IMPERIAL PAPERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2412, 24 May 1900, Page 63

IMPERIAL PAPERS.

(By R. N. Adajis.)

NO-: III.— OFFSHOOT NATIONS

The secret of successful colonisation is freedom. The nevr home must be under no restrictions from the old. Like a young couple leaving the. homo of their youth to push thsir own way in the world, and establish a new house under the old name, there must ba the cordial interchange of friendly relations, but no hampering of conduct. .This is what Britain has permitted to her colonies. The lesson cost a severe and a humiliating price. It cost the rupture that tore the young America from the Imperial union, and with that 3 11 the bitterness of a family i'eud. Without that lesson, however, there never could hare been the British Empire, nor could there have existed the earnest 'rivalry of the two great sections of the Saxon race, which has done so much for material progress during the last century.

All was by no means lost when Amer'ca cut the gloden band of union and hoisted her own flag' of independence and opposition. There were ether means of expansion left to the enterprising sons of the sea. If America must be a rival nation, co-operative nations could lise in other fair spots dotted in a singular fashi.on over the face of the earlh, to which'-tLe children of the Vikings could steer their ships ar.d transplant their families.

The statesmen of Britain were &iow to realise the nature of the events transpiring s among their people. -Slow to observe that offshoots from the motherland must be allowed to raise almost the standard of independence if they were to be held in the bond of Imperial union. They did not apprehend that this bond to be strong and permanent, must bs soft and elastic. But in fedr of again committing the mistake that wrested America from its ancient home institutions, they acted with commendable cauti6n, and permitted experience to work out the principle. Britain's colonies were not required to be under tribute to the Imperial Treasury, and this was indeed a display of liberality that must surprise the student of to-day, who sees what a burden in the shape of defence the colonies cast upon the Imperial exche-quer. Millions of revenue were paid away in the equipment and maintenance of warships, troops, and transports to defend ttte colonists against the .natives, and for other similar purposes, yefc Britain sought no -direct means of recouping that expense, . which had to be drawn from the pockets of the taxpayers of the ancestral State. That she has not lost thereby, m the long run, will appear later on.

The, result is that Britain's offshoot nations have .been a success, surprising to every beholder.. She has poured out her millions of citizens : year upon year the billows o £ the ocean have borne over their restless tossing bosoms fleets of gallant vessels, freighted with hundreds of souls, quitting the old land that had grown too narrow for them for the many new scenes of enterprise, where they might join the pioneers of civilisation in breaking up the virgin «oil that savage races neglected or despised, and bringing ifc under tribute to their requirements and wishes.

- Wherever those hardy pioneers chose a spot on which to land from their dreary •voyages of slowly passing months spent on the mighty waste of water, that separated their old from their new homes, there have sprung up beautiful cities that present already an appearance of prosperity and stability more imposing than many cities in old lands whose towns have stood for forgotten centuries. These young cities are the centres of communities rapidly developing into young and hardy nations, endowed with all the energy of their ancestral fcfcock.

How different all this from the sorry pictures presented by the colonising efforts of other countries.- They have what are nominally "colonial possessions." But they are not " colonies," much less prosperous possessions, of pleasure, glory, and profit. The Frenchman does not care to Jeave beloved France to found a Franco i.i miniature. He has no aptitude for founding a self-supporting community of Frenchmen that will by virtue of its own energy develop into a colony. The " colonies " of France must either be communities oi fiUffoiaafcs jwho. have been dispossessed of

their rights to the soil, and now till it ?nd • care for it for their masters' profit, or mili- i vary possessions, which are an enormous j drain on the Imperial funds. It is said j that Algeria has cost France 3200.000,000 j more than the revenue derived from it. ii retr ct ; there is no colony of native-born French- j men growing up there to justify any hope j of it becoming a colony in the sense of an '" offshoot' 1 of the Gallic race. France, 'however, has no need for colonies to drain off her surplus population. Her people have ceased to multiply in a manner that calls for "room to breathe," consequently the whole desire for " colonies " of Fran c arises from the ambition of politicians < * statesmen, who are prepared to conquer and rule over foreign countries, but who 'can. never pretend to transform them into '" colonies. ' I

The chief object of both France and Germany is to ssciire markets for their manufacturers, and there force their wares upon the people to the absolute exclusion of all others. If Frenchmen or Germans do chance to settle in the colonies it is usually as Government officials at good salaries for small services, or merchants under the protection of those officials and the soldiers under thir control. Imperial "reed leads the v/ay, then officials ar.d traders follow to coerce the natives, and pi exhibit the foreigners. It is a system of the most illiberal sort that has never succeeded. — and never wiH succeed — in e&tablif hing a community of the Imperial blocd in the "annexed"" terricory, although to a certain extent it fulfils the object for which the ••"colony"' was taken ovai— lL gives a market . to" the mar.ufacuTcrs of the couutry Ihat may chance to nils ; and the merchants, arc satisfied, in spits of the inconsistency of the face that to the Empire the trcde is carried on at a dead loss, financially. This will come out more plainly as we proceed.

