THE AUSTRALASIAN REPUBLIC.

Propositions in favour of the Federation of the Six Colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, . Queensland, Tasmania, and New Zealand, into an Independent Australasian Republic. By Charles Flinders Hursthouse.

I.— That History shows that no country, content to remain the mere colony or dependency of another, ever becomes nationally great ; and that its people are ever looked down on' by the parent State as an "inferior" and half-alien race. 2 —That the oitizens of a British Australasian Republic, like tho citizens of the American Republic, would enjoy far higher political and social rank and status in the world than Australasian colonists j. and would at the same time, have an equal share and ownership in national glories."'— Creßsy, Trafalgar, Waterloo, B;vcon, Shakespeare, Milton, Burke, Burns— with those of their race who dwell in the British Isles.

3.— That the contrast exhibited between the two adjacent countries, tho United States and Canada, affords indisputable proof that British colonies, federating into an indepondont republic, may, in wealth, power, importance and attractions for the emigrant millions of the old world, marvellously outstrip British colonies, content to remain such :— tho latter, in America, with almost as good a start in life as the former, now counting only 3,000,000 people, .eldom heard of in the World; the former, 33,000,000, filling the World with thoir fame. 4.— That, as Australia and Now Zoalond, with aroa and capabilities for suptoortiniz a population of 50,000,000, count, M yet, less than 2,000,000, thoir first wreftt vital "want" is, of necessity, tho want of moro pooplo—tho want of that more capital and labour, onorgy, enterpriae, art, and skill cvor, by tho •« golden stream" of emigration, flowing from the Old "U orld to fructify tho Now. That, in tho last fifty years, while only one million British emigrants havo Mtlkd in British Colonies in America, tour millions havo havo sottled in tho adjacent United States, and that as Gorman and Continental emigration hot *™ * *** latter, it may fairly bo estimated that, in tho last half century, for ovory one omL grant family Bottling in Ainonca undor tho British Flag, six have chosen to nettle undor the Star, and Stripes. 1 hat m the "natural advantages of large poriion. of the British C«ijonios in Araejic* arc i» «reat as those of tho United ßt*U», this six fold luparionty of the Utter over the former in "popularity and repute, «• an em««»tion field, proves that. poHtjoaig Jad socWly, an independent Republic of

