.q/v^Ta IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 If iM m ■^ Urn 112.2 M iim u mil 1.6 v^ ;^ o c^l d? /^ / /^ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation ,-\ ei-sitp Of JLovomo 3obn cmcll Ibopftina Loncic^^ , ^% /( DISCUSSIONS ON ^ COLONIAL QUESTIONS * gcing it llepovt of the JJrocccbing^ of ;i Coufcvcncc HELD AT WESTMINSTER PALACE HOTEL, ON JULY iqtii, 20TH, AND 2IS1, 187I. J!*' f; STRAHAN & CO., PUBLISHERS 56 LUDGATE HILL, LONDON 1872 c LONDON ; fRiNiKD BY VIRTUE AND CO. <^JTY ROAD. i^ X ■\1 t\ PEEFACE. i ■4 fnPHE Conference, the report of the proceedhigs of which is now published, was held at the Westminster -Palace Hotel, on July 19th, 20th, and 21st, 1871. It Iwas termed a '* Conference on Colonial Questions," and originated in a desire on the part of several persons taking an interest in those questions, to afford an oppor- tunity for free discussion of them. This was all that was intended by those who first suggested the meetings, and by those whose guarantee made it possible to hold them : nor was it for a moment assumed that the Conference should be other than an open arena to all opinions. No resolutions on the various subjects discussed were sub- mitted to the meetings : no other restrictions than those necessary for the maintenance of order and congruity were laid upon the speakers ; and the imputation that there was on the part of any of the promoters or members a desire to give the Conference any special political character is equally uncandid and unjust. The sus- ceptibility which is awakened by public discussions of this kind must be of so morbid a nature as to justify extreme suspicion of its objects ; and the committee of VI PREFACE, the Conference feel themselves bound to deprecate the reflections upon their motives which have been unwar- rantably indulged in by a portion of the British and Colonial press. The aim of these meetings is best set forth in the circular by which they were called together : their com- position may be judged of by the list of guarantors and adherents which follows this preface : and their character is disclosed in the ensuing reports. One passage in the circular was in these words : — "As it is important that this Conferei"»ce should be as widely representative as possible, the promoters invite gentlemen of all shades of opinion to lend to the scheme the support of their names and attendance at the meet- ings. They hope that this eftbrt to bring about, without any foregone conclusion, a free interchange of opinions, and to obtain information from various authoritative quarters, will prove of the utmost utility in future dis- cussions of the important questions designated in the programme." Exception was taken during the meetings to the variety of topics on the programme — to their relevancy and to their practical utility. It is possible that in a first tentative eftbrt of this kind some errors were committed ; but, on the whole, no one who reads the proceedings can refuse to admit that contributions of no small value to the Colonial Question were made during the discussions. It will be seen that, at the final meeting, the Managing Committee was made permanent, with a view of renew- ing the Conferences from year to year. Meanwhile, I was asked to undertake the editing of the Report. My Bi^^^JiyL.Lia.-< ^^' sprccate the een unwar- British and ortli in the their com- rantors and ir character ?sage in the PREFACE. VU liibour has simply hecn to collect the reports of the various papers, as revised by their authors, and to revise the discussions— a labour which has been reduced to a mere feather-weight by the kind collaboration of Mr. F. J.abillicre, the Honorary Secretary, and Mr. F. W. Chesson, a member of the Committee. Edward Jenkixs. Temi'LE, Dccemhcr, U-71. If. lould be as oters invite the scheme t the meet- ut, without )f opinions, iithoritative future dis- tcd in the the variety ncy and to in a first 3ommitted ; Bedings can 11 value to iscussions. } Managing ■ of renew- !an while, I sport. My '\^ ^= J 1-. I I I The following noblemen and gentlemen put down their names as guarantors of the expenses of the Conference, to the amount of £10 each : — Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart. ; Mr. A. L. Kldon ; Lord George Hamilton, ]\[. P. ; Mr. Edward Jenkins ; Mr. P. Johnstone, Mayor of Belfast; IMr. A. :M 'Arthur ; Mr. W. Jliller; Mr. W. IMorrison, MP. ; Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart. ; Captain Bedford Pim, R.N. ; A^iscount Sandon, M.P.; Mr. E. Stirling; Mr. A. Strahan; Mr. R. R. Torrcns, M.V. ; Mr. W. Wcstgarth ; Mr. G. H. Wlialley, M.P. ; and Mr. Edward Wilson. Mr. C. W. Eddy subscribed £2. The following noblemen and gentlemen signified their approbation of the Conference, and most of them attended its meetings : — The Earl of Airlie ; Sir John Bowring ; Lord Alfred Churchill ; Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart. ; Lord Eustace Cecil, M.P. ; Lord George Hamilton, M.P. ; the Earl of Lichfield ; the Duke of Manchester ; Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart. ; Viscount Sandon, M.P. ; the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G. ; Lord Wharncliffe ; Sir H. Drummond Wolff; Sir Eardley Wilmot; Sir George Young, Btirt; Mr. H. Barnett, M.P. ; Mr. T. Brassey, M.P. ; Mr. W. T. Charley, M.P. ; M. B. Cochrane, M.P. ; Mr. Dalrymple, M.P. ; Mr. E. B. East- wick, M.P. ; Mr. R. N. Fowler, M.P. ; Colonel Gourley, M.P. ; Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P. ; M. W. M'Arthur, M.P. : Mr. Morrison, M.P. ; Mr. M'Cullagh Torrens, M.P. ; Mr. R. R. Torrens, M.P. ; Mr. G. H. Whalley, M.P. ; Professor Sheldon Amos ; the Hon. W. S. Anderson, of Liberia ; Mr. Alex. Andrews ; Mr. Aug. B. Abraham, New Zealand ; Mr. Edmond Beales ; Mr. P. W. Bunt- ing ; Mr. J. Beaumont ; Mr. Andrew Bonar ; Mr. F. W. Chesson ; Mr. Edward Clarke ; Mr. D. Chinery; Mr. David Crombie ; Mr. Darnell Davis, Demerara ; Mr. A. L. Eldon ; Mr. C. W. Eddy ; Mr. W.F. V. Fitzgerald; Mr. Joseph Fogerty; Mr. H. Hardcastle; I rcd Labour in British Colonies," by Mr. F.^ ^^^ "VV. Chesson . Discussion • • • • " m mmHimimmmim^.. \l\ { Xll CONTENTS, PAGE Paper on "The Satisfactory Settlement of the Colonial Waste- Land Question in 1855, and its Effect on the Imperial Dominium," by Mr. Augustus 13. Aukauam. . . 141 Discussion 169 • a Paper on "Emigration as seen in Canada," by the Rev. A. Stylemax Heuking .172 Discussion on " The Colonies as Food Stores for Great Britain" ... 180 • * I'aper on " The Colonial Oflicc : its Constitiition and Adminis- tration," by Sir H. Duummonu Won r, K. CM. G. . 182 Discussion • • .192 Closing Proceedings 197 1 PAGE mial Waste- ;ho Imperial . 141 . 169 the Rev. A. . 172 for Grout . 180 nd Admiiiis- :M.G. . 182 . 192 . 197 CONFEEENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIOiNS. FIRST DAY. THE Conference opened on Wednesclaj'- evening, July 19th, with a conversazione. His Grace the Duke OF Manchestee presided, and there were several hundred persons present, amongst whom were — The Earl of Airlie, Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart., Sir George Young, Bart., Sir Charles Clillbrd, Bart., Lord Sandon, M.P., Mr. M'Cullagh Torrens, M.P., Mr. G. H. Whallcy, M.P., Mr. Macfie, M.P., Mr. Sinclair Aytoun, M.P., Bev. Dr. Guthrie, Professor Sheldon Amos, Col. Strange, Col. Palmer, the Hon. W. S. Anderson (of Liberia), Mr. J. Beaumont (late Chief Justice of Guiana), Mr. Abraham (of New Zealand), the Hon. Mr. Strangways (South Australia), Capt. Bedford Pirn, R.N., Bcv. D. Lee, Bev. Styleman Herring, Mr. W. AVestgarth, Mr. J. Vesey Fitzgerald, Mr. W. F. Yesey Fitzgerald, Sir Benjamin C. C. Pine (Governor of the Leeward Islands), Mr. F. F. Searle, Mr 7». A. Bichards, Mr. E. Wilson, Mr. Edward Jenkins, Mr. Francis P. Labilliere, Mr F. W. Chesson, Mr. F. Young, the Bev. Thos. Phillips (Anti-Slavery Society), Mr. Justice Bruce (Jamaica), Mr. Leonard Courtney, Mr. Edmund Sturge, Mr. William Evans, Mr. B i« ■lil tti ^ ^idiki^sMs^^ 0/, ^ if 2 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. Edward Clarke, Arclidcacon Cox (of Tasmania), Mr. Blaine, Mr. Darnell Davis (of Demerara), &c., &c. The press was very largely and influcntially represented. After Mr. Francis P. Labilliei^e, the Hon. Secretary, had briefly referred to the names of a number of noble- men and gentlemen who had sent letters signifying their approbation of the Conference, Mr. Edward Jenkins, the Chairman of the Executive Committee, read the I 3Inauguinl .^titiicss. Not the least notable of the many currents of present- day opinion, is the movement of the public mind in Great Britain and the Colonies on what are called " Colonial Questions." These uneasy fugitives flutter about the Imperial world, vainly seeking a foothold — questions, because they are ever in quest of an answer. Yet are these subjects weighty in their importance : they involve matters economical, political, international, social, commercial — such as no nation, and this nation least of all, could aft'ord for any length of time to leave unsettled. It is in view of the gravity of this series of questions, and on the ground that every Briton or colonist is one way or another interested in their solution, that the pro- moters of this Conference have called together pro- minent representatives of every interest, class, and phast; of opinion, to contribute information or thought upon them. Before I proceed to a review of the various subjects to be submitted to your judgment, a word should be said about the attitude of those who in England have engaged in the colonial question with so much energy and zeal. It is worth notice that the party they have formed includes elements of singular diversity. Every class, every shade of political opinion, every distinction of ' ' 1?ftM Inia), Mr. J&c. The bted. pecretary, of noble- fying their Jenkins, 11 the )f present- ! mind in ire called res flutter foothold — 111 answer, mce : they 'nal, social, on least of ) unsettled, stions, and s one way t the pro- aether pro- and phase Light upon subjects to Id be said ie engaged and zeal, v^e formed ery class, inction of jUR. yE.YKINS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 3 birthplace and interest, have fraternised in the great object of maintaining the integrity of the Empire. Wo need not too curiously inquire into their motives : whe- ther they are colonists who foresee for their respective communities innumerable perils and disasters in separa- tion ; or Britons, who regard with shame and disquiet the prospect of Imperial dissolution ; or economists, who see great national resources endangered, and the openings half closed to an expanding population ; or philanthropists, assured that the restriction of British dominion is the restriction of wise, and just, and holy inlluences over a vast portion of the globe : the honest end of all their labours is to promote happy and enduring peace, indefeasible unity, and the prosperity of every part of the Empire. It seems to me — even setting aside the practical incentives — that men propounding ideas so grand, so unselfish, so full of breadth, nobility, and hope, whatever may be thought of their proposals, deserve at least a generous hearing from their Imperial audience — win the right to be received with patience, and to be criticised without acrimony or scorn. I am sure that I do not assume too much when I say for all those who, in their various and sometimes apparently antagonistic ways, devote themselves to this cause, that theirs is not the attitude of persons desiring to force unnatural or repulsive benefits on any portion of her Majesty's dominions, but to set forth in a fair light, for examination by them all, the difficulties, or disabilities, or perils of the present, the most desirable conditions for the future, and the principles upon which we may proceed to labour in establishing those conditions. Thank God, though we may not agree about means, we cannot disagree about ends. In no division of the Empire, at home or abroad, is there any considerable party that dares to uplift in bold terms the standard of Disruption. A few doctrin- m E- A' .A* l> 4 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. aires — some economical cnttle-fisbcs dissipating their inky- arguments through the waves of public opinion — some statesmen timorous of defining their aims with candour, yet vaguely hinting at remote and awful contingencies — may have contrived to excite uneasy sensations ; but, in my belief, from London to Montreal, thence to Wellington and Melbourne, thence to Calcutta and Bombay, thence to Capetown, and thence to Honduras, over the magnificent range of these dominions, the heart of the British people is loyal to the conservation of the Empire — the Empire, not for one, but for us all. I propose to devote the principal part of my address to this supreme question of Imperial unity. But around it circle questions which, compared with anything but it, are of eminent importance. The conditions of society in these islands may well set the observer aghast with apprehension. There seems to be no end to the prolific energy of our race. It is disastrously persistent in inconvenient propagation. Oui population increases at the rate of two and a quarter millions in a decade. Our wealth increases with it, but unhappily without equally distributing its benefits among the people. Our pauperism maintains, if it does not extend, its terrible standing. Nearly eight millions is annually cast with vain prodigality into this Curtian Gulf of misery^ Its appetite is insatiable, its deep black horrors are enough to send a shudder through heaven. I, for one, am not of those who find in emigration a panacea for the evils of our national con- dition ; but I do see in it, conducted on national and business principles, vast alleviatory powers ; I do contend that in it lie the seeds of richest blessing for our own people and the Colonies ; I do assert that any act by which the free and facile outpouring of our population to provinces under British rule — and, as far as possible, amalgamated with British social, political, and commercial ■mtHtatM '■ ''i^^^S^^wS!laa!^sA&JS^'iA f ONS. their inky on — some candour, itingcncies ions ; but, hence to cutta and londuras, the heart ion of the II. address to around it inf; but it, society in ghast ^vith the prolific rsistcnt in icreases at 3ade. Our )ut equally pauperism ! standing, prodigality insatiable, a shudder vho find in tional con- iional and :lo contend r our own iiy act by pulation to ! possible, ommercial i-' MR. yEXR'IXS\S IX AUGURAL ADDRESS. 5 interests — is checked, will be not only a cvhne, but a blunder ; I do look upon it as one of the keys to problems which are alarming economists and prompting our work- men to the logic of the Commune; and, lastly, I do propound it as the born right of every Englishman, and therefore of the sulFering sons of toil, to have their attainment of the boon which the Colonial Empire offers them facilitated by every effort and sacrifice consistent with economy, justice, and humanity. This question concerns luit only ourselves, but the distant provinces to which labour carries development and wealth. They surely are interested in securing that their relations to this country shall be so determined that their society, their lands, their trade shall be looked upon by crowding multitudes as correspondent with their own ; and on their part no sacrifice were too great, no pains ill-spent, to keep up the infiow and to secure the ties of so valuable a fellow-citizenship. It is not true that nationality has no influence on emigration. The arguments of Mr. Goldwin Smith and others drawn from the enormous emigration to the United States, are fallacious, for this reason — that a vast proportion of that exodus has been of Irish, and one of the strongest original influences to prompt it in that direction was political discontent. Comparatively with that, a small proportion of Englishmen emigrate to the United States — for them our own Colonies are still their oiJur /tome! There is no need that I should discuss this question here, since I am happy to say so distinguished an advocate as my friend Mr. M'Cullagh Torrens, M.P., is to introduce it to-morrow evening to the Conference, supported by the able contributions of Mr. Clarke. But I cannot refrain from recalling to j'ou that noble and never-to-be-forgotten passage in Mr. Carlyle's ''Past and Present," in which he puts this and education side by mm mm i M 6 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. side as two of the great policies of the future. AVe have obtained the oue, it rests with us to work on untiringly for the oLher : — "An eliective 'teaching service' I do consider that there must be, some Education-Secretary, Captain- General of Teachers, who will actually contrive to get us taught. Then, again, why should there not be an 'emigration service,' and secretary, with adjuncts, with funds, forces, idle navyships, and ever-increasing appa- ratus — in tine, an eliective system of emigration — so that, ac length, before our twenty years of respite ended, every honest, willing workman, who found England too strait, and the * organisation of labour ' not yet sufficiently advanced, might find likewise a bridge built to carry him into new Western lands, there to ' organise ' with more elbow-room some la,bour for himself? there to be a real l)lessing, raising new corn for us, purchasing new webs and hatchets from us ; leaving us at least in peace, instead of staying here to be a physical-force Chartist, unblessed and no blessing ! Is it not scandalous to consider that a Prime Minister could raise within the year, as I have seen it done, a hundred and twenty millions sterling to shoot the French ; and we are stopped short for want of the hundredth part of that to keep the English living ? The bodies of the English living, and the souls of the English living — these two ' services,' an education service and an emigration service, these, with others, will actually have to be organised ! **A free bridge for emigrants; why, we should then be on a par with America itself, the most favoured of all lands that have no Government ; and we should have, besides, so many traditions and mementoes of priceless things which America has cast away. We could proceed deliberately to * organise labour,' not doomed to perish unless we effected it within year and day — every willing WJ, ^i..,:Vl..&.^. iU^ MR. JENKINS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 7 worker who proved superfluous, finding a bridge ready for bim. This verily will have to be done ; the time is l)ig with this. Our little isle is grown too narrow for us ; but the world is wide enough yet for another six thousand years. England's sure markets will bo among new colonics of Englishmen in all quarters of the globe. All men trade with all men, when mutually convenient, and arc even bound to do it by the Maker of men. Our friends of China, who guiltily refused to l^i'adc, in these circumstances had wc not to argue with them in cannon- shot at last, and convince them that they ought to trade ? ' Hostile tarill's ' will arise, to shut us out ; and then again will f dl, to let us in ; but the sons of England, speakers of the English language, were it nothing more, will in all timtss have the ineradicable ] redisposition to trade with England. Mycale was the Pan-Ionian rendez- vous of all the tribes of Ion, for old Greece : why should Liot London long continue the all-Saxon home-rendezvous of all the ' children of the Harz-Rock,' arriving, in select samples, from the Antipodes and elsewhere, by steam and otherwise, to the ' season ' here ? What a future, wide as the world, if we have the heart and heroism for it, which, by Heaven's blessing, we shall, — ' Keep not standing fixod and rooted, Briskly venture, briskly roam ; Head and hand, where'er thou foot it, And stout heart are still at home. In what land the sun does visit, Brisk arc we, whate'er betide : To i^ivc space for wandering is it That the world was made so wide.' " Asain, one of the most desirable economic movements that could be furthered by our effort, would be to cheapen and increase the supply of food for the working classes of Great Britain. Those who are conversant with the m 8 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. Colonies know that tboy produce in profusion various kinds of substantial food and condiments, which, could our working-classes bo induced to adopt them, would enlarge and vary as well as enhance the enjoyment of their meals. Maize, rice, plantains, and cassava are staples of food to vast numbers of the human race, and, with a little enterprise, could be made as familiar at our tables as the potato. I am glad that there is to be a dis- cussion on this important subject during the Conference. Another question arises out of our Imperial greatness — I mean the question of coloured labour in our tropical possessions. It is a conceded proposition that the de- velopment of the illimitable resources of those parts of the Empire can only be accomplished with the aid of tropic-born labourers ; and it will, I presume, be also admitted even by the warmest philanthropist, that practi- cally this labour c<(n only he onjanised and applied under the direction of Europeans. But the latter, in the pursuit of quick, large fortunes, have been found, like the whole class of employers throughout the world, apt to set the interest of their labourers at the standard, not of morality, or justice, or even humanity, but of their own profit. Hence we have had slavery, and the horrors of the middle passage, and the Coolie traffic ; San Domingo and Jamaica insurrections ; the child-apprenticeship of the Dutch Republics of South Africa ; and, it is said, wrongs inflicted on unhappy Polynesians by EngUshmen. We have wiped away from the shield of Britain the blood of the slave — it will ever be our duty to see that no similar blot shall ever befoul our escutcheon. At this moment vast bodies of Coolies are being transferred from the densely populated communities of India to the West Indies ; and in Polynesia the people of Queensland are seeking for immigrants to assist in the hard labour of the cotton or sugar fields. Very strong feelings are enlisted on both -^s anous could would ent of a are and, at our a dis- ence. atness ropical ,bo de- arts of aid of De also practi- uler the i'suit of ) whole set the Lorality, profit, of the igo and of the wrongs 1. We )lood of similar 3nt vast densely IS ; and ing for itton or >n both MR. yENKINS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, o sides of the questions arising out of these relations : and it appears to mc that we have arrived at a time when it is important that the truth, on whichever side it lies, should be distinctly ascertained. Therefore I am glad that Mr. Chesson, whose connection with the Aborigines Protec- tion Society is a guarantee that he has studied the ques- tion, is to open a discussion upon it — one to which we hope to have the contributions of all who arc interested on either side. To a great race like ours, conspicuously at the head of free nations, yet always eager for improvement in every branch of our polity or economy, it cannot be unimportant that we should perpetually review our home institutions in the light of the newer developments of colonial society or polity ; nor can it bo of little consequence to those new communities, having drawn the principles of many of their laws from the fountain-head of English juris- prudence, to resort to us for experience in the course of their political development. Indeed, one of the advan- tages of union between our provinces and ourselves is the reciprocal action betAveen them and us of principles and experiments ; and therefore I look forward to the exami- nation of Colonies and Colonial Governments by so com- petent a hand as my friend Professor Amos as one of the most interesting and valuable contributions to the Con- ference. When I add that the topic of simplification of methods of land transfer — one likely to excite no small discussion ere long in England — will be treated of by the inventor of the cheap and simple system called the Torrens si/steni, Mr. R. R. Torrens himself ; that the deeply important question of the constitution and ad- ministration of the Colonial Office is to be handled by Sir Drummond Wolff ; that Mr. Herring, whose noble labours have won so much of our sympathy and admira- tion, will relate to us some of the results of his work, -mi N* "-'i. *"*-.■ 10 CONFEREXCE O.V COLONIAL QUESTIONS. whicli bo was privileged to see -with his own eyes in Canuila ; that Mr. Abraham, an EiigUsbman and New Zealand landowner, will contribnte a monograph on the terms on which the Imperial Government granted to the colonists the Imperial lands — I think it is un- necessary to say a word about the importance and the promise of these meetings. "We shall welcome a free expression of opinion, within the necessary regulations, having no aim but the discovery of truth, and having faith that truth can never bo injured by discussion. So much for the programme ; let me now turn to my subject. Sam Slick, in one of his happiest sallies, comp.ared the Ih'itish Empire to (t Uirrel niOunit the hoops. The more that simile is thought upon, by any who arc conversant with the facts and principles of our Imperial Government, the more will it startle the thinker with its graphic truth and power. At this moment I know of no imperial tub that can match this wonderful organism. The barrel of Swiss Oonfed .^ I/A'. 7/^yA'LVS'S INAUGURAL Al^tDRESS. \ \ should bo consulted, at a timo when cahu and teinporato discu«siou may help to define principles which might bo stilled or cast aside in the passions of a political hurri- cane. For no one can doubt, if the situation is such as I have described it, that the questions involved are of the f,'reatest moment, not alone to us and our children, but to the world and future generations. We, therefore, who see the pos>sibilities that loom before the Empire, olfer no excuse for endeavouring to draw from its peoples some expression of opinion — :///'.s^ on the truth or untruth of the perils of the situation ; sccouiUij, on the nature of the measures to bo taken for improvement or security. We have not to go far to find evidences of a state of our relations closely bordering on the critical. A great Imperial question is exciting our attention at this period of our national history — I mean the question of military organisation. Am I not bound, in all fairness to the Colonies, to point out that this question has been discussed, and is being legislated upon, with a total dis- regard to the meaning of the term, " An Imperial Army " — with a careful and seemingly deliberate reticence upon the subject of Imperial requirements — 'With a narrow, bigoted, and fatal restriction of the reforms to be initiated to the inditierent area and the limited interests of these islands ? Is it not idle to select and put forward at the Colonial Ollice estimable men, to propagate the assurance that statesmen are undyiugly loyal to the colonial con- nection, when in every department of Imperial organisation the Colonies are ignored, their advice is unasked, their co-operation disdained, their concern in such matters hardly even discussed ? The Dominion of Canada has enrolled a militia of 800,000 men ; the ballot may be put in force among a population to whom time and money are generally more valuable than to the people of Eng- land, among whom flourish ideas and institutions as free 12 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. v-u: as our own. May we not learn something from this Colony ? Might we not with advantage embrace within a scheme of "Imperial " military organisation men of such mettle ? May we not inhale from them some of that patriotic fire which our statesmen would fain have us believe is dying out in our midst ? Ought we not to consult with a people so independent and so strong upon methods of utilising their material, and organising co- operative forces and reserves ? It is said to be difficult or impossible to get the Colonies to unite with us in a scheme of Imperial defence. Of course it is impossible upon the tenus which appear to be the only ones that suggest thomselves to the objectors. We ask what we term a dcpcr>'1encij i6 create for itself an army — that is, an army of the dependency. What is the natural, per- haps the intended, conclusion ? If it must maintain a separate, not Imperial, army, it may justly say, ''Let us have the power and glory of a separate state. We certainly do not intend to maintain a provincial army, officered, manned, and equipped by ourselves, to be applicable to your quarrels, and in times of war subject to your disposition. You do not even offer to put our soldiery on the footinj of Imperial troops." But our rulers seem to ha\e been afraid frankly to propose to our Colonies to grant them a voice in questions of peace or war, in return for their assistance in organising a great Imperial army. The offer of Australian Colonies to pay for British troops, proves that some of them, at least, are not unwilling to entertain any reasonable pro- positions ; and, without doubt, the creation of one Imperial army, instead of these separate organisations, is the most obvious, most cheap, and politic way of estabHshing an Imperial military system. On the other hand, the fact is that, professing to give the Colonies independence, the attitude of our Government MR. JENKINS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 13 has been too much the attitude of a patron or a master — I won't say a petulant mamma. It has put forth no frank, well-considered eft'ort to maiie them feel that we hold them to be an inalienable part of ourselves. Hence has arisen such a state of relations, that so able a man as Sir George Cornewall Lewis was driven to a paradox — discrediting the advantages of dependencies that were practically independent, and apparently unable to suggest any remedy for the resulting difficulties but the surgical one of amputation. My drift will be understood by contrasting with our treatment of a Colony the condition and relation to the United States of one of the Territories before it is received into the Union. Whatever measures the Washington Government may deem it necessary to take in the way of coercion or repress^'on, whatever liberty of local government may be accorded, it is per- fectly understood from first to last that the Territory is en inqnUuje for State manhood, that the heavens would fall before the Federal Government would abandon its jurisdiction over it. Were New Zealand or Cuba to be annexed to the United States, the conduct of the Federal Government would be regulated by the same principles. The consequence of such a policy is to draw the bonds of union immovably tight, instead of slackening them to the peril of the connection. It has been a favourite assertion of Mr. Goldwin Smith and his followers that Canada was the great cause of danger of a rupture with the United States, as we have been told to believe that London would be the chief object of German rapacity. Hence they draw the simple conclusion that the sooner we can slip the arm of our Canadian friends and pretend not to know them, the sooner shall we have reduced the chances of a quarrel with a powerful State. By all means t^^on, people of r (■ 14 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. England, erect London at once into a separate govern- ment and tell the Germans that we repudiate her ! In re- commending that transaction every one will remember how cool was the disregard of Canadian feeling and with how insulting an indifference to the privileges of a loyal people the doctrine was propounded. The absence of political mo- rality involved in the proposition that what is inconvenient is to be abandoned, is unhappily not unique in the argu- ments of some schools of speculative politicians, and its de- velopment in other directions is to bo viewed with dismay. I know no humiliation for a people greater than the decadence of national sentiment ; no danger to their permanence or greatness so imminent, as to see them bent, at all events, upon success before honour, on peace at the expense of conscience, on ease to avoid sacrifice. The ignoble fate which has befallen all such nations is to my mind one of the few gratifying comjiensations of history ; one that satisfies with peculiar relish our human instinct of right. Believe me, this sense of national honour is no intangible thing. It is that which prevents a people from sinking down to a community of trades- men ; which promotes some of the best and healthiest activities of its life. I remember an American epigram on Aaron Burr, that he was so mean a man that he had only just enough soul to keep his body from corruption ; but such a people is even less living than that. No money incentives can move a nation to such self- strengthening acts as do the clear dictates of national conscience emphatically and boldly pursued. It were better that a nation should utterly perish in the agony of a noble purpose, than languish in a syncope of luxurious indifference to honour, to duty, and to glory. So much for military organisation. Let us turn to our naval affairs. Still more do they need adjustment on some foundation of Imperial breadth and unity. The 4 iMR. yEXKINS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. i5 burden on our own people is immense. If the consequent expense is to be continuous, is it to be apiilicable to the defence of Colonies which bear no share Ox" it ? I need not say it is to the navy rather than the army that the Colonies look with confidence in the period of an appre- hended war. Yet neither are the Colonics asked to con- tribute their quota to the maintenance and increase of that which is their best defence, nor is any attempt made to utihse, in the way of naval reserve or otherwise, some of the splendid human material available among them ; for instance, the fishermen of the Canadian fisheries. And why ? Because it is felt that with our present inane system of relations, aJtliouyh they ivonld be involved in our perils, tlu'ii have 'tio voice ivJiatever in detennining our conduct concerning them. As a specimen of the extraordinary vacillation in our policy, and the indefiniteness of our relations, I may cite the case of the Cerberus, a gunboat, of whose perilous and romantic voj'age to Australia you have all heard. We have refused to maintain troops in Australia, yet we have sent out a vessel, built at great cost, four-fifths of which was borne by the Imperial Exchequer, and one- fifth by the Colony. Granted the contribution is a proper one, where is the consistency of our rulers ? Why are troops withdrawn on the ground that the Colonies ought to provide for their own defence if a short while after we pay a largo sum for naval armament, and make a present of it to the Colony ? So far as I can learn, no arrange- ment has been come to with the Colony respecting the management of this vessel, whether she will or will not in case of war fall under the command of the British admiral on that station. Instead of fixing these things at the time of the gift, the Governments appear to have left them to the evolution of chances. We thus see that to talk of an Imperial army and navy % 1 6 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. i; in existing conditions is to talk of that which docs not, and is not intended, to exist. There are no such things. There is a J'vitish army, a British navy, a Canadian militia — and the ship Ccrhcnis. Do not let me bo supposed to iix the humiliation of this fact entirely upon our rulhig statesmen : it is chieily owing to tho anomalous character of colonial relations. There is, and can be, no idea of permanence or unity in a system by which whole nations of Englishmen are practically dis- avowed in the arrangements that concern the defence of their hearths and their freedom. There can be no satis- faction to ourselves in conditions under which the whole cost of defending thriving Colonies is cast upon our shoulders, and they are not organised to co-operate with us for the common defence. But it seems very fatuous reasoning to contend that such discrepancies are proofs of incompatibility, when no elibrt has been made to remove them by mutual negotiation ; when no statesman is bold enough even to offer to make the necessary inquiries ! Is it not too true that the ellect of modern politics has been more and more to change the House of Commons into an English vestry, and its leaders into parochial officers ? We conduct the all'airs of the vast proportion of our Empire on the principles of tradesmen elected to repair church pews and mend the chain or the handle of the parish pum]). We continue to earn, with more honourable adherence to the character than ever before, the name of a "nation of shopkeepers." Turn to commercial relations : We hit upon yet more fatul anomalies. I can see some consistency from a purely Imperial point of view in the old system of mono- poly by which colonial trade was fettered ; it was an assertion of the supremacy of Empire over local selfish- ness. In so far, perhaps, as that taught men to sacrifice l-'r^-i.-^ ,^:J!^.jf!R|r*'A*.ia MR. JENKINS S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 17 something for the common good of a wide dominion it was a bcnelicont and specially ennobling thing. But we resorted to free-trade at the same time that we began — most properly let it be admitted — to recognise con- siderable independence in our Colonies. There is, how- ever, no sense of LKpcr'ud firoportion in our arrangements. We have failed to insist with older Colonies, or lay down the preliminary articles with new ones, that free-trade iva^ to he tJie /iriiieiple of their J'uuoicitd Je(jislation. Hence our manufactures have been subjected to protective duties, and in the Colonies capital that ought to have been devoted to agricultural expansion has, at immense hin- drance to economic production, been devoted to the establishment of manufactures, the labour engaged in which was also diverted from the natural channels of colonial development. The disastrous influence of this policy on some of the Colonies it is impossible to estimate. Trades' unions have conspired to keep up rates of wages where all labour should rather have confederated in the far more lucrative effort to increase production. Land, which capital and labour might have developed, has re- mained idle ; trade has been cramped, and the chief benefit of a colony to a mother-country — namely, the increased and cheapened supply of food and raw material — has been to a large extent neutralised. Nor has this been wholly unreciprocated on our part. The sugars and rums of Jk'itish Guiana alone, it is said, in one year sufi'e.red from the hands of the Imperial Government an impost of over £2,200,000 sterling — or nearly one- thirtieth of the Imperial revenue. A singular comment on the outcry made by agitating financial reformers against the protective duties of our Colonies on articles of home manufacture. The ancient saw about the condi- ments for two sexes of a silly bird is surely applicable to c mM^ / \ 1 8 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. this argument. What is sauce for the British goose is sauce for the colonial gander. With all this our present policy is practically tending to force each of the Colonies, at disproportionate expense, to organise for itself separate naval and military forces, the necessary revenue being attained by laying additional burdens on British productions. A federal Imperial system would keep that expense at the minimum, and Imperial inllucnco judiciously exercised assimilate the commercial policy of the provinces to that of Great Britain. It is useless now to reflect upon the manner and terms of our grant to Canadian and Australian Colonies of the independence they possess. That it was incautious is too little to say — it was idiotic. On some of the 'most important matters our Government appears to have pro- ceeded on no settled principles, to have adhered to no conditions ; the colonial independence was gradually developed upon the old system of dependence ; whatever theory of Crown supremacy or veto was retained minis- ters have reached the point at which they failed or feared to enforce it. The Times * once admirably summed up the evils that have arisen from this (Ulcltmitc policy : — " When we give a Colony responsible government, we constitute it for all purposes of internal legislation and administration — that is, for almost all purposes, foreign relations alone excepted — a separate and independent territory. We thus expose ourselves to many incon- veniences. The internal legislation of the Colony may involve principles hostile to Imperial intevdsts ; the Colonies may impose protective or discriminating duties ; they may get up a war of tariffs with each other, or thrt/ may pass laws inconsistent with the treaty ciujayements of \ * October 21, 18G1. \., Kj-t^ito-^j-'tf..,. -:■■■ MR. JENKINS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 19 the Empire, or contrary to our notions of justice. For the conflict that arises in the case of improper legislation, a species of remedy is provided by the veto of the Crown ; for conduct in the colonial administration hostile to Imperial interests, there is no remedy whatever so long as it meets the approbation of the Colonial Parliament." This description, colonists will know, is slightly exag- gerated, but it is too correct. The terms of connection with the Imperial Government have not been defined with sutiicient clearness ; the subjects of Imperial and colo- nial jurisdiction have not been carefully discriminated ; the principles on which the veto has been exercised have been vague and fortuitous. For instance, the irrepress- ible deceased wife's sister, after winning the consent of an Australian Parliament to enlarge, in a world of five hundred millions of males, her sphere of possible depre- dation to the extent of one man more, was balked by the Secretary of State in England ; while, on the other hand, a copyright Act of the Canadian Parliament, dis- tinctly colliding with an Imperial Statute, must have re- ceived the assent of the Privy Council. Lastly, the responsibility of an independent community united w^ith another under one sovereignty, to share the burdens as well as to accept the benefits of the union, has never been affirmed. What is the use of speculating about Imperial integrity on such conditions as these ? Why should we argue the inarguable ? No nostrum can keep up a healthy circulation between members joined by gum and despatch paper, and not by living community of interest, responsibility, and duty. To have carelessly con- ceded to dependencies more than any of the free States of America reserved to itself — the right to impose tariffs on commutual trade, to dictate the terms of the immigration of their fellow-citizens or practically to forbid it, to enact la\vs inconsistent with Imperial interests — was an error INM Hk. 20 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. as fatal, in my belief, to the permanent good of the Colo- nics themselves, as it was a stupid and criminal renuncia- tion of our own interests. And, truly, it is a wonder that bonds like these have so long endured the strain. It is significant and gladdening evidence of a unity of heart throughout the Empire which even such blundering mal- versation is unable to destroy. The only remedy that was suggested for this state of things was precisely the remedy that was most dangerous, as well as the least likely to lind any Government bold enough to adopt it. " We are quite clear," said the Times in the article already quoted, " that it would be the duty of the Secre- tary for the Colonies to veto all laws imposing protective / or discriminating duties, proscribing nations at peace with us, like the Chinese, or in any other way infringing the great principles of Imperial policy. The whole sub- ject must, before very long, force itself on the attention of Parliament, for the evils which we have pointed out are not of a stationary nature, but must go on in a pro- gressive ratio, extending and increasing their baneful influence." Ten years have passed. Protective duties have been imposed. Secretaries of State have not intervened. They have left the veto unused when they ought to have used it, and have sometimes intervened when they ought not to have done it. The subject cannot be said to have forced itself on the attention of Parliament. We have gone on in the usual British happy-go-lucky way. Dis- content has increased. We have heard the whisper of independence across the seas. Immigration has actually been by some Colonies discouraged, not in the interest of the immigrants, but of local trade-unions. The Imperial Parliament has become choked with legislative subjects ranging from the Confederation of the Canadian Empire, MR. yEXKIXS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 21 to the prescription, in legal language, of the size, shape, and colour of the penny bottles in which small apothe- caries are to vend their drugs. Parliamentary respiration has ceased — utterance is stopped — even digestion is im- peded — and political doctors are anxiously holding glasses and feathers to the nose for signs of life. All this while we, the people of the Empire, with all these momentous questions, have quietly drifted into seas the anchorage and fatliomagc whereof are not laid down in any authentic political chart. The captain meanwhile has resolved to take no hearings, and has thrown the compasses over- board. " Xavis ! referent in maro to novi FluL'tus. quid np^is ! fortitcr occupa rortum. Xonnc vidcs ut Nudum rcmigio latus Et malus celori saucius Africo Antcnna'que geuiant ? ac svic funibus Vis dnrarc car'uKV. ]'(iss!iit i))ipcriosii(s yU'jHor f I see the terrible end of this drifting poHcy ! One by one our Colonies will drop away from us — drop away on conditions that may render confederation as hopeless as it now is with the United States, to any but senti- mental dreamers. They may go before they are matured for independence, become the prey of internal disorders, and probably be attached, by choice or otherwise, to some people more wise and noble in their generation than we. In fine, we are brought to this point. Our great Colo- nies are now dqicudencics only in name — they are in reality independent attachments, the bonds of union being very indefinite and variable. Now the whole of the diffi- culties and evils on which I have animadverted arise out of a policy directed to the notion of depemlciicij, w^hen li m m n VL 22 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. the reality of it is wiinting. In fact, our Colonial Minister is asked to carry out simultaneously two antagonistic linos of action. You have a startling example of this in the case of the Washington Treaty, when the Home Ministry exercised on the one hand, the prerogative of the Crown, on the other, by express terms in an Imperial treaty, reserved to the Canadian (h'jtendcncf/ the right of repudiating some of its provisions — a position easy to criticise, which is manifestly before all the world a ridicu- lous one, but which, after the declarations and conces- sions of successive ministries of both parties, was evidently the only alternative to a rupture. This is the British Empire.* Stat 'iio)>iini.s nuihra ! My definition of a clever man is, one who always has his eyes and nose and mouth and ears and hands and feet and brains about him ; and a great State, to be a living State, as clearly needs the perpetual and sympathetic activity of all its functions. But what are we to say of a State whose ex- tremities, instead of being coherent, vital members, cling to the trunk only, by tiaccid and rotting integuments '? But the point I am extremely anxious to make this evening is, that the whole of the arguments of anti-colo- nial writers have been directed against dependencies. It was of the relation of dependencies that Adam Smith first protested the weakness ; it was of dependencies that Sir George Cornewall Lewis summed up the disadvantages ; and it was against the evils of dependeiicies — actual or theoretical — that Professor Goldwin Smith wield'ed a Quixotic pen ; but against inceptive States, Territories, or Colonies united to us by ties such as are easily conceiv- able, such as we have examples of, on principles deter- mined by wisdom and mutual interest, their arguments are inapplicable. No argument has hitherto been adduced * This is tho felicitous conjunction of which the Daily Ncivs and the Fall Mall Gazette so calmly assure us ! MR. yEXA'INS'S IXAUGURAL ADDRESS. 2.^ to prove 'that any colonial adjunct of the Empire, brought on equitable conditions to form a homogeneous part of it, will not add to its strength, prosperity, and glory, or will not, as a consequence, enhance it own prospects and position. The basis of such an arrangement must bo laid in principles, some of which are unknown to our existing relations — common citizenship, common interest, common responsibility, common and united international action, common delbnce, and some connnunity of government. The results of such union would in the end he confirmed and enlarged trade, wider distribution of capital and labour through the Empire, removal of restrictions, and the enormous benefits of more extended fields for thu energy and ambition of our citizens. If we should tain to this, we may thank Sir George Cornewall Lewis and his plagiarists that, by pointing out the anomalies in the relation of dependencies, they have induced us to revise the Imperial constitution, and to substitute for that term and those relations a name and bonds more just, more flexible, more strong and glorious, more beneficent and enduring. I do not wish for a moment to be understood to acquiesce in the conclusions upon the policy of Imperial disintegration urged by Professor Goldwin Smith and others. It is the policy of a craven and degenerate people — the policy of mammon. They ask. What benefit do you derive fiom these expensive oil'shoots ? and the reply being incapable of expression in money, they con- clude that there is none. The unit of measurement of a nation's greatness is with them the pound sterling. The respect of the American for the almighty dollar is proverbial. By that valuable standard he is able to ex- press his estimate of everything, from a cool drink to the pleasures of Paradise. I once remember accompanying a Philadelphian over a small estate on which there grew. ■MHnniMiiiii ft 24 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. throwing Its f:(rcat branches over the f^ahle of the house, a particularly fine lir-tree. He gazed awhile on its majestic proportions, and the felicity of its situation, and then in a rapture of admiration exclaimed: " That's a splendid tree. It's the ornament of the place. I wouldn't have that tree away from there for iifty dollars " — an accurately commercial estimate of the delight such an amenity was likely to afford. Is it to this standard that wc are to bring our ancient Imperial glory, with its majestic and far-spreading branches ? Are we to estimate nothing for the ennobling incentives for a whole population to enterprise, to commerce, to religious and philanthropic exertion, to practical and progressive statesmanship, to the highest arts of social life '? That beating drum, marking all round the globe the passage of the sun and lines of Empire, whicn inspired the grand admiration of the American orator, awakens a sentiment far more worthy than that of pride in the breast of a Briton. It is the monitor of his world-wide responsibilities — the alarum of duty. It reminds him of direct brotherhood of citizenship with a third of the human race. It gives breadth as well as animation to his political ideas and international action. Ill becomes it any man, however philosophic, to disdain this sentiment, i>^ it is one of practical influence in a nation's life. It affects even the relations of trade, and the courses of comm^'-c.