TOPICS OF THE DAY.
MR. JULMS VOGEL.
WE wonder how many of our readers ever heard of the man whose name we have placed at the head of this article, and yet he is a British statesman, and a considerable one. Originally of Hebrew extraction, and probably of German descent, he has raised himself to a position in New Zealand such as no Premier there has ever occupied before,—a position stronger even than that which Mr. Gladstone held at home during 1868-73. A man of rare powers and high ambition, with the instinct of government, and unusual tact in selecting men, he has terminated the native difficulty, soothed away the jealousies of the Provinces, attracted the confidence of the settlers, and now rules New Zealand, with a sway tempered only by the criticisms of a minute Opposition and a few cautious though severe financial critics. When the difficulties of his position are considered, the old distrust of the two races, the extreme mutability of Colonial Parliaments, and the severity of the taxation he has succeeded in imposing, we must allow him, if not the first, at least one of the first positions among that remarkable and little-known group of men, the successful Premiers of the Free Colonies. If in Canada Sir John A. Macdonald was his superior in finesse, and in Victoria Sir C. Cl. Duffy showed more of the popular fibre, no man seems ever to have taken a stronger hold over the imagination of British Colonists, or obtained so individual an ascendancy in the guidance of local affairs.
Of course there is another side to this picture, and one which may hereafter be more prominent than at present. Mr. Vogel governs in great measure by gratifying the taste of all colonists for driving the coach rapidly, for hurrying forward material improvement, for discounting the future, in the hope that it will provide alike for this generation and its own. He believes in New Zealand till " expense" has little meaning in his eyes. If there are railways wanted, or roads demanded, or steam services hungered for, he provides them all, and all at once, confident that all will pay for themselves a hundred times over. There is a trace of modern Cmsarism in his conceptions, and like every modern Comer, he likes great works, things that strike the imaginations of men, and cares comparatively little about mere cost. The debt, he thinks, cannot weigh heavily on the England of the future. He is probably, as regards the ultimate result, in the right, for if New Zealand escapes a catas- trophe like a war, or a blockade, or a grand earthquake, she will undoubtedly be prosperous under very severe burdens. The financiers, however, who predict that whenever the land sales cease, her taxpayers and possibly her bondholders may have a bad quarter-of-an-hour, have much reason on their side ; and even if New Zealand rewards all Mr. Vogel's efforts as fully as he expects, there is one limitation with which he must bear. He must accept the first grand condi- tion of Colonial prosperity, and do, for the time, without a magnificent foreign policy. New Zealand is rich and enterprising and well governed, and Mr. Vogel might be great in a far wider sphere ; but New Zealand is not strong enough yet to be a seat of Empire, to sway the marvellous clusters of mountain-tops which we call the Islands of the South Pacific, or to dream of governing and colonising an Empire with hundreds of separated States. Mr. Vogel does dream of these things. It is impossible to read the fascinating Blue-book about the South Sea Islands just issued at Wellington, 'with its wonderful descriptions of summer seas, and Italian mountains, and tropical fertility; its statements of the thirst of the islanders for British rule ; its strange revelations of trades like that in the beauties of Rakahanga, who, like Circassians in Turkey, are sought all over Oceania ; its account of the proceedings of the great Hamburg house of Godeffroy and Co., which has monopolised the trade of the Navigator Islands, and has civilised whole communities by prohibiting to all its number- less agents slavery, brutality, and celibacy, without seeing that were Mr. Vogel's hands untied, and three millions sterling and five gun-brigs at his disposal, five years would not elapse before Queen Victoria was acknowledged in a thousand islands, and Auck- land was the capital of a State ruling a hundred colonies like the Mauritius. He knows and admits that Great Britain will not undertake the task, that the Titan staggers already under "the too vast orb of his fate," but he acknowledges it with a sigh, and is half-tempted to call on his New Zealanders to do the great work for themselves. Unlike the rulers of Sydney, he is perfectly ready to take the Fiji Islands, or the Navi- gator Islands, or the Friendly Islands, or all of them, and
hundreds more under his dominion, and has no doubt whatever of making them profitable possessions. We are not exaggerating in the smallest degree. On October 17, 1873, Mr. Julius Vogel deliberately proposed to the Colonial Office, through the Governor of New Zealand, the annexation of the whole of Polynesia, of thousands of islands, inhabited by at least &ix distinct races, ipeaking an endless variety of tongues :—" In the absence," he wrote, "of all machinery for governing, or con- trolling, or punishing for crime the white race, lawless communi- ties will grow up in these islands. Then, when the necessity for control becomes imperative it will be found, as in the case of Fiji, that the delay has made it difficult to do that which, an earlier stage, might with ease have been effected. Again, if Great Britain means to extend her dominion in Polynesia, it will be better, for abundantly evident reasons, for her to do so comprehensively, than to allow herself to be forced into it, the choicest islands being, in the meanwhile, appropriated by Foreign Powers. Unless she agree with Foreign Powers—say, with Germany and the United States, and perhaps France and Holland—to jointly protect all Polynesia—and in that ease it is to be presumed Australasia would have to be included, she would find