VII.—PUBLIC OPINION IN ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Volume 25, Issue 1004, 25 February 1871, Page 17

VII. — PUBLIC OPINION IN ENGLAND.

Let us now examine the influence which publicjopinion in England has exercised upon the destiny of the colonies. The first idea of modern colonisation was undoubtedly that colonies were a means of enriching the mother country. The wild cavaliers who cleared the path in the western world for more peaceful settlers may have combined the duties of apostles of the true faith with the pleasures of gold-hunting, but there can be no doubt that those who fitted out the expeditions merely sought to fill the State coffers — sometimes their own. England, in establishing colonies in America, did not exactly follow the system pursued by Spain,* but common opinion amongst her people regarded the colonies in essentially the same light as they were looked at by the latter country. The colonies were deemed a sort of private manor of the Sovereign, which he could dispose of as he liked, the restraints to an abuse of power being self-interest and the consideration which a king owes his subjects. Large tracts of land were granted to distinguished men as a reward for real or imaginary services. We find that Perm, in liquidation of a Royal debt, obtained a vast territory on the River Delaware, with almost despotic powers of government. Charles [I. granted the province of Delaware to his brother, the Duke of York, who in turn conceded it to Perm. The country was, it is true, very thinly settled at the time, but such transfers show incontestibly that colonies were then considered to occupy a very different relation to the Crown to what England did. And with regard to the trade of the colonies, every possible restriction was imposed on it, in order to divert it into nome channels. The only question debated was how many straws the camel's would bear. In reflecting on this subject we must never forget how profound an influence the current belief in the Divine right of Kings must have exercised over men's judgment in that day.

The first rude shock to public opinion was given by the American revolution. It made statesmen and the public reflect upon the nature of the connection between England and her dependencies ; and the reflections were deepened by the results of the rigid enquiry made by the French philosophers a few years previously on the relation of people to their rulers. But no comprehensive scheme issued from thiß meditation. Canada yet remained in our possession, but was so little known and bore so unfavourable a comparison to the United States that it obtained little esteem as a field for emigration ; the Cape still belonged to the Dutch ; and although the Government were initiating a penal settlement in the distant island of Australia, yet the taint of convict companionship, and the remoteness of the country, effectually checked all public interest. Australia was then a land in the uttermost parts of the earth, cut off from intercourse with maakind, with arid sands glittering under a scorching sun, while -wretched criminals, ground down with cruelty, toiled on its lonely shores.- Thus, although higher principles had taken root in the public mind, they as yet bore no fruit. Then came the hard fighting with France, and the colonies were forgotten. It was not until many years of peace had elapsed and the Reform Bill became law, that the colonies again occupied the public mind.

If we compare the objects now sought to be attained by persons who interested themselves in the bosiness of colonisation with those which incited the first attempts at English colonisation, we shall find a markeddifferencebetweenthem. Formerly people went to the colonies as to placeß where riches might be obtained more readily than 1 at home ; now, pressure of population mad* emigration, a aeesfwity.

