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 L 1 E> RARY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 U N 1 V LR5 ITY 
 
 or 1 LLl NOIS
 
 Extract from the Exeter and Phjmmith Gazette Daily Telegram, 
 25th August, 1869. 
 
 Sir George Grey was much applauded on rising to address the 
 Section. He made a powerful and impressive speech in behalf 
 of the colonies, and in condemnation of our present colonial 
 policy, which was repeatedly interrupted by cheers. He thanked 
 Mr. Hamilton, who, he believed, had come forward entirely unso- 
 licited by the colony, for standing forward as he had done as the 
 friend and advocate of the cause of New Zealand in her greatest 
 need, and he thanked the Association for bending from its graver 
 and more scientific pursuits, to consider for a short time the situa- 
 tion of our countrymen. He felt certain that Avhen the news 
 reached New Zealand that this Association had deigned to consider 
 the state of that unfortunate colony, it would carry joy to many a 
 home, and Mr. Hamilton's name would be mentioned with the 
 gratitude which it deserved. New Zealand deserved the sym- 
 pathy and aid of Great Britain. The agents of our Government 
 undoubtedly brought the present war upon New Zealand. When 
 it began, the British Government determined that the war should 
 be prosecuted to a successful issue. They said the natives must be 
 made to feel once for all, that they were engaged in a contest with 
 a superior race. Whereupon the inhabitants of the colony raised 
 3,ooo,oooZ. to help the war; 7,000 men were kept in the field ; the 
 whole business was under the management of the Home Govern- 
 ment, and at the end of three years the enterprise was a failure, 
 and the Government determined to withdraw its troops, and leave 
 the colonists to their own resources in the war. At that time the 
 country was in a state of civil war. The troops were, however, 
 withdrawn, and the colonists had not the slightest voice in the 
 manner of that withdrawal. He (Sir George) would always main- 
 tain, that even if they looked upon the relation between Great 
 Britain and New Zealand as a partnership, one party had no right 
 so to abandon the other ; and if such a question were submitted to 
 impartial arbitration, it would be decided that Great Britain was 
 Hable to large damages for the manner in which her Government 
 had acted. That was only a question of one colony. Behind this 
 lay the much graver question, and that was the question of the 
 disruption of the British Empire. It was evident that a consider- 
 able party in Great Britain were determined that the colonies 
 should be detached from the empire, and steps were being taken to 
 bring about that result. The Australian colonies were founded by 
 a set of men who believed it possible to set up one of the greatest 
 empires the world had ever seen. Sir George Grey spoke eloquently 
 of this grand idea of a vast Anglo-Saxon English-speaking empire, 
 in the foremost rank of civilisation, enterprise, liberality, and 
 humanity, calculated to advance the happiness and well-being of the 
 human race, and said that if Great Britain disappointed this noble 
 feeling, which existed with more or less definiteness in the minds 
 of all our colonists, they would turn their eyes iu the direction
 
 of the United States, and look to them to carry out the great idea. 
 He trusted England would consider deeply before she cast away 
 from her the splendid future that was embraced in the idea of a 
 grand Anglo-Saxon empire. Returning to the condition of New 
 Zealand, Sir George said the colonists had begged of the British 
 Government that they would allow a regiment to remain in the 
 colony three months longer, until the colony had time to recover 
 from the position in which she was placed, and the answer was : 
 " No, we will withdraw the troops at once, at all risks, at all 
 " hazards, even if you are driven out of the island." He maintained 
 that it would have been but a slight thing for England to have kept 
 a regiment in the island for two or three months longer. Then it 
 was suggested that the British Government should simply guarantee 
 a loan of 1,500,000^., to enable New Zealand to fight this battle out 
 with the natives, and even that was refused, though it would have 
 saved the island. He feared that that which was the fate of New 
 Zealand now, might be ours another time. If, unfortunately, we 
 should find ourselves at war with the United States, he very much 
 feared that we should find the sympathies of the colonies would be 
 against us. His earnest prayer was that England would not permit 
 anything of this kind to take place. He thought the time was come 
 when Great Britain should assume the empire which belonged to 
 her, and govern it on those advanced principles of peace and pro- 
 gress which would secure to that wide dominion such benefits as no 
 country in the world had known hitherto. He earnestly prayed 
 that such might be the conclusion at which this great country 
 would arrive. 
 
 BABEISON AND SONS, PBINTEES IN ORDINAEX TO HEB MAJESTY, ST. MABTIN*S LANE.
 
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