The Present Colonial Government.

The present cumbrous form of Government, as established by the New Zealand constitution, evidently cannot last long. Not only is there a General Government, but the country being divided into nine provinces, has so many Provincial Governments as well; nor are these found to be sufficient to attend to the wants of outlying districts. By such a complicated form, which of necessity cannot be worked without a proportionally strong staff of officers, that revenue which should be husbanded for the improvement of the country at large, in forming roads, bridges, &c., is entirely swallowed up in maintaining this expensive machinery, for a population even now beneath that of many second-rate page 174 cities of Great Britain. Now that the expences of the war have so greatly raised the taxation, it becomes a serious enquiry, how long is this to last. Has not the time arrived when a General Government can be made to supply the place of all these Provincial ones, and thus save the expense they put the country to, when municipal institutions would answer better, and meet all the wants for Local Government, besides contributing to the unity and stability of the whole? for it cannot be concealed that these Provincial Governments give rise to Provincial feelings, and tend to make the General Government less thought of. A sight of the long list of the various officers, their salaries, and other Provincial expenses, will make the importance of this subject more clearly seen. Nor must the unbecoming jealousies between these provinces pass unnoticed, when the larger ones view any alterations determined upon by the general assembly which do not meet their approbation, as a sufficient reason for separating entirely from the rest of the colony. This has been lately exemplified when the seat of Government was removed to Wellington, as being most central. Auckland immediately sought to be formed into a separate colony, and almost persuaded our cooler and more cautious brethren of Otago to imitate her; this, if done, would invite Canterbury to do the same, and the south of the North Island also; thus virtually resolving the entire colony into four large provinces, which would be merely changing the present form by the absorbing the nine existing ones into those four, over which it would still be necessary to have a General Government, as at present.

Another consideration which especially applies to the present time, is the future status of the native race. Is it to be acknowledged at all, or is it to be entirely disregarded as it has hitherto been? For “it has been admitted by the Colonial Department that the New Zealand constitution was framed in forgetfulness of the large native tribes within the dominions to which it was intended to apply.”^* Are the

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natives to be viewed not only as being subject to our laws, but as British subjects, so incorporated with ourselves as to be entitled to all those rights and privileges which we possess. If we come to this conclusion, the native head chiefs will sit in our Legislative Council, being entitled to it by their rank and influence, and the others will have the General Assembly and Provincial Councils (if such continue to exist) open to them as well as to ourselves. A step like this cannot be misunderstood. At present the feelings of the colony towards them are liable to be so, as the Council Chamber has hitherto been carefully closed to them; but let this just and equitable step be taken, and then all will be open and clear. The Provincial Council of Auckland has just admitted one of the native chiefs to sit in it; that is merely to be regarded as a sign of better and juster sentiments beginning to arise, for in reality one solitary individual could be of little benefit to his countrymen; but if a sufficient number of the more intelligent chiefs were to be admitted, it is not to be doubted that they would give a much higher tone to those councils, all representing as they do the largest part of the landed interest of the island. They have a claim, which all who profess to be desirous of equity and fair dealing must readily allow, should be represented; and whilst thus being equitable to the natives, they will restore that confidence to them in our fair dealing, which will be the best guarantee of permanent peace and unity of the two races.

The last papers from New Zealand state, that four native members are to be added to the General Assembly. Great credit is due to Mr. Maclean for this measure: it is a pity it did not also extend to the admission of an equal number of the head chiefs to the Legislative Council; when this is done, those chiefs will feel there is no longer any benefit to be derived by their letting large blocks of land remain unoccupied merely to keep the European away, but that it will be far better to lease or sell what they cannot profitably use.

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Our Surplus Population.

The subject of food for the increasing population of Great Britain is daily becoming a most serious consideration, and one which must force itself on the public attention. At present, the supplies drawn from all parts of the world seem to be hardly sufficient. But whilst flour can be obtained from America as well as from the continent, a supply of meat is found, from disease or other causes, more difficult to be procured in sufficient quantity for the consumption; at this very moment, whilst the question is becoming more and more pressing, from whence the supply is to come, in the Australian colonies the superabundance of flocks and herds is such, that with the farmers and graziers of those fertile regions, the great concern is to know what is to be done with them? Some are boiling their sheep down, and selling the fat at one penny per pound, thus wasting the flesh for which millions here would be thankful. Others are subjecting it to a certain chemical process, to obtain an extract of meat, which, in a small compass, shall contain the properties and nourishment of the gross mass. Others again, are trying to prepare the carcase so as to enable them to send it fresh to England. But is it not evident that this is something like Gulliver’s account of the Laputa Philosophers trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. As Mahomet could not get the mountain to go to him, he was obliged to go to it. If the flocks and herds cannot come to Britain, Britain must go to them.

