The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS. SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1871.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 1112, 5 August 1871, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS. SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1871.

The consolidation of the British dominions by the federation of the colonies with the mother country has formed the subject of a very able letter in the Standard, the author of which is said, by the European Mail, to be the Honorable Julius Yogel. We can readily believe such to be the case, as that gentleman alluded to the subject, during the late session of Parliament, as a thing to be striven for, and the accomplishment of which was not beyond the bounds of possibility. The idea is, no doubt, a very grand one, and, to_an English born subject, sufficiently captivating. To becotno really tho subject of an Empire on which the sun never sets, which has, hitherto, only existed in the poetic fancy, or in the .utterances of orators in their moments of inspiration, is worth an effort. There is no doubt as a necessary consequence of the mistaken line of policy which is gaining such rapid ground amongst English statesmen — a policy which judges all questions by the test of money value — that the colonies are gradually drifting away from the Imperial mother, who they see, with sad regret, has become so entirely occupied in the solution of financial questions — which partake more of local than of Imperial concern — that the grandeur of an Empire seems a thing of the past, and, as a measure of self-preservation, her growing children must look to their true position with the view of taking steps for self-preservation. The disintegration of the Empire is to be deplored in many respects. With all her faults, England is undoubtedly the home of freedom ; the individual wrongs

which her laws still permit are not the result of the spirit of her; modern system of Government, but are the dregs of barbarism, maintained by prejudice, and that latent conservatism which is a characteristic of our race. France makes frantic efforts occasionally — in the sacred name of liberty — to free herself from the bonds of despotism, but her liberty in its practical results seems to be the liberty of the assassin to prosecute his foul trade ; and what shall we say of Prussia who has so lately proved her vast military strength ? Has her successes in the field against Prance tended to enlarge the individual liberty of German subjects ? Has it not rather thrown back real representative Government for a quarter of a century. France, we find, enslaved by her disasters, and Prussia by her successes, while England offers, at the present time, a home for the exiled Emperor and his most persistent vilifier — Victor Hugo. It will thus be seen how absolutely necessary it is for human liberty and the free progress of thought, that England should not become a third-rate Power. That the stability of Government which distinguishes her should in no way be endangered, as it assuredly would be by the abandonment of her colonial possessions. Let us suppose that England occupied the position of Belgium, and felt morally compelled', as her King was lately, to warn an individual obnoxious to the French Government to leave his dominions, would not free thought and what little free speech there is on the Continent, be utterly crushed ? America would then be the only asylum for the wretched politicians of Europe who dared to avow extreme opinions. The liberty we now enjoy, but do not sufficiently value, will best be preserved by our remaining an integral portion of the Empire bound together for mutual preservation as regards all interference from without, with perfect freedom to model our own domestic institutions so as best to preserve individual liberty and individual rights. We very much doubt whether English statesmen Avill sufficiently value the object to be attained to earnestly strive for it. The idea is too grand — too far elevated above the sordid considerations which now influence modern statesmen to be accepted by them. It can only be achieved by the instinct of the national mind, which at times, when impressed by a great truth, will struggle persistently despite theoretical demonstrations of the impossibility of attainment, and emerge into the glorious upper light at last. Modern England has, no doubt, done wonderful things of late years in the development of human progress, but it has been in one channel — the development of trade ; that is the making of money. In the face of this, the old spirit of conservatism could not stand — old prejudices have been crushed ruthlessly. The treasury of scientific knowledge has been exhausted by the incessant levies made on it to push trade, and the success has been complete. She is the entrepot of the world. From her grand but; gloomy workshops there issue in continued volume, the most diverse of human creations — from the cyclopean steam hammer that shapes huge masses of plastic iron with awful ease, to the tiny liteam engine that drives the toy yacht — a boy's plaything. But in the face of all these wonderful results — the almost complete victory of mind over one of the elements of human progress — 'there is a dark side awful to contemplate. The material comfort, happiness, and welfare of the toiling millions who produce those wonderful things, is not advancing in the same ratio, but rather at a standstill if not retrogressing. The whole result may be summed up in a very few words — the rich are getting richer, and the poor poorer. The potentiality to get rich is not only increased to the few, but the means of luxuriously enjoying those richss are also increasing, while on the other hand at no period of the world's history have the depths of human misery and degradation been so deeply sounded. What the end will be, the future only can unfold. We fear there is still a lower depth in which terrible vortex rich and poor will alike be involved in one common ruin, unless timely steps are taken to modify that terrible conflict impending between two diverse powers — the power of numbers and the power of wealth. England has never shown herself equal to such a task ; that happy faculty of organisation other than in the development of trade, has not seemed to be one of her characteristics. She had (in the possession of the colonies) a oieaus of mitigating human misery and creating nations, such as never a nation before possessed. Her people hadontheone hand untold wealth, and her Government on the other hand immense tracts of land in America, Australia, Africa. How easy the task at the sacrifice of a little of the wealth which her operatives had produced to plant colonies on her waste lands, and thus weed the redundant population from her thronged cities to the benefit of those who went and those who remained. Even as a commercial speculation regardless of such trifles as human happiness, it could be proved profitable if the debtor and creditor account were kept long enough. But this golden opportunity has passed away — like a thriftless proprietor she has wasted her estate, aud it is now in other harrds, and diverse influences are at work whereby it cannot be utilised to its fullest extent. The history of British colonisation shows that it has not been an affair of government, but the development of a natioual instiuct. The only part in which the official mind assisted was the planting of a flagstaff and the necessary accompaniment of a governor and staff when the colonists could pay for them. Colonisation, has pro-

ceeded in spite of government — ifc has been tho haphazard process of individual exertion with little or no combination, and has in no way been the result of executive fostering and development. The cold indifference now shown by English statesmen to the colonies is nothing new — it is but the traditional instinct of the governing mind. The histories sof our oldest colonios show this, and the trail of the serpent is over us still ; therefore great and glorious as the idea may be of the federation of the Empire, it is but a dream if its accomplishment depends on the efforts of England's statesmen. The development of that great project rests not with them (although it would throw back the revolutionary period in England for a century or two, perhaps for all time) it can only bo brought about by the people themselves. The instinct of self-pre-servation may rise and work out its destiny, not by violence, but by the fuller development of the individual instinct of colonisation characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race. If this "feeling ferments among the masses, it may shape itsel f into some scheme of national colonisation, an essential feature of which would be a federation of the Imperial Colonies in order to make it possible.