“THIS IS TRUS LIBERTY, WHEN FREEBORN MEN—HAVING TO ADVISE THE PUBI

Examiner.

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COST OF COLONIAL MISGOVERNMENT.

Tuxxs is a passage in Adam Smith’s “ Wealth of Na- tions,” relating to the expense of Colonial Government, which deserves to be printed in letters of gold :—

‘* The expense of their (the English colonies) own ci- vil government has always been moderate. It has ge- nezally been confined to what was necessary for paying competent salaries to the governor, to the judges, and some other officers of police, and for maintaining a few of the most useful public works. The expense of the civil-establishment of Massachusett’s Bay, before the ecmmencement of the present (1776) disturbances, used to be about £18,000 a year; and that of New Hamp- shire and Rhode Island £3500; that of Connecticut £4000; that of New York and Pennsylvania £4,500 each; that of New Jersey £1200; that of Virginia and South Carolina £8000 each. The civil establish- ments of Nova Scotiaand Georgia are partly supported

by an annual grant of Parliament. But Nova Scotia pays, besides, about £7000 a year towards the public’ expenses of the Colony ; year. Allthe different civil establishments in North

an ever memorable example at how small an expense three

verned.”

nies in 1848 is on a very different scale.

tion of these Colonies (omitting the military establish-,

ments of Gibraltar, Malta, and St. Helena, and the di-) ' zo ibe perfectly untrammelled in the administration of their| clusters of men, with nothing but the trees for their e&

plomatic establishment of Hong Kong), 1s 4,559,424.

The expense of local government in these Colonies, , | pense. ‘There is no sound reason for the mother coun-

amounts to £3,468,668. The population of the-British eolonies in 1848 is only one-half greater than the popu- lation of the English colonies in North America, in 1770; but the expense of lecal government in the for- mer is 53 times as great as it was in the latter. The civil list alone of British Guiana, with its hundred thou-

sand inhabitants, is more than a half of the whole cost,

of civil governinent in the old North American colonies, with their three millions. Nova Scotia, with 178,000 ichabitants, has an annual public expenditure of £6 ' 26; the “ old thirteen” presented “an ever memora- ble example at how small an expense people may not only be governed, but we The modern colonies of England present an e memorable example of the immense surms that may expended in governing four millions and a half of peo-

ple ill.

portant part of the expense of government, fence and protection, has constantly fallen upon the mother country.” North American colonie

yey f soe P dle militia for the purposes of ce jnconsiderable part of the aggressive operations agar the French settlements. The military expenditure oi (jreat Britain in America at th

to defend the colonies, but to carry out the 7

Chatham, that France was to be conquered in Ameri not in Germany. France and England were } animosities of these nations. ments aid expenses required in the : restricted to what was necessary fer their detence, the provincial troops which they raised, and the money . rem, would have far more than sui-

they laid out upon th

. —— 4 » t ficed for their protection. ‘They paid all the costs of and more than the legitimite

If governed on the same princi- nis were governed, our modern

3 not only maintained theirown

their civil government, costs of their defence.

see?

vie as these setticimne

-

. ’ » ? at u English colonies would be found perfectly adequate te fo]

defray the cowt 2uth of their own civil government and

America, in short, exclusive of those of Maryland and| es | North Carolina, of which no exact account has been though we regret to add that his practice is scarcely re-| profusion begin to prevail. ‘The present excitement will got, did not, before the commencement of the present)

disturbances, cost the inhabitants above £64,700 a year :| ' ’ ; ‘the expenses of all their public establishments and ser-'as other countries, will flock to California among the

millions of people may nol on!y be governed, but well go-|

; j j

’

CHARLOTTETOWN, P. E. ISLAND, MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1849.

their defensive establishments. ‘There is no danger in our day of their being made the battle field of such irra- tional animosities and hostilities as those between France and England, which, about the middle of the eighteenth century, made North America a scene of savage havoc and desolation.

Leave our colonies to organize their civil govern- ment according to the real wants of their respective s0- cieties, to maintain their own militia, and, if they please, their own “ colonial ships,” and they wil! become Joya! and prosperous like the “old thirteen,” before the Gren-

AC, MAY SPEAK FREE.” — Euripipes.

ee [No. 78. omen their regular occupations ; and a complete change of life and an unnatural! climate could not fail to act unfavourably upon their health. Their diet was bad, their labours were severe, aid they were exposed completely, without shelter in the day time, to a burn- ing sun, and at night tothe chilly atmosphere of the mountains. Many of them worked with their feet in the water, and inflamed their blood in a feverish cli- mate, by a free use of ardent spirits. The natural con- sequence followed. Many are now sick with bilious and intermittent fevers, dyssenteries, camp fevers, &c.

ville Stamp Act. Their civil government and their de-;&c. * * fensive establishments will be ‘confined to what is ne-| “ Among the people engaged iu the mines, there are cessary for paying competent calaries” to eee runaway sailors, deserters from the army, trappers

public servants. And their loyalty to the “ old country”

and mountaineers, who are naturally idle, dissipated,

—to “ home,” as it was familiarly called throughout the| and dissolute ; in short, taken in the aggregate, the mi- colonies during the first half of the eighteenth century|ners ere the very worst kind of labouring population. —will be as devoted and enduring as that which re-|* * * * *:

quired the Stamp Act, the tea duties, the closing of the port of Boston, the insults to American envoys in Lon-

| “Tt is sufficiently obvious that the country will be

prematurely filled by a reckless, excitable, adventurous,

'

land to destroy.