It seems from the wonderful increase of our race in the old populated parts of the earth, that it is now necessary for them to move off to those fair regions which, though equally fitted and intended for man’s abode, are now desolate and uninhabited. God appears to have wrought a miracle to compel them to depart. Gold in California was the first attraction, then in Australia, and lastly in New Zealand; and thus some millions of those who could muster means to transport themselves to such tempting fields went; but page 177 there are still millions who have not means, and must be fed at home by those who have; thus continuing an incubus on the industry and resources of the remaining portion of society. To feed them, as they still go on increasing, is the difficulty, and if they are not fed, to prepare for the consequences; a hungry man will satisfy the cravings of nature.

The present time presents some most serious subjects for reflection. Fenianism, and its wide spread sympathy; the almost forcing an entrance into the Secretary of State’s bureau itself, and converting it into a Fenian meeting-room, to pass resolutions in. What may next occur? Will the very boudoir of the Queen itself be secure from their intrusion? Is not this suggestive of many unpleasant subjects? Should it not lead our rulers to a timely consideration of some remedy without which the evil must daily increase. And first, to the consideration of the real cause;—is it not evident that it is to be traced up to our over-grown population; if so, what is the natural remedy? Has not a good and wise Providence provided one, and given it to our country? Why has God bestowed upon Britain the vast Australian continent, with its fair sunny fertile plains, all but destitute of inhabitants. The enquiry will be made, how is it to be done? May it not also be asked, Why has our Government so many of her ships of war lying idle and useless, laid up, as it is said, in ordinary. Why not employ them in transporting this starving population to those parts which only want hands to draw forth and develop their abundance. But if it be said those ships are not suitable, or would require so much to prepare them for the work, why not then employ the Great Eastern, which is now idle, a reproach to the age we live in, as though it were a step in advance of it. A few trips of that huge leviathan would soon make a perceptible diminution of our surplus population, carrying as it can do some 10,000 at a time. But where are the means for the transport of those who go, as well as for the feeding of those who remain? Are they not also provided, by using a portion of the poor rates for the final removal of the evil? Is not this quite feasible; is it not the simple solution of the difficulty?

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Let us not then trouble ourselves about conveying the flocks and herds of Australia here, but rather try to carry our hungry mouths to them there.

When we see our surplus population compelled to abide in Unions, the healthful state of the mind is destroyed, they be-come mentally diseased, every good principle is impaired; they are incapable of doing anything for their own welfare, or for the land to which they nominally belong, but in which, really, they have no stake, and live in as prisoners. Crime then becomes natural to them; they see no sin in committing it, and from which they are only restrained by force. To substitute a new colony for the hateful Union, would be to impart new life, new energy, and new spirit to them and to the empire at large; it would be their regeneration, whilst, at the same time, it would be the removal of a heavy weight from those left behind. The recent explorers of Australia have brought to light fertile regions in land of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which would afford comfortable homes for millions, and enable us to raise many substances which we now derive from foreign powers, and at the same time insure the prosperity of the new colony.

Convicts.

The true proof of civilization is turning all things to account, and allowing nothing to be lost. The Chiffonier presents an emblem of it; there is something for him to gain out of every refuse heap—rags, paper, iron, all are worth his collecting, and when sorted and classed, go to their several depositories, to be re-produced in a new form. Even the sweepings of our streets are valuable, and though in England given away, in Paris produce a considerable revenue to the Government. The waste in this respect of the London sewerage has been at last seen; the costly and extensive embankments of the Thames are undertaken, not only to purify the stream and ornament the metropolis, but with the page 179 intention of utilizing the immense refuse of this emporium of the world.

