‘Even suppose our North American colonies did join the United States, we should in a commercial point of view at all events, be the better for the change. In ‘fat commercial point of view the United States them- selves were as much ovr colonies as ever, and better colonies for the purpose than any of those we retained at sucha heavy outlay. (Hear, hear.) In 1844, the declared vaiue of our exports to the United States did not fall short of £8,000,000 stg. the whole expenditure throughout the union not exceeding 15,000/, for the vari- ous consular establishments. (Hear, hear.) As to emi- gration, the United States received every year more of our population as emigrants than did all our own colonies pnt together. (Hear, hear.) Inthe West [n- dies, we kept up a force of 6,000 men, at the cost of 513,0001, the civil and other expenditure raising the total expenditure to not less than 700,000/. per annum.— (hear, hear)—being 25 per cent. on the entire of our exports thither, which exports be it remembered, were every year decreasing. It would be well worth our while, in his opinion, to give the West India colonists 10,000,0002. stg. on condition of their becoming inde- pendent states. It would effect a saving of 350,0001. per annum to this country. In our Australian colonies, in- cluding New Zealand, we expended in military outlay 270,0001. per annum, and in other items fully 30,000/. more than the declared value of our exports to these colo- nies not exceeding one million stg. so that here again our expenditure amounted to 30 per cent. on our exports. By reducing our military establishments in these col- onies within reasonable limits, we should save another million per annum, As to the purely commercial col- onies, if they were entrusted with their just rights of self-government, they need cost us nothing at all; and here would be effected an enormous annual saving. At present scarcely anything could be worse than the system of their government by the Colonial-office. As to money matters, he had before him a treasury minute of June 16, in which my lords complained very empha- tically of the delay, on the part of the Colonial-office, in the auditing of the colonial accounts, specifying among other glaring instances, that the accounts of Mauritius were in arrear 10 years, those of the Cape of Good Hope &, those of Ceylon 6; the arrears, as to the other colonies, ranging from 4 to Sears. (Hear, hear.)

The facts with regard to the expense of government Crown Colonies and those in which Representative Institutions prevail, are curious, and furnish conclusive arguments in favour of self-government.

The hon. member proceeded to show that the rate of expenditure in the crown colonies was infinitely less than the expenditure in the colonies, which, more or less, adninistered their own internal affairs by the means of representative assemblies. Omitting from his calculaticn, Ceylon-—as not properly a colony—the mil-

itary stations on the West Coast of Africa, and the lonian States, he found that the rate of expenditure in the former class of colonies was onthe average, half less than that of the latter class. The population of the colonies with representative assemblies was 2,580,000, and the expenditure upon them 1,930,0001., bemng at the rate of 14s. 11d. per head per annum. The population of the colonies without representative assembles was 820,- 000, and the expenditure 1,420,000/., being at the rate of 1f. 149. a head; or 18s. 7d. more than in the other class of colores. (Hear, hear.) In the North Ameri- can colonies the rate of expenditure was the lowest, for there was the greatest amount of self-government. There the popalation, in 1845, being 1,700,000, the ex- penditure was 1,134,000, or 13s, 4d. her head, and tak- ing into account that half a million of the sum was a special amount raised by loan for public works, the ex- penditure in point of fact was: only 9s. per head, and even this amount was thirty per cent. higher than the expenditure in the United States. ‘The difference arose in great measure from the enormously heavy salaries paid in the colonies tothe higher functionaries, whe received three or four times more than the same class of functionaries received in the United States. The Governor of Canada, for example, superintending a po- - pulation of 1,200,000, received 7,000/. per annum, while the President of the United States had only 5,000/. per annun: the Governor of New York, with a population

of 2,600,000, receiving 8000. per annum. The Chief|than they had

Justices of Upper and Lower Canada had L1,500 a year each; the Chancellor and Chief Justices of New York had 800/. a year eac Canada had L1,000 a year each; and of New York. 1.200 a year each; the Governor of Nova Scotia had 3,500 a year; the Governors of New Brunswick and Newfoundland had L3,000.ayear each; while the Go- vernor of Miageichiivent, With Ae ane epee. had only L500'2 year. The same rate of lavish expen- diture prevailed in our-other colonies; there were the Governors of Manritins,and Ceylon with their L7,000 a year each; the Governor ica with 6,500 ayear ; the Governors of Gi , &c., with their L5,- 000 a year a piece, and so on; while, if the colonies iad to make the appointments, they would select much etter men than the present average for a fourth of the cost. (Hear, hear.) Inthe West Indies, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, with the ex- soption of St. Lucia, and Bahamas, with a population sf 700,000, had an expenditure of £450,000 or 12s. 10d. ahead, the rate of Jamaica being 133. Compare these sith St. Lucia, Honduras, Trinidad, and British Guia-

‘lished.

h. The Puisne Judges. of|office. The system was to blame, not the men—and it

THE EXAMINER.

