THE DESPOTIC DESTRUCTIVENESS OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 42, 6 March 1852, Page 3

THE DESPOTIC DESTRUCTIVENESS OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE.

(From the Times, September 16th.)

The present unsatisfactory state of our South African colonies disagreeably- illustrates the working of our colonial system — if system that deserves to be called which appears to be conducted without rule or order, and to be t dependent solely upon the mere whim and fancy of the. Colonial Minister. An alarming and mischievous war is being waged on the. frontier,, and ever and anon extends its ravages into the very centre of the settlements. While such- is the position of the colony without; all;is;>cpn-

fusion and dissatisfactidn, almost amounting to downright rebellion, within. Government there is really none, arid Lord Gfey has at last resolved to establish a short method with the refractory colonists, and has- decreed the appointment of a despotism to consist of six officials, instead of granting to them the representative Constitution long since and with great emphasis promised. This rude recourse to force is not likely to calm the existing discontent ; neither is this species of government calculated to maintain peace in the colony, or to give energy t6 the population, or that vigour which is needed to repress the encroachments of their barbarous assailants. Lord Grey has either been most unfortunate or eminently unskilful, having raised high expectations only to disappoint them, first chalking out a liberal policy, then thwarting his own plan by imposing im-

possible conditions on its fulfilment, and event-

ually resolving to adopt a course of conduct wholly at variance with his original intention.

The colonists, as might have been expected, have resented his treatment as insulting as well as injurious. They look on with apathy at the

war raging around them, and view with indifference at least, if not indeed with secret satisfaction, the blunders and disasters of their vapouring governor, Sir Harry Smith, who assumed

to be so much wiser than all the colonists combined; and the result as respects England will be an enormous expense — as respects the Colony, delayed advancement and much present

loss and suffering

The question naturally arises, for what has all this discontent beon created ? Why have the colonists not been allowed to take care of their own concerns ? They are Englishmen — intelligent and enlightened Englishmen,

shrewd and accustomed to manage their own affairs, energetic, brave, and thoroughly com-

petent to judge of everything that affects their own peculiar interests — why should Lord Grey interpose between these men and the object of their legitimate desires ? Why should he im-

pose upon them his mere whim and fancy, and supersede the working of their self-interest by the fantasy of his theoretic notions? Never was there so curious and pregnant an instance of the peculiar working of our Government as the colonies now afford. The unfortunate Englishmen who leave their country as colo-

nists are subject entirely to Downing-street,

and the influence which there prevail. They are obliged to submit all their individual capacity and energy to official rule — the Chief Secretary is a species of divinity in colonial regions — and the sturdy merchant, manufacturer, or agriculturist, who in England never thought of or cared for a Secretary of State, is on a sudden made the slave of an official despot. He can do nothing without the sanction of the colonial authority, his individual skill and energy are neutralized, and he is subject at once to caprice, ignorance, and often to the mere outbreak of ill-temper. The man who in England would evince a continuous and overspringing hope and energy, is in the colony brought under the dominion of a Secretary of State and his clerks. Thus, Lord Grey, who knows nothing of trade, whose judgment respecting the destinies of the Cape colony is of far less worth than that of many a poor stockkeeper in the wilderness, rides the colony as a hobby, takes the guage of the adventurous who have fared forth into the wilderness by his own, and fancies that in his parlour in Down-ing-street he can judge for these men in all their private as well as their public relations. The consequence might easily have been foreseen. The colony is ruined in so far as it depends upon the Colonial Minister. In so far as individual strength and energy are allowed to have play, the colony succeeds, but the Government is its curse. We have received some lessons within the last few weeks from the emancipated colonists

of England who now constitute the United

States of America. We may, if we be wise, 'derive from them instruction of far greater value than can be imparted by the lines of the schooner "America." The colonies of the United Slates are the shame of ours. " Colonies of the United States ?" some one may exclaim, " and where are they ?" They are to be found in the thirty States which have been formed since the declaration of independence by the thirteen united provinces of America. A general rule has presided over the formation of these- new communities, and the men who have formed Ohio, Indiana, Texas, and a host of other States, came in a great proportion from our own country, and would, had the Colonial office permitted, have formed for England the colonies which they have been driven to create for the United States. Let no one fancy this to be an exaggerated statement. It

•is the simple a6d painful truth. If there were no Lord Grey at the Colonial office— if an v English colony -could be formed in the same "Simple -and' predetermined manner in which an

American territory is called into existence — if such a creation were the result merely of the law, and was not dependent upon the mere whim and passion of any one man, we might by this time have boasted of a multitude of flourishing colonies, which should have rivalled the rising States of America. But so long as the present system continues, such a result is impossible. There is an eternal meddling with matters of which the meddlers are profoundly ignorant. Seeing, then, that every day shows us the consequence of our present system — seeing that we have a rival experience in the rising States of America — seeing that Englishmen in reality are the instruments which bring about both results, we appeal to the common sense of our countrymen, and ask why the colonial system of England may not be subject to the common-sense influences which have produced the wonderful results we daily behold in America ? Some may say the difference is not in the system, but the country. We answer by pointing to the two banks of the river St. Lawrence. Canada is now beginning to govern itself. It is almost emancipated from the leaden rule of Downing-street ; so soon as it is completely so, it will rival the States which lie upon the southern shore of the great river which divides the territories of England from those of her Republican neighbour. But hitherto the incubus has weighed with a fearful weight upon these fine provinces. New York has become almost the rival of England ; but Canada is still a petty province. Her land is as fertile, and her rivers just as fit for the purposes of traffic and transport as those of New York ; but in New York the common sense of practical men is the guide of the Government. In Canada hitherto the fribble clerks of Down-ing-street have borne sway. Every traveller who has passed from one side of the river St. Lawrence to the other has been struck by the extraordinary difference in circumstances so similar, and has been compelled to ask to what can such a painful inferiority be ascribed. The result cannot be disputed ; the climate is the same, the soil is equally fertile, the men are in both countries Englishmen — what is it that in the one case stamps wretchedness and miserable inferiority on the country, and in the other marks the whole people with the unmistakeable signs of prosperity and vigorous advance? The only difference is the government. In the one province the Colonial Minister is the ruler ; in the other, a practical people takes care of its own concerns.

There is no escaping from the consequences of this comparison, and England, it would seem, is doomed to have all its colonies struck and palsied, because we have not the courage to assail the rule of Downing-strcet, and say to it, " We judge you by the fruits of your dominion." We might say, " Show us the colony that has flourished under your rule. Point out to us the solitary spot that is even at peace — say nothing as to improvement and continued advance — while you have government, and we may be in some measure satisfied with your system. But unfortunately, your government is a blight ; wherever you have sway you destroy hope, energy, and self-reliance ; your dominion is a curse, and the name of England, which you are permitted to employ, has become a byword of reproach. Her sons shun her dominions, and flee to other and more happy States, in order to escape from the thraldom of her colonial empire." No man who has travelled through the colonies of England and compared their destinies with those of the selfgoverned colonies or territories of America will say that the description we have here given is untrue ; no enlightened Englishan who has had an opportunity of knowing and feeling all the abominations of our colonial rule will say that he marvels at the scenes now enacted in South Africa, or will assert that such things would continue a month if the Englishmen in those lands were permitted to take care of their own concerns, without being hampered by the superintendence of a Colonial Minister.