriously and earnestly be? lieved that there was at the present moment no topic more important or interesting to English? men. lie did not wish to enter into the abstract philosophy of colonisation on that occasion. What he wished to do was, to put the subject in a practical and interesting shape, and to ask them as so many Englishmen nnd Englishwomen to consider for themselves what was the value of our colonies at the present moment —a moment at which the subject probably novcr had more interest. Mr. Gladstone would, in the next Sessions of Paiv liament, have to ask the countiy for four millions additional taxation for the defence of Canada against the United States of America, and however much they might be sitting at their ease in that room listening to a lecture on the colonies, when the question came of paying a tax which would most likely represent fourpence additional to the income tax, they would think the subject one of material interest. Did wo derive fourpence additional from Canada in return for this outlay ? On the same principle which induced them to pay four millions now for Canada they might have in due course to provide the same for New Zealand or Australia; and the necessity might become still more burdensome unless we took pains to know and understand what were our proper relations in regard to our colonies, and what were the relations of our colonies to us. He would lay before them the conclusions at which ho had arrived before he gave them his reasons for adopting them. Thp colonies were of great value to England, not in their present relation to us, but if that relation were corrected as it ought to be, they would be of the greatest value. If they re» ' mained as they were they would not repay us what they drew from- us in the shape of taxation. He must point out to them how it was they had arrived at this sort of false relation. The natural relation of colonies to a parent country ought to be that their value and .their advantage should be mutual; but we, by a mistake on our own part; ■had arrived at a condition most unfortunate and disastrous in reference to our colonial empire—a condition which rendered them burdensome to our.se.lues, whilst it gave a precarious existence to them. To say a country like this should not colonise would be to say it should not grow. We, like all other nations, followed out the instinct of mankind in increasing and multiplying ourselves. It was not so much au.-arbitrary choice, therefore, whether we should colonise or not, as it was a question as to the principle upon which we should do it. The difference in the mode of colonisation had depended upon the character of the nation itself, and the circumstances under which that nation had colonised. The Greeks colonised by spreading their own race and institutions ; the faculty of the Romans was to increase their empire by extending their outposts of dominion ; whilst the Carthagenians colonised by establishing and maintaining ports, and harbours, and extending commerce. Other nations had followed, their Wn naturaLgenius in colonisation, and the,

character of the country wns traceable in her de-' pendencies. Thus Venice, Genoa, Spain, Portugal, France, and lOnglanJ, eacli typified themselves in their manner of colonisation. Like the Romans, the French were fonil of dominion, and so spread their colonies by nutposls ; and Algeria was probably the best illustration of their system. On. the other hand, England, in her colonial procedure, has dotted so many Englandsall over the world. He wished, however, to point out how it was (hat we had fallen into a false system in our mode of colonisation. England had had three phases in her colonisation. In the 15th and 16th centuries she colonised in America, and she allowed those colonies to govern themselves as the English did at home. .Tliuy were represented in l-epresentative assemblies, they taxed themselves, and they defended themselves. It they could have been represented in the English Parliament, they, doubtless, would have been, only that the distance was too great, and it was consequently decided that they should have their own Parliament ; and more than this, that they should never bo taxed except through their own Parliament. These governments grew rapidly and strongly, and if there was any fault, it was that England, while giving them the control of their own affairs, attempted to control their commerce for her own benefit. She attempted to shut them out of foreign markets, to prevent their exporting, except through English channels, and to make them subservient to her own mercantile interest by restrictive laws. When however, attacked by native tribes infinitely more formidable than the Kaffirs or Maories, the colonists met their enemies on their own ground, nobody helped them, they fought for their own property and lives; and in this respect they showed the difference between colonies in the present day in fighting for their own ground themselves without extraneous aid. They fought against the regular troops of Spain, which occupied Florida, and France which occupied Canada, and their resistance was of the strongest and most successful character, and in this respect they displayed all the spirit, determination, and courage of Englishmen!. Towards the commencement of the reign of George 111., we conquered Canada from the French, or rather we assisted our colonists in obtaining possession of the country ; and then came a dispute about paying the bill. To meet this an. ingenious contrivance was hit upon, and a tax called the Stamp Act was endeavoured to be imposed. The answer of the American colonists was, "We arc ready to fight, we are ready to pay; but if we fight, the taxes consequent must be levied by our own. Parliament." He (Mr. Adderly) thought they showed in this particular that they had the true'feeling of Englishmen. This squabble led to a separation of the American colonies from ourselves. They were deeply attached to England—a fact which was testified by Franklin; but when it came to the question as to whether George 111. should tax the people through his Parliament in London, they said they would only submit to be taxed by their own Legislative Assembly, and so the parting took place. He was glad England fought on the occasion, but he was glad England wus beaten, because, had she won the victory, it would have been at the cost of one of the main principles of her constitution. Well, we lost the American colonies. What had we, then, to fall back upon ? We fell back upon Canada, originally a French colony, and this led to a fresh form of colonial government. We xxndertook to govern for the colonists, and the second phase in our colonial policy was to manage colonial affairs in England, through the medium of a

