to these colonies which shall contain members nominated by the Crown.

Sir, in my opinion, the most important question with regard to this Bill is that of the powers to be exercised by the Colonial Office. I am convinced that if we wish to frame a measure which shall remove the great and fundamental cause of colonial discontent we must deprive the Colonial Office of its present power of interfering in the internal affairs of the colonies. A good illustration of the vexatious power which the Colonial Office possesses has been lately brought under my notice. I will mention it to the House. For some time past. the inhabitants of Sydney, a city of some 50,000 souls, have been complaining of the practice of slaughtering beasts within the precincts of that city, a practice which, in that warm climate, they considered to be an abominable nuisance, and injurious to their health. They were, therefore, very anxious that the slaughter-houses should be removed; and, on May 31, 1848, a Select Committee of the Legislative Council recommended that the slaughter-houses should be removed to a place called Glebe Island, and that to pay for their removal certain lands upon which a cattle market stood should be sold. Now it appears from the Sydney Herald, of September 22, 1849, that up to that date the nuisance of the slaughterhouses had not been abated, and would not be abated for at least a year or more; because, according to the statement of the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies must be obtained before the recommendation of the Committee could be

attended to, and with the utmost despatch that sanction could scarcely be obtained in less than a year. Thus, for more than two years, a city of 50,000 inhabitants, in a semi-tropical climate, will be exposed to the fevers and other disorders arising from the putrefaction of animal matter, because it could not sell nor buy a plot of land without the consent of functionaries at the antipodes. The House may be assured that every noxious odour that shall arise from the slaughter-houses of Sydney will be a germ of hatred to our colonial government.

I ask, is it for the interest of the empire that the Colonial Office should retain powers of this description? I maintain it is not; and that as long as the Colonial Office retains an arbitrary power of interfering in the local affairs of the colonies there will be perpetual discord between the colonies and the Colonial Office. The only mode of removing the cause of discord is by strictly limiting the power of the Colonial Office to questions affecting imperial interests. I know that some honourable members will exclaim: "If we deprive the Colonial Office of its power, what will remain, what will become of the connection between the colonies and this country? The colonies will be separated from the empire." Now, it appears to me that in the minds. of those honourable gentlemen there are grave errors and a great confusion of ideas on the subject of what constitutes, and ought to constitute, the connection between the colonies and this country. From old associations and ancient prejudices, we are too apt to look upon the colonies. as subject communities-that is, as communities subject to the British community-therefore to look

upon ourselves as kings, and upon the colonists as subjects, and to consider that the connection between the colonies and this country consists in dominion on our part and subjection on theirs. Therefore we are apt to think that to preserve that connection it is necessary to vest that dominion in some Department of the State. We are inclined to fancy that the power of the Colonial Office binds the colonies to this country, and is the connecting link, which would be broken asunder if the Colonial Office were to be deprived of its power. I maintain a diametrically opposite doctrine: that the Colonial Office is an institution which tends to alienate the colonies from this country, and that in proportion as the power of the Colonial Office shall be curtailed the union between the colonies and this country will be strengthened; for with the destruction of the arbitrary power of the Colonial Office the colonists would cease to be subjects of that office, and would become true citizens of the British Empire. We ought to look upon our colonies as integral portions of the British Empire, inhabited by men who ought to enjoy in their own localities all the rights and privileges that Englishmen do in England. Now, the colonists have no right to interfere in the management of the local affairs of Great Britain, therefore we ought not to interfere in the management of the local affairs of the colonies. We are entitled to reserve to ourselves the management of the common concerns of the empire, because imperial power must be located somewhere for the maintenance of the unity of the empire; and because we are the richest and most powerful portion of the empire, and have to pay for the

management of its common concerns. In thus laying claim to imperial powers for the British Parliament, I must add, that in my opinion it would tend much to consolidate the empire if we could admit into the Imperial Parliament representatives of the colonies, for then the colonies. would feel that they formed with the British islands one complete body politic.

ON MR. SPENCER WALPOLE'S AMENDMENT TO AUSTRALIAN

MENT BILL.

MARCH 22, 1850.

GOVERN

[This amendment was defeated by a majority of 51: Ayes, 198; Noes, 147.]

I AM anxious, Mr. Bernal, before the Committee comes to a decision on the motion of the honourable and learned member for Midhurst,' to make a few observations. The Committee must acknowledge that that decision will be not only of great and immediate importance to the colonies concerned, but of great and lasting importance to the whole of the British Empire. For we are all agreed that our colonies in Australasia, being inhabited by Englishmen, are now entitled to possess the institutions of Englishmen ; and we are, therefore, at this moment assisting at the birth of the constitutions 1 Mr. Spencer Walpole.

of the British communities that are destined, in future ages, to cover the southern hemisphere, and there to form nations and mighty empires of the Anglo-Saxon name. Again, we are agreed that it is the duty of the British Parliament to undertake the difficult task of framing the first constitutions of these colonies; and according as we shall perform that task well or ill so shall we either confer lasting benefits, or inflict deep injury upon these communities; so shall we either strengthen and make permanent our colonial empire or weaken and ultimately destroy it. Therefore, a heavy responsibility hangs over us, and I trust that a deep sense of that responsibility will influence the conduct and votes of honourable members.

The question which we have to consider is, what would be the best form of Government for the Australian colonies? To answer this question it appears to me that we ought first to inquire what are the institutions which theory and experience have proved to be the best for similar communities of English origin; and having answered this question to the best of our abilities, we ought to give these colonies those institutions which our deliberate judg ment pronounces to have been the best; secondly, in order to guard against the consequences of errors in judgment, and in order, that the constitution of a colony may change with its changing circumstances, we ought to empower these colonies to alter and amend the institutions which they will receive from us. To this last position I attach great importance; and the right honourable gentleman, the President of the Board of Trade, who last addressed the Committee, assents to it. I may,