, OLONV 



COLONY. 



The discovery of Ammo* produced a great < 



ye in the system of 



eolooMBtion. Hitherto, whether the colony had been planted by foroe 

 or by treaty, the ealoafaU on the whole were not greatly advanced in 

 druUtion beyond the origin*! fomemon ; and whether they reduced 

 then to subjection or fnHgntn-*- 1 with them, there wa* no eeaentlil 

 diflervnoa of nee ; for even the early oolonie* of the Portuguese in 

 Africa were either at place* inhabited by the civilwed Ar.be, or in 

 where they merely planted a military garruon to defend their 



trade. The Spaniard* 'were the firet who tbli.hed colonies in 

 America, and they were rapidly followed by nearly every European 

 nation. But among then nation* there wa* a great variety in the 

 manner of the aequUtion, the object* sought to be attained, and the 

 mode of government in the colonies, both locally and with reference 

 to that of the mother country. It soon became evident that not all 

 i were equally qualified to become successful colonists ; to be so 

 to require in the colonists, capital, superior knowledge and 

 *, industry, and firm resolution. The Spaniard*, landing 

 j the eami-eirUiaed nations of South America, po**e**ed the supe- 

 rior intofflgenoe and the unconquerable resolution. They succeeded in 

 suUluing the native*; but they brought no* capital, and they evinced 

 no industry. From the beginning, they Bought only to enrich them- 

 elves and then- country by despoiling the natives, and by forcing them 

 to work, while the commerce of the settlement was obstructed by 

 burdensome and injurious restriction*. The consequence ha* been 

 that the population, becoming a mixed one, treated as inferiors by tho 

 -jianish accessions, and fit-ling their own strength, have thrown 

 off their allegiance. 



An essential qualification of a colony is that it should have and 

 cultivate land, and consist at least in part of civilians. When a colony 

 is sent to a country occupied by a few hunting tribes, as was the case 

 in part of North America at the time the Kngllsh se.ttlcd the re, and as 

 was also the c4V in Australia, the taking possession of part of the land 

 for the purpose of cultivation is attended with the lea-t possible injury 

 to the aborigines, while, at tho same time, it has in its favour the 

 extension of civilisation upon a new shore. Tho savages generally 

 recede before civilised man; a few of them adopt civilisation, and the 

 rest become gradually extinct. When the limits are confined, the pro- 

 gress towards extinction is exceedingly rapid. The aborigines of Van 

 Piemen's Land are now reduced to a very small number. This, how- 

 ever melancholy in one point of view, has been from the earliest times 

 the great law of the progress of the human race. But the case is much 

 altered when the natives are partly civilised, live in domestic societies, 

 have settled habitations, and either cultivate the land or feed their 

 flock* upon it. The colonists in such case do what the Romans did in 

 their colonies ; they take part of the arable land, or the whole of the 

 common or pasture land, and leave to the natives just what they please, 

 and if the latter resist, they kill them. Whether this Ix; justice every 

 man may ask himself. The case may be one of greater or less 

 oppression, according as the knd is either enclosed and cultivated, or 

 merely used for pasture or the chace, and according as the natives are 

 more or lees numerous in proportion to the land, colonisation may pro- 

 ceed on a milder or harsher system. .Still the question of justice 

 remains the same, unless the natives be willing to part with their land 

 by amicable arrangement. This system of purchase from the natives 

 has been practised Imth by the English and Anglo-Americans in North 

 America ; but though it has the specious name of bargain, it has often 

 been nothing more than a fraud, or sale under compulsion. The man 

 of Europe has been long accustomed to regard the possession of the 

 oil as that which binds him to a place, and gives him the most secure 

 and least doubtful kind of projierty. His habits of accumulation, and 

 of transmitting to his children a jiermanent possession, make him covet 

 the acquisition of land. In whatever country he has set his foot, and 

 once got a dominion in the soil, neither contracts, nor mercy, nor 

 feelings of humanity, nor the i< ligion which he carries with him, have 

 prevented him from seizing on the lands of the owners, and punishing 

 their resistance with death. 



When the Portuguese first began their voyages of discover}- in the 

 15th century, they took possession of some islands or points on the 

 coasts of Africa and of India, and left there a few soldiers or sailors 

 uniler a military commander, who built a fort to protect the trade 

 with the natives, and afterwards also to keep those natives under a sort 

 of subjection. In Brazil, settling among a people who were leas ad- 

 vanced in.civilixntion than the Mexicans and Peruvians, and inhabited 

 a country lee* densely populated, they effected their colonisation some- 

 what more peacefully, and maintained their empire with much less 

 hanhnea*. Brazil having no gold or silver (or none of much 

 and the diamond mines occupying but a small space, the forced 

 when employed wa* chiefly agricultural, and therefore less injurious. 

 The agriculture produced commerce, and these united brought a con- 

 siderable number of settler* ; but the commerce wa* of a restrictive 

 chaacUT, and the native Portuguese were a privileged class. The 

 native*, to a considerable extent, remained roving and independent ; 

 the colonial population, confined to a few ports and tho surrounding 

 districts, where sugar, coffee, tobacco, and a few other products are 

 grown, became discontented ; and hod not the |K.ljtieal circumstance* 



r.ipe compelled the royal family of Portugal to ,. i,,, i . | 

 is probable the colony would have revolted. By that step, however, 

 the colony became an empire ; the minKovcrnnn-nt by foreigners ceased, 



a more enlightened *yitom of commerce wa* adopted, and it has since 

 grown rapidly in wealth and iiu]>orUnce : but it ha* ceased to be a 



I Portugal. 



