JOHN WESLEY ON THE COLONIES. LTO THE EDITOR OF THE
"SPECTATOR."
• have just come upon a passage in Southey's Life of Wesley which seems to show that the doctrine that our Colonies should be encouraged to look forward to the time when they will be independent of the Mother-country, is not, aa I had imagined, a modern invention of what is commonly known as the Manchester school of politicians, but was held by one of the most thoroughgoing Tories that ever lived. It will be found at page 286 of the third edition, published in 1848, and runs thus :—" Colonies are naturally Republican, and when they are far distant and upon a large scale they tend necessarily as well as naturally to separation. Colonies will be formed with a view to this when colonial policy shall be better understood. It will be acknowledged that when pro- tection is no longer needed, dependence ceases to be desirable,, and that when a people can maintain and defend themselves,. they are past their pupilage."
Having regard to the recent utterances ascribed to the Governor of the Cape Colony, the quotation may be interesting to those of your readers who are as ignorant as myself, if any
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