COLONIZATION AND THE . " cnoTcllorry

BEING."

Lonn Howicg possesses some qualities, as a public man, which must always conunand respect. He is for better informed than most of his class ; and he gives effect to quickness, industry, and painstaking, by a high degree of boldness or self-reliance. But to these virtues he joins some remarkable vices of character; such as nn opinion of himself which prompts Lim to despise his betters, great obstinacy, and lastly, that honest predilection for differing from everybody, which goes by the name of " crotebettiness." lie much loves to have his own way, and still more to have a way pe- culiarly his own. Nor is he without a laudable ambition; but as he wants genius to achieve the originality to which he aspires, his pursuit of flune often leads him into ridiculous or mischievous eccen ricities. The recent stet:silica of his reason for consenting to make the Ballot an open question—namely, in order to defeat it—is a good example of the sort of follies in which such a person is apt to indulge and glory. If we add considerable .sincerity, and no little portion of jealousy and irritability, this sketch of his cha- racter will be pretty complete. Those who know him best, will not deny its accuracy. It is well understood in the Whig coteries, that Lord llowices

influence in Lord 31m.noteixa's Cabinet has been as great as might have been expected front the operation of his indusit y and wilfulness upon the ignorance and idleness of most of his col- leagues. As to matters on which they are utterly ignorant and careless, his painstaking habits have given him a paramount weight. And it so happens, that of these matters there is one large and very important class fie* which Lord liowscg has a particular af- fection, and on which he is bitter informed tlmn most men whether in or nut of the Cabinet. We allude to Colonial questions and the subject of Colonization. Upon these points be is, RS he de- serves to be, a sort of oracle amongst the Whig chiefs. It is the object of his ambition to be Colonial Minister ; and he is in many respects fitter for the office than any other member of the II lug party. Virtually, indeed, be holds the office now, as he did in Lord CLENELG'S thom ; for Lord NORMANDY knows no more of these subjects than any usher of Dublin Castle, and scents hwa- pable of studying them ; so that when any Colonial question comes

. before the Cabinet, it is really decided by Lord Host-noes voice. We have been led to these remarks by the conduct of the Govern-

ment, and of Lord Nimers in particular, with respect to the reso- lati011:4 vhic1m were moved by Mr. WARD in the House of Com- mons on Tuesday last. The plain object of the resolutions f is.to extend to other colonies the system of colonization which Pailut- talent hes established for the new colony of South Australia.. What that system is—whet important results it is capable of' producing, by rapidly and indefleitely extending the field of employment for bri. tish capital and labour—we need not explain to readers of the Spf:etalor, more especially after the very able speech of the Mem- ber for Sheffield. But the motion was opposed by the Government. And on what ground ? In order, as Mr. LADOUCHERE said, not to "give the go-by to the subject," but to allow Lord NORMANDY and himself time to become acquainted with it. If he could undertake for Lord NORMANDY'S application to the subject, and if he were as self-relying its be is conscientious, this confession of Ignorance, with a promise of amendment, coming from a person of Mr. LA' BOECIIERE'S acknowledged uprightness, would have deserved much weight. But who can believe, merely because Mr. LABODCBERE hopes it, that Lord NORMANDY will ever take the pains to master * See Ifforning Chronicle, 6th June 1839. t See page GOO. Ibis subject ? And further, who assures us, either that Lord Ilowlex, the Colonial oracle of the Whigs, will cease to oppose this measure, or that Mr. LABOUCHERE will ever have nefve to rely upon his own judgment with respect to it ? For we must now remark, that Lord.11owsea opposed the motion on no ground of expediency as to tune, but on principle—if the term may be applied to his declarations of hostility. Suppose that Lord NORMANBY la- bours, and that 3Ir. LABOUCHERE forms an independent judgment— still, what will overcome Lord llowece's vigorous opposition ? Not the energy of Mr. LABOUCHERE, nor any thing but public opinion ; to which, therefore, Mr. WARD had better appeal, than place his trust in " the Reform 31inistry."