origin- and^gehius^w vastly Jmor^J " attractive"' totheiemigrani millions of! the i Old c Worid* than' -are 1 subordinate British' Oolonies^and' tHatthis ipregnant, faot alorie^migbfr wisely determine'Ausfoa-. lasia to cease to be the one and to become theother. •. -. .. . . , > , 5. That an Australasian' Republic, founded on wise laws, peopled, mainly by the English, Irish, " Scotch, and German races with a deep natural' Exchequer in millions of acrei'bi virgin, Wild land, and with vast auriferous, mineral, pastoral, and agricultural resources, could, if needed for her more rapid development, negotiate loans on old world money markets as readily and advantageously as any state borrowers ever appearing there. ' 6, — That the following considerations warrant the belief ttiat the Australasian colonies ' would be more kecure from foreign aggression as 1 'an. united, iiidependent Australasian' Republic, than 1 as separate/ isolated dependencies of the British' Crown.' Ist^ "that, as they, would enter on their nationality free from all past quarrels with Nations, no nation wduld be moved to _ molest them through old jealousies, or "real, or>fancied injuries of. the past— while secure, as they would be, 0 the cordial sympathy and moral support of the great' Republic of the West (and also, it'is to l>e hoped, of that of the British Lion)— nonatioaintheworld would dare to molest them through' wanton lust of territory.— 2nd, that old and new world foreign States and Powers would rejoice to see a young Australasian Republic born into the world, and that ; partly, in the selfish hope that its birfch might weaken ' the great, dominating parent State.— 3rd, that in some great European or' American convulsion, the British Crown (represented by that Imperial Parliament wherein colonies have no voice) might have to declare war against some great naval! and military Power, or combination of Powers — that, in such conjuncture, the Australasian colonies, as rich exposed dependencies of the Crown, would probably pc attacked (as nearly ooourred even in the Russian war) when again, as now, in New Zealand, the Crown naving been instrumental in bringingwar on the colony,* might again, as now, in New Zealand, plead popular clamour for State retrenchment as an excuse for non-fulfil-ment of its duties, refuse succour to the colony attacked, and leave it to itd fate. 7.— That the "heroic spirit of colo-, nization" and the love of the colonies, inspiring Bacon, Raleigh, statesmen of the Elizabethan age, and generations of their successors, the spirit which has done so much to raise a little Island of the North Sea into the mistress of half the World, no longer animates England s rulers. That, in ideaß and aspiration*, divers of these are becoming cramped and insular,«paroolual rather than imperial, penny wise and pound foolish : — their craze for state retrenchment fitly prompting for their consideration the suggestion that armies and navies might be rauoh reduced, annual millions saved, were the British Empire denuded of India, the colonies, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and " concentrated " in the Isle of Man. B.— That deluded by tho fallacies and fictions of a new school of political economists, whose chief luminary is likened by Mr Disraeli unto " a wild man broke loose from a cloister," and misled by other moonshine, England is growing insensible or indifferent to the value of colonies, and forgetful of what she owes to them— and that, in regard to their real importance to her as compared with that of Old World Countries, she distorts the " small " into the "great," and the "great" into the " Bmalll' :— a State toothaohe afflicting any little tinpot Crown or Duchy. Buch as Greece or Small Gorman, oxoiting mare care and sympathy in Court Circles and among her ruling ordor* than do calamities such as those now desolating one of her great Australasian Colonies, in Now Zealand. 9.— That, though, as yot, more latent than expressed, tho fear exists, that the growing supremacy, in tho Councils of England, of Manchoster, and tho "Economists," whoso huckster polioy towards England's magnificent Colonial Empire is to get from it all which can be Rot, and to givo it nothing in return (iho policy which lost Spain her splendid Colonies aud reduced her to comparative insignificance), may, oventually, dwarf England • rank, status, power, and renown, m the World to that of a Holland; when "political connection" with her might 1 ttcnmo the reverse of safe or benoncial for rich and tempting colonies. 10.— That the religion of Manchester that "it is ever boat to buy in' the cheapest market," and that free trade, a* good for tho wholo world, ranks tecond only to Christianity, ia not the belief of oolonios legitimately aspiring to' get enough home-grown bone and muscle to fit them fo* becoming independent etotos, And that should a young Australasian Ropublio evor shape »he marble for British worthies, it U Goldsmith, r*ihw