It is also the duty of Government to seek to do the same with the refuse of the State. The law demands the offender’s punishment, but does not sound policy require that that punishment should not be a loss or burthen to the State? In this respect China is before England; by making its convicts maintain themselves, and try to refund their debts by labor, in so doing both sides are benefitted. With us, on the contrary, the bad are worse than they were before, the idle become more superlatively idle. There is a system of equalization of crime going on in the prison, which renders the inmates all but incorrigible. This is sadly the case in penal settlements; still it might be avoided, and the present object is to point out how it may be done, so that the convict may have a chance given him of regaining caste, and being restored as a useful member of society.

Good Mr. Marsden used to say, that it was wonderful how God had raised up a church in New South Wales to His praise and glory out of the scum of the empire—from the very dregs of society. If there be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons that went not astray, surely it will be a noble effort of a Government, and a proof of its being a truly paternal and patriotic one, if it can regain and recover any of its felons from their lost state, and restore them to that from which they have fallen.

The treatment of convicts should have a salutary end in view, which would render it evident it was intended for their good, and thus encourage them to be obedient to it. There should be no undue severity, or unmeaning kindness, by which the true object in view would be lost.

In New Zealand it was reported that a jailor took all his prisoners with him to see the races, and threatened that if any of them stayed out beyond the given time, they would be locked out. In another place, a prisoner thought himself very ill treated because he was not always allowed to go out and dine with his friends, which he had been occasionally page 180 permitted to do; but New Zealand is at the antipodes. It has had even a superintendent of one of its chief provinces, who, being considered worthy of a temporary sojourn in prison, actually proclaimed his own house one, and committed himself to it.

In New South Wales, even the iron gangs were so well fed and lightly worked, that it was a well-known fact, the soldiers who were employed in guarding them, thought their state preferable to their own, and envying the easy life of the felon, not unfrequently committed some crime to become one of them.

The assigned servants had little to remind them of their position, or to make it feel irksome to them; thus the true object for which they were expelled from their native land was lost, the only convicts who were benefitted were those who acquired great wealth, and with it a certain, status in society, which compelled them to act according to its requirements. Thus they were obliged, outwardly at least, to live as others did, and in their commercial concerns maintain a certain degree of rectitude, to hinder them again losing their newly-acquired caste, and keep the Government from confiscating their property, which was not unfrequently done.

The disposal of convicts is a subject of national interest and much perplexity in the present day. The future location of them in a large empire is one, therefore, of great importance, especially when it is viewed with so much disfavor by those colonies which have for so many years been made the receptacle of them.

The remembrance of the evils of a penal colony by those who knew them, and the anticipation of such by more recent settlers, from the exaggerated statements of the older residents, will account for much of the opposition now given to the re-introduction of the system in Australasia. And yet it may be shown, that with certain modifications and provisions this opposition might be withdrawn, and a conviction raised that such establishments could be rendered a positive benefit to such infant states as our colonies now are.

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The danger of a large and constant influx of convicts swamping the morality of a small and widely-scattered population is evident, especially where the conditions of society can scarcely be said to have become established. Whilst the fear of such a result speaks well for the community from which it proceeds,—however evident it may be that the diseased member should be amputated to save the life of the body,—it is the policy of the parent state not to press a measure whilst it continues to be so unpopular, and likely to diminish the affection of her offspring.

When the subject is duly weighed, it is more than doubtful whether the Australian colonies will be found to offer the most suitable locality for a penal settlement; the primary object of which must naturally be, punishment and safekeeping of convicts combined, as well as entire separation from that population which has cast them out.

The enjoyableness of an Australian climate is not calculated to insure the first, or the facility of escape the second. Even though an entirely new penal settlement were to be founded on the northern coasts of the Australian continent, or in New Guinea, it would be impossible, with all the cost and care which could be given, to avoid frequent escapes; and the successful attempts of the few would buoy up the hopes of the many, that their efforts likewise would one day or other be crowned with similar success.

This feeling largely pervaded the convict population of Australia in former days. Not a few tried to cross that unexplored continent, with the insane idea of reaching China on foot; but it is a sad fact, that numbers did effect their purpose, and reached New Zealand or some of the Polynesian Isles, where they became the leaders and abettors of crimes far exceeding even the heathen themselves in atrocity.

Several localities appear to have engaged the attention of Government, such as the Falkland Isles, Guiana, Hudson’s Bay, or even some of the Scottish Isles. No reformatory at home can be made on a sufficiently extended scale to meet the necessity, without an enormous outlay and a corresponding degree of risk.