It is with a view to some beneficial influence on public opinion, that we proceed to notice Lord Howtee's singular position in this matter.

The new plan, the only system of Colonization, which has done such wonders in South Australia, was originally made public in wee, in a little book, then reviewed in the Spectator, entitled A Lake from Sydney ; which, though it bears the name of Mr. GOUGER as editor, is now known to have been written by Mr. ED-. WARli GIBBON WAKEFIELD. it was next, in 1b:30, further developed ie a Supplement to this journal;* afterwards published as a pamph- let by the Colonization Society, of which Mr. Herr, the present Member for Hull, wits the founder in conjunction with Mr. Weer-

T

FIELD. hat Society, which had been formed fin. the purpose of bringing the subject efficiently before the public, was broken up by disunion • or rather by Sir 11°. WILMOT 11OWTON and Colonel TOR- BENS, W110, though they were members of the Society, spoke and wrote with great earnestness in opposition to its peculiar and novel views. But shortly afterwards, Lord Howtee became Under Secretary for the Colonies, and was led (it matters not how) to examine Mr. WAKEFIELD'S theory ; which he seemed to embrace, and to which he gave some effect In 1831, by framing certain regu- lations fbr the disposal of waste laud and of the fund arising front sales. These rules, which have been improperly termed "Ltird Ripon's Regulations," tended at least to put an end alto- gether to the jobbing system of free grants, and were therefore most unpalateable to the Colonial Office people ; down whose throats, however, Lord I lOWICK forced them with that sell-reliance and resolution which belong to his character. We have often spoken betbre of his conduct on that occasion in terms of the highest praise. But now comes the other side of our account with him : the reader will strike the balance.

Mr. WAKEFIELD'S plan, as he has fully explained it in various publications,t and more especially in his evidence before Mr. WAI■D's Committee of the House of Commons on Colonial Lands, in 1836, when he was subjected to a most rigid cross-examination, embraces the following points--lst, the disposal of all lands with- out exception by sale only, at a fired, uniform, and siylicient price ; 2ndly, the employment of the whole, or a large fired proportion, of the proceeds of the sales of land as a fund for emigration ; 3dly, the sale of' land in England, and the anticipation, when necessary, of the proceeds of land sales, by means of loans, raised on the se- curity of future sales, for the sole purpose of emigration ; and 4thly, the guarantee of an act of Parliament for the permanence of the system, and the creation, as in the case of the new Poor-law, of a special subordinate authority for its administration. The reasons for all and each of these proposals will be found in the places to which we have referred ; and we shall say no more of them hereet, than that they have convinced, with one exception, every man who has really examined them with care. The single exception is Lord Holmes. His own regulations comprise no one of the points on which Mr. AV:tel.:mete) insists. Their administration is jumbled up with the general mess of business in the Colonial Office; they are secured by no act of Parliament, but are liable to evasion by every successive Colonial Minister, and have been frequently evaded or set at nought ; they make no provision either for the sale of land here, or for anticipating the land-fund for emigration in eases of need, or for employing the whole or any fixed propor- tion of the produce of sales as an emigration fund, or even for either sufficiency, or certainty, or uniformity of price. They are, in feet, but a mockery of Mr. WA K EFIELD's scheme, and are, there- fore, as he said himself before Mr. Winn's Committee itt 1836, rather ealculeted to bring the plan into discredit than to recom- mend it to the public. But Lerd Howees saw tit on Tuesday, to join with Mr. WARD,

..11oLcswotatt, and Mr. WAufwaToN, in speaking of Mr. WAssritn.o's plan as a valuable discovery in political science.