and Georgia about £2509 a don, and the murder of American citizens in New Eng- and restless population, and that extended agricultural

‘or mechanical improvements are at an end for some

Earl Grey admits the truth of these views in theory,| years to come. Gambling and al! sorts of thoughtless

concilable tothem. He professes a wish to give local attract vast numbers of the idie, vicious and dissolute. self government to the colonies; to throw upon them! Refugees from justice from the United States, as well

vants, except the governors. And he sees clearly that! better disposed population, and wil! find shelter among if the governors are to continue in the receipt of salaries the almost inaccessible fastnesses of the mountains

the colonies, we protest against such exceptional ar-

The expense of civil government in the British Colo-|such as he —— they must be paid by the mother; where such mines of wealth are now opened. These Tie popula- Country. In the name alike of the mother country and yegions are of vast extent, and are remote fromm the re

‘gular settlements, and from the operation of the laws.

rangement with respect to governors. Let the colonies’ {y the solitary recesses of the Sierra Neveda, are litte

loca] affairs, and let them bear the whole of the ex-

try being saddled with the salary of the governor of Ja-

don, and the provost of Edinburgh.

STATE OF SOCIETY IN CALIFORNIA.

AN AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT.

4,-|A LETTER is published in the Washington Union, suit ot wealth, Noone can conjecture the extent of ‘dated California, Sept. 18, 1848, written by J. L. Fol-| these outrages, for living witnesses are not at hand, and three millions of |son, Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, and address- “ dead men tel] no tales.” The strong and firm hand \| governed.” |ed to Major General Jessup, which contains much in-|of government must be promptly extended to save the qually /teresting intelligence, and especially on some collate- country from the most revolting acts of violence.

be |ral points lost sight of in most other communications.’ « fy becomes a matter of vital importance, therefore, ‘Captain Folsom confirms, to the utmost, all accounts touching the richness and extent of the gold deposits. establishment and preservation of good government an Adam Smith goes on to observe that “the most im-/ But we will only quote such portions of his letter as re-' California. The governor of the ‘Territory should be . that of de-/fer to the state of the country, the character of a large! ian of the highest possible character for talent, fira- | proportion of ihe miners, and the condition of affairs) yess and integrity, and no salary hitherto allowed for This is not strictly true. ‘The old likely to arise out of the Causes at present operating in ‘(hat far-off region. fence, but they bore no) view ponder well what follows. Captain Folsom says: can realize fifty per cent. more from his services than nst| —*} was at the mines about the first of July: at that

Let all who have ewigration in

‘time the weather there was insufferably hot. I think it

lateral valleys and ravines of those mountains, and there was not a breath of air moving among the mines. The sun was blazing down with more than tropical fer- vour, while his rays were reflected im ten thousand di- rections from the sides of the huils, until the atmosphere

much eicknese among the ininere. There peopie had

'vering, and no protection but their own vigilance aud |strength. Many of these people are known to possess ‘very large amounts of gold (sometimes as much as

‘maica, any more than for the British Islands at large be- ‘twenty thousand dollars) wrapped up in their blankets, ‘ing saddled with the salaries of the Lord Mayor of Lon-

‘where there is no eye to see and no agent to pursue the \guilty. Is it strange, when the temptation is so great. ithat the robber and assassin should be abroad among ithe mountains? Many robberies and some murders are ‘known already to have occurred; but little attention i« ‘excited by these events, where all are in the eager pur-

1 ‘that the most efficient measures should be taken for the

{ * - : . Y 5 ‘ . . * . ‘similar services in other United States Territories wil ‘be ap adequate compensation here. Any good laborer . . ;

‘the highest government officer now receives, taking the

‘time together, fora year. It will be impossible to or

at time was incurred not| by far the most oppressive Climate lever wasin. It iS! yanize a good government under suitable men. unlese idea of|inuch more uncomfortable than the climate of Brazil at|the salaries of every class of government agents ure ca,|the warmest season of the year, and every thing was |i-| proportioned to the unavoidable expenses to be incurrec ‘he North American colonies of terally parched up afier a drought which had then con-!jn the country. I know of no section of the Unitec nade the battle field of the unued for near three montis, and which had five months} States Territories which more jmperatively requiree Had the military arma-|more to rum to the rainy Season. ‘The sea breezes, strong garrisons for the preservation of order. Without “ old thirteen,” been! which extend up the valley of the Sacramento, never them, i believe the whole country will sink into anarchy |pass the Sierra Neveda, and seldom penetrate even the

land the worst possible confusion. But to preserve ef- cient garrisons in California, the pay of the troops must be raised much above the present miserable pittance a.- lowed by law, and very severe enactments must be pase ed for the punishment of deserters, and all aidera and abettors in desertion. Amernecan troops have never been

glowed and glimmered like the air in a furnace. 1 then/exposed to such incentives to desertion; and itis no de- foresaw (what has since happened) that there would beltraction from their bigh character to say, that addition

ai pay and emoluments for faithful service, and more

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