MR. ADDERLEY, M.P., ON THE BRITISH COLONIES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 978, 26 March 1862, Page 4

MR. ADDERLEY, M.P., ON THE BRITISH COLONIES.

The Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P., delivered a lecture on the " British Colonies," at the Adderleypark Institute and Museum, Saltley, on the 20th of January. *

Mr. Adderley, in commencing his observations on the subject he had chosen, said it was one with which his mind was just now filled, and he had selected it, not to save himself the trouble of considering another topic on which he should address them, but because he seriously and earnestly believed that there was at the present moment no topic more important or interesting to Englishmen. He did not Avish to enter into the abstract philosophy of colonisation on that occasion. What he wished to do was to put the subject in a practical and interesting shape, and to ask them as so many Englishmen and Englishwomen to consider for themselves what was the value of our colonies at the present moment—a moment at which the subject probably never had more interest. Mr. Gladstone would, in the next session of Parliament, have to ask the country for four millions additional taxation for the defence of Canada against the United States of America, and however much they might be sitting at their ease in that room listening to a lecture on the colonies, when the question came of paying a tax'which would most likely represent fourpence additional to the income-tax, they would think the subject one of material interest. Did we derive fourpence additional from Canada in return for this outlay? On the same principle which induced them to pay four millions how for Canada they mHit have in due course to provide the same for New Zealand or Australia; and the necessity might still become more burdensome unless we took pains to know and understand what were our proper relations in regard to our colonies, and what were their relations to us. lie would lay before them the conclusions at which he had arrived before he gave them his reasons for adopting them. The colonies were of great value to England, not in their present relation to us, but if that relation were corrected as it ought to be they would be of the greatest value. If they remained as they were they would not repay to us what they drew from us in the shape of taxation. He must point out to them how it was they had arrived at this sort of false relation. The natural relation of colonies to a parent country ought to be that their value and the advantage should be mutual; but we, by a mistake on our own part, had arrived at a condition most unfortunate and disastrous in reference to our colonial empire—a condition which rendered them burdensome to ourselves, whilst it gave a precarious existence to them. To say a country like this should not colonise would be to say it should not grow We, like all other nations, followed out the instinct of mankind in increasing and multiplying ourselves It was not so much an arbitrary choice, therefore' whether we should colonise or not, as it was a question as to the principle upon which we should do it. lhexiitteronce in the mode of colonisation had depended upon the character of the nation itself, and the circumstances under which that nation had colonised. Iho Greeks colonised by spreading their own race and institutions ; the faculty of the Romans wa?, .°y -^tending their outposts of dominion; whilst the Carthaginians colonised by establishing and maintaining ports and harbours, and extending

