MONTGOMERY MARTIN'S STATISTICS OF THE BRITISH COLONIES.
ABOUT 1828, the Colonial Office sent out to each colony under its dominion, " three blank books, with ruled columns and printed headings," to be filled up by such information as was indicated; the return to be made by the public Secretary in the settlement. Per- haps as a perquisite for the trouble, one of these books was re- tained in the colony, and two were returned to the sovereign clerks in Downing Street ; who call them BB, that is, Blue Books,—the whole art of official government consisting in the proper binding ' of books, red-taping of papers, and shelving of documents. A year or two ago, a Committee of the House of Commons intimated a wish to have these returns prepared for publication : but—the old story—" nothing was done by Government." Mr. MARTIN, how- ever," in pursuance of an object which has occupied a third of his life at home and abroad," determined to take up and improve the subject, by resorting to other fountains in addition to the llBs. He therefore applied to the India House, the Colonial Office and his own hooks ; and with success. The kings of Leadenhall Office, assigned "an apartment" for him and his assistants ; " in Down- ing Street an office" was set apart for his use ; in both places the archives of the department were placed at his disposal; he received assistance from other Government offices ; and he privately re- curred to various works on the Colonies—or perhaps to their sub- stance in his "Colonial Library."
The materials selected from such extensive quarries are ex- hibited in upwards of nine hundred pages of close print, constantly studded with tabular matter ; forming altogether a most extraordi- nary collection of facts and figures. For their correctness we can- not be expected to vouch, even had we the materials to follow the author's track ; and it should be observed that he cannot be answerable for any thing more than a true rendering of his origi- nals. The matter of the work will be best indicated by an enume- ration of its contents.
The Colonies are classed under their geographical heads.—the " Possessions in the West Indies," far instance, embracing all those islands. Each settlement is then separately taken in detail; the following particulars being described, or tabularly presented, at a length proportioned to the importance of the settlement and the information at command. The extent and characteristics of the country, a sketch of its history and settlement, and an account of its climate, are first given. Then follow statements of its popula- tion at different periods ; the strength of its troops, and their cost ; the number of churches, livings, congregations, schools, prisons, and prisoners ; the amount of exports and imports, of revenue and expenditure ; with the sources whence the former is drawn and the manner in which the latter is spent. The commerce, the currency, wages, and productions, are also handled ; as well as the form of government, law, and justice, besides many other topics. As ad- denda to these, the charters or acts of the settlement, and of send- public bodies, as banks and land companies, are given in ass ap- pendix, together with a lite-simile of the seals of each colony. The work is without maps; a great deficiency, but perhaps on this as on some other points we are to see my " Colonial Library." The text of the work is clear and readable, though often dashed by the strong Colonial leaning we have heretofore commented on ; which really makes Mr. MARTIN resemble ass auctioneer recom- mending a lot, rather than a statist describing a country. " Call a dog Hervey, I shall love him," said JouNsoN, in memory of an early benellictor: call a place a British colony, and Mr. Mums will declare it a paradise. The tables are clearly presented; but matter properly belonging to tabular statement is sometimes printed in paragraphs,—which is not convenient fbr the eye to tbllow, and imposes upon the reader the necessity of setting himself a suns in " addition, to get at the cost of several items : neither do We See the details of the salaries of public functionaries,—which, we suspect, are to be found in the original 1313a. S■ one odd discrepancies, too, are occasionally encountered for which Mr. MARTIN, however, is probably not re- sponsible. For instance, in Honduras, we have no infbrinatisal as to the number of King's troops (if any) to uphold the 134 white males who inhabit the settlement. The cost of the Commissariat and Ordnance is, however' 18,596/. But be the blemishes of the work what they may, it contains a wonderful mass of infia.mation, brought down to the latest period, and nowhere else to be procured; and taken altogether, the Statis- tics of the Colonies of the Britidt Empire is indispensable us a book of reference to persons who take any interest in Colonial matters.
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