<^ : it has to do with the range of civic ambition, the growth or per- manence of Imperial power. In the great play of national life there are motives other than selfishness and avarice. The forces awakened and put forth by Imperial energies are regenerative and invigorating. I do not see how it is [)0ssible to overcome that serious argument from the history of Empires, so well propounded by Mr. Herman Merivale, *' Never has there yet been an instance in which a colonising nation can be shown to have de- 41 MR. yiLYK/XS's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 25 |onsc, i its iuul lit'.s a dn't an 1 an that its Iniate ition •oijic ), to um, and )n of nore It -the •dof :ives and 3ver 3 of the lerioratcd in popuhition or wcaltli by reason of her ellurts in that direction, however Lavish und long con- tinued." Both Hir Georf,'c Corncwall Lewis and Professor Goklwin Smith assert their doubt that the relation of Colony to parent country hsis any influence on the currents of trade. Indeed, they concur in the opinion that the soj'aration of the United States from Great Britain probably c; d our trade with them to be far more prolitablo than if they had remained in connection M'ith us — a proposition which is not only impossible of proof, but full of the most glaring improbability. AV'ith our remaining Colonies, almost I believe without exception, our trade is greater per head of the population than with the Americans. We have, indeed, had the statement advanced and supported with great ability by Mr. Kddy that Intde fol/oirs the fla(j. Nakedly, as a stiitemcnt of principle, that may be an exaggerated statement, but as a description of a strong tcndevci/ it is true. It strikes me that the fact will be found to lie between the two extremes. If, on the one hand, the axiom so broadly stated is extravagant, on the other it is as unwise as it is- unfair to overlook the fact that the channels of trade are frequently laid dowai upon national and political lines of association, Mr. Merivale has pointed out in his lectures that an influence is exer- cised on trade by the similar habits and associations of an identical nationality, and how in South America part of the Spanish and Portuguese trade was perpetuated, not by convenience, but by habit. Adam Smith is referred to as an authority by all the writers who have propounded the theory that Colonies are a weakness to the parent State. I shall close my reference to this subject, by briefly reviewing the actual language of the great political economist, for it appears to me that it has not been quite fairly used. He was waiting at a ,9 ■^^^^i^^^i^^n 26 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. time when the monopoly was in force, svlien the conditions of colonial government were clifKcult, and chiefly against the evils resulting from that monopoly. He was writing during what he termed those '< disturbances " by which the fairest and noblest part of our dominions was lost to the Empire. Arguing then under these circumstances, how did he express his conclusion? *' Under the present .sijston of maiiaijement, therefore. Great Britain derives nothing but loss from the dominion which she assumes over her Colonies." But with that conclusion staring him in the face, the heart even of the cool old economist seems to have revolted from the doctrine of Imperial dissolution, and his sagacious genius told him that it was more dilHcult to destroy than to fulfil. " To pro- pose," said he, *'that Great Britain should voluntarily give up all authority over her Colonies, and leave them to elect their own magistrates, to enact their own laws, and to make peace and war, as they might think proper, would be to propose such a measure as neve)' was and never ivill be adopted by anij nation in the world. No nation ever voluntarilij gave uj' the dominion of any province.'' In the years that since then have passed. Great Britain has made to her Colonies some of the concessions to which he referred, and it has been declared by ministers of State that she is prepared to make them all. But, I solemnly say, every one concerned should be \'ery cautious about taking it for granted that England will create the precedent which the economist said had never existed. Let no English statesman, no Colonial Govern- ment, be too sure of the tame acquiescence of the English people in the rupture of their connection. I for one would not go bail that they would keep the peace. The Americans, who were coolly discussing constitutional questions, and very generally admitting theories of the right of secession, when their Federal flag was fired on at ittlMiiMiiiiMilHiaillllll <^g >. ^ ,.„,.M ^^...^^^i; J. MR. yENKLYS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 27 Fort Sumter, woke up with a shock, flung theory and discus&ion to the wmds, and concluded the argument with the bayonet. I should like to see the minister who would stand up in the House of Commons with the Bill in his hand to abrogate the connection of Canada with the Empire ! But Adam Smith proceeded to shadow forth a system of relations under which both Colonies and mother-country, being drawn into closer connection, might mutually sup- port one another. He looked forward to an alliance between the Colonies and Great Britain. He propounded the plan by which the United States could have been saved to the Empire. He proposed that in " parting with them," as he termed it, we should bind them to us again, should " settle with them such a treaty of com- merce as would eifectually secure to us free-trade. It might dispose them not only to respect for whole centuries together that treaty of commerce which they had con- cluded with us at parting, but to favour us in war as well as in trade, and, instead of turbulent and factious subjects, to become our most faithful, afiectionate, and generous allies." And, finally, he showed that to render the pro- vinces advantageous to the Empire they ought not only to maintain their own peace establishment and contribute their proportion to its general government, but to make their proportionate contribution in time of war. In the light of what has happened since these words were written can we doubt what would have been the policy advocated by the economist were he now alive '? Had he seen the wonderful success of the federation which has since then grown to such proportions under our eyes, had he witnessed the change that has come over our colonial relations, and noted the extent of inde- pendence conceded under them, the whole cost of the peace establishment of the Colonies borne by them.jlvcs, mmkAi^tmLdd^^Li I 28 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. —and yet bad observed tbe almost passionate yearning towards tbe bome-land, tbe loyalty wblcb neitber per- suasion, nor misunderstanding, nor insult, is able to cbill — would be not bave joined witb us Avbo say, — Here are conditions under wbicb just and enduring ties are possible ; bere are clear dictates of tbe truest and most beneficent policy for all parts of tbe Empire ; tbis is tbe time, tbe peaceful time, tbe precious opportunity to unite in one great people tbe Britisb communities of tbe world, to settle our constitution on foundations tbat sball never be moved ? Tbe example of tbe United States proves to us bow perilous it is to trust to after treaties to reinstate relations once lu'oken, as it appears on tbe face of it tbe idlest absurdity to propose to fracture an empire in order to put it togetber again. Upon tbis important subject I must not furtber trencb, tbe more tbat it is sure to bave at tbe bands of so competent an autbority as Mr. Labil- licre a tborougb and able investigation. It is not necessary tbat we sbould dissolve tbis mar- vellous Empire, tbe upgrowtb of an energy and sacrifice unrivalled in tbe bistory of races. It is not necessary tbat we sbould dismiss from our f\imily circle tbat vast sisterbood of nations wbicb bas grown up under our parental care — wbom we bave nourisbed, for wbom we bave suticrcd and struggled, to wbom we bave given our blood, our wealtb, our best strengtb ; from wbom we bope for reciprocity of power, wa^altb, and afl'ection. We must take our stand on tbe unity of our race, on tbe unity of our interests, on language, religion, laws, manners, customs, and a citizensbip tbat are one. *' Wbat God liatb joined togetber let no man put asunder." In tbe ligbt of recent bistory we cannot despise or overlook tbe tendency of races to unity of Empire. Tbe confederacies of nations are expanding instead of contracting, and every new addition to an old State reduces by one tbe cbanccs ^.^-...^Ti 1^ RE2IARKS ON THE ADDRESS. 29 nillnr o per- chi]] iere are nost the nite of international confusion. AVhat I have said elsewhere I maintain anew with solemn earnestness ; he who con- tributes to the dissolution of a great confederacy of States is committing a crime against civilisation and humanity. Oh, no ! it cannot be ! Even should the mother dismiss them, her daughters will not let her cast them oil'. They will cling to her skirts ! They will cry out to her, in the urgent words of Ruth, " Intreat me not to lean' thee, or to return from follomng after thee -.for irhither thoa (joest I will (JO : thij }ieople shall he nnj 2>eo])le, and thi/ God unj God.'' Mr. Frederick Young said he felt it a f^rcat privilogc that ho had been selected to propose the cordial and best thanks of the Conference to j\Ir. Jenkins for the address to which they had all listened with great attention. He was old enough to remember that there was a time when there used to he a particular senti- ment expressed in relation to questions such as tlu'y were met together to consider at this Conference to-night, and he would mention it to show what a change had taken place in the minds of some public men of late years. The sentiment to Avhich he referred, and which was echoed throughout the length and breadth of the land, was, "Ships, Colonies, and Commerce." At that peiiod the youth of England were brought up to believe that the Cohtnies wctc most beneficial to tlie mother country, that they were an expansion of our Empire productive of power and wealth at home, and that they were possessions upon which every Englishnum might look with a feeling of pride (cheers). But since that time a change had come over the minds of some men who professed to march in the van- guard of England's progress, and consequently the jiublic prints sometimes contained statements eiiunciated by these men which were opposed to the principle of colonial possessions, and which taught the policy that our Colonies were not of such value to the mother-country as to induce her to take every possible means to preserve them. Happily for Englishmen, these ideas had found no response in the hearts of the people (cheers) ; and therefore another change had more recently come over the spirit of the statesman's dream. It was found that the anti-colonial opinions of those men had revealed the fact that the English people in their heart of hearts were actually in love with their Colonies— those extensive domi- i m 30 COXFEREXCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. 1 'I nions upon Avhich the sun never set, and which had hccn bequeathed to us by the indomitable perseverance and political sagacity of our forefathers (cheers). Doubtless it was the disseniination of correct information, and the efforts of such gentlemen as Mr. Jenkins in his address just read, that had been the means of turning the tide and evoldng, amongst those who had tlie rule of the Empire in their hands, a feeling akin to that of the people of this realm, so that the non-colonial policy Avas almost abandoned, and we now hpard the remark : " Wo don't want to get rid of our Colonies ; avc are all united on that point everywhere " (cheers and laughter). The Ke-v. Dr. Guthuie, of Edinburgh, who was cordially ro- 'ceivcd, seconded the resolution. He said he had been most deeply interested in listening to the address delivered by his friend, ]\[r. Jenkins. He (Di'. Guthrie), however, would confess that he was not very mi fait on matters pertaining to the Colonies when he entered the room, but he was now more enlightened upon the present aspect of colonial qiicstions. The inaugural address had had a Avonderful eft'ect upon his mind and his heart, and he did not think that the committee could do better than have the address printed and scattered throughout the land (cheers) ; because it would impress and arouse the public mind to a consideration of those topics upon which Mr. Jenkins had descanted Ho (Dr. Guthrie), as some of them knew, had a special interest in a Certain colony— not of land, but of persons. The members of that colony did not belong to the aristocracy, they did not belong to the middle classes of society, they did not even belong to the working class, but they formed the substratum of all society, for they comprised the ragged-school children, as they ■were called. By careful attention and well-directed efibrts they were educated and trained to habits of industry, but those who reclaimed them Avc^ro placed very often in circumstances of painful difficulty as to how the children should be disposed of. To his mind nothing was more desirable than that they should be removed from the localities in which they had been born. Experience showed that, after a suitable training, they were excellent members of society ; and he would venture to say that if any working man wanted a wifo who knew how to wash and to cook — in a word, who knew how to make a pie as well as to eat it (a laugh) — let such a man come to the ragged schools and pick out a suitable companion. (Hear, hear.) Well, then, as ho had said, the difliculty of the friends of these ragged schools lay in the fact as to how they were to get their scholars removed from the temptations to which they would be exposed in our large towns. The difliculty was all the more ^Mttti^iMMMMk i^iiki^iiiiiiliiiiili vT^wclfi^!! REMARKS ON THE ADDRESS. 31 ithed our [iTOCt ps in the lieiii that are ro- felt when Government refused to do anything to help the friends to s(Mid the schohiVvS out to thu Colonies, ^vhcre lahour was so abundant. lie would, however, venture to say that there was no class of (3migrants hotter fitted for sending out to the Colonies than these children ; and ho knew that Canada wanted three hundred such boys in one district if the rag<:;-ed-school friends could afftJrd to send them out. (A \''oicc : " Then let Canada vote the money.") But if the Canadian Parliament would not vote the necessary money, it was left for the friends to send them there, and he knew of no better employment for some of our unused and rotting naval ships (cheers). Mr. Stkaxoways, late Attorney-General of South Australia, said it was quite by accident that he read, in a short paragraph in the DaUij A'r^r.s', that this Conference was to be opened this evening, lie determined at once to come, and he was glad to find, from the large and infiuential attendance, that great interest was evinced in colonial questions. There was an observation, made by the ])receding speaker, upon which, he felt he must say something. Dr. Oulhrio suggested that ragged -school children should be sent out to the Colonies. Now, if well-behaved and industrious persons were sent out, it would be well ; but his experience was not such, as to commend the idea of sending out a lot of idle, unintelligent, naughty boys, to populate the British Colonies. Colonists did not want the scum of London gutters to grow up amongst them ; and nothing could be more prejudicial to this Conference than to have it believed that it was fiivourable to a measure of that kind. lie should indeed bo very sorry if an idea of that sort got abroad (hear, hear). With respect to our Colonies themselves, he was much astonished a few days ago with the amount of ignorance which he found prevailed in England respecting her possessions abroad ; and, with respect to the Colonies' of Australia, he would use the term — actual ignorance (hoar, hear) . There was a call, therefore, for a Conference on colonial questions ; a great deal of good Avould be sure to come out of it, and it was to be hoped that it was not the last which would take pljice, but one which was to be looked upon as inaugui'al to many others. lie was glad to find, by the remarks of ]\Ir. Jenkins in his address, that the committee were not going to follow the example of another society — the Cohmial Institute — by excluding all politics from its discussions,* and enjoining upon every speaker the importance of carefully avoiding anything implcasant to tlio powers that be at the present time. What the Colonies required was to let the people * This rule has since been abolished in that institution. ^^ennHf' 32 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. know what the Colonics want. At present it was not known. Thoy wanted more of the industrial clement, people who would p»it their shoulder to the wheel and honestly and usefully employ their time in the eultivation of the wasti' lands. IJut the main thine that the CVilonies re(iuired was to he let alone. They wanted to mana^'B their own affairs (hear, hear). Ho could not conceive it possihle for any Secretary of State to form hettcr opinions of the Colonies than those who had their hahitatioiis there. What did the Secretary of State do ? It was said that there was a list of the Colonies, and tliat a gentleman who held a hiu'h olliee was obliged to sit with this list in his hands when a particular Colony was referred to, in order to sec where it was. Again, with respect to the House of Connnons. If a member were asked sometimes to come down to the House because there was to be an interesting discussion on the Colonies, his reply was : "Oli, bother the Colonies'. Does West Australia win the Derby?" He believed that the feeling of " Dother the Colonies," was that which often prevailed amongst the community (hear). ]\Ir. Frederick Young had alluded to a sentiment which formerly prevailed, of " slii))s, Colonies, and com- merce," but he (Sir. Strangways) believed that whilst some men were ready to talk about ships, they yet wei'c willing to say, "Bother the Colonies," Their language was, " Let us have ships to sail to every \rAxi of the globe, but bother the Colonies." All they thought of the Colonies was, " We want their gold ; we want their wool ; we want their wheat ; and we want to pay as little as possible for these things " (laughter). In reference to the subjects which the committee had arranged for discussion, it a]ipearcd to him that the most iuiportant was " Imperial find Colonial Feder- alism," by Mr. Labilliere. England had told the Colonies that they must defend themselves. They are told that the navy will be lookc- that ho nocd not say that ho folt extremely grateful to the meeting for tho hearty cxijres.sioii of their gratitude to him for presiding at the opening of thi.s interc-sting Conforonce. To ]\Ir. M'Cullagh Torrens, and to Sir Charles Nicholson, ho also folt grateful for the kind manner in which' they had been pleased to 8j)eak of his presence to-night. It was a small matter that ho should b(^ amongst them ; but he M'ould assure them that his feelings towards the Colonies, rcspooting their proH])ority, was in no Avay a small matter to his mind (cheors). lie had for years folt a deep regard for the wolfaro of our Colonies ; but he did not wish to enter into any argument rospeeting some of tho points which had been mentioned to-night. He would, therefore, say no more; than that he had listened with attention to the inaugural address delivered by IMr. Jenkins, and with which, ho would add, he agreed. He should indeed be glad to do anything to l)romote a closer union — and more than union — an amalgama- tion of the Colonies with the mother-country (cheers). Eespecting what had been advanced by tho sp-oakcn-s who followed ]\Ir. Jenkins, there was one remarlc made by ]\Ir. Strangways which had reference to political questions. IIo (the noble Duke) would admit that in the present position of affairs it was unjust to ask the Colonies to defend themselves in respect to any war England might engage in with a foreign Power ; but, on the other hand, he should like to see the relations between tho Colonies and the niother- countrj' so altered that England could not l)e involved in a war without the sanction of the Colonies (hear, hear) ; then, doubtless, as in the case of Scotland and Ireland, they would be ready with men and money to aid in the defence, not only of what might be called tho British shore, but in defence of homo (hear, hear). He would also remark that he was glad to bo present to-night because the Colonial Institute a few^ days ago did him the honour to elect him as its President. He believed j\Ir. Strangways alluded to that society when ho said it made it a rule to avoid political questions during discussions. But he (the uoble Duke) wished to say that that institute did not exclude political questions. It was' true, however, that there were some words in the rules which bore an intimation of that sort, but the Council were now taking steps to alter them (hear). SECOND DAY— TIIUESDAY. THE Conference re-opcned at eleven o'clock. The Earl of Shaftesuury, K.G., presided, and on taking the chair expressed the pleasure ^vhich he felt in doing anything to promc'3 the prosperity of the British Colonies and their closer union with England. A paper was then read on — Colonies and Colonlvl Governments. By Professor Sheldon Amos, M.A. If it be true that the history of home and foreign politics in this country has been for long periods one almost un- relieved narrative of selfish aggrandisement, tyranny and revolts against tyranny, capricious experiments, mischie- vous action, and not less mischievous inaction, it is equally true that there is, strictly speaking, no history of colonial politics in this country whatever. True it is, that in the governmentof her Colonies, and in ascertaining the relations between the Home and Colonial Governments, GreatBritain has often exhibited an obstinate perseverance in a particular course of conduct which some might fancifully decorate with the name of '* policy." This term, however, at least implies a certain amount of conscious determination of will, and of provident and circumspect regard for the future and the distant. Bad, weak, or recldess as a polidy may be, the term itself at least professes to cover 38 CONFERENCE COLONIAL QUESTIONS. ill Pit; some such mcuDiiig as this. Whether the attitude of this countiy towards hor Colonies has generally hitherto presented an aspect oven distantly recalling the notion of txpolicii will appear from the following brief description of the characteristic treatment of her Colonies by Great Britain up to the present day. The chief epochs in the history of the relationship between Great Britain and her Colonies are marked by the following leading cesses of facts : — (1) neglect, (2) taxation, (3) mischic ^ trade reciprocity, (4) penal settlements, (5) militux^ stations, (0) Imperial prestige, and (7) recent land and labour reciprocity doctrines. (1) It is a worn-out observation that the North American Colonies were contemptuously neglected while they were weak, and (2) were taxed as soon as they became rich enough to pay and strong enough to revolt. Taught by experience. Great Britain has been almost squeamishly afraid of charging her richest Colonies with any portion of the Imperial expenditure. But (3) the notion that somehow or other the stronger part of the nation ought to get some commercial profit out of the weaker, though driven from the field of dii'cct taxation, took refuge in that of a spurious and vicious economical practice. By the Navigation Laws and an artfully constructed Customs tarilf for the home and colonial ports. Colonies were compelled to abstain from free traffic with foreign nations, and from manufacturing their own native products ; were compelled to receive the fabrics manufactured at home at prices absurdly in excess of the market value, and were rewarded by an artificial favour shown in the home ports for their own raw produce, whereby Colonies, as those of North America, were induced to conjure up a fictitious trade for which their natural resources gave them no sort of preferential claim. It is not necessary here to exhaust Jlc of [liorto on of on of iship .1 by COLONIES AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 3<) lan^niago further in stigmatising as it tlesorvcs the selfish- ness and stupidity which hiy at the root of this impudent course of imposture. (4) The discovery that distant territories, inhabited by a sparse popuhition, might be turned to account as yenal setllnnfuls, introduced a new phase in the story of British colonial enterprise. The dillerent stages of this enterprise, as signalised by industrial enervation among the free emigrants, the scandals of the allotment system, the vitiation of the colonial life-blood, and the stain of infamy polluting the fair fame of a youthful community. Illy need to be recalled here for the purpose of once aj^ain branding the shortsightedness, if not the selfishness and imbecility of English statesmen. (5) The use of colonial territory and ports as outposts or stations for the army and navy of the mother-country, might appear deserving of more indulgent consideration than the treat- ment of the kind just alluded to. The defence and the forces of the whole Empire are indeed matters with which every part of that Empire is equally concerned. The ground of objection to indiscriminate occupation of colo- nial territory for this purpose, is to be found in the fact that the mother-country is inevitably tempted to make an undue assumption of this plausible claim, neglecting the most vital interests of the Colonies, and especially their aspirations after progressive emancipation when put into competition with the servile uses by which the mother country can turn them to account. (6) It is true, again, that side by side with all these distinct and sinister advantages which Great Britain has extorted from her Colonies, she has had her conduct towards them to no small extent qualified by a vague sentiment that the possession of a number of Colonies redounds largely to the general prestige of the Empire. This is a just sentiment where the union between the ti FT 1 IgjgVoU !i?«^ iii 40 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. mother country and her Colonies is in real and open fact, as it ever is in secret essence, living and organic. But where the whole Empire is in a state of restless dis- location ; where no distinct and large-minded policy binds the scattered fractions into an indissoluble whole ; where chance, caprice, or momentary passion determines the government of every Colony from one month to another; surely in such circumstances as these each additional Colony is an additional source of Imperial shame. Lastly (7), the most modern theory of colonial enter- prise, though at the root selfish, and therefore weak and imperfect like the rest, at least depends upon no false economical maxim, nor leads to any but — so far as they go — highly beneficial consequences. There is land in the Colonies wanting cultivation ; there is labour at home wanting employment. The true use of the Colonics is tu relieve an overstocked labour-markei at home. We are better men than our fathers without being less prudent in making the most of the good things bestowed upon us. It is scarcely to be wondered at that the Colonies most in need of labour have sufficient self-respect to resent English schemes of State emigration proceed ing upon no broader or more humane conception than this. Such, then, is a general sketch of the fortuitous views which alone have stood in the place of a policy for the government of her Colonies by Great Britain. As con- trasted with this empirical and lax method of discharging the responsible duties of government, it is proposed here to follow a strictly scientific method of research, and by noting the real political elements in colonial society, so far as general propositions can be advanced about it, to ascertain the true principles which should determine the government of Colonies both in the territory and at home. COLONIES AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 41 fii fact, But ?s dis- binds I where 3s the [other; [itioiiaJ I enter- ik and ) false s they in the home A Colony may be curtly described, with a generality sufficient for the present purpose, as a dctaclu'd portion of the whole constituent population of the State j^cnnanenth/ settled on territory helonyinu to the State, and beinf/ su/fi- cienthj numerous and independent to contain within itself a Government exercising nearly all the leading functions com- monly exercised hy the Government of a)i independent State. It is scarcely necessary to explain particularly the phrases and terms here used, or to point out how they are gene- rally relative ones and do not admit of precise limitation. The history of the British Colonies suffices to illustrate almost every possible modern variety in the facts of colo- nisation. Some of these Colonies have been founded in the wilderness by political or religious refugees ; others have been founded in the midst of eft'ete or half-civilised popu- lations. Some have been ceded in times of peace or after war, and an English population has been superinduced on a Colony of another State. In some the English emi- grants have carried with them and have retained English statute and common law to the extent, as it is loosely worded, that "they are concerned with them." In others they have adopted the system d' law they found. The language spoken around, the religion in vogue, and the institutions discovered to be prevalent, have been indefinitely far removed from, moderntely approxi- mate to, or almost identical with, those they brought with them. The greatest and most momentous of all these differences is in the character, number, and situa- tion of aboriginal tribes. Excluding, then, for the present the minor varieties of soil, climate, productions, and the like, the question presents itself as to what permanent and invariable elements enter into the very conception of a Colony, as such, so as to allbrd a basis for definite reasoning with respect to its proper political constitution. ^ifi^ ■11' 42 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. 1. It is not easy to estimate to the full what may be called the indirect influences of the political constitution, the historical antecedents, and the prevalent sentiments of the mother-country upon the population detached from it which forms its Colony, The novelty of the territory, and the evanescence of antiquated and symbolical insti- tutions, might seem likely in a few years to reduce the force of these influences to a significance indefinitely small. Any such supposition, however, leads, and has noto- riously led, to fallacies as numerous as they have been dangerous. It is never to be forgotten that a true Colony is not a mere fortuitous collection of individual human beings, but is a true human and political society. Furthermore, by the nature of the case, a Colony is isolated and probably distant from its parent population, and is therefore inherently weak. It is true that a Colony or aggregation of Colonies may in time become strong, and even compete in strength with the most potent independent States. The present discussion, how- ever, does not touch this ulterior stage of colonial development. In all previous stages during the career of its true colonial existence it is manifestly weaker than its parent State, than most other independent States, and than any but the least formidable combination of them. This real, though scarcely confessed, or even repudiated, weakness, coupled with the presence of all the lively and emotional associations, which a true political existence never fails to create and to foster, invariably and in- evitably turns the whole stream of public feeling in a Colony into the direction of the mother-country. The relevancy of this fact has almost escaped attention from its very universaHty and almost proverbial truth. The agonising wrench which it cost the thirteen American Colonies to burst away from their thraldom in spite of (( m ■OiL COLONIES AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 43 be m, lis )m 5ti- the contumelious usage at the hands of the Home Govern- ment msisted upon, rehixed, reiterated, rehixed, and fatally insisted upon once again, which it is scarcely possible to read of even at this day without a blush of patriotic shame, — the almost pathetic terms in which New Zealand and the Australian Colonies express in official documents their chagrin at England's apnthy, — the perennial fires which connected the altars of ancient Colonies and their metropolis, — the very words of '* mother " and '* child" which, in reference to colonisa- tion, are familiar to the commonest vernacular dialect — surely all these phenomena point to some elements deeper, stronger, and more ineffaceable than could arise from a mere appreciation of the value of commercial reciprocity or from a vague and superficial sentimentality. The first truth, then, which has been reached as a basis for the political constitution of a Colony is that there are present the indestructible elements of a true, living, and organic union between the Colony and its parent State, such union being ready to be developed and cemented by a multitude of the same causes as those by which the population of the parent State itself is bound into a living and national community. 2. If, however, it be true that a Colony has links with the mother country almost unsuspected from their mani- foldness and their intricacy, it is also true that the divorce from the parent territory and the release from the con- trol of ancient institutions set the people free to work out practical problems and to inaugurate startling experi- ments in a way wholly impossible under any difierent conditions. The variety and the tendency to dispersive - ness of early colonial efforts has much attracted the attention 01 political philosophers and practical states- men. Able arguments have been alleged on both sides by wuy of showing, on the one hand, that a Colony will ,f( f|: 44 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. become more rapidly cnricbcd and developed by such an economical distribution of the public lands as shall put most difficulties in the way of the immigrant population wasting their labour in solitary agriculture ; and, on the other, that all artificial impediments tend to arrest the energy of the whole population, and thereby fatally to dwarf the growing life of the Colony. It is not necessary to award the palm to one side or to the other in this great and apparently interminable controversy, the less so as the opportunity of economically controlling the sale of the public lands of the chief Colonies is practically lost to England for ever. Both sides allege or admit that in early coloniiil life there is a natural tendency to dispersiveness of efibrt and of interest, and the recent history of the Australian Colonies has perhaps exhibited the most signal illustrations of this pregnant fact. The squatting or sheep-farming interest, the more lately-born agricultural and grazing interest, the mining interest, and the com- mercial interest have, within the last thirty years, in one Australian Colony after another, each severally in turn domineered over the rest, introducing new land-laws, taxation-tariffs, amendments to the constitution, and successive governmental convulsions, just as seemed, from time to time, best calculated to forge wealth and pros- perity for themselves. These dreary conflicts, the magnitude and moment of which have probably been exaggerated in this country for purposes of home politics, exhibit the true source of danger to a Colony in a course of active development. It is now, however, almost a poH- tical axiom that the evils incident to freedom can only be cured by freedom. It is a sagacious instinct of the Austra- lian Colonies which urges them on to the most unrestricted suffrage and to what some denounce as rampant demo- cracy. So long as a popular and tenacious hold on political principles, strengthened by the example and the COLONIES AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 45 «in put ition the the [y to |sary freat as the it to arly ness the encouragement of the mother- country, entrenches round the rights of the whole people to free public meeting, to a free public press, to the independence of judges, and to trial by jury, no serious alarm need be experienced on account of even the most anarchical manifestations. Nevertheless, Great Britain has a fair claim to appeal to her Colonies publicly to repudiate an exploded political policy, especially in all external affairs. The time has gone by in the administration of colonial affairs for exert- ing or attempting to exert tyrannical violence in order to bring about even an apparently good end. But whatever direct moral suasion, whatever a solemn appeal to the present, past, and possible future obligations of the Colony to its parent State can effect, so much at least ought to be exerted to the full, as often as a retrograde commercial practice or a barbarous treatment of aboriginal races threaten to convert a medium, such as is a Colonj', of concentrated moral good into a bane and a pest to human society. The recent flagrant example set by the English Government itself in its reckless occupation of Maori territory ; the supineness of the same Government in not compelling the Dutch Government to carry out their engagement for the prevention of slavery in the regions bordering on the Transvaal Piepublic ; the immoderate recklessness in the matter of Negro life exhibited in Jamaica ; — these and the like sins of the English Govern- ment can scarcely be alleged in a court of public morality by way of set-off against the growing abuses arising out of the plausible system of Coolie immigration into Demerara, or the intolerable atrocities daily brought to light as arising out of Polynesian kidnapping of natives to supply the labour-market of Queensland and Fiji. Evils of this last nature, flowing as they do from those tyrannical and selfish habits which beset all men in proportion as they are removed from the restraints and the aspira- 11 mmsmmm*^:. 46 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. tions of social life, are almost unavoidable incidents of a certain stage of colonial life. Solitude, excessive exer- tion, relieved by intervals of equally excessive sloth, the hard mechanical strain attending the wholesale culture of tropical products, the wary and astute instincts generated by commercial competition, are facts which render the resurrection of slavery in the least populated portions of colonial territory matter of perennial apprehension. To grapple hopefully with difficulties of this class there is needed a strong and enlightened Colonial Government supported by all the weight and influence properly accorded by the Government at home. It is probable that the aggregation of neighbouring Colonies into con- federated systems, even apart from, or in anticipation of, a more ambitious Imperial federation, will do more than anything else to deHver the Colonics from the degrada- tion attending the commission, on a large political scale, of barbarous and inhuman crimes. From this review of the leading and invariable elements which determine the political career of Colonies, in the modern use of the term, it is not difiicult to prescribe the true principles which should underlie the government of a Colony on the spot, and any conceivable interference with that government on the part of the Legislature or the Executive at home. Summarising the above results, it has been seen (1) that there is of necessity present in some degree a real living and organic union between the Colony, so long as it continues such, and the parent- State, and that this union is based partly on a com- munity of social elements — such as historical antecedents, language, literature, religion, laws, and probably institu- tions — and partly upon the facts of isolation and inherent weakness. It has been seen, again (2), that owing to the novelty of the situation, the liberty of action, the exuberance of the resources, the first years of colonial life )f a |xer- the \e of Lted the Is of To is lent Jerly COLONIES AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 47 Jire liable to be passed in a fretful and tumultuous exist- ence during which the very political stability is threatened by the overwhelming pressure of rival interests succes- sively obtaining pre-eminent weight. There is (3) lastly, the constant tendency to habitual deviation on the part of members of individual Colonies from the maxims of an elevated political ideal and a true human morality, such deviation manifestirg itself in an eccentric and erroneous commercial policy, in exceptional or monstrous social institutions, and in a constant reproduction of the basest features of a slave system and a slave traffic. On the assumption, then, that the purpose of government is not the mere manufacture of material wealth, the attain- ment of a tolerable amount of security and repose, and, still less, the advancement of the interests of a few or even of a majority at the expense of what is most pre- cious to all, but that the purpose of government is the ftic'iitating the moral and human development of the whole population in the loftiest part of their nature, the practical principles to be deduced for the constitution of colonial government are of the following nature. The purpose to be attained is confessedly the retention of a true and precious influence to be exerted by the mother- country, not only in her own name, but in the name of all her Colonies universally, and in the name of the general interests of the human race. But this influence must be exerted in a way as little provocative of irritation as possible, and carrying with it as little as possible the outward appearance and real nature of tyranny or domination. On this account it is essential, and must shortly be recognised as such, that the whole system of appointing colonial governors at home, and that of retaining the right of vdo at home on acts of the Colonial Legislature, as well as the whole system of appeals to courts of justice at home, should be a* once and Anally ■^. w il! 48 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. abandoned. The same results as those aimed at by those mstitutions or practices, so fiir as these results are beneficial or laudable ones, might be obtained in a variety of other ways far more consonant with the dignity and the legitimate independence of Colonics. It is only in matters of external trade, complications with foreign States, and the treatment of aboriginal races, that the Government at home can have any just claim to interfere to the minutest extent. Were scientific principles of a hberal economical policy finally and publicly acquiesced in by the parent State and all her Colonies, any at- tempted variation in practice from the application of those principles would be a matter for the decision of a mere judicial tribunal. Such a tribunal might be con- stituted partly by the Executive at homo, and partly by the Colonial Government. The constitution and dignity of the court would resemble that of a Court of Prize, and the same tribunal might suitably have jurisdiction with respect to the final ratification of colonial statutes affect ing aboriginal races, or possibly foreign policy. But it is no part of the present theoretical dissertation to advocate any special scheme of colonial government. The main purpose has been, by historical illustration, bj^ scientific research, and even by practical suggestions, to give precision to what is vague, and reality to what is unsubstantial. Precious and dazzling, indeed, is the scheme of a great federal republic administered by a truly representative authority. Captivating too is the hope of making a final lino of demarcation between matters of purely local or colonial and those of Imperial moment. The shortcomings of these conceptions, how- ever, is that they are based upon the analogy of the form of internal government applicable to an independent State, or, at least, to a federal union of States. Colonies are neither the one nor the other, though they may ultimately 4:v COLONIES AND COLONIAL GOP'ERNMENTS. 49 emerge into cither. It is never to be forgotten that there i:^ no cause for cramping, even in fancy, the poUtical inventiveness of mankind. This inventiveness knows no limit except that due to the possible exhaustion of the kaleidoscopic forms of political facts. The relation of a modern State to her highly-developed Colonies opens out a class of unprecedented facts, demanding a class of political expedients equally unprecedented. Some of those peculiar groups of facts have been investigated and analysed above. The more obvious and familiar ones of distance from the parent country, from foreign States, or from each other ; of ditference in material resources, chmato, and geographical opportunities ; of historical and recent political vicissitudes, have been as yet scarcely alhuled to. But the complexity and multitude of such elements in the great colonial problem declare that it is an ever new one, and ever new too must be the solution. The most seductive and ambitious theories of Imperialism without, and self-government within, do not resolve, but only initiate,- the questions to be entered upon. A Colony is far more closely allied by analogy to a sovereign and independent State than to a dependent portion of such a State. In truth, it cannot be governed wisely by fol- lowing servilely the analogy of what is appropriate to one or to the other. The key-stone of a wise political con- stitution for a Colony, both looking inwards and outwards, is a moral one, and is, in ftict, the same as that eminently needed for the support of all democratic societies — liberty — controlled or interpreted by nothing else than the strict claims of economical science and political justice. If It : M ]\[r. W. F. Vesey Fitzgerald, in opening' the discussion, said that in his o])inion the British Government had committed a foolish act in giving up their right to the government of colonial lands, as by this act too much power had been surrendered into the hands of E 50 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. I I ii locftl administration. To improve tho position between the Colonies and England, he had for tho last fifteen years, with a view of pressinj^ tho importance of a dtio representation of colonial opinions in this country, advocated the estahlishniont of a Colonial Court of Privy Council in London, rrobahly this subject would b(! more fully dealt with in the subsequent proceeding's of the Conference; but he was convinced that the Gstablishment of such a court would greatly facilitate colonial business, and save the oflicials at the Colonial Ollice from the perpetration of those blunders which were both ludicrous and perplexing (hear, hear). 3Ir. Watts (Australia) thought that there were some portions of the professor's paper which were rather fanciful, and others whicli wore founded upon incorrect information. In the first jdaco — to mention the various points Avhich had occurred to him during the reading of the paper in which Professor Amos was wrong — they had been told that the mother coimtry had lost for ever the right to control the sale of waste lands in the Colonies. He (Mr. Watts) could not conceive what authority the professor had for making a statement like that. What the mother-country had given up — and that, perhaps, wrongly — was the right of management of these lands ; but she had not given up the fee-simple of such lands, lie maintained that the position of the Colonies in respect to waste lands was as trustee for the mother-country, and that the Govern- ment at homo could resume the delegated power, should it be wrongly exercised. That power was wrongly used when certain lands were set aside for the encouragement of emigration. In the next place, he had never heard before that the natives of the Polynesian Islands who had been imported into the Colonies as labourers, had been barbarously and inhumanly treated, or that as a system these men were kidnapped. He had made a note of th(^ professor's remarks, which were " the intolerable atrocities daily brought to light, arising out of Polynesian kidnai)ping of natives to supply the labour market of Queensland." lie believed that only one captain of an English vessel had been tried for kidnap- ping, and in that case tho captain and crew wore acquitted for want of substantial evidence. He should, therefore, enter his protest against the inference drawn by Professor Amos in his paper, to the effect that the imported natives of the Polynesian islands were brought to labour in the Colonies against their will, or that when there they were subject to barbarous and inhuman treatment. Neither did he see why the Coolies of India should be debarred from taking their labour from one part of the l-Impire to ii^attitfikrfiiiiiiia D/SCUSSION. 51 another. He know, in roferonoe to the IMauritius, tliat tl\e intro- duction of Coolie labour had been a benefit I0 that part of thu Kmpiro and to the Coolies themselves; Itecauso the labour which they performed was such as few I'-nroiicaus could und(>rtake, and because the remuiufration whicli tlie Coolies received placed them in a position of indc^pendence and the means of olitainini; a liveli- hood. ]Io was sure, therefort>, that ni^on the im{)ortation of labourers into the ''olonies, Professor Amos had founded his observations upon incorrect information. Jlr. Iv. K. TouKi;xs, M.P., did not like the locking: up of the lands of the Colonics by the officials of the, Colouial Ofilce in London, and thus preventing them from being inhabited bv civilised men. As to tho sale of the waste lands, it was a subject which had occupied much time and discussion in England, and it was ultimately resolved that, on u Colony receiving a constitution, the sale of the waste lands should be given up to the colonists. Ho regretted, however, that a part of an extensive and fertile Colony of Australia had been given away by some gentleman in Downing Street to a few persons to dispose of as they thought proper. As to Colonial Governments, which Professor Amos treated upon, South Australia had tho most democratic constitution in the world. There was imivcrsal suffrage given for six months' resi- dence. The result was, the average duration of an administration was found to be seven months (laughter). All this was owing to throwing the power into the hands of a mass of men who were tho most illiterate and most prejudiced class in the Colony. lie was sorry, therefore, to say that he could not agree with tho last speaker (Mr. Watts), who was opposed to the principle of sotting aside some portion of the land for the encouragement of emigration. It must be borne in mind that the peciiliar constitution of a Colonial Government must be shaped by the population, and if tho francliise was given to all comers after a six months' residence, what could* be expected ? lie could not close his eyes to the fact that had a better system of emigration been introdncud into Australia, tho po])ulation of the Colonies there would, have been greater, more stable, and more productive, and tho wealth of the Colonies much larger. He Avas, therefore, in favour of a sound and well-organised system of emigration of Englishmen, as the best means for improv- ing the government, the institutions, the productions, and the wealth of Australia, and such emigration would always be found far more beneficial than the shiploads of Coolies and half-civilised men which were now being conveyed there (hear, hear). f #1) i 52 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. Mr. EnwAun Jknkins thonglit it was not jjossiblo, or indood advis- hMo, to follow tlio writer throu<;li this essay. It was a concentration of Hcicntilic opinion rarely to Lc mot with on sucli occasions, and hn luidnotlho iiitciitiuii of entering- into an clahoratcMliscussion upon the points advanced. JJiit one ])oint of inte-rcst had boon raised hy Mr. Watts, and conihatod hy IMr. R. U. Torrons, respectinj^ tho sale of the waste hinds of tho ( 'olonic^s. The fact was, these lands at the present moment belon^'ed to tin; Crown, and were treated as Crown lands. ]{nt, o i the other hand, he was afraid that practically Pro- fessor Amos was ri.nht in what he had said concerning' tliese Lmds; and he (jNIr. Jonkins) thoui^'ht that tho present state of matters was more duo to a want of cue and wisdom on tho i)art of tlu' Colonial OlHco than anythiui,^ else (hear, hear). It would he impossible for th(>m to step in now, and seek to control tlu; waste lands of tlio Cohi- nies. The fact was. theCohmial Otlice had brou<;'ht themselves into such a state that they dare not give an oj[)inion, or take any action in the matter (hear, hear). There was another point alluded to by Professor Amos ujion Avhich he must say a word. 