"My heart is free." My heart is free, the magic chain And when he led me captive where, I soon discovered thorns were there, But now I'm free, and ne'er again, Since once I've tasted freedom. AN ENQUIRY INTO THE CAUSES OF MISGOVERNMENT IN THE BRITISH COLONIES. *K.* Let us take up whatever Colonial Journals we may, whether printed in Canada, the West Indies, the Cape, the East Indies, New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, or in any other British Colony, the first thing which rivets our attention, is the universal cry of "misrule," by which it would appear, that there must be some grand radical principle of error mixed up in the scheme of policy, under which the British Colonial possessions are, and have for years past, been governed; because it is a mathematical impossibility for any given effect to be produced by human agency without a cause. Now, in the present instance, the effect given is popular dissatisfaction, and complaint-the cause assigned, misrule, which, in the general sense in which it is thus used, is not in fact a cause, but merely the effect, of some other original cause. Without taking it for granted that misrule does exist, we are nevertheless assured of the presence of error in the system, because the result, which by an axiom in politics must correspond with the nature of the cause, is not goodviz., the people are dissatisfied. The result being evil, the system must be so likewise. The question now is, in what does the source of the evil consist, to discuss which is the purpose of the present paper. By taking a retrospective view of Colonial Governments in general, -by viewing the subject in all its bearings, and making the necessary allowances for all the casualties and fortuitous circumstances which affect it, we are led into a natural feeling of surprise, that the quantity of evil in the result is not greater, seeing that it has ever been the fate of the British Colonies to be placed at the disposal of Ministers, perfectly ignorant of the localities of the places and societies they are entrusted to govern, as well as of those true principles of political economy, from which alone the inferences necessary to the formation of a right system of government for Colonial possessions, can be drawn. From men who are thus continually groping their way in the dark, it would be idle to expect anything like good government. Wholesome regulations they have neither the judgment nor inclination to frame, and proper officers they care not about selecting; so that except by accident, misgovernment is the lot of all Colonies; as the only motives which Colonial Ministers appear to be actuated by are, a desire to extort tribute from the Colonies, and to provide situations for poor relations, natural sons, and other dependents. Corrupt and unamiable as such motives may appear, it is nevertheless a true picture that we draw; and we contend that it is pure accident when any measure of the Downingstreet Authorities leads to a good result: for of this we may be confident, that no measure of the British Colonial Minister is ever undertaken with a clear-headed judgment of the effects it will produce. The thing is done upon impulse, and the issue left for chance to determine on the side of good or the side of evil, according as fortuitous circumstances may create a tendency to the one or the other. From the earliest ages of British Colonization, we find the same ignorance, avarice, and desire of patronage conspicuous in the scheme of Colonial Policy, by which the Mother State has benumbed her own energies, and weakened herself, while she has retarded the progress and advancement of those embryo nations which shall perpetuate the glory of Great Britain, when she, in common with all sublunary things, shall have run her race, and like the powerful nations of old, sink, never to rise again. Turn to the page of history, and there view the millions of money and thousands of lives, sacrificed in misgoverning the plantations of America, and upholding that misgovernment, and the narrow-minded imposts by which the trade of those (then) Colonies was attempted to be crushed. Mark the hateful and unendurable system of taxation and patronage under which the brave Americans were goaded to take up arms, and con test their rights at the point of the sword-see the slow and retrograde motion of America under this system of oppression--the dreadful debts incurred by the Mother Country in these most unholy wars; and contrasting the state of the two countries since the separation, say what benefit was derived from the old system to make it worth the rivers of blood which flowed in a vain attempt to uphold it? Who were the gainers by the oppression of the Americans? Not the English Public, but only the creatures of a British Ministry, no less corrupt in principle, than ignorant of the consequences of their black acts. Thus to feed the insatiate maw of the Hydraheaded monster, Patronage-to gratify the cupidity of a Colonial Minister and without the least possible benefit accruing to the Mother Country, were the Colonies which now form one of the finest nations of the earth, attempted to be sacrificed at the expense of millions of money and torrents of British blood. In this dreadful and revolting picture we see the pourtraiture of the British Colonial policy in general. The American possessions were not the only victims of ministerial ignorance and misrule; for every other Colony has been, and is to this day, sacrificed by the same erroneous and indefensible system-a system of the most ruinous and devastating influence, as well to the interests of the Mother Country, as to those of the Colonies. The terrible lesson taught by the American war, and the subsequent consequences, has failed to give wisdom to the British Government, which still pursues the same course of rapacity and impoverization, as led to that fatal and never-to-be-forgotten catastrophe. The cause of these evils, the acute observer will not fail immediately to discover, in the fact that the Colonial Seals, which, perhaps, more than any other department of the British Government, require a man of first-rate abilities, cool judgment, and experience, are so frequently entrusted in the hands of raw inexperienced men, whose knowledge of the Colonies consists in the crude ideas derived from their geographical studies, untempered and unannealed by observation and experience. The Colonial Office is made a sort of junior class for the education of Statesmen rather than the important field for a Statesman's abilities, and thus it happens that when we are blessed with an honest Minister, his good intentions are frustrated by his own ignorance, which exposes him to be led astray by the artifices of his interested subordinates; and when ignorance is not in the way, corruption and cupidity deprive the unfortunate Colonies of the benefits of a wise ruler. To point out especial instances, would be as invidious as it would be unnecessary; for