COLONIAL POLICY—TM MIGRATION.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
Leasow Castle, 21st Ionian?" 18,50. Fan—A discussion on our Colonial Policy could not very properly be ter- minated without a consideration of an immigration of some kind into these Imperial provinces. Population is to a colony what the heart-blood is to the life of man. It is " health to the navel and marrow to the bones." It not only makes the desert smile, but renders it powerful : for it is mainly our continually increasing numbers that makes our own "right little tight little island" 'what she is to the civilized world.
You, Mr. Editor, objected to my expression "population at any price," as including the "price of convictism." I will not allow myself to be drawn aside from mymain question into the very interesting consideration of the de- portation of convicts, by any justification of my meaning in my former letter; -which certainly was not intended to convey any impression that such a class was a most desirable importation to a colony. I think I could show, how- ever, that it is not so had as it is most generally represented to be, and that not sufficient attention and weight hare been rendered to the results of pri- sons amelioration.
The great and important question of emigration from this country is, as one of your correspondents calls it, an "Imperial evil, calling fer an Impe- rial measure " ; and doubtless that of Colonization, which has been treated so ably and so much at large in the last number of' the Quarterly, is likely to be pressed on the attention of Government in the ensuing session ; not for the sake of the Colonies, but for British interests—the relief of our poor- rates and the displacement of our necessitous poor. The questions of e.mi- gration as respects Britain, and of immigration and colonization as regards Me Colonies, should, I think, be all taken up together, for they are intimately connected as one Imperial measure. The simmering of the pot boiling over ale as to endanger the fire in England, might be as asap-lees and skimmings
to the Colonisd land ; and it is as much the duty of our governors to hus- band it and give itagooddirectionacrosstheAtlantic, as it is that of the farmer to cherish the ammonia of his homestead for the enrichment of his landlord's acres.
It would certainly be a more dignified and statesmanlike as well as a more useful occupation for our Colonial Minister, to give the attention of a povf- erful mind to matters of such portentous moment both to the land of his birth and to the countries committed to his administration, than that his time should be frittered away in settling the biekerings and personalities of such a people as colonists everywhere are. To turn to our North American dependencum, for example, could any more truly national question be in- truded upon his leisure than the investigation, how it is that for many suc- cessive years we should have permitted the tide of emigration to flow (with- out any vigorous attempt on our part to divert the current) into the Hud- son rather than into the St. Lawrence. Is it that a more active agency has been established at our ports to lure away the uninformed agriculturist by repreeentations that it is no one's business to gainsay, and of which he only discovers the fallacy when it is too late to change his purpose ? or is it that readier facilities are offered ? that every difficulty is smoothed ? that the re- ception on the distant shore is better attended to ?—I know not how these questions might be answered ; but I think some benefit might be obtained if the Colonies were to be excited to establish agencies of their own to cotui- teract the Americana, or to share with them more equally than they now do the annual amount of expatriation. I should apprehend that a beneficial interference with the Colonial Legislatures on the part of the authorities might inspire more energy into these details. But perhaps a more vast and comprehensive measure may be required to stimulate the current of popula- tion to the shores of British America. I am not aware whether it flows into Canada wholly through the St. Lawrence' or by other inlets. If so, he dis- advantages which close that estuary, or make its navigation hazardous du- ring many months of the yea; might make it desirable to consider how to facilitate the access through New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. The Bay of Fundy is said to be free from ice the greater part of the winter. If this were made a Government-immigration port, and communications were ca,r- ried up the valley of the St. John's into the valley of the St. Lawrence, either by railroad or otherwise, might not Quebec or Montreal be attained with less difficulty than now by immigrants, who might thus advance a con- siderable step into the interior' and get as early on the interior waters as they could do from New York ? I put the case hypothetically, merely as an example of what might be done by an improvement of the internal commu- nications of the Colonies for the admission of imm.granta. In the present state of the money-market, there could surely be no difficulty in the Assem- blies of Canada and New Brunswick and Nova. Scotia raising the requisite