'I'he professor said that three caidinal points in the relations Avhich existed betwi^en England and the Colonies ought to be chang-ed. The first was the appointment of colonial governors, which ho thought we should give up. Eut that Vf»v\ power whieh the mother-country exercised so boneflcialb Id if it v'v>aKed, form a great dilli- culty; for in t" the Canadian Legislature on Federation i* jial good and an item of supe- riority over ,, stem that it was best to have the head of tb' utive a] jiointed by tho (iueen. Mr. Jenlcins then referred to the .suggest ion that tho veto i^hould be withdrawn from the Home Government, and with refercn'^e to the appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Counci testified, from his own experience, of the important effect prodi ^pon the administration of colonial laws by the knowledge that ; . an appeal was possibl(\ ]\Ir. ToiUN said it appeared to him tli the peculiar position of affairs in the Colonies had arisen in respec L to Crown lands. He hijd held an importiint positi n in reference to Crown lands, and he would remark that Crown lands meant lands of the Crown, more especially for the Crown's own purpose to grant to wliom the Crown thought fit, till the Colony received a free constitution. The moment that con- stitution was received the lands belonged to the Colony. He lived a longtime in a Colony to which emigration was positively forbidden. 'J'lun'o was a Colony to whicdi people were forbidden to go, and another to which they were compelled to go (laughter). There SIMPLE METHODS OF LAXD TRAXSFER. 53 h:id indo(^(l boon fi p^roat deal of jolihin;:; iti folonial lands in tlio i>(i()d old ollice in Downinfj; Street, nnd he cared not wlu'thor any jierson proscnt represented it or not. He had no faitli in it. Ho 1io]hm1, however, that the trentlenien who promoted this ('oiifta'eiicc wnv, in (>arn»'st ; hut he was afraid they were nut, fur lie lioard too nnich of the exordimn last ni^ht to etmvinee liim that they were not ri.ijht. If they wore in earnest, their first quarrel was with thn Coloniil Odiee. That was their lleJan. Lot them eloar out the Augoan stable (laughter). 1 J j^iii ■ 'w The Earl of Shaftesbury continued in the chair, and the following paper was read by Mr. R. 11. Torrens, M.P., on— Simple Methods of Land Transfer. At a time when doctrines subversive of the security and stability of property in land are broached, not merely, as heretofore, amongst the uninstructed masses of the people, but find advocates amongst philosophers and professors of economic science, the consideration of a system by which many, and those the most serious, amongst the real grievances and disabilities resulting from the systems of land tenures and land transfer pecuhar to this country may be remedied, can hardly be deemed inopportune. Therefore it is that, as our statesmen and legislators have begun to recognise the wisdom of taking the benefit of experiments tested in the Colonies, I have undertaken to give some account of the method of conducting transfers, and dealings in land which has for some time past been in operation in the Australian Colonies, with a view to considering how far the benefits realised under that method can be extended to these old-established communities. • In order that the aptitude of the remedial measure !«l«aK^;:KK-fr 54 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. which I am about to explain may more clearly be per- ceived, it will be necessary to refer to some of the more inconvenient and injurious results of the highly artificial system of conveyancing which it is designed to super- sede, and for this purposo it will be more becoming in me to quote the statements of eminent jurists, than to obtrude any observations of a mere layman. Lord Brougham describes this system as attended with many evils, giving birth to great vexatious, involving the affairs of the community in lamentable uncertainty, and imposing on the citizens who live under it a heavy burden. Lord Cairns thus describes the procedure under the English system of conveyancing: — '* You buy an estate at an auction, or you enter into a contract for the pur- chase of the estate. You are very anxious to get pos- session of the propert}^ you have bought, and the vendor is very anxious to get his money. But do you get possession of the property ? On the contrary, you cannot get the estate, nor can the vendor get his money, until after a lapse — sometimes no inconsiderable portion of a man's lifetime — spent in the preparation of abstracts, in the comparison of deeds, in searches for encumbrances, in objections made to the title, in answers to those objections, in disputes which arise upon the answers, in endeavours to cure the defects — not only months but years frequently pass in a history of that kind ; and I should say that it is an uncommon thing in this country for a purchase of any magnitude to be completed — com- pleted by possession and payment of the price — in a period under, at all events, twelve months. I can well imagine that the purchaser of an estate would be content to submit to delay, and even to some considerable expense, if he were assured that, when the delay and expense were over, upon that occasion at all events, he wonki '■■^'■^•'.'■1 ■■••'• !■- '. ■ilitatartHMii _y SIMPLE METHODS OF LAND TRANSFER. 55 per- more tiiiciu] iuper- in me •trude with -;■ tbe and leavy have a title as to the dealings with which, for the future, there would be no difficulty ; but, unfo: amately, that is not the case. Suppose I buy an estate to-day. I spend ii year, or two or three years, in ascertaining whether the title is a good one ; I am at last satisfied. I pay the expense — the considerable expense which is incurred — in addition to the price which I have paid for my estate, and I obtain a conveyance of my estate. About a year afterwards I desire to raise money upon mortgage of this estate. I find some one willing to lend me money, pro- vide! I have a good title to the land. The man says : — ' It is very true that you bought this estate, and that you investigated the title, but I cannot be bound by your investigation of the title, nor can I be satisfied by it.' Perhaps he is a trustee who is lending money which he holds upon trust. He says : — 'My solicitor must examine the title, and my counsel must advise upon it.' And then as between me, the owner of the estate, and the lender of the money, there is a repetition of the same process which took place upon my purchase of the estate, and, consequently, the same expense is incurred as when I bought it ; and for the whole of that I, the owner of the estate, and the borrower of the money, must pay. Well, that is not all. Months or years after all this is completed, from circumstances, I find I must sell my estate altogether. I find a person willing to become a pur- chaser. The intending purchaser says : — ' No doubt j'ou thought this was a good title when you bought this estate, and no doubt this lender of money thought he had a very good security when he lent his money ; but you are now asking me to pay my money : I must be satisfied that the title is a good one, my solicitor must look into it, and my counsel must advise upon it.' Then, again, commence abstracts, examinations, objections, difiiculties, correspondence, and delay." ■iliiillBliiiiiiiiaita^^uJ L M m f = ■I 56 CONFER JiXCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. I could multiply authorities to the same etlcct were it necessary ; but all may be summed up in the aphorism of Lord Brougham, that " the possession of land in small parcels is a luxury in which a very rich man may indulge, but is ruinous to a man of small means." What I have quoted will suffice to show to the meetimjf that the "uncertainty, complexity, delay, and costliness of the English system have a common origin in the retrospective and dependent character of titles. The work of examination, from its peculiar intricacy and responsibility, can only be entrusted to gentlemen ex- pressly, and at great expense, educated to the business. Hence thj costliness — such a title is a chain no stronger than its weakest link — hence the uncertainty. Eveiy time the property is dealt with the ancestral line of parchments must be reperused, and a fresh genealogical tree, under the name of an abstract, drawn at full length from the root to the last leaf of its parchment foliage. Hence the delay. The first essential, therefore, in any measure for the reform of the laws relating to the transfer of real pro- perty, must be to cut off the retrospective dependent character of titles, thereby removing existing complexities. The next essential is the substitution of a method of conveyancing, under which future dealings will not endure fresh complications. Both requirements are secured in the Australian Colonies by substitution of *' title by registration" for "title by deed, ' applying to the transfer of property in land the same preamble, and to a large extent the same methods under which for more than a century our dealings with property in shipping and in stock have been conducted with safety and satis- faction. Procedure in first placing lands upon the " Register of Titles." SIMPLE METHODS OF LAXD TRANSFER. 57 re it rism lall Itin- hess tho IThe land ex- ess. Igor of Lands are brouglit under the system upon the applica- tion of any person claiming to be the person on whom the foe simple is vested either at law or in equity. These applications, together with the deeds and other evidences of title, accompanied by plans of the lands furnished by licensed surveyors and certified correct by statutory declaration, are submitted for examination to a barrister and to a conveyancer, who are styled " examiners of titles." These gentlemen are specially retained by the Government, and are not allowed private practice. They examine the titles precisely as they would do on behalf of an intending purchaser under the old law. They report to the "Registrar," or "Recorder of Titles," as he is styled in some Colonies. 1st. Whether the description of the parcels of land is definite and clear ; and in this they are assisted by a land surveyor and draughtsman. 2nd. Is the applicant in possession of the property? 3rd. Does he appear in equity and justice rightfully entitled thereto ? 4th. Does ho produce such evidence of title as leads to the conclusion that no other person is in a position to succeed against him in an action for ejectment ? Should the applicant fail to satisfy the examiners in these particulars the application is at once rejected, without putting him to any further expense. Should the appli- cant, being in possession, be enabled to show such a title, although the evidence he adduces might not be sufiiciont to enable him to oust a tortuous holder in possession, or to compel an unwilling purchaser to complete, the examiners would report the case to the Kegistrar, with recommendation that notices should be served, and the claim advertised more or less extensively, according to the nature of the case and the domicile of the parties likely to be interested. Notices are served upon the persons in possession, upon such persons, if any, as the examiners may indicate as 58 COXFERENCE OX COLOXIAL QUESTIOXS. likely to be interested either at law or in equity, and who have not joined in the application, and also upon the owners and occupiers of contiguous land. These notices set forth the purport of the application, and intimate that unless objection be made by lodging caveat within the tirne prescribed by the commissioners, the land will be brought under the provisions of the Act, and indefeasible title granted to the applicant. If within the time appointed caveat be lodged, the action of the Registrar is suspended until it be withdrawn, or until he receives the final judgment of the supreme court upon the question raised. If no caveat be lodged within the prescribed time, or if caveat so lodged be withdrawn, or set aside by the final judgment of the court, the land is brought under the operation of the Act by the issue of certificate of title, vesting the estate indefeasibly in the applicant. These certificates are in duplicate. They define the land in respect to which they are issued by description and reference to the ordinance maps of the district, and where necessary by diagram on the certificate. They set forth the nature of the estate of the applicant, whether a fee simple or limited owner, and notify by memorials endorsed all lesser estates, leases, charges, or interests current and aftecting the land at the time. Ample space is left for the endorsement of subsequent memorials, re- cording the transfer or extinction of these, and the creation, transfer, or extinction of future estates or interests. Under this method the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts of the country is left undisturbed. No special court, such as the "Estates Court, Ireland," with its enormous expenditure, is required, and the applicants arc not subjected to the expense of putting the paraphernalia of a court if justice in motion, unless there be some adverse claim to be adjudicated upon. m,.^..i> '>V».' last speaker (]Mr. Dennistoun Wood) that this topic was one unfit for the con- sideration of the present Conference, as \\v (jNIr. Davis) thought any one who would go out of the usual course of grievance- mongering, which it seemed the special delight of some to pursue, should be thanked and not censured. Colonists could not de- nationalise tliemselves, and they were continually proving them- selves Englishmen by having grievances ready on the slightest provocation (laughter). After this slight digression, he would return to the transport system, which, he would state, had been inherited from the old Dutch Government of the Colony. There was in British Guiana an office called the Kegistrar's Office. In it there was a statf of clerks specially trained to legal knoA\ledge, tlie superior officers having to pass searching examinations in Roman Dutch law especially, as well as in other departments of law, before the three judges of the Supreme Court. All the law busi- ness of the Colony at some time or other went through this offiee ; and one of the most important of its duties was the arrangement of transports. Supposing the sale of a property had been agreed upon, the vendor took his title to the liegistrar's 01fic«>. It was there examined, and if found good, lie was assured that the trans- port of the property from him to the purcliaser would be duly advertised on the su'-ceeding Saturday. This advertisement a])- peared on three consecutive Saturdays in the ofncial gazette of the Colony, and in one of the colonial newspapers, and it stated that it was the intention of the holder of the property to transport it to the purchaser. Should any person consider himself to have an unsatisfied claim against the holder, ho may oppost^ the passing of the transport. This opposition was noted in a book kept in the Registrar's Office, and calbnl the " Book of Oppositions to Trans- ports and Mortgages," for the same system regulated the passing of mortgages. Grunted that no opposition vras entered, the transport was th(^n made out, in legal fashion, by filling into a >ion of some was in c term oduoed lie (.Mr. ciently d tliis, poalvor con- !v;uu't.. nirsue, lot do- them- 14'htest would J been 'ilirre In it ko, the tioninn i' lilW, ■' biifsi- Ofli<>('; omeiit grocd t was raiis- duly it aj)- f tlic lat it it to -^ au DISCUSSION. 71 short printed form the exact description of the property to ho conveyed. The i)arties then came before a judge of tlie Supreme Court on a day agreed upon between them. The judge looked into the title senrohingly, and, if he observed no flaw, passed the transport, as the conveying of the property was termed. The form of transport was then signed by the parties — one as passing, the other as receiving — and by the Judge and Registrar as attest- ing. For a sum of less than three pounds a property of tlie highest value might b(^ transferred, and that i.o the expiration of only fifteen days from the first advertisement. He {Islr. Davis) therefore cdaiined a superiority for the system of transfer in opera- tion in British Guiana over that introduced by j\Ir. Torrens, on account of greater security to tlie jmrehaser, and the (>xtensive j)rotcction given to creditors against the fraudulent making away by their debtors of property T)eh:)nging to them. Mr. K. \l. ToKUKxs, in reply to Mr. Dennistoun AVood, stated that his figures were not fallacious. They were comi)iled from Govern- ment books of the higliest authority, and he hoped the Conference would give him credit for bringing nothing before them l»ut what was reliable (hear, liear). He would also state that the statistics, as he had obtained them, were to be found in the blue-book of the House of Commons, and, tliereforo, there was no exaggeration on his part. The r'vason why the Act was not so successful in Australia was, th(> lawyers modified it. As to the Dutch mode of conveyancing referred to by ]\Ir. Davis, and which also pi-evailed at the Cape, h(^ could not l)ut think that a system which con- fessedly admitted of a month's delay was not so acceptable as the simple transfer he recommended. There was an objection made to the publicity which might be given to mattc^rs concerning projiertv under the new system, but JNIr. Freeland, wiio Lad expressed some concern about this, had no right to assume that the circumstances belonging to the register would be public. 'i:.i:-XVAiHii'-^fi^WttO-!L;-.:- .^>,^ i 72 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. The chair was taken by the Duke of Manchester. A paper was theu read on — Imperial and Colonial Federalism. By Mr. Francis P. Labillij^re. In attempting to deal with Imperial Federalism one would fain dwell on the many and great "Ivantages, both present and prospective, from English and colonial points of view, of the unity of our Empire. One is tempted to linger to gaze at the splendid vision of a confederation which may become one of the great realities of the future. But this paper is not intended to treat of the advantage of union, that being a subject which could not be ex hausted were the wh de of these pages devoted to its consideration. What we have now to do is to look at some means by which permanent union can be best secured, and to M'cigh some of the diliiculties connected with it. Time will permit only a few of the leading features of this great question to be noticed. To treat it fully, not a paper, bat a volume should be read. At first sight a federal union of the British Empire may, perhaps, be regarded as a grand but impracticable idea. But, though public attention has only recently been called to it, many have already been brought to believe in it. It has made so much progress in so short a time, that its friends have much to hope from its further discussion. The tendencies of the times favour it. National magnetism has wrought wonders in our days, in dra^ving together people of the same blood and language ; it is one of the most powerful influences of the age. Dynastic interests and provincial jealousies which have stood stubbornly for ages, walling off country- men from countrymen, have yielded to it in Germany and Italy. SShall we, then, le told that it will be more one I both loiiits 3(1 to jition IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL FEDERALISM. /o difficult for us who are united, to remain so, and to cement our union, than for those who have been sepa- rated for generations to become united ? While the ties of all the other great families of the human race are l)ecoming stronger, shall those of ours grow Aveaker and fall asunder '? Shall we furnish the only exception to the rule of the unity of kindred people ? Before attempting to suggest some modes of organising a confederation of the Empire, it will be well to say a few words on the subject being ripe for discussion. Those who give little thought to colonial (juestions, imagine there is time enough to consider the future relations of the Empire. Such procrastinators, however, forget the rate at which events are hastening. They do not bear in mind how far we have got from the recent past, at the express speed at which we have been travelling. It seems an age, though it was only yesterday, since the (luestion of colonial self-government had not advanced beyond the stage of discussion. Twenty years ago it was a matter for consideration, whether the Colonies were mature enough to take care of their own atiiiirs. l.'efore another twenty years have passed away subjects of still greater importance must be settled. If Ave do not look well ahead Ave shall run into the question of the future relations of England and the Colonies, before Ave have thought about H ; for the groAvth of colonial questions, as of the Colonies themselves, is so rapid, that the mere speculations of to-day Avill be practical problems urgently requiring solution to-morroAV. If even the relations of the Colonies to England and to each other did not demand immediate consideration, Avise forethought Avould suggest that avc should think leisurely upon these things ; so that, Avhen their settlement can be put oti' no longer, Ave shall nc*-, have to arrive at a hurried conclusion. The question of the future relations of England and Hi ■ l!«i I 74 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. hor Colonics Las grown so fast, diirmg the last few months, that it is fairly pushing its way into the front rank of important questions. Even in very recent dis- cussions of colonial aftairs the word confederation does not appear, ideas not having advanced beyond the sug- gestion of reform in the Colonial Office, and the creation of a Colonial Council like that for India. In dealing with this important subject at this Con- ference, it seems expedient that we should not so much desire to win approval for any particular plan, as to have as many plans as possible passed in review ; so that it may be evident that there are more ways than one in which our great purpose of cementing the union of the Empire may be attained. This Conference, I lake it, has only one policy — the unity of the Empire. Every plan, every suggestion, made with a view to that end is acceptable. Every other consideration should be made subservient to it. We are not here to advocate any par- ticular mode of carrying out this great policy, but simply to suggest. In this spirit it is the design of my paper to treat this question. Though I may have a favourite plan of confederation, I should be sorry to think it the only one possible. The more good systems can be sug- gested the better we should be pleased. If we thoroughly believe in our great principle, discussion of details alone is needed to ensure a successful organisation. Two systems of confederation may be suggested, both providing an Imperial Confederate Parliament, in which the whole Empire could be ^represented, each with merits of its own : the one under which the members represent- ing the United Kingdom and the Colonies in the Parlia- ment of the Empire, would be elected directly by the people ; and the other under which they would be chosen by the English Parliament and the Colonial Parliaments, acting as electoral colleges. "Were the latter system il lew )iit (is- )es liou n- licli ve it in the las an, is 1(1 e •ar- IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL FEDERALL'^M. 75 adopted, each Provincial Parliament could choose a certain number of members, or where Colonies were grouped in confederations, as in Canada, the Parliament of the Colonial Confederation could elect the members ; and thus were Australia and South Africa, as they seem inclined to do, to follow the example of Canada, and wore the West Indies also formed into a confederation, the Government of the Empire w^ould be a confederation of confederations, there being only five constituencies returning the Imperial Legislature — namely, the British Parliament, and the Confederate Parliaments of Australia, North America, South Africa, and the West Indies. The system of making the people the electors has this great advantage, that it would bring the Imperial Con- federate Parliament into direct contact with the inhabit- ants of the whole Empire, and make them feel that its central Government was thoroughly their own. Peace or war made with its approval would be their peace or war ; defences organised by it would be felt to belong to them all. It would be able directl}' to impose taxes ; whereas, if elected by the Legislatures, it could only require each of them to contribute a fixed amount to the Imperial revenue. The system of election by Parliaments could, however, be more easily worked. There would not be the same difficulty in allotting the number of members, to be returned by each Provincial or Confederate Parliament that there would be in determining the number of representatives that the people of each Province, or Colony, of th3 Empire should send to the Imperial Parliautent. Another advantage of election by Parliaments over the other system, would be that a greater number of first- class men would be more certain to be returned ; for each Provincial Legislature w^ould pride itself on sending its most distinguished members to the Parliament of the m\ m I Wk ■? ■r, CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. '! i: P^mpire. Apfain, tlic members for each province would bo in harmony with its local Legislatures, which would not always be the case were they returned by popular election. It would have to bo considered whether the Imperial fiCgislature should consist of one or two chambers. Were the Provincial or Confederate Parliaments to elect the Imperial Parliament, and were an Imperial Upper House deemed essential, it might be constituted by the Upper Houses of such Parliaments sending members to it, as the Lower Houses would do to the Imperial Lower House ; or by the Crown being empowered to nominate a House consisting of hereditary and life peers, or the members might be partly nominated and partly elected by the Imperial and by the local Governments. Dilferent ways may occur to us which we cannot now stop to consider in detail, but must dismiss with the observation — that it is satisfactory to think that in forming an Imperial Upper House, as well as in framing a constitu- tion for the Empire, we should not be confined to one particular plan. Were the people of the Empire the electors of the Imperial Parliament, it would be more necessary to have a second chamber than were the Parliaments the electors. With the Provincial Chambers acting as electoral colleges, provision might be made for the representation in the Imperial Parliament of their minorities or oppositions. Electoral qualifications might be left to be decided by the Provincial Legislatures. The duration of the Imperial Parliament should not exceed three years ; and the outgoing members might retain their seats until their successors could arrive in this country. Mr. Macfie has given a scale by which the proportion of members for England and the Colonies, in a proposed Council of the Empire, should be adjusted; but he only ^suggests that it should have about thirty members, and i^. IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL FllDF.RAllSM. 77 that Australia and Canada should send only four or five each. Now it is to bo assumed that with a Parliament of the Empire an Executive would he required ; and in order that there might he statesmen to select from, it would he necessary that the Parliament should at leni-jt contain two hundred members. ^Vhy should a confederation of our Empire, framed on cither of the systems suggested, not succeed '? Is it because our confederation would be greater and grander than any that the world has yet seen '? or because our proposed union would carry still further the system of federal government, which, to the extent it has yet been tried, has proved a great success '? We see this form of government working well in America, in Switzerland, and just established in Germany under circumstances thr most difficult, with a number of dynasties of all sorts and sizes, complicating the machinery of government. Is distance an insuperable obstacle ? It has not, in ancient or modern times, prevented the affairs of the most extensive and powerful empires from being administered by one central authority. In an age of steamers, rail- ways, and telegraphs, we should not fear to attempt what, without any such advantages, men of past times were able to accomplish. Sixty days would bring Australian members to London ; and it must be remem- bered that when Scotland and Ireland first sent repre- sentatives to the united Parliament, difficulties of com- munication rendered union not many degrees less practicable than would be that of the Colonial Empire with this country. It is most important to consider how Imperial Federalism would affect Great Britain. It is quite out of the question that the representatives of the Colonies should sit in the* English Legislature. The Parliament of the Empire should be totally distinct. It would be necessary to I w^mmm^smmssm^ :8 CONFER E.VCE OX COLONIAL QUESTIONS. '=,^fi eliminate — and it would not be diflicult to do so — all local questions', and band tbem over to tbo complete control of tbo Provincial Le^iislaturcs, and to ^dvo tbe Imperial Legislature tbe complete control of all Imperial (|Ucstions. ]\Iany may at first bo startled at tbe suggestion tbat tbe Englisb Parliament sbould give up tbe direction of Imperial allairs. Mr. .Jenkins bas sbown bow little it occupies itself witb tbem. It would tbereforc abiuidon notbing upon wbicb it seems to set a bigb value, judging by wbat most absorbs its attention, were it to band over Imperial all'airs to a really Imperial Parliament. No questions allecting interests outside tbe United Kingdom draw good bouses, unless tbey relate to some Continental diiliculty, or involve a ministerial crisis. Tbe Parliament of tbese kingdoms would lose none of its debating renown were tbere also sitting in Loinlon a Parliament of tbe Empire. Tbe existence of sucb an assembly, bowever brilliant, would not bavc diminisbed tbo fame of tbo debates on lleform, Free-trade, tbo Irisb Cburcb and Land Questions — subjects of tbo bigbest, but still only of provincial, importance. It may be objected tbat were England and ber Colonies united in a confederation, tbe action of tbo former witb respect to European questions would be fettered. " So much tbe better," some will bo disposed to answer. *' It would have been well in the past bad some influence kept ber from being so much entangled in Continental atl'airs." However that may be, she will lose little in the future by identifyiiig herself less with them, and more with the concerns of her ov n people. It is tbe duty of the head of a family to look to the interests of its members, rather than occupy himself with his neighbour's concerns. It is tbe duty of England, the bead of the great Anglo-Saxon family, to look less to the Continent, and more to her own world-wide people. ■\- 'M V r IMPERIAL AND COLOXIAL FEDERALISM. 70 I)uty and honour tlcmund that she should bestow on ilioni her iirst and hi^diost care. She may well give up — and she will lose little by doing so — meddling in Con- thiontal all'airs, and contracting European obligations other than those by which she is already bound, for the sake of the additional strength and prestige she will derive by turning her Empire into a great confederation. Besides, were there no such reason, circumstances must compel her to abandon the Quixotic policy of guaranteeing the neutrality, and independence, of patches of territory here and there on the Continent, surrounded by States with gigantic armies. She does not profess to be a great military power, but if she is to contract such obligations she nnist become one ; she must place herself in a position to be able to throw armies, of three or four hundred thou- sand men, on to the Continent at a few weeks' notice ; she much fipply the Prussian military system to her entire population. England's honour is often invoked to induce her to compromise, by embroiling herself in foreign disputes, those interests of which she ought to take the greatest care ; but honour among nations, as among individuals, requires that duty should be done to those Vvho are nearest and dearest in relationship, rather than to those who have no natural claim to its performance. Were an Imperial Confederation to be now formed, all its members would unhesitatingly acknowledge the right of England to the largest iutluence in it. She would be entitled to return a greater number of representatives to the Imperial Parliament than all the others combined, on the principle that, being the most populous and powerful, as well as the parent. State of the Empire, she ought to have the most influence. She would therefore, for years at least, have the preponderating position in the Imperial Confederation, such as Prussia holds in the German Confederation. Prussia occupies a grander position since r- ■ -: ■:/.^*a^iBSiaa« J IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) / o I 1.0 I.I 1.25 l-IIIIM illl^ 2.2 ,5. |a2 ^ 1^ 1.4 2.0 1.8 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREk:T WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 d :1>^ .^v ;V \\ ^: -^'-i^ >> <* <*^^'^ o^ ri? wmF ' >?»^ 80 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. she has been merged in Germany than she ever did before ; so would England were she merged in a confederation of her Emi^ire. With local affairs completely left to Provincial Legis- latures, the questions with which the Imperial Confederate Government would have to deal almost entirely range themselves under the heads of defence, peace, war, and diplomacy. To give the Colonies the voice in these, to which they will in future be entitled, confederation is indispensable. As the Colonies grow their right to be heard on questions, as vitally important to them as to Great Britain, will become more and more apparent. It v/ould be unjust that they should be liable to all the consequences of wars in which they had no voice. This consideration has already excited attention, and the suggestion hr^ been made in the Colony of Victoria that the Colonies should be neutral in wars between England and other powers. This seems impracticable. No power would be likely to consent to any kind of neutrality, which did not allow England's foes all the advantages international law permits belligerents to derive from foreign territories. Defence would be the great purpose for Miiich a con- federation would exist. The Federal Government would have to adjust equitably the share each section of the Empire should bear in the general defence. Were the burden of each thus allotted, any undue weight now borne by England or any Colony could be easily rearranged. In the future the result would be that each of the four or five great sections of the Empire would contribute to its common navy a force sufficiently strong to protect Imperial interests in its own waters ; and this would greatly lighten the burden of all ; England would maintain a proportion sufficient to protect these interests in European waters, Australia in the Pacific, South Africa in her quarter of the mus kee] and Em the thai for :il IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL FEDERALISM. 8i f(3 is )e to the Empire, and so on ; whereas if each stood alone it must, in order to maintain the position of a great power, keep ships both in its own waters and in foreign waters, and consequently the burden of each section of the Empire would be much greater were it thus to provide the whole of its own defence, both at home and abroad, than if it were only obliged to contribute to a joint system of general defence. Had we some federal authority the Colonies would even now be ready and willing to contribute a few ships to an Imperial navy. Victoria has for some years kept up a war vessel ; and recently a question arose whether it should be under Imperial or colonial control — a difficulty which would have been impossible had there been a Federal Government. Our Empire, Canada excepted, being unassailable by land, local militias would for the most part supply the land defences ; the Imperial army therefore need only be small, and its cost would be a mere cipher distributed among the sections of the Imperial Confederation. Whether the Colonies are regarded from their present state of maturity, or from a more advanced stage, they will be much greater confederated with England and each other than standing each by itself. No section of the Empire, net even Australia, can expect to overtake the United States, which have got the start by so many years, and by so many millions of inhabitants, till many generations have passed away, till the American continent has become an old country, oppressed with the weight of a superabundant population. England, too, peopled up to, or beyond, her capacity to bear population, and with resources so highly developed as to seem scarcely to leave room for any further extension, cannot expect to occupy among the great Powers of the future the position she now holds, unless she can gather her children around her, her fair daughters and stout sons — her Colonies. But G ItH HKn^Kll' il< 1 •i T. 82 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. ■m if she can, she and they, instead of being divided and disregarded, will be acknowledged as uixdoubtedly the first power on the face of the earth. With such a pros- pect, both English Britons and colonial Britons should try every possible plan of federation till they succeed — and, with their hearts set on the great object, succeed they will, God willing — in placing the unity of the Empire on a durable basis, and giving it an efficient organisation. A word as to Colonial Federalism. It will undoubtedly render the relations of groups of the Colonics more satis- factory between themselves, as Imperial federalism wih make those of the whol3 Empire. It has been successful in Canada, and is now under consideration and likely soon to be adopted in Australia and South Africa. The appointment of viceroys of confederations and of governors of Colonies could be made by the Federal Government ; and there would be a much better guarantee that men so appointed were in every respect fit for their positions, than there can be under the systems of selecting the head of the State by hereditary succession or popular election. It is very desirable, but not absolutely essential to the success of an Imperial Confederation, that the fiscal policy should be similar throughout. Though a thorough free-trader, deploring, on Imperial as well as on colonial grounds, the adoption of protection in the Colonies, I believe that the ditferent' provinces of the Empire may even impose protective duties upon each other's goods without interfering with the union. With a confederation, too, there might be one great Imperial court of final appeal for the whole Empire. In conclusion, how are we practially to bring about our federation ? Are we to wait till we have got a perfect constitution upon paper ? Such a confederation as we and the uld Id— dly ;is- IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL FEDERALISM. 83 desire seems more likely to grow than to spring all at once into existence, to be the result of progressive de- velopment. Things infinitely more unlikely to succeed have beer produced by efforts from which much less than we have good reason to hope for, was at first anticipated. Who, till parliamentary experience had evolved the system of responsible ministries, would have believed it a possible mode of government ? We may, therefore, have to feel our way to a confederation of our Empire. We shall have to go by steps, though they must not be too slow. A Council of the Empire has been suggested. Perhaps it would be the best thing to begin with, were it called into existence merely to pre- pare the way for something better. It might be en- trusted with the task of constructing a federal consti- tution. It matters comparatively little, however, how we begin, so as we delay no longer, but set about the work in good earnest. The bonds of unity must not press too tightly, they must not interfere with complete local self- government, but they must be tight and strong enough to hold us together, to keep us shoulder to shoulder, for purposes of mutual support and defence, to give full expression to the wishes of all our people on questions of importance to them all. It is time that the foundation of the great structure was laid, that men of the same blood and language, in England and the Colonies, should be aroused to a high sense of the great destiny which, with the blessing of ** Him who raises and pulls down nations at his pleasure," may be theirs ; for if our Empire be consolidated, it will eclipse in splendour all the empires of the past, and will stand unrivalled among those of the future. m ^%4 ThcEAiiLof A iiiLiE opened the discussion. His lordship b.ud they must all have listened with pleasure to the address just 84 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. \ •■ (loHvered, but ho must confess that tho sii>)]oct was ono which appfiured to hhnto be beset with many dilliculties, and he regiottod thit he did not see these dilHcuItics removed by any suggestions M-hich ^Ir. Labilliere had made in his paper. If he (Earl of Aiilie) nnd(!rstood tho scheme aright, the writer proposes to have an Im- perial Parliament in London, with representatives from all ]);irts of the Empire, such Parliament being superior to the present one, wliich, in its turn, was to devote itself to matters pertaining to home rule alone. But this very scheme brought them face to face with one of the greatest difficulties. There could be no control over tho legi.^lation of a Confederated Parlianic^nt, and, what ought by no means to bo overlooked, tlie present obligations of l']nglaii(l, in resjiect to tho Continent, could not be neglt^cted or forgotten. England was solemnly pledged to protect certain interests involving the peace of Eui'ope, and it was not easy to expect that in the formation of a federation of power, all members of the ftxlera- tion would like to become responsible for the maintenance of whiit I'^nirland had guaranteed. Mr. Tkelawny Saunders (India Office) thought it was an augury of success to the accomplishment of a great Colonial Empire that tho discussion of tho subject, whei'oby it might be made practicable, should havearisen in England (hear,hear). Andrespecting its attain- ment, it seemed to him thnt the great difficulty that lay intlie way of the accomplishment of a confederation of our Colonies rested Avith Englishmen themselves. lie believed that unless England was prepared to foi'ogo her Imperial Parliament, tho higher and closer union of her several States in place of the pr^^soTit half- dovelopcd system was a thing whicli would never bo accomplished. Let Englishmen at home make up their minds to a great alteration of tho present parliamentary system, and then, like laying tho axe to the root of the tree, the diiliculties to tho attainment of a great confederation which would bo the pride of all our race, would fall (bear). With the exception of the United States, tho Empire would comprise all tho English-speaking people of the globe, and the greatness and the jiowcr of the Empire would produce incalculable good to every institution and every subject of the realm (cheers). Every Englishman and every (iolonist desiring to see tho great change accomplished — and which was coming over tlie minds of the people of these reahns like a mighty and irresistible tide- -.'mist set himself vigorously to work. Present evils were remediable, and when once a comprehensive view of the confederation was obtained, he bugbear of difficulties would vanish. It was his opinion tha+ the wh Bulj his pr; iOS att vo DISCf/SSION. •'5 ■hioh ottod tions iilie) Im- <»(10, to face itrol ii.i^'lit and, Ion. •ing- the desired oLject. could bo attained, and ho rejoiced in the impetus wliich the excellent paper that had been read would give to the Hubjoet. Ho had thou^-ht of the matter and talked of it amongst his friends, and this was perhaps an excellent way to work out tlie practicability of the great object in view. The question of defence was one which lay at the foundation of the scheme. It was a question of a nature common to all parties concerned in the pro- posed confederation. It seemed to him that we had not jiaid sut- ficicnt attention to our sea-board. Ho would like to see this betti r attended to, and also to see a good system of gunboats, manned by volunteers. We should thus have two good systems of defence. Mr. W. F. Vesey Fitzgerald argued that the statements of Adam Smith and Goldwin Smith, against the relations of depen- dencies to the mother-country, did not apply to an improved sys- tem of relationship. On an improi-ed system being established, suitable institutions would natui-ally by degrees establish them- selves. Healthy federations were the result of grov/th, and weie not formed suddenly. They had to progress to perfection. The sub- ject, as he had previously intimated, had been one of interest to liis mind for the past fifteen years, during which he had been in favour of a Colonial Court of Privy Council, and of an Advisory Assembly of the representatives of the opinions of our dependen- cies, in London. It was his opinion that something of this kind, woiild solve the diflficulty experienced by the present unsatisfactory state of things. Mr. li. li. ToRUExs, i\[.P., said the question raised was one of extreme interest. It might have been beneficial to the British Empire had it been adopted from the beginning, but it now seemed to him that we had got institutions so settled down that they were ineradicable, and that we could not even graft upon them what was proposed in order to effect this scheme of confederation. It was different with the United States of America. We. had in this country a responsible Government which might be turned out whilst the Conference was sitting. In America the power was despotic. It was difhcult also for him to conceive of the two l)ranches of our Legislature — Lords and Commons — submitting to such a sweeping change, and therefore he really thought that how- ever admissible the proposition was, and however plausilde in some respects it seemed, it was a matter impracticable, and we might just as well try to annex the m-oon as endeavour to take the reins of government out of the hands of the Lords and Commons as now constituted. The mistakes which had been committed had not SI 86 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTLONS. ( ! arisen, in his opinion, from the want of an Imperial Parliament as suggested, but from ignorance of the Colonics when subjects con- nected with tliem were dealt with, and this was through a want of better information by colonial secretaries and other officials. As to the withdrawal of troops from the Colonics, he could not join with those who thought we ought now to look to the advanced state of naval atlairs for the protection of the Colonies and British pro- pertj^ in them. lie was aware that the command of the sea now depended on good depots for coals at which our vessels could re- coal. At King George's Sound, Australia, for instance, there was an excellent coal depot, and our steam war-vessels could, after cruising about, enter the port to re-coal ; but was it not a fact that there were many British ships in colonial harbours ? And to whom did the cai-goes of vessels belong in such ports ? The freights were owned by Jkitish merchants before the vessel left her moorings. Such pro])erty required protection, and he therefore believed tluit we had made a great mistake by withdrawing our artillery Iroin the Colonics. It was the duty of the Imperial Government to protect such ports, not for the sake of the Colonies alone, but for the Siike of the property of Great Britain lying there (hear, hear). Colonel IIexrv Cli.vTox said this question had occu])ied his attention since 1840. Ever since that year he had studied and talked. over the best plan by which the Colonies might be repre- i-ented in Parliament, not only in the House of Commons, but in the Fiou.se of Lords also. This appeared to him to be a necessity, for at present our extensive and wealthy Colonies were imrepre- sented in the great councils of the nation. There was a quotation in Horace, to the effect that a power fell by its own weight. This was the case with the Roman Empire, and if we did not take care, it would be so with our own, and that by allowing the Colonics to fall ofl', which wo were now foolishly doing. Our statesmen should have asked theniselves long ago, " Shall we forget the dis- astrous consequences arising out of the separation of the lioman Empire into eastern and western divisions 'r" Mr. Ej)waki) Wilson said it was his impression that the question of some form of federal government was a great deal more ui'gent than was believed, and he thought they should all attend well to what IMr. liabilliere had stated in his paper, as that gentleman had evidently well studied the subject, and came before them with a definite scheme. Now he (Mr. Wilson) had studied colonial questions, ixnd asked himself, " What will be the result of the break-up when it comes 't " for come he believed it would (hear. he th rci mi itv th DISCUSSION. 