JjIUTISH C OX.O:\T£.S AXD POSSEbSIOXS

For the be-aeSl of many who may not ; •enow ho-.v nr.merotu and various tue the British colonies and possessions, it "H'ill^ •be interesting to 1 eproduce the list of j thorn compiled by Mr Hcwaid-Vincenl in ; 1891:— I " f - Xante. How and When Acquired, i \,j eB ... Ouplu-eA .. I^3-j i \s-ension •■• T.uen po-e<?ion or Jblo , Babiiima ... Col( n'S- rtlH'-« ; ; finally ctded ... I;S°> I IWn.oiand ... AnuKsei ... JP7 J Benn\idv>s ... Het-.1- mast, .. 3bot» I Ciiiad* „ ! On'arioand Quebeo Capiu.l. urn 1.0 -tW i \oviv Scotia »ni Scul-ivi-'t 'ii.3; 1 N-w Brunswick ... cifietlto Frail.'", \ lt'67 ; rtstoivd. . 371.3 ( Cape Col ny ... Caj i uUtioi-, ISOti; ! ci-faion ... j£> 5 Cisloa ... Cap'uiV, 17i'6; ces- ' fion ... IS]5 j r>v>us ... Treaty ... IS7B I Fitlkiaud Wands ... Oes'ion ... 1771 l'ij I-iauds ... Cc -ioi» ... lk7-tl k 7-t • iamb a ... Ssitlemuit ... 3o v Jh Ghn-ltav ■•• Oaiiit.ulatiou ... 1701 Grcenitihd ... "i >i- c/very ... IfBs ] Gold Cv.asfc ... SeU'emeut, 1664 ; . ceded ... 337-2 I Gu-ani ... Captured 1781, treaty 3M5 ! Honour, s ... Treaty ... J783 Hi.ug ivoLg ' ... Ctisfion ... - 18i' ladu ... tjenl-nient 1612, conquest J770"-1-SS(; i .Ts-maica ... C^p'urcd ... lH, r w | Iv luiatuc hlaads ... 'Set'l- ment _. ... "SS6 i,abua,u ... Ce.-s oa '■ ... I S Hi LnKO? ••• Cession > ... ISfll LeewurJ 1.-lamis ... Hetlipmeit ... 1*583 M*lt* ... Ce< io- , 16Z8-17G} ; seai-meit ... 380 ... Captui-iri ••• ;Slo; Sl0 NaUl ... SoUleiae..t ... 3813 Newfoundland ... Tnj ty ... 1 13 New Guinea ... Set- 1 meat .. ISB4 N«w South "Wales ... Settlement ... 17bS Ntw Zealand ... Settlement ... ISJO Noifolk fbland ... Sottlemeßt ... 1825 Noita Borneo ... Ce.-s-ion ... lf-78 . Pt rim ... Gf-son ... 1857] Q leemlaca ... KeMlemeat ... 3525 i Kotunnh ... Settlement ... l^Si. Moii-a Ijeor.e ... Ssitleuaent ... 3757 South Australia ... SetlleniMit ... lS3n St Helena ... Captured ... VFih ( Hettlements... Go&ti' n and purchase 1756-38:-i Tcuifuni^ ... Settlement ... ISO 3 TfinicU4 ... Capitulation ... 3707 Tuik Islands ... Ces.-ion ... 1783 Victoria ... .VeuL-mbiit ... 1 80S 1 j \V« t t Auatrs.Ha ... Settlement ... 3829 Windward Inlands ... C'.ssion - ICOS-ISO3

Some of our j^ossessions are, of course, I small ; but if -n c take the whole, large mid small, we find that, outside of the United Kingdom, the offshoots measure according to recent statistics something like twelve millions of square miles. On the j 2.7 th June, 1899, the Daily Mail published an article from which most of the follow-ing-fads are culled: —

Nine European countries have colonies — Bi'itain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain (since lost), Holland, Denmark, Italy, and 'Belgium ; 22,500,000 square miles of possessions being the sum total area held by the whole nine Powers.