funds for objects of such advantage to their general trade ; nor is it at all improbable, that if population came through new chiumels, a good deal of it might be tempted to arrest their steps where doubtless many attractive lo- calities might be found. What appears to be required is, that the Colonial Minister should, with, a parental interest, arouse the Colonial authorities to a matter so full of promise to their best interests—should take the initiative and lend the assistance of the British name in the credit-market, to cultivate these improvements, which could not but advance at the same time the da- ter objects of Colonization and Emigration. The great question of obtaining a population for our West Indian settle- ments stands upon an entirely different and altogether on an isolated footing It hi, however, a consideration of the greatest importance, bearing intimately upon the vast measure of African civilization and the suppression of the Slave-trade. At least it is so connected in my own mind, although I have no reason to flatter myself that the general opinion is yet with me. I have long since (1839) given it as my opinion, in print, that the sufficient supply of labour for the West Indies can only be sought for from the continent of Africa. The Black skin is the only one that can endure exposure to the raina and heat of a Tropical sky : Europeans desert the fields to become huckstera or to seek the towns; and .Asiaties do not settle nor amalgamate with the Creole population. How to obtain an African immigration, is now the pie- hi= to be solved. I thought, and still think, that the only remedy against the continuance of the slave-trade is by establishing, in the localities in which it still flourishes, a legal transfer of the natives, not by individual en- terprise, but by the agency and under the responsibility of the Executive. It is idle to call this a renewal of the slave-trade. If the whole question is to be sacrificed to a mune and a prejudice, we shall never get out of the rdend lock into which we have got it. Circumstances have, however, arisen since the memorable year 1848, which have materially changed the aspect of this important question. With the exception of the Culled States, Spain, and Mexico, all civilized countries have abolished personal slavery. Why, then, should we now throw any impediment in the way of the same free transfer of the Negro population which is permitted to all the world besides ? The apprehension of abuse might surely be met by placing a sufficient curb on the cupidity and bad passions of the employe; and a check on the numbers that might cross the Atlantic either by any one opportunity or into any one pos- session. These precautions could be admitted into the great code of inter- national law by a solemn treaty between all the great Powers of Europe' (ex- cepting Spain,) who might bind one another as to the terms on which alone the free transit should be permitted, and to the precautions which ought to be enforced against the apprehended evils. It is quite impossible to hope to carry on the cultivation of Jamaica and the Crown Colonies without bring- ing population to their shores. Barbados and Antigua may so on sufficiently well as they are, but Guiana and Trinidad must perish altogether without it ; and with it they might become the most flourishing colonies of the whole group. The immigration to be of service must be ample,—that is it cannot he stinted to one or two ship-loads ; and, on the other hand, great nuechiefs would ensue if it were unbounded. Agai; it must be continnous,—that is, it must not be limited to the importations of a year or two, but fresh arrivals should supply the continual void in the labour-market, as they become absorbedinto the industrial masses. Such a supply as this could alone he derived from Africa. Here it is to be found in hopeless barbarism, defying every other successful endeavour to introduce civilization amongst it. Christianity is re- pulsed on every side from the" Land of Ham": yet I can avouch on my own credibility,. that the African as readily receives it under the guidance of our own Colonial missionaries, whether of the Establishment or otherwise as any people on the face of the earth. The Creole i idle, but not naturally vicious ; and he is idle because he is a barbarian, with few artificial wants, and no consequent stimulant to industry beyond what the most bountiful lap of nature will readily afford him. It would be well worthy the character and reputation of Earl Grey and Lord Palmerston to endeavour to bring about such a treaty between the European Powers as is suggested above. It would restore prosperity- to the West Indies as by the wand of a magician. It would do more to civilize the African than ten thousand expeditions to the Niger, or all the labours of the most devoted missionaries ; and it must crush the slave-trade by rendering it too costly for a profit,—for I believe that it is now admitted without dis- pute, that free labour in the cultivation of sugar will beat slave labour out of the field if it be admitted to equal advantages. I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant, Enw.tain CUST.
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