87 hear). One gentleman who had large experience of the question thought that all that was required was to have a body of most respectable and reliable men, who should assume a sort of diplo- matic position for dealing with matters of legislation, and thus avoid the mismanagement of the present system. They all knew tliat lands had been handed over to a comparatively few persons — land having an area equal to half of Europe. These lands then belonged to the Crown of England, and he hoped they still belonged to it, notwithstanding the change (hear, hear). He felt grieved at heart, for it was a matter of great pain to him that such large tracts of land had been saci-ificod. It had been his lot to live most of his life among the best-fed and best-clothed of Englishmen on the face of the globe, and accustomed as he had been to see men sit down tlireo times a day to a meal of meat, it was a matter of great grief, now he had returned to the mother-country, to find men who knew what the sharp thorn of hunger was — to see them badly paid for long, weary hours of liard labour, and with no other prospect before them than the poorhouse looming in the distance. When he thought over these things, and kuew that England pos- sessed such vast Colonies of yet uncultivated land, and when he considered that hundreds of thousands of acres had been made away with by the scratch of a pen of some Under Secretary of State, he was grieved beyond all description (hear, hear). Well, then, the question was, federal government. He thought, however, that the idea of adding to the troubles of the British Parliament, by send- ing in a lot of coloni 1 representatives, would not be beneficial. The British Parliament had enough of representation already, and had quite sufficicjnt work to do. To amend matters, Mr. Labilliere started off with an intelligent scheme, and it must be admitted that it would be a delightful thing if it could be achieved. But in his opinion the scheme was not practicable. He would, never- theless, like to see an Imperial Parliament, dealing exclusively with Imperial questions in' an Imperial spirit ; for we see now Parliament discussing whether a certain apartment is a vault or a chamber, and whether one part of Hyde Pai-k is more grassed than another (laughter). Wo wanted something to sweep such vestry matters out of the Legislature. Questions of only local importance were continually being discussed, whilst a half-dozen vestrymen could more readily settle them. Mr. Wh ALLEY, M.P., asked if the power to deal with waste lands had not been surrendered by some scratch of the pen — as it was described — how could Parliament have dealt with them satisfac- .'i" \! h^ ■Jl lit 88 CONFER£.VCJS ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. lorily, constitutod as it was ? Thero had been a question in Pavlia- " ni"nt as to whetlior tlio Thanio.s Eiiil»ankrncnt l)(^lonG:od to a par- ticular portion of the community, when it was dec-ided that the ground was th(! property of the Crown, to ho (h'sposed of only for the benefit of those approved of. He was not a colonist, but he thought the question at issue might be disposed of like that of the Thames EmbanhuK^nt. On the whole, therefore, he could not but think that the ])olic} of England in respect to the Colonies had been liberal and generous, and was carried out in a liberal and Bclf-sacrificing spirit. Mr. EnwAKB Jenkins said it was important that, in attempting to criticise such a pa])er as that read by Mr. Labilliore, it should be remembered that all we could do was to show what the condi- tions of federalism must be, if it were proved to be suitable to the ])rosperity of the Empire. Now, last night he endeavoured to show what Mr. "Wilson, who was a man of far more experience than many, had already testified, that the present relations between the Colonies and the mother-country could not long be maintained. They had also seen that the question of federalism was one which was becoming more and more a practical one ; and they also saw that every year, and he might add every month, the ImjK'rial Parliament seemed to be making more and more fatal concessions and declarations M-ith reference to the kind of policy which on colo- nial matters was likely to bo piirsued. If they believed it would be a policy which would be injurious, they ought to begin now and see if something better could be substituted (hear, hear). Until they had awakened the mind of the whole Empire on the subject — until they had aroused men to see the evils which stood in the way — it was impossible to propound any scheme against whi(;h such men as the Earl of Airlie, Mr. II. Ji. Torrens, and others could not object. If that was so, they might get rid of some of the argu- ments brought forward this afternoon. ]\Ir. Torrens, for instance, said it would be impossible to induce Parliament to give up its rights of legislation as Lords and Commons. If he was right, it was useless to argue ; but until they had ascertained whether the English Parliament was likely to continue so thick-headed as thai, they might stand their ground (hear). It was also equally to be admitted that imtil they had shown that the Colonies were likely to give up something on their pai-t, the subject would not be prac- tical at all. But what they had to do now was, to touch the chords, and see if they gave out an uncertain sound ; and if they did, all they could do was to retire, and wish it had been other- ■wi loo foil rmi of thi| of f,H« haj daj col! lofj no go ve til ■^I^^^ISim^^^xsm^ D/SCUSS/OiV. 89 arlfa- pnr- t tho y for it he f the t but had and vim. What ho thought thoir partirular ])roviuco to do was, to look at tho liistory of ft dnral g-ovornuu^nts, and soo which of any form suggested wha most ])ractieal)h\ If thoy referred to the two methods whifli I\Ir. Lalnllicro had thrown out — and tlie hroaehiii"- of these two methods showed that ho liad well studied the suhject— thoy would have something for their guidance. One was tho form of federal governnu'nt which consisted of an aggregation of other governments, each of which sent memhers to represent it in the fed(ral council, and paid its quota into tho federal treasury. It hud hoen ]iointed out that that form of federalism had many dangers. Tlio chief danger alleged was that there might come a collision between a local and tho Imperial Government. But if we looked at the I'^uited States we saw the other form, where the}' had not only local governnicnts, but also representatives in the central government. If we reviewed tho working of tlie whole plan, how very strong was tho tie which bound them together. It was one time a questioir during the late war whether Pennsylvania was going with the Xf)rlh or South ; yet when tho time came, and it was found that all tho great Northern States were in favour of the Union, the effect was so great upon the i)ublic mind, that he remem- bered hearing one man, who was a judge in Philadelphia, and who had previously declared the right of secession, repudiate the very words he had spoken but three weeks before. Now suppose that had been a separate government, instead of one simply allied togo ther with others, that government would have gone with the South ; it would have bi'cn cut oiF from connection with thc^ Union, and a sad state of things would have followed. Before tht; United States were formed into their present constitution, they were joined in an impracticable bond. Each State acted in its separate interest. His belief was, considering the peculiar con- formation of the British Empire, that the form of a real federal union, and not the mere consensus of a number of governments iji a federal treaty, would be the only hopeful form in which any federation could be brought about. If thoy started upon the basis laid down tho other night — the unity of our race — he was certain that if they appcah.'d to the people of our Colonies, they would respond with all heartiness; and he was also equally certain, if colonists appealed to us, wo, the English people at home, would also respond with equal enthusiasm. Mr. DicNNisTouN Wood was of opinion that such was the growth of the Colonies that in a short time it would bo too late to make the alterations proposed, whilst at the present time a union might be K.:S Mi 90 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QLESTIONS. offectGd without iniu-.h difTiculty. Lot thorn look, for instance, at Victoria, a division ol' Australia. In IS^jI tho population was 7(),0U0, but now it was nearly 700,000. Tho area of land in occu- pation was last year 9,530,038 acres, and the number of holdings 'exceeding- one acre ol,S42. There wore,8,G77,947 acres enclosed, and 919,0 1't under tillage. Comparing these figures with the corresponding numbers of the previous year, it was found that the number of holdings had increased by 1,028, tlu.' amount of pur- chased hind by 29l,07G acres, Crown Lmd in occu])ation for non- pastoral purposes by 389,470 acres, and tho total area in occupalion by 081,162 acres. The amount of land enclosed was increased by 023,324 acres, and that of land under tillage by 81,481 acres. These figures showed the rate, or he miglit say rapidity, with which Victoria, as a sample of our Colonies, M'as increasing. Let them also look at the United States, and bear in mind that they were being developed with wonderful rai)idity. AVhen they sepa- rated from the mother country the jiopuhition was only o, 01)0,000, but now it was 60,000,000, about double that of the United King- dom. There was no doubt that in duo time the navy of the United States would be superior to that of England. Men must be awakened by such truths as these, and the conviction of a grand federation of States, forming a British l^npire by the union of our Colonies with the mother-country, for Imperial purposes could not longer be resist(;d (applause). He approved cf the remarks of ]\Ir. Jenkins as to their duty to touch the chords, for there was a duty for all men interested in the Colonics and the prosperity of England to perform, by directing public attention to the future. It was perhaps not material at present to go into the question of what should be the form of the federation which men of intelligence wore beginning to desire ; but, keeping our eyes on the future, agitate the question amongst our friends by asking, " Is it desirable that some fcm of federation should be established F " and, if so, should not the details of the plan be left for after-consideration ? Mr. FuEDEUicK Young said the impression of his mind was that what was now desirable was the sympathy of all parties, both in the Colonies and in England, towards the attainment of some description of federation. lie felt convinced that the public mind was ready to entertain the question ; and all that was wanted at present, was some means for directing or moulding public opinion on the subject (hear, hear). It appeared to him that if the feelings of all Englishmen were ascertained — whether living in the mother-country or in the Colonies — the result would be favom- abl' liim iruii Hidtj ovel 1>"M (M. \\\A use ^i.'i't/'i DISCUSSION. 01 "CO, at n was occu. •losed, tlie ut the pur- non- i.ifion 3(1 by tfi'ce. (i1»l(' towards a confederation, and moans a-ouM be found for accoinplisliing what was desired. Reference had boon made to the l;ind.s of the C()lonies, and Mr. Wilson bad .said what was very iruo, that the lands had been carelessly and without sullieient con- widcration given up by the mother-country. JMr. Whallcy, how- over, endeavoiivcd to defend the actions of the Government on this point, but it was perhaps too late now to raise the question, and he (Mr. Youni?) did not think that it would materially ad'cct the matter at issue. All he rose to say was, that it was desirable to ascertain the state of public opinion on the subject of federation ; iind, from the discussion which had followed the paper, it seemed lliat there were somo difiicultiea in the way of obtaining such f.deration, but they were far ft'om being insurmountable. Mr. Stuanoways was of opinion that the question would have to be dealt with by practical men, tible to look at all its bearings. It had not escaped his notice that speakers had dealt with the question from an Imperial point of view alone, and scarcely made a reference to the colonial side of the question. Now what would confedera- tion give the Colonies:' He failed to see that it would be of any practical benefit to them. The suggestion that had been made, that there should be a sort of federal council, reminded him of the Federal Customs Union in Australia, which did not work well, owing to the jealousies of the various parties interested. He would not detain the attention of the Conference longer, but would ask them simply to look at the matter from a plain practical point of view, and not be led away by sentiment. Mr. Labillieue in reply began by noticing the assertion of Mr. Strangways that the colonial side of the question had scarcely been referred to, and observed that, aniong considerations of great importance to the Colonies, alluded to in the paper, was the fol- lowing, upon which Mr. Wood had also dwelt : — The United States of America had got so far the start in population, that Australia, tiiough a large country, must, if independent, for years remain a second-rate power compared with the United States ; whereas, if she continue connect(Ml with P^ngland, she would form an im])ortant part of , the greatest Empire in the world. Now, with respect to lederation, Mr. Jenkins had pointed out that the most substantial form would be one in which the people of the various States shoiild return members to the Parliament of the Empire, and he instanced the case of America. But he (IMr. Liibilliere) assumed that our confederation need not be so close and complete as the federation of the United States. We should not require that our 92 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. system of administration and laws should he similar to those of thn American Confederation. Our union would he for imrposcs of d<.'- fence and foreign relations. Ho therefore helioved that a coti- foderation of Governments was praciicahle for our Empii-e ; but tli'^ system he prt:ferred, and which, he believed, was also practicable, was that thorough representation contended for by Mr. Jenkins. It was said by one gentleman that he (IMr. Labilliere) had not dealt with India, and it was desirable that India should be included. Ho did not refer to India for the reason, that he confined himself to the question of a union of peoples speaking our own languagt^, and who wore of our own flesh and blood. If it could be arranged for India to be in the federation, so much the better ; but if such arrangement were impracticable, for the simple reason that tlio people of India were a diflferent race to outaclv'es, India must stand on a different footing, and would be no obstacle to our union. With respect to the remarks of the noble lord (Earl Airlie) who had pointed out that there were certain obligations entered into by England for the protection of certain European interests, and, therefore, it would be difficult to form a federation which would endorse England's responsibilities on the Continent, he (Mr. Labilliere) would not for a moment have it suppcjsed that he, or any person who desired to sec a confederation, was care- less about the honour of Eng'and, or willing that she should annul all her existing obligations. It was, however, right to suppose that upon a new system of government being esta- blished, there would be nothing dishonourable in getting rid, in a fair way, of existing obligations as soon as possible, and then abstaining from making fresh ones. Then he was told that the English Parliament would bo too proud to give up Imperial affairs; but what had bccm the case with Prussia ? Had a feeling of that kind existed in Germany or Italy, they would not have seen what had now been so gloriously accomplished with respect to those powers. Germany and Italy would have been divided to this day (hear, hear). Had Sardinia refused to give up much, Sardinia would have been the same to-day as she was a few y(>ars ago — a small, weak State ; had Prussia, there would bene German Empire. He hoped, therefore, that the qi .stion would bo taken up with an unprejudiced spirit, and he doubted not that the more wo con- sidered it — the more we weighed the difficulties alleged to belong to it, and placed them against the advantages which the proposed sys- tem would produce — the sooner should we arrive at the conclusion that an Imperial and Colonial Foderatic>n was highly desirable. He did but 1 of to el andl sidj EMIGRA TTOiY, 93 of tho of dr- ^ con- mt til.. cable, '"Jvins. dealt . He klf to did no( expect that we should all at once arrive at that conclusion, but tho sooner we began to do so the better. It was a question of growing iiiiportance, and every day was increasing in intercut to every well-wisher of the prosperity and haj^piness of England and of her great and wide spread colonial dominions. ki the evening sitting the Duke of Manchestek pre- sided. A paper was read on — Emigration. By Mr. Edward Clarke. It must, of course, be obvious to all that it would be impossible for me to deal in a single paper with all the aspects of the emigration question. To discuss the evils which require to be remedied ; to distinguish between those which afiect individuals and those which are directly hostile to the well-being of the State ; to deal with the characteristics and effects of the different ex- periments which have already been made ; to trace the results upon the condition of the emigrants themselves, as well as upon the country which they leave, and that in which they seek their new home ; to explain the different conditions under which emigration must be conducted with reference to the position of the country to which it is directed, and to prove by details the ad- vantages which are offered in new countries to tho industrious settler ; to discuss tho economic results of emigration and the political effects of colonisation — this would be a task not perhaps of great difficulty, for abun- dant materials are ready at hand, but certainly of great extent. If I were to try and deal in this paper with one half the matters I have mentioned, I could give only a vm 94 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. vague and scanty outline, which might be interesting, but could scarcely have much practical value. It seems to me there is a more modest task to which I may usefully devote the time which your kindness allows to me, and I shall best define the work I propose to do by saying a few words on the present aspect of the emigration question. I am sure I need say nothing in support of emigration itself, considered as a remedy for individual distress. No one doubts that for particular classes of working men — for those who have industry and intelligence, and the patience which is the useful handmaid to those active virtues — it is a good thing to pass from the overcrowded labour-markets of an old country to a land where the riches of nature wait ready for the worker's call. To the individual who has the qualities I have named it is clearly a gain in health and pocket — a gain physi- cally and morally to escape from the crushing compe- tition which crowds the avenues of labour in this country, and makes his earnings here small and precarious. That this is fully recognised w^e see by the steady and increas- ing current of emigration which flows from our shores, and by the fact that private charity has stepped forward so nobly within the last few years to assist the deserving poor to obtain the benefits I have named. No real question arises upon this ; it is simply a matter of statis- tics, and of the difi"ercnt prospects off'ered by different countries. The real question arises when we take the next step. The individual is undoubtedly benefited ; but what of the country which he leaves ? Is his de- parture an advantage to that too ? Is it so great and so general an advantage that it becomes the interest and duty of the State to help him on his way ? This, of course, opens a different set of considerations. The question ceases to be one of individual interest ; we can onl con obt gn EMIGRA TION. 95 only consider that with reference to the interest of the community at largo. Now on this subject I cannot profess to speak exactly as one who is examining and inquiring into the matter. I shall try to deal as fairly as possible with any argument I may mention, whether to support or attack it ; but as a member of the council of the Emigration League I have long ago accepted the principle of State emigration, and with many now present in this room have striven to obtain its public recognition. We have to deal with the gravest problem which can test the resources of states- manship. Here in this room, as at the council of the League, are members of every political party, yet I think no one will deny that the questions of party politics upon which we differ so widely, and are ready to fight so vigorously, sink into insignificance when compared with the great question of the condition of the people. We have in England a stately civilisation, historic institu- tions, strong class distinctions, enormous and fast-increas- ing wealth. The statistics of every twelve months tell us of the ships that crowd our ports, and lay the wealth of the world upon our shores. We have striven to administer wisely the organised charity of a Christian people ; the State has made itself the supporter of the helpless poor, and all our towns are full of the noble institutions by which private benevolence supplements its work. Yet with all this, what do we see ? The stream of wealth seems to gather itself into few channels ; our rich men become more and more wealthy ; their homes are filled with luxury in its most artistic elaboration ; while in the labourers' cottages of Dorset and of Wilts, and in the crowded alleys of London, and Liverpool, and Manchester, and Birmingham, there is a poverty over which the philanthropist may weep, and at which the statesman should tremble. I ilWi' 96 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. ill I am not going now to discuss the exact proportion which the pauper class bears to the rest of the popula- tion, and the circumstances which cause that proportion to vary from year to year. If I did, it is quite probable that my figures might become the subject of trivial dis- pute, and in the wearisome discussion of one thousand or ten thousand, less or more, the main fact and its meaning might be partly forgotten. We are often met, when calling attention to this matter, with the answer " There is nothing new in what you talk about ; there is not more poverty than there used to be ; why should we be called on for new-iangled remedies for a disease as old as society itself ? " I do not believe the answer is true; but I know it is irrelevant. I do not care to discuss whether there is more misery now than there was last year or last century. It is enough for me that the misery is there. So long as it exists among us we are bound, by every law of Christian morality, to do what we can to relieve it. Besides, our statistics as to pauperism, upon which so much official eloquence is based, do not represent the whole truth. For every family which is in receipt of parish relief, there are three or four who manage, by scanty and precarious earnings, helped by the admirable charity of the poor, to keep themselves free from what they look upon as a disgrace ; and this, I think, constitutes the most dangerous class. Paupers are dangerous to the pockets of the ratepayers ; the struggling poor who arc too proud to accept public charity are dangerous to every political institution we have. When we look for the causes of this poverty I think we must confess that they lie at the very sources of our great prosperity. Of course there are certain causes which we may hope to remove by the operation of social reforms and the extension of moral influences. But these causes — such as drunkenness, for instance — seem to ml etj \v| ml EMIGRA riOX. 97 'Mii' to me to affect individuals rather than cLasses. But ad- mitting for the sake of argument that they have great effect, still the reform of social hahits takes more than a generation for its accomplishment, and a little thought will show that there is a cause of wider and more per- manent influence than these. Vast as the world's markets are, our means of pro- duction increase faster than the demand for our produce. In a crowded community the increase of population would always create a serious difficulty, but during the last half century that difficulty has been increased in England by the extension of mechanical powers. I need hardly say, but I do so to avoid the possibility of misap- prehension, that of course I fully acknowledge the great ultimate advantage of every extension of machinery. But it is quite consistent with the fullest recognition of this, that I should point out facts which are incidental to its adoption. The very test of the value of a machine is the extent to which it dispenses with manual labour. Our luxuries become easy of acquisition precisely in propor- tion to the number of labourers throw^n out of employ. But the demand increases. That is quite true, but the increase is always a gradual one, and in some cases — as, for instance, in agricultural labour — the area of produc- tion cannot be extended. And in the most favourable circumstances there are a certain number of workmen who cannot adapt themselves to the new processes, and the introduction of new machinery causes at all events a temporary distress. Besides, the natural increase in popu- lation is always increasing the productive capacities of the nation ; and where in a manufacturing country the rapid extension of machinery and the rapid increase in the population go on together, it is inevitable that the labour market should become overcrowded. There is yet another view of this matter. Machinery requires 98 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS, a large area for its full advantage to be obtained ; it helps to produce large farms and large manufactories, and these tend to cause fresh adaptations of its power. There is in these a great subdivision of labour, thus each opera- tion becomes more simple, and mechanical force is easily apphcd to its performance. Thus not only, other things remaining unaltered, is the demand for manual labour diminished, but the tendency of capital to become concentrated in few hands is greatly increased. On the farm as in the manufactory the small capitalist has less and less chance ; the persons actually em- ployed are mere hired labourers, while, owing to our great prosperity, capital is so plentiful, and when in- vested produces so small interest that it seems hardly sufficient to pay for the labour and self-denial required for the accumulation of small amounts. To the ordinary worldng man £25 would be a considerable amount to save from his earnings. If he invests it in a Government savings bank I think he will get about 14s. a year in- terest, and as human nature is constituted this does not offer a very great inducement to thrift. Here, then, is the problem we have to face ; how is it to be dealt with ? Three remedies have been suggested, but with two of them I have little concern now, so I may dismiss their consideration with a very few words. The first is the restriction on the increase of population by the operation of moral restraint. With regard to this it is sufficient for my present purpose to say that it involves a process of education and a change in the feelings of the people so great, that it must require a long period before it can have any great effect among us. And it requires also the attainment of a higher standard of living among our working classes, which is the very thing that some other means more speedy in operation must be found to effect. To the second remedy I myself attach very great import- aii laf fa eci la w bll til II ii n I s EMIGRA TION. 99 and |easi]y IS ance. It is the extension of the principle of co-operative labour. Unfortunately co-operation, so-called, has become fashionable among us in a form which is of no great economical value, and which rather tends to obscure the larger and more useful applications of the principle. But with regard to this also time is required, and what we want is something which shall begin to produce a sensi- ble alteration at once. There remains the plan of emigra- tion, and to that our attention is directed this evening. I have already pointed out the advantage of emigration to individuals. There are a few other considerations to be mentioned with regard to its effect upon the whole people. If the State is to share the burden of the expense of sending out emigrants, it has clearly a right to impose restrictions, and to a certain extent to select the persons who are to go, and it seems to me that at the present time there are two limitations which may properly be made. In the first place, State emigration should always be directed to our own Colonies ; in the second place, we should send out as far as possible Colonists and settlers, men who would not merely swell in the new country the ranks of hired labourers, but would plant themselves upon the land, and so create a fresh labour-market. To the first of these stipulations an objection was not long ago made in an unexpected quarter. Mr. Gladstone, at the end of a speech upon this subject in the House of Com- mons, said we had no right to dictate the place to which emigrants were to go. "I own," he said, "it seems to me a most questionable exercise of power, ay, an exercise of power which it is impossible to defend, to say, ' We recognise your destitution and our obligation to relieve it, but we insist upon your going to the British Colonies.' " It is curious to find so obvious a fallacy so transparently put. There is no exercise of power in the legitimate sense of the words involved in the matter. The State, I 'I mmgm loo CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. Jii for its own ultimate advantage, consents to confer upon a certain number of individuals a very considerable benefit. It may clearly make conditions upon which this benefit shall be granted. You might as well call it an indefensible exercise of power when giving sixpence to a beggar to stipulate that it shall be spent in bread and not in brandy, or, when giving liberty to a convicted felon, to stipulate that he should accept a £5 note and an outfit, and take his passage to the United States. The boon being offered on certain terms, those who accept it accept the conditions also, and they can obviously have no gi'ound for complaint. Of course, if in the case we are now considering the condition was plainly absurd and capricious, the people generally would have a right to complain. The State is by the hypothesis acting not for individual benefit, but for the general interest of the community, and it may be, and I think it is, essential to the obtaining of that general advantage that this Hmita- tion should be imposed. If the limitation be defensible as a matter of justice, its wisdom politically and econo- mically can scarcely be a matter of dispute. Politically the emigrant to our Colonies does not change his country or his allegiance. He is adding strength to us instead of to those who must be our rivals and may be our enemies ; he is strengthening at once the power and the resources of the Empire to which we belong. Besides, the market which he helps to create is a market specially for the produce of the old country. He will naturally prefer the comforts and luxuries he has been in the habit of seeing in his former home, and thus will become a steady customer in our markets. Nor is there the danger in his case that the advantage which would thus be received by the land of his birth Mill be neutralised by hostile fiscal laws. Experience has tested and confirmed these argu- ments by showing that in English Colonies the consump- ti hi foi si C( (13 cii oj tc r( d \\ a mmm asm ^ E.}riGRA TION. lOf poll ii «oiit. Giiofit ar to ot ill n, to utfit, 30011 •opt no are and t to tfor tiiu \ to lita- -C( tion of English produce is about three times as much per head as it is in the United States. Here then is, as it seems to me, the obvious remedy for the evils which afflict our Focial state. We have a surplus population producing in our labour market a cruel competition for employment. It might be relieved by diminishing the numbers, it might be relieved by in- creasing the market for our produce. Let us do both at once. If we send abroad ten thousand of our workmen to settle on the fertile soil of Canada or Australia we reduce competition at home, w^e raise the average wages of daily labour, and we at the same time increase the demand for our productions by establishing a Colony which will naturally be a better customer to us than to any other country, and which will pay foi our goods in those natural products of which we stand so much in need. The word emigration has indeed to some ears an unpleasant sound. There is an idea of expatriation about it, of leaving friends and country, and finding in a foreign land new manners, a strange language, and unfamiliar laws. But this does not apply very strongly to emigration to our own Colonies. There the speech is the same, the laws are the same, the habits and the memories of the people are for the most part familiar, there is no change of allegiance or nationality. It is really a shifting from one part of the country to another. Looked at in this way, the economical argument becomes conclusive. We shall all confess that the easy adjustment of the supply of labour to the demands, which are always varying in different localities, is of great importance to the country. Much has been done in England of late years to secure this, and it is one of the best things we owe to the organisation of trades' unions that they have been able to draft the surplus labour of one locality to meet the special demands of another. That is really all ' 'Si'!- m ii^ •an 102 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. A ■ 1 i 1 V ■IH, wo desire to do. The work to be done lies in our Colonics ; the workmen hero are standing with folded Lands for want of work to do. Lot us bring the two together. Hero we shall lighten distress, shall relievo the rates by which the pauper class are supported, and shall take away the class which is out of sympathy with our institutions, and which is fast becoming accustomed to schemes of social revolution. There we shall utilise the waste, though fertile, acres, we shall found now communities, allied to us by every tie, growing rapidly in wealth, and raising up a market which will re-act for the benefit of England herself, by increasing the demand for her manufactures, and supplying her people in a fuller measure with the means of life. I have already said that it does not come within my purpose to enter into detail as to how this plan should be carried into practical eJQTect. I am glad to know that my paper is to be followed by an address upon facilities for emigration, by one whose great services to the cause give him a pre-eminent claim to be heard ,upon this subject. Still keeping to my own branch of the question, which I may call the economic aspects of State emigra- tion, I will devote the remainder of this paper to con- sidering one or two of the objections which have been made to the principle. The arguments I have suggested in its' support seem to me on the face of them to be unanswerable. I have shown the individual benefit, and that is never denied ; I have shown the immediate relief and the ultimate material advantage to the country from which the emigrant goes ; I have shown the political and material benefits obtained by the country in which he seeks his home. But we must be prepared in this matter for a vigorous and, I fear, a not very scrupulous oppo- sition. It is not the opposition of opinion, nor even of prejudice, but the more pertinacious opposition of per- tlj a 01 SI 14 ^»S^stebe8«A*S*kii»» EMIGRA TION. 103 " our folded two oJievo and with omcd utilise new ^yin r the for fuller sonal interests. To a large number of persons among us, the state of things which the supporters of emigration desire to remedy is of direct personal advantage. It is of course to the interest of the employer that there should be a quantity of surplus labour. It not only keeps down the ordinary rate of Tvages, but enables him at once to take full advantage of any sudden rise in the markets. He is not at all likely to join those who would send this surplus away for the express purpose of raising the wages of those who remain, or at all events, of making their earnings less precarious. Of course this feeling will never be distinctly avowed. It is covered under various masks in order to make its selfishness the less apparent. We are told, for instance, that the men do not want to go. Ask them. The objection is made for them, but they never make it themselves. Go into any large public meeting and speak to working men about emigration to the English Colonies — not the emigration in which the poor man slips away with just sufficient scraped together to land him on a foreign shore, there to meet a chilly welcome from the workmen with whom he has come to compete — not even emigration in which private charity helps to send him away, and he feels some loss of self-respect in taking the gift, but of a scheme in which the State offers the means of transfer, watches over his welfare until he is safely landed, nor leaves him even then, but arranges for his reception and makes some provision for his tiding over the difficulties of the first year, and says to him when he leaves the mother country, "Re- member we are not losing you, you are still one of us ;"' speak to working men of a scheme like this, and you will hear such a response as will never leave your conscience the hardihood to repeat that they do not wish to go. But when we talk of a scheme like this, it is said, and people sometimes talk as if the answer were conclusive, imif^^ 104 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. \ '• that in this case there is no economical advantage, for capital is taken away as well as labour. The objection was put in its broadest form by Mr. Hume, in 1H27, when dis- cussing Mr. Wilmot Morton's proposal to devote public money to the assistance of emigration. Said Mr. Hume : *' The practical result of this project might be to send away beggars from England to make beggars of those who remained behind, for what other result could follow from sending .4'20,0U(),{)()0 out of the country, which if left in would be expended in some way or other among the working classes ? " This in one form or another is probably the objection upon which most stress will always be laid, and to its consideration I will devote the few minutes for which I propose to detain you. In the lirst place, we must remember that surplus labour is unproductive labour. It cannot support itself, therefore it must be supported in some way or other out of the wages of other people. And you do not make it pro- ductive by giving it money. If the country were at once to devote £20,000,000 to be distributed among the poor of the working classes, it would do more harm than good ; the money would be spent and the poor would remain as poor as ever. There would be just the same ditierence as there is between giving a young man a thousand pounds and buying him a farm or a business. He may spend the money in that Avay if he is left to himself, but it is best to make sure by giving him the means of future income rather than the sum of money which he may spend in a year. Now, in the case before us I doubt very much whether a scheme of State emigration carefully conducted need be of any great expense. It would not be difficult to make stipu- lations for repayment of the money advanced, and I feel sure that the class of men who would ask for such assist- ance would be debtors whom in most cases it would be safe to trust. But suppose the money has to be absolutely spent. w mt ^- -^ — ^ EMIGRA TION. 105 'ill iipital i« put 1 (li.s- 'iibJic uine : •Send hoso 'How if '^v is wliiit then ? We point out tliat now enormous sums arc spent in poor-rates ; that it is the sur[)ius population which makes those rates so heavy ; as a mere matter of calcuhition it woukl bo cheaper to spend a considerable sum at once, and so diminish the pressure. Not only would the immediate pressure be decreased by the absorption of the pauper class into the ranks of the wage earners (for of course we do not propose to send out the paupers them- selves), but we should bo steadily making provision for an extension of the market for our goods, and therefore for a constant check to the tendency which now exists for the means of production to outrun the demand for the pro- ducts. And the fact that capital must be sent out as well as labour, if wo desire to make this scheme eltectivo, is no disadvantage, rather the contrary. It is not want of capital which causes dilhculty among us. There is a very popular misconception as to the relation of capital to labour, and its eticct upon the rate of wages. A very large proportion of our capital does not go into the wage- fund in this country at all. There is not room to employ it here, so it is drafted oft' into foreign speculations and foreign loans. An illustration will make the matter simple. The proprietor of a farm in the course of a particular year introduces machinery which enables him to dispense with the labour of one-third of his men. Whatever his capital may be, he cannot go on employing them, there is no room for them to do useful work upon the farm. If in the very same year he has doubled his capital by fortunate sales it will make no dift'orence, the men will not be wanted and will not be employed. As for his surplus capital there is no room for that either upon the farm, so he must employ it somewhere else. This is just a parallel to our case in England. Agricul- turally we are limited by our acreage ; in manufactures we are limited by the demand for our goods. In both BMgMlSsMj^a ■mIh mmmmm io6 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. respects we seem to have reached the limits. It must be so, for we have abundance of surplus capital and a mass of unemployed labour. Why should they not go together and lay the foundations of flourishing communities in distant hands. It is said the proposal is sociaHstie, and a great master of language has denounced it as a proposal to support individuals at the expense of the community, but not for duties done to the community. I hope we are not to be frightened by an ugly word or tricked by a phrase. If socialism or communism has anything that is good, let us deprive it of the advantage by doing the good thing ourselves. I am communist enough to believe that there is no right of property in a good princij^jle. As to the phrase, v/hat it denounces is exactly what is done by our present poor-law ; but that is not the true answer. The fact is, our proposal is not to support individuals, but to help them to support themselves ; and we would do it not to benefit them, but to secure a permanent advantage to the State. England spends vast sums upon her means of warfare and the administration of her laws, let us not be afraid to make an investment for which those who are — *' In Fortune's bridewell whipp'd To the laborious task of bread " — may through many generations have cause to bless us. ofl col SlJ til St ei rti Bl t(f The Earl of Airlie said he was impressed with the greatness of the subject, but ho must own that he was not yet a convert to what was called State emigration. He ai)proachod the question with caution, but not without confidence ; because he knew ho should be followed by one or two honourable gentlemen who very strongly had opposite views to himself. But he did not wish them to understand that he was opposed to assisted emigration. There were in England many men who were anxious and willing to worlc, but who could not obtain employment, and he could not conceive n |t be lass fther f in |stie, IS a the my. or I has [age DISCUSSION. 107 of any spectacle more painful than that (hear, hoar). Neither could ho conceive of any better application of money than assisting such persons to emigrate. But when thoy came to deal with the question of emigration as supported by the State, it was another thing. It was nothing but a system of out-door relief on a largo scale (" No, no "). We were told what were our duties respecting emigration, but he thought the Colonies had duties to perform in relation to that subject. There was an Act passed in the United States which gave a certain number of acres of land — about 100 — to an immigrant on the sole condition that he should reside on the ground, build a house there, and fence the land within a certain time, as well as bring the land in+o a proper state of cultivation. It was called the Homestead and Public Works' Act. In Canada, between Lake Ontario and Montreal, he believed that there would be plenty of work for many years, and he should like to see an extensiN'B and well-organised system of emigration to that Colony. Ho hoped, from what ho had said, that he should not be put down as one of those bigoted persons who were opposed to emigration. Mr. Macfie, M.P., had listened with great pleasure to the interesting and well-written paper brought before them by Mr. Clarke ; but to his mind he felt that one of the difficulties which was experienced in connection with promoting systems of emigra- tion was that of discriminating between a good labourer willing to work and one who was idle. Another difficulty was the jealousy which existed between the Colonics. Difficulties of that kind would occur, and. he had sometimes thought it would be well if they could promote a sort of competition between various parts of the Empire for emigration. There were many line, healthy, moral persons would emigrate if good terms were ofiered. The greatness of every State depended on the niimber of its people, but that principle had been forgotten. Now what was the value of a married couple. It was set down at £500. Ho hold in his hand a report of the Emigration Commissioners ; but who were these commissioners ? Very few persons knew. One of the most im- portant parts of the British possessions, containing large portions of land, was South Africa, embracing the two Colonics of the Cajo and Natal — the very centre of our Empire, and producing most valuable conmiodities — yet tho word Africa did not occur in the whole of the report (laughter). There was also in South Africa, the diamond fields, daz/ling and attractive enough to anybody, yet onxigration was not recommended there. Thus for want of a proper system of emigration many persons went to the United flfcHMP**'' '<■ 1 1 ! io8 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. States, and wo lost them. They were English subjects, and vft they hecame thu .siiltjects of a foreign power. Yet there was land enough in our Colonies for them. Last year nearly three-quarters of a million of money was obtained for the sale of land which was given up for nothing by our Government — land which ought to be obtained by our working men who were idle because there was no work for them to do in England. The people were growing more anxious to emigrate, but the Government of this country had not pluck enough to see what was required for the solidification of the Empire. He would implore every person who desired to see the prosperity of England, go forth and argue against this shame- ful policy which prevailed — the policy of "We wovdd rather do nothing." He thought the Colonies should employ the money obtained from waste lands for emigration purposes. Mr. George Potter, editor of the liechivc, who was introduced as representing the interests of working men, said emigration was a subject which had sunk deep into the hearts of the people, and must soon be one of the greatest subjects which this country has had yet to deal with The last speaker told them of the 105,000 p]nglish people who left this country, but he did not tell them that G4,000 went to the United States. If such was a fact, there must be a sad want of facilities for emigrating to our own Colonies, He knew that if there could be a uniform rate of passage to Australia, or in other words, equal facilities for going there as there were for going to America, a large number of persons would go to Australia instead of the United States, and thus there would not be so great a necessity for importing labourers from the Polynesian Islands. When he formed one of a deputation to Mr. Gladstojie, he said that if Government would facilitate voluntary emigration, not compulsory, it would be a great boon ; but Government refused. They were, however, in a corner now, and would have to do something, and if this Conference could influence them in this direction it would render great service to the country. But wl^- did people go to the United States, it was because there were greater facilities for going there and great advantages when they got there, and he was sure that if England desired to keep her own, and maintain her position, she would have to do something for her distressed subjects and for the advancement of her Colonies. We could not contend in war, as the author of " Ginx's Baby " told them the other night, but if England was too narrow to employ all her labourers, she should facilitate their departure to waste lands, and thus bring into operation the maxim, "Spare hands to waste lands. ' He givi she inoi bul tri grj to et ilSl amammMm DISCUSSION. I0() Vft [•rtcrs Was It to Was had |>n of see fnic- do fney He wanted the Government to see that employment should he given to those who were unemployed, or failing that, that they should he sent to the Colonies to ohtain it there. He had nothinj^ more to say, as but a few minutes could he allotted to each speaker, but he would assure them that the subject was one too great to he trifled with, and, as ho had said, was one which would soon bo the greatest question of our age. If England was what he wished her to he, and what she ought to he, she would give the subject of emigration her consideration, and then she would find the people as patriotic as they ought to be (cheers). Mr. R. R. ToiiuENS, M.P., eaid there were some remarks of Mr. Macfie's which induced him to come forward to make a reply. That gentleman had said that the strength of a country depended upon its population. Now that was a fallacious assertion, and he would express his views on that point in a few words. lie might as well have said that the blood which circulated through the v(!ins was a source of strength. It was no doubt so in one sense ; but if there was more than the heart could propel through the l)odily frame, and thus give vigour to the body, it was an occasion of great danger, and tended to apoplexy, or something of that sort. We had lately sent some agricultural men from Devonshire to labour in the North of England where wages M'ere better for tluit class of persons. But what had been the result ? The men had not been found strong enough to do their work, because whilst living in Devonshire and the South of Englard they had been subsisting on weak food and therefore had not the requisite stamina for the performance of manual labour. It was a great error to suppose that there was any economy in paying low wages. This he had heard stated by a gentleman in the House of Commons who paid a large amount of money as wages, and therefore the assertion was a practical one. He (Mr. Toriens) would therefore not advocate sending paupers to the Colonies, but persons who might otherwise become paupers (hear, hear). Mr.W. T. McCullaou Touhens, IM.P.,— I am glad that I have had the advantage of hearing the noble Earl and the gentlemen who have followed him in discussing the general question of emigration, before being called upon to ofler the results of my own observations and reflection with respect to the facilities which may be afforded advantageously to those amongst us who are minded to cast their lot in the newer lands which lie beyond the sea. These colonial lands vary, no doubt, widely in every incident of fertility, availability, salubrity, and profitableness ; but, after every deduction that can i 110 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. be made of those that lie in climates too rigorous or too relax- ing, and those that are situated too far from the coast or from navigable rivers, and for those which seem to be naturally sterile or to be overgrown, through some perverse freak of nature, with plants unfitted for the sustenance of man, there yet re- main in various latitudes and longitudes tracts of soil practically boundless, which, hitherto unoccupied, are capable of supporting in comfort, and even luxury, millions of our industrious people. At home these multitudes fluctuate periodically between the rush of protitable toil and the misery of absolute want. Our condition is this. The old home-farm of empire has come to bo more than chokefull. Within speaking distance (by telegraph), and, to the eager eye of hunger and hoiio, almost within sight of our over- crowded slums, there lie vast regions of unb^-oken soil capable of affording our surplus people the homes and the profitable work- fields that they want ; certain fences, toll-bars, and obstacles shut them in where they are in misery, and shut them out of those other parts of the (Queen's dominions where there would be health, happiness, and contentment. Why should we suffer these im- pediments to stand in the way ? Why should we not be prepared for our own sakes, for the sake of our struggling neighbours, for the sake of our own rate-paying purse, and for the sake of the glory and strength of the Empire, to make these obstacles to cease, and lay these senseless and stupid hindrances low ? I would not, for this parpose, have a burden laid upon home industry, which would appreciably add to its difliculties in waging the battle of life. I would not intentionally add the weight of a f .ather to t}!