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Government would guarantee a loan, it is evident that the sum of two millions could be raised at a very small premium on the rate of Government securities, say between three and a half and four per cent.; at this rate the interest upon the loan of two millions would be between seventy-five and eighty thousand pounds, or about one-half of the amount of the land revenue of these colonies in 1836, leaving, therefore, even if the land revenue did not increase (an extravagant supposition), a considerable sum for gradually paying off the debt. I think the House must perceive that in every one of these statements I have put the cost of emigration, the number of emigrants required, and the expense of the loan at the highest amount. I am, therefore, warranted in concluding that there would be no difficulty in carrying into effect the plan I have proposed.

This plan is the result of much and careful consideration on my part. It has unexpectedly received the strongest confirmation of which it is susceptible. I have within a few days obtained from New South Wales the report of the Committee of the Legislative Council on emigration, which Committee sat towards the close of last year. From that report it appears that a plan precisely similar to my own, namely, of raising 200,000l. on the security of waste lands, to be expended on emigration, has been submitted to the Legislative Council; and that a letter had been addressed to the Council, giving the sanction and approbation of numerous persons of property and intelligence to the proposal in question. I understand the Committee referred this proposal to eighty-four of the most intelligent

and extensive proprietors in the colony; that fiftyeight expressed themselves in terms of the highest approbation of the measure; eight only declined to give an opinion, and eighteen objected to it, chiefly from the fear of its becoming a job, and that there was no security that the whole money would be applied to immigration, as the Colonial Government had already applied a considerable portion of the proceeds of the land sales to other purposes than those of immigration. If the motion of my hon. friend were carried, the only objection to this plan would therefore be removed, and I am assured that the colony would be unanimous in its support.

To conclude, I entreat the earnest consideration of the House and of the Government to this subject, as the only means of abolishing transportation without endangering the prosperity of the penal colonies; as the only means of continuing that prosperity, and improving the moral state of these communities. It is a means, likewise, of affording, without any expense to this country, the most extensive fields for the employment of our surplus population. It would create a commerce so vast that the imagination could hardly form a conception of what in a brief period it might not become. I am profoundly convinced that the southern regions of the globe, Australia, New Zealand, and the myriads of islands of the Polynesian Sea, might ere long form the most important markets for the productions of the industry of Great Britain, and amply compensate for those markets which we are on the eve of losing in the old world; provided those fair and fertile portions of the earth's surface were peopled with

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men of the British race, with wants, feelings and desires similar to our own; and this I firmly believe might be accomplished by that plan of systematic emigration which was proposed by my honourable friend and to which I give my most cordial support.

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH AT LEEDS ON THE STATE OF THE NATION.

FEBRUARY 5, 1840.

[The speech from which the following is an extract was delivered at a political dinner. It is noteworthy as containing a popular presentment of Molesworth's views on colonial questions. He had given offence to some of his supporters by his opposition to the Whig Ministry, and although the proceedings at this dinner appear to have shown much enthusiasm, he alienated a further section by his attitude on behalf of peace with France in the autumn of the same year, and retired from Parliament at the General Election of 1841.]

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GENTLEMEN, the second set of measures,1 by which, I said, the condition of the bulk of the population might be improved, is the extension of our commerce in every portion of the globe, colonisation and emigration. To the two last subjects I have especially turned my attention. am convinced that colonies are of the greatest advantage to a commercial country like this, and that the wealth of this country is mainly to be attributed to the fact that it has established numerous colonies. Those colonies, being inhabited by men of our own race, with wants and inclinations similar to our own, have become the best markets for our industry, consuming our manufactures, and sending us back, in return, the peculiar products of their various climates.

1 The others were Free Trade and National Education.

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proof of this, I need only refer to our commerce with the United States, which were planted by Englishmen, and still are, properly speaking, colonies of this country. For the use of colonies does not consist, as was formerly supposed, in governing them as subjects, but in trading with them as equals. We derive benefit from them, not by extending the bounds of our empire, but by augmenting the number of our markets. Every new colony is, therefore, of the same advantage to the whole empire, as a new and valuable customer to a tradesman in business.

Having made these brief observations with regard to the general use of colonies, I will say a few words with regard to the most important of our colonial possessions. The unhappy events which occurred in Canada are well known to you. They were brought about, in a great degree, by the mismanagement, misgovernment, and ignorance of the authorities of this country. I trust the affairs of Canada are now in a fair way to be satisfactorily settled, and that the people of that province will be reduced to a state of contented allegiance. Lord Durham has pointed out, in his able Report, the means of accomplishing this object, namely, by uniting the two provinces on fair and equal terms, leaving them to manage their own local concerns, and giving them responsible government. I will here observe that that Report of Lord Durham was one of the most liberal and statesmanlike productions which I ever read, and I confess, that, though I had studied almost every paper with regard to Canada, which had been laid before the House of Commons, till I read that

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