it is impossible for any thinking man to read the records of past, and witness the effects of present British Colonial Policy, without at once perceiving the truth of what is now asserted. There are few who will attempt to deny or gainsay our position; and with them, they being the parasites which grow and fatten upon the deprecated system, all arguments would be unavailing. We therefore take this point as granted, and proceed to the consideration of the secondary causes of Colonial evils, namely, the unfitness of those persons entrusted with local authority. We speak here of all Colonies in ge neral; and in the course of our remarks disclaim all intention of reflecting upon any persons in particular. The local authorities of all Colonies are of the same stamp-they are, as it were, all of one family; and if it happens that in one particular place we find a local ruler better or worse than usual, we can only attribute it to chance, and not to any essential difference in the system. It has been already said, that the British Ministry are careless of the characters and qualifications of those sent out to distant Colonies with Government appointments, all that is required of a candidate being good interest, that is, having some claim upon some great man, as being a natural son, poor relation, or in some less honorable way, a Most Obedient Humble Servant.' Handsome female connexions are generally admitted to be highly conducive to success, if rightly managed, a fact which the unexpected good fortune of many can testify; but merit, per se, seldom procures a commission. The meritorious candidate has little chance without the assistance of some of the above-mentioned qualifications, for Ministers are not such fools as to bestow that patronage for which they have fought so hard, unless they get something for it beyond the inward satisfaction of rewarding merit. Depend upon it, that after all it is no bad thing for a Minister to have an opportunity of apportioning children, paying for favors, providing for mistresses, cancelling obligation, and securing adherents at the public expense, and especially when it can be done without the appearance of evil, which renders it a temptation very difficult to be withstood. Colonial placeholders in neral, may be classed as fortune-hunters and adventurers and from such men, so patronized, what is to be expected than that they will study their own aggrandizement. The present hour is all they have to rely upon. By seizing that golden opportunity they may gain much, and can lose nothing; for they can have nothing to lose. The means by which their exaltation has been procured, having deprived them even of all pretensions to principle and character; for nothing can be more base than that man whose rank and fame is founded in dishonor, and reared by patronage bestowed for unworthy services. How then, we ask, can men, so circumstanced, be trusted as faithful servants of the Colonial Public, seeing that, independent of their probable unfitness, and their having forfeited reputation for the sake of gain, they have so many opportunities and such strong inducements, to act to the injury of the many, and to the benefit of themselves, as are afforded and held out by the possession of power. What care they for the people? What care they for the germinating nation in which they are placed? What care they for the exaltation of the Colonies? A few years, and their fleeting honors will be departed from them for ever, and their only chance of escaping from the contempt, which dishonorable rank, when lost, will entail, is by amassing wealth, which, unfortunately in this sordid age, covers a multitude of sins; and although it can never command esteem, is at all times a protection, even to the greatest villain, from disrespect. ge dreadful debts incurred by the Mother Country in these most unholy wars; and contrasting the state of the two countries since the separation, say what benefit was derived from the old system to make it worth the rivers of blood which flowed in a vain attempt to uphold it? Who were the gainers by the oppression of the Americans? Not the English Public, but only the creatures of a British Ministry, no less corrupt in principle, than ignorant of the consequences of their black acts. Thus to feed the insatiate maw of the Hydraheaded monster, Patronage-to gratify the cupidity of a Colonial Minister and without the least possible benefit accruing to the Mother Country, were the Colonies which now form one of the finest nations of the earth, attempted to be sacrificed at the expense of millions of money and torrents of British blood. In this dreadful and revolting picture we see the pourtraiture of the British Colonial policy in general. The American possessions were not the only victims of ministerial ignorance and misrule; for every other Colony has been, and is to this day, sacrificed by the same erroneous and indefensible system-a system of the most ruinous and devastating influence, as well to the interests of the Mother Country, as to those of the Colonies. The terrible lesson taught by the American war, and the subsequent consequences, has failed to give wisdom to the British Government, which still pursues the same course of rapacity and impoverization, as led to that fatal and never-to-be-forgotten catastrophe. The cause of these evils, the acute observer will not fail immediately to discover, in the fact that the Colonial Seals, which, perhaps, more than any other department of the British Government, require a man of first-rate abilities, cool judgment, and experience, are so frequently entrusted in the hands of raw inexperienced men, whose knowledge of the Colonies consists in the crude ideas derived from their geographical studies, untempered and unannealed by observation and experience. The Colonial Office is made a sort of junior class for the education of Statesmen rather than the important field for a Statesman's abilities, and thus it happens that when we are blessed with an honest Minister, his good intentions are frustrated by his own ignorance, which exposes him to be led astray by the artifices of his interested subordinates; and when ignorance is not in the way, corruption and cupidity deprive the unfortunate Colonies of the benefits of a wise ruler. To point out especial instances, would be as invidious as it would be unnecessary; for it is impossible for any thinking man to read the records of past, and witness the effects of present British Colonial Policy, without at once perceiving the truth of what is now asserted. There are few who will attempt to deny or gainsay our position; and with them, they being the parasites which grow and fatten upon the deprecated system, all arguments would be unavailing. We therefore take this point as granted, and proceed to the consideration of the secondary causes of Colonial evils, namely, the unfitness of those persons entrusted with local authority. We speak here of all Colonies in ge |