-" load which rate-paying industry has in this country to bear. My contention is, that every pound judiciously and fairly applied in prevent- ing poverty at home, by facilitating emigration, would save pounds squandered vainly in the attempt, by doles and alms and work- house fare, to revive self-respect, and to rekindle self-help in those who have once been broken down by poverty. I am for preven- tion, instead of cure ; or rather, I am for prevention of poverty, while it can be prevented, because I know that when that oppor- tunity is missed cure may be paid for, but cure is never had. In spite of all the conceited and pragmatical talk about i)Oor-law reform, and iu spite of all the dreary succession of Poor Law Amendment Acts, the miserable and, as I think, shameful fact, glares out at us day after day that we are spending more every year in the unthankful and unblessed work of rate- squandering ; that the proportion of our pauper population is increasing, not dill as itin exi inJ rei vei 8l| mOiliilll DISCUSSION. Ill relax- from sterile ature, ct re- iically artincr eople. tishof ion is than the vcr- of vork- shut those alth, i iin- )ared 3, for P the diminishing ; and that its condition is as wretched and as hopeless as before. The treacherous suggestion is, therefore, sometimes made, that we should try to ease off a portion of our burden by ex])orting paupers to the Coloni(,'s. That miserable proposal was insidiously made last year; but it was pi'oraptly and properly repudiated by the true friends of emigration, and \inaniinously vetoed by the agents-general of all the Colonics resident in London, when they were consulted regarding it. I rejoice to think that it should have been so, because I know that, next to convict labour, pauper labour is that which our thriving and discriminating brethren beyond the sea regard with the most intense aversion ; and because I feel that what we have to do for oiu' own sakes in this country, henceforth, is not to shirk our liabilities or to saddle the weight of any portion of them on others, but, by timely thought and care, to prevent their increase in future, and to save from perishing that surplus labour whoso emigration, if voluntary and healthful, would naught impoverish us, but would make the Colonies rich indeed. Tho first condition of healthful emigration is, in my judgment, that the emigrant should himself substantially help to pay the cost of it. The next essential condition is, I think, that the Colony, by helping him to go, should prove that it feels the want of him. And, lastly, the third condition I would make is, that the Imperial exchequer, out of its abundance, should con- tribute by cheapened modes of transit, to the dilfusion and, so to speak, to the equalisation of labour among all parts of the Empire. I therefore propose this simple plan, not as a perfect one — for I do not much believe in perfect plans for doing anything ; not as the best — for I am quite ready to take up any other which you may all deem preferable, if it holds out ihe promise of attaining the object by a more excellent way. But I otFer this for your consideration. Let public aid be limited wholly to the case of families. Let family tickets be given to those, and to those only who have been accepted as eligible by the representatives of the Colony to which they desire to go. Let the emigrant pay down in cash one-third of the passage-money for himself and for each member of his family, the Colony paying another third, and the Imperial treasury paying the remainder. Next year Victoria might refuse to con- tribute anything. Well, let her refuse. She has a perfect right to do so ; and whether she be right or Avrong, it is not for us to say. But we believe that New Zealand, Natal, and Upper Canada would be perfectly willing to contribute according to their wants and their means, if we would do so likewise. Why should MKi ■m l m^. WWI ■■" 112 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. they not ? — why should not we ? As for the working pcoplo thorn- solves, the question would solve itself without discussion. If thoy did not i)roduce their contrihutive share of the moans to provide thoni with escape for life fi'om the danger and dread of penury, tlie Exchequer would not be called upon to pay ; and if they did produce their quota, the colonial community would have the best of ill! proofs that they were acquiring provident and thrifty citizens, not idlers or " ne'er-do-weels." Coxcomb theorists and doctrinaires may lisp out the futile and ignorant objection that the surplus hands whom we would help to go would not be able to find the wherewithal to pay their contribution of a third. ]\!y Lord Duke, the impostor politicians who talk thus, know little of the people. We who have been working in this cause for now a considerable time can attest from practical experience how different is the honourable and generous reality from the heartless conjecture, which I have named only to denounce it. In the course of last year we found everywhere a marvellous power of solf-help lingering among those classes of the conmiunity which had not yet been forced to qualify for pau])er relief by breaking up their homes and severing all family ties. To win a ticket in an emigration club a man will resort to expedients which dilettante legislation and economical philosophy, falsely so called, can never divine or imagine. And in this, as in so many other ways, nothing is more true than the oft-repeated saying, " It is the poor w-ho help the poor." Besides the aid of friends and neighbours, a variety of clubs and societies are ready to assist young married couples with their childi'en to hive off to fresher and to fairer fields. There is a wise generosity and a true foresight among large classes of the people in this and other matters, which only wants recogni- tion and development to become a great element of Imperial policy. But, as I have already said, if the people's share of the cost of transit be not forthcoming, the Exchequer will not be called upon to contribute its third. All we ask is that it should make the ofl'er impartially to each Colony, at the beginning of every year, to enter into this triple partnership for the rescue of life and labour from niisery, and for the creation of new communities of English blood, language, habits, and traditions in the vacant places oi' the earth. Your Grace, who bears an historic name indelibly linked with the memorials of English liberty, has not shrunk from impressing the justice of such a policy ou the attention of the Upper House of Parliament ; and some of us in a humbler way have not failed to urge the same truths upon the House of Commons. We are not ai al| fi s(| ca n| vh ifl hi iJ \\ ll DJSCUSSIOX. "3 thoni- thoy •ovide Iponury. did '>estof |cns, not may whom ithal to ipostor Jiave 'noroii.s ^nly to ■here a i.sos of ify for all m will omical And 3 than poor." clubs with rhoro lasses discouraged because we have not at once been able to persuade majorities that the views wo advocate are sound. Most things that arc worth doing in public life are difficult to do. But if men are able to give a reason for the faith that is in them, if they have faith in their cause, faith in themselves, and faith in one another, sooner or later the vis ixertifc of selfish indifference will bo over- come, and that which is right will eventually prevail. We are a nation of thirty-one and a half millions of people, having an area, with our Colonies, ten times that of the United States. Yet a great many of the fields and vast tracts of land belonging to us abroad have never resounded with the bark of the shepherd's dog. I hold in my hand the last report of the Emigration Commissioners, npon which we have spent £9,700. It is 'certainly the dearest literary production I think I have ever seen, — it is about the most ex- pensive book I have ever read, and I have read a few books in my time. I should like to dissect it for you, and it will not take long. The vote in the estimates under the head of emigration, as I have said, is £9,700, and out of that sum £9,200 went to the Commissioners for rent of offices, salaries of senior officers, and deputy clerks, leaving the sum of £o00 to be spent in conveying poor emigrants from England to other lands. I intend to show up this production as one of the greatest pieces of jobbery con- nected with the administration of the affairs of the country, and as something of which Govcinmont ought to be ashamed, in the face of the piteous and importunate tears of women and young children wanting bread, and in face of the men of this country mournfully sitting at home depressed in spirit for the want of labour which they are willing to perform. When we made appli- cation for State aid we did not say, Send out any man, the idle or the infirm, but send health)^ honest labourers and industrious families. Send out those who would draw their "brothers, nephews, and cousins after them. These, hearing of their relatives doing well, would follow. Send them across the sea, which steam has made a passable ford between the Colonies and the mother-country. What is done when Parliament passes a Railway Act? Parliament when it grants the monopoly invariably makes this stipulation, that the company in whose favour the Act is granted shall run cheap trains, which the companies call parliamentary trains, for the working classes to travel by. This is done not for the benefit of the company, but for the good of society at large. And when this country pays, as it does, every year a million of money to great steam companies to keep up communication with the Colonies f i . t t.'^fft^^yt-v., ..n- wi w ^ )*!^^. ! ^ ri4 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTION R. in order that we may, if we choose, travel luxuriously in cabins like first-class hotels, it is forij^otten that the same principle ou<>ht to \w applied to ships as is appliod to railways. Why cannot third-class vessels be found by the Government at a small expense to th(> country, in order that workins^ people may have facilities for omi- grating. This would be a recognition of the princiide of helpiiio- a man to help himself, and going half way to help people over their difliculties. But we were told last session in the House of Conmions by IMr. Goschen that this country had no surplus labourers. I have sometimes gone into a workshop and askoil when I have seen men busy, if there were any surplus hands con- nected with their trade. The answer was sometimes a bitter laugh, oftener a stare of wonder. Without trespassing too long on the atten- tion of the Conference, I would briefly advert to what has occurnd in respect to emigration during the last few yeai-s. We have in per- sonal remembrance two separate periods with reference to emigration, and I hope you will keep in mind their distinctive features. From 1848 to the end of the year 18i>4 wo had what was called a national exodus. During and after the famine in Ireland the people fled for their lives. ]\Iany perished by the way, and many survived. But where are they ? They are gone for the most part to be aliens, if not enemies. Wo di-ovo them away. Wo said we could not help them. That exodus was a shame to this country. Wo sent them to swell the ranks of our great rivals; to strengthen the hands of the people who at the present time boast that they maintain a gigantic revenue by keeping up a tariff against us. There were 2,000,000 of persons who left us during that exodus, and of these one million and a half went to the United States. A great high priest of the sect of the economists wrote that Ireland ought to be weeded of her surplus population, because it was necessary and expedient that the population should die down to the means of sub- sistence. Another eminent politician who held this doctrine told us with a sneer which I shall never forget, that a great extirpation of one portion of the peasantry was likely to be useful in rectify- ing the disproportion of sects, and wculd thereby secure the main- tenance of the Established Church. But where is the Established Church of Ireland now .'' I will pass on to ask you to look at the next period. Since 1855 there have gone forth from this country 3,000,000 of people, and allowing half a million for foreigners, there were two and a half millions left who quitted our shores as emi- grants. Of these it will be found that a very great number have gone to the United States. What is the case of Canada ? That CI 01 n| vl 11 t| tl s. DISCUSSIOX. II Jit to }„. to th(, Jielpiiig lo over |fouso (if ds con- atteii- 'u pcr- 'I'Htion, itional led f(,r But ipns, if )t holp t them tnds of tain a 3 were these ■ high to be y and ' sub- told ation !tify. Colony is perfectly ready to contribute towards a largo iuiportatiuu of emigrants. And is it not better to send unemployed mon there, and thus save them from the workhouse, from the strike, and from what is p(!rhaps worse. On the eve of the outbreak of the war last autumn a gentleman was sent to England from Tasmania for the express ])urpose of inducing ])(n-8ons to emigrate to that beau- tiful Colony, of which Mr. Du Cane is now the governor. Hh endeavoured, of course, to get the Government to render souk^ assistance ; but the Government refused, for they seem to beli(>ve it to be their duty to resist the people and concede nothing till something like pulling down the Hyde Park railings, or a match- box makers' procession takes place. The gentleman seeing the opposition he met with, wont over to Germany, and there gnt '2,000 men to return to Tasmania with him. The same could ]»n said of New Zealand, If the New Zealand proprietors could havo men from England they would take them, but, failing these, they were securing men from Norway and Sweden. Yot Englishmen who are willing to work have to starve at home. Is not the inherit- ance theirs ? Have they not the first right to England's Colonies 'i Ask their weeping wives and hungry children. There is one wonl more which I would say respecting climate. In this country the poor, for want of proper food are scourged by the weather, and cut down by exposure to unwholesome winds and rain. I lately read a letter from a x)h}'sician in which the writer said he had found from twenty years' experience that two-thirds of the cases of consump- tion that he had under his care arose from exposure to the severities of our climate, and that their lives might have been saved had they been sent to Natal, Now Zealand, or Tasmania. It is Paganism not to care for others whom we can help. Every man who is cut down in the prime of life and leaves a wife and children behind him bequeathes to us a legacy which is not easily got rid of. In con- clusion, I would say that I hope the Goverimient will maintain a close connection between the Colonies and the mother-country, by the preservation of those cordial ties of unity which have been so beneficial in the past. I wish the dominion of the Queen to descend to her successor stronger than when she received it. I wish that each Province of the Empire should remain a part of it rather than become an alienated State. But if we do not take care the Colonies will become weary and sick of our short-sighted system. We aie the richest community in the world. We are also the strongest nation in the world. Why, then, should we not vow to-night that we will not have the Anglo-Saxon realm weakened and wasted and i 1 , t s i ! i ! ( ii6 CONFEREXCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. broken lip ? And why should wc not express our beliof to-ni^ht that thf first duty of our ministers is to preserve intact the Empire of which wo are memhers— the noble Empire which we dcairo to hand down unhrokon to posterity? Mr. Fi!i: DKiucK Yoixr; said ho had long felt a doop interest in the quL'Sliun of State cnn'^-ration, and was surprised at tlie con- tradictory statements made by various parties on the subject. AVe '.vtre told, for instance, on tlu; one hand, that we were trying to Uoodthe Colonies with our paupers, of whom wo wore anxious to be rid ; and then, at the same time, by persons holding opposite views, it was ass(!rted that we were going to send out all our best artisans, the able-bodied, diligent, and intelligent men of the country, and leave the shiftless, weak, and helpless at homo. Now he would deny the truthfulnovss of either of these assertions (hear). Those who made these statements overlooked the fact that the population of England was constantly increasing ; and, with regard to the charge of sending out the best men, the old adage was very ap})ropriate, " There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it." During the last year there had been considerable efforts made to promote technical education for the working classes, and the movement showed a desire to improve their condition, and to enable them to "hold their own" in the competition with foreign workmen, who were said to be supplant- ing them by their superior intelligence and education. Now it is quite clear, that if by promoting the emigration of any of those who cannot get employment in this country, we should chance to send away some who are now called our " best artisans," they would be '"eplaced hereafter by a class superior to themselves, because they will have had the advantage of the technical educa- tion, admitted to be so necessary in order to make them what they ought to be ; and therefore it is an entire delusion to talk of emi- gration on an extensive scale in a country like England, with a constantly increasing population, depriving us of our "best artisans," when any go away who cannot get on at homo, and who will be succeeded by others better educated, and therefore superior to them in all that constitutes skill, as workmen. He had also heard an objection to State emigration leased upon the statement that there was a variety of opinions as to the form in which such emi- gration ought to be applied. His answer to this would be — the details could be settled when once the principle was admitted. What he contended was, that some means should be obtained for assisting those who in large numbers would emigrate if they could, DISCUSS/OX. ii: isiro to and such assistance, whilst it helped thorn to leave Kiif^laiul, wouM matorially benefit them in any other part of our Empire to which they might go. As to the enqdoyment of whips carrying her Ma- jesty's mails, it occurred to him that vessels which were built fur such purposes, and constructed os})eeially for spiked and not for carrying capacity, would not be found suitable for carrying emi- grants, even if they could be fitted up fin- the purpose, and tliis would be found to add materially to the eijst of conveyance. But the main difiiculty was the eijuulissing the payment of rates of passage to all the Colonies. Probably the best plan to be adopted was the issuing of ticlcets at one uniform rate to any portioii of the British Emi)ire, whether to Canada, Africa, or Australia. He would suggest, for instance, that anyone wishinjj to emigrate should be able to i)urchaKC, say for a sum of £2, a Goveruuient passage ticket, which should give him the option of eniigratiug U) imy one of the British Colonies ho might choose to go to, and the dili'erence of the actual cost of passage should be made uj) in fairly arranged proportions between the Home Government and the Government of the Colony in wliich the emigrant landed. Thus, if the total cost of a passage to Canada was £G, the ('migrant would contribute £2, which would be of inestimable benefit in main- taining the grand principle of " self-help," and the united Govern- ments £4 ; while, in like manner, if the cost of passage to Au.stralia was £lo, the enngi-ant's £2 ticket would equally carry him there, the Home and Colonial Governments between them enntributing the other £ 1 3. He thought if some such plan were adopted, it would greatly promote a sound system of emigration, and give satisfac- tion to the emigrating public, by enabling them to have unfettered choice as to their future destination, and also to the v;uiuuis Cokmies of the Empire by letting them all participate in the benefits of systematic colonisation. Sir CiiAHLEs Nicholson observed that the Colonies of Australia alone had contributed some six millions sterling out oi" their own funds for emigration, and this fact showed a degree of earnc.'Stuess for providing facilities for emigration. Other proofs might be given of the desire on the part of the Colonies to aid in a general scheme ; but the Government of this country opposed the work, and he strongly discommended their '' rather-do-nothing policy. There was a i)ortion of our Empire which was very at- tractive at the present time. He meant South Africa. In the Colony of Natal, as well as the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony, there was great need of labour. Letters aj)peared in the >i^. m '^^mmmsmmmm^m^ iip«P! ij \ k 1 ii8 COXfERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. iicwsi^apors thoro, and mootiiip^s woro held, (lf'])lonng the dffipionoy (if lii])Our. There wen; largo tracts of fertile land, a salubrious cliirie, and rich produclions, yet tho Imperial (Tovernnient toui; tio Hte[)s for providing any kind of facilitii's for cniigrution there. Hi; felt gratified in attending the proceedings of this Conference, and in hearing so many sound views on emigration by men of posilion and intelligence. Mr. Kdwaki) Jenkins coidd not lielp rising just to say a word or two after the B])eeches delivered hy Mr. li. \l. Torn.'ns and >Sir Charles Nicliolaon. lie was always sorry when gentlemen of such position and authority came forward and showed that upon prin- ciples of colonial policy they were not at one, and especially when one of them brought forward a scheme which all knew to be im- ]>racticablo ("No, no"). But he (]\Ir. Jenkins) would say yes ; for he had taken mt ans to ascertain from all parts of the Empire how far a scheme of emigration, conducted in connection with tho Poor Law, would meet with the sympathy and co-oporation of tho Colonies, and oidy in two instances had ho obtained a favourable answer, and that on a certain modified iirinciple. If the Poor Law system of emigration were carried out, what would be tho result if a parish were drained of its poor in order that they might be sent out as emigrants by the guardians ? Such a parish would be immediately filled up \\\[\\ successors of the poor. Or, to look at the mere ([uostion of organisation : — How could a board of guardians communicate directly witli the Colonies? AVhat an immense amount of postage there would be ? What an infinite amount of labour would have to be performed. He thought they Avould lose on i»ostage alone more than any gain obtained " carrying out tho scheme. What should be done v/as this, we should go to Govern- ment and show them that through tlie whole country — yes, and in Ireland too — there were people who w(?re ready to go to the Colonies, but lacked the means. If they could only do that, or if they could cheapen the passage to the Colonies, it would be well. Lord Airlie had ])roducod arguments that had been answered again and again. We luid been told that State emigration would do away with voluntary emigration. That all depended on the terms on which the emigrants loft. Supposing them to be bound to repay the money advanced for their passage and outHt. ^\llat use would it bo for a man who had £oO in liis pocket to borrow money of (iovernment to emigrate with, when he knew he should have to pay it back ? Men who have means were now, and must continue to be, voluntary emigrants. mMtMrnaMam D/SCUSS/ON. no |il»rioiis K»<»lv- no '■<•• H.! ]-'<', and |'-»«ition Mr. WiiALLKY, j\I.r,, in a fowworils cxprossftl himself in fiivour of clioai) uniform rates of passaf^f to all our Coloniis. ]\Ir. Laium.ikkk wished to draw attention to one jioint — tlio importance of arran<;-ing any By^teni of eniij,'ration so as not to overstock any jtarticular locality, or send to any Colony a class of cmif'rants which it did not want to receive. He had known cmi- irrants to arrive in some i)arts of Australia and iind tlie markets overstocked with lahour; meeting's of "the unemployed" were then held, and reports sent back to England saying, " Don't send out any more emigrants." IJut hefore these repoi-ls "ould arrive in England, all the new immigrants were em])loy<'d, and a dnnand existed for metre. Now all this would liavc heen ohviated if jirojxT means had heen taken to distribute the nc\viy-arriv('d labourers in suitable inuubcirs in different parts of the country. Mr. Enw.MiD Clahke, in rejdy, thought that thej^ had discussed lioth subjects— that of " Emigration" and the " Facilities for Emi- gration " — too closely, lie maintained that it was not their duty to provide a ]dan of emigration. If they could show that it was right to om])loy Imperial funds to remove an over-stocked labour market, they had done. It was for Government to carry out tlif details and use the materials it had, and which it most ])robably knew were best for the ]>urposf . All that we had to look at was, the Colonies were in great want of labour, we had a great amount of surjilus labour, the laboiu'eis themselves had not the means to transport themselves to the colonial lands ; therefore ought not the liuperial Crovernment and Colonial Governments to combine to efl'eet the desired change (applause) 'i The thanks of the Conference ^vel•e cordiallj^ a^vardcd to Mr. Clarke and Mr. McCuUagh Torrens, M.P., and the company adjourned. SasajsisasHSa T ) ! THIED DAY— FEIDAY. ^HE Conference resumed its sittings at eleven o'clock in -■- the morning, the chair being taken by Mr. Walter Morrison, M.P. Coloured Labour in British Colonies. By Mr. F. W. Chesson. There is no question of greater practical importance, at the present time, than that of the employment of im- ported coloured labour in the tropical Colonies of Great Britain. The 'white race, incapable of pro- tracted physical exertion in hot and enervating climates, is engaged in continual .fforts to find " hewers of "wood and drawers of water " among the inhabitants of the tropics. The impulse which leads our countrymen to do this is a natural one ; for if it were impossible to obtain these labourers, then extensive districts of the earth's surface which nature designed to yield cotton, sugar, rice, coli'ee, tobacco, and other tropical produce, would remain arid or uncultivated wastes. In other words, if the European had been dependent on his own labour for the means of bringing into cultivation those continents, islands, and territories in which the sun strikes fiercely at his very life, he must have sunk under the unequal struggle, prostrate in body, although unconquered and unconquer- able in spirit. There could be no greater example of the inter-dependence of every great division of the human family. We may despise the negro in his native barbarism; ^^| nl ul tj tj aj cl 11 11 mhMi i^^iti^ittMaMtumm COLOURED LABOUR IN BRITISH COLONIES. 121 we may feel contempt for the too submissive Chinaman ; we may look down with haughty superiority upon Papuan negroes, Malayan and Polynesian islanders, and all the numberless varieties of Asiatic and African nations and tribes : but the fact still remains, that wo cannot solve the multifarious problems of human destiny without their active co-operation. We must therefore sympathise wdth every legitimate effort which is made to supply the pressing needs of one race out of the superfluities of another ; to procure coloured labour when the European settler is unequal to the task of toiling, with his own hands, in the manufactory or the plantation ; to combine brain work with the work of the body, and by the beneficent union of the two to promote, in the highest and broadest sense, the great interests of civilisation. This is perhaps an ideal picture, but it is only an ideal one because many men attach far greater value to their material interests than to the performance of their moral duties. They care more for the pleasure of growing suddenly rich than they do for the permanent well-being of the society of which they are members. With such men it is impossible to reason, because they live in a world of their own, Avhich rivals China or Japan in its isolation and selfishness. What, however, we have to do is to obtain adequate securities against the unlawful or injurious domination of any class w^hich, under what- ever specious pretexts, may endeavour to aggrandise itself at the expense of the rest. We have a vast amount of experience to guide us in this matter. The smoke has hardly vanished from those Southern battlefields on which two opposing sections of our own race fratricidally avenged in each others' blood that law of nature which was violated by the enslavement of four millions of human beings. And observe what is now taking place in the beautiful island of Cuba. So long as the Qaeen ll ■'•iL 122 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. of the Antilles enriched the markets of the world with sugar and tobacco, the advocates of what has been called "the negro's true place in nature" might triumphantly point to the material success of slave labour. They might perhaps even think that the amount of exports and imports condoned the horrors of the middle passage. But the issue of this monstrous attempt to destroy the moral equilibrium of nature is seen at the present moment, in a war which has already cost the Spaniards and the Cubans fifty thousand lives — a war distinctly caused by the existence of slavery, and by the lust of power which slavery ever begets. It is, however, only just to admit that there is no Englishman who, so far as I know, does not distinctly repudiate the idea of establishing the institution of human slavery in anj^ country which is subject to his influence or control. The strong feeling which is no\\ ?ntertained against a word which, in ancient Greece or Rome, xcited no sense of shame (although Cicero significantly ex; .essed the opinion that '* slaves " should be paid like day- labourers), and which, even in modern times, has fallen with glib approval from the lips of statesmen and philo- sophers, is well illustrated by the fact that the Dutch Boers in the South African llopublic call their slaves by the euphemism "apprentices," and that the people of Queensland have vehemently protested against the appli- cation of the phrase "slave-trading" to their traffic in South Sea islanders. Although these facts exhibit a steady progress in the moral opinion of the world, it is necessary that we should pay less attention to words and names than to the reality which is behind them ; and it is especially important that we should discuss the principles upon which alone any species of dependent labour should be legally procured or employed by the subjects of Great Britain. \ Icalled lantly They sports 'Sage. }y the fesent liards [nc tly St of 1 COLOURED LABOUR LN BRITLSLL COLOXLES. 123 Coolie labour, obtained cither in India or China, is the chief clement in the industrial system of several of our most important Colonics — notably of the Mauritius and of British Guiana. Other West India Colonies, besides Demerara, use Coolies in the cultivation and manufacture of their various products ; but I refer to Dcmcrara especially, because the question there has been recently the subject of a grave official inquiry. A small number of Coolies also find their way to Natal ; and I may here be permitted to express the profound admiration which I feel for the just and successful manner in which, in that Colony, a handful of English people have governed without force, or the threat of force — only by the jn-cstiiie which attaches to the British flag — a native population, who outnumber them in the proportion of twelve to one, and who consist of Kaffirs, once warlike and aggressive, but now tranquillised by the pacific rule of a Christian Power. Some of the circumstances of Natal doubtless dili'er from those of other Colonies, but they who tiesire to understand how one great native difficulty has been solved without war or bloodshed would do well to study the policy of Mr. Shepstone — a policy which, during the last three years, has attracted to Natal a series of Kaffir embassies from the interior, praying that Great Britain would bring the far distant countries from which they came under her civilised sway, and so give to them peace and security, and to the British people new openings for emigration and commercial intercourse. The Coolies of Demerara are the mainstay of the sugar cultivation in that Colony. It is generally admitted that their introduction has revived the sinking fortunes of the Colony, and brought it to a high degree of commercial prosperity ; although, probably to the astonishment of the great body of the planters, one of their number — as if to afford one more example of the fallacy of all statistics 124 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. — recently deposed that the profits upon the capital invested did not amount to more than three per cent. According to Mr. Anthony Trollope, Demerara is a despotism tempered by sugar. It ^vould be a sin to spoil the epigram ; but it would assuredly be more correct to say that Demerara is a despotism tempered by the influence or authority which the Colonial Office thinks lit to exert as moderator. Not far short of fifty thousand immigrants form the backbone of the colonial rural popu- lation. The new comers are all now obtained from our Indian possessions. They enter into labour contracts for five years, the transaction being completed before the immigrant leaves the port in India. As the Coolie Commissioners show in their very able Report, no objec- tion in point of principle can be justly urged against contracts which are known to, and enforced in, every fr^e state of society. What, however, the efiect would be, even in England, if all the relations between capital and labour were based upon a system of indentureship, extending over a period of five years, and so contrived as practically to insure its renewal for five years more, or rather for an indefinite number of such periods, it is easy to imagine, if we turn our eyes to those districts of our own country in which, owing to the operation of the truck system, or to the helpless poverty of the people, the delvers in mines, the forgers of iron, the slaves of the brick-fields, and even ingenious workers at the loom and in watch manufac- lories, are condemned, Sisyphus-like, to a never-ending round of toil. The case of Demerara is aggravated by the fact that the Indians belong to an alien race ; that the whole political power of the Colony is in the hands of the propertied class ; that the isolation and remoteness of many of the plantations render it difiicult for the Executive to exercise that wholesome vigilance w^hich is essential to the prevention of abuses ; and, lastly, th ^>} en w ai sc ai tl COLOURED LABOUR IN BRITLSII COLONIES. 12: cent, is a i^' that, so to speak, the stagnant waters are never purified by the healthy agitation of public opinion. It is not enough to urge, in reply to this view of the subject, that we ought to trust our fellow-countrymen, and that they are not more likely to act oppressively than we are our- selves. Granted that the two thousand Europeans who are invested with these exceptional powers, who live in the midst of a strange system which cannot be called slavery, and which yet bears little resemblance to freedom, are as little likely as wo are to ignore the rights of even the humblest of their fellow-creatures, or to forget that there is a dignity in human nature which is always entitled to respect : it is nevertheless certain that no uation or part of a nation, no condition or class of men whatever, may bo safely trusted with despotic power. The power of the master over the Coolie labourer, it is true, is not absolute, and the exercise of that power is not for one moment to be compared with the cruelties which are perpetrated by Peruvian guano contractors and Cuban planters on their Chinese immigrants. I invite no such comparison, because the evidence would not justify it. In Demerara there is an elaborate machinery of law which is ostensibly intended to secure the proper regulation of the indentureship system. These laws have been not merely passed by the Court of Policy ; they have been framed by the responsible advisers of the Crow^n in the Colony, approved by the Governor, revised by the Colonial Office ; yet the Commissioners in their Report disclose such an imperfect, one-sided state of the law — its imperfections and one-sidedness being entirely in favour of the strong against the weak — that it is impossible not to feel how difiicult, nay, how apparently hopeless, is the attempt to establish just and equitable relations between capital and labour in a Colony so abnormally constituted. The subject is too complex, and. m^- 126 COXFEREXCE OX COLOXIAL QUESTIOXS. ut the same time, too technical for a paper of this descrip- tion ; but I may ho excused for quoting a brief extract from a bold and luminous pamphlet by Mr. Beaumont, the late Chief Justice of this very Colony, in which he exposes the crushing and unequal severity of the immigrant laws. He says: — "Every neglect or broach of duty on their part (that of the immigrants) towards their employers is made subject to heavy penalties under various sections of Part XII., the fines varying from 24 to 48 dollars, and the imprisonment being imprisonment with hard labour, prescribed not only as an alternative, but as a cumulative punishment, and which may not only be imposed directly for two months, but may be inde- finitely extended under the provisions of Sects. IGG and 1G7. On the other hand, the highest penalty imposed upon employers as such [vide Parts XL and XIII.) is 24 dollars, without any provision for imprisonment, save in the case of ill-usage (Sect. 114), and of criminal offences, such as the falsification of entries or obstruction of officers ; while the primarj^ duties of employers towards the immigrants are laid down (Sect. 103) without any penalty whatever being provided for their breach." If we remember that Demerara is a British Colony, governed by British subjects (who, it may be presumed, chiefly belong to the educated classes), and placed under the immediate supervision of the Colonial Office, the fact, that to whatever part of its complex system of law the Commissioners, Argus-eyed, directed their attention, they discovered the same flaws, the same traces of a master- hand building up a code which was not designed to protect those who have the greatest need for protection, the danger of this artificial state of society degenerating into a condition of slavery appears, at all events, possible, if not imminent. Moreover, when we find that the Immigration Agent-General, who ought to be the natural pr 111 th fo is SI w 111 COLOURED LABOUR IX BRITISH COLONIES. 127 escrip- 'Xtract -h he the protector of the servile class, has been insidiously made a mere dcpendaiit of the Governor ; that he has no seat in the Court of Policy, which constitutes the local apology for a legislature ; that, in addition, although travelling is very costly, he is required to defray out of his salary the expenses of all otlicial visits to the estates which ho may deem it necessary to make ; that the magistrates, who, from want of accommodation in the country districts, are compelled to accept the hospitality of the planters, have been accustomed to convict the Coolie defaulters in large batches, and to wink at various notorious illegalities ; that law is so costly that it is next to impossible for the Coolies to resort to the courts ; that the free coloured people are taxed in order to support a system of labour which may come into competition with their own ; and that, as the Commissioners emphatically testify, the recruiting agents in India practise the greatest frauds on the immigrants as to the rate of wages they will receive in the Colony, and frequently also perpetrate the greatest frauds on the planters by sending out immigrants who are either idiotic, or leprous, or otherwise physically disqualified ; — when, I repeat, we find things like these calmly related of a British Colony, we may well rub our eyes and wonder what has become of our political economy, our Bill of Plights, our supposed capacity for wise administration, our constitutional love of freedom and equality before the law, and all the other parapher- nalia of free institutions and liberal ideas, which the Briton is supposed to carry with him, as a part of his stock-in-trade, wherever he may go on the face of the globe. The Commissioners have hit the blot when they allege that '* a harsh system of law has been kept up, not so much for use, as that condonation for otiences under it might be bartered against re-indenture.'' That re-inden- IkiM 128 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. m I I ture should come to be reji^tirdccl as an object to ^vbich every thing must give way, is the essential vice of the system. Mr. Jenkins, in his admirable and exhaustive work on ** The Coolie," in which lo play of fancy, where fancy ma}' with propriety disport herself, he adds a grave and searching power of analysis, manifestly considers that any system of immigration ought to be abandoned, which has not for its ultimate basis the granite rock of free labour, and of a free state of society. He calls re-indenturcship "one of the most serious and fatal defects of the immigration system in British Guiana ; " and the Commissioners, in the same vein, also signifi- cantly remark, that ''it would seem to be a concession that immigration, so far as the Coolies are concerned, has failed to fulfil its first purposes, if, after being acclimatised, after learning their work, and after paying their passage out, they must still be brought under indenture after indenture, and not encouraged to take their station in the country as free labourers." This, then, is the conclusion to which I wish to bring those who are interested in this subject — the inexpe- diency, from every point of view, of allowing the esta- blishment of any system which is calculated to develop a state of society in which men are not free and equal before the law. I pass now to a part of the world which has been of late the subject of much controversy — a controversy which I, nevertheless, fear has only reached its initial stages. It may, perhaps, be asked. What have Ave to do with the internal affairs of Queensland ? I might reply, that we have as much right to discuss the internal politics of Queensland as we have to discuss similar questions in any other . imtry. Any thing which takes place in any part of the world is fairly open to inquiry and criticism ; and indeed it is only by the conflict of opposing views vs. of tho iiustive > ^vhere ^ ftmve iisidcrs (1 oiled, I'ock of G calls 1 fatal ■dim; " •^ii,aiifi- ;ession erned, beinj? ^laying under take COLOURED LABOUR IN BRITISH COLONIES. 129 and representations that Ave can hope to arrive at an impartial judgment. But I do not think any one will deny that, if such an institution as slavery or the slave- trade were really to be established under the authority of Queensland, or of any other British Colony, it would bo the duty of the Imperial Government to interfere peremp- torily, and with the inflexible determination to permit no such violation of the fundamental laws, of the realm. Moreover, if it were possible to prove that no right of interference existed, it is not the less true that our position in the waters of the Pacific renders us peculiarly responsible for the police of those distant seas. If it be true that kidnapping is practised in the islands of Polynesia, or that islanders are carried ofl', whether to Queensland or Fiji, by means of fraud or barter, we are even more bound to suppress that species of slave-trade than we are to suppress the traffic in negroes between Zanzibar and the coasts of Arabia. I do not think that any one will dissent from these propositions, which are, indeed, based upon the well- established policy of England, as enforced by a long line of illustrious statesmen, representing both great parties in the State. It will not be denied that grave abuses have existed in the Polynesian labour trade. The question rather is, who is responsible for the malpractices which notoriously exist. Queensland lays the blame on Fiji, while Fiji retorts by accusing Queensland. It therefore becomes a vital question to ascertain, if that be possible, what are the actual facts of the case. It may be assumed, that on the coast-lands of Queens- land a need is felt for tropical labourers ; although, if we may judge from the statements put forth long ago by gentlemen officially connected with the Colony, the climate, however trying at certain seasons, is not un- suited to the European constitution. Be this as it may, K I30 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. thoro can be no doubt that tho planters of Queensland are perfectly entitled to obtain Polynesian labourers if tbey are procured by legitimate means, and if, in addition, they are paid fair wapfes, properly treated, and adequately protected by law. There are only two limitations to this general view. The first is tho alleged breach of faith to English labourers who have gone to the Colony in the expectation that they would have command of the labour market, and who may therefore reasonably complain of the introduction of an underpaid and servile class. The second is, that if legitimate recruiting cannot be carried on without, at the same time, giving free scope to the illicit practices of lawless freebooters and rullians, the Imperial Government is entitled to consider whether, in the general interests of humanity, the whole trade ought not to be abolished ; just as when the Emperor Napoleon was convinced that what was called the free immigration of negroes from the west coast of Africa had degenerated, in spite of Government supervision, into a form of the slave trade, he yielded to the remonstanccs of the English Foreign OflSce, and put a stop to a traffic which was replenishing the labour markets of the French Colonies. It is, of course, of importance to the character of Queensland that the precise degree of responsibility which may be justly attached to her should be determined ; but I am disposed to take a broader view of the subject, and to contend that, whether she be guilty or innocent, whether she has taken proper precautions for the regula- tion of the traffic or not, the reputation of the Imperial Government is deeply compromised by the acts of kid- napping enumerated by Captain Palmer, of H. M. 8. Rosario, and by the long series of similar outrages which are detailed in official and public documents. The vessels engaged in this trade are British vessels ; they are owned and manned by British subjects ; and whether Fl 11 tl Hil«AMIliliiilillAii bd are COLOURED LABOUR IN BRiri^IJ COLONIES. \i\ their destination bo Queensland or Fiji, it is for the profit of persons owing allegiance to the ]?ritish Crown that the trade is carried on. A great deal too much has been said about the American nationality being represented at Fiji ; but exaggeration on this subject is no doubt duo to the fact that the American Government has a Consul there, and that it has also had, for many years past, cer- tain extravagant claims against an island potentate named Thakombau. As a matter of fact the 3,000 people of European race who have settled at Fiji, although includ- ing a few Americans and Germans, are almost exclu- sively British subjects. The duty of bringing their con- duct, at all events so far as their relations with the external world are concerned, in conformity with the laws of the Empire against slave-trading, is one which cannot be shirked by the Imperial Government without dishonour to the British name. These people really use the Australian ports as a base of operations for carrying on the slave-trade, because they employ Australian schooners and Australian seamen, to prosecute the nefarious commerce ; and, moreover, it cannot be tolerated that British subjects should be able practically to throw off their allegiance at will. However incon- venient to the laissez-faire school of statesmen it may be, British authority — the symbol of law and order — should, in some form or other, always accompany British subjects who organise themselves into new communities, especially when, recognising no local government or jurisdiction, they systematically violate the laws of God and man. I therefore protest against the idea that the reponsi- bility of the Imperial Government begins and ends with Queensland ; my contention being that, in a minor degree, that responsibility extends to Fiji. As for the action of Queensland herself, it would be premature to speculate upon the future of that new labour system which, with rm^-'AH 132 CONFERENC. V COLOXIAL QUESriOXS. the aid of Polynesian immij,'ratiou, she is building up on Lor sugar plantations ; and it would perhaps be equally vain to hazard a conjecture as to the extent to which the introduction of savage, or, at best, semi-civilised labourers into the colony, will interfere with the settle- njcnt of the country by hona-fulc European emigrants. These are questions which can only be solved by experi- ence. Without being able to go so far as Mr. KnatchbuU Hugessen did in the remarks ho made last night, I wil- lingly acknowledge. it by the appointment of agents to accompany the ves' vhich are engaged in the trathc, and by the rigid instructions which those agents carry with them, the Queensland Government has latterly ex- hibited a practical disposition to comply with the requisi- tions of the home authorities, and to conciliate that public opinion which has been so painfully touched by the stories that have reached this country from the Bouth Seas. As, however, my object is to shed what light I can on the subject, it would be folly for me to throw a veil over the past. The evidence of malpractices on the part of vessels sailing under the Queensland commission, and l)ringing their humiin cargoes to Queensland ports, is not to be spirited aw\ay by indignant denials and angry invec- tives, or by countercharges against Fiji or Samoa ; and I must add, that if it be true that one of the best securities for the future good behaviour of individuals or nations is to be found in a sincere and ample acknowledgment of past derelictions of duty, this guarantee is, in the present (tase, entirely wanting ; for the colonial authorities will not admit that any irregularities whatever have taken place. It is, of course, a question entirely of evidence, and, without quoting the innumerable details furnished by the missionaries and others, that evidence assuredly may be found, if anywhere, in the narratives of Captain COLOURED LABOUR IN BRITT^n COLONIES. 