»thW;Ool>den. jwho should.represent; political econonusts*' 1 "' \ , '""'" <« ai.-r»Thatf «the: .' insensate, policy '- of England* dictated by the selfish fears of her ruler :,and employer, -J classes, which treats 'her hideous v wen of •„ pauperism," her plethoraof 1 labour/ her Benu-starva-tion offlabourer, with the \ costly quackery of poor laws, instead of with thecheap, certain*, final, cure of State emigration, bodes ill for the wisdom of her future policy jin other directions, and suggests the doubt whether a State, so blind to the interests of her home empire, can wiselybe entrusted with any interests of a " colonial , empire. . , . 12.-r;That,' in- divers great questions of national polioy debated in the Imperial Parliament — such as War, National Defences, Transportation, State Emigration, the Australasian Coloniesmay have as great. a stake, as England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales y and. that, while they are without voice or- representation there, they - are without their due and just political rights. That the .amusing but pernicious delusion of the' Colonial, Office, that ifc, the Colonial Office, represents coloniesin the Imperial Parliament, is one not' shared- in By colonists. . That, as Been by Jamaica and New Zealand, when . " crass clamour ?, against colonists is rampant in the Commons, it j either joins therein, or damns with faint defence, or dozes. That the sole merit it boasts, that of having given British Constitutions to British Colonies, is hollow, inasmuch as had they not been " given "< they must have been " taken " —and that, generally, the Colonial Office; as an Institution,, sympathising with, protective of, and practically useful to, colonies and colonists, has no claims to their confidence or respect. 13. — That the argument that colonies have no right to representation in the Imperial Parliament, or to the free services of Imperial troops, because they pay no Imperial taxes, is one ,far more specious than real — inasmuch as through and by the immense export and import trade they create for the Parent State, t and in other ways, such as in helping to relieve her from nor costly, pauperizing, "pressure of population," they do, virtually, furnish and supply a large portion of her "home-staying" people with part of the " ways and' means " of paying Imperial taxes ; and do thus, substantially, pay a quota of Imperial taxes, just aB much as if they carried it direct to the Imperial Exchequer — and do, generally, help to create and' keep up the wealth, strength, power, prestige, and renown of the British Empire ns muoh as does, probably more than does, any " home" portion of it where the population is, numerically, the same. 14. — That, the Australasian Colonies, notwithstanding that "effusive loyalty," which the Times pronounces "so amusing," and which may manifest itself in the welcome ef a Sailor Prince, who would have' been an equally popular visitor in the republican United States, cannot, for ever, contentedly remain mere *| appendages" of an Empire, mere Satellites of a distant Sun, but must awaken to the idea that a Country half as large as Europe, and one of Nature's riohest, may legitimately aspire to some higher destiny and oareer than that of gold digging and wool and tallow growing for a "tight" little Island 15,000 miles remote from them in the North Sea ; and that any second De Tooqueville now visiting them would encourage suoh aspiration. 16.— That in the year when thirteen British Colonies in America raised the Stars and Stripes, their position, in regard to real power and resources and ohances of maintaining the high station they had taken, was inferior to that of our six Australasian Colonies of to-day. And that, though Australasia, comparatively remote from those old world stores of 4< wilderness-subduing" capital and labour which have done so much to create, to build up, Atnorica ; and also, less favoured in natural gifts, might never aspire to blossom into bo mighty an Empire as the great "Queen of the West,* yet that Australasia, possessing a territory half as large as the whole of Europe, possessing eveu in these, her half-infant days, a. population sooni exceeding 2,000,000 of tho British raco, a publio revenue of L 10,000,000, with an export and import trade approaching L 70,000,00 0; a climate embracing latitudes suitable for overy domestic animal, every grain, grass, root, and fruit of the British Isles, with others, where flourish vine, olive, orange, mulberry, maiwj, cotton, and tobneco plant — a country possessing stores of gold, won, ooppor, ooftU timber, and exhaustless eapabilitie* of supplying Europe with three great necessaries, wool, meat, Ullow — a country possessing an immense oooan coast line, indented with harbours, holding » position isolated from all aggressive "annexing" powers—* position renwt© from aU postibUy bate of hostile opwaitont* and yet ntah to the groat marts and markots of India, China, and Japin— has assuredly that within tar which, with am* pmont improred

arms and w.eftpons.for.iiiuidjiin^the waste and ;f/;makingjthe f desert{bl9BßOtti .like the roßfr/' might Boon expan4^her;astp;one of the Btrongedifr- and most. flourishing of young nations which. newjortofcLworld has ever-Been.'t < \ > i ■'I'tmi'xi.r-.u 16, That, in-,, the natural sequence of events^ amd< the ripening 1 qf.timei it is humanly -certain thafy sooner or later, Australia* and New ZJealand .will separate from England, , and, Jn some form or other, have National Independence. That, the " bitter- spirit '*■ against England existing in the United States ji ever^cropping up in the political, relations of the two nations, and now, culminating in.f'Sumner Claim" and "Alabama Leek," springs, in part, frpm, the feeling .transmitted from American, father tp. American son, that when,,the-,germß of, the, ' Great were English ■ Colonies ifrey. had " illusage " .froni England. 1(< Tjiat4t >would be politic pn England's part.tbaee that a cauße which 'has been.Bo"ins 4 trumentalin turning a group,, of English, colonies in America, into -an , menacing Power, does not conduce to a like result in Australasia. That", nevertheless, one of theAußtralaßian Colonies is now suffering eucK" "ill-usage" from England's Colonial; ,05106/ encouraged- -by the crass plaudits of a portion of the English Press, as is naturally' arousing a most righteous indignation jnall of them— and that this -may .so spread and, fester as to deßtroy, -or weaken,. that- ieeling of kinship, goodwill, and respect, with which, for their mutual profit, Old England, should be regarded by Young Australasia, when their "day of parting" conies. That, weighing these .truths', and wisely looking at the possible eventualities of the future, England's present Parliament, no longer suffering ■ -itself to be hoodwinked by the fatuous fallacies and fictions of the Colonial Office in the " Matter of New Zealand,", should, itself, at once take action therein, and insist on the Young Colony being dealt, with by the British Crown as humanity, national honour, and equity, demand — so that when a glorious old flag shall cease to dominate Australasia's seaa and shores, it may be furled there, unsullied by speck or stain, and leave no- "ill memories" behind.