Of this Britain stands first with 12,000,000 square miles ; France dominates (1;000,000; and Germany, 1.100,000; the balance being shared by the remaining six in various proportions. It must foe interesting to learn what advantage those foreign possessions confer on the countries governing them.

Omitting altogether the emigration from the United Kingdom for America, ten millions have left for British possessions in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand during this century. The average Slumber for the past , ten. years has been 255,800 per year. Nine thousand French emigrate annually. While 8,250,000 British left their old land, only 285,000 French sought homes abroad. But most of those went not to French possessions, but to cast in their lot with other countries. More Frenchmen live in British colonies as ''British subjects than there are Frenchimen in all the French colonies pufc together.

The British Empire has 13,000,000 bona fide citizens in her colonies ; France has 517,000 citizens in hers ; but of these the large majority are soldiers. Algeria, ior instance, within about 24 hours of Paris, has 318,000 French, but 250,000 are soldiers and 56,000 are civil officials. Again in Tonkin, France has 16,000 French soldiers, 1000 officials, and 70 settlers !

Germany is not much better than France in this respect, if any. In the colonies of the " Fatherland " there are 3600 whites. Of these 1400 are soldiers and officials, 400 are German merchants, and 1800 are nonjGteragn, residefttSj, It is true 99^000 Ger-

ma...s leave thru I "Fatherland yearly, but 99,300 of these go to .swell the population of American and British commuaities. They ■preicr to seek lar.tis vhere others have already cstabh.' hed l.iarkets. These people •are not pioneers. Their I'inbition lies in becoming tiv.deis, not tillers of tlie soil, ]j,tirticalariy in tLe opening tip of new binds. •Uolonising is fo -ign to their nature.

As an outlet for population, therefore, France and Germany derive no benefit from their colonial possession*, for those nho

leave thc'i- old homes emigrate to countries belonging to olhu" nations. A good •many British do the same; but a large majority prefer their own flag.

There is, hoys ever, another view of this subject. Do these nine European Powers profit financially by trade with their colonies? Are the markets for home-manu-factured goods pro Stable m the gros?'.'

The British colonies cost the Imperial 'Exchequer £1.250,000 a year; but the colonies in return purchase £91,500,000 worth of merchandise from the British home produc3i\ Thai is, they cost the British taxpayer 7^d each, while vre deal with him in goods to the -amount of £2 ss. It is a very reasonable discount.

Ths French taxpayer gives £3,550,000 for his colonies, and gets only a trade return of £15,000,000. Hie profit on the trade must be a very long way short of the cost at which ifc is secured.

Germany's colonies cost £403,000 a year, while the toial value of goods bought* by them from the ruling State is £71.000 •short of that sfjiV.

Holland mams, her colonies at an annual loss of .0116,000; while Portugal pa;-s oul. a. dead loss oi £152,000 for her possessions. Italy has spent £14.000.000 in colonisation since 1882, jet ha« noc a hope of a ru'Dh'table return. Her Red Sea territories alone ore costing her £716,000 per anmvm, and there is no trade with them from which to expect a recompsnse.

From a commercial point of view it is evident that ths ef.'oi'ts of all the Powers of the Continent, to colonise have written across thsm in the plainest characters the d'smal word '' Failure.'' They are not '" offshoots " ; whila Butain's colonies, with one Foiitary exception :n the north of South America, are mo?t emphatically triumphs of success. Still, Britain is the only Power that his in any sense discouraged her colonies, the only one whose statesmen have been reluctant to claim the 'heritage of the heathen. For over a quarter of a centurj' her desire has been to refrain from further expansion, but in • spite of all she is forced to continue enlarging for the sake of peace and good will on earth. Tt is the march of the people, like the spreading of tua branches of a young tree : it is outward and upward, forward and abroad. The movement is not forced by legislation "or official ambition ; but by the spreading, developing, growing energy of nature. The race, it seems, must spread, ■but will not allow itself to be absorbed in other races. It carrle.s its laws, customs, and institutions with it ; planting them in fresh soil in every clime, where they take deep root and biid, blossom, and bear in gratifying; abundance. The offshoots of Britain are now girding the earth with a belt of young nations which will yet prove a girdle of glory and grace to the habitable globe.