TOPICS OF THE DAY.
A USEFUL LESSON TO LORD GREY.
MAST circumstances combine to bestow on Mr. Adderley's mo- tion, which stands first in the notice-book of the House of. Com- wens for Tuesday next, a higher degree of importance than Co- lonial questions usually obtain in this most careless of mother- countries. There is no likelihood of a count-out. The different parties will muster strong, in order to support or defeat a proposal which at first sight appears to affect only a petty and obscure colony, and to which the great public has really paid no serious attention. In the House of Commons the subject excites a general and lively interest, though it is scarcely noticed "out of doors." It even seems probable that the motion may be carried, notwithstanding the natural efforts of the Government to defend Lord Grey from the grave censure which it implies; and this whilst, beyond the Parliamentary circle, only a few people who happen to be personally concerned through some Colonial interest or sympathy, are even acquainted with the terms of Mr. Adder- ley's resolution. It is a curious state for any question to be in. But nothing in this world happens without a cause. To what is it owing that an unpretending notice of motion, relating to an insignificant colony, which is given by an unimportant Member, and is unheeded by the public at large, has suddenly obtained within the House of Commons something like the position of one of our great national questions ? It is owing to a combination of
circumstances which may be briefly described. •
In the first place, the mere words of the motion are an appeal to that respect which even the most selfish pay to the golden rule, do unto others as you would they should do untoyou. It is pro- posed to address the Queen, praying that "her Majesty will be graciously pleased, out of consideration for the honourable pride and moral welfare of her subjects, the people- of South Africa, to order that this hitherto unpolluted colony may be spared the disgrace and affliction of being made a receptacle for the con- victed criminals of the mother-country." These words, though they have not yet appeared in the Times, were on the breakfast- table of every Member of the House of Commons more . than a fortnight ago, and in a form which suggested the question, how shalt I vote on that ? We know a partisan Whig, who exclaimed without inquiry or reflection, I shall vote for that l Though a partisan Whig, he happens to be a remarkably generous and high- minded person ; and though the impulse which caused him to for- get the interests of his party may be far from having that effect on the supporters of Government generally, it will guide the great bulk of Members whom no party tie compels to vote against Mr. Adderley. If his proposal were submitted to the 'public for deci- sion in a form -unconnected with party, it would be carried by acclamation. Submitted as it is to Members of Parliament for immediate decision, though hardly at all to the public, it has en- listed in its favour probably almost every Member not bound by party ties to help Lord Grey and Mr. Hawes out of a scrape : and of course all those who are so bound take an interest in the subject as a party question, not to mention the contest in some of their minds between a sense of party obligation and the sense of justice.
In the next place, although the Cape of Good,Hope appears to be exclusively affected by the motion, it really- affects all the " hitherto unpolluted" colonies of the Southern hemisphere. The friends of South Australia and New Zealand in this country have been led by Mr. Adderley's notice to bestir themselves, with a view of saving these colonies from " the disgrace and affliction of being made a receptacle for the convicted criminals of the mother-country." We learn that the proprietors of the New Zea- land Company (till now the very humble servants of " the Office" since Lord Grey has been at its head) are preparing-to hold a public meeting of their body " in order to consider and promptly adopt means for effectually securing New Zealand against the stigma and terrible injury of being made a penal colony like New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and the Cape of Good Hope." It is known that Lord Grey intends, if he has not already carried his intention secretly into effect, as in the case of South Africa, to try his latest experiment in penal transportation on several other colonies. Their inhabitants do not complain : this Colonial Office measure has been so managed, that remonstrance from the injured can only come after the wrong shall have been inflicted, and be diffi- cult of remedy : but these threatened colonies have friends at home, whose indignation at the trick rouses them to vigorous exertion ; and thus Members of Parliament are beset by people out of doors, who make the South Afridan ease their own, because they are indirectly as much interested in it as if they were per- sonally connected with the• Cape colony. The agitation of the question accordingly, amongst those who will have to decide it on Tuesday, resembles the stir amongst Members of Parliament sometimes occasioned by a railway bill, about which public opi- nion is utterly indifferent. Lastly, whilst nobody imagines that the success of Mr. Ad- derley's motion in the House of Commons would cause the Ministry to retire, every body sees that it would be.a sharp lesson to Lord Grey ; and this is what everybody in the House of Com- mons, not exceptingperhaps even Mr. Hawes -himself, thinks would be a very useful thing to happen. The present Colonial kliniater, with his crotchets, his rash experiments, his boundless conceit, and his prideful obstinacy, has done more than any other Minister to bring Lord John Russell's Administration. into dis- credit ; and there are not wanting devoted partisans of the Go- vernment who would rejoice to see him get a slap 'in the face that promised to render him less incautious and intemperate. Others, under the influence of a higher motive, feel that Lord Grey is placing the whole of our Colonial empire (Canada and New Zea- land inclusive, notwithstanding Mr. Hawes's recent boasts of tranquillity in the one and prosperity in the other) in a state of turmoil and disaffection, which, if it does not expose the integrity of the empire to risk, threatens to call for an in- crease of our military establishments. Public men of this class rejoice in the prospect of a useful lesson to Lord Grey. They hope that it may set him on reflection, and on a reformation of his ways : and they seize with satisfaction this opportunity of correcting him, because the serviceable punishment of the individual may be administered in a case which involves neither the stability of the Government nor any great interest of the people of this country. Our gaols need not be fuller because South Africa is not added to the list of penal colonies. The fittest places for convict emigrants are those colonies in which a vast outlay has been already in- curred for the purpose of making them fit for the reception and punishment of criminals, and where the colonists, instead of re- garding the introduction of criminals as a disgrace and affliction, perhaps like it, as it affords them a supply of labour and a mar- ket in which to dispose of their surplus produce. Mr. Adderley prudently avoids the general question of transportation : he ap- peals from the Colonial Office to Parliament, only on behalf of a colony "hitherto unpolluted," which is remarkably unfit for being made a penitentiary, and which cries aloud to Parliament against what it feels to be an ignominy and a cruel wrong. Thus all sorts of motives amongst public men conspire to render it pro- bable that he will carry his judicious and most useful motion.
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