TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE NEW COLONIAL OFFICE.
Thitilornia, readers of the Spectator will have understood that, at the time of writing the suggestions last week, under the title, " Some Things which the Russell Government might do presently, for the public good and its own," we were not aware of the present composition of the Colonial Office. It was then supposed that Lord Grey would not be a member of the Russell Government ; that Mr. Charles Buller likewise might continue out of office ; and that Mr. Hawes would probably be the Under-Secretary for the Home Department. So far as the personnel of the new Government gave hopes of great improve- ment in the administration of Colonial affairs, the sole reliance was upon Lord John Russell. But although Lord John Russell's proceedings as Colonial Minister six years ago, and his recent declarations on the subject of Colonial government, made it likely that he would endeavour to promote valuable Colonial reforms, still it was to be feared that, as Prime Minister, his hands would be full of other business ; and there was no assurance that the Colonial Office would not continue to prove an impediment to changes of any importance. Presto, the scene changes, and we behold the very Colonial Office itself composed of three out- and-out Colonial Reformers.* Lord John Russell's address to the electors of London contains a promise of Colonial reform : he has already fulfilled it to the uttermost of his power with- in the time, by making Lord Grey Colonial Minister, and let- ting him choose such assistants as Mr. Hawes and dr. Buller. For this act Lord John Russell will obtain -some-of that credit which is just now the most conspicuous feather in Sir Robert Peel's cap : be will be honoured for having made a personal sacrifice to the public service. For Lord John Russells repu- tation as a practical statesman rests chiefly on his brief adminis- tration of the Colonial Office ; and there can be no doubt that if he had now placed at the head of that department a person not conversant with Colonial questions, and had himself as-Prime Minister directed the changes of policy and practice which were at all events inevitable, he would -have consulted his own imme- diate interest more than he has done by handing over the task to Lord Grey. The changes would have been less complete and valuable, but they would have been Lord John Russell's. Con- sidering Lord Grey's intimate acquaintance with the subject in its two main divisions of Colonization and Government of Colonies, his settled and proclaimed opinions, his industry, andthe earnest- ness not to say wilfulness of his character, we may be very sure that be will put his own mark on whatever may be done. The Russell Government and the public will gain by the superior efficiency of the Office under Lord Grey as an instrument of Colonial reform ; but Lord John Russell individually will not gain the particular increase of -reputation which he -might have secured He would find, however, if •he could get -at Sir Robert Peel's feelings at this time, that the other sort of fame is by much the more agreeable of the two ; not to mention the com- fortable whispers of an approving conscience. The public-spirit evinced by Lord John Russell in this matter seems to pervade the arrangements by which the new 'Colonial Office has been composed. If Lord Grey had thought only of himself; he would have chosen an Under-Secretary from the nu- merous class of "sticks "; would have performed himself, as he is very capable of doing, all the most important business within the office ; and would have monopolized the pleasant work of planning improvements and -expounding them in Parliament. He would not have deliberately shared with others an occupation so sure to be agreeable to a man of his ambition and capacity. He obtains an Under-Secretary known for laborious habits, and for having opinions of his own on all the questions which the pre- sent Colonial Office will have to decide. Those opinions, it is true, are the same as Lord Grey's ; but Mr. Hawes has a position in the House of Commons which will enable him to give utter- ance to his views, and take an important share in making the public acquainted with the policy, the objects, and the plans, of the new Colonial Office ; whilst his habits of business and unusual powers of labour must procure him work and consequence in Downing Street.
