this little passage in his colonial history, him; that they will repent, when they Lord Grey goes on to speak of the see how kind, and generous, and wise Kaffir war, and among other things he meant to be for them, that they mentions his letter of recall to Sir H. were ever froward, and fractious, and Smith, which at the time made some rebellious; and that his book will not little stir, and was the occasion of much only vindicate himself, but make other obloquy being cast upon his lordship. people ashamed of themselves. If such In our opinion, Lord Grey was per. a motive had any influence in causiog fectly right, and we always thought so. Earl Grey to take the trouble of writing It mattered little whether Sir Harry his book, we fear we cannot congratu. Smith was right or wrong, capable or late him on bis object being accomincapable-if Lord Grey came honestly plished. Nevertheless we must still and fairly to the conclusion that Sir congratulate ourselves and our colonial Harry Smith had made mistakes, or brethren on the book having been pub. had not done so well as he might have lished, both for the information which done, he was not only justified in it contains and for the weakness and recalling him, he was bound by his duty imperfections which it exposes. to do so, and also publicly to reprove him for what he disapproved in his conduct. We had hoped and intended to have If governors are to be sent out to closed this article with some exposition our colonies as the servants of the of our own ideas as to the coloniescolonial minister for the time being, no to have propounded a theoretical clas. one can complain of his treating them sification of them, which might have as his servants. been found useful in practice, and a One of the strongest reasons we few general principles as to their form have for objecting to the appointment of government which might be useof the governors of colonies by the fully discussed at all events, even if minister here at home is, that they they were never adopted. The limits must always necessarily look to him as of our space, and probably also those their master-consider his dictates, of the reader's patience, forbid us to humour his whims, and concede to enter at any length upon this subject. his crotchets, rather than study the in. Our classification would be something terests and wishes of the colony over like the following:which they rule. We wish to see the system altered, and much power taken 1. Free Colonies. 2. Convict Colonies. out of the Colonial Minister's hands; but while he retains it, we shall never 3. Mixed Colonies. be so illogical or so childish as to quar- 1. By free colonies we would mean rel with him for exercising it. all colonies peopled mainly by Britons, The remainder of Earl Grey's book such as our North American colonies. is occupied with some notice of Hong la. We would put into a subdivision Kong and Labuan ; of our posts on the of this class all conquered colonies of west coast of Africa, of which he men European races. tions some very interesting facts; and 2. By convict colonies, we would of Malta, which he likewise describes mean all British colonies to which a as improving. large population of convicts was transHe then sums up rather hastily, and ported, and in which they were emanwhen after having read the book, we cipated. come to ask ourselves why it was writ. 3. By mixed colonies we would ten, we really are at a loss for any de- mean all countries where the British finite answer. We are almost inclined race was a dominant few, ruling over to suspect that one strong motive for and employing a coloured labouring writing it, was to relieve himself of population. some of the bile accumulated during a To Class No. 1, after the first few five years' sitting at the Colonial Office, years of early settlement, say the first We do not mean to say that there oc- five, were overcome, we would at cur any ill-tempered or embittered ex. once assign the most ample freedoin pressions in the book-all is smooth, in the management of their own affairs. and courtly, and official ; but we really They should elect their own governor, do think that Lord Grey fancies the as well as their own council, assembly, colonists will have reason to regret or whatever else they choose to call it. Their institutions should at firet be of the utmost simplicity, cheapness, and rudeness if you please -- rough and ready, like their life - with provision for their gradual extension, and com. plexity, and refinement, as the population and wealth of their community increased. The sole restraint upon them should be that they should con. fine their legislation strictly to their own affairs, and that their laws should be subject to the ultimate revision of Parliament, and pending that, to temporary suspension by the Crown. As to subdivision la, in the case of a new conquest, it would for some time require to be held by the strong hand; but provision could easily be made either for infusing our own blood into it, or incorporating it with one of our own colonies, and thus gradually assimilating it to No. 1. Class No. 2 would require a special system of management, much more nearly resembling the present one. As long as a great convict establishment was kept up in a colony, and a large proportion of the population consisted of emancipated convicts, any govern. ment founded on the free action of the people, the unrestrained voices of free men (neither thralls nor felons) is obviously a contradiction in terms as well as in fact. It must be governed from without; and before it can be trusted with its own freedom it must go through a period of quarantine, as it were, in which its blood must be most thoroughly purged and purified of its previous contamination. It would be by no means difficult to make provision in any case for the transition of every colony from Class 2 to