this little passage in his colonial history, Lord Grey goes on to speak of the Kaffir war, and among other things mentions his letter of recall to Sir H. Smith, which at the time made some little stir, and was the occasion of much obloquy being cast upon his lordship. In our opinion, Lord Grey was perfectly right, and we always thought so. It mattered little whether Sir Harry Smith was right or wrong, capable or incapable-if Lord Grey came honestly and fairly to the conclusion that Sir Harry Smith had made mistakes, or had not done so well as he might have done, he was not only justified in recalling him, he was bound by his duty to do so, and also publicly to reprove him for what he disapproved in his conduct. If governors are to be sent out to our colonies as the servants of the colonial minister for the time being, no one can complain of his treating them as his servants. One of the strongest reasons we have for objecting to the appointment of the governors of colonies by the minister here at home is, that they must always necessarily look to him as their master-consider his dictates, humour his whims, and concede to his crotchets, rather than study the interests and wishes of the colony over which they rule. We wish to see the system altered, and much power taken out of the Colonial Minister's hands; but while he retains it, we shall never be so illogical or so childish as to quarrel with him for exercising it. The remainder of Earl Grey's book is occupied with some notice of Hong Kong and Labuan; of our posts on the west coast of Africa, of which he mentions some very interesting facts; and of Malta, which he likewise describes as improving. He then sums up rather hastily, and when after having read the book, we come to ask ourselves why it was written, we really are at a loss for any definite answer. We are almost inclined to suspect that one strong motive for writing it, was to relieve himself of some of the bile accumulated during a five years' sitting at the Colonial Office. We do not mean to say that there occur any ill-tempered or embittered expressions in the book-all is smooth, and courtly, and official; but we really do think that Lord Grey fancies the colonists will have reason to regret him; that they will repent, when they see how kind, and generous, and wise he meant to be for them, that they were ever froward, and fractious, and rebellious; and that his book will not only vindicate himself, but make other people ashamed of themselves. If such a motive had any influence in causing Earl Grey to take the trouble of writing his book, we fear we cannot congratulate him on his object being accomplished. Nevertheless we must still congratulate ourselves and our colonial brethren on the book having been published, both for the information which it contains and for the weakness and imperfections which it exposes. We had hoped and intended to have closed this article with some exposition of our own ideas as to the coloniesto have propounded a theoretical classification of them, which might have been found useful in practice, and a few general principles as to their form of government which might be usefully discussed at all events, even if they were never adopted. The limits of our space, and probably also those of the reader's patience, forbid us to enter at any length upon this subject. Our classification would be something like the following : 1. Free Colonies. 1. By free colonies we would mean all colonies peopled mainly by Britons, such as our North American colonies. la. We would put into a subdivision of this class all conquered colonies of European races. 2. By convict colonies, we would mean all British colonies to which a large population of convicts was transported, and in which they were emancipated. 3. By mixed colonies we would mean all countries where the British race was a dominant few, ruling over and employing a coloured labouring population. To Class No. 1, after the first few years of early settlement, say the first five, were overcome, we would at once assign the most ample freedom in the management of their own affairs. They should elect their own governor, as well as their own council, assembly, or whatever else they choose to call it. Their institutions should at first be of the utmost simplicity, cheapnes, and rudeness if you please rough and ready, like their life-with provision for their gradual extension, and complexity, and refinement, as the population and wealth of their community increased. The sole restraint upon them should be that they should confine 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 government 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 circumstances of the case. The granting of the power of self-government to any colony of this class is rather to be deprecated 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 themselves, 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 adjusted. 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 injuriously oppressive. With these 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 Allingham, William, Lines addressed to Archytas and the Mariner, translated from Bartlett's Pictures from Sicily, reviewed, 115. Buckingham, the Duke of, 684. Robert Chambers, reviewed, 169. Carew, Sir Jasper, Knt., his Life and Ex- Collier, J. Payne, Notes and Emendations to Collins, Mortimer, The Doom of Maud Mau- Collins, Wilkie, Basil, a Story of Modern Colonies, our, by an English Radical, 758. Dawn, Sonnet by Fitzjames O'Brien, 299. VOL. XLI.NO. CCXLVI. "Horn, the," a Day upon, and a Ride Indian Archipelago, 315. Jerusalem, the Taking of, Stanzas, 488. Kennedy, James, Esq., Modern Poetry and Poets of Spain, reviewed, 436. Lament, the, of the Irish Mother, Stanzas Land Question, the, Mr. Napier's Bills, Lang, John Dunmore, D.D., Historical and Layard, Austen H., M.P., Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, with M'Carthy, Denis Florence, to the Bay of Macgillivray, John, Narrative of the Voyage Mechanics' Institutes, Lectures at, by Lord Miscellanea Literaria, No. II.-On Heredi- tary Misfortune in Certain Families-On Miserrimus, Stanzas, 635. Moore, Thomas, Memoirs, Journal, and Cor- Napier, Right Honourable Joseph, M.P., our Napier, Mr., his Bills in Reference to the Napoleon Bonaparte, Character of, in Com- Oehlenschlager, Sir Axel and Lady Ilse, from Our Past, our Present, and our Future-In- Our Portrait Gallery, No. LXIX., Right Parallels by a Pilgrim, 479. Reviews Esmond, a Story of Queen Anne's edited by the Right Hon. Lord John Rus- distan, and the Desert, being the results St. Sylvester's Eve, 112. Savage, M. W., Reuben Medlicott, or the Scott, Patrick, Love in the Moon, a Poem, Scott, Patrick, Mrs. J. E. R-d-e's Dream,. Shakspeare, Improvements in the Text of, Slingsby, Jonathan Freke, Another Night Sophists, Ancient, and Modern Liberals, Spanish Poets Garroted, 436. Stirling, William, the Cloister Life of Charles Thackeray, W. M., Esmond, a Story of Queen Thor and Thrym, or Thor's Hammer brought Tolerance and Intolerance, 638. Tom Cluggins's Two Antipathies, 374. United States, the, a Flying Shot at, Fifth Round, 255; Sixth and last Round, 507. Vedder, David, New Version of the Story of DIRECTION TO THE BINDER. Portrait of the Right Honourable Joseph Napier, M.P., to face page 800. |