of L1 9s. or twice that of colonies with representative assemblies. And there again the salaries of the higher functionaries were excessive: there were twelve gover-

expenditure was about the same as the crown colonies in the West Indies, LJ. 7s. a head. ‘he Governor of Mauritius receives L7,000 a year ; Governor of the Cape 15,000. (Hear, hear.) It might be said, that the rate of expenditure was higher in the crown colonies be- cause they were more thinly inhabited; but the crown colonies of Mauritius were four times as thickly inha- bited as Jamaica, yet the rate of expenditure at Jamaca was half less than that of Mauritius. (Hear, heat Now, with respect to the Australian colonies, he foun

that only one of them—New South Wales was the only,

one, which had a legislative assembly ; and the conse- quence was that a reduction had taken place in the ex- penditure of that colony immediately afier the constitu- tion had been granted to it.

From the years 1841 to 1845 the expenditure averag- ed about L2 4s. per head on the whole population of New South Wales. Jn the year 1846, one twelvemonth after the assembly had begun to sit, the expenditure was reduced to Li 8s. per head, or less than half what it had been previously. Let him compare the expendi- ture of New South Wales with that of the kindred colony of Van Diemen’s Land, where it amounted to L4 6s. in 1841, a sum three times greater than in New South Wales after the legislative assembly was estab- This excessive expenditure occasioned the greatest discontent at Van Diemen’s Land, and it caus- ed excessive taxation. ‘T'he colonists themselves were of opinion that this taxation was illegal, and one of the judges there had been recently removed from his post for having declared these taxes illegal. (‘ No, no.’) The hon. member then entered into a statement of the proceedings of the Colonial-office with respect to as- serting the right of the crewn to royalties on the pro- ducts of mines situated in the Australian colonies, which proceedings he asserted were highly unjust, oppressive, and contrary to good faith. With respect tothe colony of New Zealand, he was unable to state what the amount of expenditure per head was, but it must be very great, as the military proceedings there had been very expensive ; and what with an imbecile governor, an in- cendiary bishop, a faithless colonial secretary, and a discontented set of colonists, that settlement was. at present in a most unsatisfactory and extraordinary state. A constitution had been granted to the settlers and natives of New Zealand in the course of 1846,

onial-office authorities within a year after it had come into operation.” »

and lasting debt of gratitude to Sir William Molesworth, for his able advocacy of their rights. We agree with the hon. member that the true remedy for Colonial abuses is to throw upon the colonists themselves the responsi- bility of managing their owmaffairs, Local self-govern- ment once conceded, the Colonial Office should carry out the principle in sincerity and good faith. The Colonial Legislatures should be able to.pass a Tariff, arrange the machinery of their own Governments, and deal with the salary of a public officer, without feeling that their wishes might be thwarted at any moment by the secret representations of some interested party in

the underlings.in Downing Street. With respect to the desirableness of the establishment of legislative assemblies in those colomies where nore now existed, there could be no question. He had him- self presented many petitions praying for them from colonies not possessing those institutions. Indeed, all the colonies so circumstanced, had repeatedly petitioned the house during the last ten years to grant them legis- lative assemblies, and only in one instance, that of New South Wales, had these petitions been attended with success, All the others had been refused, and yet he would not hesitate to assert, that if they had legislative assemblies they would have been far better governed

bes by the Colonial-office. He did not mean by what he stated to cast any blame upon the in- dividuals who administered the affairs of the Colonial-

was the system alone which merited, and which should receive, his blame and disrespect. Indeed, if he turned back to the proceedings of former sessions of parliament, he could cite the opinions of the hon. and learned mem- ber for Liskeard, and of the present Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary, as fully bearing him out in.bis des- eription of the manifeld evils of the system observed. of governing the colonies. The ambition of the Colonial- office was no less glaring than its incapacity. The authorities there pretended to be able to govern pesses- sions. ranging between the arctic’ and antarctic poles —they exercised authority over colonies. which were at the distance of a twelve month’s voyage from the seat of their authority, and it was notorious. that one letter

Those Colonies which have sued in vain in Downing Street, for Representative Institutions, are under a deep

the Colony, or by the officious intermeddlings of some of

37 EDL REF EOE A Ts LAL EEE ERP PRI LO LE I TINL CI E L E ES SET RENTS TE

jaddressed, and disobeyed by the governors who receiy- 'ed them, the colonists themselves being disgusted and jalienated by the gross ignorance displayed by those

nors and lieutenant governors, with L29,000 a year., who assumed the right of directing their affairs. Now,

a eg! my and ae ante there was a population of if it were expedient to entrust such multifarious and in- abo 000. These being crown colonies the rate of