133 Palmer. This gallant officer undertook a cruise in one of H. M. ships of war expressly for the purpose of maldncj a report to the Admiralty of the actual state of ail'airs in the Pacific. It was he who captured the Ihiphm' and despatched her to Sydney to be tried before the Admiralty Court at that port ; and although she was afterwards libe- rated, there is not the slightest reason to question the truth of his description of the vessel. " We found her," ho says, " a small schooner of forty-eight tons register, fitted up precisely like an African slaver, miuHs the irons, with one hundred natives on board, who had been brought here from the New Hebrides, having experienced the pleasure; of a dead beat to windward for twenty-one days : tlicy were stark naked, and had not even a mat to lie upon : the shelves were just the same as might be knocked uj) for a lot of pigs — no bunks or partitions of any sort being fitted ; and yet the vessel was inspected by a Government officer at Queensland!" If we accept anybody's testi- mony we must accept that of an officer, who is specially instructed to ascertain the truth from local inquiry and observation ; and when he declares, as he does in one of his despatches to Commodore Lambert, that " many hope- ful young men have been seduced or torn away from their homes, who were under the beneficial influence of the missionaries ; husbands have been taken from their wives, and daughters from parents; many have been brutally treated, and some murdered in cold blood, by men calling themselves Englishmen, and professing Christianity," it is impossible to believe that he was the victim of mental hallucination. It is to be earnestly hoped that the recurrence of these and of other abuses will be effectually prt scented by the new regulations which have been issued by the Queens- land Government. There is, however, real cause for alarm in a statement made by Mr. A. H. Palmer, the Si 134 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. present Colonial Secretary at Brisbane, in an official letter dated 12th April, 1871. He says, "A proposition to amend the Act so as to make it compulsory on employers to introduce a proper proportion of the two sexes, was, I believe, contemplated by Mr. Arthur Hodgson during his tenure of office as Colonial Secretary, but I am not aware that the proposition was favourably received by any large section of the community ; and certainly the present Government have never in any way bound themselves to supply, as stated, such an omission in the regulations, nor do they now recognise the necessity of it." Those who are acquainted with the frightful evils which are inseparable IVom any state of society in which celibacy is practically enforced, or from which all natural domestic and family life is excluded, will feel with me, that so long as the poJicy avowed by Mr. Palmer is adhered to, so long will this immigration be a moral curse tc the Colony. For my own part I believe that the only satisfactory solution of the nntive labour question lies in the mitiga- tion or abolition of its compulsory character. Contracts, if made for a term of years, should be made, not in the islands, but in the Colony, beneath the eye of responsible public officers. Xo contracts with Chinese emigrants to the United States are binding unless they arc made in that country ; and thus all the abuses which might result from a system of speculative recruiting are prevented. There is no reason to believe that the Polynesians would not work if they entered the Queensland labour market as voluntary agents. My task is now ended. It has been my desire to avoid saying one word which could be justly offensive to any British Colony or British colonist. The subject is ripe for discussion, and I have endeavoured to discuss it with temper and moderation. The proudest traditions of this Imperial State arc associated with the cause of freedom — ta DISCUSSION. 135 letter »on to Moyers was, I k' liis [aware large p'esent v'es to ^tions, Jl'liose li are libacy ncstic of freedom for the nation and for the individual ; and the earnest hope of every true Englishman is, that wherever his kinsmen may migrate, in whatever region of the earth they may dwell, and among whatever races their lot may be cast, they will remain faithful to those principles of political and personal freedom which are the foundation of our national prosperity, and the secret of our national glory. Mr. H. E. Watts had, he said, some experience of the Colonies, and it was the last thing which he .should do to uphold in any waj' in a Colony a tendency to slavery (hear, hear). Yet he knev that the Colonies were charged very unjustly with main- taining a system of labour, through the employment of Coolies, which was something like slavery. A ladj' said to liim a short time ago, "O dear, I should not like to live in Australia!" and when he asked her why, she replied, " Because I should not like to live where there are any slaves." Now, he had seen some- thing of Coolie labour. He was in Queensland when the Act was passed in the Parliament there for the introduction of Coolies, and he did not believe that there had been any abuse con- nected with it. But it was his impression — nay, more, he tirmly believed — that the lahourcrs employed in the brickiields of England were worse off and more hard- worked than the Coolies in Australia and other places ; and he thought it would bo well for those who wished to be regarded as philanthropists, if they would not confine their sympathies to coloured men (hear, hear). The long, weary hours of labour — excessive labour — and the small returns for it, which were often not sufficient to purchase necessary support, was a state of things not respectable for England. He knew that there was a desire on the part of the employers of Queensland to deal fairly with their labourers — indeed, they were obliged to do so, if they wished to keep them on their lands ; and if at all there were any acts of unkindness, they were exceptional cases, arising out of a desire to preserve peace and order. He did not believe the Colonial Office could be a mediator in these matters, as it was in his opinion an upholder and creator of the abuses complained of. Mr. CoNSTANTiNE BuiiKE (Assistant Attorney-General of Jamaica) thought he might say that the paper read this morning afforded him much pleasure. Its aim was to direct the atten- I I 136 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. tion of the people of England to coloured labour, as in opera- tion in British Colonics. Ho was not going into the subject extensively ; but there could not be any denial of the fact that if our West Indian Colonics wore deprived of what was called foreign labour, England coidd not receive such a large amount of West Indian produce. In Jamaica there were 2,490,000 acres of land, but only 492,246 were cultivated. Thus thousands of acres of land were lying idle, because there were not sufficient hands, cither English or foreign, to cultivate them. The climate and soil were peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of special com- modities, and the highlands were considered the most salubrious climate in the world, yet there was a great outcry for more men to occupy and till the ground, Rich lands were left to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air to inhabit. Respecting the intro- duction of labourers, he would say in Jamaica there were some thousands of Coolies imported, and in ten years it was not known what had become of them. They wore outcasts, lepers and helpless men of a vagrant character, and the result was the Colony suffered from their introduction, for they were thrown on the poor-rates. The importation had not been a good one ; but now there was another kind of labourers, introduced under the protection of their own Government. They were immigrants, and were superior men, and were under the cognisance of medical men. The new system worked welL And in respect to the introduction of Coolie labour, he wished distinctly to say that as the lands could not be cultivated without hands, and there were no English labourers to be obtained, proprietors had a right to employ Coolies, it being to their interest to obtain the most efficient men they could, and to make their labour as free and remunerative as possible. Captain Bedford Pim, R.N., said he had thought a great deal about emigration to the West Indies, and he had carefully prepared a letter on the subject, which he had addressed to the Duke of Manchester, Chairman of the Committee of Emigration. He thought emigrants might be divided into two classes — viz., those capable eith(>r wholly or partially of helping thcmiselvos, and those entirely destitute. The only means of dealing with the former, in the hope of diverting them from emigrating to a country where they speedily became England-haters, was to reduce the passage- money to our Colonies to less than at present rules to the United States, and to make the Colonial Homestead Law at least equally favourable with that of American States. The emigration of the latter involved a free passage and the work in their new home ou del fit! to orj loj ■wl til li DISCUSSION. 137 opera - subject ct that called mount acres nda of fficient limato 1 com- I'brious tien to |asts of intro- ■some ''Hown Jj)less tiered I'atos, was their arrival. With this class, and this class only, ho now proposed to deal. The first q\iestion was, wliiit part of the world was hest fitted to receive those of our destitute population ready and willing to emigrate. He would answer, the Capo of Good Hope, Pirazil, or the West Indies ; but ho proposed to confine himself exclusively to the West Indies. As regards the climate, he knew of no part where the heat was too great for white labour. Indeed all sta- tistics went to prove that the average duration of the white man's life was certainly not less than that of the inhabitants of any other country under the sun, whilst perhaps the hardest labour in the world — namely, stoking on board a steamer in the tropics — fell entirely to the lot of white men. This and other imi)ortant facts tended to dissipate the bugbear that a white man could not labour in the tropics ; and in the case of the destitute emigrant the fact was especially iuiportant — indeed a warm climate was entii'oly in his favour — inasmuch as all the necessai'ies of life were much more easily raised, and the wants of civilisation reduced to a mini- mum ; so that the emigrant's constitution, more or less debilitated by underfeeding and previous habits of life, will not bo overtasked in the etl'ort to make a living for himself and family — which would not be the case, for example, of the man sent to Canada, and exposed for six months out of the year to all the rigours of an arctic winter. Labour was in great demand all over the West Indies, whilst there was a superabundance of land ready for occu- pation. About a thousand Coolies were yearly imported. They were paid one shilling per day, with their rations, while they were only required to work a very short time each day. Taking all the West Indian Islands and British Guiana, the planters could probably absorb at least 10,000 of the very poorest of our popula- tion per annun'i, but the utmost they would require could bo readily ascertained from the various West Indian agencies and firms iu London, Liverpool, Bristol, &:c. He would pi-opose that the men be hired for three years, and be allowed to take out their wives and families. At the end of that time, each man who had strictly fulfilled the terms of his engagement should have a freehold of twenty acres granted as a bonis. To show what a boon this would bo, not only to the settler, but to the community amongst whom ho was located, he woidd instance the amount of popidation in the three well-known places, showing the room for an expansion of the population. For instance, Guiana has only two inhabitants to the square mile, Trinidad forty-eight, and Jamaica, one of the oldest of our Colonies, seventy ; while from tlio last report it aj)- lliil MMM '^n .4. ■ it! 138 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. pears that more than a third of the total acreage of even Jamaica, the most thickly-peopled, is available for the purpose he had sketched out. As to transport, he felt strongly liow easily the surplus line- of-hattle ships, now rotting away in our harbours, could be turned into safe and commodious transports. By taking the guns out, by leducing the crews to fifty, and by working the service econo- mically, he did not hesitate to say that a squadron of five of these vessels, tested experimentally for one year, would not even be felt in the navy estimates, whilst the boon it would confer on givers and receivers was incalculable. In fact, this matter was at the bottom of the whole question, and should be perscveringly followed up, until the force of public opinion compelled the Government to form an Emigration Transport Department. As to the paper read by IMr. Chesson, he had derived great benefit from it, and some of the subjects alluded to had been so well handled, tliat the paper had "taken the wind out of his sails" (hear, hefor them to an article in a (Queensland paper, which he had brought with him to the Conference, giving statistics of the amount of deposits in the Queensland Savings Bank, made by the Polynesian islanders. It appeared that 129 accounts were in the name of Polynesians. He would not i)retcnd to say that no abuses had ever been perpetrated under this traffic, but there w^as a very erroneous impression that these men were not free. The Chief Justice of the Colony had remaiked that there was no law to prevent a Colony from importing labour. All the law could do, and did do, was to protect the laliourer in the exercise of his industrial functions. A remark had been made about the dis- proportion in the number of the sexes. He was happy to say that in Queensland there was now a fair balance, owing to men bringing their wives with them. He hoped, in conclusion, that when it was again said that Polynesian labour ought not to exist in the Colony of Queensland, that the statement would be challenged ; and as to what some had said about employing Coolies in pre- ference to Englishmen, it should be remarked that colonists could obtain no other. It was, therefore, " Hobson's choice" — these or none (hear, hear, and laughter). Ho was sorry the paper of Mr. Chesson's had been read, because it was erroneous. Mr. CuEssox, in replying to the discussion, remarked that the party to which JMr. AVatts had referred was hardly obnoxious to the charge of neglecting home duties for the sake of distant objects of sympathy. That gentleman's illustration, was indeed, rather an unfortunate one ; for it was Lord Shaftesbury, one of the fore- most champions of the rights of coloured races, who had dragged to light the iniquities of the brick-fields ; and ho believed it would be found that those who were zealous nuainst oppression abroad were equally resolute in their determination to abolish similar evils tl COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION. 141 if^t lono- itleman, iians for lopod lo 'turn to Icolc and [owever, 'i''v\'ards •rk wa.s •iddinq- ■0 than paper, 'itistics ■. made ts were hat no ^ was a no law ■ couhl of his ho dis- to say o men I, that xist in in their own country (hear, hear). In reply to Mr. Archer, he (Mr. Chosson) pointed out that he had not preferred charges of cruelty against the planters of Queensland. But while willing to believe that the cases in which Polynesians had \wvn ill-treated were purely exceptional, he contended that many of them had been removed from their own islands by improper means — a point upon which Captain Palmer's evidence was absolutely conclusive. That gallant ollicer's authority was unimpeachable, because he had been directed by the Adiniralcy to proceed to the Paciiic for the express purpose of investiiiatn;^ the state of things which existed there. In conclusion, he ^.lid he had been careful to discriminate between the case of Quecnsiland and that of Fiji, and he denied tha.t he liad made any statement vh.ch was not amply justified by public and oflicial documents (hear, hear). The Satisfactory Settlement op the Colonial Waste- Land Question in 1855, and its Effect on the Imperial Dominium, By Mr. Augustus B. Abraham, of the Middle Temple. Having been requested by those who orgimised these meetings to contribute something to the common object, I have made some notes on " The Satisfactory Settlement of the Colonial Waste-Land Question in 1855, and its Effect on the Imperial Ihnnnium.'" When I remind you that this settlement, which I call ddtisfactori/, included the very measures, viz., new consti- tutions for the Australian Colonies, and the conceding to them the management and control of their waste lands, which, the latter especially, have been so strongly de- nounced since these meetings commenced, you will see that I am directly at issue upon this subject with some of those who are leaders of this movement. I knew, of course, that my friend Mr. Jenkins held the views he has expressed, because what he has stated here is urged in almost equally strong language in one of those valuable if W 142 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. \ \ % li Hli essays for which wc are all so much indebted to him, and to which I shall presently refer. But I wish it to be understood that it is just because I hold these opposite opinions that I have been requested by Mr. Jenkins and the Executive Committee, within the last few days, to express them, and that I have made the following hmhj^ but, I trust, accurate, notes upon the subject, and yon must, therefore, blame them for the infliction to which you are now about to be subjected. Some years have elapsed since these new constitutions were introduced, and during that period we have heard little about any colonial question — except, indeed, the New Zealand war and the Jamaica troubles. Ought we not, then, to conclude that their existing political machinery has worked well. It was not until the autumn of 1869, when it was determined to remove the troops from New Zealand, that public attention to colonial affairs revived ; great agitation then began, and now, owing, uo doubt, to the extraordinary events which have occurred, and are occurring around us, a whole crop of colonial questions has sprung up, and (to judge from the attend- ance at these meetings) there is no lack of interest therein. In approaching the consideration of these questions, especially that of the new relationship which it is pro- posed should be brought about between this country and her Colonies, all w^ho take part in these discussions should recollect that " Time, the great innovator," as Lord Bacon calls him, has been at work in the Colonies themselves just as much as here, and that ' he innovateth greatly as well as quietly.' New principles, new views, new in- terests, and new combinations have come into existence there, and are in full play. We cannot ignore these, for, to use the words of the same great philosopher, " civil knowledge is conversant about a subject which, above all COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION. 143 otliers, is most immersed iu matter and bardliost reduced to axiom." There is one thing we may be sure of, that no attempt will ever bo made by the Jnipcridl Lerftslii- tiire to control or abridge the representative institutions granted to the Colonies, or any of the rights conferred therewith, cvrcpt at their own roqueat. The impossibility of so doing was admitted on all sides during the great colonial debates of 1850, and, in fact, urged as a reason for caution, and as the excuse for ministerial delay in then passing an imperfect measure. So far as the control over the waste lands is concerned, the position of the Colonics has been still further strengthened. It was long since said l)y Mr. Gladstone* that " when once the grant of popular institutions was settled, the land question would soon settle itself. It was not in the power of the British Parlia- ment to withhold the management of land in a Colony for any very long time after it had fully conceded the principle of popular representation," Parliament, in 1855, conceded these two great rights, and it has since insisted that these communities shall be primarily charged with the ordinary business of their own defence. Therefore, according to Mr. Gladstone, although still territorial divi- sions of the Empire, " they are really, in the full sense of the word,/;7r. The privileges of freedom and the burdens of freedom being absolutely associated together." f If this, in truth, be their position, and I was delighted to hear the fact so distinctly recognised by Mr. M'Cullagh Torrens last night, in that powerful, and, to my mind, most sound speech, it is surely, beyond all things, of im- portance to have tJiat question settled, as being the basis of your whole proceedings. * Hansard, v. 122, p. 889. t Departmental Committee on Colonial Military Defences, 1859. Answer 3781. m, 144 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. It is " the growing importance of the questions arising out of the colonial relations to Great Britain " which, according to your circular, has led to this Conference licing hold ; and if, in the course of your proceedings, whilst this importance becomes clearer and clearer, so that, as was also said last night, it is impossible to be exaggerated, douhts are suggested as to the nature of the now existing " colonial relations," especially as to the position in which the colonists themselves stand in relation to the lands where they are settled, it is most fitting that, before we part, these doubts be cleared up as far as pos- sible. Opposition to the present sj/stem of colonial (jovern- ment is the very cause of your meeting. Antagonism to the views and proceedings of those who were in authority in 1855 is the basis of the opinions I am now combating, and are w^e to add to these a hostile questioninf/ of the cherished rights of the colonists themselves ? If so, cer- tainly your mission is not one of peace and conciliation ! On this account I thought it would be ungracious not to respond to the frank and chivalrous invitation of Mr. Jenkins to attend here, and to criticise thoroughly his own views, whether written or spoken, and to undertake the task — not a small one — of collecting all the facts together, with dates and references to authorities, forming the history of the question. Without this knowledge, what security have we that old questions of an irritating character may not be revived again in another shape '? In fact, my fear is, that the regrets which have been already so loudly expressed at the removal of the old restrictions from the Colonial Legislatures in relation to the land will have an injurious efi'ect, and tend greatly to defeat the objects of those who advocate schemes for confederation. Statesmen in this country loudly declared, when these concessions were delayed, that the " integrity of the Empire was threatened ; " and may not the same cry be COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION, 145 raised again, if the idea gains ground that in any of the proposals countenanced by this Conference or the Colonial Institute, an attempt is really being made, covertly and slowly, to abridge, qualify, and defeat the rights then conferred. It is not only in the writings of Mr. Jenkins, but also in those of my friend Mr. Macfie, the member for Leith (whose unwearied interest in the Colonies all must ac- knowledge) — writings which have been largely circulated in the Colonics as well as here — that these schemes for confederation and plans for co-operation, in promo+ircr something like indiscriminate emM/radon (a qaestion upon which the Colonies are most sensitive) have been advo- cated ; and, what appears to me worst of all, they have been pressed upon the consideration of those in authority upon the distinctly avowed plea that the powers now vested in the Colonial Legislatures were conferred, as the lawyers say, jwr incuriam, i.e., without due consideration. I hope I shall make it plain that these suggestions have been made under a misapprehension of the real facts, owing to the great difficulty of following the course of legislation on the subject by those who have not been for many years so directly connected with these par- ticular Colonies as to be obliged to notice the events as they occurred. But I will first read to you the actual remarks of the two writers to which I have referred. In the essay on '* Imperial Federalism " in the Contemporary Review of January, 1871, after commenting on the pro- posal for a federal union approved of in the Report of the Victorian Royal Commissioners, Mr. Jenkins proceeds thus: — "Before such schemes are further elaborated, may not we and the Australian Colonies j^idiciously con- sider what claims the Imperial Government, representing the British nation, has upon those provinces ? Colonial ! m 1:' ^^4ilJ^agAak;ijaitJ--iVj^ 3,.i . I ! 3 146 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. ministors acting under the Crown have from time to time constituted small patches of society, excised from our own community, the absolute owners of property held, in all moral and political honesty, in trust for the peoplo and government of these islands ; for it was won and maintained by our adventure and sacrilice. A slip of an htqirrud jx'ii h((s unn'si'n'edlij Intui^fcrreil whole provhur.s to those <\'snid C(nnni unities; but this has been done with the implied trust that they should be held and used only in harmony with Imperial interests. No minister or Government had the power to confer more. These terri- tories, from which we might have drawn hiiperial revenues, are now administered solely in the interest of the settlers. We exact from them no direct pecuniary profit. They have been the (jij't by which we meant to reward the enterprise of our adventurous sons. But they must not suppose that they have the right to divest them of the Imperial doniiiiiiim. They hold them as our fellow- citizens, on the basin of their citizenship, and against the Imperial will thf ' assume the right of removing them fr(^ y. Every man, woman, and child in a right and voice in the future positit our C' lonies ; the sooner they and we under- stand it the better for all. 2 he ' loiwashed ' millions uunj claim their interest in the matter and insist that careless statesmanship and intemperate j»>l, cs shall not jeopardise the enormous stake they ha^ a the integrity of our dominions." Out of a series of papers by jlr. Macfie on " Colonial Questions " several exti-^.'re^ to the same effect might be made, a few will suffice. T.ike p. 3 : — " Think, further, of the transfers made, without equi- valent and without condition, of millions on millions of productive lands. "It might have been wiser and better for all parties : I t-^JJiajJ^A^^l^lll ii9ttU1IIMMii! l ^n m mKiai^ni our ^'Jtl, in on and '> of 'III \>'ovinci'ii !ie with led only |ster or e terri- |venues, ettlor.s. They M'd the ust not of the follow- nst the inovinc: tn, and future uuder- 'is may ardise 'f our lonial bt be equi- ps of rties if these lands had cither not been transferred, or had been transferred upon Homo distinct condition that they shoukl be promptly let or sold, or turned to account in the ways most likely to promote the welfare of the whole people, and not merely of the persons who have already settled or will settle there, and, in particular, that they should be as easily as possible obtainable by innnigrants. "However that may be, two things are obvious — that the Government and Legislature of the mother-country transferred these territories on an implied, though neces- sarily unexpressed, understanding that the colonial con- nection is indissoluble ; and, further, that what the mother- country, almost unsought and altogether without a price, gave, she relied on the colonists being ready to dispose of in such a manner as to attract thither her surplus population. The iiaiiuu — by which term we mean the whole people, wherever in the wide world located — had a right to expect this return." '■•'- Mr. Maclie further avows in a note, at p. 38, that " at the late meetings at which he had rendered an account of his stewardship he characterised the way in which the United Kingdom had, without debate in Parliament, and without receiving any equivalent or even stipulating for any share of or control over the proceeds of sales, divested herself of the whole lands and territories she possessed till, within the last few years, in our thriving Colonies, as ' playing ducks and drakes ' with those costly and valuable national properties, — the right to deal with which at the present time might have presented a ready and useful means of relief from difficulties connected with Ireland, and with the depressj^^ of trade in Grcdt Britain." And at p. 44 of the same paper he explains his views of a "federation" to mean "that each of the associated countries which constitute the Empire should subject * Colonial Questions, p. 3. Longman & Co. 1871. WMi^ i !! "! s3lnl>. m 148 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. itself, in respect to Imperial interests, to a central con- Joint Administration, which should have the right to determine and legislate for peace or war, em'Kjration and Cron-u lands, and contributions of men and money for military and naval defence and armaments on the basis of population." All rem{\rk as to the precise practical object of these expostulations, the strict accuracy of the views here enunciated, the past and present position of the Colonial Governments, and also as to their proceedings, will be conveniently deferred for the second division of my subject. I shall now proceed at once to the charge of want of due consideration — that being the most important, because affecting British statesmanship ; and I think it can be shown that so far from " a mere slip of the pen," and an absence of parliamentary debate, the question of colonial constitutions and the management and disposal of waste lands received the most searching consideration before the passing of the Acts which conferred them on the local Legislatures. Lord Stanley's Act (5 and G Vict. c. 36), which raised the minimum price of waste Irnds to £1, and disposed of the proceeds half to emigration and half to public works, under the sole control of the British Government (the subject of so much dispute), was passed in the year 1842. It was not repealed, so far as Australia was concerned, until 16th July, 1855, by 18 and 19 Vict, c. 56. If any one searches the parliamentary debates of the last-mentioned period he will be greatly baffled by not finding any discussion on the Land Question. The reason is that the main discussions took place in 1850, when an ineffectual attempt was made to obtain its repeal, and the subject was afterwards thoroughly exhausted in 1852, w^hen control over the waste lands was conceded to New Zealand (15 and 16 Vict. c. 86). COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION. 149 ^I con- Jgtt to py for ^asis of these s here olocial wilj of my ii-ge of ortant, link it pen," ion of sposal sration em on raised »sed of vorks, t (the year I was Vict, bates affled ition. 3e in btain ands 86). There are thus, in fact, three periods in the history of this Waste-Land Question, which we shall do well to bear in mind : — 1. From 1785, the foundation of the Colony of New South Wales, down to 1831, during which free grants were the rule, in proportion to the capital of the settler, the grant to be resumable if certain improvements were not made. 2. From 1831 to 1842, the date of Lord Stanley's Act, between which dates (except in the Colony of South Australia) the prices varied from 5s. to 12s. an acre. r> From 1842 to 1850, during which period Lord Stanley's Act was in operation. I should mention that I except South Australia, because that Colony was founded in 1836 upon the Wakefield or "sufficient price " principle (i.e., £1 per acre), and it has been said by some that the price was raised to the same amount by Lord Stanley's Act throwjhout the rest of Australia in order to prop up the then falling fortunes of the Colony of South Australia. However this may be, certain it is that agitation immediately began after the passing of Lord Stanley's Act, and continued during the whole of the third period, viz., from 1842 to 1850, against its provisions. Select Committees of the Legis- lative Council of New South Wales investigated and reported against the system in 1843, 1844, 1845, 1847, and 1848 ; ar .1 in August, 1849, the present Chancelloi- of the British Exchequer, then a member of that Council, gave notice that he would move a set of resolutions to the eflfect that no form of constitution for the Colony would be acceptable, permanent, or beneficial, which did not embody five requisites, the first being "responsible government," and the fifth, "transfer to the local Govern- ment of the management of the waste lands, and the revenues thereof." ^ * Hansard, v. 108, p. 1004, ■IliiHIIIIllllHi 150 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. 'iA% III i 1; i i » ' 111 1849 Lord J. Russell brought in a Bill to give anew Constitution to Australia, in which no mention was made of waste lands. A question was then asked, and Lord J. Russell, after due consideration, came down and announced " that it ivas the intention to grant the manafjcment to the CoJonies.'" That Bill was withdrawn, and in 1.850 a new Bill was introduced, which, amongst other novelties, actually provided machinery for a federal assembly of aU the Australian Colonies, and delegated the manage- ment of the waste lands unconditionally to this assembly, without any reservation to the Crown. This proposal was, however, condemned as impracticable ; and the noble lord, late one evening, in Committee on the Bill, not only gave up the proposal of delegating the waste lands to the federal assembly, but further said he should withdraw the power from the Colonies altogether.*' The Bill of course raised other important constitu- tional questions, such as "Double Chamber," "Nomi- nees," "Veto," "Franchise," "Separation of Victoria from New South Wales," " Colonial Church," and, as ultimately passed, gave powers to the Legislative Councils of each of the Australian Colonies to frame new consti- tutions for themselves, excluding legislation as to the land. The debates in the Commons occupied nine nights, and in the Lords seven. Mr. Hawes, then Under-Secre- tary of State for the Colonies, justified the withholding the control of the lands, because " they were in fact the estate of the Crown held for the benefit of the people of England as M^ell as the people of the Colonies. "t Mr. Roebuck, on the other hand, made the valuable sug- gestion that " definite and wide limits should be assigned to our then existing Colonies in Australia, so that the tracts of land intervening between each of those Colonies * Hansard, v. 110, p. 1410. f Ibid., p. 1407. COLONIAL WASTE-LAXD QUESTION. 151 made ^ord J. >unced to the [850 a ^e]ties, fi>Jy of I an age - (embJy, ■oposal d the !e Bil], waste islioiild bstitu- Nomi- ictoria nd, as uncils ODsti- o the •ecre- Iding t the •le of Mr. sug- ?ned the tiies mi^ht be at the disposal of the Imperial Government," thus enabling it to see " what amount of land they might have available for, and as cm appanage of, the poor of this (ountnj. But he would give to each Colony control over those lands which lay within their own boundaries."* After the federal scheme was abandoned, Lord Lvttel- ton proposed a clause giving power to the Governor and Leifislative Comicil to he established under the Act, to repeal Lord Stanley's Act, and to provide for the future manage- ment and appropriation of the land revenue, assuring Earl Grey that he expected the colonists would be willing to retain the existing division in the appropriation of the funds ; but the latter refused, assigning the same reason as that given in the Commons by Mr. Hawes.t This view of the matter was fully combated on the other side, in both Houses, and the following eminent statesmen declared themselves favourable to an immediate transfer : — Mr. Gladstone, the present Speaker of the House of Commons, Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord Brougham, Sir William Moles- worth, Mr. Disraeli, Sir J. Graham, Lord J. Manners, and Messrs. Adderley, Roebuck, and Walpole. The measure was thus not only fully discussed, but the ministry and all parties had in addition two extraordinary means of being enlightened on the subject. They had in the previous year (1849), before framing their Bill, adopted the course (which Mr. Disraeli characterised as unconstitutional) ^ of taking the advice of a com- mittee of four members of the Privy Council, one of them not being a member of either House, as to the steps to be taken in legislating for the future administration of the Colonics. The report then made,§ signed by Lord Campbell, Lord Taunton, and Sir Edward Ryan, and dated 4th April, 1849, ought to have convinced them of 'I * Himsard, v. 110, p. 044. \ Hansard, v. 110, pp. 003— 7. t Ibid., V. HI, pp. 1050—4. ^^ See post, p. 103. li :l i ^i 1,: 152 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. tbe right of the colonists to free institutions, including:,', of necessity, the management of the lands ; and it certainly left the Government without excuse for their vexatious delay in repealing Lord Stanley's Act. But this was not all. When the Bill was in the House of Lords, Lord Brougham moved that certain colonial petitioners should be heard at the bar of the House against the measure ; and it was stated that the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, who represented the petitioners, and had then arrived in England, would address the House, " and that he would speak as a landholder and for his brother Legislative Councillors;" but the motion was rejected by a majority of eight, Earl Grey objecting to the proposal for reasons not complimentary.* As soon as the new Act arrived in the Colony agitation recommenced, and the Legislative Council, on the 1st May, 1851, before giving place to the new Legislature, recorded an indignant protest against the non-repeal of Lord Stanley's Act, in the following terms : — " The exploded fallacies of the Wakefield theory are still clung to ; the pernicious Land Sales Act (5 and G Vic- toria c. 36) is still enforced, and thousands of our fellow subjects, in consequence of the undue price put by that mischievous and impolitic enactment upon our waste lands, in defiance of the precedents of the United States, of Canada, and the other North American Colonies, and even of the neighbouring Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, are annually diverted from our shores, and thus forced, against their will, to seek a home for themselves and their children in the backwoods of America. Nor is this all. Our territorial revenue, diminished as it is by this most mistaken policy, is in a great measure confined to the introduction among us, of people unsuited to our * Hansard, v. Ill, pp. 943, 954, and 966. W P' oi vi cl COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION. 153 wants, and in many instances the outpourings of the poorhouses and unions of the United Kingdom, instead of being applied in dkecting to this Colony a stream of vigorous and efficient labour, calculated to elevate the character of our industrial population ;" and they claimed the immediate redress of five grievances, the second being in these words — '' That the revenue arising from the public lands, derived as it is ' mainly ' from the value imparted to them by the labour and capital of the people of this Colony, is as much their property as the ordinary revenue, and ought therefore to be subject only to the like control and appropriation." This protest was fol- lowed on the 5th December, 1851, by a petition from the Council to the Queen, in which they denounced the systematic and mischievous interference w'hich was exer- cised by the Colonial Minister in matters of purely local concernment ; and they otlered, on the surrender to the Colonial Legislature of the entire management of all their revenues, territorial as well as general, in which they included mines of every description, and upon the esta- blishment of a free constitution, to assume the whole cost of their internal government, whether civil or military (ex. salary of Governor-General), and to grant to her Majesty an adequate Civil List." Earl Grey in reply, 23rd January, 1852, expressed his astonishment, denied that the Council represented the feeling of the country, and appealed from them to their constituents, insisting that the Crown was trustee of the lands for the whole Empire, on all the grounds taken by Mr. Jenkins, and he expressly urged that their present value had been mainly given through the expenditure incurred by this country in founding, maintaining, and defending the several settlements.''' The reception of that reply irritated the new Council elected * Hansard, v 138, p. 1974. Vide, also, Par. Papera, I July, 1852, (1534) pp. 10, 11, 23, 26. if 154 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. It ii under the Act of 1850 to such a degree that they pre- pared a further remonstrance, which the G-overn or thought it necessary to apologise for sending. This remonstrance and the two prior documents were signed •' Charles Nicholson, Speaker," and after the views expressed here the other evening by Sir Charles, on the subject of the absolute control of the waste lands by the colonists, we can imagine the great pain he must also have felt at the discourteous tone of the remonstrance, and his deep regret that his official duties as Speaker obliged him to append his name thereto. In this remonstrance the Council renewed their claims with additional argaments, and thus dealt with the '' increased value " question : — " It is proved by Parliamentary returns laid before the Transportation Committee of the British House of Com- mons in 1837, and bj^ evidence before their own Council in 1844, that all the expenditure thus incurred had been reimbursed in a twofold degree out of the savings which, up to 81st March, 1836, had accrued from the trans- portation to these shores of the criminals of the mother- country. That Victoria had been notoriously a self-sup- porting Colony from the outset, and had besides, in common with New South Wales, paid out of its territorial revenue for the passages of the greater number of its immigrants prior to their separation." "* Little did the colonists imagine whilst preparing this last remonstrance that they might have saved themselves the trouble, as Earl Grey had gone out of office a few weeks after penning his despatch, and the Earl of Derby's Cabinet, after five nights' debate, had, with the cordial concurrence of Earl Russell and Earl Grey, settled the question before the end of June of that same year, by passing a Bill whereby the control of the waste lands had * Parliamentary Papers, March 14, 1853 (1611), pp. 23—27. COLONIAL WASTE- LAND QUESTION. \ .">.■> pre- [)iiglit I'ance larles here If the fs, we tthe deep 'im to the lents, been given to New Zealand, notwithstanding the remon- strance of those interested in Australia at the injustice done to the latter/^ The case of Now Zeahind, of course, stood upon very ditfcrcnt grounds, but the New South Wales colonists would not have been more recon- ciled to the policy of the Colonial Office if they had heard Earl Grey in the House of Lords coolly deny the right of his successors to claim any credit for their concession, because *' it was no novelty at all. Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick had been allowed to regulate this matter by means of the Colonial Legislatures ; and in the West Indies the same rule prevailed ! " f The New South Wales Council then drafted a New South Wales Government Bill, setting at naught the limit to their power of legislation contained in the constituent Act of 1850, and giving themselves all the powers they considered they were entitled to. Before that Bill arrived in England Sir J. Ptikington followed up his New Zealand Act by sending off to New South Wales an important de- spatch of December 1«5, 1852, wherein he announced that the Government had determined to abolish the restrictions contained in Lord Stanley's Act, on the sole condition that the colonists should grant a Civil List to her Majesty, being persuaded *'that those restrictions should no longer be maintained unless they were so by the will of the colonists themselves, either as regards the selling price of land or the application of the proceeds." And he added, *' that the cost of an immigration which had become more than ever necessary to the welfare of the Colony, and was far more important to its interests than to those of the mother country, would be best undertaken by the Legislature of the former. Her Majesty's Govern- ment were willing to rely, in all respects, on the foresight * Hfesard, v. 121, pp. 102 ct scq. + Ibid., v. 122, p. 1171. iiui 'IM 1,1 I % '1- ' if il 156 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. and political judgment of that body to which the super- vision would bo transferred, especially in its improved shape, and they were bound to add that it appeared to them matter of justice as well as expediency that conces- sions on so important a subject, which had been made for some time to the principal North American Colonies, and recently to New Zealand, should no longer be withheld from New South Wales." " On the Colony passing the necessr^.-y Act providing their constitution with a civil list annexed, as agreed on. Sir John Pakington promised that the necessary measures to carry out this and other great conccisions would bo proposed to Parliament. It took time for the several Colonies to prepare their diti'erent measures, but this being done the necessary Acts, some four in number (of a curiously complicated character), for conferring constitutions, and to repeal Lord Stanley's Act, were brought in, in May, 1855, by Earl Russell, who had then returned to oflice ; and thus ended this prolonged struggle which must have been at last as wearisome to the actors therein as the bare narration of it, I fear, has been to you. Trusting that I have established to your satisfaction that the Imperial legislation of 1855, by which the question of the management of the waste lands was settled, took place after long and full investigation with most ample discussion, and that all the very matters now urged to discredit it were, in fact, fully weighed and considered, I proceed to the second part of my subject, viz., " The effect of the measure on what is called the Imperial Domhumn.'" Dispensing with all technicality, let us take these words to include all Imperial rights to lands in the Colony as * Par. Papers, March H, 1853 [1611], pp. io, 6. Ml COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION. 15; uper- P'oved fed to fnces- l<' for \, and iliold b the civil [nised other IS they existed previous to 1855, — whether claimed through the Crown as strict prerogative, or under the Acts of Parliament which then regulated the matter, or which could be suggested as being equitable or moral rights resulting from the then past dealings of the British Government with the Colonies. However irresistible the conviction may be that, after the full sifting the question had undergone, every right intended to be reserved would be clearly expressed and nothing left to implicatioH, let us deal with the matter in detail. You observe that I am not going to explain to you the different regulations made by the various Colonies for the sale and disposal of their lands under their new powers, nor to trouble you with statistics as to the comparative sales of land before and after the passing of the Act, nor to enter upon a disquisition as to the relative merits of high and low prices. I leave these matters to others, to- gether with any details as to the various modes in which the moneys arising from the lands, whether by sale or otherwise, have been applied. My business is only to show how Imperial rights then existing were affected by the final legislation on the subject. These rights may be classified thus : — 1. Those resulting from the relation of sovereign and subject, being other than those of tenure. 2. Those resulting from the principle of tenure that all lands in the kingdom are holden of the Eng as the sove- reign and lord paramount. 3. ** Imperial interests " resulting from Lord Stanley's Act and other Imperial legislation. And 4. Any trust or claim resulting from past Imperial expenditure. I K ■ 'I IM :M 1. The rights of the sovereign other than those result- ing from tenure. Rlk>-' I ■!■ ■ r ; i'Hi ' i: * B; I^^M >' 1 ■ i I^Hh fi 1 1 '■^ji ^^H ' S '^^^^K > ^' '91 " J! J 158 COXFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. These would not require any notice, but that Mr. Jen- kins, in his able paper on Federalism, has ingeniously mixed up the question of the administration of waste lands according to what he calls "Imperial interests," with a totally different and inconsistent matter, viz., the right of the colonists to divest them of " the Im- p.^rial Domiiiiiiui.'" True ho contends that the colonists as citizens are bound to continue such, because of what he considers a i/i/t to them of the waste lands ; but I think it will appear as we progress that he here assumes the whole question, and that there never was any such gift. I need not say that the colonists do not claim to be "the absolute owners of the waste lands" in the sense alleged. They know that they have to administer the revenues derived therefrom in such manner as shall in their sole judgment best advance the interests of the Colony as part of the British dominions, and render it, as Mr. Macfie puts it, attractive as a home or place of sojourn for her Majesty's subjects, who arc free to come and go therefrom just as they please. With regard to this ques- tion of possible separation let mo say this. We should never forget that the Colonial Legislatures are not so omni- potent as the Imperial Parliament, and that one of their constituent parts, the Governor, acts under instructions from the Imperial authorities, and cannot sanction any proceedings affecting real Imperial interests, certainly not anything aimed at the dependence of the Colony. Further, no Act can be passed which is repugnant to British law, and the tie of allegiance being perpetual, can only be severed by Imperial legislation.''