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Fully to answer the requirements of the case, it will be necessary—

1.	To have a place at a sufficient distance from home.
2.	One of which the climate is not so good as to make it desirable; or,
3.	From which an escape can be easily effected.
4.	Where the establishment can be made self-supporting, by rendering the labour of the convict available both for the Government and his own benefit.
5.	Where good service to the Empire at large can likewise be gained.
6.	Where the convict can have a reasonable chance of amendment given him, and his keepers of testing its genuineness.
7.	Where sufficient inducement can be given of good conduct securing an amelioration of condition and final restoration to the rights of a free subject.

To meet all these requirements, Kerguellen’s Land may be brought forward as one of the most suitable spots for a penal settlement. Its size is quite sufficient for the purpose, its position could not be better, being nearly equi-distant from America, Australia, and the Cape; its latitude is lower than that of the most southerly part of Great Britain, and its climate, though bad, cannot be extreme, and is rather characterized by the absence of summer heat than the presence of extreme winter cold. It has excellent harbours, and what is of the utmost importance, it possesses abundance of good coal, which crops out in several places. This fact was established by Sir James Ross’s expedition, and its position in the direct course to Australia would make it an admirable coaling station, and a place from whence other similar depots could be far more readily and cheaply supplied than they are now. In the working of coal, therefore, there would be abundant employment for the convicts, and according to their industry, the means of reward given, and the power of rendering it, in a great measure, self-supporting. Convicts who by their industry and good conduct had thus acquired a claim for further indulgence, might be con- page 183 sidered eligible for employment in other and more desirable localities.

The great drawback to the prosperity of infant colonies is the want of a labouring class. In no part has this been felt more than in New Zealand; at this very time it is scarcely possible to get a day’s labor for less than from six to eight shillings per day of eight hours; to remedy this evil the colony has incurred great expense in importing labor. Our Provincial Governments have thus brought out laborers by the thousand; the concern of their agents has been number rather than quality; and though many estimable characters have thus been imported, the majority have been drawn from the union workhouses, where those gentlemen have been welcomed as the means of getting rid of the most worthless and troublesome characters; the addition thus made to the colonial population has sensibly affected the general tone of society; this is especially seen at elections, many of the voters having scarcely been six months in the land before they became entitled to that privilege.

Thus whilst our Provincial authorities have loudly raised their voices against the introduction of the penal system, they have, in fact, introduced elements of a far more demoralizing tendency; for whilst it is possible to keep a convict population under restraint by strict discipline and stringent measures, here is a body of individuals introduced, some of whom only differ from the former in being unconvicted, who are let loose on society, not only without restraint, but with means furnished by the facility of acquiring property, of effecting the greater injury.

But still the want of labor remains: the expense and difficulty of obtaining it is so great, that many instances might be adduced where it has cost more in labour than the crops have produced, and the harvest could not be gathered in without military aid. It is, however, particularly in public works that this want has been experienced; roads, bridges, &c., are only made at a ruinous expense, and on this account such important works are of necessity limited. Thirty years ago, the traveller who visited New South page 184 Wales was greatly struck by the excellence of the roads and public edifices, though coming direct from England; twenty years later he would be still more surprised by the deterioration which had taken place in this respect, although then only going from the infant colony of New Zealand. It was convict labor which accomplished the first state, and it was the want of a substitute for it which accounted for the retrograde condition.

The first and only improvement of our public ways for years in New Zealand was effected by what are called Hard labour men, viz., the inmates of the gaol, and little as they effected, for their name was quite a misnomer, still it was all the colony had to depend upon for local improvements, and very probably would have continued to be so up to this day, had not heavy taxes been imposed and great debts incurred, for it is a fact that nearly all our public roads were made with borrowed money, which now forms the nucleus of a national debt which no settler will ever live to see liquidated.

This subject, then, leads to another closely connected with the present enquiry, how can labor be obtained for public purposes in our colonies? It is evident that the present way of meeting it by constant loans cannot last; it is not a healthy way, it must be a ruinous one, and although it is urged that the rapid progress of the colony will enable it to repay them without difficulty, still principal and interest go on quietly increasing and must continue to do so, or nothing of a public nature for the improvement of the country can be done.