colonial secretary in Downing-street, who had the control of every colonial matter, however trivial in itself. This system threw the whole state of colonial government into riot and confusion, and this went on until about 20 years ago, and the only way of accounting for its endurance so long was that the. wars of the French revolution materially interfered witli and prevented a good many reforms in this country. After dwelling upon the injustice and vexatious di-lay which were inflicted' upon our colonists by this sj'stem of administration, Mr. Adderley, again adverting to Canada, observed that it ultimately led to rebellion in that country. For his own part, he said, he gave the Canadians credit for rebelling, and lie was glad they succeeded. They said, "We shall be glad to live in amicalilu relations with you if you will give us the English constitution ;" hut our ministers questioned their right to the enjoyment of those privileges which Englishmen enjoyed at home. The privilege of an English constitution was, however, accorded to them; but England found that whenever, there were disturbances in connection with the colony, she had to send out troops to quell them. Whilst we had permitted them to manage their own affairs, whilst they had framed their institutions on the mesfc liberal basis— -l\lr. Bright himself, in fact would stare at the democracy of some of our colonies—and whilst they had. made their own laws, they had retained upon us the task ot preserving the peace of their country, Instead of taxing them we taxed ourselves for putting do-.yn their riots and rebellions. The riots in Australia and New Zealand, and the internal warfare of the Cape, had been entirety put down by troops raised in England, paid by us. and maintained by us in the colonies. Thi:s :;eeme<i to have brought us to a state of things which hardly rendered the relation of our colonies profitable to us. There could not bo anything so unnatural than that there should bo wealth, sclf-wiil, and self-control on the one side, and the expense of such matters on the other. If we remedied this false relation of ourselves to our colonies, he was ready to prove : that our colonies would be of the greatest value Ito this country. Alluding in . the next place to the efforts he had personally made to enforce the iinpO'tar.ca of this point upon the legislature of this country, Mr. Adderley said ho had so far succeeded as to' have got the subject attended to in a parliamentary committee la»t session, when it was thoroughly investigated, eminent witnesses were examined, and the report was more favorable to the view he took than he could have anticipated. Ho was satisfied however that he ha I only to call upon sensible Englishmen to examine the subject, to bring them to the ganio conclusions, aud he further believed that for this the country would h.aye gpne on for three or four more years spending £4,000,bQQ annually in support of troops in (Jii'K rent parts of the world where f hey-were perfectly unnecessary1 without ever considering whether the enormous drain of English'blood and English money was of any proportionate use to the colonies. He hoped England would tell the colonies that they should not have troops in time of peace. If there is war let her say that she is prepared to concentrate her iorces 'and assisf; in the defence of .her colonial empire, but that in time of peace every part of that empire should be prepared to maintain it's own security." The instant the security of Canada is threatened let England go to her assistance, and the inomeut England is threatened let. the Canadian Militia come and help us, for there was nothing calling upon her to aid us under like circumstances. If this principle were recognised and carried out by England wo should become not only the greatest but the mostenvicd nation in the world. Was, it not monstrous that this little island should undertake to maintain the defences of great continents like Canada, Australia, and South Africa, and that the cost of maintaining those defences shall be provided by the taxpayers of this country? It was ridiculous that Englishmen should be so bamboozled. These colonies must be told that they must organise their own militia, and provide ; for themselves when hostilities were nut; directed against them. The right hon. gentleraanjthen proceeded to the consideration of the importance of our colonies, to us if the relation in which we stood to them were corrected, and he did so from three points of view—firstly, their'" utility i;} . the recruiting of our naval and military forces, thereby rendering us independent of foreign legions j secondly, their value commercially provided we could make it our interest to thrive with them instoad of. by them; and thirdly, the expansiveness which they afforded to this country as outlets for our constantly augmenting population. After some remark of a general character on the subject of emigration aa connected with tho last-mentioned subdivision of his subject, in tha course of which, he spoke highly of the suitableness and advantages of ; the Canterbury settlement, tho right lion, gentleman concluded by expressing a hope; that all those present and the public at large would use,their influence upon the Government to obtain a more satisfactory adjustment of our rehir tions with our colonies in accordance with the views he had expressed, in which >:ase. ho said wo should find their} more valuable socially, commercially, and political ly. The right hob. gentleman resumed his seat amidst applause.

A cordial vote of thaijks to Mr, Addcrloy was passed.— Home News, Jum. 27.

TrtE Nonconformist Settlement, in New Zealand, —It is expected, from the lute rapid increase of applications,^ that .the proposed number of 1000 emiigrante for the. Nonconformist'settlenient in: New Zea-: ;lam%will be easily made up^_ Thej first party is to be