it easier to deal with the whole of the unappropriated islands herself, rather than to submit to taking the leavings, of other Powers, and to run the risk of having to deal with complicated international questions. It is respectfully urged that if the traditions of the nation may be employed as an argument, it could be shown that they point to the glad prose- cution by Great Britain of the work of reducing to civilisation the fertile islands of the Pacific ; and, moreover, it could be shown that, with the modern appliances which science has placed at the command of civilisation, and with the enormous wealth and immense naval power Great Britain is possessed of, the work is easy now, which in the past, with like reasons, would have been heroically carried out, whatever the sacrifice it entailed.' "Of the terms under which this should be done,—whether by means of legal machinery applicable only to the white inhabi- tants; by Resident Governors, or Magistrates who would continue to recognise the right of the dark race to self-govern- ment ; or by uniting the islands into provinces, controlled under similar conditions,—it is not necessary now to decide. Indeed, Ministers could not accept the responsibility of submitting details, without a reference to the Assembly. But when Minis- ters remember the enterprise of the colonists—their desire to extend their commerce to all parts of the Pacific—the maritime advantages the Colony enjoys, not only in its extensive seaboard and hardy population, but in its facilities for shipbuilding— they cannot but come to the conclusion that the Parliament of New Zealand would cordially entertain proposals which had for their object to give to the Colony the opportunity of assisting Great Britain, in the great national work of extending the British dominion throughout the unappropriated islands of the South Pacific."
It makes chilly blood grow warm merely to read of such a proposal, merely to know that there is a man on the other side of the world ready, if only he is let loose, to recommence the career of British conquest,—a man who dare think, and think coolly, of assuming for Queen Victoria dominion over the remainder of the unappropriated and fertile islands of the world ; and the thrill does not diminish as we read what manner of estates these islands are ; but involuntary admiration is not consent. The project cannot be entertained. Great Britain, if she is to undertake a new and enormous task, must undertake it in the Valley of the Nile and leave Polynesia to the Germans, when they have recovered from their war-fever. Mr. Vogel's political reasons are not sound. We do not want these summer islands for colonisation, for as the Blue-book admits, white men cannot plough upon their plains, and we do not want more dark races to civilise in that direction. Papua we must, we believe, take, to protect the Southern Continent, but Feejeea is all we need in the Polynesian Archipelago. Mr. Vogel gasps at the thought that Germany might station a squad- ron at the Navigator Islands, but forgets that his argument cuts both ways,—that though a squadron may threaten us, we can threaten a squadron; that wherever a German, or a French, or an American ship floats, there is a point at which the grip of Great Britain can be felt. If Germany had all Polynesia but New Zealand and Feejee, Great Britain would be safer than before. Mr. Vogel, however, we admit, though he dreams, and dreams with enjoyment, is a statesman still. He knows that the British Parliament will hear of no such plan, that the British Colaisql Secretary will submit no such budget, and turns resignedly to his own dominions. Suppose New Zealand forms a new East India Company, and does for all Polynesia what Godeffroy and
Co. are doing for the Navigator Islands,—not, one perceives from the telegrams, without the help of remarks from the guns of a German war-ship—surely if a Company were founded, with a capital, say, of £1,000,000, with 5 per cent. interest, guaranteed by New Zealand, it might trade, plant, establish banks, found insurance offices, run steamers, monopolise produce, and even govern throughout the unappropriated islands of Polynesia. There must be profit in all that, commerce for Auckland, influence for Britain, civilisation for natives, repression of slavery for philanthropists, moderate subsidies for Mission- aries, and—though this item is not specifically mentioned— increased credit and work and glory for Mr. Julius Vogel, whose project, the Governor calmly remarks, would probably find favour with the New Zealand Parliament. We dare say it would. Endless work, adventure, chances, careers, suit colonists exactly, and suit them best of all when backed by a Government guarantee. But a Company of this kind, which in its inception requires sanction for a loan forbidden by every tradition of the British Government—which never guaranteed even the East India Company, though it guaranteed compen- sation for the loss of its trade monopoly—and will at every step involve new and immense responsibilities in the way of protection ; which, if successful, would have the power of a State and none of the obligations of a State; and which, if un- successful, might be strong enough to obtain new loans from New Zealand, will never find official favour here. Let the Company start, if it likes. Let Mr. Vogel send out a dozen Rajah Brookes or Mr. Webers—the Godeffroys' Viceking—if he can, and let them civilise as many islands as they can induce to accept their rule, but let all concerned carry out the enter- prise at their proper risk and charges. The days for delegating sovereignty to Companies are over, and so are the days for guaranteeing commercial safety to private trade. A highway, whether in Ireland or India, may be a matter of Imperial concern ; but dealing in " kobra "—dried cocoa-nut pulp, the staple of the South Sea islands—is not the business of over- wearied States. The Duke of Westminster might as well set up a greengrocery to give himself more income and occupation.
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