- * It is not within the scope of these Notes to discuss whether any more artificial tie has now become necessary. The advocates of Confederation appear to have no faith in the ties of race, language, religion, country, self-interest, or similar privileges and institutions. The mere political link of sovereignty," of which Herman Meri- •Tcn- fously [waste lests," COLONIAL WA^TE-LAKD QUESTION. 159 Is it because certain Commissioners scarcely recovered from the irritation caused by the removal of the troops from New Zeahind in the midst of Wiir, and from Aus- tralia, notwithstiinding their oilers to pay, met to consider the subject of local federation, which has been long urged upon their attention in the interests of the Empire, and because some of them canvassed the possibility of devising a scheme whereby the neutrality of the Colonies might be secured in case of war, that we are, as reasonable men, to jump to the conclusion that the Colonies are ripe for sepa- ration, r.nd at once place ourselves in a hostile attitude? It was excusable that the question should be mooted, con- sidering the doubts then existing about the intentions of our Ministry on the subject, and the state of English public feeling thereon. I hope, however, that I may be justified in saying that few people, if any, in the Colonies now trouble themselves about the matter, except it be profes- sional politicians who, there as elsewhere, must find some- thing to talk about, and writers in the press who are led to deal with the subject in reply to remarks made on this side. The spirited measures taken by the colonists for their own defence during the recent war warrants one in coming to this conclusion. 2. Imperial rights resulting from the principle of tenure, &c. This principle is a mere legal fiction, and no beneficial claim can be founded upon it. It is adopted for con- vale long since wrote (" Colonisation," pp. 290—3), is to them a rope of sand ; and they appear to regard his vision of ** England retaining the seat of the chief executive authority, the prescriptive reverenc e of her station, the superiority belonging to her vast accumulated wealth, and as the Commercial Metropolis of the world, and united by these ties only with a hundred nations," as an iulo dream. I Si ^hSh^i£^v:mA au AKu ill ' ii I'iii'i I ;il I t 5 i 'I If r \[ I 1 60 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. vcnicnco, and to prevent improper acquisition of lands from aborigines, with consequent embarrassment to the mother-country by the demands of the purchasers for protection. It will be best understood by giving instances of its application. In 1885 tbc present New South Wales and Van Die- men's Land were the only portions of Australia occupied. Schemes were afloat for unauthorised settlements around Port Philip Pay. An enterprising blacksmith of the latter Colony, named Batman, crossed }iass's Straits with a party of natives, and bought an enormous tract of country around the Bay from the aborigines. On settlers arriving. Batman is said to have at first warned them ofi', but becoming more conciliatory, he consented to show them the country. Taking them up to the summit of Mount Alexander, the highest peak near to what is now the City of Melbourne, he pointed on all sides, and exclaimed, ** There, as far as you can see, belongs to me, and all beyond to my son Tom!" He reported his purchase to Colonel Arthur, the then Governor of Van Diemen's Land, who declared the purchase and claim illegal, as the Crown alone could so acquire title. The matter was reported to the Colonial Office ; but meantime the district became rapidly settled. The Colonial Office at first protested, but in 183G directed the Governor of New South Wales to assert the Crown's rights ; and thus, in direct opposition to the wishes of the British Govern- ment, the present flourishing Colony of Victoria was founded. Take another, example. You are aware that New Zealand was the field of great missionary enterprise long before 1830. The flag of the Independent Chiefs of the Northern Island was recognised, and in 1832 Lord Goderich informed the Chiefs that James Busby, Esq. , was to be his Majesty's Resident there, and that the iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii>iir(i"nnil COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION. IM IhiuIs the for he I object of his appointment was ** to extend to their country all the benelits which it was capable of receiving from its friendship and alliance with CIreat Britain." The in- structions issued to Mr. Busby, April 18th, 1833, were that he was to bo " l^ritish llesidcnt " with (to all intents and purposes) an independent and sovcrei{,'n State, and this independence was afterwards in terms distinctly acknow- ledged in the instructions to Captain Hobson, when m August, 1830, he was appointed British Consul there. In this state of things Mr. Busby purchased from the natives, by payments admitted to have been ample, certain valuable lands near the Bay of Islands. Many others did the same. Afterwards, in February, 1840, the famous Treaty of Waitangi was executed, by which the Chiefs of New Zealand ceded the sovereignty of their country to the Queen, together with the exclusive pre- emptive right of their land. Her Majesty, on her part, guaranteed them their lands, possessions, and customs, with the rights of British subjects. On the British Governor arriving, all these land purchases were dis- allowed, but the claimants were promised limited grants. This was the origin of the New Zealand land claims, with their bitter disputes. The proceeding involved .-. wrong application of the principle we are considering, because New Zealand was, at the date of these purchases, in exactly the same position as a foreign country, in which British subjects are entitled to acquire lauds. Mr. Busby's claim, after long litigation, has at last been settled by the payment, only the other day, of a sum of about ;£40,000 by the Provincial Government of the Province of Auck- land — being only one of the many costly legacies left to the Colony by Imperial rule ! It would be curious if, at a time when certain philo- sophers, following the example of potentates, are assert- ing for the people of this country "an historic title "' to M i p.^a i62 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. the lands within this realm — because of the abuses, or, as they call it, the robbery and spoliation perpetrated on the people thereof under the sanction of the feudal system, certain other philosophers should be aule to claim successfully for this same people an equitable rif^ht to lands within the Colonies based upon the existence of this very feudal iiction which at home they wish altogether to ignore. The Maories of New Zealand understood the matter better, for when the Treaty of Waitangi was explained to them, thoy are reported to have said> "All right! Maori lieep the substance — Queen the shadow," and this, with- (Jdt any Scotch lawyer expounding to them the distinction l)etween " domuiinni directum'' and ^' dotninium utile.'' 8. " Imperial interests " resulting from Lord Stanley's Act and subsequent enactments. '■] i Under these Acts the Government of Great Britain exercised the following rights in the interest of the mother- country, and, as they asserted, of the Colonies also :- viz., 1. Surveys of land before sale. 2. Quarterly sales by auction. 3. Minimum price of £1 per acre, cash. 4. Ne< jtroceeds, after cost of survey, to be appropriated, as to ove half, at least, for erniay passage vioneij, and the residue for public works, as the Treasury should direct. Subsequently, in 1816 and 1847, powers were given to l^-ise for fourteen years, and difi'erent regulations and prices were fixed for settled, intermediate, and unsettled lands. All kinds of conflict- ing interests arose in the Australian communities under these provisions, which gave rise to violent dilierences of opinion ; whilst here, the great object /hen aimed at, as now, was secured — viz., the absolute disposal of a large portion of the land funds for promoting uncontrolled 5es, or, ^etrated feudal I Die to |le right ^istence [y wish matter lined to ' Maori 5, with- tinction Her taniey's Britain niother- aJso :- iiales by 4. Ne< d, as to 'ecms to )rks, jis t4G and years, settled, onllict- undcr :irences nod at, l1 of a trolled COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION. i^>3 emigration from this country. Then, as now, people confounded "emigration'' with "colonisation," and so long as they could secure the former they resolutely insisted upon restrictions which entirely forbad the latter. These reservations to the Crown and restrictions could not by law have any existence by exercise of the pre- rogative — I.e., if Colonies were founded by royal charter. An Act of Parliament was necessary, because they were in derogation of the rights of her Majesty's free subjects who emigrated to the Colony, and who carried with them all their rights and privileges which were suitable to their new position. In the case of New South Wales a tempo- rary suspension of these rights was necessary, because the *';olony was, and continued for many years, a mere gaol on a largo scale. It was unlike the old Colonies, which were founded on the dictates of political justice : "these latter" — I adopt the words of Mr. Gladstone — "were subjected on one hand to the general restraints of the law of England; and again, according to their charters, they were to have their laws, as near as might be, agree- able to the laws of England ; whilst in other respects they were, for all practical purposes, absolutely and entirely free." * The opinion of Lord Campbell, Lord Tau^iton, and Sir Edward Ryan, in their report to the Privy Council, to which I have already referred, is conclusive on this point. They say, " In all the Colonies acquired during the nineteenth century by the oeciipation of vacant terri- tories, the same system of internal legislation by a Governor and a Coun3il appointed by the Crown has been introduced by the authority of Parliament. " In Colonies so acquired, the royal prerogative was competent unit/ to the establishment of systems of civil * Ilunsaid, v. 121, p. 958. inmiiiiiiiiil ■■—»■«—— HI ^^..^il- li.-.^.„ J'-JA 164 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. ,V . 31. ,mV«fe»-.-.i:>j»..'jftV- -a-. .■,;^ ■-■-^- ■^'p^^Ti'; il COLONIAL WASTE-LAND QUESTION. 165 , at lom- mch it in lodel the liple, Icon- iiave bad advocate and six officers (sea or land), five to form a quorum, for conviction. The various restrictions which were thus imposed simply on account of the original character of the settle- ment, were continued long afher the original necessity had passed away. England having first made the spot a receptacle for her convict population, added to the injury by " shovelling out there (as ic was described) her pauper population," To carry on this system it was necessary to keep the control over the waste lands, to arbitrarily regulate their disposal, and to keep up the price, for the purpose of raising an emigration fund, — to say nothing as to the maintenance of interests wiiich had come into being under the system. The existence of the Colonial Office was always justified because it was the guardian of these Imperial interests. The theory of the lands being "held for the benefit of the people of England as well as the people of the Colonies" was invented, and resolutely insisted on, until, as we have seen, better principles prevailed, and Parliament resolved to thoroughly change the former policy of the Colonial Office. Then how stands the case 7ioiv / The Imperial Parliament has declared that the waste lands and their management are local matters, and not Imperial, and they have repealed the Acts which gave the Imperial authori- ties any control. How then can any one say that they continue matters of *' Imperial interest " in the old sense? Only by suggesting a trust involving a fallacy. It is true that being held and used in harmony with *' local (colonial) interests," and the Colony being part of the Empire, they arc in that sense held for "Imperial interests," but not otherwise. It is evideit that the supporters of this view arc disinclined to accept the recent legislation as binding aud conclusive, and to that end they suggest the idea of an implied trust through the medium of the Man 1 66 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. " Imperial dominium.'" But I have shown that under the latter only (without the aid of an Act of Parliament) the land would bo entirely a matter of local administra- tion according to law. There remains no other pretext for suggesting a trust, except my last head, viz. : — 4. Trust resulting from past expenditure on the part of Great Britain. ■I r ' I As far as New Zealand is concerned this is out of the question. The Crown did not buy the lands there, although it reserved to itself the sole right of pre- emption. It delegated that right for a time to certain other persons (the New Zealand Company) ^vJlhin certain defined limits, but obstinately maintained it after tbe extinction of that company throughout the whole of the northern island. There it vould not purchase and would allow no one else to purchase, notwithstanding the urgent demands of the settlers ; and it opposed, until a very late period, all attempts to obtain power for the natives to individualise their titles and so to effect sales. This was one of the main causes of Maori discontent and ultimate total want of faith in the British authorities. When the new Constitution Act was passed, the claims of the New Zealand Company for their outlay in the south, amounting to £208,870, and an annual charge of ,£7,000 as a provision for the natives, were charged upon the lands of the Colony, acquired and non-acquired ; and in addition to this, the handful of adult males there have now to bear a debt of more than four millions sterling, occasioned by a war for which the Imperial authorities were mainl} , if not entirely, responsible, besides having paid to the Imperial treasury the lump sum of £500,000 for Great Britain's military expenditure. The Colonies of Aastr.ilia, on the other hand, were \'J ,*. if>, .«. COLONIAL IVASTE-LAND QUESTION. 167 idcr [ent) stra- Istext part the ere, pro- ftain I'tain the the OlllJ 1^1, founded by mere occupation without payment to the aborigines. The claim for expenditure by the British Government in other respects was, as we have seen, set up by the Colonial Office in 1852, but completely demolished by the remonstrance of the New South Wales Legislative Council of the 10th August, 1852.* If there be then no J^/s Lenithmim, or right in law, except the safeguards which result from fellow-citizenship and being subject to the same sovereign ; and no Jus Fiduci'arium. or right in trust, for which there is a remedy only in equity ; there remains, according to the civilians, only one more right, viz., Jus Prccarium, or right in courtesy, for the which there is no remedy at all, except fair speaking and goodwill towards our colonial fellow citizens ! And why should not these secure for ''Imperial in- terests," in this matter of emigration, all that can be legitifhately desired ? It is to the British islands that the colonists must mainly look for their supply of popu- lation. Schemes for forming new settlements and pro- moting emigration, whether countenanced by the Imperial Government or not, can be planned in concert and co- operation with tie different Colonial Legislatures through their Agents-General ; but do not begin with questioning their right to be treated as upon an equality, and to have an undou^)ted reasonable veto upon your plans. It is well lO remember that the colonists can import free labour from wherG they please — even from a foreign country, if so disposed, and they deem it best suited for the development of particular industries. But here again an.ple secui-ity is provided for the due disposal of the umds according to the mterests of the people at home, as well as those of the settlers ; inasmuch as the old inca- pacity of an alien to acquire lands in the Colonies is still * See anti, p. 152. s il. r68 CONFERENCE ON COLONTAf. QUESTIONS. retained by the 33rd Vict. c. 14, sees. 2 and 16, and he can only obtain naturalisation within the limits of the Colony by Act of the local Legislature — such Act being subject to confirmation or disallowance by her Majesty in the same manner as other laws. But enough about legal or any other securities ! Can it be necessary that I should add more ? Must I discuss the natural ruilit of a man within the realm to be carried across seas at the expense of somebody else in the Colonies ? Am I to weigh the merits and claims of the " unwashed millions " as candidates for emigration against those of the poor, yet clean, honest, and industrious citizen ; or to inquire whether Great Britain, under the influence of Social Science Associations, has not now undertaken to do her *' washing" at home? Must I point out, if these claims are put forward on philan- thropic grounds that Canada, to which three men can be sent instead of one to Australia, is the inevitable limit of your labours in justice to everybody ? — but that if you wish to send them to the Antipodes for certain Imperial reasons, then it is a matter of Imperial political, and not private, right ; and its exercise should be provided for, if not entirely, certainly to some extent, out of Imperial funds ! Surely I have said enough, and I will conclude by simply asking you one question, " Arc you, or are you not, satisfied that our colonists ought to have the uncontrolled management of their local concerns, in- cluding the waste lands, as contra;distinguished from Imperial concerns? " If you answer yes, you agree that the settlement of 1855 was satisfactory ; if you answer no, then I can only say that you wall proclaim to the world and to the colonists themselves, in most unmis- takable terms, that you, the members of this Conference, have no faith in them, and that you do not believe that they are as true and rational men as yourselves. Drscuss/oiv. l6q Mr. W. F. Vesey Fit/oerald arguod that tho history of tho dealings with colonial lands proved that there was no stable, judicious, or reliiible system in existence, as regarded the manage- ment of the relations between tho mother country and the Colonies. To charge the want of wisdom evinced by that history, or its unfortu- nate results, on one statesman in England, or on tlie Colonial Office, would be quite unreasonable. It was evident from default of an Act of Parliament that the present state of things had arisen, and to the want of a stable, judicious, and reliable system of management that the evils to be lamented were attributiible. He therefore thought that the remedy would be to establish a wise and per- manent system of management, and this could be provided — and experience justified him in asserting that it could alone be provided — by arranging a judicious system of Imperial Federation. Even a merely advisory council, representing colonial sentiment and knowledge in London, would of necessity be a check on tho eccen- tricities of official and legi.slativo action. Mr,- Edwaud Jenkins thought that, short as must necessarily bo the discussion which must take place on the paper read, there was not one individual present who would grudge the time devoted to it ; for, of the papers road before the Conference, this one bore on it a research and honesty of purpose such as was not to bo noticed in any other yet contributed. Not only that, it struck him that there were results which Mr. Abraham had succeeded in developing, together with facts which were unknown to almost every person present. But when he (Mr. Jenkins) came to in- vestigate tho nature of the results which the writer had deduced, it struck him that he had built up a very careiYd anIe- of to [ant for Thankful am I that God put into my heart this mode of doing good to my follow-man, and that tho fruits are seen by 2,r330 members of our Clerkenwcll club behig assisted out ; and, personally, I do not know of a dozen families having failed ; but the great majority are pro- gressing satisfactorily, and making such substantial pro- gress as to induce their friends and relatives to join them. This speaks volumes in itself. Looking upon our Colonies as the poor man's inheritance, and as an outlet for some of the seven hundred human beings daily added to our thirty-two millions of population, I deem it but right, as an Englishman, to be enthusiastically loyal in endeavour- ing to unite with an indissoluble bond, the Colonies and the mother country. I must now guide my steps across the mighty Atlantic. Last fall I undertook this arduous journey, to ascertain for myself whether the encouraging accounts I received were strictly correct, and whether I could conscientious*ly recommend the further assistance of the poor and un- employed, and the encouragement of emigration generally to the new Dominion. My passage across was most delightful, as naturally Father Neptune and myself are very good friends. The food for the emigrants was ample, and most nutri- tious, and above the rules laid down by the Allan's Montreal Steamship Company. The men most properly sleep in hammocks by themselves ; the women and small children in bunks. All take meals together. I would suggest a library of books, and appropriate games might be allbrded. Regular ministrations were conducted each evening at 8*30, and twice on Sundays. By the end of the voyage all seemed physically improved, and in the best of spirits. On arrival at Quebec, the Government officer, Mr. Stafford, meets the immigrants. Those intending to IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) Y I (/ /^ A ^V 6^ <^:i;^ \j 'ij) ri7 .-- c> ^. uai i:'4 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. ij. . 'I ii: |i-i, -Ii( settle in the Dominion are sent free to places where the officials have been informed that labour is required. Friends are sent to friends, often having berths a^ waiting their arrival. The accommodation-trains are frequently beset by hirers of labour ; and instead of twenty or fifty applicants importuning a master for one place, as is fre- quently the case in London, two or three '* bosses " will be asking the same man to hire out himself to them. Never shall I forget the inexpressible joy of a late poor un- employed East-end London labourer whom I met at Lindsay, Ontario. '* Why, Mr. Herring, I could not make it all out. Why, do you know, sir, that I who had walked fifty miles a week in the East-end seeking work, and for weeks was refused every place I tried for, had actually three oft'ers of work while walking from the railwa^'-station to this depot." The Dominion Government have depots at Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, and Hamilton, and I hope soon at Loudon. Here immigrants are fed and lodged for forty- eight hours, and often longer, and sent free to their destinations. There are in Canada more opportunities for men rising in the world than here. Three-fourths of the present possessors of wealth and position landed with very little means in their possession. There have settled in Ontario during 18G9 and 1870 48,000 immigrants. The Government have now offered l-OO acres of land to every married couple, and 100 acres for all persons over eighteen years. Last season 180,000 acres of forest-land were taken up. In travelling through the free-grant (Muskoka, or Clear Sky) district, I found that GO to 70 per cent, was good land. The money and skill required to take up a free grant have been somewhat exaggerated. The farming is very simple, and about £20 is alone necessary to begin with. Several of my club near Ashdown and Parry Sound began with EMIGRATION AS SEEX IN CANADA. m liting mtly fifty fre- illbe lever un- t at ake had ork, had the nent iton, don. mrs, much less ; and I saw them happy and contented. Land generally sells for 2.s. in the back parts, to £6 per acre in the more settled regions. Canada's wealth is in its land, and there is now a most splendid opening for any British tenant-farmer with a few hundreds to settle within the Dominion. Manitoba is also a fine field' for emi- gration. I visited very many of my immigrant friends, both in towns, villages, on farms, and in the backwoods, and nearly all expressed themselves satisfied with their present life, and as looking hopefully to the future. The principal institutions and things they praised were the free-school sjstem, whereby every one can obtain a free and excellent education for their children, and, at a small cost, a good grammar school, and even a university educa- tion, which the municipal or county authorities can pay for ; and so education is freely given to all. I may add that there are 4,882 free schools in Ontario alone, with 406,000 scholars. Thus the humblest have great educa- tional advantages throughout the Dominion. Again, the free grants are well spoken of. The patent of land is granted after five years' occupation, and with very trifling requirements. Lately, the Ontario Govern- ment have expended 20,000 dollars in clearing land and erecting log-huts to the north of Lake Ilos«aau. These lots can be taken up on easy terms by new settlers. The entire closing of grog-shops on Sundays, i.e.^ from 7 P.M. on Saturday -o 7 a.m. on Monday, is looked upon most favourably. Its good eft'ect I witnessed in better attendances at churcli and schools, in the better clothing and general appeararce of the working classes. It would be, indeed, for the lasting benefit of our dear country, with its one public-house for each 182 people, and for every 120 near London, if on Sunday she would follow in the footsteps of Canada. ' No evil results would ensue, but a blessing everywhere and upon all. Drunkards are fined ¥: ilil mw III '-■■y ' .w i -!i { 1 176 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. 8 dollars, or twenty-one days. London, Canada West, with 25,000 people extra at the ..nnual fair, had only eight extra drunk. Further, the food, especially animal, is much more abundant. A working man, living and boarding for 12.S. Qd. per week, would consider himself hardly used if he did not get meat twice every day ; and this is univer- sally the case. The good food, the healthy out-door exercise, the constant exployment, and the invigorating climate, all tend to develop mankind ; and for physique and manly appearance, I know no one superior to a Canadian lumber-man. As fruit and vegetables abound, you see these in profusion on the humblest tables. The photograph of a hungry East-End mechanic, and the same man after a six-months' sojourn in Canada, do not look like the same individual. The necessaries of life are cheaper, but clothes and luxuries are dearer than in the old country. Many of my immigrant friends have joined the militia, which is most popular, though compulsory ; and it speaks well for the Colony, that with but 4^ millions of people she has 000,000 men capable of bearing arms, with 42,000 standing militia, and that in the last of those abortive Fenian raids she could have 48,000 fully equipped soldiers in the field within twenty-four hours. We cannot but admire the squad of Canadian riflemen crossing the Atlantic, for the sake of displaying their loyalty and skill in shooting at Wimbledon : they deserve a public recog- nition ; and glad should we be to hear of the Colonial Minister, the Lord Mayor, or some one in authority, giving them a public entertainment. The universal holidays, on which all abstain systemati- cally from work, are the Queen's birth-day. Dominion- day, Easter, Whitsuntide, Christmas, and that day of interchanges of social friendships, the 1st of January — when the gentlemen, on their handsome sleighs, calling EMIGRATION AS SEEN IN CANADA. 177 on friends, partake of their hospitality, the ladies staying at home to receive their guests. It is on these occasions that the Canadians puhlicly exhibit their loyalty ; and believe me, the Queen has no more loving subjects, or any who would more willingly shed their last drop of blood in her defence, than her Canadian people. Labour, almost of all kinds, is abundant. Applications for labourers of all classes are numerous : Ontario rail- ways require 25,000 at the present moment. It must be always borne in mind that as the cost of living is one- third cheaper in towns, and one-half in the country, the rate of wages, though seemingly not much in excess, arc, considering other advantages, much superior ; for the working-classes, as a rule, are better taught, paid, and fed than in our own. Labourers get generally 4s. %L per day ; farm ditto, 60s. per month, with board and lodging ; rough carpenters, 5.s. ^d. ; joiners and painters, 6s. 3t/. ; men accustomed to drainage works. Is. Qd. ; tailors, engi- neers, plasterers, bricklayers, and first-class shoemakers, 8.S. to 10s. Trades Unions do not exist to any extent. Each is paid according to his individual worth. A " boss " is the foreman ; often the master. Young girls, " helps," obtain 16s. Sd. per month, and upwards; housemaids, 25s. ; cooks, 33s., with excellent board and very kind treatment. Provisions are cheaper in the country than in towns. Mutton ranges from 3cZ. to 5rf. per lb ; beef, 4id. to Qd. ; pork, 4c^. to 7^/. ; sheep's head with et ceteras, 2^d. ; bacon, 7 jiji As an illustration of substantial progress, the following came under my notice a few days since : — A shoemaker, living within half a mile of this spot, was assisted to Toronto by the highly-esteemed member for Westminster, Mr, Smith (who personally aided last year one hundred families to emigrate). He told me he earned never less than 42.S. per week ; living on 12.s\ iSd. This spring he came back to the old country to see his friends, and staid six or eight weeks, and, persuading an old schoolfellow and his newly-married wife to go back with him. Where will you find a London shoemaker, out of his savings, able to pay a visit to that lovely city of Toronto, stay six or eight weeks, and come back, after a seven-thousand miles' journey, to Westminster ? I might record very many cases — individual cases — in which emigration has proved an unmixed blessing. For English emigrants, I prefer the Province of Ontario to Quebec. The nationalities, religion, temperature, fer- tility of country, and great prosperity, are all decidedly in favour of Ontario. In parting with mT^ emigrant friends I always give them a little advice. First, directly on landing, "join your- selves to some Church community'* (all are churches in Canada, and each church stands or falls by itself). Secondly, avoid the whisky, and abstain altogether, if possible. The extreme heat, 95°, cold 28°, seems to effect most terribly hard drinkers, as the lunatic asylums (the finest of all buildings) are filled with these poor misguided creatures. Thirdly, '■'■ Be exceedingly careful about your cents and dollars," especially during your first year, as winter clothing (costing some MH)., setting up a new house, &c., are heavy taxes upon the purse at first. The Dominion Parliament is held at Ottawa ; the Ontario, at Toronto ; the Quebec, at Quebec. Most people express themselves satisfied with this form of government ; ip EMIGRATION AS SEEN IN CANADA. 1/9 iiud, judging by their newspapers, the Canadians are avariciously fond of politics. The newspapers are well, and generally ably, con- ducted. The Weekbj Globe at Toronto holds pre-eminence. Judging from the records, the Canadians are law-abiding, country-loving, and prosperous people. How different to the CJiicatjo liepuhUcaii of July 1st ! which records 5 births, 9 marriages, 2 bigamies, 8 divorces, 4 elopements, G deaths, 8 suicides, 8 murders, 5 hangings, and 7 appointments for execution. Thank God, such admirable agencies as the British and Colonial Society, the National Emigration League, Miss Eye's, Miss Macpherson's, the Hon. Mrs. Hobarts, and the Marchioness of Ripon, together with numerous emigration clubs, are actively at work in aiding the poor and unem- ployed to those lands, which God, having given us, has also greatly blessed, and where work and food are abundant. From London to Quebec, it costs about &1 each by steamer, and ,£5 by sailing vessel, with sea-kit and railway : half-price under eight in sisamers, under twelve in sailing vessels. I am convinced, from personal observation, that emi- gration is the most permanent way of helping the poor. A hundred pounds so subscribed will effect more lasting good to the recipients and their families than uny other mode of charity. I can but reiterate the expressed wish that our "useless wooden ships" should be utilised, and be the means of conveying happiness to many a home. Canada wants labour, and England has an overabundance. I perceive by the Washington treaty that England will not only have to pay handsomely for the Alabama claims, but Canada will justly ask for some compensation for the loss of her fisheries, &c. Could not we repay this just debt, by transplanting 100,000 persons from over-peopled England to under-peopled Canada ? Would not both sides be benefited '? 1 ( ■ t ■•; \.ii\. H: ill i8o CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. M W May God continue to blcs's Canada ! May He put it into the hearts of many to take up emigration, the most permanent and practical way of aiding our struggHng ])Oor ! And may Enghind and her Colonies ever remain faithful to her faith and traditions ! for verily *' Righte- ousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." There was no discussion ; Mr. Abraham remarked that it appeared to him that it was better to send three persons to Canada than one to Australia. At the evening sitting, Mr. Macfie, M.P., presided. The first paper read was a brief one prepared by Mr. Blanch ard Jerrold on The Colonies as Food Stores FOR Great Britain. Mr. Jenkins remarked that of all questions which might be dis- cussed in England, this of the introduction of food supplies into the United Kingdom, was the most important. Mr. Stuart Mill, as well as others, had shown how important it was that the food sup{)ly to the working classes of this country should be varied and cheap, and perhaps those who had read Mr. Mill's work on "Poli- tical Economy " would remember how earnestly ho argued in favour of the introduction and use of maize from India in this country ; and when we saw how successful Raleigh was in introducing the potatoe, and how it became the staple food of the Irish, it was easy to see that great benefit might be conferred on the masses of society by the introduction of other articles of diet (hear, hear). He bebeved there were several articles of diet which were known as very excellent food, and which it was desirable to inti-oduce into this country. There were plantain, maize, and also cassava. These perhaps might be introduced and utilised. If our present, fast steamers were multiplied, and facilities of transit further increased, they could bring food supplies for England of great value, more than sufficient to feed all England (hear). As to plantains, it was eaid that of all muscle-producing food, they were the best. Their special introduction was therefore much to be desired. But the English people were fond of old habits in respect to food, and it was most difficult to remove their prejudices against anything new in the put it most XgVmg omain ighte- any d that )rsoiis DISCUSS/ON. iSi shape of diet. He did, however, consider that of all movements set on foot by philanthropists, the introduction of plantains and other stajdes of food would be of incalculable service, and prove one of the best economic movements of modern times. He believed a company was about to be formed for a large introduction of Aus- tralian moat, which would have an important influence upon the meat supply of England. There was a meeting lately held of colonists who were to try certain samples of meat from Australia, and though the samples then shown were not much to be com- mended, better had followed. Perhaps some of these days the friends of this Conference would meet together to consider this imj)ortant subject more fully (hear, hoar). Mr. AiiuAHAM said he was at the meeting to which Mr. Jenkins referred, and he distinctly remembered what was said res})ecting some meat from Australia. If it did come from that Colony it was not the best ("hear," followed by a laugh). Very few gentlemen cared to remain in the room longer than courtesy required (laughter). He believed, however, that recent samples had given the highest satisfaction for the sweetness and richness of their flavour, especially the mutton. The CiiAiiiMAX remarked that it would bo well if the preserved meats, which were now really very good and free from the least taint, were introduced into our workhouses and other places. They were good and cheap. The royal family ought also to be asked to be patriotic, and there o\ight not to be a banqu(>t without having meat from all parts of the Empire. We all knew that mutton kept a long time, provided it did not decay, was very good. Why should we, then, not have Australian mutton ? There were lately 2,000 sheep sold in Queensland at os. a head, and this fact showed the possibility of having mutton from that part of the world. Respecting the mode of preserving it, he thought rewards ought to be oftortd for improvements in that direction, or for the dis- covery of means for bringing live stock into England from our Colonies (hoar, hear). It would be a great advantage to the Aus- tralian steamers, if on their return voyages they could bring back extensive supplies of food, either preserved meats or live stock. Such a trade would be a godsend to the poor, and become a first- class remuneration. The price of meat at our butchers, had greatly risen during the past few years, and it was said that many poor families could not purchase It at the price now offered. They were obliged to live upon lish, abd that went up in value in pro- portion to meat. It would then, as Mr. Jenkins had suggested, im I k i ■ Hi' I li'lii 1 82 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS, i i be a work of philanthropy to endcavoiir to do somethinc: in these food supplies from the Colonics (hear, hear). It was hcjlioved by most men to be practicable, and therefore it was urged that steps should be taken to increase the interest already felt on the question. Mr. Yon. thought that the la.st ini])()rtations of preserved meats from the Colonies had not been fairly brought bolbi-e the attention of the iteoplo of this country. There was sonui ])r('judice against the first consignments, and deservedly so, for they were not good, and an Englishman was dainty about his food ; but he believed that for tenderness, sweetness, and richness of flavour the last sup])lies were not to be equalled. Nothing could be better than the cold meat and mutton which ]\[r. Jones had prepared, and there could be no doubt that an immense supply of food could be obtained from Australia. But in addition to the colonial pre- served meats being cheaper and supoiior in ilavour, they were without bone and required no cooking— which was a saving of time and expense not to be overlooked (hear). Uespecting the supply of fi-^sh meat, a society was formed for the piu'poso of cn(,'ouraging the sale of fresh meat from Australia. It was not successful. But all colonists have said that the theory was perfect, and with more careful attention the required means for making the affair a grand success — aiid which was, like many other things, but a very small matter — would soon be known. One system was, preserving the meat by a process of freezing. In Canada and all cold countries fresh meat was preserved for long periods and sent great distances. He was much gratified with the remarks of the chairman respecting the granting of rewards to persons who suc- ceeded well in carrying out schemes for increasing our food supplies fi'om ^he Colonies, whether in the shape of preserved meat or live stock. Such movements for increasing the supply of food required capital. He (Mr. Youl) knew an enterprising man whose exertions were obliged to be stopped because they required money to be successfully carried out. The Colonial Office : its Constitution and Administration. By Sir H. Drummond Wolff, K.C.M.G. Last year many of those interested in the Colonies were of opinion that a colonial council resident in London 9^ THE COLONIAL OFFICE, 183 would strcnj];tbcn the ties between the Imperial and Colonial Clrovcrnmcnts. It is useless here to inquire into the reasons which have caused this proposal to be re- jected, or, at all events, adjourned. It will be sulficient to ascertain how far the objects of the proposed council may be secured by existing machinery. Marked features of English administration are the ]»resence of real, and the absence of recognised, system. Of these the gradual change in the organisation of the (Colonial Office is a remarkable instance. As often occurs in public departments, the real policy of the Colonial Office has to a great extent resided in the permanent officers. Their influence, though unrecognised, has been powerful. In France we find high-sounding designa- tions given to very inferior offices. In England we find the converse of this proposition. In the Colonial Office, under the somewhat humble title of clerks, those behind the scenes recognise functionaries exercising many of the powers, and often endowed with many of the qualities of statesmen. Perhaps few men have, in reality, exercised more influence on our colonial policy than Sir Henry Taylor. Yet his name is found in the Colonial Office list with those of four other gentlemen designated as senior clerks, and content to exercise most important duties for the most modest hopes of reward. So far is the real status of these gentlemen ignored that the pro- posal of a Secretary of State to confer on Sir Henry Taylor the designation of Assistant Under-Secretary of State was rejected on technical grounds by the Treasury. The points to be considered in the organisation of the Colonial Office are : — 1st. The importance of the duties falling on that de- partment since the sudden change, both in the constitu- tion and development of our Colonies. 2nd. The means to be adopted for infusing into our - , ) '^f% i ; i m' i i ■ |l ■«3 •■4 s nH 1 m :i w m W' {||P^ \w i: l.'jj 'r't'. 184 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. m- Colonics a f^reator confidonco in the administration of tboir interests, a? ^'ar as those interests are atiected by the Colonial OlHcu. Under the old administration of our Colonies, the term '* Colonial Cilice " was clearly a more fitting designation than at present for the bureau of the Secretary of State. The term of olHce of the head of the department was longer. The mutations in the histories of Colonies lU- peuded almost wholly on Downing Street. On the Secre- tary of State rested, therefore, the minntuL: almost of local administration ; and the duties of his olHce were discharged by functionaries properly designated as clerks. But colonial policy no longer centres in one individual. The individual remains, but changes with more rapid alternations than even tho changes of home administra- tions. I find that between the years 1795 and 1852 the number of Secretaries of State for the Colonies was twenty-three. Between the years 1851 and 1870, tho period in which the principle of self-government has come into full play, thirteen statesmen have occupied the office. Meanwhile the policies and histories of individual Colonies remain unchanged, or, if changed at all, it is from causes independent of Imperial motives. The succession of Secretaries of State is the succession of men, eminent and distinguished, doubtless, but from the nature of things itjnorant of minute colonial histories. To them the func- tionaries of the Colonial Office are counsellors, or, at all events, reporters. On their counsel or reports, based on long experience, and with accumulated information, must depend the policy of the chief. To the clerks in the Colonial Office alone are known the stories of colonial administration, the merits, the objects, the predilections or jealousies of colonial statesmen, and the constitution of par- ties in the Colonies themselves. The official minute of the old regime has imperceptibly glided into the State paper. r 'i THE COLONIAL OFFICE, 18S tboir tbo lorm xtiou tate. was cre- > of woru Ji'ks. In another brancli of the State, with which I have also been connected, I have johiccl in the ell'orts of those who have to a certain extent successfully combated the theory that a public department was necessarily a great machine, the component parts of which were allowed to have no movements beyond the walls of their particular ofHce. Nothing, I maintain, can bo more disastrous to tho public interest. If the members of a public department are thus limited in their ambition, their energies are either impaired or are directed to the absorption of power iu their own community to tho prejudice of the other branches of tho service to which they belong. A public department in England having the vvnuc of its funetionn abroad demands for success tho combination of two qualities — local knowledge for details, and generalisation in judgment. AYith a complete severance of the homo and foreign service this combination is impossible, and the results are damaging. The home functionary con- siders that an instruction can be carried out as easily as it is written. Tho functionary abroad finds a want of allowance for local difficulties of execution, and a conse- quent mistrust in the Home Government. On the other hand, the functionary abroad, estranged from his own country, is apt to yield too much to local excitement, and unable, perhaps, to form his judgment on first principles of policy and justice. In treating this portion of the question allowance will be made for my trenching, for a short space, on another head of discussion — namely, the functions of Colonial Governors. On this subject I confess my leanings to be with those not entirely in favour of a close colonial service. The benefit to be derived by a Colony from the nomi- nation of a governor from home is the infusion of metro- views, both iu business matters and social roia- ( \ 'I % i 1,1 i86 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. 