There had also grown up, in Australia especially, a Bystem of persons emigrating -with the view of acquiring wealth, and ultimately returning to England to spend it. It was one of the main objeots of the founders of the colony of South Australia to give a new tendency to colonisation, and rear up communities possessing the endowments of highly-civilized societies, and the at- i tractions necessary to induce persons of j refinement to become permanent resi-'^ dents amongst them. While such a scheme must necessarily include a strongly conservative element, there was also discernable the influence of those democratic ideas which had begun to make themselves felt in England. The scheme failed, in so far as it did not effect the objects sought to be accomplished ; but Mr Gibbon Wakefield and others deserve the credit of having placed colonisation on a wide basis, and liberating it from the official chains in which it was bound. Thenceforth, colonisation assumed a new phase, and a stream of emigrants has regularly flowed from the shores of England to Canada, Australia, and other places. Tji spite of the frequent communication which has been kept up between England and her colonies, I have often thought that until within the last two or three years, a picture has been painted on the mind of residents in England pourtraying the domestic state of the colonies in an entirely incorrect manner. The painters have likewise been book-writers, and the picture has been of a romantic, but purely ideal, character. What, for instance, was the popular idea of an Australian settler ! a few years ago ? Was it not that of a sunburnt man, with long beard and shaggy hair, wearing enormous boota, and carrying a pistol stuck in his girdle 1 We have been regarded as men knowing the beauties of civilization, but heeding them not ; having left behind us in EDgland the hopes and aims which animate our fellow-countrymen. No doubt an immense deal of this ignorance has been dispelled lately ; but we must not forgetthat it once existed when searching for the circumstances which produced the present state of affairs. TJjere is another respect in which the colonies have been misunderstood in England, Since the inauguration of responsible government the settlers have been en aged in adapting the original constitution to their peculiar wants ; and there being no ancient abuses to reform, they have been enabled to devote their whole energiea to the work of construction. In every colony the suffrage is more widely extended than in England ; and this, taken with the former circumstance, has given a vividness to political life in the colonies which finds no parallel in the Old Country. This fact seemb to have been forgotten by Secretaries of State when communicating with Colonial Governors, and many passages in despatches that have provoked ill-feeling might never have seen the light had the | writers been alive to the interest which is taken in politics by the colonial public. At home, official despatches, unless they relate to a subject of absorbing interest, are little heeded by the mass of I the community ; but in a colony the despatches from the Home Government are closely scrutinised, and any unfeeling or harsh expression is apt to be construed by each settler into something like a personal insult. It is very unfortunate that such misapprehensions should have existed at home, for I regard them as one of the principal causes of the present unsatis 1 factory state of affairs. The colonists have always exhibited an acute sensitiveness to home opinion on their actions, and the ignorant misrepresentations concerning them and their affairs which, until a very recent period, were constantly being disseminated by the press" and public speakers at home, gave rise to a ' chronio irritation which was anything but calculated to induce affection between England and her colonies. No doubt the colonists have been somewhat unreasonable in their requirements, for it is obvious that an emigrant has the advantage over a person who remains in England, of a personal acquaintance with both parts of the empire ; but nevertheless, the exercise of a very little charity on the side of the home censora, and a very little judgment, would have saved the colonists much pain. New Zealand has suffered so greatly from this arrogance that illustrations of it are needless. We have met no harsher critics than the Manchester school, whose benevolence of heart leads them to denounce honourable war, but does not keep them from maligning their fellow-countrymen in the worst possible manner. Nor has less annoyance been caused by the contempt with which colonial matters have been treated. Only on particular occasions have the colonies been mentioned in the Royal Address at the opening of Parliament, and then a curt allusion waa thought sufficient. If an insurrection broke Vat in Servia, the London journal* would (toptfoh a hoit

of correspondents to 'obtain full particulars ; when Kansas was admitted a State of the great American Republic, the Times sent a special commissioner there to ascertain the capabilities of 'the country ; but when General Cameron and 10,000^'troops were fighting' with the Maoep, and the colony was putting forth *$§§*? resources to crush the rebellion, Jrap&nies did not, if I remember aright, i^lpfrk it worth its while to despatch a correspondent to the scene of operation^, artfigflgh it constantly indulged in tnejwild^^accusations t against * the colonists. jtßfpK has any jß&ndon. journal of note wlf&fed measj^^for' malting the JKingiJiß^ipaDiic Ifsj&fwgiuy acquainted withTw#tesource^|^anada, ' Australia, or New Zealanct^fspf might be argued that the home public did not feel sufficient interest in the matter to warrarit the proprietors of these journals in incurring the expense of such information ; but if this were the case, the journals had no right to criticise the actions of the colonists.

hat I wish to point out is this — that until a very recent period colonial affairs were regarded by settlers and by people at home in conflicting lights, and that an entire misconception prevailed in England as to the actual social condition of the colonies. The future destiny of .the colonies, moreover, engaged but little of public attention. Politicians might speculate upon the chance of such dependencies becoming free from the parent State; but no such thought crossed the mind of the people at large, who little, foresaw how rapid would be the' development of events in this direction. They scarcely discerned the growing strength of the ManChester party, and only those intimately versed in politics could ha re predicted that that party would, in a very few years, hold the seals of office. Nor did they recognise how the springs of loyalty in the nation were being weakened by the diffusion of democratic principles. In 1860, the propriety of dismembering the Empire would not have been calmly disouased in England, and any minister who had, like Earl Granville, spoken of ultimate separation as an accepted fact, would have been speedily deprived of hia portfolio. While the democratic party was few in number, and possessed little influence, it did not reveal it 3 principles so far as they bore on the colonies, but on rising into importance, a few years since, it boldly advocated the doctrine that the colonies cost more than they were worth, and that England would derive greater benefit from them if they were independent. The whole argument was based on elaborate statistics, drawn up in a form o{ profit and loss account. Ultimately, this party acceded to power, and held the destiny of the colonies in itß hands.