with regard to the settlement of all these questions, and of many others of equal importance to the colonies, and with reference to each class of colonies separately, what powers should be reserved to the Imperial Government, and what powers should be delegated to the local authorities? I am convinced that upon the practical settlement of these questions the maintenance of our colonial empire mainly depends. I believe that the stability of that empire is in imminent danger from their non-settlement; first, in consequence of the colonial discontent engendered thereby; secondly, in consequence of the opinion, which I am sorry to say is thence gaining ground in this country, that these colonial questions are insoluble; therefore that good colonial government is impossible; therefore, that colonies are nuisances and burdens; and therefore, the fewer they are in number, and the sooner they are got rid of, the better. I lament the growth of these opinions. I am satisfied they will spread and acquire strength in proportion as the settlement of the questions to which I have referred is delayed. To settle those questions without inquiry and assistance Parliament is at present utterly incompetent. The experience of this Session has shown that a debate on a colonial question is confusion worse confounded, wherein scarcely any two speakers agree; the few listeners are puzzled by the conflicting opinions of pretended authorities; and the House, in utter despair of understanding the subject, generally gives a reluctant and distrustful vote of confidence in the Colonial Office. The results of that confidence I have displayed to the House, in the shape of

wars, rebellions, recurring distress, perpetual discontent, and enormous expenditure; the necessary consequences of the ignorance, negligence, and vacillation, which I have shown to be inseparable from our system of colonial government. Not as a cure for these evils, but as the necessary preliminary step towards a cure, I ask for the inquiry, the nature of which I have just described.

It is evident that the good to be obtained from an inquiry will depend upon the manner in which it is conducted, and the persons to whom it is entrusted. On a former occasion the honourable gentleman the member for Berwickshire proposed that a similar inquiry should be conducted by a committee of this House. Though I voted for his motion, I was compelled to acknowledge that the inquiry would be too vast and too complicated for a committee. I voted for his motion because I felt satisfied that, if a committee were appointed, it would soon discover its inability to perform its allotted task, and would recommend that the inquiry should be conducted in the manner which I now propose, that is, by a Royal Commission. If the House should accede to my motion, and her Majesty should be graciously pleased to appoint a Commission, I should presume to recommend that it should consist of not more than five persons; that the Commission should report from time to time to her Majesty; that their reports should be laid before Parliament; and if approved of by Parliament they should be the bases of colonial legislation, and of a reform of our colonial polity. The task which the Commission would have to perform would be an arduous as well as an important

one. The questions will be asked, To whom should the performance of such a task be entrusted? What should be the qualifications of the members of such a Commission? It may, perhaps, be maintained that the inquiry which I propose should be conducted by the Department to which the management of our colonial affairs is entrusted. And if the inquiry were to be merely into the details of colonial administration, into the machinery of the Colonial Office, into the number of functionaries which are required in that Office, and into the best division of labour between them, I might then admit that such an inquiry might be left to the management of the Colonial Office. But the inquiry which I propose is a much more extensive one, namely, into the whole colonial polity of the British Empire. Now, first, the functionaries of the Colonial Office are too much occupied with the daily administration of colonial affairs to be able to spare time for so extensive an inquiry as that which I contemplate. And, secondly, I must say, without any intentional disrespect for those gentlemen, that having been accustomed to the existing system, they would, in my opinion, be apt to look upon that system with too favourable an eye. Therefore I object to entrusting this inquiry to the Colonial Office. To whom, then, should this inquiry be entrusted? It is evident that it ought not to be conducted in a party spirit; and, in fact, it is not a party question; for each party is equally interested in the good government of the colonies, in the reduction of unnecessary colonial expenditure, in the promotion of colonisation and emigration, and, in short, in everything which can conduce to the prosperity of our colonial

empire, and to the happiness of our colonial fellowsubjects. Therefore, if a Commission be appointed, I should recommend that it be fairly chosen from the four divisions of this House; for example, one member should be appointed from the Ministerial benches-such a person, for instance, as my honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department;1 one member from amongst the friends of the right honourable baronet the member for Tamworth-as, for instance, either the right honourable baronet the member for Ripon or the right honourable gentleman the member for the University of Oxford,3 or the noble lord the member for Falkirk; one member from the ranks of the Protectionist Party; and one from the section of the House to which I belong. To the four members so selected I would recommend that there should be added one of our most distinguished economical and political writers-such, for instance, as Mr. John Stuart Mill. I think a Commission so constituted, with full powers of inquiry, would deserve and obtain the confidence both of this country and of the colonies, and would lead to the most important results.

I hope that I have succeeded in giving the House a clear notion of what is the object of my motion, and that I have satisfied the House that I am actuated by the desire of promoting the well-being of the colonial empire. In conclusion, I must beg the House to observe that by agreeing to my motion the House will not pledge itself to any specific principles of colonial polity, or to any 1 Mr. (afterwards Sir G.) Cornewall Lewis. 2 Sir J. Graham.

3 Mr. Gladstone.

positive legislation, but only to the position that there ought to be a searching inquiry into our system of colonial administration. Can any one deny that such an inquiry is desirable, and that it may produce great benefits both to Great Britain and the colonies? Therefore, in the firm conviction that my motion is both a practical and a useful one, worthy of the consideration and approval of the House, I now beg leave to move that an humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying that her Majesty will be graciously pleased to appoint a Commission to inquire into the administration of her Majesty's colonial possessions, with the view of removing the causes of colonial complaint, diminishing the cost of colonial government, and giving free scope to individual enterprise in the business of colonising.