1 !''J' tions, which are porhaps unattainable in a purely colonial education. A peer or a member of the House of Com- mons, though not of the foremost class of statesmen, has rubbed shoulders with those statesmen, and is imbued with the traditions, habits, and maxims of an old and very large society. Such qualities are invaluable in a modern colonial governor. He is no longer only the representative of royalty wielding in a distant community despotic powers not conceded to royalty at home. He is a species of ambassador sent to import into a Colony the essence and spirit of institutions which have flourished at home, and invested with attributes which the Colony is glad to give him, in token of an earnest desire to preserve that connection with the old country which is typified by the despatch and reception of this exalted envoy. But he is not on this account a roi faineant. He is bound to assert the rights of the Empire within his jurisdiction, and to perform certain delicate functions necessary to colonial life. The governor^ during his term of office, should be, and often is, tacitly the head of every colonial cabinet. He is probably the only inhabitant of the Colony really de- void of party, or what may be called distinct, feeling. He is neither a trader, an agriculturist, nor a professional man, and therefore occupies the position which is, or ought to be, that of cabinet ministers in this country, viz., that of abstraction from prejudice in favour of any interest, and of being above the suspicion of such preju- dice. To this purpose a governor should be the best specimen procurable 'n the old country of birth, fortune, talents, services, or of a combination of all or any of these qualities. Without any intention of depreciating those distin- guished men who belong to the colonial service, I am con- vinced that the public interests are often best served by THE COLONIAL OFFICE. i8r nial om- has lied and n a the nity e is the 1 at ly is erve by But d to and nial the selection of governors from other walks of life. The governor should go forth to a contracted from an ex- tended society. If we follow the rule of promotion, he goes to a contracted society from one still more con- tracted. Lut, on the other hand, it would he difficult to find men of sufficient ahility to take the inferior posts, if such acceptance were to forfeit for them the chance of promotion to wider spheres of activity. A small govern- ment should be neither a qualification nor a diciiualifica- tion for a larger one. The Colonial Office might be made an intermediate region in which to accept the local know- ledge of some, and to train others in the qualities of generalisation. It should be a depot and clearing-house for colonial functionaries, adjuncts at home to the minis- ter, as purveyors of practical, colonial experience, and in turn emissaries of the Minister to the Colonies. To a certain extent the value of such an exchange has been recognised by the recent admirable appointments of a permanent Under- Secretaiy and Assistant Under-Secre- tary of State, and by nominations, temporary and other- wise, of clerks in the Colonial Office, to colonial posts. These cases, however, are few in number, and excep- tional. They tend rather to prove the rule, as being in an opposite direction. Except in the case of an Under- Secretary of State, exchange is impossible. The Colonial Office being under the irgiine of the general civil service, no one can enter it but at the bottom of the list. The Colonial Office as a school has great resources. A man of intelligence, having access to the diversilied cor- respondence in Downing Street, would soon amass, from every quarter of the globe, precedents of general applica- tion. Colonists coming to England have been astonished to find the familiarity of the department with the dis- tinguished names and prominent events of their homes. But, except from the good feeling of the clerks in the h J \l n I Emj^ 1 88 CONFER EXCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. Colonial Office or the colonial officers at home, the ac- quaintance ends here. There is no official provision for personal association or social sympathy. Nay, socially the colonist in London is less at home in London than a foreigner. The latter has his minister at hand to intro- duce him into society or to advance his wishes. A colonist officially has none of these advantages. The Colonial Office should be able to supply this want. It should be made the link, both in its constitution and its duties, to bind British subjects habitually residing at home with their fellow- subjects domiciled in Greater Britain. The steps to be taken to adapt the Colonial Office to these requirements are neither many nor expensive. The revision of one or two Acts of Parliament and the pro- mulu^ation of the Order in Council would be sufficient in this country. But the Colonies must also contribute their share. The plan would lose half its utility were not colonists to find their way to desks in Downing Street. While we at home are compassing this object, our friinds in the Colonies should devise means for the occasional admission of a home official to some secondary post of im- portance in their administration, so as to share in a less ornamental capacity the mission of Government House. There is little more to be said beyond reducing the foregoing suggestions into a practical shape. The Colonial Office, apart from accountants and copy- ists, is composed of twenty-four functionaries, exercising in the department responsible duties. They are divided into a hierarchy of three classes, and distributed for work into five divisions. Of these divisions four are geographi- cal and political. The fifth carries on routine duties common to all Colonies. These departments are respectively placed under a senior clerk specially attached to them. Each Assistant Under-Secretary of State takes two of the departments, THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 189 ac- for [ally m a [tro- iThe It its )me the Permanent Under-Secretary of State presiding over all of them, and reporting to the Parliamentary Under- Secretary and the minister. In the appointments to the office of Under-Secretary or Assistant Under-Secretary of State the minister is un- fettered. The five heads of departments are selected from those who have gone through the junior grades of the office. I should propose that, retaining the Under-Secretary and their two assistants in the present state, to give them equivalent rank with certain governors. To the five heads of departments I should assign a distinctive appellation — such as Superintendent or Com- missioner — together with specific duties in connection with the Colonies, and higher salaries. It has already been shown that the duties required of these officers are of a high order. If, therefore, their positions were improved pecuniarily, and in ofiicial rank, they might be made convertible with governorships and the higher offices in Colonies. Beyond the duties ren- dered to the Secretary of State, they should be considered bound to the Colonies in their department, especially with a view to the reception and comfort of colonists visiting England. The extra expense would be very slight, amounting to a very few thousands. It would form but an inconsiderable addition to our own estimates, or, in case of necessity, might be defrayed by a colonial contri- bution. By this means the Secretary of State would be enabled, as vacancies arose, to profit by the services of a governor or distinguished colonist, who, when his service in London was over, would return to a colonial career reimbued with the feelings of the mother country. Britain and her Colonies, by this constant exchange of thought, and even of prejudice, would become more welded together. The lower degrees of the Colonial Office might, in a t' f;:, % \ 'S I : ;■■. i 190 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. like manner, be assimilated to officers in the Colonies, and a young man entering the service, whether born in the United Kingdom or the Colonies, would enter on a general colonial career, his mind strengthened and improved by the theories of London and the practice of the Colonies. To the service the advantage would be great. An officer, on leaving a small dependency, would be enabled to enlarge his mind in London before promotion. Means could be found to enlist the services of governors whose term of office had expired. Colonists would become acquainted with the ruling classes in England, and ministers would have at hand the counsel and advice of the best authorities on questions difficult of solution. Men of ability and station would be found more wilhng to embrace a career which no longer condemned them to perpetual exile, and the Colonial Office would realise for the colonial-born subject of the Crown that abstract idea of home which the colonist in every quarter of the globe attaches to the old country. The foregoing suggestions would naturally require amplification if adopted by the ruling powers. The principle involved has, as far as the analogy can be carried, been adopted by the Committee of the House of Commons on the Diplomatic Service. There are certain broad truths which apply to every department of life, and as we find in our private affiiirs the benefit of extended practical experience, so much the more is that quality required when we deal with the happiness not only of families but of nations. The foregoing remarks must not be taken as a departure from those views I hold in common with many others as to the expediency of some sort of common council to represent and combine in one form the interests of our divers Colonies. Some are of opinion that an honorary council, composed of pensioned colonial THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 191 governors, would achieve the objects desh'ed. Assuredly no scheme could be bad which should utilise for the central administration any larger accumulation of expe- rience. But honorary councils, though sounding well in theory, are rarely of any practical utility. Occasionally thej'' may be useful for advice, but they cannot be called upon for any continuous labour. The Colonial Office as it stands, with all its short- comings, is of great practical value to the Colonies. It embodies whatever there is of use to small communities in their connection with the parent State. It supplies advice, experience drawn from unnumbered sources in the old and the new worlds, protection, and, when necessary, a cold and dispassionate justice, unbiassed by any narrow consideration of local excitement. Its defects are from a want of sympathy inseparable from its present constitution. Young men enter the Colonial Office as a profession. They do their duty conscientiously, but they are not colonists, and there is no call from them of any greater love for the Colonies, than on a professional agent for his client, or on a judge for the motions that come before him. Those who see the importance of our colonial interests should have as their chief object the familiarisation to the public mind of colonial objects, names, and forms of thought. Colonies should be taught to regard the Colonial Office not as the residence of cold official formality for the mere transaction of business, but as a favourite resort where they could find a colonial atmosphere, and meet with, in their absence from home, the formal sympathy and friendship springing from old recollections. That this object would be achieved by J;he establishment of a colonial council there can be no doubt ; but in the absence of such a greater scheme that purpose may in part be served by the readjustment of existing materials. u'tii I ! &. 102 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. Mr. ToniN thought that tlio Colonial Oftice was very good in theory, but of very little use in pructice. Colonists iV'lt that it was no matter what distance they were from Westminster, they wore still Englishmen, and expected to he treated as Englishmon ; hut this had not been the case at all times. He hclongcd to the oldest Colony — a Colony which contributed £7<30,000 to Greenwich Hospital — his father was a colonist before him, and so was his grandfather, so that altogether he considered himself a colonist of a hundred and liftj'- years' standing ; he had also served for twenty- six years on the Executive Council ; but he was not satisfied with the present system of things. There was room for a great improve- ment which would have to take place. He tliought they ought to be earnest, and if they were, they would deal sharply with the Colonial Office. Mr. JosEi'H Verey, from Toronto, was called by the Chairman. The tendency of his remarks, which were somewliat desultory, tbough interesting and humorous, were to the effect thjit he was satisfied with the Colonial Office. He had never known, he said, a single instance where an application had been made to the Colonial Government Office, and the person applying had not been cour- teously received. Indeed, he had found that the Government had let colonists have their own way — almost too much so ; so that he had not a word to say against the Colonial Office. Mr. Abraham thought that some of the complaints against the Colonial Office might be removed if gentlemen who were to take office in relation to the Colonies first visited the various parts of the Empire. Ho was happy to say that when he was in New Zealand he met a gentleman who had come out to the Colony on purpose to obtain practical information, and mature his views upon subjects connected with the Colonies. This gentleman expected to hold office in England, and was therefore pursuing a right course for making himself efficient in the discharge of his duties. Mr. John F. Vesey-Fitzgerald attached great importance to the desirability of having a Colonial Council of Advice in London, a subject which had been already mentioned by his brother at this Conference. He was convinced that if something of this kind had been adopted years ago, much misunderstanding and mischief would have been avoided. He had pointed this out a few years back. One or two of our Colonies were nearly driven into revolt by having convicts thrown upon them. The difficulty had been got over : but if it was desirable to preserve a friendly feeling, it would be well to form a council of colonial gentlemen of experience to aid til an th be C d( CO at ui DJSCUSSJON. 193 F the Colonial Office. No Colony of importance would be neglected, and local knowledge would be brought to boar upon and inlluence the home authorities. The gentlemen who miglit form this council, besides being ju-actical men, should possess the contidenco of the Colony thoy represented. Why, he would ask, could not this be done ? Why could not the Secretary of State for the Colonies ask colonial governors to select a few gentlemen to form such an advisory council ? Sir Drummcmd had referred to another subject upon which a liltlo might be said — viz., the social and almost iso- lated position in which a colonist found himself on arriving in the mother country. He (]\Ir. Vesey-Fitzgerald) thought that if a diplomatic minister was created, it would be well ; because amongst other things, the present awkward working of colonial feeling in England might be diiccted. We hiul colonial agents, and well they did their work, but he would go further, and have a diplomati(} minister. There was another great object he saw in having an advisory cotmcil, and that was, should any unfortunate difficulty ever arise between a Colony and the mother-country, colonists would blame the council, and n^jt the Imperial Government. Sir. Watts did not like the notion of a diplomatic minister. Such an office would savour of foreign officialism, and it was desirable to draw closer tlian otherwise the union between the mother- country and the Colonies. Mr. AiicHEH said although ho had a great deal to do with the Colonial Office, he could say that he was only surprised at the exceeding kindness he invariably received. As a Queensland man he had always been Avell received, and therefore he was not in a position to find any fault with the Colonial Office. His experience was as nil for giving any advice as to that department, and as a colonist he agreed with the Canadian gentleman who had spoken to-night. He, with Mr. Vezey, had a great love for England (hear, hear), and he could say that the colonists of Queensland had never asked for anything, and not had their wishes granted. Mr. II. N. FowLEii, M.P., was sorry that he had not been in time to hear the whole of Sir Drummond Wolf's i)aper. He (Mr. Fowler) understood that one of the subjects alluded to was the desirability of a great change in the constitution and administra- tion of the Colonial Office. Now if they carried their memories Ijack thirty years, they would find that coloninl affiiirs were attended to by two statesmen, both of whom could be placed in the tirtt rank as ministers of the Crown. Lord Grey was at the head of colonial business when the Liberals were in power, and Lord O I ' 1 1 4 , ':'.: i-i I i;.i i^i 194 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. His Derby stood in the same position when the Conservatives were in office. Thiit i)oriod came to an end in 1852, and since then wc liad had thirteen or fourteen Colonial Secretaries (hear, hear). Of course they all knew that there must he occasional changes in a constitutional country like curs ; hut what colonists and English- men had a right to expect was, that if constant changes wore to take place, as of late years, there should be some men who had paid particular attention to colonial questions, and who might he in the position, if called upon to take otlice, to bring with them practical knowledge into the department. Wc had in the Colonial Office perpetual changes; not merely the changes incident to the formation of a new cabinet, or a minister losing his health — an occurrence which sometimes involved a complete change of office amongst members of the Cabinet — but in all reconstitutions of a ministry, the head of the Colonial Office was the first to suffer from disarrangement, yet to his mind — and the deliberations of this Conference justified the remark — there was no appointment next to thai of the Prime Minister more worthy the ambition of a man to fill, tlian Colonial Secretary of this great Empire. Truly, when we looked at the greatness of our Empire, the number of our Colonies, the vastness of their area, the value of their productions, and the rapidity with which they are becoming populated, we could not but think that the man who presided at the head of our ('olonial Office occupied a position inferior to no other (hear, hear). He hoped that those who occupied a high position in the confidence of their sovereign, would magnify that office and make colonial affairs their study, for there was certainly an awakened feeling spreading over the minds of Englishmen upon matters pertaining to our Colonial Empire. "We were beginning to take pride in its vast resources. Many of us, too, had an interest in the Colonies, having property, friends, or relatives there. We knew more about our possessions abroad than formerly, and when it was suggested to our minds that England was a small island, wo pointed to Colonies, some of which surpassed in importance, two, or even three, European kingdoms of influence when put together (hear). Mr. EuwAitn Jenkins said on this subject he only rose to thank Sir Drummond AVoltt' for the admirable paper he had read. AVith respect to what had been said by Mr. Vesey-Eitzgerald and others, it seemed to him that although any change whatever in the con- stitution of the Colonial Office would be better than its present condition, there had not yet been any change suggested which would work out a plan which would be in unison with the general # DISCUSSION, '95 march and progress of the Empire. The proposition which had been thrown oiit with rcferenco to a council of advice appeared to him to bo one far more cumbrous and less practical in its working than those they too well knew of. Supposing that we had a council of advice, which was constituted as suggested, formed of colonial governors, or those selected by them, they would not be responsible to any constituents, and if c onstituents could not bring a man to book for anything ho had done, what chock was there upon his conduct? There would bo no responsibility, and therefore the representation would be fallacious. To the people of the Colonies it would be found in the first place dilhcult to make a man forming- one of such council responsible to them, and in the second place, they would be likely to rc^pudiate what was done by him The paper read had informed them that the Colonial OtKce was composed of forty-four functionaries, who wore divided into three departments. Of these, the Colonial Secretary presided over one, and the two Assistant-Secretaries over the other two in directing the vast affairs of our Colonial Empire. Tliis and other statements which Sir Drummond had given would throw some light upon the constitution of the Colonial Offii .;, and he (Mr. Jenkins) hoped that Sir Drummond, if these proceedings were published, would allow the committee to place his paper amongst them, and thus permit it to have its effect upon the people of England. As the Conference was drawing to a close, he would throw out one or two suggestions. He thought wc in England had done our part, and he hoped that colonists, seeing the spirit exhibited in England, would aid in forwarding the movement for an improvement in our relations. What we felt in England was this, we were not yet thoroughly of one accord with the Colonies themselves. We knew they were uneasy, but we had never been able to find oiit all their grievances. Then, what did wc want ? We desired to get at the public feeling of colonists on those questions wo had discussed. We wanted to know if something could be done to remove that which was unsatisfactory. He believed if colonists would discuss these things among themselves, and would prepare any feasible scheme, and present it to us, they would be heard by the people of Eng- land, and a desire would be shown to have all grievances redressed. But at present the position of Englishmen at home was this, whilst on one hand they heard of complaints from the Colonies, on the other these complaints were never put into a definite shape. His suggestion was, that if possible they should get up a fund of some sort in England, select a certain number of gentlemen who would # 196 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. have the confidence of colonists, and thus, with perhaps the Duke of Manchestor at their head, form a standing council on colonial subjects (applause). If some of these fi;ontlemcn would go out to the Colonies, and ascertain what colonists wanted, it would place the qvicstion in a better position. If colonists were then found to say, for example, that our statesmen did not fairly represent colonial feeling, when thoy spoko of the Colonies desiring to separate from the mother-country ; if also such gentlemen had reason to say to colonists abroad, that when our statesmen invited them to leave us, thoy were not speaking the sentiments of the English people — then groat benefit might accrue ; and that practical good woiild come from the formation of a council of gentlemen in London on colonial subjects (hear, hoar, and applause). With respect to the Conference now drawing to a close, the sittings had, on the whole, been of a satisfactory character, and enlarged views had been ob- tained upon colonial subjects, so that most who had attended would not regret that the Conference had been held. Mr. Sedgwick. Cowpeu, a native of Australia, said that although he was rather out of place now, he should like to say that he regretted to hoar in the Conference an expression of opinion that the Colonial Oflice did not do its duty. There was nothing per- fect on earth ; but ho failed to see that the Colonies were in such an extreme state of anxiety to have matters improved in the Colonial Office. There might be improvements made in the course of time. The natural growth of institutions rendered such im- provements or changes necessary ; but, he would repeat, as a colonist he failed to see that the i)resent constitution of the Colonial Office was inefficient. Neither could he see how they would got on with cumbersome machinery, such, for instance, as an advisory council in connection with the Colonial Office. He was anxious to say this, because he thought if he remained silent, such silence might be regarded as an assent to what had been advanced by one or two gentlemen respecting a council of advice. Sir DiiUMMOND Wolff said with reference to what had been advanced by the hon. gentleman who had just spoken, he had not expressed in hia paper any desire for a council of advice on colonial questions in connection with the Colonial Office. He was, however, strongly in favour of a federal coimcil of some kind, consisting of representatives sent from the Colonies, who thus would feel them- selves responsible to those by whom they had been chosen and sent. ai; i.tii C '/: OS/NG PROCEEDINGS. 107 Dukfi loniiil out place osay, onial from feay to Icavo Closing Proceedings, Mr. Freeland rose, and after referring to the interest which he, and no doubt others, felt in the proceedings of the Conference throughout its sittings, expressed a hope that some permanency might be given to what had been so auspiciously begun (loud applause). Ho moved, "That the success which has attended the present Conference on colonial questions, renders it desirable that frequent dis- cussions on colonial subjects should take place, and for that purpose it is desirable that the papers read at this Conference and the discussions upon them, be printed and circulated as widely as possible." He hoped that there might be frequent discussion on colonial questions, but he would be sorry if politics were excluded. Men had a right to hold opinions if they were sincere (hear, hoar), and he cared not whether a man was a Whig or a Tory, if he spoke from conviction. What was desirable was to get men together and discuss questions of interest, and not be afraid of the bugbear of party politics (hear). Mr. R. N. Fowler, M.P., seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation. Mr. Whalley, M.P., said in order to have frequent opportunity for gentlemen meeting together to discuss colonial questions he would move " That the present executive committee be requested to continue theii labours, with power to add to their number." This was seconded by Mr. F. W. Chesson, and also carried by acclamation. On the motion of Mr. Hancock, seconded by Mr. r98 CONFERENCE ON COLONIAL QUESTIONS. WiiALLEY, thanks were awarded to the cliairmen of tho 8ittin«:?s, tho fjcntlemon who had read papers, and to tho committee and honorary officers who had worked so hard and successfully in connection with tho Conferonco. The Executive Committee consists of — Mr. F. W. Chesson ; Mr. Edward Jenkins, Chairmn)! ; Mr. F. P. Tjabillikre, Hov. Sac. ; Captain Bedford Pim, R.N. ; Mr. McCuLLAGii ToRRENS, M.P. ; and Mr. Frederick YouNo ; with power to add to the numher. Communications may be addressed to Mr. Labilliere, n, Pump Court, Temple. » ' tho tho hard I N D E X. Ahraham, Anf^nstiis B., on tho iSatisfnclon/ IScttlcninU of the Colnnifd H^'hhI c Land QitCHf io>i^ in \H')'y, 0)1(1 its Effect on the finpc- rial Dominiion,\\\ ; Htiitciiioiit of dirtbrcnt views, 141 ; now constitutions, 112 ; control of Iin])orial Legisliituro, 14!i; Mr. (41adstone on ^ivinn of laiul from ahorigiruis, KiO; purchases from tliem in Au- stralia and New Zi'aland, 1(10; .'ird, Imperial interests result- ing from legislation, 162; Yiv. Gladstone, 163 ; Privy Council report, 163; 24 (li'o. 111. c. o{\ ; order in Council, 1785, 27 Geo. IIL c. 2, 164; wasti! land question not Imperial, 165; 4th, trust resulting from expenditure, 166; are Colonists to havo management of their local concerns h 168; lte»iarks on Ci)l(»iies as Food tStores for Gnat Britain, 181; Austra- lian meat, 181 ; Remarks on Cohnial Office, 192; ofiicials visiting Colonics, 192. Africa, South, field for emi- grants, 107, 117. Airlie, Tho Earl of, Remarks on Imperial and Colonial Fede- ralism, 83 ; ditiicullies, 84 ; England's Ci>nlinental obli- gations, 84 ; Remarks on Enu- ij ration, 106 ; State emigra- tion and assisted emigration^ 106; United States Home- stead Act, 107 ; work in Ca- nada, 107. Amos, Professor Sheldon, On Colonies and Colonial Gover)i- ments, 37 ; no history of co- lonial politics; 37 ; policy of England, 37 ; seven epochs in her relationship with Colo- 200 INDEX. iiies, 38 ; definition of a Co- lony, 41 ; groat variety of British Colonies, 41 ; indirect influence of mother-country o^^er Colony, 42; indestruc- tible elements in Colonies of union with parent State, 43 ; dispersivcncss of i.arly colo- nial eflbrts, 40 ; unrestricted suffrage, 44 ; influence of (xreat liritain with Colonies as to commercial i)olicy, and treatment of aborigines, 4;5 ; Polync'.ians and Coolies, 45 ; eflect of inter-colonial con- federation, 4(3 ; practical prin- ciples for constitution of co- lon'al government, 47 ; in- fluetice of motlier-country,47 ; appoi.itment of governors, 47 ; veto, 47 ; judicial appeals, 47; federal scheme, 48 ; local and Imperial questions, 48 ; co- lonial problem ever new, 49. Appeals. See Court of. Archer, A., agent-general for Queensland, Remurki^ on Co- loured Labour, 139; precau- tions in Queensland to protect Polynesians, 139 ; laws same as for whites, 139 ; Polyne- sians make their own terms, 140 ; money in s..vings-banks, 140 ; pioportion of sexes, 1^0 ; Remarks on CuloinalOffire, 193; his experience of it. 193. Australia, growth of, compared with the United States, 81, 90, 91. , field for emigration, 117. ■ , constitutions debated in England for, loO. Beaumont, J., Remarks on Co- loured Labour, 139 ; white labour in West Indies, 139; improvement of blacks, 139; imjioi'ts to Hritish ()uiana,l 39 ; Coolies, 139 ; his pamphlet on Dtmcxaia quoted, 120. I Brougham, liord, quoted on English conveyancing, o4, 50. Burke, Constantino, Remarks on Coloured Labour in British Colonics, 135 ; labour in West Indian Colonies, 136 ; culti- vated area of Jamaica, 136 ; Coolies there, 136 ; white la- bour in West Indies, 139. Cairr.s, Lord, description of English conveyancing quoted, 54. Canada, emigration as seen in. See Herring, Rev. Stylcman. , danger from, 13. , work in, 107, Ho. , control of lands granted to, 155. . recejition of emigrants in, 173. Capital, effect of concentration of, on labour, 98. sent out of country, 105. Carlyle, Thomas, cited on ad- van Luges of emigration, 5. Cerheras, The, 15, 16, 81. Chesson, F. W., on Coloured Ijihour in British Colonies, 120; inter-dependence of races, 120 ; disregard of moral obli- gations, 121; slavery repu- diated, 122 ; Coiilies in Colo- nies, 123 ; policy of Natal, 123 ; C )olies in Demerara, 123; labour contracts, 124; political power in Demerara, 124; one-sided laws, 125; Mv. Beaumont's pamphlet, 126 ; immigration agent-ge- neral, 126; Abuses, 127; (Commissioner's report, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128; re-inden- turn, 127; Mr. Jenkins's testi- mony, 128; right of Imperial Covernment to interfere with introduction of Polynesians into Queensland, 129 ; (iucons- land entitled to have them, .subject to two limitations, 1 30 ; responsibility of Queens- INDEX. 20 ! i' land, 130 ; reputation of Im- perial Government, 130 ; Tv- gulations of (Queensland Go- vernment, 132 ; evidenee of malpraetices, 132 ; Captain Palmer's statement, 133 ; new regulations of Queensland Government, 133 ; policy of chief secretary of the Colony, 13-1 ; solution of native labour question, 134 ; /;* Rtply, 110 ; labour in brickfields, 140 ; Polynesians in {Queensland, 141 ; removed from i.slands, 141 ; seconds motion. 197. Clarice, Edward, 0)i Kniliration^ 93 ; present aspect of question, 94 ; State emigration, 9.) ; per-eentage of paupers, 90 ; causes of poverty, 96 ; use of machinery, 97 ; concentration of capital, 98 ; lestriction on increase of population, 9S ; co-operative lahour, 99; emi- gration restricted to Colonies, 99 ; emigrants not mcr<'ly la- bourers, 99 ; ]\Ir. Gladstone on destination of emigrants, 99 ; diniiTiishing numbers here and increasing markets for produce, 101 ; expatriation, 101 ; benefit to England and Colonies, 1()2 ; objections to State emigration, 102; inte- rest of employers, 103 ; men want to go, 103; e(;onomical advantage, 104; objection of Mr. Hume, 104 ; surplus la- bour unproductive, 104; ex- })ense of State emigration, 104; poor-ratea, 105; pau- pers, 10.5 ; capital also sent out, 10.5 ; In Reply., 119 ; duty of Governnumts to arrange plan of emiu'ration, 119. Clinton, Col. Henry, licmar/cs on Impmal and Colonial Federa- lism, 80 ; representation of Colonies in Parliament, 86. Colonial Institute excluding po- litics, 31, 36. Colonial Office, its constitution, &c. See Wolff, Sirll. D. — , points in organi- sation of, 183. giving Colonies confidence in, 183. Secretaries of State and subordinates, 184 ; efh- ci(Micy and value of, 191, 192, 193,196; composition of, 188, 19.J. interchange ofli(!ials with Colonies, 18m, 190, 192. questions, growth of, 2, 73. J interest in, 31, 30. , ignorance of. 32. , discussion of, in Colonies, 19.5 ; fre(]uent discussion of, desirable, 197. Colonies, advantage of having, 24, 25, 29 ; leaving alone, 35. Coloured labour. See Chesson, F. W. Commercial relations. See Tariffs. Confederation. Sec Federation. Conference, The, notice of sub- jects, 7, 8, 9, 10 ; benefits from, 31, 197; expression of different views, 33, 141 ; its only policy, 74 ; success of, 1!)6, 197 ; suitableness of land transfer question, 69, 70. Conteuiporan/ Jteviciv referred to, 78, 145, 171. Conveyancing, English, 53. Coolies, 45,50, 123,136, 138, 139. Council, Im])erial and Colonial, of Advice, 50, 76, 83, 85, 87, 91, 190, 192. 19.5, 196. Court of Api)eal, 47,52,82. Cowper, Sedgwick, Remarks on the Colonial Office, 196 ; office efficient, 196 ; advisory coun- cil, 190. Crime against civilisation and humanity, 29. I .« , .1 ) I , 202 INDEX. Davis, ISr. Darnell, Remarks on Methods of Land Transfer, 70 ; description of system in British Guiana, 70 ; subject fit for Conference, 70 ; grievance mongcrinii;', 70, Defences, military, 11. , naval, 14. • under Confederation, 18, 36, 80, So ; withdrawal of British troops, 86. Definition of a Colony, 41. Demerara, Coolies in, 123, 138, 139. , political power in, 124 ; Mr. Beaumont's pam- phlet, 126. , Commissioners' re- port, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128; Mr. .Jenkins's testimony, 128. Dependencies, 21, 22, 23. Diplomatic body from Colon^-es, 87, 193. See Council, ka. Dispersiveness of colonial ef- forts, 43. Dominium, Imperial, 1.56. ■ , rights under, clas- sified, 157. Eddy, C. W., cited on trade fol- lowing flag, 25. Emigration. See Clarke, YA. , facilities for. See Torrens McCullaffh. , advantages of, 4, 51, 102, 104. -, Thos. Carlvle on advantages of, 5. ragged- school chil- dren, 30, 31, 33, 35. -, lands set apart for. 50. — promoted by State, 95, 102,104, 106, 116,118,119. restricted to Colo- nies, 99. interests of em- ployers and men, 103. , assisted, 106. , fitness of emigrants, 107, 113, 116, 119. Emigration, paupers, 109, 116, 1 IS. , obstacles to, 110. , cost of, how to be borne, 111, 117. of families, 111. from 1848 to 1851, and since 1855, 1 14. , uniform rate of postage, 117. , distribution of emi- grants, 119. -, Commissioners' re- port of, 107, 113. Empire. See Unity of. , area and growth of, and of United States, 81, 90, 91, 113. England, greatness of, 33. ,hcr Colonial policy,37. , her Foreign policy, 78, 84, 92. -, her duty, honour, and interests, 79. -, her position in fede- ration, 79. -, interference with Co- lonies. See Veto. Executive, Imperial, 77. Ex]>eriments tested in Colonies, 53. Federalism, Colonial and Im- perial. aSV^' Labilliere, F. P. Federation, 27, 48, 72, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 196. , intercolonial, 46, 82. , forms of, 74, 89, 91. , success of, and ob- stacles, 74, 77, 82. -, effect of, upon Eng- land's Continental obligations, 78, 84, 92. -, position of England in, 79. -, cfibct of, on her and Colonies, 81, 91. -, development of, 83, 92. difficulties, 84, 91. concessions, 88, 92. ' INDEX. 203 Fitzgerald, John F. Vescy, Re- marks on Colonial OJfice, 192 ; Council of Advice, 192 ; sociul position of Colonists in Enj^- land, 193 ; diplomatic mi- nister, 193. Fitzgerald, W. T. Vesey, Rf- marks 071 Colonies and Colonial Governments, 49 ; surrender of lands to Colonies, 49 ; Colo- nial Court of Privy Council, 50 ; Remarks on Imperial and Colonial Federation, 85 ; Adam Smith and Goldwin Smith on dependencies, 85 ; growth of federation, 85 ; Council of Advice, 85 ; Remarks on Colo- tnal JVaste Land Qaestioii, 1G9 ; history of question showed need of better defined rela- tions, 169. Food, Colonies food stores, 180. , variety of, 180. , Australian meat, 181. Fowler, R.N., M.P., Remarks on Colonial Office, 193 ; attention of Lords Grrey and Derby to Colonies, 194 ; statesmen pay- ing particular attention to colonial affairs, 194 ; change of ministers, 194; Colonial Minister next to Prime Mi- nister, 194 ; seconds motion at close of Conference, 197. Freeland, H. W., Keniarks on Simple Methods of Land Trans- fer, 68 ; title and transfer, 68 ; prejudice of lawyers, 68 ; old incumbrances, 69 ; disclosure of borrowing transactions, 6'.i_ ; probable benefits to this country, 69 ; motion at close of Conference, 197 Free trade. Sec Tariffs. Germany, her union referred to, 72, 79, 92. Gladstone, Pight Hon. W. E., quoted, on restriction of emi- gration to Colonies, 99. Gladstone, Ptight Hon. W. E., on control of lands in Colo- nies, 143. on operation of Eng- lish law in Colonies, 163. Government, Colonies and Co- lonial. See Amos, Professor. , self - government unconditionally granted to Colonies, 18. , principles for con- stitution of Colonial Govern- ment, 47. — , self-, and control of lands in Colonies, 143, 171. Governors, 47, 52, 82, 185. , Under-Secretaries for Colonies ninking as, 189. Guiana, British, land transfer system of, 70, 71 ; imports to, 139. See Denierara. Gutbrie, Rev. Dr., seconds vote of thunlvs to IMr. Jenkins, 30 ; ragged-school children as emi- grants, 30, 33. Hancock, J., moves vote of thanks at close of Conference, 197. Honing, Rev. A. Styleman, on Lhniyration as seen in Canada, 172 ; Clerkenwell Emigration Club, 172 ; voyage across tho_ Atlantic, 173; reception of immigrants, 173; employ- ment, 174 ; emigrants in On- tario, 174 ; free grants, 175 ; closing of grog-shops on Sun- day, 175 ; food, frnit, and vegetables, 176 ; militia, 176 ; holidays, 176 ; labour, wages, 177 ; provisions and rent, 177 ; an illustration, 178 ; Ontario and Quebec, 178 ; advice, 178 ; government, 178 ; newspa- pers, 179; help for the poor, 179 ; utilising useless ships, 179 ; faith and traditions, 180. Hume, Joseph, objection of, to State emigration referred to, 104. 204 INDEX. m tC' Imperial and Local. See Ques- tions. India, as to Imperial federation, 92. lutorchant^e of oflicials between Colonial Oflico and Colonies, 188, 190, 192. Italy, her union instanced, 72, 92. Jamaica, cultivated area of, 136; population to scpiare mile, 137. Jenkins, Edward, Innngural Ad- dresH, 2 ; Colonial questions ,q;rowing in imi)ortance and interest, 2 ; unity of Emjnro •j^enorally desired, 3 ; its ad- vocates dcbcrve generous hearing', 3 ; advantages of emigration, 4 ; increase of population and cost of pau- perism in England, 4; argu- ments of ^\v. Ci old win Smith, 5 ; Mr. Thomas Carlyle on advantages of emigration, »5 ; notice of suhjet'ts to b(^ dis- cussed, 7, 8, 9, 10 ; military organisation, 11; Sir George Cornewall Lewis's view of dependencies, 13 ; relation of torritories to United States, 13; Mr. Goldwin Smith on danger from Canada, 13 ; naval organisation, 14 ; vacil- lation in policy — the Co'' fterus, 1-5 ; voice of Colonies on questions of peace and war, 12, 15; commercial re- lations, 16 ; ])rote(;tion and free trade, 1 7 ; cost of de- fences under a Confederation, 18 ; unconditional grant of self-government to Colonies, 18 ; remaiks of the limes, 18, 20; dependencies, 21 : views of Adam Smith, Sir G. Corne- wall liCwis and Mr. Gold- win Smith, 22, 23 ; Mr. lier- jnar Meiivale on the advan- tages of Colonising to a na- tion,24 ; trade follows the flag, 2'') ; Sir G. CoiTiewall Lewis and Prof. Goldwin Smith's doubts, 25 ; ]\Ir. Merivale's oiiinion, 25 ; Adam Smith on Colonies being a weakness to parent State, 25 ; his plan of alliance with theUnited States, 27 ; confederation, 27 ; our unity must never be broken, 28 ; a crime against civilisa- tion and humanity, 29 ; Jie- marks on Colonies and Colonial (loivrniuents, 52 ; control of wastelands, 52 ; appointment of governors, 52 ; debatccj in Canadian Legislature, 52 ; veto of Home Government, 52; judicial appeals, 52; Ite- murks on Imperial and Colonial Federalism., 88 ; could only show conditions of federalism, 88 ; present relations could not long subsist, 88 ; English Parliament and Colonies must make concessions, 88; two methods of federation, 89 ; the American Union, 89 ; I'ennsylvania and secession, 89 ; real federal union, 8P ; invoke principle of unity of race, 89 ; Remarks on Emijjra- fioii, 118 • poor-law and Svate eiiiigrr.L'.on, 118; Remarks on Colonial Waste J^and Question, 1()9; Dominium, 169; Colony disregarding interests of Era- ])ire, 169 ; tenure in United States, 170 ; Remarks on Colo- nies as Food. iS fores for Great Britain, 180; Mr. Stuart Mill on variety of food, 180 : new articles of diet, 180; plan- tains, 180 ; Australian meat, 181 ; Remarks on Colonial Of- fiee, 194 ; change in office, 194 ; Council of Advice, 195 ; responsibility of, 195 ; com- position of office, 195 ; dis- cussion in Colonies, 195; de- putation to them, 196; Coun- cil on colonial subjects, 196 ; s; # INDEX. 20: ^7 result of Conference, 196 ; quoted on Denierara labour question, 128 ; from article in Contemporary, 145. Jones, Archdeacon, Jicmarks o)i Coloured Ldhnw, 138 ; accu- sationsagainstDenKirara, 138 ; treatment of Coolies, 138 ; white labour in West Indies, 138. Jones', Mr., preserved meat, 182. Labilliere, Francis Peter, on Imperial and Cohmial Federa- lism, 72 ; can only notice a few leading featur(>s of ques- tion, 72 ; progress and ten- dencies i'avouriiig federalism, 72; ripe for discussion, 73; rapid growth of colonial ques- tions, 73 ; ^:.nity of Emjure only policy of Conference, 7-4 ; two systems of confederation, 74 ; an Imperial Confederate Parliament, 74 ; election of, by people or provincial Icgis- ; latures, 75 ; advantages of both systems, 75 ; an Imperial Upper House, 76 ; Council proposed by Mr. Mactie, 76 ; an Imperial Executive, 77 ; number of members of the Parliament, 77 ; wl.y should jonfederation not succe(Hl ? 77 ; is distance an obstacle? 77 ; effect of feder.ation on Great Britain, 77 ; tlie Eng- lish Pailiamcnt, 77 ; repre- sentation of Colonies in it, 77 : local and Imperial questions, 78 ; England's Continental obligations, 78 ; her duty, honour, and interest, 79 ; her prejionderating position in the Jmperifd Confederation, 79 ; Imperial questions, 80 ; Co- lonies entitled to voice in them, 80 ; neutrality of Co- lonies, 80 ; Imperial defences jointly maintained at least cost, 80 ; Colonies and Eng- land greater confederated, 81 ; resolve to succeed, 82; inter- colonial conf(^derations, 82 ; governors, 82 ; fiscal policy, 82; Imperial Court of Ai)peal, 82 ; progressive development of confederation, 83; Council of Empire, 83 ; time to begin foundation, 83; pressure of bonds of unity, 83 ; In Reply ; considerations of importance to Colonies, 91 ; forms of fe- deration, 91 ; India, 92; Eng- land's Continental responsi- bilities, 92 ; concessions by English Parliament, 92 ; Cxcr- many and Italy, 92 ; Remarks on Emigration^ 119; over- stocking labour markets, 119 ; Remarks on Coloinal Wasff. Land Qaestion, 170 ; use of discussing question of control of lands, 170 ; could Imperial (Government have manage d them F 170 ; self-government, 171 ; question, local, 171. Labour, want of, in Colonies, 35, 117. , co-operative, 99. Heii West Indies. surplus, 104. contracts with coloured people, 124. in English brickfields, 135, 140. Land. See Waste lands. , simple methods of trans- fer of. See Torrens, R. K. ; also 68, 69, 70, 71. Lawson, ]\Ir., Remarks on Colo- nial Waste Land Questioi', 170. Lewis, Sir Geo. Cornewall, cited on dependencies, 13, 22 ; trade following Hag, 25. Local and Imperial. See Ques- tions. Lowe, liight Hon. Robert, re- solution proposed by, in New South Wales, 149. 206 JNDEX. Macfie,R. A., M. P., his proposed Imperial Council referred to, 76 ; RcmnrJcn on Kin if/ rat /'on, 1 07; di.scriiuinatirii:^ as to fitness of einigranls, 1U7 ; jealousy of Colonies, 107: report of Emi- ^I'ation Commissioners, 107 ; Hioney for sale of waste lands, 108 ; Chairman, 180 ; Ttcmarks on Colonies as Food Stores, 180 ; preserved meat, 181 ; rewards for improvement in means of preservini^, 181 ; pamphlet on colonial Questions referred to, 76, 1 1(5. Macliinery, effect of, on labour, 97, lOol" j\Ianchester, The Duke of, pre- sides at conversazione, 1 ; re- plies to vote of thanks, 3G ; advocates a closer union, 36 ; sanction of Colonies to war, 36 ; their talcinj^ part in de- fence, 3G ; presides, 72, 93. I\Ierivale, Herman, cited, advan- taj>es of colonisini;', 24 ; trade following riai>-, 2o ; link of soA'ereignty, 1;38. INlilitary organisation. See De- fences. Mill, J. Stuart, quoted on variety of food, ISO. Morrison, Walter, IM.P., chair- man at morning sitting, third day, 120. Mother country, affection for, 32. , influence of, 42, lo. -, reputation, 130. Naval organisation. See De- fences. Neutrality of Colonies, 80. New constitutions, 112. New Zealand importing fo- reigners, 115. control of lands granted to, loo. Nicholson, Sir Charles, Bart., seconds Vote of thanks to Duke of Manchester, 34; apathy about colonial relations, 35 ; Colonies to be left alone, 35 ; waste lands placed at disposal of Colonies, 35 ; labour, great want of, in Colonies, 35 ; ragged-school children, 35 ; Itcinarks on Facilities for Emi- gration, 117 : desire of Austra- lia for emigrants, 117 ; open- ing in South Africa and Natal, 117 ; neglect of Imperial Go- vernment, 118. Ontario, emigrants to, 174. , advantages of, 178. Orders in Council, 164, 170. Pakington, Sir John, despatch of, on control of lands, 155. Parliament of England, provin- cial, 78, 87. , repre- sentation of Colonies in, 77, 86. • , position as to federation. 78, 84, 85, 87. , mistakes of, 85. for Empire, modes of election, 74, 75. Impe- rial Upper House, 76. num- ber of members, 77. Parliamentary trains, principle of, applied to emigration, 113. Pauperism, cost of, 4, 105. , existence and causes of, 96. emigration of pau- pers, 109, 111, 116, 118. prevention, 110. Peace and war, voice of Colonies in, 12, 15, 36, 80. Pennsylvania and secession, 89. I'im, Captain Bedford, R.N.,i?^- inarks on Coloured Labour, 136 ; two classes of emigrants from England, 136 ; where they had best go, 137 ; white la- It INDEX. 207 s i howT in tropics, 137 ; demand for labour in West Indies, 1^7; population to square mile, 137 ; line-of-battle ships to convc^y emigrants, 138. IMantains, value of, as food, 180. Polynesians, 45, 50, 129, 139, 140, 141. Population, increase of, in Eng- land, 4. jincreaseofjin British Empire and United States compared, 81, 90. of United States, 90. — , restriction on in- crease of, 98. , excess of, 109. Potter, George, i?(;/««7'/i.s' onEiui' gration, 108 ; subject in hearts of people, 108; uniform rate of passage, 108 ; emigration to United States. 108 ; '" spare hands to waste lands," 108. Poverty. Sec Pauperism. Preserved meat, 180, 181, 182. , reward for im- proved mode of preservation, 181, 182. , quality of, 182. by :\Ir. Jones, 182. Protection. See Tariffs. Queensland, Polynesians in, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 139, 140, 141. Questions, Imperial and local, 48, 78. , Imperial, voice of Co- lonies in, 12, 15, 36, 80. , waste-land, local, 165, 168, 171. Ragged-school children as emi- grants, 30, 31, 33, 35. lioebuck's, Mr., suggestion as to waste lands quoted, 150. Russell, Lord John, Australian constitutions proposed by,150. Saunders, Trelawny, 7?<';;wr7r.v on Imperial and Colonial Fcdera- lifii/, 84 ; difficulties, 84 ; the English Parliament, 84 ; greatness of British confede- ration, 84; comprehensive view of question, 84 ; de- fences, 85. Secretaries of State for Colonies, number of, 184 ; importance of i)08ition, 194, Shaftesbury, The Earl of, pre- sides at meeting on Colonics and Colonial Governments, and expresses desire for closer union of Colonies with Eng- land, 37 ; presides at meeting on Simple Methods of Land Trtuisfcr, 53. Ships for emigrants, 114, 117, 138, 179. Smitli, Adam, cited on depen- dencies, 22, 85 ; on Colonies a weakness to parent State, 25 ; plan of alliance with United States, 27. Smith, Goldwin, cited, argu- ment on emigration, 5; danger from Canada, 13; on depen- dencies, 22, 85 ; trade follow- ing flag, 25. Social position of Colonists in England, 188, 193. Stanley's, Lord, Act, 5 & 6 Vict, c. 36, 148, 151. Statesmen, English, devoting tlieniselves to colonial atlaii s, 194. Statutes cited— 24 Geo. III. c. biS, and 27, c. 2, 164 ; 5 (S: 6 Vict. c. 36, 15 & 16, c. 86, and 18 k 19, c. i)^, 148. Strangways, Hon. Mr., Jtemarks 0)1 Jlr. Jenkins's Address, 31 ; interest in colonial (piestions, 31 ; ragged-school children, 31; good must result irom Conference, 3 1 ; Colonies want to be let alone, 32; ignorance and indifference about them, 32 ; aii'ection for mother country, 32 ; greatness of I'^iUgland, 32 ; Remarks on Imperial and Colonial I'ede- 208 INDEX. It ralmn, 91 ; would cenfedora- tion benefit Colonics, 1)1. Suffrage, universal, 41, ol. Tarifis, 16, 45, 82. TiiHiniuiia, imi)orting foreigners, 115. Taylor's, Sir Hnnry, inlluonco on colonial ])oli(iy, 18o. Technical education and emi- gration, UG. Territories, relation of, to the United States, 13. for emigrants, 110. Times, The, cited on uncondi- tional grant of self-guvern- mtnt to Colonics, 18 ; veto l)y England, 20. Tobin, J., llcDinrks on Colom'cfi and Colonial G orermnods, 52 ; Crown land.s, 52 ; lie hoped Conference was in earnest, 53 ; Colonial Ollice, 53 ; lic- marlis on Colonial. Ojjicc. 192. Torrens, R. U., M.P., Remarks on (Julonies and Coloninl (lo- vernmevts, 51 ; control of waste lands, 51 ; eftect of universal sufiVa go, 51 ; setting aside land to encourage emi- gration, 51 ; emigration bene- ficial to Australia, 51 ; on Simple Methods of Land Trans- fer, 53 ; benefit of experi- ments tested in Colonics, 53 ; injurious results of artificial conveyancing, 54 ; condemned by Lord Brougham, 54 ; de- scribed by liord Cairns, 5 t ; aphorism of Lord Brougham, 56 ; cssotitials in refurin of law of transfer, 56 ; registra- tion of land — first steps, 57 ; notices, 58 ; caveats, 58 ; cer- tificates of title, 58 ; jurisdic- tion of courts, 58 ; the record book, 59 ; change of owner- ship, 59 ; recording declara- tion bringing land under Act, 59 ; memorial of transfer, &c., 59 ; recording by fraud, 60 ; forms of contract, 60 ; cove- nants, 60 ; heirs, executors, &c., included, 60 ; concur- rence of interested parties, 60 ; delineation, 60 ; execution of insfruments, 61 ; effect of in- struments of contract, 61; ontry on record, 61 ; priority, 61 ; leases, 62 ; cost, 62 ; charges — mortgages, 62; re- lease and transfer of charges, 63 ; cost, 64 ; entails, 64 ; trusts, di) ; cost, 65 ; volu- minous indexes avoided, 66 ; system, metropolitan, 66 ; its advantages, (JJ ; saving of nineteen tliillinga in pouml, 67 ; progress of system in Colonies, 67; In Heply, 71; his figures correct, 71 ; delay in system of British Guiana, 71 ; })ublicity, 71 ; Ilemarhs on Imperial and (Jolonial Fe- deralism, 85 ; difficulty with English Parliament, 85 ; its mistakes t'.a-oiigh ignorance, 85; defence, 86; withdrawal of British troops, 86 ; Item arks on I.'mif/r((/iot/, 109 ; excess of population like excess of blood, 109 ; men sent from south to north of England, 109 ; send- ing paupei's to Colonies, 109. Torrens, W. T. IMcCullagli. M.P., moves vole of thanks to Duke of Manchester, 33 ; Coii- f(!rence desires cxi)res8ion ot different views, 33 ; duty of keeping the Empire togetluu', 34 ; greed and luxury, 31 ; On Facilities for Ei)ii(/ralion, 109 ; boundless territories, 110; old home farm of Em- pire, 110; obstacles to emi- gration, 110; prevention of poverty, 110; pauper emi- grants, 111 ; cost to be boriu' by emigrant, England, and Cidony, 111; families, 111; working people helping them- selves, 112; area of Empire % \^v INDEX. 20f) .rs, in- )(); of iii- 1; y, II- '■'; its of and that of United 8tatoH, 113; report of Emigration Commissioners, 113 ; don't say, send out any man, 113; Parliamentary trains, 113; siirphis la})Ourors, 114; exo- dus from 1848 to ISol, and since 185o, IH ; Canada wants emigrants, 115 ; Tasmania and New Zealand importing foreigners, 11«5; hand down unhroken Empire, 11 G. Trade following the flag, 25. Tropics, white labour in. the. iSce West Indies. United States, relation of Terri- tories to, 13; Adam Smith's plan of alliance with, 27 ; their union, 89 ; growth of, 81, 90 ; population of, 90 ; area, 113; Homestead Act, 107 ; tenure of land, 170. Unity of the Empire desired, 3, 74. must never he broken, 28, 116. -, duty to -, closer, 36, -, indestruc- tible elements of, in Coloiues, 43 ; pressure of bonds of, 83. of race, 89, 158. maintain it, 34. 37. Verey, Joseph, Remarks on Co- lonial Office, 192. Veto by Imperial Government, 20, 47, 52, 129. Victoria, growth of, 90. Wakefield, principle, 149. A\'ar. iS(X Peace or war. Waste lands, satisfactory settle- ment of colonial waste-land question. iSee Abraham, Au- gustus B. , control of, in Co- lonies, 35, 49, 60, 51, 52, 87, 143, 150, 155, 165, 168, 169, 170; Mr. 143. Waste lands set aj^art gration, 50, 51, 108. • , discussion Gladstone quoted, for emi- of, settlement, 149, 150. 151. , Mr. Itoebuck's suggestion, I-')0. -, committee of Privy Council, 151, 103. --, Sir J. Pakington's despatch, 155. piu'chases from aborigines, 160. , a local question. 165, 168, 170. — , value of improved, 171. Watts, II. E., Bcniurls on Colo- nics and Colonial Governments, 50 ; control of waste lands, 50 ; lands sot aside to encou- rage emigration, 50 ; impor- tation of Polynesians and Coolies, 50 ; Coolies in tlm jMauritius, 51 ; Itenutrks on Coloured Labour in British Co- lonics^ 135; Colonies unjustly charged, 135 ; no abuse in Queensland, 135 ; labourers in English brickfields, 135; Queensland employers, 135 ; Remarks on Colonial Office, 19S ; diplomatic minister, 193. West Indies, labour in, 136, 137. suitable for white men, 136, 137, 138, 139. , population to area, 137. Whalley, G. H., M.P., Remarks on Imperial and Colonial Fede- ralism., 87 ; waste lands, 88 ; Remarks on Emu/ration, 119; on Colonial Waste Land Ques- tion, 171 ; question turned on whether Colonies should have management of their own affairs, 171 ; mores that Com- mittee be continued,l97 ; seconds vote of thanks at close of Con- ference, 198. ■'' %m'''**K ' n ~ ~ .- 210 INDEX. Wilhon, EJwuid, lli'mm-ls on Imperial a)iil Colonial Ftdc- ntliMin, .S() ; (lUCHtioTi of I'rdo i!il i;-()Vrnuiiout \a'gout, HO ; tliplomatif ropvcHontutivos IVom Colonics, S7; wiistt,' Linda liiinded ovov to Colonics, 87 ; coloiiiul mend)ers in Britisli ]'iii'li;imont, H7 ; o('CU])yin,i; itself \vitli vi;stry questions, 87. "Wolli; Sir II. ])nnnniond, (h.> the Colonial Ojlirc, Us CnitNti- tution a nd Aclmi nist ration yX'S'l ; ])orrnanent. (jUieers, 1S3 ; fSiv ilenry Tuylor'.s intliienee on eolonial i)oliey, 183; ini- ])Ortiinco of duties, IHo; nicuns (jf icivint,' (,'olonics eon- lidc^nccin !iilinini.stniti(ni,18o ; old adniinistratioii of Colo- nies, ISl; nuinl)er of secie- taiios of State, 184; tl;'-;r 8ubordinates,184 ; local know- Lidgo and generalisation, 18') ; eolonial governors, 185 ; their (lualifications, 186; a d(,'i)ot for colonial functionaries, 187 , resources of oHico, 187 ; social ]tosition of Colonists in Eng- land, 1S8 ; it shoiild 1)0 a link with Colonies, 188 ; steps to adopt it, 188; interchange of i'unctionaries with Colonies, 188, 190 ; composition of Co- lonial OlHce, 188 ; giving under-secret aries rank with governors, 189 ; principle of di])loniatic service, 190 ; a Colonial Council, 190 ; value of Colonial Office, 191 ; de- fects, 191; In Ih'phj, 196; Cotmcil of Advice, 196 ; Fe- deral Council, 196. "Wood, Dennistoun, licmarls on >Sinij)lc Jlii/iod.s of Land Trans- fer, 69 ; paper not suitable to Conference, 60; working of Act in Colonies and in Eng- land, 69 ; statistics, 69 ; Jlc- jiKir/.'s on Iinpcridl and Colonial Federalism, 8i) ; effect of de- lay, 89 ; growth of Victoria and of United States, 90; federation desirable, 90 ; lie- mnrli'N on Colonial ICasfv La ml (iai.stion, 171; value of lands improved by people settled upon them, 171. Voul, J. A., licmarls on Colonies as Food Stares for Great JJri- tain, 182 ; quality of meat imported, 182 ; that prepared by Mr. Jones, 182 ; without bone, 182; rewards, 182. 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