* To all who are practically acquainted with the coarse of British, colonisation in New Zealand, it ia notorious that, from the first and for a period of nearly quarter of a ceiitury, the Crown "jealously excluded " colonists " from all shite or part in the management of the nattve race ; and that it has been, mainly, th» Crown's "imbecile polioy" towards the Maori which has inflated him into that murderous rebel who; without cause vt provocation other than that invented for him by his missionary manipulators, is now indulging ia his fourth war against the colonists. The mere faot oi its being an internal barbarian war, which the British Crown had partly brought on one of the Australasian oolonies, and. a foreign, or civilised war which the British Crown might bring on another, has, evidently, no weight or signiiicanoy in the question of the Crown's leaving' colonies without help in war, more or less brought ou, by tho Crown. Abyssinia, might be instanced as bearing on the point— but tho Abysßinuui expedition was a British - necessity to stifle the jeers of Europe — trad the case of New Zealand, far more than that of Abyssinia, affords the index as to what the Britiah Crown, swayed by Manchester and tho coonotuists might do, or not do, were the British Crown to bring foreign war on Australasia. fln the last 20 years, alone, the six Australasinn Colonies, even in these inf nnt days, have raised for England raw produce, 'chiefly wool and gold, to tho amount of L.240,000, 000, and purchased her manufactures and shipments to the amount of L 260 ,000,000. This is a trade of L;O,OOi',GOO a your created by Australasia for England, tho nrtt ptotits of which, even at 10 per cont. would represent a turn of no le.-s than L2,fiOO,CwX), Annually pocketed by England from her trade with Australasia. Indeed, it the various gains and profits, benefits and advantages, direct aud iiuHroot, which England b&a reaped from her Australasian Colonios could be dieplaycd in £ s. d., ie would probably appear that evorv pound expended on them had brought her fifty back— and thus show the truth of th» dictum that "Colonisation is tho very best affair of butinoss in which an old, overpeopled country can engage." * With a view to, and pending thoir Indopeudflnct, tbo Bix Australasian Colonios would bowiso and politic to cultivate aotivo commercial wart social relations with tho 33,000,000 citizens of tho United States — and, as the fitst step thereto, now that th > rail hmi brought Hvw York within a wcok of San Francisco, to unito in subsidising a groat direct ooeanio " stoaut highway" from that great port, by tho Polynesian Islands aud Now Zealand, to Melbonrno and Sydney :— thus oponiug botwoon thciriHolvo* Mid tho greatest ••wildftrnesd-sabduiuij;" "peoblo of tho woild, a smooth wmmerioi path, attractive of American «n«r^y and ouUrpruo. galvanising and fniotifying their torpid waste*, Mnd, g«n«r*Jlv» aiding thorn in tho work at ddubung ttoic . power andinsouroet in • tew dco»d««. ,', ' ■

Thk Rkason Wur.—Nureory.maide affect tbo Life Guards and Blues becauso they are votaries at tho thrine of higtwuen t