Class 1. As to Class 3, the management becomes more difficult and complicated, and more dependent on the special cir cumstances of the case. The granting of the power of self-government to any colony of this class is rather to be de precated than otherwise, as it will be sure to fall into the hands of the few, and thus be used for the oppression of the many. We would far rather at once see them placed under a gentle despotism, or even under the management of the Colonial Office, strictly supervised by Parliament. Our present Colonial Office, indeed, seems rather specially devised and adapted for the manage. ment of colonies such as these, whence it naturally comes that it looks upon all the colonies as peopled by men who do not know how to take care of them. selves, and require its benevolent and protecting aid. To mixed colonies, we think our Colonial Office might be so adjusted and reformed as to become a worthy guide, protector, and guardian; and we would gladly see the whole of them, including Jamaica, placed directly under it, when it is so reformed and ad. justed. It would, however, require most stringent supervision by the Par. liament and people of these realms, to see that it did not become a “roi faineant," that it exercised its guardian. ship wisely and well-neither suffering the coloured part of the population to fall back into indolence and savagery, nor allowing the white portion to be too lordly, and practically and inju. riously oppressive. With ihese few words we cease. We have in this last part rather hinted at than developed our ideas, and doubtless before they could be reduced to practice they would require the examination and discussion of many minds, the introduc. tion of many modifications and of many improvements. It is one thing for a man to scheme in his closet, and quite another when he comes to put his schemes in practice in the busy stir of life, and among the shock of men. Still the theory of politics is so far from being useless, that no great practical politician ever attained success without it, and no great practical political measures or institutions ever had an abiding existence that contradicted its principles, and were not founded, knowingly or by accident, in accordance with its rules. INDEX TO VOL. XLI. Aiton, John, D.D., The Lands of the Messiah, Mahomet, and the Pope, as visited in 1851, reviewed, 218. Walter Savage Landor, 235. by Fitzgunne, Fifth Round, 255; Sixth Round and last, 507. Horace, 506. Dennistoun, James, Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, illustrating the Arms, Arts, and reviewed, 196. and Letters of the Devereux Earls of Es- and Charles I., 1540–1646, reviewed, 583. Part I., 528 ; Part II., 701.. 578. Lyrics, reviewed, 117. Bartlett's Pictures from Sicily, reviewed, 115. Nineteenth Century, reviewed, 290. comparison with Caius Marcius Coriola- nus, 418. Robert Chambers, reviewed, 169. Fairy Gifts, the, by Tiny, 342. War, 50. drops — Lay of Anticipation - On an Song from the Spanish of Gongora, 184. Carew, Sir Jasper, Knt., bis Life and Ex- periences : Chap. XIII., A Midnight Ren- “ The Herr Robert," 734. Part II., 492. the Text of Shakspeare's Plays from early Folio, 1632, reviewed, 857. leverer, 119; The Daffodil, 334; The Pile grim of Art, 334. Life, reviewed, 77. comparison with Charles Duke of Bour- bon, Constable of France, 418. Getting on in Ireland, 472. 1852, reviewed, 718. John Russell's Administration, reviewed, 758. Ancient Sophists Condemned, 691. Hall, Mrs. S. C., Pilgrimages to English Shrines, reviewed, 112 ; Stories of the Governess, reviewed, 116. general, and their Temple Music in par- ticular, Part I., 675. on, 236. lius Cæsar and Napoleon Bonaparte, 147; 30 Dawn, Sonnet by Fitzjames O'Brien, 299. VOL. XLI.NO. CCXLVI. “ Horn, the," a Day upon, and a Ride Napier, Mr., his Bills in Reference to the Land Question in Ireland, 122. Napoleon Bonaparte, Character of, in Com- parison with Julius Cæsar, 147. Nature's Teachings, 336. Jerusalem, the Taking of, Stanzas, 488. with Napoleon Bonaparte, 147. Oehlenschlager, Sir Axel and Lady Ilse, from the German, 338. troductory to the Commencement of our Twenty-first Year, 1. Honourable Joseph Napier, M.P., 300. Kennedy, James, Esq., Modern Poetry and Poets of Spain, reviewed, 436. Archipelago, in H. M. Ship Mæander, re- Lament, the, of the Irish Mother, Stanzas by Tiny, 636. 122. Statistical Account of New South Wales, reviewed, 453. Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, with of the British Museum, reviewed, 740. Dublin, 346; April Fancies, 395 ; Do- ings, 526. of H. M. S. Rattlesnake, commanded by viewed, 315. Carlisle and Lord Belfast, reviewed, 285. mania, reviewed, 453. tary Misfortune in Certain Families-On 236. respondence of, Edited by Lord John Rus- III. and IV., 615. 675. Parallels by a Pilgrim, 479. ed-Written during illness, 49; Sonnets Galliambic, by William Forsyth, 637. Reviews_Esmond, a Story of Queen Anne's Reign, by W. M. Thackeray, 70; Reaben W. Savage, 74; Basil, a Story of Modern Napier, Right Honourable Joseph, M.P., our Portrait Gallery, No. LXIX., 800. distan, and the Desert, being the results St. Sylvester's Eve, 112. Coming Man, reviewed, 74. reviewed, 116. a Poem, 253. 356. edited by the Right Hon. Lord John Rus- Slingsby, Jonathan Freke, Another Night with the Mystics-A Song of Labour-On Madrigal – A Stage-Coach Story, 135. Written during illness, 49; On the James Edmeston, 299. 691. V., revieved, 539. Thackeray, W. M., Esmond, a Story of Queen Anne's Reign, reviewed, 70. home, 578. ticle, 1. United States, the, a Flying Shot at, Fifth Round, 255; Sixth and last Round, 507. cesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, with a Preli- Vedder, David, New Version of the Story of Reynard the Fox, reviewed, 116. DIRECTION TO THE BINDER. Portrait of the Right Honourable Joseph Napier, M.P., to face page 800. |