But what is wanted?—roads, bridges, court houses, rivers rendered navigable, harbours approachable by wharves, piers, lighthouses, &c., &c. To effect all these improvements labour must be obtained; five hundred men for each of the nine provinces would not be too much; were there colonial prisoners to that extent they would be used for this purpose, and no outcry raised about such convict labour being employed, any more than there is now about hard labour men. Supposing that each province could be supplied from the grand establishment at Kerguellen’s Land, with a page 185 certain amount of labour for public purposes, drawn from those who have gained a ticket for good conduct, with the further prospect of progressive advancement, and after a fixed period of time from improvement in Government service of receiving a free pardon. The grand establishment should be open to receive convicts from colonies as well; and those drafted from it be consigned solely to the charge of the General or Provincial Governments in such proportion as they may severally require. This assuredly would be a benefit to the convict and be conferring one on the colonies which would greatly aid their advancement, without endangering the moral tone of their inhabitants, and were such an establishment to be formed as is here advocated, it would not be long before a change of feeling on this subject would take place, and the advantages to be derived from it would be so apparent that it would soon meet with general favour, to say nothing of the benefit commerce would gain by such an establishment in its chief highway.

The shrewd and politic Napoleon has not overlooked the advantage of having vast coal depots in all his insular possessions; no French vessel is allowed to trade with any of them without bringing a fixed amount of coal to keep up the proper quantity in all his numerous depots, so that in case of emergency he may be prepared to visit our colonies either as a friend or foe.

This subject is, therefore, almost equally important to our colonies as it is to the Home Government itself, and invites the serious attention of both.

Confederation of the Provinces of the British Empire.

An empire may be defined as an unity of parts; this is essential to its existence as well as prosperity. “A city must be at unity with itself;” there must be one grand feeling of mutual benefit pervading the whole, one uniform object page 186 in view, and when that is really the case, the empire will stand, however widely separated its parts.

The home kingdom is, in fact, such a combination, each having its own representatives, forming the Parliament, from whence proceed laws, and the ministry by which they are carried out; but the transmarine provinces of the British Empire have hitherto been treated as though they had no connection with the centre, and, therefore, to be converted into permanent appendages of the same dominion a new system is required. Rome ruled its empire as long as the central power was seated in it, and possessed the degree of force requisite to controul the whole: but, as that decreased, it gradually contracted itself; as its weakness became felt, it abandoned its extreme provinces, and made them the unwilling arbitrators of their own destinies, and thus, though first gained by brute force against the will of their inhabitants, finally retired contrary to the wishes of those subjected to its sway.

Something of this kind is now taking place between Britain and her provinces, with this difference, Britain seems to support without receiving direct aid from her colonies; she indeed makes India, as a conquered empire, support itself, but not so the colonies. Rome made her provinces maintain her as well as themselves, and when they ceased to be able to do so, she thrust them off as positive encumbrances. It is evident that no empire in the world could go on increasing and upholding such a state long, however great its resources; some plan therefore must be devised, either for amicable separation or effective coalition by due representation of the parts; if the parent state expects to rule, it must be by a community of interests and proportional share in the ruling power. Canada, Australia, and even New Zealand, are daily becoming more and more important appendages of the crown. They are kingdoms unrepresented, and hitherto have been ruled by the dictum of a colonial office, which has been but imperfectly acquainted with their peculiarities and necessities: they naturally claim representation according to their several degrees of import- page 187 ance. The Imperial Parliament should, like the Royal Exhibition, have a space within its walls, for all the provinces of the empire to be represented.

Immediately connected with this subject is another, which, however unwilling the colonies may be, will have to be considered, and that is, their fair contribution towards the maintenance of the empire. The army and navy are the chief agents employed in the colonies, and, therefore, that share which each will have to bear in its support, will, in a great measure, depend upon the degree of need which they will severally have of such aid. In times of danger, the want will be greater; but, at the same time, the power of the parts to bear such increased expense must also be borne in mind, and apportioned accordingly, the parent state making due allowance. The idea which has been broached of the colonies being useless, is as weak and foolish as it is pernicious. Every member of the body is needed, however remote it may be placed from the centre; the fingers, though severally feeble, yet in union effect all the great designs of the directing spirit, and it is by them the food is carried to the month. Are not the colonies the true feeders of the empire? and this fact is daily becoming more and more apparent; to cut them off is equivalent to closing our grand manufactories, our merchant navy, and our mercantile offices as well. Is it not self apparent, that as they increase, their imports will increase likewise; and since the gold fields have been opened their value in this respect has been most wonderfully developed. When the American struggle began, and the cotton supply failed, however great the distress thereby occasioned, what would it have been had not India and Britain’s other dependencies stepped forward, and filled up the deficiency. That calamity points out a remedy against a recurrence of the evil, by opening up for ourselves a grand cotton field in Australia, which will obviate our being compelled to lean in future on a foreign arm.

