AN UNITED POLYNESIA.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 69, 25 January 1879, Page 2

AN UNITED POLYNESIA.

The report upon affairs at Tonga, published in our last issue, must be regarded ii~ possessing an importance of a character far from secondary. The agreement, or basis for a treaty, to be entered into between that country aud Great Britain, is significant of the commencement of the success which is destined to mark the scheme, long entertained .it' an United Polynesia. The peaceful desires of the Tougnns, and their appreciation of the advantages to he attained by a recognition among nations, will secure that which the troubles of Samoa will bring about, in a different manner and from different canes, so far as her particular lot be concerned. The curious, although by no means uncommon, anomaly will be observed of the same end being attained through means of a widely divergent course of proceeding ; and of discord ami interuicine disturbance securing in one place that which respect for peace and civilisation will have brought about in another.

The fact that a feeling of kindly regard for England has almost invariable characterised the Tongese, renders the fact of their soliciting the treaty referred to, a matter for little surprise. They were ready for it when the Governor visited them, and had the influence which they admittedly exercise over the Samoans have been brought to bear upon .that occasion, the result of his Excellency's invitation to the people bust named "might have had a different issue, at least so far as the adoption of any steps of a directly hostile character were concerned. But the peaceful inclinations of the Tongese, and their desire to avail themselves of all the benefits which a concerted rule can yield, have been manifested most thoroughly by the remarkable docility with which they have submitted to the grevious puritanical routine imposed upon them by certain well meaning but altogether mistaken legislators. The fact of the imposition of sumptuary laws on a people altogether so primitive as the Tongans, and the restriction of their freedom of action in matters wherein guilt or wrong-doing could only have been detected by the microscopic eye of the most sour and crabbed ascetiscism, sufficiently speak the total unfitness of the legislation of the past. Wonder may indeed be felt at the unquestioning patience with which it has been for so long marked, and that the very excess of ecclesiastical tyranny had not provoked an abandonment to utter licentiousness and disregard' of the moral law. That this has, not been tlie case must certainly he attributed not to the fitness of the policy, hut to the innate docility and good nature of that people', which will, no doubt, be soon numbered among ether of the native popuhai as "gathered under tl.e British

An idea of tho pationco possessed l>v these races, may be gathered from the fact that during the reoont Parliamentary proceedings al .Tonga, ii was discovered that neither King, Council, nor people, understand the object ol the Constitution which has been imposed upon tbem. This would not be calculated to excite any astonishment had the establishment of" Government been of recent ocourrenoe. Hut the Tongans have been under one influence or the other for a comparatively lengthened period, and although their immediate ruler bus ostensibly been their venernblo and venerated chief, King George, it has been notorious that the acting power has vested in certain European advisers, who have imposed regulations and restrictions n.s far romovod from common sense—so far as their applicability to those whom they were intended to affect, were concerned—as opposed to tho spirit of tho ago upon which thoy wcro attempted to bt» forcod. They have met with that fnto which invariably docs await all forced and unsuitable legislation based upon unsound premises and strained conclusions. Tonga is not the only place destined to witness tho downfall of a system built up on tho ignorance and weakness of a people, although it mav serve as an instance of tho rapidity witli which tho inevitable end arrives, when the light of common MSN is let in through tho removal of tho obstruction by which it has been impeded. In Tonga,

certainly the system which prevailed was hailed gratefully, and supported readily by all. But this was evidently due to the anxious desire which existed for a government of some description, and not from any appreciation of the fitness of that imposed If therefore unsuitable legislation, when hailed with enthusiasm and adopt.nl iu most sincere good faith by King and people, is destined to fail, with how much more certainty may be predicted the doom of laws incongruous and opposed to the feelings, the wishes, and the well-being of those whom they aii'e,ct but to their disadvantage, and by whom they are regarded with apprehension and dislike.

But, as already pointed out, the proposed treaty with Tonga but indicates the beginning of the end. New Guinea is bound to become a British Colony. The promulgation of the exercise of jurisdiction by the English Government over its subjects in Western Polynesia generally, and the creation of the offices of High and Judical Commissioners, will be productive, of an effect marked in character and prolific iu result. The jurisdiction of the King cannot he extended to countries, which hitherto have regarded no rule other than that which their very primitive form of Government has inculcated, without a marked degree of influence becoming speedily observable. This will be more appreciable as Commissioners' Courts are held at the different islands. The fact of justice being done where British subjects are concerned, will not only bring home vividly the recognition of a power absolute, and not merely theoretical, but, by that very fact, awaken an inclination for the extension of an authority which makes itself manifest, and renders plain at once its desire that right shall be done, and the determination and means which it possesses to enforce its edicts.

These once impressed on the native mind, the rest is but a matter of time. With the natives of Western Polynesia, generally, government'would be an easy task. They have no settled forms or observances to overcome, no prejudices, founded upon precedent, to conquer. All unsophisticated and rude, their native barbarity—generated in niece brute, selfishness aud indifference to life—attacked in the first place by missionary influence and successfully assailed by missionary effort, little persuasion will be required to induce them to court a common protection and to place themselves under a common Hag. All indications point unmistakably to the fact that it is Great Britain to whom the destinies of these peoples of the Southern Seas are to bo committed, and that Fiji is to hetheeentre of operations for Polynesia. Not only is this indicated by the necessities for civilisation which have grown with the proclamation of the exercise of jurisdiction, but by the fore-cast which may be made of political events. The time must come, may come speatiily, when the progress of nations will demand a navigable canal through the Isthmus of Daricn. That accomplished, the harbours of these islands will become valuable and a stream of commerce to the Eastward take its onward way through places now only regarded a3 of very inferior consequence as trading and labor grounds. It is not because- other nations have not hitherto proved successful in colonization that they are never to be so ; and it certainly would never be to the interest of England that Continental nations shall be allowed to exercise power in Polynesia. These facts, self evident as they are, being admitted, the question of protectorate, or annexation, or whatever form a government may assume, is one which should scarcely need discussion among English statesmen, so far as the matter of principle be concerned. That of detail, certainly deserves and will necessitate grave consideration if it be acknowledged that the first duty of the protecting Power is to guard the interests, while it fosters the progress, of those whom it has taken under its sheltering wing. It is .to be sincerely hoped that a legislation thoroughly suitable, and a statctmanship worthy of the name, may be called into existence with respect to these islands, when circumstances shall demand. Should such happily be the case, their acquisition may prove of benefit to the parent Cofony of Polynesia—for Fiji will then have gooil claim to bo considered in that light ■ —in more ways than one. Not only by adding to her commercial importance, but by securing a form and mode of government more in consonance with hor requirements and more in accordance with the spirit of modern civilisation.—Fiji Times, Nov. 20.