358 



COLONY 



century, the foreign possessions of the several states 

 of Europe stood pretty much as they do now. Out 

 of her once mighty empire, Portugal retained only 

 a few petty settlements in India, an indeterminate 

 authority over long strips on both coasts of Africa, 

 and Brazil, which afterwards became independent 

 under a scion of the house of Braganza. Spain has 

 lost Southern and Central America within the pres- 

 ent century ; but she keeps her hold of Cuba and 

 Porto Rico in the West Indies, and of the Philip- 

 pine and Caroline groups of islands in the remote 

 eastern seas. Holland, having been deprived by 

 England of Ceylon and the Cape, still draws a rich 

 tribute from Java and the adjoining Spice Islands. 

 France, which entered last upon the struggle, has 

 suffered most severely of all, as the result of the 

 fortune of war with England. At one time it 

 seemed as if half North America, and perhaps all 

 India, would become French. But the twin stars 

 of Wolfe and Clive influenced the fate of two con- 

 tinents. The acquisition of Algeria dates from 

 1830 ; and within the last decade France has again 

 pushed forward in Tunis, Tonquin, and Mada- 

 gascar. Italy has no foreign possessions except the 

 port of Massowah on the African shore of the Red 

 Sea ; and those which Germany has recently 

 acquired with so much eagerness, in Africa and 

 in New Guinea and the adjoining islands, must 

 be regarded rather as possible outlets for trade 

 than as true colonies. The surplus population of 

 Germany will doubtless continue to pour into the 

 western states of North America, just as the 

 Italians and Basques will continue to be attracted 

 to the Rio de la Plata. 



After this brief survey of the foreign possessions 

 of continental states, we pass on to those of 

 Britain, which alike in area, in population, and in 

 promise for the future, surpass tenfold all the rest 

 put together. If it be permissible, on historical 

 grounds, to regard the United States as one with 

 Britain, it may be said that the story of modern 

 colonisation is the story of the expansion of the 

 Anglo-Saxon race. In North America, Austral- 

 asia, and South Africa, that race is already in 

 occupation of the only large tracts of uninhabited 

 territory where white men can work and multiply. 

 In India, England owns the most fertile and most 

 easily governed of tropical countries ; while her 

 minor possessions are dotted over every land and 

 sea. These advantages abroad gained by the 

 valour of her children, who have known how 

 to make the most of their good fortune are 

 maintained by a teeming population at home, 

 superabundant capital, and maritime supremacy. 

 Above all, it should ever be remembered that 

 this great colonial empire, as it was won with no 

 deliberate plan of aggression, so it is preserved 

 solely through the conscious recognition of mutual 

 rights and duties. Even in India, British rule 

 exists by the consent of the natives and for their 

 benefit ; while the autonomous colonies of Australia 

 are as free from British interference and as loyal to 

 the British name as the Channel Islands or Man. 



The colonial empire of England is as varied in its 

 composition as it is vast in its extent. In the 

 political sense, it ought to include every foreign 



Eos.session or dependency of the crown. It is only 

 y an accident of administration that India is the 

 charge of a distinct secretary of state, that some 

 indeterminate protectorates (such as that of the 

 Niger ) are controlled through the Foreign Office, and 

 that the island of Ascension is borne as a ship on 

 the books of the Admiralty. So again, the colonies 

 proper i.e. those in subordination to the Colonial 

 Secretary vary in character from a settled country, 

 with a civilisation more than a centuiy old, like 

 Lower Canada, to an unexplored wilderness of 

 savages, like New Guinea; from the continent of 



Australia to the rock of Gibraltar ; from Hong-kong, 

 the emporium of Chinese trade, to Heligoland, the 

 favourite watering-place of Hamburgers. Adopting 

 another principle of division, the colonies may be 

 classified according to the modes by which they 

 were acquired : ( 1 ) as conquered by force of arms 

 or ceded by an independent power ; ( 2 ) as occupied 

 by settlers, where no rights were recognised in the 

 aboriginal inhabitants. The former class would 

 comprise the Cape and Hong-kong, the latter class 

 Australia and British Columbia. The classification 

 adopted by the colonial office is based upon differ- 

 ences of administration, as follows : ( 1 ) Crown 

 colonies, in which the crown has the entire control 

 of legislation, while the administration is carried 

 on by public officers under the control of the home 

 government. Of this class examples are Gibraltar, 

 Ceylon, and Jamaica. (2) Colonies possessing 

 representative institutions, but not responsible 

 government, in which the crown has no more 

 than a veto on legislation, but the home govern- 

 ment retains the control of public officers. In this 

 class are Natal, Western Australia, and Barbadoes. 

 (3) Colonies possessing representative institutions 

 and responsible government, in which the crown 

 has only a veto on legislation, and the home 

 government has no control over any public officer 

 except the governor. This class comprises Canada, 

 Newfoundland, the Cape, and the Australasian 

 group. According to the Colonial Office List for 

 1888, the total area of all the colonies and depend- 

 encies (excluding India) is 7,475,896 sq. m., with 

 an estimated population of 18,346,614. Of these 

 totals the nine self-governing colonies possess 

 between them 5,884,020 sq. m. and 9,413,855 souls. 

 ( For Cyprus, North Borneo, the Niger Protectorate, 

 and all British dependencies, see GREAT BRITAIN.) 



From an historical point of view, the expansion 

 of the Anglo-Saxon race divides itself into three 

 periods : ( 1 ) The 17th century, when the first 

 beginnings were made, in rivalry with other 

 European states which had taken the lead ; 

 (2) the close of the 18th century, when, as a result 

 of the French wars and the command of the sea, 

 Britain had won a preponderant position, despite 

 the loss of the United States ; (3) the 19th century, 

 which has been a continuous period of growth and 

 consolidation. NeAvfoundland boasts herself the 

 premier British colony, having been annexed by 

 the ill-fated Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583. The 

 East India Company was incorporated in 1600 ; the 

 first permanent settlement of Virginia dates from 

 1607 ; the historic Mayflower sailed from Plymouth 

 to New England in 1620 ; Barbadoes was occupied 

 first of the islands in the West Indies in 1625. 

 The second period a period of war begins with 

 the capture of Gibraltar in 1704 ; its decisive point 

 was reached at the peace of 1763, when the French 

 yielded alike in Canada and in India ; and it 

 culminated in the Napoleonic war, when Malta, 

 Mauritius, and many West Indian islands were 

 captured from France, and Ceylon and the Cape 

 from Holland, then a French dependency. The 

 last period, which is almost co-extensive with the 

 reign of Victoria, has witnessed the consolidation 

 of India under the crown ; the marvellous develop- 

 ment of Australia under the stimulus of gold dis- 

 coveries ; the erection of Canada into a dominion 

 of confederated provinces ; the extension of British 

 influence throughout South Africa ; the commer- 

 cial growth of Hong-kong and Singapore ; and the 

 gradual advance of the British flag over new pro- 

 tectorates and isolated Coaling Stations (q.v.). It 

 is estimated that the population of the colonies 

 has multiplied more than fourfold since 1837, 

 while the external trade has multiplied nearly 

 ninefold. 



Though colonisation is by no means synonymous 