| portant duties as those of colenial secretary to any sing)« individual, that person enght to be possessed not only of a vast amount of knowledge, but also, he ought to be a man of great experience and sagacity. Now, did these qualifications characterise the individuals. who lad of late presided over the Colonial-office.. Was the rule he laid down for the choice of a colonial-secretary that which was followed in selecting that functionary ° (Hear, and a lavgh.) He was of opinion that no such rule had ever been laid down—miuch less carried out. The colonial secretary was generally. chosen for expe- diency sake, from amongst the heads of one or the other of the parties who sought to govern the country, and the average duration of his term of office did not exceed eighteen montls.—(Hear, hear.) On looking back during the last nine years, he found that there had been exactly six. different colonial secretaries, viz: Lords Glenelg, Normanby, Russell, Stanley, Mr.. Gladstone, and Lord Grey. In point of fact, the Colonial Secre- taries were constantly changing, the system maintained at Downing-street was one of unmitigated despotism, qualified by weakness and uncertainty. The changes in policy were as frequent, and even mere so, than those in the heads of the office, At one moment the Colonial Office was swayed by the West Indian interests, the next day the protectionists had the rule, the anti-slavery party succeeded these, and in their turn were displaced by the New Zealand Company, who: gave way before the missionaries, and thus the Colonial-office authorities were ‘Everything by tarns, and nothing long,’ which rendered al] their projects abortive and all their mea- sures unsuccessful. Such a system of government might suit a nation of serfs, but toa people accustomed ito self-government it presented no other aspect than that of an odious and a hatefal tyranny. (Hear.) If his as- \sertions were doubted—if he was supposed to misrepre- sent the sentiments of the colonists, let him refer the Colonial-office authorities to the West Indies and the other colonies they pretended to’ govern, and from one and all the same demand would be received, ‘ Relieve us from the rule of the Colonial-office’ Even the €a- nadas, the most favoured and petted of all the colonies, were not satisfied, for although they had got their as- sembly, yet every now and then they sent home com- plaints against the. heads of the Colonial-office. But if the colonists had reason to complain of the Downing- ‘street authorities, they had far more serious grounds for

but it had been arbitrarily ‘suspended by the Col-|complaining of the governors who were sent out to rule

oyer them, and who were chosen, not on account of their fitness to exercise such important functions, but purely on-personal grounds.

Nay, the class of persons selected as governors was not always confined to the reputable though needy, for instances were not wanting in which discreditable per- sons had been. got rid of by nominating them to a distant governorship, where the fame of their previous career had not spread. Such being the sort of persons .sent out to act as governors to the colonies, was it to be wonder- ed at that they. were utterly unfit tosustain their charac- ters, or that they became the tools of the factions which exist at the seat of their rule? From such causes sprang the jealousies and feuds which were so frequent amongse the authorities and functionaries of distant colonies. The governors and the judges were, owing to these- causes, frequently upon a hostile footing towards each other, and not a year passed in which some petitions were not presented complaining of the arbitrary remova! of judges or other functionaries by the superior authe- rities of the colonies. So frequent, indeed, were these petitions, that a permanent tribunal bad been constituted. to judge of their grounds; and who should be placed at the head of sucha commission but, the man who hac

Office 2’ (Cries of ‘ Name, name ? to which some ho. member replied, Stephens.) ‘The facts which he refer- red to were of such notoriety that all were acquainier with them mere or less, No wonder, therefore, that the colonies were badly governed under sucli a system, or that the colonists were discontented. ‘The question te. be considered was, whether the system could be amene - ed. It appeared to him that. the administration. of thr affairs of the colonies by the Downing-street authorities was far inferior to self government. ‘The colonists were far better judges of their own wants than any person jobbing in Downing-sireet. could be. The Colonia:- office was entirely irresponsible, and it was only wher the country was called upon to pay for its misdeeds, 2. the shape of a Kaffir or New Zealand war, that any accounts. of its. proceedings could be obtained. Ane even then the documents were so carefully preparec

that few of the members of that house were able to trace

the various items. so set out by the Colonial offiee.. ‘Hear, hear.). Neither the house nor the country places any confidence in the documents put forth by the Colonie office.. (Hear, hear.) They were drawn out to svit the views entertained by the Colonial-office authorities, ane

had scarcely been despatched from Downiag Street ere a change in the cireumstances.of the colony to which- it}

was addressed, compelled the colonial secretary to write!

another diametricaliy opposed to it, and thus they. went! on from year to year, the orders and recommendations

ye, with a population of 190,000, and an expenditure azgiggiroof immpiration| of L234,000, being at the rate

of the home authorities being alike negtected and-des-

consequently they misled people and did not inform them. (Hear.) The only-remedy for the state of things he had described was self-government ; and the cone» sion that he had come to was, that the only course new to be followed towards the colonists. wes to bestow om, them every power of managing and controlling their

pised by the legislative.agsemblies. to whom theswere

affairs. onla reserving to England the-sovereigm7,ssee: ie

ah

long been designated as.the ‘evil genius of the Coloma .

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