The Dutch, with far higher qualification* for colonising than the 

 Spaniard*, followed almost a like system in their conquests of the 

 Cape of Oood Hope, the Moluccas, and in Java ; but their object wa* 

 to increase and to monopolise their trade. To this purpose all their 

 efforts were directed, and for a time they succeeded to a considerable 

 but they did not attempt to draw any direct revenue from their 

 dependencies. Powerful rivalry, however, and the dissatisfaction occa- 

 sioned by the restrictions, altogether deprived them of some of their 

 best colonies, and learned the value of the remainder. 



The French colonised Canada, and on the whole in a humane manner. 

 But though in their relation* with the natives they were n 

 successful in establishing themselves, they made the colonies too much 

 of military settlements, and the civil colonial population increased very 

 slowly. They kept troops and they railed fortifications, and both 

 proved useless when put to the test ; Louisiana they bought of Spain, 

 made little progress in it, and sold it to the United State*. 



The English colonies have been acquired in almost every possible 

 variety of manner : by settlement, by conquest, by treaty, by exchange. 

 The North American colonies were the consequence of emigi 

 either voluntary or produced by religious persecution and civil war at 

 home. The Puritans went to New England, the Quaker 

 vonia, and the Cavaliers to Virginia. They formed communi tie- under 

 charters from the crown, alid had local legislatures, but v. 

 ubject to the sovereignty of the mother country. The i 

 country sent iU governors, and named, either directly or indirectly, 

 the civil functionaries. The precise amount of oKcdie-i 

 colonies then owed to the 1 mother country cannot be exn< 

 Tho American revolution only showed that it did not extent 

 point, without allowing how far it did extend. Australia was found 

 almost a desert, and with tin .if a few incidental combat; 



was [xsicefully settled. The Cape of Oood Hope wa* taken from tho 

 Dutch; Jamaica and other West India islands from the Spaniards, 

 French, and Dutch. Tho East Indies (which, however, is scarcely a 

 colony, for until within the last few years Englishmen were not allowed 

 to settle in it) has been obtained by treaty, by conquest, by succession, 

 in an almost continued growth, without any violent desire for acquisi- 

 :it from an impulse of self-preservation. The colonies have, as 

 a general rule, local legislatures, elected by the people, and a go 

 and council named by the sovereign. The foreign commerce of these 

 colonies is regulated by the sovereign authority of the mother country, 

 and put on such a footing as generally to allow some of their products 

 admission into British ports on more favourable terms than those 

 of other countries. To the amount of this protecting duty, the colonies 

 have the advantage of a partial monopoly in the markets of the mother 

 country. The old strict colonial system, of excluding foreign counti ies 

 from direct commercial intercourse with the colonies, had the double 

 object in view of securing all the supposed advantages of the exchange 

 of British for colonial products, and giving employment to the British 

 merchant navy. Tho rigour of this system however has gradually 

 relaxed, and given way to clearer views of self-interest. Still the 

 colonial system, as maintained by Great Britain, presents in many 

 instances examples of foreign possessions which are expensive to the 

 country without any apparent corresponding advantages. Theexjxiidi- 

 ture iii most of the colonies for the purposes of administrati< ' 

 protection is beyond the means of the colonial revenues to mec 

 the deficiency must of course be supplied by the parent state, 

 this is no trine may be seen from the returns of the costs of the \ 

 r.ntish colonies for 1858. The total was 4,1 1.1. 7. "u/.. exclusive of the 



lie-, and that was a less sum than in any of th< 

 years; and although a few may be con. id. ml rather as military or 

 naval stations, yet the items show that none of I he colon 

 supjiorting, though many are large contributors to their own expenses. 

 Gibraltar cost 423,589/.; Malta, I I-J./J'-V.; CapeofGood Hope, 682,01 6V.; 

 Mauritius, 74.881/. ; Bermuda, 158.061/. ; St. Helena. IV.'.'MO/. ; Hcligo- 

 land, TJ7I/.; Ionian l.-landa, 199.47W. ; Falkland Islands, o.V2:!/. ; and 

 Hong- Kong, 303,736/. ; the foregoing are all more or less military or 

 naval stations. Of the Australian settlements, North Australia cost 

 5666?, ; Western Australia, 94,769/. ; South Australia, 994W. ; Vi- 

 44,118A ; New South Wales, 59,6461. : Tasmania, 96,986V. ; and New 

 Zealand, 112,395?. Of the other plantations and settlements, .! 

 cost 198,711*. ; Bahamas, 62,045?. ; Honduras, 83,802*.; West I 

 805,981?.; Canada, 236,48. ; Nova Scotia, 154,605*. ; New Brunswick, 

 Iward's Island, 1500/. ; Newfoundland, 20.114?.; 

 Vancouver's Island, L'ln/. ; West Coast of Africa, 126.08!!/. ; Ceylon, 

 119.27W. ; Labuan, 12,445?. : and sundry other colonies, 71.7:!7?. The 

 immense patronage which colonial possessions put at the disposal of 

 the government is naturally one reason why colonies are looked upon 



i able things by those who particii>ate in the advantages ni 

 and places in them. On the other hand, those who only rontril 

 these expenses may not unreasonably ask for some proof . : 



ige to tho nation in return for this annual outlay. Setting 

 HM interest* of those concerned in the administration of the 

 colonies, it is asked, in many cas. ullage does the ' 



the nation receive ? So far as colonies may be desirable posts for pro- 

 tecting British commerce and shipping, the advant-e ,iaining 