Lord Grey and Mr. Hawes would have been a capital Colonial Office without help from anybody else : they appear to have con- curred in wishing to make a perfect one, by giving to Mr. Charles Buller that large share of the work in hand, and of the honour of its success, which must necessarily, under the arrangement they have made with him, fall to one as familiarly versed as he is in Colonial subjects, and whose name is even more before the public in connexion with those subjects than either of theirs. We cannot help saying that it is a striking proof of freedom from jealousy of disposition on the part of Lord Grey and Mr. Hawes, to have wished that Mr. Buller should be asso- ciated with them in the performance of their official and •Parlia- mentary duties. Mr. Hawes, in particular, might have been ex- cused as a son of Adam for objecting to an arrangement which so obviously tends to diminish his merely personal consequence in the House of Commons and of which the suggestion would have been taken as an affront by the common run of aspiring poli- * It is known in the official and political circles, though not formally stated in any list of the new appointments, that the place of Judge-Advocate-General is not.to be almost a sinecure as heretofore, but that Mr. Charles Buller is to per the duties of an additional Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Colonies. ticians. One observes now and then a peculiar moral nature as ignorant of jealousy as Nelson's was of fear ; but -we must confess that it never occurred to us till now to entertain for Mr. Hawes the deep respect which this character commands. Nor is Mr. But. lerquite distanced in the race of generosity. Whatevermeritin this respect may be awarded to Lord John Russell, Lord Grey, and Mr. Hawes, a considerable portion belongs to Mr. Buller, who, with his complete mastery of the subject of Colonization and Colonial Government, with the reputation acquired by his great speech of 1843 and in subsequent debates, and with his command of the ear of the House of Commons, might have hesitated to undertake irregular and undefined official functions in relation to that subject, as the subordinate of even so eminent a person as Lord Grey. All the four, however, seem to have thought only of get- ting the public work done in the best way, without regard to-per- sonal considerations. We have now, at all events, a thoroughly- competent Colonial Office : thanks to Lord John Russell. After waging for sixteen years a scarcely interrupted war with the great house at the bottom of Downing Street, the Spectator de- clares itself not merely satisfied but delighted. We venture. to add, that this avowal will be the signal for many an illumination in the distant portions of the British empire, and for no little re- joicing among the colonizing and commercial classes at home.
For this case has no parallel with regard to hopes of perform- ance by a department of Government, resting on the bare fact of certain appointments. On every question connected with Colo- nies and the progress of Colonization, the views of Lord Grey, Mr. Buller, and Mr. Hawes, are matured, definite, and so com-. pletely in unison as to form one policy. The combination of various talents in the official triunity, as well as their appropriate distribution for conception and command, for exposition and per- suasion, and for practical efficiency, is most singular. And the opinions of the new Colonial Office are not merely speculative or theoretical ; they consist of specific and earnest purposes. What Lord Grey and his assistants may be expected to do, having the power, is just what they have for years been vainly striving to get done by other hands which had the power but not the will. The will and the power are now conjoined ; and we may be aa sure of what is going to happen with respect to the extension and government of Colonies, as we should have been of the nature of coming changes in the Post-office if Rowland Hill had been put at the head of St. Martin's-le-Grand just before the adoption of his plan. Nay, more sure; for the scheme of -a uniform Penny- postage must at all events have met with formidable opposition on the score of revenue.: whereas Lord Grey's plans of Colonial re- form, being cordially supported, as there is every reason to sup- pose they will be, by Sir James Graham and Sir Robert Peel, have now only to be proposed in order to be carried into effect.
What these plans are is not generally known, but simply be • cause public opinion in this country takes little heed of Colonial questions. Hansard must be searched, by most people, before they can even comprehend what colonizers and colonists have long expected as results of Lord Grey's much-desired accession to power in Colonial matters. Hence a singular property of the task which he has undertaken : the public at large will estimate its importance solely by its fruits. Lord Grey's position re- sembles that of the general in battle, whose capacity will be mea- sured by the event; who will bear the whole blame of failure, or obtain nearly all the honour of success. Vain would be any at- tempt on his part to induce the public to share responsibility with him by sanctioning his plans before trial. If his plans are as sound and great as those believe who have oared to understand them, it is a happy accident that self-reliance and active energy' unite in his character with the contemplative faculties.
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