commerce. Other nations had followed th^T"~ natural genius m colonisation, and the charSl °Wl) the country was traceable in her cCIf er of Thus Venice, Genoa, Spain, Portugal, E^ England each typified themselves in their n' ' Mu] of colonisation. Like the Romans, thVtfroU Gr fond of dominion, and so spread thdr S • W(irc! outposts; and Algeria was probably the'ttl^, by trationof their system. On the other hmd r^ land, in her colonial procedure has Int, i ' Ln^ Englands all over the worldL He wfstS h° man >' to point out how it was that wo to toleTE!* r' false system in our mode of colonisation LT' ''\ had had three phases in her colonisation r gand 15th and 16th centuries she had^& Al J" «« and she allowed those colonies to govern tht 7 Ca' as the English did at home. They wen" r* cmselvf« in representative assemblies, they taxed tEST" 1 and they defended themselves. If they couW* 8' been represented in the English PaSanS? J| av° doubtless, would have been, only thS th e dhW' was too great and it was consequently deciStw they should have their own Parliament -S lt than this, that they should never b^L? more through their own Parliament. These ZLT¥ grew rapidly and strongly, and if 1£ ™f "tS fault, it was that England, while giving fi^ control of their own affairs, attempted to T « I their commerce for her own benefit? She StSSfi to shut them out of foreign marketsTto p^ nt their exporting, except through English C C? and to make them subservient to her own mercaS' interest by restrictive laws. When, howS a" tacked by native tribes infinitely more fomTdahl the Kaffirs or Maoris, the colonist, met the? 22£ on their own ground, nobody helped them £ fought for their own property and lives • amin T- y respect they shewed the Wrence TetweSint m the present day in fighting for their own g*S themselves without extraneous aid. They frS against the regular troops of Spain, which wcurled Florida, and France which occupied Canada aS their resistance was of the strongest and ' mos successful character, and in this respect theyT, played^ all the spirit, determination, and coura-c of Englishmen.: Towards, the commencement of the reign of George 111. we conquered Canada from the French, or rather we assisted our colonists in obtain ing possession of the country; and then came a dispute about paying the bill. To meet this an ingenious contrivance was hit upon, and a tax called the Stamp Act was endeavoured to be imposed ±ne answer of the American colonists was «W e ' are ready to fight, we are ready to pay; but if we nght, the taxes consequent must be levied by our own Parliament." He (Mr. Adderley) thought they showed in this particular that they had the true feeling of Englishmen. This squabble led to a separation of the American colonists from ourselves. They were deeply attached to Englanda fact'which was testified by Franklin- but when rTcame to the question as to whether George 111. should tax the people through his Parliament -in London, they said they would only submit to be taxed by their own legislative assembly, and so the parting took place. He was glad England fought on the occasion, but he was glad England was beaten because had she won the victory, it would have been at the cost of one of the main principles of her con stitutiori. Well, we lost the American colonies What had we then to fall back upon? We fell back upon Canada, originally a French colony, and this led to a fresh form of colonial government We undertook to govern for the colonists, and the second phase in our colonial policy was to manage colonial affairs in England, through the medium bf a colonial secretary in Downing-street, who had the control of every colonial matter, however trivial in itself. This system threw the whole state of colonial government into riot and confusion, and this went on until about twenty years ago, and the only way of accounting for its endurance so long was that the wars of the French revolution materially interfered with and prevented a good many reforms in this country. After dwelling upon; the injustice and vexatious delay which were inflicted upon our colonists by this system of administration, Mr Adderley, again adverting to Canada, observed that it ultimately led to rebellion in that country. For his own part, he said, he gave the Canadians credit for rebelling, and he was glad they succeeded. They said, " We shall be glad to live in amicable relations with you if you will give us the.' English constitution ;" but our'ministers' questioned their right to the enjoyment of those privileges which Englishmen enjoyed at home. The privilege of an English constitution was, however, accorded to them; but England found that whenever there were disturbances in connection with the colony, she had to send troops'to quell them Whilst wehad permitted them to manage their own affairs, whilst they had framed their institutions on the most liberal basisMr. Bright himself, in fact, would stare at the democracy of some of our colonies—and whilst they had made their own laws, they had retained upon us the task of preserving the peace of their country. Instead of taxing them we taxed ourselves for putting down their riots and rebellions. The riots in Australia and New Zealand, and the internal warfare of the Cape, had been entirely put down by troops raised in England, paid by us, and maintained by us in the colonies. This seemed to have brought us to a state of things which hardly rendered the relation of our colonies profitable to us. There could not be anything so unnatural than that there should be wealth, self-will, and self-control on the one sideband the expense of such matters as these on the other. If we remedied this false relation of ourselves to our colonies he was ready to prove that our colonies would be of the greatest value to this country. Alludino- in the next place to the efforts he had personally made to enforce the importance of this point upon the legislature of this country, Mr. Adderley said he had so far succeeded as to have got the subject attended to in a parliamentary committee last session when it was thoroughly investigated, eminent witnesses were examined, and the report was more favourable to the view he-took than he could have anticipated. He was satisfied however that he had only to call upon sensible Englishmen to examine the subject, to bring them to the same conclusions, and he further believed that but for this the country would have gone on for three or four more years spending £4,000,000 annually in support of troops m different parts of the world without ever considering whether the enormous drain of English blood and English money was of any proportionate use to the colonies. He hoped England would tell the colonies that they should not have troops in time of peace. If there is war let her say that she is prepared to concentrate her forces and assist in the defence of her colonial empire, but that in time of peace every part^of that empire should be prepared to maintain its own security. The instant the security of Canada is threatened let England go to her assistance, and the moment England is threatened let the Canadian Militia come and help us, for there was nothing calling upon us to help Canada in time of need which did not call upon her to aid us under like circumstances. If this principle were recognised^ ami carried out by England we should become not only the greatest but the most envied nation in the world. Was it not monstrous ihat.this little island should undertake to maintain the defences of great continents like Canada, Australia, and South Africa and that the cost of maintaining those cofSfv tl/ be Pr.°;: idf the tax-payers Sf this ZZ \l J X al nd,»culou S thftt Englishmen should be so bamboozled. Those colonies must be told that they must organize their own militia, and provide toi themselves when hostilities were not directed against them. The right hou. gentleman then proceeded to the consideration of the importance or our colonies to us if the relation in which wo stood to them were corrected, and he did so from three points of view—firstly, their utifnl, U\i °, recrni I tin.S> of our naval and military forces, thereby rendering us independent of foreign e^ons; secondly, their value cohunercially, provided W i f? m ourinterest to thrive with them wh SI by t j hem; i^l>i thirdly, the expansiveness w eh they afforded to this country as outlets for 225 y W*««rting population. After some remarks of a general character on the subject of !!!S- -°1V a| Onnecte^ *ithithe- last-mentioned subdivision of his subject, in the course of which he spoke highly O f the Canterbury settlement, the right hon .gentleman concluded by expressing a hope that all those present, and the public at large, would use their influence upon the Government to obtain

a more satisfactory, adjustment of our relations with our colonies in accordance'with the views he had cx pressed, in which case ho said wo should find them more valuable socially, commercially, and politically. The right hon. gentleman resumed his seat amidst applause. A cordial vote of thanks to Mr. Adderley was

passed,