Surely the colonies ought to be viewed as integral parts of the empire, bound to it by ties of consanguinity, laws, language, and customs: it is most important this feeling page 188 should be maintained and perpetuated? If Britain continues to be the centre of all proceeding from her and speaking her language, what an amount of influence for good will it give her in uniting and confederating the whole civilized world, so as to put an end to those horrid wars, disgraceful to our humanity, in the nineteenth century; and what a means will it be of bringing all the ends of the world together, and uniting the scattered parts of the family of man in one. See what has been done by central power. Take the Bible and Missionary Societies; how much good has radiated from one point to the utmost end of the world. In a similar way, by unity of the great British Empire, how much may this be increased.

Does the wide ocean hinder all hopes of a lasting confederation? No; we may look, forward even to a closer intercourse; the telegraph wire is A bond of union; distance and time are annihilated by the electric spark. The expenses the colonies entail on the parent state, it must be allowed, are more than fully met by the means which they disclose of meeting them, and the wonderful way they have increased her resources by doubling her commerce.

A certain military and naval force is thought needful to be kept at home for the exigencies of the parent state, to enable her to maintain her position and influence amongst the ruling powers of the world; it does not materially add to the expense of the parent state, though she should employ those forces (when not needed at home) to guard her colonies; they most be somewhere, and better actively engaged, than kept in injurious idleness at home. One of the papers of the day concludes an article on the subject with saying, “And never was there a more misleading fallacy than that which blinds our eyes to our real position, by self-glorification about ‘the sun that never sets on England’s flag,’ and ‘the rule of the Empress of India over 130,000,000 of Oriental subjects.’ The life of England is to be found in the 30,000,000 of the inhabitants of these islands, only a few hundred miles in length and in breadth.” This is a very narrow view of the subject; were the life only there, the body would be only proportioned to the size of page 189 those isles; the few hundred miles of their extent would not enable them to be more than a second-rate kingdom at the best. Britain could not sustain its present army and navy with only its own area; it would not have its present resources. The sun does not set on its realm, its light is always shining on some portion of the empire, an emblem that it can always see its way plain. If Britain sends its laws, its religion, its Bible, to all parts, in watering others does it not water itself? Were it to narrow the sphere of its usefulness, it would narrow itself. Did Rome prosper when it gave up Britain? and will Britain prosper if it gives up its arms, Australia and America. Let the true way of maintaining the bond be duly weighed; let the advantages of the connection be seen, and the nature of it defined, so that the value of each may be duly appreciated.

The late war in New Zealand has not been without its good, however dearly paid for; it has broached a problem and aided in working it out. What is the true and proper relation between the colonies and the parent state? It has thus been the same with the Colenso case, with regard to the Church, and its real position and power when disconnected with the State.

Writers at home have taken one extreme view of the case, the colonists another; the probable result will, if not checked by a conciliatory policy of Government, weaken the attachment and hasten their separation from the parent state. In the present day such separation can be effected at any time by mutual consent, without the barbarous appeal to brute force. But our rulers must bear in mind that the colonies are their own work. New Zealand would have been colonized independently, had it been allowed; but they, jealous of such a measure, though not wanting to found another colony, stepped in and claimed it as their own.

The Fijii natives offered the sovereignty of their isles to Britain; the gift was declined, but British colonists still remain there, and doubtless will found a colony totally independent of the Crown. And why not? Must these lands remain unoccupied, when there are numbers anxious to page 190 settle there, and many already located in them, when such an appendage so near at hand would at once supply New Zealand with all the tropical products? It is self evident, that before long this must be the case, and the Melanesian Mission of New Zealand will be followed by a Melanesian colony as well. If, then, a separation must come, a gradual preparation for it might be made by placing the vice-regal powers over our great colonial dominions in the hands of our own princes. This would be a partial commencement of future disseverment, as that of the Brazils, and be also a means of advancing the dignity of those appendages of the Crown, and perpetuating their attachment to it.