OUR COLONIAL EMPIRE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 261, 21 October 1862, Page 5

OUR COLONIAL EMPIRE.

The Economist makes the followiug remarks resp^ctin^ our colonial relations, in reply to au article on. our Colonial Empire, which appeareJ in the jVorth British Review :—

A thoughtful and analytic article on our colonial empire appeared in the May mimlier of the North British Review, It was somewhat dry, as pan«w deaiiiurin a scientific spirit with the wide principles of politics can scarcely avoM being ; but it is the firet attempt we have seen to go to the bottom of the tw> questions relating to our dependencies, on which hugtisiimeii t .mk so vaguely and" >ot feel so strongly • —Are hr colonies of any value whatever to Great Britain? Ami, if of no value, why should she lie at tneexj>eiiseotietainingthjui,auJat the trouble of governing rheni

_ Ihro-.vinsoutofviev, as irrelevant to the discussion, those settlements which are mere military uarrisons or naval -tutions, or onviet depots or philan tlirojac crotchets—such as tfibra'tar, Malta, })*Tmu<>a' fcieira Leone, and Ascension Island, and cnfimpirlrs attention to colonies proper, like Australia and Canada—to susiv inlands like Jamaica and Mauritius —ana to dependencies, ani r/eu-cris. like India- iho writer shows very conclusively that, however dtMiaVe »t im»ht have Leeti to found colonies in for:ner days both to rthpve us of our redundant population to to turn to our use the pr< ducliou.s of u:ici> iUt.e..l hiru's and to create customers for our wares—a'l this constitutes no argument for retaining them when once eatah l-hed. He also explains that the thorou«h revors.il of all our old maxims of commercial policy which gnve the mother country the entire monopoly of the inward and outward trade of her colonies has completely up>et the former relations of' the two lauds. Tho colonies ii,,\v trade. wi;h absolute freedom with the whole world; they.sell where tiey like, and nuy.wheie they lib>, and have uo longer any advance in our markers ovi-r forei-ni nation'-. They A-onld, therefore, hi ju ■• as valuahh* to us pecuniarily ami comnvreiulh- '■,\ :.; , liv nov/ ' if they were iudep-ii-leiit. This is'ai.:■■..:. -r;-^ ••'{ tho colonies propc-r. It is. true, in a 'n-;['.;.'-. ~...G ^ only, of India also; because if" we a!)Uinonr, ; v. "u!4 retro^raile in security ami civilization, a.'-'Mii-worv wou d become less pro w tive and leys pr.»airji;.,» ; t j n custouiiii*. The general conclusion res-Jv.-s h>t f'into the political axiom. "That our several cJoii:.'s an dependencies would b*. ju-t as valuable to us, as matter of £ s. d., if we were tr» surrender or (•maiuj:pate them, provided always our withdrawal <!id wot cause them to sink to a low.;r point of civilization than they have n w attained."

Are our depen Jeneies of any political value to us 1 Locked at with the <r.ve of reasou—clearly not. They increase our vulnerability, and do not contribute to our strength. Thiy absorb half our army and mor» than h«ilf our navy i:: their defence, and they do-not contribute to army or navy a single regiment or a, single s)iip. Bin in the eye era delusive imagination thf-y have :i considerable tliough unreal value. Tliev a-<i elernc-uts of weuknos ; but the world believed them to be element:; of strength. "We should,'' says the reviewer, (-in truth bo safer and mightier without them, beca-ise we should be richer, loss burdened, and More concern rated ; but other nations would not chink so, and would, therefore desjuse us, aw' '\ prone to attack us. Tho political value >o Gicut Britain of her magnificent colonial and dep-.-udi-nt empire is reducible, in ultimate analysis, to'th.,- fallacious appearance of strenirth and graudeur it couvt-y-s. Tiiis f apptarance' c.nsts us a good deai, though-lens than is popularly fancied. Our colonies cast the mo-their-country iv ' Military expenditure £1,715.240 Civil expenditure 61,760 £1,777,000 India has fallen short of meeting her own expenses by al.r>ut; £109,000,000; hue die pays without aid from inland the interest of the debt she hm incurred. Even if we were, however, to add this, as a sum which-might conceivably fall upon us, if India were lost, five millions would be the outside expense lo England of all her dependencies—as far as direct and calculable expense is concerned. What they cost us indirectly, by frittering away and dispersing our defensive armaments, and by compelling us to keep up a fur larger navy than the protection of our commerce and shores would need alone, can never be accurately known.

£in"c then, our colonial empire costs us five millions a year in calculable outlay, and as much again, perhaps, in ways we canuot estimate; since our commerce would be just as great and just as p>ofitable if we were traders merely, and not owners ; and since its political value is undeniably a delusion, why should we insist on retaining it? The answer — the only and sufticintr answer — lies in one word. It is our duty. We owe to those we govern obligations we cannot shake off, and must not neglect. They have not yet risen to the fuil growth and stature of nations. They are not exclusively British. They are not-homogenous. There we have special duties Ito perform, civilization to spread among inferior tribes; justice, to administer to heterogeneous and uii-frkudiy-populations, all equal|y committed to our | charge, In New Zealand and >.t the Cape there are aborigines whom we are bound to protect, and whom we must improve and educate if we can. If we were to cast off'these colonies, it would probably go bard with the native races. It might even go hard with the European settlers. The Cuffrf-s might pour down upon the colonists who lie near them, and overwhelm them, when no lonper guarded by the prestige of Great Britain. The 60,000 Maories irjfrhV and we fear would, amid the constant quarrels that arise, be exterminated, after srvere looses, by the 60.000 Englishmen who have established themselves in the lands .of those energetic favajjes. ~ In the West Indies the; coloured population out-number.-the white ..twelve fold. In Mauritius there are only about 400 white inhabitants to about 300 (;00 ri'groes and Indian coolies. Obviously, to resign. . colonies like these would be criminal, if it were not a rimple-impossibility*. The Antilles would be seized ' by America, if they did not lelapse into the monarchy of Hnyii, Mauritius, if not re-annexed by France would cease to be anything beyond a maiket carden ' or the negroes would be re-enstaved. To all English- • men sett'vd among savages we owe t , 'ionf To all uncivilised races among whom we I -r -'< -: ntrod or permitted Englishmen to settle, w«> .•' cc puardian&hip, and teaching, Both btts ': - 'va- ■ • lion are sacred- and iuefiucable. fc With reference to India, our obligations are clearer and more binding still. There we have ' established our supremacy over natives naturally hostile, and with a civilization as elaborate as our * own, but degrading and noxious. We have by da erees made every other rule except oure impofirih'© We have taken possession of the most magnificent ■ - field for-doing good ever presented to any people. < H would be Simple uifamy to-give1 tt-UD becausA 5v • we Tiafl added; dieebvexed that it^asnSlso a field - • • for making fefaiey ; br <(hat we'could make the • "- money without the trouble1 *r - reepbpsibllity of co- '- - ' vernmg it, Whatever India"mav4ereafter cost S^ i- fH*^™ 1 I?? 11 m? tTDPire there i cause is not a nation that we have conquered, but a crowd of . warrmp races whose hostilities we have repressed and becaute our rule is a blessing which we haY succeeded, in pu«u,t of our own selfish atom, L makujg indispensable, g | *