"lie entirely concurred in the general principles of the resolution. Cer- tainly there was mulling further front Ids intention than to express air' differ- ence efopiehet as to tho:,e general prinriples. On the contrary, he i;erfectly agreed as to their situ i ties, and as to itie importance yf the viinvs which they embraced. As was jmtly stated bv the honourable \ [ember, the discovery on 1%llich they were flninded reflected great tumour on the gentleman who was the originator of them; and so far as lui (1,0rd Ilowick) knew, those principles had never been previously propoJed, and had been entirely lost sight of by former writers on political econoto v. He viewed them as Fluci ides not onl v. of great importance hut also of very general application. lie they -would he found applicable, not only to our .1 ustralian Colonies, but also to those of North America. Not only so, but Inc was of opinion they would bring us to thc bottom of the difficulties relative to the Slave question in the \Vest bulks; and that the great measure of Emancipation would not be productive of all the

* 3d April 1830.

England and America. 1833.

The Nem British Province of South Australia. 183-1. The British Cohmization New Zealand. 1837.

t. We shall probably return next week to the economical questions mooted in the debate on Mr. Wasp's motion. good that ought to flow from it, unless means were taken by the Legislature of those Colonies for adopting the principles to which he had find referred, so as to secure a regular supply of free labour. He therefore fully agreed with the honourable Member for Sheffield as to the importance of the principles on which these resolutions were founded. But he must say, at the same time "- And "at the same time" be actually did "say" his objections to every principle of the resolutions, save only the general principle of selling instead of granting, which is no discovery of Mr. Weisz- men's, but had full effect throughout the United States before Lord Ilowice was born, and was even adopted by the British Go- vernment before he knew any thing about colonies, in certain " Treasury Instructions" issued in 1826 for the disposal of waste land in the Caimans. Lord llowice loudly praises Mr. WAKE.. FIELD'S system of colonization, and then objects to every thing that is peculiar to it. The case is as if Mr. SPRING RICE should propose Mr. liowesen Ihre.'s plan of a Unifinen Penny Post, with several rates of postage varying from sixpence to eighteen pence. This would not be at all a more absurd modus operandi for arriving at desired results, than Lord Howtea's method of retarding the Ballot question, or his mode of carrying Nr. WAKEFIELD'S prin- ciples into effect. Notwithstanding his admitted good qualities, there seems to be a crook in his intellect, that will always render SO opinionated a person more mischievous than useful.

if we might venture a suggestion as to the origin of all this crotchettiness, we should say that vanity is at the bottom of it. Lord Ifowtee evidently wishes to be thought consistent in his op- position to the Ballot while he consents to make it an open ques- tion. May he not sincerely believe that his Colonization rules are so perfect as to be incapable of' improvement ? We have observed on his part an extreme jealousy towards the new colony of South Australia, where Mr. Weisemesn's principles have been fully esta- blished. He is not jealous of the colony surely ; and if not, he must be jealous of its principal founder, whose suggestions he at

once praises and denies, claiming for himself' alone the merit of having applied them well, and objecting to any general or complete application of them because it would show how partial and inade- quate his own little experiment had been.

Ilut whatever may be Lord Howlett's motive for retarding the progress of Colonization, and however eccentric, as in the case of Ballot, his mode of proceeding, the fact of his standing in the way

of so much good should be known to the public. He was exces- sively busy on Tuesday, prompting and cheering Mr. LABOUCIIERE

in his official task of opposition to the motion. If he had only abstained from meddling out of his own proper War-office, Mr. Wenn's resolutions would probably have been carried; and a really valuable measure for next year might have been expected. As it is, we hope for nothing of the sort. Lord Noesteene, it appears, has broken down as Colonial Minister; Mr. IsenouenenR, however intelligent and conscientious, has no will, perhaps little judgment, of his own; and Lord Howsee's influence in the Cabinet on all Colonial questions remains undiminished. We state the

fitct, confident of its truth, for the information of British colonists in all parts of the world. Might they not pray the Queen, that the :Minister at War should not be allowed to perform without re- sponsibility the functions of Minister for the Colonies?